Some holiday pictures

My cats love to cuddle. Here they are competing for cutest siblings award.

Some holiday pictures

Dutch baby wedges with lime and powdered sugar. Yummy yum!

Some holiday photos

A family tradition of a Dutch baby. Yum!

Some holiday pictures

Doing some Perry Mason watching.

Some holiday pictures

Shane making us a stir fry.

A view

I enter the room. The expansive space is filled with laughter and joy everywhere. People are seated around a long table, almost seeming as though there is no end to the right or to the left. He is in the middle with an empty seat before him. I walk to greet him, extending my hand as you would to anyone you are meeting face to face for the first time. He shakes my hand warmly, greeting me and welcoming me to join him at the table. I am honored to sit before him. Indeed, what a privilege to sit so close. He laughs with delight, endearment and a little dash of amusement, saying, "Silly child, don't you know how much I love you?" And he motions for me to sit in the seat directly next to him. I am astonished but I cannot deny this pleasure. As I move to leave my seat, I find myself suddenly in the chair next to him. He wraps me in his arms in an embrace of love I have never known before, a perfect embrace of acceptance and affection. He calls me by name, "Jeffra, oh how I love you." He takes my hand and we join the conversation around us. As the complete sense of belonging envelopes me and perhaps some time has passed, I realize I am now in another seat at the table further down from him. I see he is welcoming in another one. Oh, the joy and exhilaration! I am not sorry to lose my seat or envious of the new person. I can still feel his hand in mine and the warmth of his embrace hasn't left me. It should be strange to feel so near when so far, but it isn't at all. It is as it was always meant to be.

Dear Jesus, you are my beloved and I am yours.

Jeffra
Sent from my iPhone

Current London Bridge

Not so pretty.

Old Roman Wharf

From like AD 73, that's old!

Model of old London Bridge

When it had buildings on it, shops and homes.

Tower bridge

London & Tower Bridge photos

Sheep!

Last bit of Horsleys Green - other way

This is going South. See how it becomes a one lane only? And to the left is a public foot path. (Sadly could not take the stroller on it. )

Last bits of Horsleys Green

It only has one street. This is North view.

Sunny but brrrrr

Like a brisk San Jose day in December. Clear days are often colder than cloudy days. In other news, Jenn and I managed to lock ourselves out of the room early this morning. And since it is Saturday, workers bees on site are few. I had to call the duty manager who is sending someone over.

Cold!

Our "Dorm" building

This is where we are sleeping, resting and playing.

Super condensation

Everything is soooo wet. I think Z is almost soaked. Little C will be shortly since she is playing with tree leaves.

Super sunny morning

The sun is out in full bloom.

A little of what we have done

Breakfast is at 7:30am, so early morning wake-up alarm. We all eat together. Then back to our rooms for final prep. Andrew and Amanda went off to their meeting at 9am and nanny duty began. Jenn and I pile up the three kids to go play in the play ground (and sand volleyball pit). At 10:15am, Jenn takes littlest one for his nap and I keep the girls occupied. Usually we end up back at the rooms by 11am, baby boy sleeping until lunch. Jenn and I keep the girls occupied with reading, coloring, snacking and playing with my old iPhone.

At 12:45pm, it is lunchtime! Parents are with us, so our wrangling lessens a bit. Parents go back to meetings at 2pm. Next hour or so is quiet time for the kids. Sometime around 3:30pm, we all head over to the playroom. In here there are lots of toys and a little tv with a VCR. There are also biscuits (cookies) and juice. We usually end up staying here until Andrew and Amanda are done with their meeting around 5 or 5:30pm.

Dinner time is at 5:45pm. Food is less heavy at dinner than lunch. Also, no dessert! After dinner, we head back to rooms (maybe a bit of playtime), then getting the kiddos to bed can take some time. Perhaps later, there is some time for chatting with the parents.

And that has been the basic routine so far. Two more days to go.