Guess what?

Our sea freight shipment arrived last Wednesday! I'm happily typing up this blog post on my Mac. Everything came in good condition- minus one bowl- so we're really grateful for that. About this time last week we were wondering if it would come at all.

If you've been keeping up with us much, you'll know that this has been quite an ordeal. The shipment actually arrived in London on September 21st, but was detained by customs for an "extra screening" (randomly selected of course, but guess who gets to pay an additional 50 pounds?) Then the kind folks at EuroUSA failed to let us know that they needed some additional paperwork to get that extra screening done, so after 5 days we called them and found this out. It took at least a week to do this "extra screening" (which apparently simply involved putting it through an x-ray since none of the stuff in the boxes shifted from the way we originally packed it). When they got done, they required us to pay a pretty heavy duty. Our stuff was finally released on October 7th, but didn't show up in Oxford until Oct. 26th.

We've learned a lot through this:
1) Bureaucracy in any country is slow. As much as I would like to blame English customs for this, I know that the U.S. government can be similarly inefficient.
2) In our attempt to save some money by shipping our stuff here, we lost money (with a LOT more effort on our part by packing, shipping, and filling out countless pieces of paper). We couldn't really know that on the front end, but we certainly see now.
3) After a month and a half without all our precious clothes, books, kitchen goods, computer, etc., we realized we really can do with less. (OK, I realized this. Brandon always knew.) And after unpacking all these things and finding a place to put them, I started to think, "Why the heck did I think I needed to bring 12 shirts?"

I think for me, this experience has been rough but needed. It's better to learn these lessons now than in a few years- like when we're deciding on a house, or determining how much we need to live on per year.

Nonetheless, it is nice to have a little bit of "home" in our "home", like:

Cool art (props to Kate D.)

Homey pillow

Books galore! and a reminder of sweet friends back home

And of course, some essentials for the kitchen:

4 large jars of PB: 2 crunchy (Brandon) and 2 creamy (Claire)

Thank goodness for pyrex and tupperware! 

You definitely can't find this here.

So there it is. Flat F + some familiar things from the former Eidson household in Auburn.
Welcome home.

Not without hope

Again, we feel the loss of being far away from family. Except this time we are not celebrating the birth of a baby, but mourning the death of a wonderful man.

Papa Bill and Granny Bonnie with Brandon

The man on the left in this picture is Brandon's grandfather, affectionately known as Papa Bill. Last year he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After a tough battle with this awful disease, he died Saturday in his home in Bertha, Alabama, surrounded by his wife and children. Though we know he is free of the pain of cancer now, we are saddened knowing he won't be there when we get back.

Our feelings sometimes serve as clues to reality. In a world filled with car accidents, natural disasters, war, and disease, we often shake our heads over seeing life ended abruptly . Even for Papa Bill, who lived 84 full years and was hurting so much at the end, no one was ready for him to die. We still respond to death with an attitude of, "This is not how this should be." We call it unfair; and in a way, it is. Our bodies weren't always in a process of decay. Our world wasn't always working against us.

This is exactly what we find in the Genesis account of creation.  God created the world as it should be: humans working together in creation with uninterrupted communion with God.  However, man was unsatisfied with this perfect setup and . Paul tells us in Romans 5 that "sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned."

It would seem hopeless if he stopped there. But praise God, only 3 verses later, Paul tells us that "the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many."

We will all die a physical death, but we don't have to die spiritually. We can have eternal life through Christ. Jesus left a perfect place to live in a fallen world and die for sinful people, so that we can live eternally with Him. With that hope we can stand firm in the midst of suffering on this earth, all the while gazing hopefully to the New Heavens and New Earth promised in Revelation where "death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore...."

We love to cook around here

Here at NOOC, we'll find any reason to get together for a huge meal. Tonight, we were saying goodbye (again) to another Spanish resident, Alberto, with a big, international dinner. While we're sorry to see another amigo leave, we had quite a feast in his honor. There was a lot of Spanish food, but also some Italian, Russian, Indian, and South Korean (ok, it may have really been Chinese). I even tried to bring an element of the South with banana pudding.
Needless to say, we are stuffed full of pasta, lentils, and potatoes. Brandon videoed some of the fun so we could share with you all of the different accents we hear around the house.

Say hello!

Sorry about that!

I haven't been keeping the blog updated as much as I would like. One reason is because I have done a bad job at taking pictures of all that's been going on. Another is because of what I did photograph, I can't edit - and I hate not editing photos before posting them. But since my computer has not arrived and won't for another 7 business days, some unedited photos will go up. I will put more up later. Promise.
This is what the last week (and a half, eek am I a bad blogger!) has looked like:

Apple-picking with friends  

Some of the "fruits" of our efforts (ha)

The beginning of Michaelmas term (aka fall semester, but only 8 weeks long!)

Wycliffe Hall, where Brandon spends a good bit of his days

Dinner at the Ramsdens (one of B's profs), where I was able to meet the rest of the OCCA students and eat amazing Greek food

Carrying home groceries 6 blocks by myself (and thereby discovering I can't buy milk and juice on the same day anymore)

Brandon's assignment and completion of his first essay (he'll get reviews today)

A visit to Port Meadow with a friend from NOOC
                                                                        

Ksenia, our Russian friend who lives upstairs

OCCA Brunch at the home of one of the tutors, Tom

A welcome dinner Saturday night at NOOC (our home)

A visit to the Eagle and Child pub with OCCA folks

Where Tolkien, Lewis, and other "Inklings" spent time

Discovering that our sea freight shipment is coming (once we paid a hefty duty to customs), but will still take another week and a half

A goodbye dinner (so soon?) to a NOOC resident and some amazing Spanish food

Javier cooked for his own goodbye party

Cooking hard and thinking hard

Making some new friends at the Oxford Newcomers' Club and spending an afternoon together at the Farmer's Market 

Leah: lawyer's wife, former kindergarten teacher, and fellow expatriate

This one is for the Sanders, who grow (grow? is that the right way to think of it?) free-range eggs in AL

Fruits and veggies galore

Having friends over for dinner for the first time in our teeny tiny flat (they were once residents here too so they understand!)

Andrew and Elf- two awesome Aussies

So there you are- all up to date as of Friday, October 8th. Short and sweet. Lots of ridiculous captions. Only took two hours to do (hopefully I'll get better at this).
This weekend we're going to visit Blenheim Palace so I hope to have lots to share on Monday!

To Our Niece, Mattie

Dear Mattie,

I can't believe it's already been a week since you entered this world!
For weeks we waited to see if you might come early so Brandon and I might get to meet you. No luck.
Then we waited to see if you'd come by your due date. But you were happy where you were.
So a week later, they decided to make you come. Your mom was ready! Your dad, both sets of grandparents, and your great-grandparents waited at the hospital to see when you would arrive. We also waited excitedly for news, thousands of miles away. Finally, finally, we got the call- you had come. You were healthy, happy, and had a head full of dark brown hair. And they were right- you are so beautiful.
Even though we couldn't be there, and we won't get to see you for awhile, we love you so much. We can't wait meet you.

Love,
Uncle Brandon and Aunt Claire

Click here to see more pictures of Mattie on the other Eidsons' blog.