Well we have been here for a total of 16 days and it feels like its already been a month already. That could have something to do with all the stress and change that we have been going through. We can not say that it was the easiest thing to move here but will it be more than worth it? We think so.
We have been moving right along with getting the essentials and doing everything we can to keep us feeling like normal humans in an unfamiliar place.
The house has been found after a near disaster with the first house that Scott fell in love with. It just so happened that the night we took the lease over to be signed by the owner of the house, we discovered that he and his wife actually lived in a small apartment over the garage. This was never mentioned to us even with multiple questions we asked that would have been a good time to mention this fact. Scott was not ready to call it off but I most definitely was, so I spent the next 12 hours scouring the web for new potential homes since we had exhausted our searches previously. To my disbelief I found what seemed to be everything we were looking for minus the permanent house guest and went to view it that afternoon. Perfect doesn't describe this place enough, it just couldn't get any better. The owners Betty and Pip are so sweet and very helpful it's as if they knew us already. We signed the lease with a handshake ( later officially signed it of course ) and we move in on the 1st of August. Now when our stuff arrives we have no real idea of that yet, so a big empty home awaits us.
What a welcome change it is going to be to have so much space and open land to ourselves. There is river (canal sized) just down our driveway that we will have fishing rights to and we think we can even get a canoe on it and enjoy a nice boat ride along all the fields. We look forward to visits from everyone and hope that we get visitors soon because we do miss you all already.
Now to come to the UK and expect to have an easy time getting a cell phone and bank account set up is a huge mistake. From day one we attempted to get cell phones and not till days 14 were we allowed to have one. First you must have a British bank debit card with a chip in it (supposed to be more secure than ours, I don't wee why) but you also have to make 5 transactions with that card paying utilities or such meaningful things. Well having no home and having paperless banking and bill paying, not only could we not get a phone but we couldn't get a bank account either, not even one we have to pay for monthly. The bank would not except a print out of our bank statement or our insurance cards/records or anything else we had with us. Thankfully (making this story shorter and hoping it still makes sense) we found a random bill that had our old address on it and they accepted this as a legal document.
So then we waited for debit cards which finally came but were sent to the bank instead of our current address and they sent us a letter telling us this. So then we waited for pins which they can not change until we get it in the mail because how can they know if we are actually who we say we are,(I don't know maybe because this is a tiny village, you opened this account for us, and we have been in here almost everyday since trying to get this stupid account open and running). Skipping many more painful moments and we finally just go to the phone store with less coverage in the area, but one that doesn't need anything but our military orders and an ID card and we walked out of there with two iphones without paying anything. The pin came that day.
A new car! Scott searched for about a week for the best deals on cars, we went to look at two and decided to wait do to the bank problems and not having anyway to actually pay for the vehicle. We start looking again and find a funny looking one that fits the criteria. It's a 2005 Renault Scenic, a French car with 30,000 miles for 2,900 pounds. Sold, it runs like a charm is incredibly roomy and everyday we find new hidden gadgets that make this a perfect family car. The back seats have flip up trays as well as drawers under every seat, the windows have in-door shades that snap into top of door, a flip down back seat mirror, driver controllable child door lock button (no getting out to flip the lever in the door), and just today we notice that the headrests expand to support your head while driving or a more comfortable road trip nap.
This week we will be enrolling with the NHS (Britain health care) and will hopefully get our third ultrasound shortly after. We are at 16 week and could be able to find out the sex of the baby if it's willing. Cross your fingers! I have started to show in the last few days and have had strangers ask when I'm due, making it much more real and exciting. I have also started eating like it's nobodies business which is very welcomed change after losing weight during the move and it's process, so let the fatness begin.
I think thats more than enough for one post so if you need more I've been loading our adventure pictures onto Facebook for you to enjoy, and I will be attempting to load baby belly pictures through this blog soon.
Love you, Scott and Stacie
Holy cow this is long sorry.
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