Diary of an International Move

A friend suggested that I keep a good diary over the next couple of years. I thought that was a great idea! But thinking it and making it happen are two very different things. We are a week into our adventure and I forgot to bring along a book to write in. Instead I thought I’d do a little catch up on the computer and download it to my blog later.

 About a year ago Greg found out what his next work assignment would be. That was SO very strange. We’ve never known a whole year in advance what was coming next. It was so hard to believe that I’ve kept pretty low key about mentioning it. It just didn’t seem real. Word was, we were moving to England, North Yorkshire to be exact. Hard to believe, but now, here we are.

 I’m going to back up a week and try to recall and share with you our experiences with our arrival. After that, I’ll try to be a better blogger as we explore a whole new place.

 Maybe I’ll start first with a little background on moving with dogs to England. In the past there has been a six month quarantine on animals going into the UK. When I began reading up on what we needed to do to get our pups ready, the process seemed so simple. The quarantine had been done away with as long as the dogs met certain requirements. Those requirements were simple, it shouldn’t be a big deal traveling with them. However, the reality wasn’t that simple.

 As long as the dogs had microchips, which they both got as puppies, and their rabies vaccines were recorded on the microchips, they would just need a worm treatment 1 – 5 days before arriving in the UK and all of that recorded on a health certificate. That sounds easy enough. At the last minute I found out that the USDA required their health certificate be started 10 days in advance. According to my vet they would reject the form several times before approval. But it couldn’t be finalized until the 1 – 5 day window after the worm treatment. Since it was one day of travel to the UK, that tightened the window to 4 days. Since we were flying on a Thursday it was tightened even more because of the vet’s hours. We got it done, but only had the certificate back from the USDA the morning we were flying out. It was a nail-biter.

 Next trick was to book the dogs on the flight. I assumed we would book them along with our tickets, but no. The dogs could not be booked until two weeks before the flight. Then we wouldn’t have final approval until we completed some airline and customs forms. Twice we were asked for a C5 form to be faxed to James Cargo in London. We never received confirmation that either form actually reached them.

Then there were the crates. Both dogs had crates from past flights. As I looked at the specifics for the crates I realized that MacGyver’s crate didn’t have ventilation in the back and would not be approved. After measuring River we became concerned that the crate she had flown in on United just two years earlier might be too small for today’s standards. We bought two new extra large dogs crates.

 We finally arrived at the airport Friday afternoon (four hours before our flight) with USDA stamped forms in hand along with two extra large crates and two medium sized dogs. And they guy at the British Airways Cargo terminal in Denver says the crates are too small. Unbelievable. Instead he gives us two left over crates from the warehouse, homemade wooden crates that barely look like they are staying together. They were smaller in all dimensions than our new crates except in length. He says ours aren’t long enough. He was very nice about it. And Caleb and Lydia were able to pick up our new crates and hopefully return them to Petco. We left our sweet pups with the BA Cargo folks with frozen bowls of water and a couple toys and a promise to see them soon. MacGyver was sad. River was mad.

 And we headed to the terminal. The flight left at 8:45PM. I was hoping to sleep through the night. I’d heard good things about BA and was expecting a comfortable flight. I felt like a sardine, cramped up in a center seat. I will admit though the flight personnel were incredibly nice. And way more food than I ever needed that late at night. We arrived right on time in London at 12:30PM on Friday.

Still thankful

Okay, I'm still thankful! I have a problem with maintaining consistency in life when there is some kind of change of routine. This time, and very often, it's company. I LOVE having company, but I lose all routine for days, weeks or sometimes forever. This time I lost the habit of taking thankfulness pictures. But I am still keeping my journal so maybe I'll flip through it and get the pictures going again. Things are changing again soon so you never can tell what will happen.

My first thankfulness today I don't have a picture for

mostly because I was asleep.

Naps!

Wonderful afternoon naps that just sneak up and grab you while reading on the couch by the fireplace.

Second

Walks

Nice long walks with my pups.

Third

Trying new recipes!

Today I made homemade scones for lunch

with loganberry ancho jam and whipped cream. 

Yum.

Of course, 

scones for lunch + a long walk 

might just be the reason the nap caught me on the couch.  

But that's okay, it was worth it.

God gifts

On days when I feel like crud 

I'm thankful that

Papa John's delivers

there is a stash of paper plates in the pantry

and a hot bubble bath with scented candles awaits at the end of the day.

God gifts

The gorgeous blue of the Colorado sky.

Books.  

Access to an unlimited supply of them.

And that I can read them.

Maps.

Just love maps.

God gifts

I'm thankful for the cleanup.  

Maybe that sounds strange, 

but I find something satisfying about cleaning up after a big meal with friends.

I'm thankful for my aprons. 

I have several favorites and I love tying one on and making a mess with food.

I'm thankful for these old boots.

They are warm and cozy and even though they are very old, they're great for shoveling snow.

God gifts

I'm going to continue my gifts list with the thought I ended on yesterday...  

'things' that remind me of people in my life I am thankful for and the heritage they passed on to me.

My grandmother gave me this quilt on my 25th anniversary.  

It had a note attached to it that said her mother had given it to her on her 25th anniversary along with the date of that anniversary.  

I stared at the note for a few minutes before it sank in exactly what it said.  

The date of my grandparents 25th anniversary was the DAY my husband was born.  

Wow.  Weird. 

But to me, this quilt represents generations of marriages, strong and loving that have passed before in my family, my parents, grandparents and great grandparents.  

An unusual and precious thing in this day and time. 

It's just an old wooden box.  

Actually it's a tool box.

It belonged to my great grandfather, 

Marion Francis, 

who lived off and on with us over the years as I was growing up.  

As a kid I just thought of him as an old man.  

Now I wish I could go back and have a good long conversation with him and ask him all the

 'what was it like?' questions.  

My memories are of him sitting in his old leather lazy boy reading from his warn Bible.  

I remember how he used to pronounce Isaiah "Isaiher".  

Miss him.

I named my daughter after him, Lydia Francis.

My dad had given me Grandpa's old tool box many years ago and I passed it to his namesake.  

She uses it to hold fat quarters for quilting.  

I think he would like that.

Quilting runs in my husband's family.  

The reason Lydia has boxes of fat quarters is because her Granny began teaching her to quilt when she was about nine years old.  

Today she is an amazing quilter. 

Her Granny, my mother in law, is a master quilter.  

I don't think she makes a quilt that doesn't win a blue ribbon.  

But this is not a blue ribbon quilt.  

It's a well loved quilt. 

 It was made by my husband's Granny, his mother's mother.  

The lady who started the quilting dynasty.  

(Well, I'm not sure that's true, it might go farther back than my knowledge.)

  

But the important thing here is, this is a loved quilt.  

Granny made it for my husband when he was a little boy.  

It has been well loved.  

I have to hide it from him when he isn't feeling well 

or he'll pull it out of it's special storage spot and use it.  

Which of course is just sweet. 

Granny was a wonderful person.  

She raised eleven children.  

Gave birth to twelve and lost one as a child.  

Her family are some of my favorite people in the world.  

Just good folks.  

She passed on a heritage that is rarely seen today.  

And I am so blessed and thankful that it continues through my children.  

Today, I am thankful for a full, strong and inspiring heritage.

God gifts

Soft and cozy fibers, both spun and unspun...

my fireplace... even if it is gas, maybe especially because it's gas!

First, I love the texture, color and feel of this tea kettle as I pour tea from it.

Second, it makes an excellent cup of tea.

Third and maybe most important, 

it was a gift from a special friend and I think of her every time I use it.



I'm just getting started on a gratitude list.

I recently read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Vosdamp.
When writing about her journey to a life of gratitude she writes...
"But in this counting gifts, to one thousand, more, I discovered that slapping a sloppy brush of thanksgiving over everything in my life leaves me deeply thankful for very few things in my life."

I know so far I am only scratching the surface.
I look forward to seeing what is on my list days, weeks and months from now.

Just a little Lent ranting

I grew up in a small southern baptist church and never even heard of 

observing Lent as a child.

Over the years as we've moved around I've met more and more friends who do.

What confuses me is the talk.  

How often when a friend has 'given up' something for Lent they are so quick to tell about it.

If you are giving up something as a sacrifice to bring you closer to God doesn't it seem odd to announce it as often as you can to as many people as you can?

Isn't that a little like the guy in the synagogue praying just to be seen?  

Good for you, celebrate Lent, but don't tell me about it.

And don't get me started on giving up 

diet Coke and Ice Cream.  

Only in America is that a 'sacrifice'.

(insert eye roll)

Just my thoughts.

God gifts

The view I wake to in the morning...

Sleepy puppy snuggles...

Delicious and unusual flavors...