Wonderful Wiltshire

Greetings Family and Friends and Happy November from England!
It's been a month since I posted - goodness where has the time gone. So much is going on! I'll try and remember some of the highlights or low-lights as us blondes like to say. I've also added some pictures too. I put captions with each one but when I added them to the blog, it doesn't show them. Anybody know how to get around this? So here goes an update on our last 30 days...
Our truck - the only vehicle the Childers' own is on the brink. Yep, and the cost to fix the 5,000 pound truck was 2,000 pounds! Not such a great thing but in the end, we made contact with the dealer up in Peterborough who sold us the truck and they have as of yesterday just come to Salisbury to pick it up and take it back to their dealership and will fix it there and won't charge us a thing: NADA, ZILCH, ZIP - super happy about this and we are thankful as can be. Clark would actually like to just give the truck back and start over shopping for a car but we figured we'd give them one more chance to fix it (we've had 3 major things go wrong with it so far).
Our village - Newton Tony is heaven on earth. I can't even begin to share how much I love this place. We are living the life of a Brit as much as any American can. And we're so glad we made the choice to live out in town. For instance, just the other night as Clark was about to paint our downstairs bathroom, he shook the Laura Ashley paint can and exploded about 2.5 litres of paint all over the hardwood floor, front door and our nice rug. I was so proud of him though. Without as much as a cuss word, he promptly cleaned it all up, took the rug outside in the pouring rain and the 12 degree celsius weather, knocked on our beloved neighbor David's door to borrow his pressure washer and the two of them pressure-washed at 10pm to save the rug. GOOD Neighbors RULE!! Have I mentioned how much I love these people?
:-)
Another hilarious story about Newton Tony this past week...the kids were on mid-term break and we didn't have a car so we spent a good 3-4 days poking around the neighborhood on foot. I had to walk to our post office for milk when I got desperate for groceries. Just the day before my Aunt had posted a comment on Facebook about our lack of vehicles and she sweetly (or sarcastically) suggested "Find a donkey to ride". Well, God has a sense of humor and as we were heading back from the post office, we ran into a local boy, 12 y.o. Thomas, who was working in his yard. I'd never met him before but I had met his mom. We got to chatting and he said, "Hey, do you and your kids want to come up the hill and help me take care of the 2 donkeys I care for - they can go for a ride, too." My jaw about dropped as I thought of my sweet aunt's comment and never wanting to miss a photo opportunity I emphatically answered, "YES! We'd LOVE to go! Just let me go grab my camera." So off we went and here's the photo to prove it! :) Touche'!!!
As for settling in, we are getting there. Clark is worried our family alone might be supporting the UK's economy. Too bad the pound for dollar rate is not so good. It's so hard to not shop and decorate though - they have such cute things and wandering around the streets of Salisbury is just too tempting.

We had big plans to take down Natalie's crib over the weekend as her new "big girl bedding" arrived a week or so ago. After dinner last night Clark said, "Ok, she reeeeally wants her new bed, I'm off to go set it up." Being sentimental, I said, "No, I just can't do it yet(take down the crib)...you might have to do it by yourself." Clark proceeds to go out in the garage and get all his tools to take it down, he heads upstairs and I notice it's quiet for a few minutes. Five minutes later he comes down with the tools in hand and with this sheepish, sweet 'Daddy' face and says, "I just can't do it. Not yet at least." OH boy, does he ever love those sweet babies!!
October was also full of lots of fun pumpkin and halloween activities. We went with some dear, new friends to a pumpkin patch in Antsy (funny name) about 45 minutes away and the kids got to play all kinds of pumpkin games, we had tea and coffee and cakes (always gotta have your tea) and they picked out pumpkins to take home and carve. It was so much fun! On Halloween night we went with 3 of our closest friends trick-or-treating and this year Liam really got into it and my usually shy boy (at least around bigger kids) was racing to the front of the pack to ring the doorbell and scream "Trick or TREAT!" For their school party, Liam was Batman, but then decided for Halloween he'd rather be a pilot. Natalie was a sweet Ladybug for both events. Clark and I had a village party to go to after the kid's TOT'ed and he dressed up like the "Greatest American Hero" and I went as a cheerleader (ironic b/c I can't even do a cartwheel). I told him not a soul would know who the GAH was and I was right but he did win a costume contest and was the talk of the party. He was clad in red tights and all. One thing about Clark - he doesn't mind being different.
We have found the coolest church. We fell in love almost instantly with it and one of it's pastor's, Richard, his wife, Ruth and their kids. Richard and Ruth had us over for a "Sunday Roast" after church and I can't explain it but we just knew we were home. They are amazing! Richard cooked a mean "Curry" -- that was his rendition of a Sunday Roast. Ruth is mom to FIVE kids and makes it look as easy as you've ever seen. I'm still trying to figure out how they do it all. They are awesome!!!
We have so much coming up in Nov/Dec - we are thrilled to be a part of so many festivities and the chance to celebrate Christmas in this area! We have two formal fancy Balls to attend. There is the Salisbury Cathedral Christmas Children's Service on Christmas Eve that is supposed to be out of this world. There is something called Pantomine in many of the big cities which is a play-type event for the whole family. We are participating in an American "Thanksgiving Dinner" on the Saturday following Thanksgiving on the base for anybody that wants to celebrate Thanksgiving. I am hosting a Coffee at our house in December as well as I'm sure a few other Christmas gatherings. We can't wait. The remembrance of Christ's birthday excites me like no other celebration! The pomp and circumstance is wonderful, but knowing HE arrived here on earth is glorious beyond words.
Oh, one other thing, I began a women's bible study at St. Paul's (our church) and we are doing a book by the british author, Michael Lloyd called "Cafe Theology". It is really really good and causing me to scratch my head a bit and examine my perspective on different theological topics. It's amazing! At first I thought it was going to be on how to have a theological discussion about Christianity while sharing a nice cuppa tea (duh, blonde girl); but boy was I wrong, it goes way deeper into discussions on Creation, the Trinity, the Resurrection and Ascension. Pretty nifty. You should check it out if this sort of thing interests you.
Time to wrap up and fix my sweet cousin Heather's French Dip Au Jus sandwiches. Yummy. Yummy. Love to you all :-) Please come visit us!
All my love, Cindy
p.s. Answered Prayer - Something simple but nonetheless amazing. Quick story - I left Clark's laptop on a park bench at a kid's playgrounds this last weekend on the Lakenheath base (about 4 hours away). I realized it when we got home about 10pm. I immediately called and the receptionist went down to the park to check but no laptop could be found and no one had turned one in. That night I tossed and turned all night and felt horrible about the whole thing. The next morning, while walking the kids down to school, I was thinking over the events that led to me loosing the laptop and thinking about Clark's reaction to me loosing something so valuable to him. While praying, God quickly brought to my mind Clark's response and how he had truly exemplified the character of Christ when he demonstrated, "compassion, and slow-to-anger" qualities toward me upon the news of his missing laptop. Me, on the other hand, I would have probably screamed my head off. But no, not Clark, he never even raised his voice. Later that morning, I called and talked to the manager, Rebecca, who then proceeded a full-on hunt for Clark's laptop. One of the housekeepers whom Rebecca had told, then told her husband who works in maintenance. Two hours later he comes back and says, "Wait, I think I just saw a post on the base online newspaper that someone has found a laptop in a park." So Rebecca calls Clark with the link to the ad and Clark emails the girl that found it and Rebecca retrieves the laptop and today spent her own money to mail it next-day back to us!" (Rebecca will be getting reimbursed for her expenses as well as a much deserved thank you gift.) We could not be more grateful. I know there are bigger and more serious prayer requests in God's ears but God heard my plea all night and I'm so grateful he cares about the little things. But two good things came from this, no three.
One, it showed me what an amazing husband I have and how his character, as was demonstrated through his response to me is so admirable and how much I want to possess those traits. Patience is a virtue.
Two, I felt just sick about loosing his computer. (It has his thesis on it) I thought, why couldn't I have lost mine? It showed me that when we mess up whether intentionally or unintentionally that we can really hurt other people and cause them suffering or at the very least inconvenience. Though we can't always be perfect and we are going to make mistakes, I've learned it's important to show mercy to those that don't deserve it and it's an honor and privilege to be the recipient of mercy when WE need it. Thank you Clark!
And Three, WOW! What a chain of miraculous events (there's even more to the story but I just couldn't fit it all in) that led to the finding of the computer - only God could have orchestrated all that.