After a year in England...

I cant believe its almost a year since we got here. The 21st of May will be one year since we left the states. Crazy. When we first got here, I remember holding in my tears until we got to the hotel room on base. I could barely contain my emotion while our room was being prepared. I burst out crying when we stepped into our room and asked Gregg is there was ANY way we could go back. He calmly told me there was no way. Now a year later...and I asked myself today what has changed? I definitely feel like we are settled into our house, our life and our routines. I feel like our home is our little getaway from the world and from anything that is not normal. I also am close with the loving, wonderful people at church here. They have all been so sweet and gracious to Gregg and I. When we got here, they were an answer to prayers. Its great how the body of Christ is the same everywhere you go, as long as it is patterned after the New Testament. The Christians here truly do love one another. That is a blessing. Separate and apart from the wonderful body of Christ here in England, let me just say that living here is harder than you think. While they speak the same language (kinda) its also a complete culture shock in other aspects. I now feel that I have a firm grasp on the actual size of my car. Before, I thought that I was about to scrape the car next to me in the roomy parking spots in the states but here I have it down to a science. I can fit anywhere...and so can everyone else. Sometimes I get a knot in my stomach as a large bus barely squeezes by on an extremely narrow road (paved horse trail). There are definitely a lot of great things about living in England. I mean, this really is a chance of a lifetime. We plan on visiting other countries while we are here and trying to soak up as much of Europe as we possibly can. Saying all that, I still miss home. A lot. I have realized that the only reason that I have started to relax at all is because we have established our new "normal" in our little town of Mildenhall. I know where everything is here and I can easily maneuver the roads to get where i need to go. Tonight I was heading to Sainsburys (local grocery store) to get some ice and I felt a little scared. That probably sounds silly but I did. A year of living here and I felt scared! I quickly got over it and realized it was dumb for me to feel that way. Other times, I purposely go out of my way to get something on base rather than off base because I just want to be around Americans, people who are in the same boat we are. I feel a wave of comfort rush over me as I come on base. I even got sad when I found out that our American neighbors were moving. We barely talked to them and I found myself genuinely upset they were leaving. I also miss home so much sometimes that I have saved receipts from purchases from when we were in Oklahoma and I don't dare throw them away. For fun I will look at them sometimes and remember good times back in Oklahoma. I probably will never throw them away. All of this sounds crazy to me so I know it will to you too but this is where I am a year from our arrival. When we are done over here I will honestly say I am glad we came. I will be glad for the adventures and for the time this has given Gregg and I to really grow together. God has sent us here for a reason, and after a year I think I am beginning to understand why. I will keep you posted as another year starts in England.