our new normal

After the whirlwind that was moving from Ohio to England with a 2 week pit stop in South Carolina along the way, followed by a week-long expedition in Scotland, everyone needed to just stop moving. The kids have been absolute troopers sleeping in four different places in a fewer number of weeks, going with the flow, trusting mom and dad, believing us when we call this Airbnb our home. But even I was ready to feel a bit more normal. It had probably been about month since I had cooked dinner or been grocery shopping or done laundry. All those day to day little pieces of life that are tedious but necessary to providing comfort and familiarity and security. Don't know where we are or what we're doing, but at least we have clean clothes and a home cooked meal. 

So just like we jumped in head first and headed off to Scotland, as soon as we returned the next day T.J. headed off to start the job that brought us over here and I loaded up three kids and we took the bus to Tescos. Which is close but not entirely normal actually.  The grocery was a bit overwhelming as all grocery stores can be with three children, especially when you've been exclusively doing delivery back in the states, and the store is laid out backwards, and everything is packaged differently but we did it. We took the right bus, got off at the correct stop, and were able to stock our fridge with semi-familiar looking items, plus some fun british snacks to try like Hula Hoops and Supreme Prawn Cocktail flavoured crisps. 

(Our first real meal in the house had to be Mary Berry's Roasted Sausage and Potato Supper with Yorkshire Puddings.)

Stepping outside the gate of our home with my little ducks trailing behind me and my phone navigating us to the correct bus stop or the cafe we want to try for lunch, everything is new, everything feels like a mini-adventure. What will we discover next? More extraordinary ordinary moments from these first weeks: I was able to get a UK phone line which allowed me to get a grocery member card so delivery is back in my life once again. The boys got their first haircut in ages, we mailed post cards to friends in the states and T.J. was finally able to open a bank account here.  This means we should hopefully be able to secure a car next. I'm a bit anxious about driving here, although my first time behind the wheel ever was in England at 17 years young, in a manual car no less so... hopefully it's like riding a bike. Having a car will help with the bigger grocery trips but more importantly it will allow us to get out and explore, and take the boys to football practice.

Yep. Basically we're channeling Ted Lasso over here which means besides eating at the pub multiple times a week we're embracing this country's beloved past-time. T.J. did some quick research and sent out a few enquiries and then Saturday he woke Tommy up and told him he get's to go play soccer that morning, right now, with basically no warning. Honestly I was more thrown by the plans and nervous than Tommy was.  He didn't have cleats, he's barely played before outside of our yard, they had to take an Uber to the pitch. But I'm so glad I married who I married because my introvert tendencies would have prevailed and then Tommy would have missed out on a fun new experience. He made a friend, he had a blast! We're going to sign both boys up for the school term!

Of course in between trying to establish a sense of normalcy and routine, the kids and I also rode around on one of those sightseeing double-decker buses with no roof on a bluebird day in Cambridge, learning about the history of the colleges, and the origins of football and the term "pub crawl." We had a lunch in a cafe together, explored two new parks, and started what I hope will become a cherished rhythm here of afternoon tea and scones with jam and clotted cream while we read-aloud from a chapter book.  Last week we started Horrible Histories- The Terrible Tudors which is appropriately fitting and I'm counting all of the above as social studies for our homeschool curriculum.

Perhaps the thing that makes me feel most at home and grounded in a new place is finding a church.With each move I feel less and less shy walking in to a new church. Not knowing a soul but knowing we share a Saviour breaks down most social walls. The previously mentioned friend Tommy made at soccer practice (football training) told us where they attended and this Sunday we went for the first time.  We were immediately invited to sit with another family, the kids went to their own Sunday school class after the worship and scripture readings, I got to chat with some other homeschool mums, and after the service there was tea and biscuits and fellowship. The kids kicked around a ball in the park in front of the chapel and it felt so sweet and familiar despite all the ways that it wasn't. The beauty of the body of Christ.  

While trips to Scotland, and visiting castles and cathedrals are probably what will fill our photo albums from our time abroad, it’s the laundry drying on the line, grocery shopping, quiet Sundays going to church and coming home for lunch, favourite meals around our table, books read on the couch, walking to the park and making friends, that will etch these months in our hearts as more than just an elaborate extended vacation.  We’ll remember a feeling of really belonging to this place.  And we'll talk about it long after we've left- much longer than anyone else probably cares to hear about it- dropping it into conversations casually like all the other places we've called home.