The Queen of the Swans

Cheerio Mates!
I am back on this side of the pond. I had a terrific time. We saw so much, spent so much, and learned so much I am still recuperating. We walked all over England and I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved Oxford and enjoyed seeing all that C.S. Lewis called home. The weather was a bit colder than I expected and once I bought a warm coat I felt better. You'll see this purple pullover in most of my pictures.
Well I am going to share several pictures and exerpts from my journal over the next few weeks. Please feel free to comment and ask questions.
The first thing to know is the British (and most of Europe) put the day, then month then year so.. 13 May 2008
"We are in Oxford. We walked 8 miles today! The best part was a long walk along the Thames. We saw a lock, where the boats pass through. We saw the ruins of a nunnery. I learned that the Queen of England owns all the public paths and therefore they can not be barred even though they go through someone's land. So I came face to face with a cow, she was friendly. Also, the Queen owns all of the swans in Britian, they are a protected species and are everywhere. I wish I could draw because I would draw a swan with a beautiful golden crown and write a story about the Queen of the Swans."
This first day I did not take any pictures. I just enjoyed the moments I was there, the next day I began to be a tourist.

We are under contract!

Well, after a fretful afternoon yesterday, we heard that our offer had been accepted on our first home. We are both thrilled! Miraculously Rob's headache and my stomach ache have disappeared. We did have some competition on the house, but we won and we got the pot rack! (Check out the pictures it's next to our agent who is on the right of our pic and remember that is not our furniture in the house). Thank you for the prayers and keep them coming for all the final paper work. God's hand is so obvious in all of this that we are not anxious about anything. (OK, maybe a little bit). Tomorrow I leave for England. I will try to post some while I am there.

House Hunting

Well, we have been house hunting in VA. Our first day we were totally dejected. We would find a great, renovated house but it would be right next to a crumbling decaying building. Apparently it is illegal for the real estate agent to tell us if it's a "good or bad" area. But, when I saw a drug deal going on half a block from the house, I figured it out. But if you know my dh he was totally optimistic and said let's go on and look. Well, later on that night, he said "Oh no, we wouldn't live there, I don't want my wife shot." He is so sweet, caring about me like that! No, he is just southern and polite and didn't want to tell the agent NO!. But, finally we steered away from those areas and explored new territory. One of the things we have been really excited about is adopting a dog. We started the joke that we would have to get a pit bull if we lived in that part of town.
Well, today we were back to the sheltie variety of dog (for those of you who don't know a sheltie is like lassie thrown in the dryer and shrunk). We think we may have found IT! IT, the house is small, 1500 square feet, but it is charming. It has great curb appeal, low maintenance and big trees. So, y'all pray for us, that if this is God's will it will go smoothly. If it's not God's will let every door slam in our face! I hope tomorrow I can give you the address of our new house.