They Say Reentry Is The Tricky Part...

The whole time we were in London, I kept thinking of the experience as an extended stay in Oz. This week has shown me, however, that I was thinking incorrectly. We were not in Oz; we were in outer space. I know this because we didn't tap our shoes together to get home; instead we plummeted back into the U.S. atmosphere at much too steep of an angle!

The first item of our bumpy reentry is that Kyle got sick a few days before we left London and has been unable to shake it--hacking up a lung and feeling totally crummy for almost two weeks now. I feel so badly for him! It sure makes moving less than pleasant...

Then the moving-related fun began late last Saturday night when Kyle found that the only passport not in my purse was mine. (We had gone down into London the week before to take an open-top bus tour and had forgotten to get the passport back out of the jacket pocket--you know, the place it would be safe all day--at the end of the day.) So, my passport had been packed neatly and carted away with our household goods on the slow boat back to Texas two days before we discovered it missing and three days before I needed it to leave the U.K. The fact that the U.S. embassy is only open for passport problems on weekdays and that we were flying out the next day made for a rather sleepless last night in London. We did have a photo copy of it on our computer, so we printed it out, prayed really hard, and headed to the airport Sunday morning, hoping for much border-security mercy. After several phone calls, I was granted a stay of execution and allowed to get on the plane and come home with my family. The flight itself was pretty uneventful, but I was again investigated on this end, but the U.S. border people also pardoned me. I had successfully come home with my family without my passport. YEAH! Let me tell you, the feeling of gratitude has still not worn off!!! Being stuck in London, probably until after Christmas, when my family was in the states would have been terrible.

So we got back to Texas late Sunday night and checked into our corporate apartment, my sweet brother-in-law Dustin meeting us at the airport and then spending the next couple of days with us. They were a whirlwind of activity, too--signing up for mobile phone service, having work done on our pickup truck, getting food in the house, etc. Then Christmas eve morning, Dustin flew back to Idaho and I flew to Tulsa to pick up our new van, almost missing my flight and running through the airport like a mad woman only to end up switching planes and getting delayed by mechanical problems for the next two hours. (We drive up into the North enough during the winter months that we really wanted a four-wheel drive minivan, and Tulsa was the closest place I could find one.) The drive back from Tulsa was uneventful, and I actually got to spend a relaxing Christmas eve with my wonderfully jet-lagged family.

Christmas morning was as wonderful as ever, remembering the Savior together, opening a few gifts, and enjoying being together, but things changed around noon when I started having chest pains, TERRIBLE chest pains. They got progressively worse until I had Kyle take me to the emergency room. After running tests all afternoon at the E.R., the attending physician said he couldn't find anything wrong, would be uncomfortable sending me home, would rather be safe than sorry (or have me dead--spoilsport), and checked me into the cardiac wing of Richardson Regional Hospital. So, I got to spend all Christmas afternoon and night in the hospital--excitement I could have done without, by the way.

Kyle and the kids sprung me from the hospital Friday around noon, and we vegged the rest of the day, me groggy from medication, Kyle groggy from being sick, and the kids bored to tears because both of their parents were comatose. (They never found a cause for my chest pains, by the way, which the doctor says is the case in %80 of the people they see.) We did go to dinner at the home of some of our friends from London who also recently moved back, the Zentners, and the non-hospital part of the day was delightful.

Saturday, however, brought even more fun as I woke up having an allergic reaction to who knows what and looking much like my face had been terribly over-inflated by a sadistic balloon sculptor. I spent the rest of the day taking Benedryl, trying not to scratch my skin off, and wondering when the flies and locusts would arrive. Thankfully, they never did, and the allergic reaction was the last of the plagues.

So today, one week after leaving London, we were too sick to even go to church, but we're all safe and relatively happy. It sure has been a wild week, though! Kyle and I are looking forward to eventually not feeling/looking like the living dead, and the kids are looking forward to having their parents not being so sick. I hope that happens by tomorrow because we're supposed to go looking at houses early tomorrow morning... Yes, Mr. and Mrs. homeowner, Mr. Phlegm and Mrs. Puff would like to make you an offer on your house, just try not to look at them...

You want to know the saddest part of it all? Today is our anniversary! Seventeen years. Happy sickiversary, Kyle--I sure love you! Bet you didn't know you were marrying the elephant girl...

Cardboard Boxes...

No matter how many times I've moved, it's still completely surreal having everything you own (except for what you can take with you on the plane) packed neatly in cardboard boxes and taken away. The movers drive away in a few minutes, and then, as of Sunday, we will no longer be Londoners--we will be Texans.

At what point does this all start to seem real?

Coming Full Circle...

To make a very long and painful story short, our first few weeks in the United Kingdom were a financial nightmare. Getting accounts set up both here and there, convincing all the banks to communicate, and then actually being granted access to our own money was, well, let's just say "difficult" and leave it at that.

That said, I need to take a moment to rant, as with only two weeks left here we seem to have come full circle. How's that, you ask? WELL...

Apparently I was in Jamaica this morning! Well, at least my debit card was, as some thoughtful soul used it to purchase 250 pounds worth of something I'm sure they needed very badly. The bank was nice enough to cancel my card for me, "as a courtesy," and it will "promptly" have another one sent out--"promptly" meaning that they will process the request for a new card in 8-10 business days...a little problematic when you leave the country in 13! Do you know how difficult the last two weeks here are going to be without my only U.K.-money-source-accessing tool? Aargh!!!

Ooh, and, oh yes, one more rant...

If it's going to cost me 250 pounds to have my contract-mandated "professional move-out clean," I AM NOT CLEANING ONE MORE DANG THING (and I wish I wouldn't have wasted significant amounts of time cleaning the last two weeks)!!! On the flip side, though, the moving to-do list just got shorter!

Thanks for letting me rant...

I'm sorry...I thought I heard you say "pub"...

I was answering an email from my sweet sister-in-law, Charlotte, and I realized you all might enjoy this too...

Having been over here, we've had lots of experiences that we knew were one timers, but Enrichment night this week takes the cake. Our church building is being renovated, and our Sunday meetings are being held in a high school while the chapel is under construction. Because we couldn't have Enrichment at the school, they had to look for "an alternate venue." Of course, since this is England, there aren't many even-remotely-affordable alternate venues except for pubs. So, that's where we had our Christmas Enrichment night celebration--at a pub! Forty Latter-Day Saint ladies, all in their fancy clothes, having "nibbles" and non-alcoholic drinks in a pub, and we even had an opening prayer--now that's one you'll never see in the states...!

Overseas Thanksgiving...

Well, I've now experienced my first overseas Thanksgiving--and what an interesting experience it was! I spent the morning going to a nondenominational Thanksgiving service at St. Paul's Cathedral with my friend Julie and a couple thousand of my other closest London-based American friends. St. Paul's is part of the Church of England, but the service was truly non-denominational (with basic Christian sermons and much singing of familiar hymns) and the U.S. Ambassador gave the main address, talking about how blessed we are to have such a great relationship with our British brothers and sisters and what a blessing it is to be here. I found the music to be the most intriguing part of the service; and I learned two important things: 1) it's very hard for people to stay on key in a place that big with such terrible acoustics and Phantom-of-the-Opera organ accompaniment, and 2) singing doesn't have to sound good for the message of joy to be expressed. I enjoyed it immensely (but if you would have told me a year and a half ago I'd be singing Thanksgiving hymns in St. Paul's Cathedral in London on Thanksgiving, I would have thought you were delusional).

Anyway, the children had school (since it wasn't a holiday here--go figure), so after school we went out to dinner with several other American families. The place was actually a pub, since that's what restaurants are here, but it was a VERY NICE pub. The waiter had a little bit of trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that the 20 of us wouldn't be drinking alcohol, but after that the evening went great. There was turkey, but alas, no pumpkin pie--the fruit skewers and dipping chocolate I had were "well nice," though ("nice" is the most commonly used British generic descriptive word, and "well" is used like our "really," like in "well nice" or "well bad"--just thought you'd like to know...).

The festivities continued Friday night, when we were invited over by another American family for dessert--real pumpkin pie! (Mike's in the military and they can shop on base and buy American food...) The kids were thrilled that we got to celebrate two nights in a row, and we all very much enjoyed the hang out and the best pumpkin pie ever (funny how good things taste when you haven't had them in a year).

Even though we weren't at home, Thanksgiving was still the great opportunity to pause and reflect on our blessings that it always is. Though we certainly don't need a holiday to express our gratitude and we should be doing that EVERY day, it's still nice to have one day officially dedicated to everyone being grateful. I'm more grateful for faith, family, and friends than I can even begin to express. Thank you all for being part of our lives and blessing us with your love and friendship. You're such a phenomenal blessing and example! May the joy of Thanksgiving stay with us all and fill our hearts and homes through the coming season as we remember the Savior. Happy Thanksgiving!