Update

Life has been moving along and we thought we'd share how it has been.

Clive will be 15 months tomorrow. He's progressing strongly on the walking front and is incredibly good at causing mischief. He loves keys and anything electronic. His fascination with the washing machine continues and whenever we can't find something we check there first.

While he is walking, talking hasn't really happened yet. He's got 'mamama' and 'dadada' figured out, but the rest of the time he thinks he's speaking english, but isn't. Both Erica and I were late talkers (Erica probably because she was a triplet, and me probably because I was dumb (intelligence-wise that is)) so we aren't too fussed about it.

Erica had been quite busy with freelance work having picked up a few new clients and still doing work for the church. Things have slowed a bit, so you could pray that work continues to come in.

We went camping for a week in July in Dorset which is on the southern coast of England. The area was beautiful and the rain held off for the most part. Here's the pictures in case you missed them.

After almost three years of working at a minimum wage retail job, I've taken a position at HMP (Her Majesty's Prison) Maidstone. I'll be working in the library overseeing the two inmates who run the library, and checking books that inmates would like to get from other libraries for content. I interviewed for the job back in April, but due to various background checks (including writing to the FBI) I just started last week. The nice part about the job is that I think I'll enjoy it more than JJB and it pays 50% more. I won't get as many hours, but that will leave time for me to care for Clive while Erica does freelance work.

I had the opportunity to preach at both of All Saints' morning services on July 29th. We were working our way through the first half of Romans and I preached on 8:17-30. I felt a bit rusty, but enjoyed the experience. Critique for yourself here.

The Olympics are in full swing and Team GB (as they insist on being called) are doing very well. We, along with Erica's sister Inga and her husband Simon will be headed to Cardiff (It's in Wales, 150 miles from London, but whatever) on Saturday to watch the bronze medal football soccer match between Japan and South Korea.

Speaking of Inga and Simon, they just bought a house and have asked us if we would like to be subletters, cotenents, lodgers. We've put in the notice with our landlords that we'll be leaving the place we're at and will hopefully be moving house (as they say over here) in early September. The house is in Coxheath (home of the world custard pie championships), which is the village right next to Loose (where our church is). This will mean a much shorter commute for me on my bike to work and it's still the same distance from the prison. It will also be a help to Inga and Simon to cut down their mortgage.

Lastly, my ordination process moves on. It's been confirmed that I'll be a part of the local Bishop's Advisory Panel (or BAP, but not to be confused with a bap) on December 1st. The BAP is a one day selection process that is my next hurdle in going for ordination. Please pray that I'll have the time and energy to put work into prepping for it. My advisor tells me that she is feeling pretty positive about it, but as you know with Erica and Zac nothing is ever straight forward.

That's us for now. We miss all of you back in the states. We probably won't be back in the U.S. of A. until July 2013, but if you have some leftover pence (the proper plural of penny dontcha know?) and are looking to get away, we'll gladly take you in.

Groundhog's Day

Because of the Groundhog's Day Blizzard of '11 is covering most of the U.S. we are still in the UK.
A short recap...

We were supposed to fly out of Heathrow to Chicago O'Hare on Wednesday morning. Late Tuesday night we checked our flight status and saw that it had been canceled and that we would be on a later flight on Wednesday. Fair enough. Instead of getting up really early we slept in a bit, finished some cleaning around the house and got ready to leave to catch our 4.30pm flight from Heathrow.

We checked, double, and triple checked our flight status and finally left for Heathrow yesterday afternoon. We got to Heathrow, got our luggage out, found our ticket counter, and the girl's headed off to the toilet. As soon as they were out of hearing range the announcement came over the speakers. "American Airlines regrets to inform passengers that flight 91 to Chicago has been canceled. Please come to the ticket counter for more information."

We trudge to the counter and are told that Erica has been put on a British Airlines flight to Chicago via New York at 8.30am on Thursday and that Inga and I would be on the same flight that had just been canceled except on Thursday. Well that was no good, so we arranged for all three of us to be on Thursday's 4.30pm flight. The difficulty with the 4.30 flight is that we get into Chicago at 7.30pm which is too late for Erica and I to catch our flight to Cleveland. So we have to stay overnight in Chicago (very thankful for the Brankatelli's hospitality in this regard) and catch a Friday morning flight to Cleveland.

So now it is Thursday morning. We slept in a bit, finished some cleaning around the house and are getting ready to leave to catch our 4.30pm flight from Heathrow.

Again.

One Good Saturday

This past Saturday was an enjoyable day. Here is why:

The sun was shining when we woke up.

We made pancakes and ate them with maple syrup.

We went to Tenterden (a port town without a coast)

There happened to be a folk festival going on.

The folk festival featured Morris Dancers (see scary picture above)

We found Scrabble and carpet croquet at a charity shop (read thrift store)

We had a fantastic lunch. (Erica had the best fish here yet)

Stopped in Headcorn on the way back.

We had a great dinner.

And ended the day with Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince.

In Bruges (Don't Watch The Movie, Take Our Word For It)

The month of sisters draws to a close. Allie and Evan were with us from New Year's Eve until the third week of January and then Inga came in and is leaving for her mission trip to the Ukraine on Sunday. We took advantage of Inga's presence and headed to the continent yesterday. Our destination was the Belgian city of Bruges/Brugge. We awoke at four a.m. in order to catch our six a.m. ferry across the channel. We ended up going with SeaFrance for our ferry service and it was easier, cheaper, and more enjoyable than our previous experience with Norfolk line. The big plus is that was arrived in Calais rather than Dunkirk; Calais being much prettier. We made it to Bruges by 9:30 (losing an hour somewhere in the water) and proceeded to wander around the historical center of the town. We stopped in a cafe almost immediately. The girls ordered tea while I ordered a hot chocolate. Now in the course of my life, I have learned to not be picky about my hot chocolate. Whether it is Swiss Miss mix, Hersey's syrup heated up, or something better, you just drink it. Well this hot chocolate came in its own pot with a bowl of sweetened whipped cream, and sugar rectangles (to be geometrically correct). It was fantastic! (And I suppose it should because it ended up that it cost €6/$8.22!) In the course of the day we covered all of the historical part of the town at least once. The highlight of the day was a thirty-minute boat ride on the canals. The town has some beautiful architecture and the buildings were designed with the canals in mind. Many buildings had tiny doors that opened directly onto the water. We will be posting pictures in the coming days.

What To Look Forward To

My O so very observant sister pointed out that a blog not blogged is likely not to be read. Our current internet situation is poor. We have a pay as you go mobile connection, but live in a dip that seems to avoid contact with the outside world (especially via wi-fi signals). When we do have a good connection we tend to use it for things we really have to do. Thus the blog has been left to rot thus far.
What you can look forward to though from this blog is an update of how the Neubauers are doing job wise, school wise, ministry wise, etc. We'll have plenty of pictures. Like from our trip to Bruges this weekend, and other goodies, such as my search for the best fish n' chips in the UK, and my systematic experimentation of British candy bars. We'll also throw in odds and ends, like driving on the "wrong" side of the road, and other cultural peculiarities.
Hope you'll stay in touch.
Zac & Erica