My New Surroundings

I woke up this morning (late this morning because my sweet hubby lets me sleep in on Saturdays) to the feel and smell of England. It was humid and overcast and completely beautiful. We have been here for something like 10 days and have seen the sun every single day. Having had plenty of sun in Las Vegas, I was looking forward to some nice summer storms when we arrived here. Unfortunately the U.K. was experiencing some uncommonly sunny weather when we go here and it's carried on for days. Now, this is nothing to complain about, I realize that; however, I was so looking forward to the typical English weather. A friend of mine in the States who is originally from England said, "you can't beat a sunny day in the U.K." and it turns out she's right. The past several days have been bright yet not anywhere near as hot as Las Vegas (as if you thought it could be :) ). The most wonderful difference between sunny days here and sunny days in Las Vegas is that here you are surrounded by greenery; whereas in Las Vegas it's just dust and garbage. Over the past several days I have overheard a handful of people on the base commenting on the extraordinary weather; one person even went so far as to say that she was concerned that all the newcomers would think this is typical weather for this time of year. There is a charm about England and the weather plays a big part in that charm. Yesterday as I walked the children home from school it began to rain and we had a glorious time walking in it. It didn't rain for long but I am supposing that today's weather is the same storm from yesterday, still hanging around creating more charm. The twins survived yet another day in school and I think after several weeks of the routine it will become as natural to them as staying home for school was. I do miss them while they're gone but have had a revelation of comfort about them being in school now. It's all just part of the evolution a family goes through over the years. I mentioned in my last post that I was certain to have figured out Alfred Hitchcock's inspiration for the movie "The Birds". England has mass amounts of birds!!! There are lots of pigeons here; we got used to pigeons while living in Las Vegas. But there are also a lot of Ravens here. They fly around in big groups and hang out in the trees together. It is a good idea to stay clear of the trees in which you see a few Ravens because there will probably be more you can't see and you will be in danger of having your hair or clothing soiled. Walking around the base at twilight and seeing several large groups of Ravens flying about and hearing groups of them squawking in the trees can give you an eerie feeling, and Hitchcock picked up on that no doubt. We have found a place to live in the village of Mildenhall. There is an Air Force Base on the outskirts of the village, called RAF Mildenhall, but that is not the base Rhett works at (he works at RAF Lakenheath). Mildenhall is about five minutes from our base and seems to be a quaint little village. We did not want to live too far from the base because the children are going to school on base, plus will have sports on base, scouts on base, other activities of that nature; most all of my shopping will be done on base, then of course the dental clinic is here. English roads are narrow and twisty, which isn't so bad in good weather but the roads get pretty bad in the winter. We ended up getting a three bedroom home instead of a four bedroom. Many of the four bedroom homes around the base were made up of two decent sized rooms and two closets they called rooms. We are hoping that we will only have to live here for about two months though because there is a large three bedroom on base opening up soon and as long as somebody ranking Major or above doesn't get on the list we should be able to move on base quite soon. I know we were hoping to have a guest bedroom to offer to our visitors, but it wasn't able to be done unless we lived 30 minutes or more from the base. Don't worry though, we are still very willing to offer our home to any of you who come; and it might even heighten your experience here, what crammed in a small British home and all that! Just kidding, the home isn't very small at all. We are slowly adjusting to our situation and it will be helped along as we move into this home. This has been an amazing journey for which I am very grateful. With as crazy and frustrating as the past two weeks have been, I have felt the Lord close to me the whole time and I have clearly seen His hand blessing me. Until next time...