The Move

It is now three days till we begin our move.  On Tuesday our packers will arrive and pack everything we own then load it onto a big truck before driving north.  On the Wednesday (due to driving regulations they won't/can't do it all in one day) they will arrive in Stirling with all our stuff, where (as long as everything has gone to plan) we will already be in the new house.

Lots of people have been asking me how we are getting on with everything and how we are feeling about it all so here is a brief summary...

I don't really feel like we are moving house nearly as soon as we are.  We haven't really had to pack anything so the house just looks and feels like normal.  I have felt vaguely stressed that I should be doing "something" for weeks now and I think this is in no small part because lots of the practical things associated with moving are going to be done at the last minute by someone else!  I am starting to feel like things are happening as we have taken down the stair gates and are starting to put the house back to normal in the hope that we can get back as much of our deposit as possible. I am also in operation "use up all the food" so that we don't end up spoiling lots of frozen (or even chilled) food on the long drive north.

We are both quite sad about lots of things we will need to leave behind.  We have come to love and value our church and all the great people there.  We have both really enjoyed serving in our various ways and it will be sad tomorrow to know it will be our last Sunday there (at least as regular attenders, I am sure we will be back to visit).  I love all the wee groups that the girls and I attend and will be sad to leave them behind too. I really enjoy the physical place of Loughborough too, it is a lovely wee place to walk around and apart from the lack of nearby ocean it has some lovely countryside next to the town that has helped this provincial lass from Scotland cope while living in the big bad country of England!!

We are also sad to leave behind the house we are in just now.  There's plenty wrong with it but it is a good size and we have some good neighbours and one of my best friends lives right across the street.  Along with being nice and close to town there is a lot to be said for where we are.  Just a shame that it's not nearly so convenient for Sandy's new job!

As for what we're going to, I'd say that we are an appropriate mix of excited and apprehensive.  We don't know that much about what the future holds, not even in terms of day to day.  We just need to get there and find out.  I am worried that Naomi will miss her friends a lot and I know I will but I also know we'll make lots of new friends in Stirling, we are both chatty types of people.

I am excited for having my family grow up in Scotland, I don't know if I ever really felt all that Scottish before but as soon as you took me out my home country I have felt it acutely and I am really pleased my family will grow up in that environment too!

We are excited for finding a new church and new people and new ways of helping. We worry that Open Heaven has been so good for us that we've been spoiled and our next church won't be able to live up to what we've become accustomed but I suspect we're realistic and pragmatic enough to manage all right wherever we end up and it might even end up being even better!

So we are apprehensive but, as I keep reminding myself  a little over 2.5 years ago we moved to a place called Loughborough where we didn't really know anyone and didn't really know what we would be doing or with who, and that seems to have worked out pretty well for us! Just look at how sad we are to be leaving!

The next few days are likely to be increasingly hectic as we finish getting ready for and the go through with the move but once we've unloaded a few boxes we might even get to slow down a bit as we won't have all our various groups and meetings to attend!

See you in Scotland!