Please pray for our children as Mary Elisabeth (13) and Caleb (15) have their first day back to school today from the holiday break and Joshua (17) started back and had his first two mock A-Levels exams yesterday and another today. Mary Elisabeth is continuing on at The Green School for Girls, Joshua is continuing “Sixth Form” at The Fulham Boys School, and from today Caleb has transferred to join him at Fulham Boys after being on the waiting list for nearly a year. 

Caleb is excited for the new school but it comes with a longer commute on the tube, and Mary Elisabeth will be on her own on the bus for her commute for the first time. This time of year here in England it’s still dark out when they leave for school as well as when they get home, so we’ll have wait to get an updated pic with Caleb’s new uniform! Your prayers are so appreciated!

A Visit to Mary Elisabeth's School

After not being able to see much when we initially moved to London in January due to the Covid restrictions at that time, we were recently able to tour Mary Elisabeth's school and meet some of the girls that she is friends with and sees every day. Mary Elisabeth attends The Green School for Girls, where she is in Year 9 (the equivalent of 8th Grade in the U.S.).

Since its founding 225+ years ago, The Green School has been affiliated with The Church of England, and is a tuition-free school sponsored by the state church. So, while there are crosses and bible verses posted prominently throughout the school, you'll also find ideas and attitudes throughout the school that just don't quite make sense with Biblical Christianity, to put it bluntly. But, such is life in the U.K. While there are many wonderfully Biblically faithful Church of England churches and schools throughout the U.K., they are sadly far outnumbered by Church of England institutions that quite frankly wouldn't recognise the Christian Gospel and would actually be quite opposed to it.

Mary Elisabeth has been a real trooper over the past year, braving the bus with her brother Caleb each day for their commute, and we're not talking about an American style "yellow dog" school bus, but a real deal red "Double Decker" London commuter bus, which is how High School aged children commute to school here. Funny enough, when we enrolled Mary Elisabeth at The Green School for Girls, we had to sign an agreement along with other parents that we would not drive them to school each day to help reduce traffic congestion and to "lessen the environmental impact"!

Please pray for Mary Elisabeth and her brothers Joshua and Caleb, that they would study hard, that they would hold fast to the truths of the Gospel, and be "salt and light" in a rather confusing system that often denies those very truths while claiming to uphold them.

We're still trying to dig ourselves out from under a sea of boxes here on Argyle Road, and we still don’t have an internet connection hooked up at the house! But in addition to all of the unpacking and settling in, there have been significant milestones for us nearly every day since our arrival here in London two weeks ago today. Shanna has kept busy trying to make our house a home, and Dawson has started getting his feet wet with some basic ministry responsibilities with the church as we continue to learn about and explore our new ministry context. 

Today’s milestone, and probably one of the biggest so far, is that Joshua (16) started school as a year eleven at The Fulham Boys School! To say that school dress codes in the U.K. are a bit *ahem* -different- from what we’re used to back in Texas might be a bit of an understatement, but Joshua seems pretty proud of his school uniform (coat and tie is the standard uniform for boys at just about every school in the U.K.), and strutted around the house like a peacock with it on Saturday night when he tried it all on together for the first time!

Please pray for school placements for our younger two, Caleb (14) and Mary Elisabeth (12). Unfortunately, Fulham Boys was completely full for Caleb’s year but he is at the top of their waitlist and we are hoping a placement may open up for him there soon. In the U.S., we would simply show up at the local school with a utility bill in hand to prove our address and the schools pretty much have to take them on, but in the U.K., school placements are not quite so simple. We have applied at several area schools for Caleb and Mary Elisabeth, and are still waiting for a placement. In the meantime, they have no complaints whatsoever about enjoying a really long extended Christmas holiday while they wait.