We were supposed to leave Jersey on Saturday, but because of a storm, our ferry was cancelled…which means we got to spend an extra day with the Johns! Yay! On Sunday, Paul and I took some motion sickness meds for the ferry. I was fine, but Paul was SO groggy. It was like we’d given him a tranquilizer. Poor guy couldn’t keep his eyes open! So when we got to the Furbank’s home, he crashed on the sofa. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that! The Furbanks are lovely people, and we had a great night’s rest before our journey home… which was GREAT!
We actually made it to STONEHENGE this time! YAY!!! It was fun to walk around and try to imagine what the rocks mean, and who could have put them there? Rachel told us that “Yoda made the big rocks!” I’ll buy that! (Makes me wonder what Paul is teaching her when I’m not around…)
The GPS (sat nav) on my phone directed us about an hour out of our way specifically to FORCE us onto a toll road! What??? Tolls are quite expensive here, so Paul pulled a Scrooge and said we’d have to find another way. At that point, Alice had a dirty nappy (diaper), Rachel had about had it, and I was pretty low on happy juice myself. We eventually found our way home, but we had to go directly through downtown Birmingham during rush hour traffic. Ugh. Oh well, I just kept telling myself it would all be worth it in a few minutes when we got home and snuggled into our nice warm beds…
OOPS! We got home about 5:30 pm, and Paul immediately had to return the car. I sat in our freezing cold house with the girls while we waited for the heat to kick in.
(Note: If you’d like to skip over me complaining about the broken heater and the events over the 3 days it took to fix it, skip ahead to the ***)
After about 1.5 hours, Paul got home and we decided something wasn’t working. We threw some food in the oven and gathered around it for warmth while we read through the leaflets to try to find some answers. After no luck, we began calling friends to see if they knew what to do. Our neighbor came over to look at the boiler, but he couldn’t figure it out. (Blessing in disguise-we actually got to meet our neighbor whose name is Enz. He doesn’t actually live there, but he owns the place.) We finally called Bishop Ward who came to the rescue with a friend from the ward and HALLELUJAH-They got it to work! BUT it shut off 5 minutes after they walked out the door. Paul went to the store for some milk and eggs, and I sat with the girls trying to figure out what to do. At this point, there was no one else we could call, so we all climbed in bed together and prayed we’d wake up in the morning.
We survived the night, and Paul called the letting agency as soon as they were open. They promised to send someone, and they DID! It’s a miracle! Two plumbers came over and fixed it again. (They were HILARIOUS by the way. Made fun of us being American the whole time they were here.) The girls and I bathed, and we got the house all the way up to 15 degrees (Celsius) before… It shut off again. We called the plumbers back, and they said they would be able to fix it in the morning. Another freezing night all together in the bed. And then the dreaded phone call in the morning. “We can’t come fix it, because it’s under warranty, and the letting agency won’t allow us to come. The manufacturer will come fix it tomorrow.”
Let me just say that I know I sound like a wimp. Big deal, right? The pioneers walked barefoot in the snow! However, when your little girls have blue lips and you are literally boiling pots of water on the stove so you can wash your dishes, you start to understand a teensy weensy bit of what being a pioneer might have felt like. I was also struggling with the inevitable post-Christmas/post-amazing-holiday-in-Jersey-with-the-Johns let down, and the thought of Paul going back to school in a week… I was just not geared up to feel optimistic about the future.
This is a picture of me before I went on a walk to the store by myself to get some food so we wouldn’t die of starvation. We might freeze to death, but we wouldn’t starve! Yes, I am aware I looked like a homeless person. This was not a proud moment. We ended up borrowing two space heaters from a friend in the ward and buying one of our own. I also realized that our downstairs bathroom has an electric shower, which means PAUL COULD SHOWER!!! (That moment what your husband hasn’t showered in FOUR DAYS… ew.) We all slept well, and the manufacturer came in the morning. He pulled out a piece of dirt that was clogging the pressure valve. Took him all of 5 minutes, and the saga of the broken heater was finally over.
***Alright, back to normal life. I took Alice to her “6 week” checkup. She’s 11 weeks now. Oops! 16 pounds and healthy as a horse. I still have about 10-15 pounds of baby weight left, and my tummy is bigger than I’d like, but I’m starting to feel some kind of core again.
Thursday evening, the Bishop came over to extend some callings. I was called as the Ward Music Chairperson, which is GREAT! I’ve never really had a music calling before, and I’m grateful that it’s the type of calling where I can set my own time commitment and schedule depending on the week. Paul was called as the Ward Mission Leader, which means we will be getting to see a lot more of the missionaries and have more investigators over! We are SO excited! Well, I am. Paul is still a little overwhelmed. In our ward, we pretty much have a baptism every week in addition to other meetings he’ll have to attend, so this will definitely keep him busy. But that’s why we came here! To get a degree and serve a mini mission! Huzzah!
Friday and Saturday were spent cleaning up from the aftermath of our trip and the days of no heat. I was able to buy some new boots for 20 pounds-my first clothing purchase in England! Also, Paul cut Rachel’s fringe (bangs). Dear Rachel, sorry about your mullet. I’ll make it up to you by building you a fort out of a cardboard box and Christmas lights.
Then, the Pratt’s came to visit! We spent the afternoon and evening on Saturday eating and talking and keeping Farran out of trouble. Ha! Also, Rachael Pratt and I went to the store to get some groceries and a curling wand! Yay!!! I haven’t been able to curl or straighten my hair in 4 months, and I basically felt hideous. I feel much better now.
Dillon and Erin slept over at our place, and the rest of them slept at a nearby hotel. Confession: Paul and I had WAY too much fun deciding what to go say to the kids when they were staying up giggling.) In the morning, we made some pancakes and headed off to church where we met up with all of our British friends from the Nauvoo/British pageants!
OH MY GOODNESS!! This was one of the top 5 days of my life. It felt like our wedding day all over again-lots of people we love, good food, a spiritual feast, and everything went perfectly! And I really didn’t do a thing. Bev and Jonathan Mace organized the whole thing with Carol and help from Leah and Rachael. It was so nice to sit in Relief Society-bunched in a row with some of the most wonderful women I’ve ever met. The lesson was on charity and the blessings that come from putting God first. It was so moving for me to realize just how much these women have taught me by living this lesson. I had to share just how grateful I am for each of them. These women are the blessings that have come into my life from this experience, and they are the evidence that God has blessed me as I’ve tried to put him first.
Surrounded by these wonderful friends, Paul was able to give Alice a name and a blessing through the power of the priesthood. She was blessed with patience and love and understanding among other things. I was very touched by the blessing, and I felt I could glimpse a bit of who she really is and who she will become. I am profoundly grateful for this precious little one who has brought so much peace and joy to my life in these first few weeks and months together. I feel that I’ve known her much longer than this life. She’s already a dear friend! I don’t know that I will ever deserve her, but I am so grateful that Father in Heaven would allow me to raise her for a bit.
My first act as music chair was to coerce these talented dear friends into singing “I Am a Child of God” for the special music number. We only did a bare-bones run thru once beforehand, but it was simply beautiful. It was the perfect song for the day, and everyone sang with heart and soul. Someone asked me where I found this amazing choir! Ha! Just a bunch of angelic friends!
After church, we had a nice party in the gym. Bev brought a giant cake from Costco, so you could basically gain 5 pounds just by smelling it. There was tons of yummy food, and Jonathan tracked down the music to “Journey of No End” which is a song we sing in Nauvoo. It was so special to sing it again with dear friends and hear those words at this special point in our journey. It was so nice to visit with friends! Charly, Loren, Shanti, and Jonathan came over afterward for a few minutes just to catch up, and we had fun remembering Nauvoo and talking about the future.
I fell asleep that night dreading the fact that I was losing Paul for another 10 weeks, but I couldn’t feel sorry for myself after such an incredible break and wonderful, wonderful day! I am very blessed indeed.
Rachel’s corner:
Sorry about your mullet. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
So good at saying “Thank you, Mommy”
Started singing a lot more! She knows Twinkle Twinkle, Jingle Bells, Toot Sweets, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the best
Still asks for Sariah and Sariah’s house every day
About Alice:
The cutest little smile and laugh
Holds her head up like a champ and really loves to be held upright
Her legs are so chunky, she barely fits in the bumbo, but she loves it anyway
I want to eat her cheeks!
No comments:
Post a Comment