LONDON SUMMARY

We're home!!! I never thought I'd say this, but I LOVE the Texas heat! I couldn't believe how cold and damp it was in England. We took more cabs than Joe wanted, because my lips were chattering in the 40 degree night air. Overall, it was a great experience, and I think I could live there! Here is the trip summary:

We found London to be a bit crowded and busy for us. After living in the suburbs for so long and feeling “safe” letting our kids play outside, the city had some drawbacks. I told Joe I felt nervous when I thought about getting the kids to and from certain places, like school, sports, the park,and even church. There is no such thing as a "quiet street" in our price range in London!!!

We saw 11 properties in the city, in areas where Paul McCartney lives & works out, where Elton John owns a home, where the guy who dates Kylie Minogue lives (we would have been his next door neighbor!)… so all areas that we would consider upscale. The downside was the size of the properties. It would be a foreign experience to live in a 5 floor home with 1700 sq. ft. of living space. I noticed at all the properties each room was separated from the hallway by a door. That is because it is against fire code to prop open ANY doors. Well, you KNOW my anxiety kicked up a notch when they mentioned "fire" and I thought about climbing 4 flights of stairs to get to each bedroom... HUGE deal breaker!!!It is fair to say that we saw a couple places that we could make work for us, but nothing that just knocked us out. And in that price range, I want to be IMPRESSED!!!

City schools are also different. Very secular, child-centered (to the point that I actually thought the kids were running one place we visited), and DIVERSE. Again, that’s not a bad thing, depending on the diversity. For example, at the American School in London, I saw at least 3 classrooms where teachers had prominently displayed the rainbow symbol. All were male teachers (music, drama & Kindergarten - surprise!!) working with young children. That creeped me out. Another school told us that our “religion” would be “celebrated,” along with the Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, etc., who also attend the school. The same school also told us to prepare our children for some “lively debates” on faith… no, thank you. I am pretty certain that Ross could hold his own in an apologetics conversation with someone, but Chloe is still being molded. And Emmy? Please. There are days when she wakes up and says she doesn’t want to “be friends with Jesus” today. Another drawback to the city schools was their availability for our kids – one place had potential spots for Ross & Chloe, but nothing for Emmy, one other could handle Chloe but not Ross or Emmy, and at one place, the kids would be on campuses that are 20 minutes apart. They would be bused back & forth.

After 2 days of searching, our relocation person took us out of the city to Surrey. Think downtown Dallas to Celina, distance-wise. It is the quintessential English countryside, like you’ve seen in the movies. It is about a 20 minute train ride into London’s Waterloo station, and all in for Joe, the commute would be about 45 minutes– 1:20, depending on the time of day. We visited and fell in love with the American Community School, which is a little more what we’re used to, minus the Christian influence. The SINGLE campus is on about 700 acres and has tennis courts, a swimming pool, a track, and rugby & soccer (football) fields. They offer GYMNASTICS as a sports option for Chloe, which is beyond necessary at this point. They also have a chess club and a robotics club for Ross. Ross mentioned in one of his "why you should let me come to your schoo" essays that he would like to play tennis, which they also accommodate. Wimbledon is a 15 minute drive from Surrey. Their school calendar is very similar to the American school calendar – time off for Thanksgiving & Christmas, spring break, a fall break – and a nice, long summer. It sounded as if they had availability for all 3 kids (Emmy would go a half day), so we applied online & sent school records & references there.

Next, it was time to house hunt. We saw 3 properties and could live in any of them. They are very similar to Texas housing in size and scale. All have garages, yards (gardens) with year-round GARDENERS, and are on streets in neighborhoods. Interesting tidbit: the houses have names! One is Mayflower Manor, one is Hydrangea Place... very fun! The last home we saw was our absolute favorite. It used to be a manor house with 5 bedrooms and an annex for “the help,” as the landlord said! I laughed and told Joe I’d move up there by myself!! The major upside for me was that it had an American refrigerator and an American washer AND dryer. I felt like we’d struck gold when I saw those!!  It was beautiful – all remodeled in the last 3 months – and on a street that gets Joe to the train in about 5 minutes and me to the kids’ school in 10. The bigger bonus? Our next door neighbors have 3 kids, similar in age to our three. I felt like we were following the breadcrumbs like Hansel & Gretel right into the house God chose for us!! It was way cool.

Downtown Cobham (the name of the council/city)is this tiny village that is so quaint. It has all the necessities – coffee shop, book store, gift shops, grocery store, gas station, clothing stores – and was on a cobblestone street that was amazingly quiet, a very sharp contrast to London!!! I knew we were in “THE PLACE” when the relocation person told us there is a COSTCO about 20 minutes from Cobham!! Hallelujah!

So, we think we have two winners! We’re just waiting for the company to decide exactly where they want us. It could be that we stay right here. But if we don’t, I feel certain the Lord went before us and showed us exactly where he wants us.

We will definitely keep you posted. And, if y'all ever get to London, which is a must for this thing to go through, we have PLENTY of room for your sweet families! How fun would that be?!