Starting Over

Welp. We did it. One month after arriving in Jolly Old England, we finally moved into our own home. I’m pretty sure the only reason the Mace’s put up with us that long is because of the entertainment Rachel provides. We couldn’t have done it without the Mace’s help. That’s for sure.

Thursday, we had a one hour break (1-2) for Paul to come sign the papers. Jonathan and I picked him up, and as we raced to the Agency, the little car died in the middle of the busiest roundabout in Birmingham. AH!!! There was a small break in the traffic, so Paul pulled it to the side, and we phoned a friend to come pick us up. Bless her heart, Leah was there in 15 minutes, and we abandoned Jonathan and his poor little car. When we got to the agency, we had to read through a 17 page tenancy agreement, and poor Paul was freaking out about being late for class. We finally got the keys and went to take Paul to school, but Leah had to pick up her kids from school, so we dropped Paul off about a mile away from his campus. Bless him. Rachel and I spent the next few hours picking up kids from school, playing at the park, and getting to know Leah’s family. (They are wonderful!) I had planned to go back to the house to clean, so Leah dropped me off, but when I got inside, it was SPOTLESS! Yay! Thank you Landlord!!! So Rachel and I spent the next few hours exploring, trying to nap, and watching Frozen on our little Nook. Alan and Paul arrived with our boxes, and we all went back to the Mace’s for dinner. What a DAY! I was wiped out. Oh, nobody panic-Jonathan got a tow and made it home just fine. I don’t know the fate of the car though…

Friday, I tried to relax/recover. Went out running errands with Becky-love that girl.

Then Saturday came. (Saturday is a special day) Becky drove us down and took me shopping to get a few groceries. She had to get back, so we said goodbye for now, but we know we’re calling her to babysit soon. Rachel asks for her every day!
Our house-it’s not the nicest part of town, but it’s not the ghetto. It has new floors, paint, carpet, cabinets, and it looks like a new bathtub and toilet upstairs! Other than that, it came with NOTHING. I ordered a nice big bed off ebay, but it has until Thursday to get here. I was really hoping for earlier… I also tried to get a sofa off of gumtree (the British craigslist), but the woman disappeared off the face of the earth. It wouldn’t be as fun if it was easy, right?

The Beasley’s saved the day, though! They brought a kitchen table and chairs, a dresser, toy chest, an AMAZING old dish set,

three blow up air mattresses, a bike for Paul to ride to school, towels, bedding, toys for Rachel (including a spectacular Halloween costume), and lots of love and food. They had quite an adventure getting everything in-had to take the table around to the alley and through the back of the house because one of our doorways was too narrow. They fixed all the chairs up with wood glue and nails, and Mike drove Paul to get the rest of our luggage from the Mace’s.

We ALL went to ASDA and a few other stores to get things like a toaster, crockpot, blow dryer, iron, pillows, a lamp or two, a “rubbish bin” and some hangers. They treated us to FISH AND CHIPS from a little place around the corner from our house. BAD NEWS. It’s fairly cheap and quite tasty, so we’re going to have to be disciplined and not go there every night.

We won’t have our wifi set up for another WEEK, so I have no way of communicating with the outside world or looking up bus times or anything. We have a ridiculous little rubbish phone that we can use in emergencies, but it doesn’t have data. It costs too much and isn’t really worth it to jail break our iphones, so we’re kind of stuck in a non-communicative phase. We’ll figure it out eventually, but I was kind of freaking out. If I go into labor, I have no way to reach Paul or my family back home. Yikes! Luckily, Paul picked up a “dongle” today-a little portable hotspot. We didn’t want to spend money on that kind of thing, but these are kind of important days in our lives.

Big news… Paul surprised me with new phones today!!! We found an INCREDIBLE deal, so we can now text and call people in the UK, and we have data so I can actually find my way around and not die! These are all great things.
Sunday. Church. Shantal and her husband had rented a car for the weekend, so they picked us up for church. What a blessing! Church was lovely. There are several Americans in the ward, and many people introduced themselves. Everyone was very friendly. Rachel struggled at the end of nursery, so we let her come sit with us. (She’s had a lot of change in the past couple days/weeks/months... and we’re about to add a sister. HA!) Also, church goes right through lunch time into nap time. The struggle is real, my friends. I was sitting there munching on food with Rachel, trying to keep from passing out. Typical pregnant lady.

P.S. Sunday was my due date. No big deal.

Sunday evening, Leah picked us up and fed us dinner, gave us a bunch of baby things, answered questions, brainstormed solutions to our problems, and let us use her phone to call home. What a woman. *Side note: Leah is from America-cousins with one of our dearest friends-and married a Brit, so she lives here now. But she gets the whole “American in a foreign country” bit.
Rachel and I braved the rain today and walked to some shops on the high street to look for furniture. We didn’t quite find what we wanted, but we did go to McDonald’s for lunch, and let me tell you-I never liked McDonalds back home, but here, it was like rolling up in a blanket in your mom’s house while she cooks you dinner. I would do a commercial for them. They even gave Rachel a free balloon. Amazing.

It’s hard for me to even put into words how I feel right now. I am SO incredibly grateful for the many people who have helped us. I definitely feel like a burden, and I wish there was something I could do for them. There’s just no way to possibly repay everyone for the kindness they have shown us. True charity. We are blessed indeed to know such wonderful people.

Knowing Paul’s program is only two years, it’s easy to go without, borrow, or go cheap-we only need it to last 2 years, right? I’ve even decided I might not need a dryer. This is big, guys. On the other hand, I don’t want that mentality to bleed into the rest of my life. I have felt the last few weeks slip by as I’m waiting to “find a place to live”, “get settled”, “find furniture”, “have a baby”, etc. When you’re living out of a suit case and cardboard boxes, it’s easy to dream about having nice things. That’s when REAL LIFE starts. But Rachel reminds me every day that we need to do fun things. We need to spend real time together doing real things that mean something. She gets grumpy if I’m on the computer too long or even making dinner without including her help. It’s frustrating at times, but I’m grateful for the little reminder she is-that every day, every minute is a gift, and we can celebrate and be happy with very little or with a lot.

Drying clothes on the radiators like a champ.

Rachel’s corner:
• SOOO excited for Ggie to come tomorrow!
• Asks for Dada every morning, but knows he’s at school
• Cut her lip with daddy’s razor today and about gave me a heart attack-she’s fine though
• Loves to wash her hands and put on lotion
• Finally has some baby dolls and strollers to play with-she takes SUCH good care of them
• Not sleeping great, but we’re working on it. Definitely need some dark curtains for her room.
• Says “I’m SO EXCITED” for just about anything
• Loves playing “hide and go seek” in our closets
• She added “The Little Mermaid” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” to her obsession list

Paul’s corner:
• Pretty sure he’s lost about 25 pounds this month
• Left me the CUTEST love note today-made me cry
• Sleeps on the tiny air mattress, without a pillow so his pregnant wife and little girl can be comfortable
• Found a way to phone a friend to get a message to me saying he bought the “dongle” today (portable hotspot)
• Loves our new house with high ceilings for a tall dude
• Looks everywhere for the hottest sauce and spices he can find. He misses Mexican food and Sriracha
• Ordered Dominoes for dinner the other night-nothing like the American version, but it was a cute attempt
• Loving his course so far!
• I love him.

*There is a video coming later... when we have real wifi.*