We’re adjusting.  Plain and simple, it’s been an adjustment learning a new culture.  Everywhere you go, you struggle to understand what people are saying.  You have to learn all the good places to shop for bargains.  You have to learn how to adapt recipes because you can’t find what you need at the supermarket.  So, at this point I would say we’re a little bit homesick.  We miss our friends back in Indiana, we miss our family and the ability to talk everyday with them, I miss Target and mega-convenience shopping centers, and I miss going to Super Wal-mart and finding everything on my grocery list and then some.

With all that being said, we do not doubt God’s goodness and master plan through all of this.  We know He brought us here for a reason.  Scott has been working with the youth and getting to know them.  He’s been networking with other youth leaders in England learning how youth ministry is done here.  He’s also done a lot of observation of the culture of our village and prayed a lot about how he can best meet the needs of the youth here.  He’s planning on jumping in around 1 January and really getting started with youth ministry here.

As for me, I haven’t had the chance to do much of anything besides take care of the boys.  Before we came here, I had high hopes of ministering in the church and working for Reign, but I’m starting to realize that I can’t do much until next year when the boys go to school.  While I struggled with those emotions of feeling frustrated and a bit depressed, I have come to the conclusion that God has me exactly where he wants me to be right now- at home with the boys.  So I’m working on making the best of it.  I’ve been researching some things to do with the boys.  I’m taking them swimming one day at week at the leisure center in Bicester, taking them to the library once a week, toddler group on Wednesdays, and working on planning out some fun crafts and projects we can work on at home together.  I really feel like if I can get them on a regular schedule, that will give them more to look forward to every week.

One thing I would like to do more of is reach out to our neighbors.  I’ve met a few so far, but not many.  My plan next month is to bake Christmas cookies like crazy so I can take them to our neighbours.  I would also like to visit our local community center as they do a lot of activities every week for our community, and I think that would be a great place to meet people as well.  I would love to find some friends here who could help me learn more about the culture.  We’ve already made several faux paus, and I would prefer not to make many more.

I updated our photo gallery page with some of the things we’ve been up to.  I’ve included some pictures of our trip to Warwick Castle, downtown Oxford, and the Museum of Natural History in Oxford (I took the boys there today while Scott had a meeting).  Please ignore the rounded black corners- our camera is broken right now and I have no idea why it is doing that, but I’ve decided that these pictures are better than none.  So enjoy!!

I will try to do better at keeping this page updated.  I used to love blogging, but for some reason I’m not as enthusiastic as I used to be.  I think if I were better disciplined and wrote each night, it wouldn’t be so intimidating trying to catch up weeks worth in a single post.  I’ll try to do better with that!

I first must apologize for not keeping our website updated.  But as we’re settling in, I plan on keeping our family blog updated regularly.

So, the big question burning on your minds is…how are we doing?  How is our adjustment?  Overall, I would say that we are doing pretty well.  While our adjustment hasn’t been easy, I would say it hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be.  I’ve had to adjust to the “moving to a new place” anxieties, such as finding which supermarket offers the best deals, finding new doctors, signing up for utilities…all of those things you have to go through when you move anywhere, even when you live in the States.

I think about some of our best friends who live in Indonesia, and think about all of the adjustments they’ve had to go through- new language, new foods, total new way of life.  If you based our experience against theirs, we’ve had it pretty easy.  Yes, there are some language differences, and we’ve been learning those.  Shopping has been frustrating (see below), but for the most part I can find what I need.  As for way of life, I wouldn’t say that much has changed.  Overall, I really love it here.  It will take some time to make friends and feel settled, but overall we’ve had a great adjustment.

I thought I’d make a list of some of the things I love about England, and some of the things that have been difficult for me…

1. I LOVE radiated heat!!  We can adjust the temperature in each room, and if you lay your towel on the radiator before your shower, it warms it up so nicely!
2. I LOVE my electric shower.  I push a button, and hot water comes out the entire time.  No fluctuations in water temperature or pressure.
3. I LOVE our new house- it is huge for British standards, and it meets all of our needs and then some.  The brits also put deeper bathtubs in their homes, and I have the best tub I’ve ever had!
4. I LOVE the culture- everything is old and has a history to it.  The people have been so friendly to us.
5. I LOVE our church body- they have gone out of their ways to help us settle in, and have provided for all of our needs and then some.’
6. I LOVE our teammates- they are amazing and we get along so well with them.  They’ve really helped us settle in.

Now for some of the things that have been a bit of a struggle for me.  I’m not going to capitalize them, because not all are extreme emotions, they’ve just been an adjustment.

1. The metric system- I never know what the weather is or the measurements of something or what temperature to heat my oven or how many cups are in my 250 gram stick of butter.  I’m making a chart for my kitchen wall to help me as I bake, with temperatures and conversions.
2. It’s been hard finding the foods I am used to baking with.  When our teammate came over to help us assemble furniture after our crate arrived, he noticed that I have the same cookbooks as his wife (have to love Taste of Home), and he said she could help me in knowing what items to substitute.
3. Everything seems to take longer when you move to another country and are trying to start life.  We could have a checklist of 3 things we want to get done in a day, and only accomplish one.  I’ve had to re-evaluate my ideas of what makes a successful day.  Also, everything is harder when you have kids.
4. Carter is the pickiest eater on the planet, and several of the few things he will eat is not sold in England.  If you’d ever like to send a care package, could you please include macaroni and cheese, Cheeze-its, and chocolate chips?  Thanks!
5. I can’t have a mobile phone for 3 months.  Something about the withdrawal from our bank account- I get why they’re doing it, but it’s still frustrating.
6. Driving!!  While the villages are absolutely gorgeous, the roads are so narrow and everyone parks in the road.  I’m getting more confident as I drive more, but I have hit a few curbs!

And now for a few observations.  They’re not good or bad…just observations…

1. Fashion- women here are all about leggings!  They’ll wear them under a long sweater, under skirts, under shorts…and always with boots.  I’ve always been on the fence about leggings, but I may have to give them a try!
2. Everything is smaller here- I find myself sometimes buying two of something because I’m afraid I’ll run out!
3. I’ve had a hard time finding the cosmetics and cleaning products I was used to (I’m a creature of habit), so I’ve had to go out on a limb and try new things.  I figure I’ll start with the bottom of the line, and if it doesn’t work I’ll move up to the next expensive item and go from there.  Speaking of which, they don’t sell my kind of deodorant here- only spray or roll-on.  Not too excited about that.
4. We get the Disney channel, and in several of the shows they changed the voice so it has a British accent.  It makes watching shows a little different!!  I’ve also seen some American commercials where they dubbed over the voices.
5. I took the boys to a toddler group, and during the song time, I noticed how the words to some of our favourite songs were different.  The boys were giving me weird looks, like “hey mom, that’s not how we sing it”!

Well, that’s enough lists for one night- I need to get to bed!  It’s funny writing that when I know my friends are picking their kids up from school right now.  I will do my best to post several times a week and keep you all updated on our progress.  Unfortunately you won’t see a lot of pictures- both of our cameras died this past week and we can’t afford a new one for a while.  But as soon as we settle into our budget and know we can afford a new one, you will be overwhelmed with pictures!

I’m sure you’ve heard by now the news of our delay. In case you haven’t, you can check it out here.  We’re doing ok- trying to make it day by day.  I am discouraged that we have to move again.  I wish we could stay where we’re at, but there is another missionary family needing to move in.  The boys have good days and bad days with this move.  Some days they ask if we can go to the new house, other days they tell me they don’t want to move and stay here.  So we’re making it.  I am a firm believer that you choose how you’re going to react to a situation, and I am choosing to think as positively as possible.  I still have my bad days, but overall I’m trying to look at this in the best way possible.

This week I’m working hard on getting the house cleaned and ready to move out.  This is certainly  not my favorite part of moving.  We’re also starting to collect items for our new place.  Did I tell you about our new place?  I don’t think I did.  Someone from our church heard our story and are allowing us to rent a house from them for dirt cheap.  Their dad died earlier this year, and they are allowing us to live in his house.  It will certainly meet our needs.  We had to borrow some twin beds for the boys and other things, but I think it’s going to work out just fine.

So right now we’re just trying to look at the positives and see how God can use us while we are still here in the States.  We’ve already seen His hand at work several times and we are so thankful for that.  We’re also trying to really invest in our boys right now and help them feel secure.  We’re looking into signing them up for classes (Carter- a tumbling class to get out some energy and Elijah a music or art class), taking them to the fair today , and doing our best to let them know we are here for them.  We’re also talking about England a little bit less because it was getting too hard for Carter to comprehend why we weren’t there yet.

I wanted to share with you a song that has been helping us through this time.  One of their favorite shows on Disney is Imagination Movers.  When we left NE (and cable) we bought the boys a CD so we could listen to it.  We listened to it a lot on our trip to NE last week, and one song really stuck out to us.  It’s called “We’ve Got Each Other”.  It’s about Hurricane Katrina, but we really feel like it applies to us as well.  I looked all over the internet for lyrics or a video, but I couldn’t find it.  Instead, check out this link and you click on the last song, We got each other.  It talks about how we don’t know where we’re going, but we’ve got each other to lean on.  Some of my favorite lyrics are- “we’re still on the road…don’t know where we’re at, but we’ll call it home…wherever we’ll wind up we’ll call it home…cause we got each other to lean on…it hasn’t been easy, but we’ll make it ok…my dad says we take it step by step day by day…”.  Every time we hear the CD, the boys yell out “hey guys, this is our song”, and we talk about how no matter where we go, we always have each other.

After about the hundredth time we listened to the CD, we turned on the radio, and a song came on that I feel likes describes where we’re at.    The boys didn’t like it as much, but hey- they weren’t around in the 80′s, were they?  If you’d like to see the video (filmed in London), click here.

Well, we’re on our way to the county fair today and I can’t wait for some family time.  Did you know if you make it to the fair before 1:00 pm, you can get in for free?  This way we can afford to put the boys on a few rides.  So I’m off to pick up the family and head there!!  Oh, by the way, we’re going to try and get internet at the new place, so I’ll actually be able to blog a bit more!!  Talk to you soon!

We Have Some News
On Friday we received news from our teammates that their application to become a registered “charitable sponsor” has been rejected by the UK government and that they must submit their application once again. Their application was rejected because the fee that was submitted with the application was off by 100 pounds. What does this mean? It means that the UK immigration policy is a very touchy and delicate procedure that allows the application to be rejected for any little thing. Sadly, we are on standby for up to another two months as their application for sponsorship is re-processed. To say we (us and our UK teammates) are very shocked, ticked, and frustrated is an understatement.


BIG QUESTIONS
Does this mean you are not going to the UK?
No- we are still most certainly still moving to England. We are still seeing God move and open doors for us to go to England. Our support is climbing, we received a free donation of the complete DVD series from NOOMA (Rob Bell), we have a couple waiting patiently to buy our van in August, and we have numerous offers of places to live during the next two months. We need to understand that the UK Government is just being …government.


Does this mean you don’t need support now?
No. We still need to be fully funded by the time we leave and continue to receive monthly funding from our regular supporters. It is during this time the UK consulate will look at our monthly income over the next couple of months for consistency in our support. If we show any sign that we cannot be sufficiently funded, they could reject our visa. So it is very important that we keep plugging away at this and that our regular support does not abandon ship. We also are saving as much of our funds as possible to help with our outgoing costs, and we still need a living allowance here in the states. Our desire is to live missionally in the community and to do that our home needs to be equipped to help single moms, provide a place of refuge for students, and etc.


Where are you going to live while you are waiting?
So far we have a couple of offers that help us to stay in the Chesterton/Valpo area. While we appreciate every offer we have to live with families, we hesitate to ask someone to take on our family of two rambunctious 3-year olds and need to find a place to live independently. We have an offer to stay in a camper that I lived in while finishing up at Liberty last year. This would be great because it is fully furnished with a kitchen, shower, and beds. However it is a camper and makes hosting a unique experience for everyone. We also have some friends of ours that found an apartment that we could live in that is free or very low rent. The positives it is bigger than the camper and we would be near some of our closest friends. However it is unfurnished and all we have is what fits in our luggage. Please pray for us we process these and other options.


What are you going to do until you leave?
We don’t plan on sitting around being lazy as we wait. We still have plenty to do in terms of our daily responsibilities with finishing up support (15% to go) and communication with Reign and our support team. We also have much to learn about the British culture, church, and history and we will take advantage of this time to grow in that area. Reign is having their annual conference in September that we would probably have missed because of having just arrived in England. We also have teammates in the local area that are just beginning their journey to England and we can help love and cheer them on as they start.


We also have many opportunities to serve here locally as we wait. Scott has already talked with a friend about helping at a resale shop and is considering doing a weekly trip with students that are interested in serving the homeless in Chicago.


What are your needs right now?
1. We need our supporters to continue to show consistency with monthly support because the UK Consulate will look for that as we go through this time.
2. If we move into an unfurnished place we need help with some of the basics to get us by for a couple months (dishes, cooking ware, blankets, sheets, pillows, etc.). We will let you know if we decide to go this route.
3. Prayer for our teammates in England. Please pray that they do not get discouraged and that they are able to communicate with the UK gov. and that their application is accepted.
4. Most importantly prayer. I believe that God is in control and that His timing is perfect. However, sometimes my understanding of that does not always match my heart. So pray for as we process this and look for His hand.


We are heading back to Nebraska tomorrow to pick up some paperwork and find some much-needed rest. We will be back next Sunday as we will be talking in the ministry moment. In closing, we wanted to share a verse with you that is bringing us comfort right now:


“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed…Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 2 Corinthians 4: 7-9, 16-17

It’s hard to believe we’re in a final month in the States!!  These past few months in Indiana have been a whirlwind.  We’ve been keeping busy with support raising, meeting with friends, talking to sunday school classes…and just life.  We’re at 84%, and the support is still trickling in.  We wonder if some people are just waiting to make sure we are really going to England!!


On that front, no news yet on Reign receiving their visa sponsorship number.  They think it may be another week or two until they hear anything.  We’re trying to be patient as we wait .  Once they receive their sponsorship, we will immediately begin applying for our visa.  Apparently it doesn’t take long to get your visa once you apply- some people get theirs as quickly as 1 day, others can take up to 4 weeks.  We would love to be flying out the end of July, so we’re praying that can happen!!


With everything going on, I wouldn’t expect a lot of updates online anytime soon from us.  It’s been so hard with no internet at home, and our time working at coffee shops is usually spent doing other things!!  Once we get to the UK and get settled, you can expect to find a lot more on our website.  We will write on the Chronicles page about our ministry experiences, and fun family outings on our Family Blog.


Hopefully on be on here soon sharing some good news about a travel date   Keep the prayers coming our way!

We’ve had a crazy week. We are officially moved into the upstairs missions apartment.  I cannot believe how quickly 2 three-year-olds can trash a house.  It took me hours to get us moved up and cleaned out of the basement apartment.  I found myself wiping chocolate milk off the walls and cleaning cheerios out of the corner.  Thankfully, I was able to get it looking how it was when we moved in!!  The boys actually took this move pretty well.  I think it helps that we’re still in the same house.  I just hope this is our last move before England!!  I’m not sure if we can handle another one. 


I’m really exciting to be living upstairs!  This apartment has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a dishwasher!!!  Can you tell how excited I am about the dishwasher?    We decided to seperate the boys this time…the boys are not sharing a bedroom for the first time Elijah came home from Guatemala.  They love sharing a room, but sleep so much better when they are separated.   They will share a bedroom again in England, but I am enjoying the separation for now.  They actually stay in their beds at night and fall right asleep!!  When they are together, the temptation is just so great to get out of bed and play together.  I’m a little nervous about their bedroom in England, because we’re planning on putting their toys in their room.  Hopefully that won’t cause additional temptation to get out of bed!


We are also beginning a final push for support raising.  I wrote in the Chronicles blog about it, so click here if you want to read more.  Support raising has been a long and difficult process.  On one hand, I have found it an honor to support raise for a mission I believe so much in.  On the other hand, it has been draining.  I feel like some people avoid me because they think I will ask them to support us.  We have about 20% left to raise, although I have come to realize that even when we hit 100%, we will never be done with support raising.  I think it is a continual process. 


I wish I had more stories and  pictures to share, but we’ve just been so busy lately.  Here are some pics my mom took when we went to visit for Mother’s day weekend.  Enjoy!

We just wanted to keep you updated on what is happening with our visa situation. Last week, our teammates in the UK had their visa appointment with the visa home office. They were able to complete their appointment this time and submit their application to become a visa sponsor (the Tier-5 ‘Temporary Volunteer Worker Visa’ that allows us to come for two years). The guys they were meeting with are not the ones responsible for making the approval decision, so please pray for those reviewing the paperwork that they will approve their application. The latest they should hear back about their visa sponsorship application is mid-June. As soon as Reign has their application approved, we can immediately begin the process of applying for our visa. Please pray that everything goes smoothly. At this point, we are looking at a departure date in the end of July. The next batch of missionaries need to move into the mission house on August 1, so please pray we make this deadline!!


Do you remember in our last email that when the UK changed their visa system, they forgot to place in a new spot for self-supported missionaries? This is what led us to apply for the temporary visa in hopes that in two years they will have figured this out. Because the government is trying to figure out the new system, they will be watching us closely through this process to make sure that we are following the necessary guidelines in place. This puts some extra stress on us to make sure that all of our paperwork is in pristine condition.


They will also be watching to make sure we are fully supported, so we are in a big push to raise our remaining 20% before our visa application process. If you are reading this and have not joined our monthly support team, we would ask that you prayerfully consider it. We realize in today’s economy that finances are tight, but even $10-$50/month makes a difference (http://www.reignministries.org/donate).  If you have some questions, we are setting up tea & scones appointments to talk with people about support. Please let us know if you’d like to get together.


We really feel that before we begin this final support push and visa application, we need to bring this before God prayerfully. We are hosting a prayer night next Sunday, May 24, from 6:30-8:00 pm at the mission house. Please join us that night so we can gather as a body of believers to pray that God will allow the pieces to fall into place so we can get to England in July. If you are interested in coming, please respond back to us either through email or through the Contact Us page. We are having watermelon that night and I just need to know how much to buy!!


On a final note, please pray for Heidi’s family. They found another tumor in Heidi’s dad’s bladder. He will have it biopsied in June, and they will know then if it is the same type of cancer. If it is the same type, it is not easily treated. If it is another form of cancer, they feel they should be able to remove the tumor and that should be the end of it. This is especially hard for Heidi now, knowing we are so close to moving overseas. She wants to be there for her family, but knows God is calling us to England. Please pray for peace for her and her family through this time.


Thank you for your prayers- they mean so much to us!!

The weather has been pretty yucky (can you tell I speak to toddlers all day?) lately.  Rainy, cold (sounds like England…maybe I should get used to this .  So this has kept most of our activities indoors.   I’ve been struggling with what to do on a tight budget and without a car in the mornings while Scott is off working.  


It has been nice because it’s given me the opportunity to focus on potty training.  I started potty training Elijah when he turned 3 in November.  He was ready- he got it.  He learned quickly and we haven’t had any problems since.  Carter, on the other hand, is having a harder time.  I know everything I’ve read tells me to wait until he’s ready, but I’m having a hard time with the wait.  In England, most parents start potty training when they’re 1 or 2.  All other kids his age will be potty trained when we get there, and I don’t want him feeling embarrassed.  I am also putting them in preschool in the fall once we get settled.  They will start school full-time in a year from September (England starts them full-time at 4!), so I want them to learn how to interact with other kids so they do ok in school.  I’m sure he will need to be potty trained for preschool, so that puts some pressure on me too.


For the longest time, Carter has told me he doesn’t want to wear big kid underpants.  (A brief side note, in case you didn’t know this, in England they call pants “trousers” and underpants “pants”.  So if you were to compliment someone on their pants, you’d be saying “Hey, nice underwear”.  Not the best way to make a good first impression.  So we have been calling our pants “trousers”, but I can’t bring myself to call underwear “pants”.  So I call them “underpants” to get myself in the right train of thought.)   Ok, back to the potty training story.  Carter did not want to wear big kid underpants, he only wanted his diaper.  I told him that was fine; he could be my baby forever and wear a diaper as long as he wants (a little reverse psychology).  It totally worked!  He told me he didn’t want to be a baby, and now no longer wants to wear a diaper.  The problem that we’re facing is that he treats his underpants like a diaper and has no problem sitting in wet pants.  I think he’s afraid to go in the potty.  The other day I gave him 2 ½ sippy cups of watered-down apple juice and had him sit on the potty while watching a movie.  I could tell he was getting more and more uncomfortable, and was trying to hold it in.  He started begging me for his underpants, but I knew that underpants could not contain this amount of pee.  We went back and forth fighting over it, and in the end I totally caved and put a pull-up on him, and he filled it up in less than a minute.  I kicked myself for doing that, but I was so afraid he would pee all over the carpet and I don’t have a steam cleaner to clean it all up.  The next time I fill him with apple juice, I’ll make sure we’re camped out in the bathroom ! 


In order to encourage him to sit on the potty, we made a sticker chart.  The sticker chart covers potty training, cleaning up their toys and staying in their beds at night. We went to Target and bought a bunch of toys from the $1 rack.   For 10 times sitting on the potty (Carter) or going potty (Elijah), the get a small toy.  Elijah doesn’t need the sticker chart for this, but there was a sense of unfairness otherwise in the deal and we want him to feel included.  For 10 times cleaning up their toys with only being asked once, they can pick out another small toy.  We’ve really been struggling with getting them to stay in their beds at nighttime, so 10 stickers earns them a bigger toy, like a Take-along Thomas train or a “guy”.  So far the sticker charts been working pretty well.  Here’s a picture of them below.  I’ll let you know how long this works for and if we see the results we’re hoping for.


Now onto pictures.  I know this is the reason most of you look at the family blog!!  I have been a bad picture taker in IN and have not taken any good pictures at all.  I kick myself every time we go to the beach saying, “Why didn’t I bring the camera?”.   So instead, I have some cute pictures from Easter.  This was our first Easter egg hunt and the boys had a blast.  A big thanks to my sister for thinking of this and making it happen.  When it was done, Elijah would not stop looking.  He was convinced that there were more eggs in the yard!  Since then, the boys have asked if we could do another egg hunt!  I kept the eggs, and this summer when they’re really bored, I think I’ll fill them up with goldfish and raisins, and we’ll hide them in the yard and then eat our snacks as a reward.

I hoped you enjoyed the pics!  I will try and get some good pictures up here soon (since I know two grandmas are dying to see them:).

I really am trying to be a better blogger!!  See, two posts in a week!  I am at the library (again) because we still don’t have internet at our house.  We are moving to the upstairs apartment in the missions house in a few weeks where we will have a different phone number and address.  It didn’t make sense to get internet only to have to change it all in a week or two.  So, I come to the library to use their free internet connection .

As we are having nicer weather, the boys and I are getting out a lot more and playing outside.  With my increased activity level, my asthma has gotten worse.  For those of you who didn’t know this, our apartment in NE had mold in it.  I was either allergic or sensitive to it (my doc didn’t think we needed to test it- he’d treat it the same either way), and I had a lot of health problems while we were there.  I developed exercise-induced asthma from either the mold, or from a bad case of bronchitis that turned to asthmatic bronchitis (although I didn’t think you could have asthmatic bronchitis without having asthma???).  Anyways, now I have it and it’s been driving me crazy lately.

This winter I was pretty sedentary.  We stayed home a lot (there wasn’t much to do close by and we lived in the middle of corn fields).  But now that I’m active it’s gotten so much worse.  The other day we took the boys to the beach and climbing up a walking path to look at the overlook, and I got wheezy and had to use my inhaler.  Today I was playing basketball with Carter and went chasing after a ball and got wheezy.  I told Scott I think I’m just going to have to accept the fact that I have asthma now and use my inhaler before doing anything active.  I hate the thought of that, but I think it’s just my life now.  I know my mom was really hoping that once we moved away from the mold it would get better.  I was hoping that too, but I think this might just be something I’m stuck with for life.  Asthma stinks.

So anyways, we’re starting to adjust to live back in IN again.  It has been so great seeing old friends and catching up with people.  It’s also awesome having a beach nearby and having lots of things to do with the boys.  And…I love spring!  The flowering trees are starting to bloom, leaves are sprouting on trees, and I can finally get the boys away from the tv and outside again (Man, we are going through a super-impressionable stage lately).  Life right now is good and is looking up.  I’m pretty excited in that as soon as I’m done here, I get to go shopping by myself.  Yep, Scott is watching the boys for the afternoon, and I’m heading to the outlet malls to try and find the boys some sandals to wear for the summer.  Carter is disappointed because he wants his basketball sandals, which are…you guessed it…in a storage facility in England.  Hopefully I can find some cheap pairs today.  Old Navy is having their flip-flops at 2/$5, so I bought some for Scott and I the other day, but I kind of want a strap on sandal that provides a bit more support for the boys.

Well, no pictures because I still have not downloaded them from my camera (sorry!).  I am off to go shopping- I will update again soon!!

I am so sorry that I haven’t updated this blog lately. Honestly, I’ve been in a blogger funk. Life has been really hard lately with a lot of curve-balls thrown at us. I wouldn’t say I’m prozac depressed, just in a bit of a funk. I’ve been looking for the bright side lately, and I’ve been doing better. I promise I will try and do a better job of keeping this website updated.

To fill you in, we were supposed to be flying to England tomorrow. April 21. The day we have been counting down to for a long time. We were thrown a mega curve-ball several weeks ago when we found out that England was restructuring their visa application process and we were looking at a 3-month delay (for more info, check out our Chronicles page).  I suppose this wouldn’t have been such a curve-ball if we were still living in our apartment in NE.  Instead, we had shipped all of our belongings to the UK, had travelled to my parent’s house, and were basically homeless living out of suitcases.  I felt slapped down.  We were moving forward- we were almost to England.  It hit me hard, and I walked around in a funk for a while.

We knew we couldn’t live with my parents for the next 3 months while we waited.  My dad has picked up about every bug he’s come in contact with since finishing up radiation last year, and was sick most of the 3 weeks we were there.  They’ve also found a spot on his bladder, and he goes in for testing next week to see if his cancer has spread.  We knew we couldn’t be a burden on my family and were frightened that we had no other options.  Fortunately, we heard from the missions pastor at the church we had served at for 9 years telling us we could stay in their missions house.  This was such a relief knowing we would be closer to friends and our support base.

So we moved in about a week ago, and things are looking up.  I’m coming out of my funk now that I have friends again.  In NE I didn’t have any friends at all, and that was really tough.  It’s been great because a lot of my friendships have just picked up where we left off.  In some ways, it feels like we never left.  In other ways, I see all the construction and changes and realize that life did go on while we were gone.  But I am thankful to be back in this area and back to the familiar and comfortable.  I’ve told several people that if we’re to be delayed, I’m glad we’re here being delayed.

The boys are having a hard time making yet another adjustment.  I feel so bad for everything we’ve put them through this last year.  Here is a list of all of the places we’ve lived in the past year since selling our house:  My parent’s house (5 weeks), in a camper visiting Scott while he finished up his job (1 week), Apartment in NE (June-Feb), Scott’s parents house (2 weeks), my parent’s house (3 weeks), and now our apartment in the missions house.  We’ll be making another move to the upstairs apartment in a week or so.  I wish there was another way- but this is the path God has led us on and we will continue following Him until we feel he is calling us in another direction.  Thankfully the boys are resilient and bounce back fairly quickly.

The other curve-ball in the process was realizing that all of our summer clothes were in a shipping container in the middle of the ocean.  They are now sitting in a storage unit in England waiting for us to arrive.  Thankfully it won’t be too expensive (£16/week) to store everything.  I was able to pick up some clothing with some of my birthday money, and we’ll do Goodwill shopping soon for the rest of the things we’ll need.  Oh, did I mention that in the middle of all of this I turned 30?  Not a birthday I was really looking forward to.  (But as my sister reminded me- 30 isn’t all that bad.  I have an amazing husband, 2 great kids, am moving to England- I can’t really complain).

So where does this all leave me now?  I’m choosing to have a positive attitude about the whole thing.  I am choosing to believe (and continually remind myself) that God is in control.  I’m trying to be a better mom and wife (it’s hard when you’re in a funk and can’t see past yourself).  I’m excited to have friends- I’ve been out with several in the week we’ve been back.  I’m also going to start exercising and getting back into devotions again.  We set up a schedule with specific times so we know we’ll do it (although I was bad and slept in on my first day- I need to make myself get up in the morning and exercise). 

I was going to post a few pictures of the boys (since I’m sure that’s the reason most people come to this page , but I realized that I haven’t downloaded any of April’s pictures onto my computer.  Instead I’ll add some pictures from Carter’s 3rd birthday (in March).

new "guys"

He wanted a Spiderman birthday

love the face

Some Elijah cuteness

I’ve been trying to upload a video, but to no avail.  I need to get going- we’re going to another friends’ house for dinner tonight!!  I am currently at the public library because we don’t have internet at home yet.  We decided there wasn’t much point in setting it up to one phone number when we’ll be moving to another phone number soon.  I will try and get back on here soon and upload some more recent pictures.  Until next time!!