Hello, England!

Well, we’re in England now! I guess I ought to change our blog’s name, but, dollars to donuts, it will still say “Herrings in Aberdeen” two years from now. I’m doing well to update our postings every now and then!

We’ve been here just over two weeks now. We’ve had enough time to settle into our new accommodations. Now, it’s time to uproot again! On Saturday, we’re moving to an apartment we’ve rented where we can stay more permanently. In anticipation of the move, I have been combing classified ads trying to find nice used furniture. (We had hoped to find a furnished place, but, alas, we didn’t!) The upside is that I’ve become familiar with our surroundings as I pour over maps to find the various locations where we’ll retrieve items and then drive to the locations to ensure that I really want to buy those items! (It’s hit and miss!) I’m almost done finding everything; tonight I will view a bunk bed and if it suites me, then I will have found the last big item on my list!

I apologize for the lack of pictures. My camera was working the last time I used it in Aberdeen, but when we arrived here, it no longer worked. I would love to include pictures of the little cottage where we’re staying now amongst other things. The address here is Manor Farm Apt. 4, and we are literally on the manor’s farm. Just beside our house, three horses graze in the field. The kids and I have conditioned them to associate us with apples. Oh, how they love to see us!

The best thing I have discovered in our new surroundings are the miles and miles of footpaths which are public right-of-ways that cut paths through farmlands and alongside canals and in and out of neighborhoods. The other day, I found an agreeable walk to the village where we will be living. It took me through a flock of sheep, over a bridge spanning a train track, along a canal where I watched a canal boat being lowered in one of the lochs and then back home along the margins of a barley field and through a pleasant neighborhood. Nice!

Since we’ve been here, we’ve taken a walking tour of Oxford. It was enlightening! You may know already that Oxford is comprised of 39 colleges. (I didn’t.) Each college functions independently of the others. Undergraduate students can choose to apply to 3 of the 30 colleges that accept undergrads . When they are accepted, they become students of Oxford University, and, more specifically, students of their own college. Within the college, each student has a tutor. He does not sign up for courses, but rather is tutored individually. Faculty members give lectures and the students attend them at their tutor’s advice.

Two days after we moved here, I found the kids a place in school. I am quite happy with the school they are in, and they seem to be too. Sierra had butterflies in her tummy each morning for the first week or two, but she seems to be settling into the routine. Austen got home shattered every afternoon for the first little bit. His emotions were fragile and we had a leaky little boy. Lots of waterworks! But, he too seems to be settling in nicely.

I sent you our new address in an email. Don’t wait with bated breath for our new phone number. Customer service in the UK isn’t what it is in the good old US of A. Here is an account of one customer’s experience that you can read. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=653165
Just follow the link. The story is quite funny - when you are not living it. Unfortunately, this poor chap’s experience is all too typical, even for customers of his beloved BT. We signed up for a phone line with BT when we moved to Aberdeen and it took about a month for our service to be connected! So now, it’s like we are entering a tunnel and don’t know how long it will take us to emerge on the other side. All the while we will have no land line nor internet service. How dark and scary!

Well, I am probably losing your attention. Without the pictures blogging just is not as fun, I know. Oh, I did forget to mention Steve: Steve continues to work away getting ready for his classes that start Oct. 13. So there you have it!

Always glad to hear from you too, so write when you have a chance! I may not be able to write back immediately, but I will write when I can!

Love, Lara

Bye, Bye Aberdeen!

Almost a year has passed since I updated our blog. How’s that for keeping you informed!? We’ve been in Scotland for almost two years, and now it’s time to leave. At the beginning of July, Steve was offered a job teaching Hebrew at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He has a two-year contract. The second year is pending the successful completion of the first. Naturally, we’re hoping to be the there for two years. ☺ Steve will still be a student of the University of Aberdeen but he will probably have to put his dissertation on hold for a year.

As you can imagine, Sierra and Austen have grown a lot since we updated you last. Sierra was slated to start P3 in Scotland but will be in Level 2 instead in England, which is the same as second grade. She lost her first tooth last year on Christmas Day, which was also her sixth birthday. This past week, she lost her third tooth. Her gappy smile is very cute!She relishes reading and has become fond of swimming too. She is very keen on climbing; she and Austen literally climb the walls.She gets to start gymnastics in England immediately after being on a waiting list in Scotland for over a year. She is feeling pretty positive about the move although she will miss her friends and especially our downstairs neighbors’ kids whom Sierra and Austen both love to play with.

Austen will be starting with Foundation Stage in England and will be in school full time. Depending upon their school placements, I may elect to home educate them for a year. We’ll see. This past year, Austen abandoned the stroller. The year before I got wise to his tricks. Every day on the way to retrieve Sierra he would get tired and insist on being carried and I would end up toting a sleeping boy - until I began bringing the stroller with me. After he turned four, he decided he was too big for the stroller. Now, he is almost 5! This past year, he learned how to ride his bike without training wheels and learned to climb walls too – all in an effort to keep up with Sierra, whom he rarely calls “Sissy” any more. This past year he went to nursery for a half day five days a week, except Tuedsays when we went to Bible Study Fellowship. Leaving Mommy each day was breeze. He loved it!

For my part, I will miss Aberdeen, including our church, Bible Study Fellowship, my book club, and the friends I’ve made. I regret not doing any hiking in the Highlands or flyfishing while living in Aberdeen, but I’ve taken advantage of other opportunities living here, so I won’t pout too much. Living in England will present us a whole new host of things to see and do, so I am excited.

One of the best things about living in the UK is the chance to travel in Europe. That will be even easier when we live near London! This past year, we have gotten to see a bit. My parents came in December and watched the kids while Steve and I went to Rome. In the Spring, we went as a family to Stirling and Edinburgh and the Lakes District in England.Edinburgh is a fantastic city, and the castle in Stirling is amazing! Then in May, Sierra and I visited my parents in Amsterdam where they were touring.Another great city! It was fun to have some mother-daughter time and time with my folks too.

This summer has been spent casually preparing for our move and visiting parks, the cinema, pools, the zoo, the Chinese Circus, and attending Holiday Bible Club.
With just over two weeks before we go, it’s time to start preparing a little more seriously!

On September 8th, we will be moving to a cottage on the grounds of the centre where Steve will be teaching. Unfortunately, we can only stay there through the end of December so we will be looking for another place to live.

We love to have guests. Please come and see us! Oxford is much easier to reach than Aberdeen, so no excuses! (Exceptions: We will consider the economy, small children, the distance, jet lag, lack of vacation time, and health considerations as reasonable excuses, but only with great reluctance! ☺)

I hope this wasn’t too long to wade through, but after a year, we had a lot to say! Please let us hear from you soon!

Love, the Herrings

Summer's gone already?

Oh dear, oh dear! It has been a long time since I have written anything! I have to catch you up to speed: I’ll share the bad news first: You may recall mention of a bike trailer that I had purchased.



It gave me immeasurable pleasure. Alas, after one month it was stolen. ☹

That aside, the rest of our news is good: Sierra learned how to ride her bike with no training wheels! Yeah!



Our summer was cold and drippy, but we didn’t have any flooding like they did in England. Hooray! And we were even able to escape Scotland a time or two. Yippee!

Sierra’s school year ended on July 6th. Before it did, we joined some other church members at a family retreat in Pitlochry. Later that month, we hosted a joint birthday party for Sierra and her friend Julia. (Neither her mom nor I managed to organize parties for the girls in December, so they got to celebrate on their half birthdays.)





Then Sierra was in a riveting performance of Dumbo the Dinosaur at the conclusion of her drama class.



Shortly after that, an ad in the newspaper caught my eye, so I began the process of applying for a cabin crew position with a company called Flightline. The job would have entailed 10 days of flying a month between Aberdeen and Shetland. Unfortunately, I had to refuse it when I figured that I would have been working to pay a sitter! In the midst of it all, I began driving lessons. (My international license – my US license – is only valid here for one year.) Please keep your fingers crossed for me; I have my test on Sep. 19. It sounds like nothing, but only 42% pass the first time. I know someone who passed on her fifth attempt. The UK has very high standards for drivers, and, besides the fact that they drive on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road, they have other peculiarities too.

The week after Sierra’s school year ended, my parents arrived. They were here for two weeks. While they were here, we went to Ireland and visited Dublin and the surroundings.





In Ireland, I felt like we had dove into history.





Here in Scotland, we were pleased to see the Highland Games on an unusually sunny day. We also visited various castles and museums. It was really nice to have my parents here to show them some of the places that are special to us and to share their company. The time went too quickly!

A couple of days after my parents left, Steve packed up for a month in Germany where he is completing an intensive language program at the Goethe Institute in Bremen. He gave a sermon at the evening service at our church the night before he left. If you are interested in hearing it, it may still be available at http://www.dcfchurch.com/recent.htm. His message put me at ease: where I had been worried about managing for a month without him, his sermon reminded me that I can trust God completely to supply all I need!

Since Steve left on July 30, the kids and I haven’t skipped a beat. Of course, we’ve missed Steve. (Austen was feeling a bit sore with him for leaving and wouldn’t speak to him on the phone at all!) After Steve left, we had trips to parks and libraries, play dates with friends and even attended a jousted tournament at a local castle!



All those things kept us busy for one week. The next week, we participated in Holiday Bible Club (read Vacation Bible School). I worked with the children aged 7 and 8. Austen stayed with me and Sierra went with the P2s. The week was a little difficult as Sierra was under the weather. She developed a fever every evening but in the mornings woke feeling fine. One day, she succumbed completely. We barely made it home in time. In spite of illness, we had fun and all of us learned a thing or two.

The Sunday following Holiday Bible Club was a little sketchy too when Austen developed stomach flu; we were slated to travel to Germany that day! We managed, thankfully! In Germany, we were hosted by two very gracious people – Inge and Berndt Wanske. I met them more that 15 years ago in Ecuador. They showed us their lovely region of the country in the state of North Rhine/Westfalia and kept the kids and me entertained.





Then they put us on a train to Bremen where we spent the weekend with Steve. We all had a great time and even the children are wondering when we can go back to Germany!





August 20th found the kids and me back in Aberdeen. Sierra began P2 the next day.



She likes her new teacher and is excited about the year. Austen starts nursery next Tuesday. He will attend five days a week each morning. We are starting to think about how we will celebrate his 4th birthday in October. Will it be Spider Man? Racing cars? Power Rangers? I guess you’ll have to wait and see!

Summer was over and gone in a flash! We’ll be eager to hear how it went for you! Happy Labor Day!

Spring in Scotland

February and March have come and gone. We braced ourselves for bad weather but winter’s performance lacked luster. We had one or two snow showers but the snow melted within a few hours.

While waiting for Spring, Austen and I visited the winter gardens at Duthie Park to see the daffodils before they were bold enough to make their appearance outside the hothouse walls.



Sierra and Austen and I visited a bonnie site (I can say “bonnie” because I live in Scotland) called Burn of Vat with my friend Victoria and her daughter Beth.



On our excursion, we happened upon a fun place called the Deeside Activity Center complete with climbing wall, bouncy castle, and year round sled hill.





(Sierra is a climbing fiend! She has taken to climbing doorframes when she can’t climb a proper climbing wall!)



Since then, fair weather has come and with it, Spring. First came the crocuses – white, and purple. Then bloomed the daffodils.



At the same time, the trees blossomed sending down showers of pink and white with each brisk breeze. Very pretty!



Day is pushing out the night. The sun rises at 5:30 am now and sets at 8:45 pm. It’s hard to go to bed when the day still holds so much promise!

The arrival of Spring coincided with Sierra’s term break, so fine weather graced us on our trip to the Western Isles of Scotland the first week of April. We visited the Isles of Mull and Skye. Iona Abbey impressed us most. St. Columba founded it in 583 A.D. and the oldest intact ruins date to the 9th century. Austen and Sierra stood on the base of a cross, St. Marten’s cross, which has stood where it is unchanged except by the elements since the 9th century.



We stayed in hostels and crossed various channels on ferries – definitely one of the highlights for the kids! We even got to see a seal begging for fish from a fishing boat tied up alongside the ferry! As you can see, his behavior was rewarded!



Oh, while driving through Scotland, we were reminded always to always pay careful heed to the signs. Wouldn’t want to miss that one!



I’ve glossed over most of our trip, but another impressive sight was the Fairie Pools. They were really beautiful. As you can imagine, they captured Sierra’s imagination!



Before we left, we entertained Sierra’s friends with an Easter egg decorating party and hunt. It was her friend, Aditi’s, first opportunity to enjoy Easter festivities. She just moved here from India.



After the trip, we celebrated Easter Sunday at church and then joined in the races at the local park. Sierra, Austen, and Aditi competed in the egg rolling contest, but they missed the egg and spoon race.





They were busy playing



and listening to the bagpipes.



Sierra was too tired to walk home, but Austen was really worn out!



Before Sierra’s term break ended, we got to join my friend, Carrie, and her boys Matthew and Adam at a sheep farm that friends of theirs own. What an informative experience! I learned, for example, that you cannot keep sheep merely for their wool. On the market, the wool will only recover what it costs to sheer them. The kids learned, much to their dismay, that hungry lambs will try to nurse anything. Here is their friend, Matthew. He was brave enough to get near the lambs. But after all, a cape will make any boy bold, won’t it!?



Recently, the fine weather induced me to buy a bike trailer. Sierra is almost too big for it but not quite. The kids and I have been venturing out in it with my friend Carrie pulling her boys Matthew and Adam in tow. We love it! (Sorry, no pic yet.)

Sierra is back in school now. She is doing well, so she was confused when her teacher reported her homework was “satisfactory.” She wanted to know why Mrs. Tyres thought her work was “sad-as-a-factory!” Playing is her favorite subject in school. She also likes doing sums in her yellow notebook. She is still taking swimming lessons and a drama class but reports she would rather do gymnastics than anything else. We will look into that.

Austen is at playgroup and Bible Study Fellowship three mornings of the week. On the other days, we work on learning numbers and the letters in his name. At present, he has minimal interest in academics. His principle pleasures are riding his scooter very fast downhill and playing with Dad.

Dad, for his part continues to work diligently on his PhD. As for me, I turned 36 on Easter Day and am enjoying this season of my life.

Cheers to you! Thank you for visiting. We hope to hear from you too.

Catching You Up...

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas too! Sierra keeps asking me why Christmas can’t be every day. I keep thanking God that it only comes once a year! We did celebrate Thanksgiving with the traditional turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce too. We invited our friend, Tracy, and her son, Arlo. (The third member of their family, Andy, works in the oil industry, and he was on an oil rig off the coast of Nigeria, so he couldn’t be present.)
We had a quiet Christmas here. It was lovely, barring the stomach flu on my part. My case was much more mild than others’. I’m glad for that – for my sake, not theirs! Earlier in the month, Sierra shined in her class Christmas presentation.



She really enjoyed being on stage, so much so that we would like to sign her up for drama classes. On Christmas morning at our church’s Christmas Day service, the children got to take their favorite new gift to show the congregation. Sierra wasn’t asked to speak and she was really disappointed about that.
The kids got two flurries of wonderful gifts, one on Christmas Day and another a week later when the package from my family arrived at long last.






























Sierra also got to celebrate her birthday on Christmas Day in the afternoon. Her friend, Liz, came over with her parents to sing Happy Birthday to Sierra and to share a piece of cake.


























Sierra is going to have her official birthday party with the long-list of guests at the half mark in June. It will be princess party, of course, and we are going to begin planning early. It should be a gala affair! Speaking of birthdays, Steve just celebrated his 34th birthday on Tuesday (the 16th). I took him out to dinner; it was the first time we had gone out just the two of us since we moved here. It was really nice!
After Christmas, the stores have some excellent sales that we took advantage of. Sierra had a fashion show when returned home. As you can see, she and her brother are looking very Gap, or very Next, to be more accurate!





Sierra is back at school. Her spring semester has just begun which is strange because the worst of winter has not hit yet, from what I understand. Sierra started the semester four days late after battling a fierce ear-infection. It’s been a long time since she had one of those. Chicken pox are making the rounds at school now, but our kids have been vaccinated, so I just want to taunt the virus, ‘Nannee-nannee-boo-boo, you can’t catch us!’ I guess I shouldn’t tempt fate; I may not have complete immunity to it myself!
Speaking of weather, it has been surprisingly mild here in my opinion. We haven’t had our first snow yet, and I think we’ve seen the sun every day. (Praise God!) We heard that February and March are usually the coldest, wettest months, but, hey, at least the days are getting longer. If my math is reliable, then daylight should last two hours longer from one month to the next until summer solstice in June when I understand the sun officially sets at 9:00pm and rises at 3:00am with light visible in the sky until 10:30pm and then again after 1:30am. Ah, now that is something to look forward to!
As for me, I’m still studying Scottish history. I’m making very slow progress in that department. I just joined a book club. And on Wednesday next I get to introduce a competitive swimming squad to synchronized swimming. I can’t wait to get on the deck! These are really good swimmers, so I hope I can challenge them with some new skills. I don’t want the session to come off being too easy; the swimmers probably already think of synchronized swimming as a fluff sport (and I’m sure many of you do too! Steve still insists that I use quotation marks when referring to it as a "sport"!) Oh, and Sierra is back in the pool taking swimming lessons every Monday. She is very excited about them, so I am glad for that.
Guess that’s it for today! For those you with snow, yes, even those of you in Texas, here are some pictures to inspire your creativity. Get on those gloves and hats and go play in the snow! ☺ Have a happy day!