Scotland Trip & More...

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After a long, LONG wait, I now finally have pictures of Scotland to show you.  We had a great trip with Mr. Dwight and Leanne (Joshua's dad).  We started our trip in Edinburgh then went on to Stirling and Inverness before finishing up in Glasgow.  Our absolute favorite place was Inverness, home of Loch Ness and Nessie.  Sadly, we did not see Nessie thanks to Joshua.  He's a doubter, tst-tst, shame on him.  But our favorite part of the whole trip was just being with Mr. Dwight and Leanne.  It was great having family here and hearing people speak normal English for a change!  Haha!  Here are some pics of our trip:

As many of you now we moved in early August.  For the past month and half we have been living in Dr and Mrs' Crisp's home (Dr. Crisp is whom Joshua is studying under) as they have moved to Fuller Seminary in CA.  It's been great, such a blessing, but sadly will be ending soon as they have a buyer for their house.  Still, we are grateful for the time we will get to be here until the sale is finalized.

Work is going great.  I've been pretty swamped the past several weeks as this coming Wednesday night is our big Open Evening.  I think it will be good but I always stress about my events before hand: can't sleep and stuff.  Ah!  Three more days!

Bentley had another cancer tumor removed a few weeks ago.  He is recovering well except for a stubborn tendency to scratch his stitches out.  So, as they say: desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are both very active in our church.  We decided to help out by helping lead the ministry to college students.  I am also now responsible for serving and catering at Emmanuel - hey, gotta have that tea after the sermon!  And I have recently started meeting up with about 7 lady friends from church to fellowship and read "Created to Be His Helpmeet," or what I call, my wife book.  It's really exciting and I'm so grateful to Jessica Moody for introducing me to the book and reading through it with me when I first got married. 

Well, I have to go get ready for Game Night at Carolyn's.  Should be fun and I made pineapple meatballs and sausages!  Hope they turn out. 

Love you guys!

Independence Day - British Style

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So, I bet you didn't think they celebrated 4th of July in England!  They do!  OK, at least we do - and our American friend does and our sweet English friends from church humoured us (OK, made fun of us, or, as they say here, took the mickey out of us).  Here are some pics of our Independence Day festivities!

So, they look American, right?  Posers!  Meet Will and Katie (yep, their real names).  Only, their last name is Corrie and not Windsor.  Way to get into the spirit of things! 

Behold!  The REAL Americans.  Can you tell the difference? BTW, there are actually 3 Americans in this picture - and I'm not talking about the guy in the mirror!  Haha!

Even Rocky got into the celebration.  Check out the Star-Spangled beads  (wonder who he had to flash to get those?)

We had a real American-style spread with hamburgers and potato salad and the works!

We followed it up by dessert -  not puddings as the English call the sweet stuff they eat after the main meal - but dessert!  I made peach cobbler, Carolyn made cherry pie and Katie, the honorary American, made the red-white-and-blue cake.  It was all delicious!

Speaking of Katie's cake - check it out!  Can this girl bake or what?!


Living in the UK has made me realize a few things about the US. It has made me realize that we take much for granted.  I have also realized that we are on a slippery slope towards socialism.  Socialism, I have discovered (first-hand) is AWFUL, TERRIBLE, there are not enough bad words to describe it and if Dante had known there was such a thing, he would probably have given socialism its own circle in Hell in the Inferno.  I love the US and being away from it has made me realize how truly blessed those of us who live in the States truly are - in so many different ways.  No matter our problems or our disagreements, we still need to remember to hang on to our liberties and guard against any form of socialism no matter the cost, lest we cease to be the land of the free.

Although we missed being with friends and family in the US, we missed the big fireworks displays and the cookouts and the flags flying everywhere, our English friends made us feel quite at home and celebrated the day with us. Mike and Rosie Sims opened their home for the Independence Day cookout (although he claimed he was celebrating his independence from us - whatever, Mike!). And Mike proved he is a world-class grill master.  It was as close to being home as we could be without actually being there.  It's funny how you can go far away from home and meet people so different from you and yet realize how alike you really are.  It's just the traditions, the trappings that change. At the end of it all when Joshua and I got home to our sweet Bentley I think we were all agreed that it was a great day.  Happy Birthday, USA!

Long Overdue

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I know, I know... Where in the world has Jenna been!  I have been super, duper busy.  Praise the Lord I started a job.  I am working as Marketing and Community Engagement Manager for a school.  Funny thing is, after CAK I have wanted nothing more than to work at a school again, but now that I am I think God has shown me that my goals in life have changed.  New phase in life - new interests, new desires.  I guess I no longer desire that career, that rush of accomplishing like I used to. 

Anyhooooo, I'm just going to give you loads up pics to catch you up on what we've been doing.  'Cause we all know it's the photos you want to see! 

Mark and Carolyn Wilson with Josh at a pub during our day trip to the  Cotswolds.

My turn!

A beautiful flowering tree outside the pub.  Did I mention the Cotswolds are gorgeous?

A REALLY old church in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Mark reading the plaque on the wall inside the old church.

The guys.

Inside the church again.

Stratford-Upon-Avon.

A cute door all decked out in honor of the Royal Wedding (yep, I'm WAY behind on my posts).

This is part of the building at the Natural History Museum in London.  Joshua and I took a trip to visit Dan and Betty Jo Hall and they took us to tour the museum.  Definitely worth a trip.

Dinosaurs!

And a life-size blue whale replica - kinda (almost) makes up for a childhood disappointment suffered at the Smithsonian...

Joshua has been studying and working hard on his dissertation.  Bentley helps.

They have gotten very close.

I have been cooking more.  Here is my most recent achievement:  pudim de leite, a Brazilian version of "flan."

Dominic creating the "Alessandro" a fantastic coffee concoction of vanilla syrup, toffee nut syrup, steamed milk, frothed milk and espresso.  Yum! (Notice the concentration)

Family pic outside our house. 

Catching Up

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It has been busy, busy around here:  Easter, Royal Weddings... fun, fun!  So, I thought I would catch everyone up with a look - in pictures - at what we have been up to the past few weeks.

Some of our Brazilian friends cooking up a traditional Brazilian churrasco.

Joshua enjoying some Brazilian goodness.

Me and some of my Brazilian lady friends at the churrasco.  We were rocking the shades.

Here are several of our church friends, enjoying a beer at the pub after service.  Awesome.

Here's us, at the beer garden with our friends after church.  Still wondering what the English put in their grass to make it so green. 

Mark and Carolyn Wilson.  This is my American friend.  She's American, he's Irish.  Funness.

I helped out after church serving tea and coffee one night (after all, there MUST ALWAYS be tea and coffee after church) and really got into the spirit of things and decided to wear my Starbucks apron.  Paul, is an aspiring actor studying at the Old Vic.  It shows, I think.

This is Joshua and his advisor, Dr. Oliver Crisp.  He pointed I that I had not posted this picture of when he presented a paper at the conference so... Ta-Da!!!  Here it is, y'all.

Monday was a Bank Holiday (meaning everyone has the day off - kinda like a national holiday in the US).  We were invited to a cookout at our friend's house.  Here are the guys chilling out in the back yard.

Here are the Three Amigas:  Bryony, me and Carolyn.

Here were are again making goofy faces:  Bryony, me, Carolyn and Naomi.

As you know unless you live in a cave, the Royal Wedding took place last Friday.  I watched the Royal Wedding from Millennium Square in Downtown Bristol.  There were masses and masses of people there as you can see.

A traditional English treat called Marzipan - I think.  It was yummy!  We had a picnic.  Although, one of the guys would not let us eat or drink anything during the service, after all, it WAS a service.  I think he had a point, even though we were sitting on the floor in the square and not at the Cathedral... still...

I totally got my England on and got in the spirit of things. Even if I thought it was a little funny that they were singing "America" during the wedding.  Nope!  Turns out that wasn't what they were singing - it was "God Save the Queen."  Their National Anthem, same tune, different words.

Right after the wedding ended some happy wedding watchers started a train.  I got some of it on film and took the opportunity to interview Bryony on her thoughts and impressions of the Royal Wedding.

Cardiff, Bath and Beyond

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I hope you are all enjoying the new look of the blog.  I think it fits better with this new phase of my life.  Speaking of this new phase:  I have loads and loads to tell you!!

First, Bentley the Boxer had a birthday.  On April 1st my baby turned 9 years old.  Hard to believe my little one is 9.  To celebrate the grand occasion, Joshua, our friend Jordan (another of Dr. Crisp's PhD students), Bentley and I took a trip to Bath.  Bath is about 15 minutes from Bristol and is famous for its Roman baths, picturesque gardens and, of course, being the home of Jane Austen. 

We ran into some locals who were decked out in full Georgian attire for a ball they were going to attend.  I told Joshua we need to go to a ball while we are here.

The beautiful abbey in downtown Bath.

This is a detail on the front of the abbey called Jacob's ladder, notice the angels climbing the ladder.

I don't know anything about this statue, but I thought it was pretty and right in the heart of Bath city centre.



I saw this typical English phone booth and couldn't resist!  So the birthday boy and I had our pics taken inside.



Last week I received a special treat.  My sweet friends, Dan and Betty Jo Hall were being visited by their daughter, Meredith, and their grandson, Sean.  They decided to take Sean and Meredith to see Cardiff and invited me along.  It was a wonderful day!  Meredith and Sean are super fun! 

Cardiff Castle

The keep of Cardiff Castle.

Meredith and I on the grounds of Cardiff Castle.

Inside the keep.

The pier in Cardiff, called Mermaid pier. 

This is the carousel right on Mermaid pier. 

Meredith and I at night on Mermaid pier.



Life has been fun and interesting.  God has been good.  I have been making some good friends.  Bryony is a cop - she's lots of fun and very interesting.  She informed me (once she found out I like futbol - soccer) that I will be a Manchester United fan, as I do not have a team here.  Works for me!  So, tonight Joshua and I are went over to Bryony and her husband Dave's home (they live right down the street) to watch OUR team, Manchester United take on Manchester City.  Sadly, we lost.  But we had a fabulous time with Dave and Bryony and enjoyed that staple of English cuisine - Indian take-out.

Just as we met Bryony and Dave at church, we also met Mark and Caroline there.  Caroline is - Praise the Lord!!!! - AMERICAN.  It's wonderful, amazing - aah.... a breath of fresh air.  She's so much fun.  Very bubbly and outgoing.  She is my age and got married at the same age as me too.  She has been here 8 months and  - you guessed it - lives down the street.  We had tea today and talked about how life here is so different from life back home and how little things (like cooking) are just a little different here. 

Given all that, we think we have found our church.  Ironically, it's called Emmanuel (for those who don't know, we attended Immanuel Baptist in Louisville).  Joshua and I both feel very drawn to the church, the people there and are excited about getting involved and investing in the church family there. 

One last thing before I go because I know this is WAY long.  I had an informal interview yesterday for a full-time position.  They have asked me back for a formal interview and even mentioned a start date of May 1 "or sooner if I am available."  It all looks very promising and it is a position I am very excited about as it is work I would find very fulfilling and meaningful.  Please keep that in your prayers.  We miss you and love you.

Cheerio!