"Fill This Land"

What I Will Miss About England

* The simplicity of life

* The people - absolute strangers who stop you on the street to visit because they've heard your accent and figured out you're American.

* Extra thick double cream - you've never had anything like this in the States. It's so thick, you have to spoon it out, but not sweet. Pure, dairy goodness.

* The amount of quality time I have with my children.

* Single cream - perfect for coffee or tea.

* Double cream with Corvoisier and Brandy, with Amaretto, with Cointreau (notice a pattern here?) They have these in plentiful supply during Christmas. I stocked up at the after-Christmas sale - on 26 containers. I'm now down to 6. Think I've gained any weight while in England?

* The church bells at the Parish Church (only about 4 or 5 blocks from our house) calling us to morning worship. They're rung the old-fashioned way with a team of people hand-pulling them weekly. Each Parish has its own melody. The sound from the steeple echoes off the buildings and pavement and resounds in the crisp, quiet morning air. They're so clear and bold, a sound I will never forget and will always miss.

* The people - kind, inquisitive, sensitive, loving, friendly, warm - the real jewel of England.

* A kitchen windowsill so cold that I keep my ice water and tea on it.

* A lack of "stuff" to clutter our lives and minds.

* How quickly I can clean the WHOLE house.

* My friends - Anne, Kim, Monika (and their spouses), Freda, Jan and Rupert, Guy ...

* The Cul-de-sac

* My children playing outside for HOURS at a time.

* The people - the smiles I'm always greeted with as we walk down the street or encounter people in the grocery store.

* Crumpets and white chocolate (or Belgian chocolate) spread.

* Beautiful (and cheap) cut flowers in the stores. Last week, I found tulips marked down to 50 p. a bunch. I bought 2 bunches of about 9 tulips each for a whopping $2.

* Seasons - a real Winter, complete with frost and cold weather

* Fish and Chips - you've never tasted anything so good unless you've visited England. Cod that's battered to perfection and fried so it tastes buttery and so tender, it literally melts in your mouth.

* Being able to walk EVERYWHERE. We really get a tremendous amount of exercise and don't even notice it anymore.

* Puddings - what they call cakes and desserts. They have small ones that you can microwave and that are the perfect amount of dessert for a family of 5 without being decadent.

* Crocuses, snowdrops and iris' pushing their little heads up through the ground and blooming, despite the cold. They remind me of the will of live and the beauty of God's creation.

* Speaking of beauty, the beauty of the architecture. What a miracle that things so old can be so exquisite. Sometimes, during church, it's hard to listen. I find myself gazing at the beauty of our Parish Church and realize it's a small drop in the bucket of the architectural beauty in England.

* Boots - everyone has them, most people have several pairs. I am dying to buy some, but they all seem to have 8" heels, which are quite out of my range of ability.

* English hothouse leaf lettuce - similar to our Bibb lettuce, but more delicate and tender. Cheap, as well.

* Plug-in water kettles that shut off on their own when the water boils. No more burned-up tea kettles, no annoying whistle, perpetually hot tea water. Don seriously wants to find one that we can use at home. It's an amazing invention. My relatives in Canada use them, so we might try on-line.

* A bus system that's truly amazing. The trains, also.

* Living in a small town - something I've wanted for my entire life. The Lord is so good. This is a dream I never thought would come true.

* Wellies or, for those of you who don't speak English, Wellingtons (rubber boots). They have them at the local garden store in hot pink with purple accents. They have amazing, colorful designs on them, also, and I'd get me a pair if I could think of ANY excuse for wearing them.

* Tea. It just seems to be better over here. (It's probably the cream!!!!)

* Have I mentioned the people?


I'm quite certain there are many more things I could add to this list if I had more time.


Things About England I Won't Miss

* The MUD. It's on all the walls in the front hallway, the front door is coated in it. Everyone's shoes (except mine) will never see white again.

* Attempting (to no avail) to do something, anything, with my hair. The humidity just takes all the body right out of it.

* The Washing Machine. (I think you know the deal here.)

* The beds. The springs in the mattresses poke right through. My first week in the house, my ribs were bruised from the mattress on our bed.

* Being cold EVERY afternoon.

* The dust balls. I vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, and, within hours, the corners of every room have dustballs again. I don't understand it!!

* Homeschooling. While I love the time with my children, we're together 7 days a week, 24 hours a day with very little interruptions. Mommy needs a little break from her sweet children.

* Having no car, although I won't have one at home, either, since I totalled the van before we left for England.

* Not being able to cook or bake because they don't sell ingredients over here.

* Having to go to the library to use the Internet. (Although, the librarians are all lovely people, and I enjoy seeing them and the kids need the break from the house and school.)

* Paying 30 p. ($.60)/min., charged by the second, for my cellphone. (Have you ever heard of such a thing? It's highway robbery!)

* Having no landline phone so I can actually call friends during the day.

* British TV (although we get great movies on Sunday afternoons and enjoy having family movie time together).

* Don working 7 days a week.

* The schedule we have to keep so the children get to see their Daddy before bed - up late, sleep in late ... not exactly the way I like to do things, but some nights, Don's not home from work until 8:30 or 9:00.

* The water - it's so hard, I ruined about 8 pairs of socks our first 2 weeks here and have had to buy new socks for everyone in the family. It also tastes terrible. And it leaves horrible hard water and lime stains on everything.


I think what I'm going to miss far outweighs the negatives. Deanna and I are already getting teary-eyed. Sunday afternoon we had a special candlelight service at church called a Christingle Mass. We sang "Shine, Jesus, Shine" and I got so choked up, I had to stop singing. The line, "Fill this Land with the Father's glory" is what got me. Truly, my prayer for this land and these people is to be filled with the Father's glory.

We have begun to realize that we will leave a part of ourselves behind when we leave England (big lump in throat - I'm glad I'm writing and not talking). Ssomething of who we are as individuals and as a family was redefined while in England. We will never be the same again.

Thank you, Lord, for this Land, your people here, and the beauty of England. And thank you for allowing us to glimpse it and be a part of it, even if it was just a short time.