so she IS listening

This morning we were at the Queen Street station, trying to figure out how to get to the lower platform so that we could find our train for Balloch/Loch Lomond.  After two straight weeks of city, we were ready to see some water and trees. We flagged down a train station worker, fumbling through our pronunciation of Balloch (the breathier, the better, as it turns out), and she kindly pointed us in the right direction, saying, "the elevator is over there."
Lillian takes one look at her, furrows her brow, and says: "you say LIFT, not e-we-va-tor!"
Thomas and I cracked up, and the surprised lady explained that she heard our accent and figured we'd do better with American terminology.
Considering that we ride elevators/lifts 5+ times per day, and discuss the terminology at least daily, it's not a quantum leap. But it is pretty neat to see her slight awareness of cultural differences, accents, etc, grow in such amusing ways.

Later that day--note the rain pinging off the water

Being abroad with kids, Part One

There are some obvious inconveniences to being abroad with children. Being trapped in your hotel room once your kids go to sleep at 7, for one. (Which is especially a bummer when the sun doesn't go down until 10:30.)  Getting around with a double stroller is challenging--I've had to awkwardly push by people more than once and have had to back out of a few stores because we just didn't fit. And noisy meltdowns, especially by a certain almost three-year old are commonplace (and just as embarrassing here, FYI).

However, there are some really awesome parts, too. A few things that I foresaw, and a few fun surprises.

1. Watching Lillian interact with a much wider variety of people and situations is awesome. Her little brain is pretty much exploding by the end of every day. She talks to the people we sit next to on the train; the people we encounter in coffee shops; workers standing around on breaks; other guests in the hotel; etc. And since I am doing minimal cleaning and cooking (CUE ANGELS SINGING), and we can only spend so many hours in the hotel every day (hotel suites, even nice ones, are definitely not designed for small children), we spend a lot of time outside going to various museums, parks and shops, so there are always new experiences to be had and new people to encounter. Elliott is obviously benefiting from these things, too; it's just a little harder to gauge.

2. . When I was abroad in college, I spent a lot of time trying to blend in. I figured out that the best way to do that was to keep talking and smiling to a minimum. Now that my #1 priority is keeping my kids safe and in control, I have no problem raising my voice and drawing attention to my American accent. Plus I can't help but (nor can most other people) smile at their antics and encourage the good behavior while reining in the bad. Which brings me to my next point:

3. Kids break the ice. Yesterday Lillian sat down next to a lady on the subway and after a few exchanged smiles, she asked her where she lives and if she has kids. The lady cheerfully answered both questions and we were able to have a nice conversation with her. If Lillian hadn't been there, our interchange would never have moved beyond nonverbal communication. This is just one example from a number of interactions, too.

4. Dragging kids around the city--particularly when I'm on my own--has shown me just how kind the Glaswegians are. People are constantly asking if they can help--whether it's helping us lug the stroller up and down the stairs into the subway, holding an elevator, smiling and talking to us in the street, etc. This morning at a coffee shop no fewer than three people leaped up to open the door for us, while telling me how lovely my  "wee boy and girl are" and asking how our day is going. This city is incredibly friendly, and I think that having Lillian and Elliott with me helps to bring that out in people.

5. Finding kid friendly activities is fun! Having a plethora of free museums to visit helps a lot, obviously, and I can't wait to see what all we will discover this year.

L adding her little house to the village created by other kids at the Gallery of Modern Art. 

Checking out the scene at the Botanic Garden yesterday. 

Glad to be in Glasgow

The last three months were...busy. Like I'm not sure I've ever been so busy before. I sat down to blog several times, but the posts were either whiny or wordy, and I never hit publish.

To quickly summarize May and June,
-We obtained UK visas after jumping through about 348984 hoops. It was WAY more work than we thought it was going to be! All's well that ends well though, and we are grateful to be here.
-We rented out our house to a sweet friend who gets to live there with her sister. Total answer to prayer for both of us.
-We found a great foster family for Sullivan. She has already sent us three emails, a picture and a video of Sullivan playing with his "foster sister" Maggie. We are so very thankful for this situation.
-We filled up a storage unit with our stuff (how do we have so much stuff??); sweet-talked our parents into taking our cars; and shipped everything else to Glasgow. We are looking forward to being reunited with those possessions (like the pants I desperately need, joke's on me!) since we are waiting until we have an address to receive them.
-We received tons of help from friends (I'm looking at you, KPro and Ellen!) and our families. My in-laws spent a week helping out while I did VBS at church, and the kiddos had a blast playing with Grandma and Pops. My parents filled in a lot of gaps and we definitely wouldn't have made it here without their help. Thanks to everyone who helped us get here, in big and small ways.
-We had a wonderful visit with my sister and her new baby, and enjoyed playing in the pool and doing lots of Charleston-things while she was here. Haylee is the sweetest niece ever!
-We managed to take care of the kiddos, and so far they appear pretty well-adjusted despite the complete chaos of the last few months.
-We said goodbye to family and friends in Charleston, hopped on a plane, and just like that, we were in Glasgow (actively working to repress how "fun" the plane rides were).

On the whole, we LOVE being here. The people are incredibly friendly; the buildings are old and cool (there's lots of HEY WE LIVE IN EUROPE! moments); and mostly we are so busy making a living (Thomas) or trying to make the transition as seamless as possible for the kiddos (Ashley)  that we feel contented and settled. Or as settled as you can feel when you are living in a hotel and spending all of your free time looking for a flat, all while trying to explore the city and make it feel like home. Flat-hunting is a whole post in itself, but suffice it to say, being on House Hunters International as so many suggested is starting to look a lot more fun...We are confident that God has a place for us, though, and hopefully we are honing in on one that isn't too shabby, too expensive, or too small.
The kids are doing awesome. They quickly adapted to the time change--much faster than we did--and haven't seemed to mind that we are living in a two-bedroom suite in a hotel. Lillian has charmed the desk staff, and they give her 2-3 apples from their bowl every time we walk in and out. Needless to say, Thomas and I have eaten our body weight in apples this week. Malcolm is her favorite, and she screams "my favorite man is here!" every time he is working, much to his delight. She also loves all of the city accouterments. There is always a button to push, an escalator or lift to ride, a bus or taxi to spot, a pigeon to chase, a busker to watch, a train/subway car to board, etc. When she's in a really good mood, she runs down the sidewalks screaming some combination of songs from Frozen, Rio or various nursery rhymes. People seem to enjoy her vivacity, and her Southern drawl is mostly decipherable to them. We are marveling at the fact that she will be 3 at the end of next month.
Elliott continues to be a rockstar little guy. He started out the move with a nasty double ear infection, quickly catapulting us into the NHS world--free doctor's visit and free medicine, even out of hours! Huzzah! He is cutting his second tooth; cruising around all the furniture; and eating everything in sight. We call him Mr. Chubbs because he loves all food. Last night at dinner, Lillian was messing around as usual, not really eating, and we all looked over to see that Elliott had grabbed her plate and was cramming her sandwich into his mouth. He is a champion stroller (pram) rider, which is good since he is logging quite a bit of time in our behemoth of a vehicle. His other nickname is "Mr. Congeniality" because that pretty much sums up his take on life thus far. His birthday is also next month (SERIOUSLY HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!)
Thomas and I are doing quite well, too. His new office is small but really cool, for lack of a better word, and he is enjoying the work he's beginning here. He continues to balance work and home life really well, which I am thankful for. I am having fun figuring out how to "do life" in a completely new environment without the built in support of family and friends, and with certain challenges like not having a car or a nest just yet. It's so nice at night to just hang out and relax after the incredible busyness of the last few months. Scouring the real estate pages for new lettings (rentals) and laughing at the absurd number of quiz shows that the British watch are two of our new favorite pastimes. We are thankful for God's abundant grace in getting us here, and for giving us this opportunity.

More to come from Glasgow soon. If you read all of that, I am impressed. Here are some pictures as a reward. And I'm pretty proud to say that none of these are Instagram or Facebook repeats. Mostly we just take a lot of pictures.

Accidentally stumbled upon a 4,000+ person parade on Saturday. You can see that this flag-bearer is opposed to Scotland's independence referendum, which will be voted on in September.

Lillian sewing her book at the Gallery of Modern Art last week. All of the museums in Glasgow are free, and most are kid-friendly. WINNING.

Elliott's contribution to her book at the GOMA

Master of mischief, perhaps. How hilarious is this label?

Watching some buskers on a nearby street. She told me, very seriously, at the end that "he's not Papa" since my dad also rocks out on the guitar. 

I am starting to understand why there are so many indoor play places in Scotland.

#reallife #lifeinahotelroom

Pretty typical street scene--chill E, up-to-something L, rain

Playing, aka eating a crayon on the floor of Wagamama

Pure delight on the subway

When all four of us are together, the subway is the way to go (I can't do it by myself with the kids and the stroller).

A "beach" in front of the Riverside Transport Museum. Just like home! Minus the long sleeves and pants, of course

Selfies on the subway in our gold "spawkles"

An Adventure Abroad

(alt. title: The time we decided to move abroad for a year with two small children)
(alt. alt. title: The Grooms' go to Glasgow)

Sometimes things happen in life and you can instantly see how a hundred other things prepared you for it. I have made all of the following statements within the last year:
"I really want to live in a city someday."
"I really want to live somewhere that has a real winter with snow."
"I really want to have an adventure."
"I love travelling with our kids because it shows us how resilient they are/how capable they are of adapting to new situations and circumstances."
" I feel like I'm waiting for something to happen, yet I'm perfectly happy with what God has blessed us with and where we are."

So when Thomas came home a few weeks ago and mentioned that his company was looking to send someone abroad to work with one of his primary clients, Oxford University (yep, that one), we were vaguely excited. We decided that he should throw his name in the ring and see what happened since we felt like the timing was good for our family and it was a good career opportunity for T. We started praying in earnest for clarity and vision, and that our lives would glorify God, whether at home or abroad.
A couple of days later, Thomas called me and said, "how would you like to move to Glasgow, Scotland, for a year?" I was instantly ecstatic and terrified.  All of the statements I made above raced through my brain, along with visions of my little family with pneumonia, huddled around a fire we made in our tiny, dark flat out of IKEA furniture during an interminably long winter. Although I can't rule this out as a possibility, saying no seemed unthinkable. So we talked it over, dreamed some big dreams, and (more or less) decided to say yes. We clued in our families the next day, and their enthusiasm for this opportunity gave us the courage to make our tentative yes into a resounding YES.

We have long lists of questions, a few big fears (what we will do with Sullivan, SOB; the Scottish winter; and being so far from family and friends, to start), and a huge to-do list before we leave this summer, but all of those are tempered by the knowledge that we serve a big and faithful God who has been preparing us for this journey for years. I am incredibly proud of Thomas for getting this opportunity and expectant that it will be an exhilarating step into the unknown. Some of you probably think we are insane for doing a transatlantic move with kids who are not quite one and three, and you're probably not wrong! We are hopeful that someday our kiddos will appreciate this leap of faith.

(More blog posts to follow soon about the perils of passports, and various other happenings from the last few weeks.)

Glasgow!

Scottish flag

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." J.R.R. Tolkien

monkey see...

"YOOK, MOMMY! I'M BRINGIN' A PHONE JUST YIKE YOU!"

I think I had a mom moment

I don't usually blog before 7 am, but I'm hoping the Lord will use the process of jotting down this quick story from yesterday to soften my heart towards a certain two year-old who coughed herself awake at 5 am (sad) and then proceeded to lay in bed with us and kick us and demand beverages, nose wiping and TV for the next 1.5 hours (not sad, just annoying).

During our usual afternoon park visit, three middle school girls were also there, hanging out after visiting the pool on its opening day. L was, of course, fascinated by the big girls, and was so thrilled to point out the bunny rabbit on her t-shirt when one of them talked to her. Totally made her day. Thank you, random tween girl, for speaking kindly to a little one. Anyways, later on we were swinging and L was watching them sit on top of the monkey bars and talk--powwow, if you will. Naturally she wanted to climb up there with them. I told her that someday she would be a big girl and could sit up there, but not yet. She broke out in this huge grin and said, "YEAH, I can sit up there with you, MOMMY, and El-we-ut!" I smiled back, but it hit me hard that her constant desire to be my side is a season, and one that will probably look fleeting in retrospect. I didn't have the heart to tell her that at that point in life, she won't want to be caught dead with her mom and baby brother while she's hanging out with her friends.

It was a good reminder to stop and enjoy (or try to) all of these close-together moments that make up life right now. And so far I'm doing a good job.

Except maybe between 5 and 7 am.

Monkey-ing it up recently

life lately

This conversation sums up the last four days or so:

Ashley and Thomas are in the kitchen, cleaning up from lunch, picking up toys, etc. Elliott is down for his usual afternoon nap. Lillian is also sleeping; she is sick, so her mean parents forced her to take her first nap in her bed in 3+ months. She "happily acquiesced" after 20 minutes of hysterical screaming and then stealth ninja moves by mommy to leave the room. 

Ashley: Wow, both kids are asleep at the same time! I don't even know what to do with myself. Perhaps I'll nap, too.
Thomas: I know! The only good thing about Lillian being sick is----

[crying from upstairs MOMMMMMYYYYY! MOMMYYYYYY! WHERE ARE YOUUUUUU?!]

face palm.

We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow to check and see if E's nebulizer has helped his wheezing and to ascertain why L is on her third straight day of fever. Womp womp.


BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS.


The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers....Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  (from Psalm 27)

Holy Week is here. We celebrated Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem yesterday by commemorating Palm Sunday (btw L loves to play "hosanna" and pick up random things and wave them while shouting HOSANNA at the top of her lungs. Love that kid.). And on Friday we will remember when Jesus bowed his head and took our punishment, but thankfully we know that SUNDAY'S COMING.