A Belated Christmas Letter

Warmest belated Christmas greetings, and best wishes for a New Year full of purpose. As the end of 2011 draws near, we thought a letter with a few words about what has transpired in our lives over this, the most eventful and wonderful year yet, were in order.

Well, let us start at the beginning...the start of 2011 found us blessed with our first baby, Justus Finley Pendleton, born on December 1^st, 2010. It also found us as sojourners in Uvalde, TX as we had just moved out of our San Antonio home and were anticipating a move to England soon thereafter. Not to be daunted by all of these changes, we signed up to take a five day training course from Christian Listeners USA (CLUSA), a non-profit whose mission is to “be the listening heart of Jesus Christ in a broken world.” 

Days after the course finished, our little family boarded a plane headed for a study-abroad program in England. We arrived exhausted and without a home, but thanks to the valiant efforts of Caleb, the help of kind owners of a B&B in Keele, and the favor of God, we moved into a lovely two-story flat (aka apartment or townhouse) in Newcastle-under-Lyme. We spent the next six months there as Caleb studied at Keele University. 













We had the time of our lives: we bonded as a family, cherished every day with Justus, learned the ways of a different culture, read lots of books, traveled a good deal (Czech Republic, Italy, Scotland, and Wales), soaked up the beautiful green, wet , and cool England, entertained friends and family from the U.S., visited over 30 castles, saw ancient wonders, and made many new friends.

July found us back in Texas: visiting friends and family, taking the next level of training in Christian Listeners, and acclimating to the blistering Texas Summer; in August we were off to Manzanillo,Mexico to spend time with family, but come September, we settled down in Uvalde as Caleb's school schedule necessitated. During this time, we also started a new business in the trucking/oil industry. In October, we were surprised and overjoy to find we are expecting another little blessing; he/she is due June 19,2012. 

We have only six more months to prepare Justus for big-brotherhood! December 1^st brought about Justus' first birthday which we celebrated with a trip to the San Antonio Zoo; Justus loved seeing all the animals, but his favorite were the fish. As this month comes to a close, we will celebrate Caleb's birthday, Jesus' birthday, head to Mexico, and celebrate the New Year with Caleb's side of the family.

2012 will be full of big events for us: in January, we will help teach and oversee a Christian Listening Retreat in Uvalde (it's not too late to sign-up; there's our shameless plug ;)), we also hope to move back to San Antonio towards the end of the month (keep your eyes out for a small home/cottage for rent). In May, Caleb will complete his undergraduate degree in Business management Information Systems from the University of Texas at San Antonio completely debt free. He will also get to participate in a study-abroad trip to China. In June, God willing, we will have baby Pendleton number two naturally, in fact we are even toying with the idea of doing a home-birth. July onwards we anticipate enjoying our expanding family, focusing on building/managing our business, working with CLUSA, and dreaming...about traveling, attending graduate school at Denver Seminary, and the Retreat/Healing Center that we hope to one day open. In a nutshell, there is the past year and the upcoming one in the lives of Caleb, Charity, Justus, and Baby-boy-on-the-way Pendleton. If you are dying to know more about  the life and times of Mr. Justus Finley, then check out his blog at www.blogforjustus.blogspot.com.

Warmly,

The Pendletons

Italy: where the magic is

"How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?"                             

Dr. Seuss

I don't often quote Dr. Seuss, but this time his was the most fitting I could find to describe how I am feeling at the moment. Although we have been in England almost six months and our time here has come to an end, I feel as if we only just arrived. And although I have been meaning to blog about a trip that transpired three months ago, I have only just begun. So I ask myself "how did it get so late so soon?" But before the later comes any sooner, I shall commence a story of our time in Italy.

There is one word that sums up Italy...
                                                               Magical

This is the country where the seeds of love were first planted in my heart for a certain Caleb Pendleton over three years ago. As we returned to the city of Love--Rome--married, with our precious little baby, and accompanied by four good friends, we found the city and the rest of the country just as magical as the first time we were there together. From rich history, to fabulous food, irresistible gelato, breath-taking landscapes, and awe-inspiring ancient structures, Italy has it all!

Need I say more?

Rome

Resting at the Forum

Castello at night

We had one week in Italy, and it was a wonderful week at that. On our first day, we flew into Rome from Prague. Aside from catching trains, subways, and buses with a group of six adults and one baby, plus all our backpacks, we managed to get checked into our apartment, grab a bite of tasty Italian Pizza, and then were off to see the sights. We walked about the city from about six o'clock in the evening till at least one in the morning! A few of the highlights included the Roman Coliseum, Illy cappuccinos (only later did we find that Illy coffee was, in the words of one Italian, “for snobs”), Piazza Navonna, the famous Treve Fountain, the best gelato in Rome, many a beautiful cobbled alleyways, and the most diverting jokes of the pence variety. Let me explain the pence bit, my brother Ryan during his two week trip abroad visited four countries, three of which used different currencies. So by the time he arrived in Italy, he was entirely confused with all of the different coins that had accumulated in his pockets. We did our best to explain that the English bills were called "notes," and that the change was called "pence," that the Czech currency was called "Crowns," and the Italian currency "Euro;" this was all a bit overwhelming and so he called almost every coin a pence, whether it was a British, Czech, or Italian. And thus began one of the most comical aspects of our entire trip...pence jokes, the other being "special privilege flashers."  Late into the night, as our exhausted and crippled group (from bum knees to blistered feet, we had all varieties of ailments by this point) shuffled through the streets of Rome, someone would through up the next joke to lighten our weariness…a pence for your thoughts, pence we are on the subject, well I’ll pence-il this into my journal, we’ll have to add that to the ex-pence sheet, let me give you my two-pence, and many many more.

2011 C & C

2008 C & C

Cappuccino + Corneto = best breakfast

The next day, after the essential capaccino and corneto (Italian pastry), we headed to Piaza del Popolo, were we rented bicyles. Cycling around the city is the best way to see Rome, and so this is what we did, all six of us with little Justus strapped onto Caleb’s back. 

Bike riding in Rome is the best way to see it

With Caleb in the lead, we had moments where we held our breath, like when were in the middle of crazy traffic and where we lost our breath, ascending the hill that never ends to look out over Rome’s skyline. Sadly, Caleb left our camera in the basket of his bicycle upon returning it to the rental shop. And although we searched all the bicycles and reported the loss to the owners of the shop, our little camera was gone for good.

Civita & Assisi

Caleb is an amazing photographer 

Civita - So rustic 

After two non-stop days in Rome, the time came to move on to our next destinations, the spectacular Civita di Bagnoregio and captivating Assisi. But before we dive into explaining the wonders and beauties of Civita, let me first mention that Caleb procured a good sized van so that our merry group could traverse the desired roads of Italy at our own pace (this piece of information is critical in understanding the upcoming stories including “special privileges flashers”). Upon exiting Rome, we soon arrived at one of the most incredible little villages I have ever beheld. Perched atop a lone peak in the midst of a giant valley, sits the beautiful city of Civita.

Best food in Italy + sneaking in a kiss

The only way to get to the tiny village is by a footbridge, thus it is essentially untouched by time. There are no cars, no sirens, no traffic lights, only a plethora of stone homes, restaurants, and a cute town square. It was at one of these little restaurants, Osteria Al Forno di Agnese, that we enjoyed the best of Italian hospitality and food. A sweet lady by the name of Manuela served us some of the tastiest lasagne and ravioli plus she brought out a mat and blanket to lay Justus on so that he could rest while the rest of us ate.

Caleb having fun w/jumping pics

City of Assisi 

From Magnificent Civita, we were off to another lovely place, the city of Assisi, named after the saint, Frances of Assisi. We were awed by the ancient city on a hill, complete with a towering castle, an enormous church, innumerable cobbled alleyways (our van hardly fit through these narrow streets), cute little tourist shops, and an ambiance that breathed peace and beauty.

Church of Saint Francis of Assisi 

We bid farewell to Assisi after a short day and were off to San Gimignano, a town known for its towers (there are 14 remaining of the former 72)  and world famous gelato (the frozen nectar of the gods). To our dismay, we arrived too late to get our hands on a cone.

 

San Gimignano at night

Thus, we changed our plans of staying in Florence to include spending the night in San Gimignano, all so we could try that gelato. Everyone was in complete unison on this decision, who wouldn’t when world-renown gelato was at their fingertips? 

San Gimignano - Sunrise

Miraculously, we found a place to stay, due to a crying baby and Caleb’s dashing good looks (I had to get a little possessive after three American women fawned over him and even took pictures of him!). But back to the story, the first place we checked was far to ex-pence-ive for our budget, as was the second and third, however the forth place we tried was a convent and we had a little better luck here. The nun told us her convent was full, but seeing our motley crew and me holding a crying Baby Justus (it was 10:00pm by this point) took pity on us and sent us to a nearby hotel, whose owner had already gone home for the night. Gratefully, the lady at the restaurant next door called the owner who returned to the hotel and put us up for the night. Of course, none of the communicating would have been possible without Caleb’s stellar Italian speaking skills. We were so grateful to finally have a place to lay our heads. Which is what we did, well…after we had a goodbye service of toasting and feasting on corneti for our dear friends Ryan and Casy who would be flying home to Texas the next day.

Gelato - World Champ 2006-2010

When the gelato shop opened at ten o’clock we were the first to come strolling through the doors with an enthusiastic “buen giorno!” (Good morning). Every single one of us ordered a large cone with three delectable flavors, and after consuming said cones, marched right back inside for another round. The servers thought we were a little weird, eating six scoops of gelato each, but hey, it’s not every day that we Texans can enjoy Italian nectar of the gods.  

Group with Florence in the background

After making ourselves half sick with all the gelato, we were off to Florence, where we drove illegally through “authorized vehicles only” streets, ran through the city for the two-hour mini-tour of the highlights, danced to italian street musicians, and best of all, hit up the hill overlooking the city for a gorgeous sunset.

Caleb danced here solo in 2008 w/me in 2011

From there we hit the road for Pisa, the city from which Ryan’s and Casy’s plane departed. We were down to the wire on time, so it was a bit tragic that we made a wrong exit on major toll road, did a uturn before the toll booth, almost ran out of gas, and had to stop for a nursing session. Thanks to the good Lord, we got them to the airport just in time for take-off!

Sunset of Florence

Besides the Leaning Tower, Pisa does not have much to offer in the way of beauty, atmosphere, and attractions so after a less than peaceful night in less than desirable accommodations, the remaining members of our  group, Ashley, Christopher, Caleb, myself, and Baby Justus hopped on the train and headed to a more desirable, and even lovely locale, Cinque Terre. 








But not before we illegally parked near the Leaning Tower of Pisa (this was one of those times we used our “Special Privelages” status), dropped the van off at the rental place, forgot our back-up camera in the van that we had just dropped off, and made a dash back to the car rental place where we secured said camera.

Pisa

Cinque Terre

Beautiful ocean views and a string of five quaint villages, surrounded by terraced vineyards greeted us as we stepped off the train into the Italian Riveria region known as Cinque Terre (five lands). 

View from our balcony 

Night view from our balcony 

The only way to access these remote villages are trains, plains, and boats, but not cars. Some of the locals own cars that are transported there via trains, and it was in one of these that the owner of an apartment for rent picked us up and drove us part of the way to our humble yet perfect accommodations (she only drove us part way because the roads narrowed into footpaths). 

View of Corniglia

Our time in Cinque Terre was dreamlike, days of walking along the scenic paths between the villages, eating tasty pasta, drinking a bit of their famous wine, watching gorgeous sunsets over the ocean, and of course, eating at least one cone of gelato and drinking at least one capucino per day (this was a tradition we were very vigilant in keeping over the course of our time in Italy).


One of the more comical events of our trip took place on the way from Cinque Terre to Venice. Caleb had secured online a large rental vehicle for us in the nearby city of La Spezia, but we arrived to pick it up, the car rental representative informed us that we would have to take a smaller vehicle. 

Riomaggiore

This news did not suit Caleb’s fancy, so he spent the next HOUR arguing in Italian with the representative. By the time he was finished, we all knew a bit of Italian, other customers had gotten involved in the dispute, Caleb had asked to speak to the president of the company (his request was mainly to emphasize that he wanted to speak with someone important, but the representative responding first with a shock and then told Caleb that “the president does not talk to customers”), we had lost an hour, and we drove away with the smaller vehicle. Oh the adventures of traveling abroad! Next time, we will take the train to Venice.

Venice

This is where we had our romantic dinner

Venice was everything we imagined it would be, and although we had a very short time to spend in this magical island of a city, we took full advantage, eating a romantic dinner along one of the canals, getting lost through the myriad of beautiful alleyways, dancing to a symphony in the magnificent St. Mark’s Square, sipping capaccinos, and riding to and from the island on waterbuses. This place definitely deserves more than half a day’s visit, so we hope to return someday.

From Venice we headed back to Merry Old England, where the two men of the group (Caleb and Christopher) had arranged for us to stay in a luxury castle on a romantic getway. Thus, ended our memorable second trip to Italy.

Lessons learned while in Italy

• Drink Illy cappuccinos everyday (it is the coffee of snobs for a reason…it’s really really good!)
• Eat gelato at least once per day (the best gelato is in San Gimignano)
• See the sights of Rome from atop a bicyle (but don’t forget to take your camera out of the little basket)
• It’s ok to eat gelato for breakfast, only if it’s world famous though
• Don’t rent a car from Maggiori’s car rental if you are in a hurry, just take the train
• If you are tired and weary, try to think of some pence jokes

Shadow of a Dream

May 5, 2011

Our house feels a bit empty now that our most recent guest, Michelle, has departed for her dream destination, Italy. Michelle was the sixth visitor to our little home in Newcastle-under-Lyme. First to arrive were Casy and Ryan, followed a few weeks later by Ashely and Chris (friends and family from Uvalde), with Catherine fast at their heels, and Michelle not far behind her. In a small way, perhaps more like a foreshadowing, we feel as if our dream to run a B&B/retreat for those who need a bit of rest and respite has begun. Together we make a good team, offering our guests hospitality of the warmest sort--tasty local food, steaming hot beverages, good conversations, and entertaining activities/outings. Of course, Baby Justus adds a dash of joy and fun to our spread of amenities. In fact, some of our guests would be perfectly happy to do nothing more than play with him all day (that particular guest, I foresee will be my Mom).

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub established in 1538
 (Frequented by Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and Dr. Samuel Johnson
 author of the "Dictionary of the English Language")

My dear friend Casy and fun older brother Ryan met up with us in London. After many an adventure on their part and ours, we found each other around 10:00pm! The next few days flew by as we dodged in and out of the fast-moving London trafick, on our way to see the signature marks of this old city: Big Ben, the houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, the White Tower, and our two favorites, an old pub called "Ye Cheschire Cheese" and Hillsong Church London. A few lessons learned on this trip: check the local news and avoid London if a 2 million person protest is planned, bring printed directions to the place you will be staying (don't rely on your iPhone alone), have a rendezvous location and time to meet your party, bring a book about the city you are visiting, and be sure to visit Hillsong Church if there happens to be one.
 

Chris & Ashley - Sunrise walk in Prague

After a week and a half tour around Prague and most of Italy with our friends Ashley and Chris, we thought England might be a bit underwhelming for these two. However, Caleb and Chris, being the romantics that they are, planned a special outing to, you will never beleive it....a castle hotel. We received royal treatment and accomodations at this gorgeous locale.  My bet is that Ashley and Chris left England feeling far from dissapointed with their time here.

Catherine on Stanage Edge

Being that Catherine was a well traveled lass, we wanted to give her a trip worth remembering. So with the superb researching, deal-finding, and driving skills of Caleb, we managed to to take her to the ancient city of Chester (the old Roman city with the wall encircling the old town area), the rugged cliffs called "The Roaches" in what is known as the Peak District, followed by a tour through some quintessential English towns like Buxton with it's so-called healing mineral waters and English park and Ashford-in-the-Water, a visit to the breathtaking Chastworth Estate,one of the most impressive estates in Britain-a Baroque palace with over 100 acres of magnificent gardens also the locale for the film Pride and Prejudice's Pemberly Estate, we saved the best for last catching not only the sunset from Stanage Edge,Kiera Knightley's vantage point for the beautiful view of English countryside, but also the full moon rising.

Michelle all over the place at Shrewsberry Castle

Michelle, having never been out of the U.S.A, found the traveling aspect an adventure in and of itself--catching 3 flights, missing a flight in Amsterdam, riding 3 busses, taking the wrong bus, twice borrowing stranger's phones, and arriving in Newcastle 4.5 hours later than planned. So although Michelle would have been happy to stay at our cozy cottage for her two days in England, I took her wondering about the local area. We visited Trentham Gardens, where she got a good taste of English landscaping skills, Keele University, Caleb's Uni which boasts the largest green campus in the UK and several lakeside walks, Shrewsbury, a little village with a big history, and a local pub for Pear cider and a traditional English meat pie.

Although the house feels a bit empty at the moment, I am breathing in a bit of rest and respite for myself befour our next guest arrives. Joanna, my mentor, friend, and teacher is making a special trip to see us before she attends a Christian Listener's leadership retreat in the south of England. Following shortly after Joanna, my sweet Mother will be joining us for an entire week! During her stay, we plan to enjoy the the English countryside, long conversations, meandering walks, and just being together.

What a beautiful season of life in which we have found ourselves. We are experiencing an inkling of our dreams to spend time with friends, run a B&B/retreat, and travel.

Even the shadow of this dream is good.

Mom enjoying her time with Justus

P.S. Since the time that this post was orginally written, both Joanna and my Mom have visited us. Joanna's visit was a quick one, she arrived late one afternoon and left before noon the next day. But the sharing time we had together before she left was wonderful. Her short visit reminded us of that verse in Proverbs that says "Like cold water to a weary soul, is good news from a distant land.." Mom's visit is a post in and of itself, but suffice it to say that her visit was absolutely wonderful. Complete with good long conversations, lots of coffee, and adventures about England.

Dream...Accomplished - Keele University

Keele University

I have always wanted to do a study abroad. However, being 30 years old, married, running a start up business, and with a baby on the way, the thought of doing a study abroad for most people would be out of the question. For a while it was out of the question, but about a year ago, Charity asked me if I would like to do a study abroad. I was taken a-back by the question because even if I did, our situation was not the most ideal. We decided to look into it. If we were to go, we would need to go to an English speaking country, since we didn't have the time to learn a new language, and it would have to be economically feasible. We found out the UTSA has a direct exchange with Keele University in England, that means that I would only have to pay UTSA fees VS Keele fees (which would be 1.7 times more).  So I started the loooooong application process and we started applying for countless scholarships since we did not have the financial resources to go without scholarships.

The lawn is full of students when the it's sunny out

To make a long story short, I was accepted at Keele and God gave us a lot of favor and we were able to get  enough scholarships to pay for the whole trip.

Upon arrival at Keele, I scouted the Uni (as they call them here in the UK) and found it to be quite a wonderful little place. Well, actually Keele is the largest in the UK, as far as acreage goes. However, the campus part of it is the size of a community college in the USA. If fact, it feels more like a community college than a Uni since it's out in the country and has about 10k students.

One of the paths at Keele

Here are a few tidbits of information about Keele. It was the pioneer of the dual honours in the UK, it is the largest Uni in the UK, it is the greenest (most vegetation and grass), it was the 20th Uni founded in the UK, the land and Keele Hall were sold for £31,000 to the Uni by Ralph Sneyd. Mr. Sneyd had inherited the land from his ancestors who acquired it from the King of England, and it so happens that the king had stolen it from the Knights of the Templar after he had murdered most of them (very interesting these Nights Templar, I've read a book about them).

My time at Keele has been wonderful and tough at the same time. I took four computer science courses since they didn't have the exact match for my Information Systems (IS) degree. Needless to say, they were tougher than IS courses since they

The same walk as above just a few months later

involved a lot of programming. Also, I was a bit nervous that I would not be able to understand the thick English accents of my profs, however, I was releaved after going to my first class in each course that I could understand every single one.

Many options for walks

The way Keele tests is completely different than in the USA. They have one project worth 40% of

The computer lab - home away from home

your grade and one exam that is 60% of your grade. The exam is taken at the end and is essay format in which you have to answer 3 out of 5 questions (they don't give a hint as to what the questions might be) and each question is divided into 3 questions. The exams are taken in a room with 300 other students (all the different classes all take their exams at one time). I don't like that system at all, since all of your grade depends on one exam. But gratefully, I passed all my classes.

At times I would spend 10-12 hours in the computer lab working on my programing, but not without a break to take a walk around several of Keele's lush paths.

One of the many Keele fields

As far as the other Keele students go, my fellow students were awesome, they were all very helpful and kind, and their British humor rocked! They would stop and give me a ride if they saw me at the bus stop, offer food if they had some, and would sit with me for hours helping me with my projects.

My time at Keele is now over, I have enjoyed the experience thoroughly and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Keele Hall

Keele Hall - Jumping picture

Keele Chapel 

Keele Library

Path leading up to Keele Music Hall

Keele Village-Parish