Well, we have been on quite the roller coaster here in England! But we have a "Praise The Lord"....we got a house!! YYIIIIIPPPPPEEEE!!!! Its not the one we were originally going to get. Right as we were about to give a deposit and sign papers, things went down hill for the original house. The Lord did not give me peace about that house even after things were coming back together. I couldn't explain it, but I just didn't have a peace. We decided to attend a previously made appointment to view another property just to see if I was just being overly cautious. We viewed this property and we both immediately knew that this was the one!!! Of course, its not an American home that we are more comfortable with, but it is a nice home that we can hopefully fit our furniture in. =) We are currently looking for a car for Carsten because the BMW deal fell through. (Sorry Kate, you won't know anyone with a BMW any more..hahah!)
This week, Carsten has been able to go to work for a few hours every day to get his in-processing done. I do not like waking up to an empty room. Its depressing when Im in another country and do not know where anything is. haha! But I'm trying to stay strong and take advantage of the time that the Lord has given us. Wednesday, Carsten participated in his squadrons annual "Bat-a-palooza"! Being the jock that he is, he has been getting stir crazy not being able to participate in any kind of sports since we have been here. So this was such a great experience for him. The day was filled with many different events. Carsten started the day with an "Amazing Race". It was a scavenger hunt/ sprint-a-thon!?! This took most of the morning. At 10am, I joined the other wives at the park and we watched as more events took place. The events included "bat-spin", "bat-a-war" (tug of war), "bat-walk", and many more! Carsten was able to meet almost his entire squadron and I was able to meet a bunch of the wives. Carsten was placed on a team last minute because someone didn't show up. That team was very grateful because Carsten ended up winning two events by himself (football throw and football kick) and then lead his team to win another event. Im so proud of my husband! Then for the "bat-a-war" the wives decided to go against the husbands...haha! We won the first round because they let us! Then they put their full strength into the next one and we had no shot! hah! I have video of those whole day, but I can't figure out how to get it on my computer. But..I have a few pics to share..
Carsten's team getting ready for the first event where they had to spin on a bat 12 times around and then run with an egg on a spoon then do jump rope then do the "bat walk" and then do 10 pushups and many more things.
Carsten throwing a water balloon with all his might!
He totally beamed that guy who you can only see his legs. haha!
That was Bat-a-palooza!!!
Carsten figured out how to call people on skype the other day. He is paying 3 dollars a month to have unlimited phone calls through skype to any phone number. He was able to call MaryBeth, Grandma Em, and Grandad one day. Then we got to talk to Maureen last night! It is an encouragement to us just to hear our loved ones voices! It is hard to keep in touch with the time change. Im hoping to steal his computer to talk to my family tonight, if the internet allows us to! hehe!
Today, we were able to sleep in, watch some movies, and get some stuff done! I washed some laundry...this in itself has been a frustrating adjustment for me. The washers and dryers are soooooooooooooooooo small here! And they eat your clothes alive! At least one item in every load has gotten destroyed. Today, my favorite new sweater...well...its now destroyed! I am trying to learn quickly with their machines, but I don't know if we have enough clothes to go through. haha! When we move into our house I will have to adjust all over again because the house has a washer/dryer combo...meaning one machine does the washing and drying all together. Crazy! It is small as well so I think I will be doing laundry ALL day long! haha! It is so funny the things that we have to adjust to between cultures. Simple things like doing laundry. Im learning though!
Well...thats all the excitement for this blog! We are hoping to get away this weekend. Its a three day weekend here! We have some appointments to look at cars, but we might be able to fit a trip to London in. =)
God Bless you all and know that we miss you and love you all VERY MUCH!!!
Cheers!
Oh I am so glad you posted!!! I love hearing from you guys and especially seeing pictures!!! (Would you be able to post some pics of your cute little house??? - I would love to see it, maybe once you get settled in). Sounds like the Lord is providing in more ways than one. :)
ReplyDeleteDont worry about the BMW thing...ya a little bummed, but at least I can say someone in my family lives in Europe...so I am still cool. :)
Carsten, Coach Hrbek would be so proud of your football accomplishments in England. Ok, maybe not (C.S., ya been in the weight room lately?...)Chary, a dear friend of mine learned how to do a family's laundry in Spain...one load at a time per DAY! ;) You are certainly on an adventure...daily. My prayers for your patience and long-suffering, but also...creative imagination:))
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