Fini Flight

We made it here to the US of A!! It is so nice to be back to the land of wide roads and lots of fast food :) We are still adjusting to the time change as Chase has been getting up early the past few days. I plan on getting up with him tomorrow to watch the Royal Wedding so watch tomorrow he sleep in super late! I really wanted to take some pictures of us getting through the airport but all our hands were busy. Chase did pretty well on the flight it is just a long time to entertain a 2 1/2 year old! 

Anyways, here are a couple pictures from Brad's last flight in England. A lot of people from his squadron were gone and he is going to fly the same jet here but it was still fun. Chase of course loved seeing daddy's airplane. At first I had to bribe him to wear his flight suit but then when he saw daddy he didn't want to take it off the rest of the day.

We had to walk a little ways out to meet the jet so thankfully Bow could carry him. He was supposed to be in the flight but only 1 of the 2 jets took off. By the way all these pictures but the last are taken by the very talented S. Russell Photography (Bow's wife). Thanks so much Shanna!

Watching daddy taxi in. Please remember I am 8 months pregnant in these pictures. There are no really good pictures of my belly so I feel like I just look chunky around the middle!

Giving a wave!

 Spraying him with water - part of the tradition.

Sorry for the rear end shot. Wanted to show a picture of us spraying daddy.

Love this family picture. Not sure if I like color or black and white better so I'm posting both. I have to hem the legs of Chase's flightsuit up so whenever we hold Chase it looks like he has shorts. Oh well.

And a picture of him out flying his jet over the countryside. He had to coordinate this with a guys who sits at a particular spot and get these pictures. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.

The last few weeks in pictures

I finally got all the pictures uploaded on a computer so figured I would update while my boys are sleeping. We are in between BBQ's (the weather is that nice here) and saying more goodbyes.

This is Chase's last day of preschool. They had an Easter party before the long break. I was hoping to get a cute picture in front of the school or something but it never goes as planned.  Here he is giving his teachers a thank you gift. 

Having an egg hunt outside.

We got to go with some friends for a very special tour of the fire station on base. I love how he is plugging his ears - not sure what to expect. Some of the kids got the spray the hose and all the kids got to go on a ride.

 All our stuff in boxes. Hopefully it will arrive in the states before too long!

My last wives social. It was a Royal Wedding theme so we all had to dress up and wear hats! Going to miss all the excitement here next Friday. As of now I plan on getting up and watching it but we will see. Might be a little tired from everything.

The next night a group of us girls from church went to a nice dinner and a show in Bury. We saw Beauty and the Beast. Wasn't quite the same level as Wicked but still very good!

Yesterday we hung out one last time with some good friends from our village. Chase and Charlie were in the same preschool and us moms got along as well. It is so nice to have someone close to switch off watching kids or to meet at the park or whatever. Hope it won't take 2 years to find that again in our new neighborhood.

A while back we cooked them a good ol' American steak and potatoes dinner. So they returned the favor by cooking some delicious Indian food. I had to strategically place myself so I couldn't see the snake during dinner. When I was outside the snakes came out. Chase loves seeing it and always asks every time we go over. I hate them but is glad that he doesn't seem to be afraid.

 

As we were driving to their place Chase kept asking to go home and see ner-ner (Wagner). He really has been a trooper for not understanding why so many things are different right now.

Had a small egg hunt in the back garden. Here the kids checking out their loot.

Trying to keep busy in our one room apt. with almost all the toys shipped. We've watched a lot of Thomas and Lightning lately. Here dad was trying to get Chase into Angry Birds.

Not sure about the Easter bunny.

And another egg hunt. He hasn't gotten tired of these yet :)

Another couple days and we will be back in the states. I am really dreading the flight and everything that goes with it. Not sure how we are going to lug 5 large suitcases, several carry-ons, a car seat, a toddler, a dog and dog crate to the check in but somehow we will manage.

Update in Numbers

The computer that we have hooked up to the Internet right now in our TLF has no SD card reader so I can't upload some pictures from the last few weeks. So in a (poor) effort to be creative here is a quick update on our lives in numbers.

1 - the number of houses we are responsible for. We officially checked out of our cottage last week.

3 - the number of us sleeping in one room for the past 7 nights. That equals a lot of lost sleep and some grumpy family members.

4 - number of times I got up to go to the bathroom last night. This is getting old!

9 - the number of crates (almost) all our earthly possessions fit in.

23 - the number of degrees Celsius it is supposed to be tomorrow. That is warm for England standards - break out the shorts! Looking forward to our park playdate tomorrow.

32 - number of weeks I am pregnant. I had a sonogram yesterday and he is still a boy, he is head down and my placenta has moved up! Three very good things. Time needs to slow down though - we are so not ready for him!

750 - the amount of money we lost on our deposit because the exchange rate is so much lower than it was 3 years ago. Anyone know if we can claim that loss on our taxes?

Too many to count - the number of goodbye's I have to say in the next week. Definitely the hardest part about this lifestyle. We know we will see some people again but its especially hard saying goodbye to our British friends.

I'm sure there is more but that is all I can think now.  Cheers!

House

We have a signed contract on this house!!

It's been a tiring process and its really just beginning. We are definitely making some renovations before we move in (remove wallpaper and paint, replace kitchen & utility room floor and replace one of the bathroom floors) but we are so grateful that God provided us with a house. Thanks to everyone for praying for us and a huge thanks to the Strohmeyer's for checking it out for us and helping us in other ways. We look forward to moving in in about a month!

Wicked

We took one more trip down to London this past weekend to see Wicked with some friends. We went 3 years ago but loved it so much that we jumped at the chance to see it again. We got Chipotle beforehand and Ben's cookies afterwards so a pretty good day! Huge thanks to Dani and Gordon for watching Chase and his buddy Daniel so we could go.

Thanks for all the prayers for the house. We actually put in an offer on another house that we are waiting to hear back from. Waiting is so hard! I will keep you posted! By the way this is my 30 week belly shot. With number 2 I am not as eager to get pictures.

Praying

We always laugh when we pray because Chase acts like he has the hardest time keeping his eyes closed. He shuts them so tight then moves his head side to side. It is so cute. The funny thing is we are not big sticklers on keeping eyes closed. Don't know if he picked it up from church or what.

Yes this is at dinner and we are eating pancakes. This was actually on Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday what they call it here in England. The day before Ash Wednesday. Don't really know the background but I will take any excuse to have chocolate chip pancakes for dinner!

It was appropriate to blog this picture now because praying is something we've been doing a lot of lately with buying a house. I am really picky where I want to live at our next base and we kept coming back to a house there that was older but fit our needs. Our realtor kept trying to steer us away from us but we felt it was the best financially and I loved the location. After about a week of offers sent and rejected we finally came to an agreement - even though we had to give more than we wanted. We were just going to hold our breath for the appraisal. Well last night we found out that it was on a septic system not the city sewer - one of only 10 in the neighborhood not on city sewer and we would be paying city taxes. I think that was the straw that broke the camels back so we withdrew our offer. It helped that another house came on the market right around the corner that we were interested in. Well of course we come to find out that the other house isn't available until mid-July. Doesn't really work with a baby due in mid-June. And to top it all off we need to have a contract on a house by April 30th to get the tax credit for first time home buyers (it was extended for military overseas). So we are back to square one with a month to figure it out!
We talk about housing options and mortgage numbers from the time Brad gets home till late every night. We have to remind ourselves that God knows where we are going to live. When I turn to him He reminds me of my eternal home. That my place there is secure because he sent his Son to die in my place and take the punishment I deserve. That perspective is keeping me grounded when I am tempted to doubt.  Ok, sorry for my soapbox. I normally keep this blog pretty light but this stuff has been on my mind. I know many people are praying for us - so thank you and keep it up!