And on the 14th day, there shall be rest....

Greetings Dear Friends from the English region of Wiltshire!
I certainly should have taken a break before now but as most of you know, I am not one to sit down until everything is DONE. Just plain DONE. This afternoon is the first time in 14 days that I have taken the afternoon off and rested. Boy, it's quiet around here. The kids are napping, my mother is storming through the Salisbury Cathedral and Clark is driving home from a busy 9-flight work week in Wales. Last night, as my mom and I were unpacking the very last dish in the kitchen at 1am, I had this sense of "A-Ha". Peace. Tranquility. This place I can call "My Own" for now. I am Home. It was beautiful. You know that moment...When all the sudden the hustle and bustle just subsides. It was dreamy. I am thrilled to say that I am 'in love'. In love with this land, this house, this village, this area, these people. So let me tell you a little bit about where we are spending this amazing season of our lives....or at least what little I know so far....
This Land...as a Southern lady from Georgia would say, "Goodness, Gracious, it sure is pretty!" How can one describe it? Let me give it a whirl... though September here is their "4 Week Summer", it's cool-cool in the morning. Not sure what it is in the British preferred Celsius but in Fahrenheit it's around a brisk 50. It is stunning. Cool breezes, crisp, and I mean CRISP clean air. My favorite part of the day is waking up and opening up our bathroom window that offers the most glorious view of rolling hills, a small cattle and chicken farm (rooster and all) and miles and miles of wheat fields. Yes, friends, Cindy Childers has gone country! And I LOVE it!! The streets are narrow especially for driving, hedged in by tall lush green bushes that are meant mostly for privacy. I just drive past wondering, "What kinds of things are all these people up to?" You know me - I want to meet them! Don't hide! One of my favorite things is the abundance of horses where we live. Everything is about horses here. Kids take lessons early, people ride them down the streets, even to the pubs (at least in little villages like ours). There is a herd of horses just across the street and down a bit from our house...the kids think this is so cool. Living "out in town" as one says, we are truly experiencing the life of an Englishman/woman. I must say, I had to trust Clark to pick out our house and I couldn't be happier.
Our home.... It is two-story, 5 bedrooms plus an office. (But all you can do in the office is turn around.) We have a guest bedroom set up for all of you; as well as another room with a double bed in case you come with your kids in tow. The kitchen is relatively small by American standards but my hubby put in extra cabinets in the laundry room so I could house all my kitchen "bits and bobs" AND food! We live in a cul-de-sac of sorts and on our left are David, Rachel, Emily and Imogen, they are super nice and I'm hoping Emily can babysit for us. On our right are Laura and Marc and not sure their kids names (I think they are in boarding school). Marc serves in the British Army and is currently home on a 2 week respite from Afghanistan but will be home for good at Christmas. They too are awesome and I think we've managed to pretty much 'come in with a bang' as us Childers' folks often do. They don't really know yet what's hit them...standby... :)
...About our Village, Newton Tony... Remote, farm country, incredibly nice, nice people, slightly affluent (not us), cozy and the people are very friendly. It's as charming as they come. There is a famous local pub in the village called Mallet Arms that is older than the United States and is a popular hangout for the residents here and folks from far off. It has some of the best food for pubs and the one meal I've eaten there so far was YUM-MY! We've already been invited by some neighbors, Maxine and Bob to their Halloween party so we are excited to meet even more people. Clark has already made a footprint for himself here before I came and knows all the goings-ons about who hunts what and where and when. He's a little leary though to go with one group because they shoot while riding horses and he's not sure he won't make a fool of himself trying that out. You know how those Texas boys like their tree stands. Across the street from Mallet Arms is Liam and Natalie's school. (Yes friends, this town is small :) Their school is as precious as you can get. As my mom says, It's very "School House". Natalie's pre-school, the "Puffins" meets in the village town house and she goes MWF for 1/2 days with Miss Jill and several other little tots. (sidenote: My girl is completely potty trained - Yee-Haw!) Liam is in Reception which is the same as American Kindergarten. It's hard to believe, but they start Kindgertan here at FOUR years old! He is going 5 days a week for 3 hours. He could go all day but mummy is just not ready for that. They both LOVE their classes and their teachers so that was so nice to have such a smooth transition with schooling.
...This area...Newton Tony is about 5-10 minutes from Clark's royal air force base in Amesbury England. For the Brits, this is a very easy bike ride as so many choose to ride their bikes to work. Go Clark! Stonehenge is about 10-15 minutes away and Salisbury is about 20. I have done a good share of driving the last two weeks and almost feel like a pro now driving on the left side of the road. It took a bit but you just have to act like you know what your doing and then people actually think you live here. There is alot to do around here and I'm sure now that the moving dust has settled i'll have more interesting stories to share. I guess in order to blog about Life you have to Live it first!
...Last but not least, the People. The British people on the surface can tend to appear more reserved and less gregarious than us Americans but they are wonderful. I do tend to be on the extraverted side (duh) and wanting to talk and meet and chat but what I've found is that they do to. Surprisingly so. You will have to come here and see for yourself. I'm trying to think about how to describe in general the people I've met so far and I'm finding it's hard to choose the words just as it would be if someone from another country came to America and met a cross-section of 100 different Americans. It's just too hard to do. Wonderful that life is like that actually. How boring would life be to only hang out with people that share your own culture. However, in light of that, I must add that the other morning in my quiet time I was feeling a little homesick and missing my friends and just wanted to talk to somebody who I didn't feel like I had to audit my words (because so many American words are not appropriate here) and I asked God to help me have a heart for them and to fall in love with this land of people. I said something like, "How can you help me love them like they are my own from home?" The words from John 21 quickly came to my mind, "Do you love me? Feed my sheep." I am certain God has a sense of humor and I began to laugh. What? Really? Cook for them? Me? I guess I would say I'm an Ok cook, no extraordinare, but I do love to share food with friends. And maybe that's His way of saying that's how I'll begin to get to know them. I guess the saying is true, "To know them is to love them." God is so good. He always hears us when we ask. Guess I've got to go get the conversion chart out that goes with this oven and see if I can't whip something up.
Love to you all,
Cindy