Day Six-six Our Final Day

This is it!! Our last day in England. I know this is hard to believe, but we’re literally on our last roll of toilet paper and paper towels; I scraped the bottom and sides of the peanut butter this morning for one last piece of toast, then tossed it in the trash; and, the deodorant, soap, hairspray, toothpaste and laundry detergent we bought on arrival will barely make it for one final use. These are all signs that it’s time to go home! Last night we had a final meal with Justin, Sherry, and Kelly. Tonight, at formal dinner, we’ll say our good-byes to our college friends. And this will be my final blog. The journey is complete.
We stayed in England long enough for the scenery to become secondary to the people. We’re all different, but for me, that is as it should be. I have never been one to be so caught up in a “place” that I don’t value the people more. That’s why I have never enjoyed traveling alone. For me, if I can’t share a majestic sunset or a field of daisies or a snow covered mountain with someone dear to me, it’s hardly worth it. Don’t get me wrong, I can see the beauty and appreciate God’s mighty hand in His creation; I just want to watch someone else’s face as they see it too. The feeling that comes from “oohing” and “aahing” with another human is irreplaceable. I’m sure you’ve experienced it. Like at a fireworks display at a New Years celebration when the colors light up the sky and the entire crowd sighs in unison and you look to the one nearest you for an affirming nod and smile. That’s the feeling.
In our ten weeks abroad we toured seen war torn castles and restored English manors, climbed stairs to dark prison cells and powerful bell towers, dined in seasoned pubs and extravagant palaces, marveled at intricate stained glass windows and magnificent steeples that point to the heavens, and relaxed in soothing Roman hot baths and luxurious hotel rooms. Over time, only our photographs will bring those memories back to the powerful status they currently hold as places and things are eventually replaced with other places and things--and memories fade. But names, people, like Tim, Fiona, Justin, Sherry, Sierra, Skylar, Kelly, Andrew, Davis, Isabella, Myra, and Jules will never be replaced.
People are never replaced. Like stacking dominoes one by one, our relationships become an awesome display of God’s most precious gifts. Unlike dominoes, where the higher the pile the more likely you are to lose them, our friendship pile can continue to grow as one inevitably leads and connects to another as if it’s held together with a magic human glue stick. And with each addition, each new friendship, we are challenged to get closer to heaven as we learn to communicate, adjust, make allowances for, delight in, speak kindly to, and love each different personality.
A place never demands the best out of us. Conditions might, like a driving wind or slippery black ice. A condition might require us to be patient, still, or understanding, for a time, but it never requires us to be kind and loving. Only people can bring out those Christ-like qualities that will serve us well when we reach our final destination. But, places can bring out the best of God. His natural creations can never be rivaled by something man-made. Beyond the castle sits the rolling hills sprinkled with sheep and cows and horses and one is almost dared to decide which demands our attention more. God’s creation always wins out. And so, we’re back to people. God’s creation always wins out over man’s. If given the chance to view one more castle or even one more sunset or one last glimpse of a child, parent, or spouse, my guess is we’ll all go for the loved one every time.
Thank you for sharing this journey with me. As I said in the beginning, I love to share my experiences in person, but it was also great fun to record our adventures for others to read. I had never blogged and I thank you for being a part of my first blogging experience. When I told someone at the college on our second day here that I planned to blog, he commented that it would be quite a discipline. I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but he proved to be right. It was a discipline. I think I learned as much from blogging about our adventures as living through them.
Finally, Dorothy said it best when she clicked her ruby red slippers together and declared, “There’s no place like home.” This statement is said by thousands every day. From soldiers in Iraq to vacationers in Hawaii to students at Harding, at the end of the day, it’s great to go home.
“Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.” I Peter 1:18
Love you all and will see you soon. You’ve been great blogging buddies.
Hugs, 2 Mama and 2 Papa

Day Sixty-five Sulgrave Manor Day

It’s Thursday afternoon which means our countdown is one and one half days to home. While we’re eager to board Saturday’s plane, we’re not wasting our last minutes. On Wednesday, 2 Papa met with Dr. Paul Fiddes for a tutoring session concerning 2 Papa’s book project. Dr. Fiddes, a British Baptist theologian, is a remarkable man. He is Professor of Systematic Theology in the University of Oxford and was formerly Principal (President) of Regent's Park College. Being the former principal gives him the honor of having his portrait hang in the dining hall in a prominent position. Looking at the very austere portrait would lead you to think he is not someone with whom a normal person could hold a conversation. But then, he walks into the college, with a tiny bicycle helmet still attached to his head and you think, okay he’s just a normal person himself. As my dad used to say, “He puts his pants on just like we do--one leg at a time.” That was Dad’s way of saying that, in the end, we’re all equal. 2 Papa had a great discussion with him on suffering and Dr. Fiddes was able to give him some insight into scripture he had never considered. 2 Papa considers this the highlight of his trip.
The rest of the blog is very historical, so here’s my warning. Stop now, if history is not your thing or you’re out of time.
We couldn’t leave without one more tour, so today we went to Sulgrave Manor, the family home of George Washington’s ancestors. George, himself, never traveled to England at all, and had it not been for a fateful sinking of a boat, he might never have ended up as our first President. It seems his great-great-grandfather, John, was heavily involved in trade with the newly established colony called Virginia. On one of his journeys to trade English goods for tobacco his boat sank leaving him stranded in Virginia. As luck, or fate, would have it, the ship sank near a plantation owned by a very wealthy man who happened to have an available daughter named Anne Pope. Although the boat was eventually repaired, John knew a good deal when he saw one and married Anne, receiving a wedding gift of 700 acres on Maddox Creek. The rest is now American history since in three more generations George Washington was born.
Our visit today to Sulgrave Manor was so fascinating. The focus on the tour during this time of the year is to take visitors back to its very beginning, the Tudor years of the 1500s during Christmas. We visited the grand room which was used for entertaining the men of the time and the master bedroom which hosted the women and, then the very competent, but rustic, large Tudor kitchen. The original owner, Lawrence Washington, and his wife had eleven children all of which lived to adulthood. This was very rare at a time when only one in ten children lived to adulthood. The house was quite large, but not because of the eleven children, who would have lived in just a few rooms or possibly one room. Everything was large and beautiful just for show. The class system was well in effect during this time and if you had it, you flaunted it. Even a dinner would be set with the better food at the end of the table where the most prestigious people sat. Our guide said the Tudors were very aware of their status and knew exactly where to sit at the table. The expression “Upper Crust” comes from the fact that the bread was generally burned on the bottom so the most prominent would be allowed to eat the unburned upper crust. The bread would then be slice from the top down, leaving the burned bottom slice for the servants. An average person ate eight or nine loaves of bread a day.
We learned so much today that I couldn’t possible say it all, so I’m going to just bullet some of interesting facts.
• Christmas trees were not used yet, but they hung a wreath in the grand room and hid gifts in it. Other decorations were fresh evergreens and fruit.
• Martha Washington suggested to Betsy Ross that her husband’s family be represented in the new American flag by using symbols from their family coat of arms. Hence our flag features the famous stars and stripes. But the stars were really the spurs from the militia horsemen and the stripes were the French blood that was shed during the French and England war.
• Christmas during this time was celebrated with twelve days of merriment and drinking. Poor people would likely not even know it was Christmas as they had no calendars, but would celebrate somewhere around this time. Of course, they had nothing so they would go caroling in hopes that wealthier people would share their bounty.
• No one ate root vegetables, like potatoes, as they were considered dirty from being under the dirt and they were too close to the devil for their comfort.
• Which is odd about the dirty part as the people of this time never washed their clothes. They did wash their undergarments, but their outer garments were of fabrics that were not washable. Hence, the napkin. Napkins were draped over their shoulders and covered their clothes to protect them.
• Meal courses were called “removes” as each course is removed before the other is put in place. Henry VIII is said to commonly have 25 removes at his meals and is credited with being the first person to eat turkey. The average number of removes for a wealthy family was seven. Food was also a status symbol.
• Until the 15th century, the cooks for large homes were men who worked naked because of the heat. Obviously, women were not allowed in the kitchen—thank goodness!
• In Tudor days no one had a fork and visitors were required to bring their own knife to the table. Food was cut up first, and then eaten with fingers. Oddly, manners were very important and this was the manner of the day.
• The poor could not afford sugar, which we now know was probably good. Queen Elizabeth loved sugar and had plenty. So much so she had rotted teeth as a result. Women of the time wanted to look like her and blackened their own to copy her.
Okay, this is extremely long. If you read it all, I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about our English ancestors. Since I’m a combination of American Indian and English and 2 Papa’s ancestors are also from Britain is all very interesting to us. Better go!! Have a great day.
“Celebrate God. Sing together—everyone! All you honest hearts, raise the roof!” Psalm 32:11
Hugs, 2 Mama

Day Sixty-three Earl of Suffolk Manor Day

Hi, my dear family and friends.
We’re down to four remaining days in merry ole England. We’ve managed to stay long enough to welcome winter as we woke up to frost this morning. (see car in photo) We walked to the bus stop breathing out those fine puffs of smoke that only happen when the temperature is around freezing. This afternoon we even spotted a few snowflakes.
Monday was rather uneventful except for lunch at the college with good company. Last night we went to see 2012, which was like watching The Titanic, The Poseidon (sp?) Adventure, and The Day After all in one movie. It was a little too much, but okay if there’s nothing else to see.
Today, we boarded the train at 10:07 headed to the home of Davis and Isabella Bunn. If you’ll remember they are the couple responsible for our being in Oxford. Davis is an author and Isabella is a lawyer who works with the Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regents Park College. We’ve tried to get together all term, but as is often the case, the time has nearly slipped away without our doing so. Today they graciously entertained us with a homemade meal that Davis prepared and dessert that Isabella prepared in the most amazing setting—their home.
First of all, their home is located in the Cotswolds; that wonderful part of England that was home to thousands of sheep for hundreds of years used to make beautiful woolen everything. The sheep are fewer in number now, but still a staple in the lush countryside, along with horses and huge, fuzzy cows. Just the drive up to the home is like entering a movie set. Then this enormous mansion comes into view and you’re transformed into another century where women wore corsets and large skirts and men smoked pipes and discussed men things in the drawing room.
Originally built in the sixteenth century, this has been the family home of the Earls of Suffolk. Just a small thing, hardly room enough for one family, this manor is 58,000 square feet, including the cellars, and sits on 4500 acres. The 21st Earl of Suffolk, Michael John James George Robert Howard is the current owner, but he lives in another home on the property using this home to help fund the entire operation. (Howard is the family name of the Earl’s, dating back to 1500’s. Maybe we should dig a little deeper. I think 2 Papa looks like an Earl.) There are twenty-one private residences now occupying what was once home to one family. After many changes, the style today varies in each part of the manor, but is mostly Georgian. The huge common room looks like a Wedgewood china plate with a raised white design on a soft green background. Davis and Isabella live in the front section of one wing of the manor. Of the 58,000 sq. feet, they have a measly 3000. It includes three stories and is absolutely beautiful. I have included a picture of the entire manor and their spacious kitchen. The nearest little hamlet only has nineteen houses in it. A hamlet is the name given to a community that doesn’t have a pub and a church; a village has a church and a pub (it’s all very complicated over here). The trip to Oxford takes around two hours so it’s been quite a commitment for them for the past seven years. But, they have loved their country life and it’s perfect to inspire Davis as he writes. It was great to spend time with them and to see another slice of historical England.
Tonight, we met up with Kelly to continue our quest to eat at all the restaurants in Oxford. Tonight it was Yo! Sushi. Who would have thought we would come to England to eat sushi? 2 Papa has been fascinated with this restaurant since he first peered in the window to see that the food runs on a conveyor belt letting the customers just pick off what they want to eat. It was SUSHI HEAVEN for 2 Papa. I truly thought it would cost us a fortune as 2 Papa has never exercised great willpower when food goes pass him at a slow speed. But, he did okay, or maybe I should say, each bowl was reasonably priced so the bill wasn’t as bad as I suspected.
As we ate with Davis and Isabella, I kept thinking of all the generations of families who have shared this home. Since 1561, there have been twenty-one generations of the same family living on the same piece of property. A reality that's hard for us Americans to imagine as we rarely make it to two generations living on the same property. While this is very cool, my prayer is that we are handing down something more valuable than a house of bricks and mortar.
“Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we'll hardly notice. We'll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.” II Peter 3:11
Well, that’s it. Four more days and we’ll be sleeping in our own bed. WOOHOO!
Hugs, 2 Mama