We Are Still Alive!

I knew I was going to be a bad blogger, but I never expected to be this bad. I am sure some of you were starting to wonder if we ever even made it to England. Well, it has been a long week and a half, but we are still here. I am blaming my poor communication on the crazieness of moving in to a new house (in a new country none the less) and our lack of internet service at home until yesterday.

For the 11 days we have lived in England a lot has happened. I am not sure even where to start, but I know you want details. Here are the major things I can think of off the top of my head.

• Our flight began in Houston, we changed planes in Charlotte, N.C., landed in London at Gatwick, took a train to Brighton, and sqeezed ourselves and 7 enormous bags into a taxi to get to our house from the train station.



• The Steells, our friends who live around the corner, were away on holiday in Spain, but they left us the keys to their house. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out how to turn on their tv.



• Even more upsetting was the fact that it took a week for Virgin Media to come to our house to set up our home phone, tv and internet service. We just got all these services yesterday, and we are thrilled to have reliable technology again.



• Because we didn't have a working home phone, we needed to get UK cells phones as quickly as possible. Sadly, we found out that because we don't have a UK credit history we can't get a mobile phone contract. No new phones for us! We are all on a pay-as-you-go plan and have the most pitiful phones you have ever seen.



• On the bright side, people from our new church have been so kind and considerate. Last weekend, we had several people stop in to bring us cards, flowers and food. One couple even brought us printed google directions on how to walk to church on Sunday. After church on Sunday, we ate lunch at the house of a couple from the church, and then another family took us to do a little shopping.

• The girls' school situation has worked out great. At the last minute, Sloane got into the school we wanted, and it is right behind our house. She was not able to start on Thursday with the other kids, but she started on Friday. She had a great day and loves her new teacher, friends and school. We met with Sutton's school on Friday, but she won't be able to start until next Wednesday because they have to work out her schedule and figure out where to place her.

• Our next door neighbors are both great (thankfully, because we are VERY close). On one side is a family with a teenage daughter and a 13 year-old son, and on the other side is a retired couple. We thought we were in trouble when our neighbor, Rose, told Keith that she didn't like Americans. I guess she has come around (or at least likes us) because she has already taken Sloane with her to her cat rescue job, lent us tools and a heater, and she and her husband have offered us their car for 2 weeks while they are away on vacation.



• Our neighbors have lots of cats and they wander through our garden and try to get in our locked cat door. The good thing about the cats is they entertain Sloane and keep the seagulls away for the most part. We will see what they think about Lucy when she comes.

• We are all still sleeping on air mattresses, and this is getting really old. Keith and I took a train to London last night to go to an Ikea. We spent about 3 hours gathering a house full of furniture. A guy from our church who has a large van met us at Ikea, and helped us get all of our boxes home. We were unloading all our stuff last night around midnight. It is probably going to take about 2 months to put all of this together. Unfortunately, the bed and mattress Keith and I picked out was out of stock, so we will be sleeping on the air mattress for a little while longer.

Well, that is all the juicy details I can think of right now. We all love it here, but it will be nice when we are a little more settled and our house feels more like a home. It is a little strange not celebrating Labor Day weekend, and we are all missing the start of college football (really just Keith and I care - we did see some of the Michigan game on ESPN America). We know we have new things in store for us here, and we can't wait to experience them. I promise I will be better about blogging, so you can experience them with us. Happy Labor Day weekend!