Tea and Toast

We have two stories involving tea and toast that we hope you’ll find interesting:

The first story involves our THIRD CHILD BEING BORN!!!

Yes, many of you already know this from our Facebook updates and the email we sent out at the beginning of the month, but for those of you who haven’t heard, Ava Ruth Parr entered the world on 29 June after a very short (45 minute) labour. Karsee woke me at 6:30am that Wednesday morning to tell me that she was pretty sure we were going to have a baby by the end of the day. Her contractions weren’t regular or strong, so we had a leisurely breakfast, showers and then woke the kids.

Our friend Rachel arrived to pick up Maddie and Joseph around 7:45am to take them out for the day. Karsee’s contractions became more regular and increased in strength at that same time. Rachel and the the kids left at 8:00am, we left at 8:02am. Karsee transitioned in the car during the four minute drive to the hospital, and Ava was delivered, with Karsee standing up in a delivery suite, at 7:20am. We were so grateful that we didn’t have a 20 minute drive as we would have had in St Louis and that we had taken one practice run so we knew exactly where to go. Whew!

Two hours later Karsee was showered, dressed and relaxing with Ava in the midwifery suite when the midwife brought in a tray with a pot of tea, warm toast and a variety of butters and jams. It’s funny, but it was this small, culturally-centered gesture that made us realise, in that very moment, that we were far from our origins. It had a strange settling effect as it communicated our here-ness in Scotland.

Exactly eight hours after Ava’s birth, we walked out of the midwifery unit at Ninewells hospital with our new baby, and drove home to spend the night in our own home without nurses checking in on us every hour, no beeping machines, no IV’s attached to Karsee and no hard, uncomfortable institutional couch for me to sleep on. We were in our own home, with our kids taking part in caring for and loving on Ava, and slept in our own bed. It was without question the best and easiest delivery we’ve experienced.

The second story involves me nearly losing my right ring finger. Exactly nine days after Ava was born, I was cleaning the massive 150 pound, double-glazed Victorian windows in our home when the sashes in one of the top windows broke. The window slammed down, grabbing my right hand and lodging it between the two window frames. The ring on my right finger, a reproduction of the ring Maria von Bora gave to Protestant reformer Martin Luther on their wedding day, was also caught in the frame and the force ended up ripping 80% of my finger from my hand in what is called a “de-gloving” injury. I used a hammer to pry the window frames apart and get my hand free, and then, still in shock, I did what any normal person would do, I grabbed Karsee’s phone sitting nearby and snapped some photos of the bone, tendon and other gruesome stuff. That picture is here if you have a penchant for the macabre.

The EMTs delivered me to the ER in a haze of nitrous-oxide. They cut the ring from my finger and took me up to a surgical theater to repair my hand. No internal damage and the plastic surgeon did a pretty good job. He was especially careful with his work after I informed him that I was both a concert pianist and a professional hand model (nitrous-oxide induced fabrications). A short while later I was enjoying my own tray of tea and toast. Less than five hours after the accident, my hand was stitched up and I was home eating the best-tasting bowl of frosted flakes I’ve ever experienced. No breaks, no internal damage, no amputation. I’m thinking of having a screenplay written by my brother-in-law Kip to retell the story dramatically. The working title is 127 Seconds.

Settling in and longings . . .
We’re feeling pretty settled now in Dundee, especially since our shipment arrived and we have our old familiar tableware, books, tools, toys, warm clothing, etc. Our house is slowly becoming more homey as we unpack and get pictures of friends and family and our artwork and decorative touches in place. We haven’t felt homesick in the traditional way we think about that. You know, like a feeling of, I wish I was back there, or I really miss that place. Perhaps we will eventually, but we’ve been praying about being in Scotland for more than seven years. In our heads and hearts we so longed to be here that we were homesick for this place and now we feel like we’re home.

We do miss all of our friends and family back in the States, and are starting to feel that loss more acutely. FaceTime and Skype are great, but you can’t hug a computer screen. Well, you can, but it’s just not the same. We do long for our longtime friends to be able to pop over for the afternoon or to go out to diner with our crew. Another way we’ve been experiencing loss in this transition is through a longing for the familiar. We long for Dundee to be as familiar to us as St Louis and Oklahoma City have been. That’s beginning to happen, but its more of a time thing. We’re just noticing it now. Thank you for your continuing prayers for this aspect of our transition, both for us and for the children.

St Peter’s
Things have been going brilliantly here. We love the people at St Peter’s and they have taken very good care of us through our transition, having a baby and the trauma related to my injury. We are thankfully seeing relationships deepen with several of the families and individuals and are enjoying getting to know the culture through its people.

I have continued to see a couple of people regularly for counseling and have made been sought out by a few people in the community to establish referrals from other agencies to our counseling service. We haven’t pursued this in a systematic way yet, as we’re still getting settled in, so we can only see this as our Lord directing our steps and preparing a path for us. We’re grateful for this practical manifestation of His care for us and a reminder that it is He who has called us here and who will use us to for his own purposes here. There is true rest in that.

In and around Dundee . . .
We’ve also been meeting and making friends with people in our neighborhood. Our neighbour Allie was walking by when my hand was stuck in the window and helped Karsee get me free and to the hospital that day. Since then we’ve spent some time getting to know her better and she has come to St Peter’s with us a few times as well. I’ve also seen the man who ran up to me in the street again just recently. I’m hoping I can spend some more time talking to him in the future.

We also met a family from China at the local playground recently and have bumped into them three more times at various places around Dundee.I’m hoping that relationship will develop before they have to return home after his studies. Please pray that we would continue to meet and have deepening relationships with the people here.

Here are some more random pictures of our life here in Dundee and of Ava:

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support in all its forms.

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