Lots of Playground Fun!

Look at my sweet boy! Here he is trying out the swings for the very first time at the playground on campus. He thinks it is pretty great, as you can see. I'm looking forward to taking him back soon. I've just been pretty busy. Brighton is a very family oriented city, which I didn't expect at all since it has a reputation as England's party/gay capital. There is definitely that side to this town, but there are also a lot of folk who decided that they were done working in London and decided to head south to Brighton to start their family. Many of the mommies here are older-- you can see they waited to have their career before kids. We already go to the Wednesday playgroup at church and we're hoping to add the "Baby Boogie" at the library to our agenda as well. Iain loves to watch other babies and children.

In other news, I'm grudgingly acclimating to life here, but still finding just the basics of shopping, cooking, laundry, and getting around challenging. I'm praying that God would give me patience and a spirit of submission to His will. Keep me in your prayers. One wouldn't think that life in England would be hard, but it kinda is. I think that not having a car and not having a lot of disposable income have a lot to do with that. But I'm hoping that this is furthering my santification. I'm discovering lots of hidden materialism in myself!

As an example of what I'm talking about, let me tell you today's story. There is a great website called freecycle that my mom told me about where you can get stuff that other people don't want anymore for free! So today I was supposed to pick up a hair dryer (yay!) and it was on Compton Rd, or so I thought. I let Iain have his morning nap and fed the boy and got him ready to go into town. We rode bus # 1 for about 45 minutes and then rode bus #2 for another 15. It is gently sprinkling as Iain, I, and my trusty map are deposited in an unfamiliar neighborhood. We set off in what we think is the right direction walking for probably another 15 minutes climbing the steepest hill I think I have ever encountered. When I get to the summit I can't find 43 A, so I knock on plain old 43. The man who opened the door was very nice, but told me that I was in completely the wrong place because I was looking for Compton Ave! So I walk back towards Compton Ave, but get turned around and spend another 15 minutes walking in the wrong direction before correcting myself. So I have to walk back. Luckily I was able to figure out my way well enough to catch a bus to the right part of town. So again we have a 15 minute bus ride and are deposied in strange neighborhood #2. It is raining harder and windy now, but we sucessfully find 43A and obtain free hair dryer. Yay! My next errand is to head to a shop to have Brian's briefcase repaired and go to the thrift stores to look for things for Iain. So I walk back to the main road and figure out what bus will take me where I need to go and where to catch it. So Iain and I wait in the rain for the bus and have a 10 minute ride to the shops. We walk to the store we want and a lady rudely cuts in front of us with her order. Then we speak to the Turkish man who owns the repair shop. Unfortunately, it will be 25 pounds to fix the bag. As we are there, Iain lets me know that it is time to eat! (I am very blessed that he finds all this travel very interesting. He just absorbs it all and seems perfectly conten to be drug all over creation as long as he gets his meals on time.) So I head to a nearby restaurant to feed him. The stroller doesn't really fit in the restaurant and another mom and I play stroller musical chairs since she was in there already with a stroller that only fit behind the door. Since I am using their nice dry chairs and I am hungry I order some food. But after ordering 3 drinks with my meal just to make it expensive enough to use my debit card, I discover I can't use it because it is American. Grr... Thankfully I had other money with me that I had forgotten about, so I can order just the food I really want. yay! By the time we both finish eating it is raining very steadily and although it is only 4pm, many of the shops have already closed for the day. My umbrella somehow becomes quite entangled in the stroller and I can't get it out! I decide it is time to head home, especially as I want to try to attend the feminist meeting tonight. We wait 20 minutes for the bus in the rain, but during this time I disentangle my umbrella. Iain stays dry thanks to a stroller cover I bought at home. I'm very thankful for that cover, because the thought of my baby being cold and wet too would send me over the edge at times of stress. We get on the bus, but no one will make room for the stroller and the stroller and I are blocking the aisle of the bus and dripping water on people. Finally the bus clears a bit and we have room to fit into the stroller space. We change buses and finally arrive home.

I know that narrative was long-winded and poorly written and whiny, but I wanted to get it out. I feel better just saying how it was today and is many days here. The frustrating thing to me is how long it takes to get anywhere on the bus. They do come frequently, but they stop frquently too. Everything I went to was probably within 7 miles of my house today. So at rate, apologies for the boring whiny post, but now posterity and I are satisfied. So please do pray for me that I will see the little providences and be patient under the little providences.

I tried to go to the feminist meeeting again, but again the room was dark and locked. They have the world's worst publicity, which is probably a good thing. :)

Praise to the Lord who over all things so wonderously reignth,
Shelters thee under his wing, yes so gently sustainth.
Hast thou not seen, how all they desires have been
Granted in what He ordainth?