London Calling

June 14, 2012

London Calling

Five weeks flew by in a blur of cities, hedge lined narrow roads, incredible castles, friendly familiar faces (including friends from Cambridge outside Edinburgh Castle!) and sheep, lots of sheep. We travelled 4500 kilometers visiting family and friends from Cornwall to Glasgow. In short, we had a blast.

One of the many highlights was getting to spend time with Phil's family. For most it was their first time meeting Faith and they hadn't seen Luke since he was just a wee babe. As it turns out, Luke is the spitting image of Phil's brother Barry, in looks and personality, so it goes without saying that there was an instant connection.

The view from the shore at Pendennis Castle

For many of Phil's friends the news of our move and the reason behind it came as a bit of a shock, our explanations where definitely met with some stunned silence. After all, when Phil left for Nigeria 13 years ago he was not exactly the church going type. But after the shock wore off and they heard about what we will be doing, their response was positive. Other friends we expected to be shocked were the opposite, and decided to support us. We were blown away.

For some, spending twenty four hours a day seven days a week with their spouse and children might be stressful. We thought it might be. As it turns out the longer we spent together the less stress we felt and the more we enjoyed being around each other. This is an important transition as our lives shift into life in Brazil we will be together most of the time. We're looking forward to it.

We are so thankful to all of our family and friends who opened their homes and their lives to us for a visit or to stay, to our sister Carole for inviting us to turn her quiet home into a loud, singing, dancing, base of chaos. I think her cats may never be the same.

Here are just a few photos from our trip: