I'm Soaring....Flying...

Ok, sorry couldn't resist. I've just watched, for the first time, High School Musical. I've seen the 2nd one several times, but never the original. I feel complete now that I know how Troy and Gabriella met and I'm glad he's finally reached a point in his life where he can be up front with his friends about his singing. Being the daughter of a high school basketball coach myself, I can totally "feel" the movie. I wanted Marc to get up and do the last dance routine with me, but he wouldn't go for it. :)

And now I'm just slightly embarrassed that I've admitted to seeing High School Musical 2 several times. So while I'm at it, I'll just tell you that we were trying to keep the girls quiet today while we watched Hannah Montanna. Gasp!

If you can't tell, this has been a S.L.O.W. week being the Easter holidays. Schools are out for the end of term for 2 weeks and that means Marc has not been teaching! So it's been nice to have more family time this week.

We spent a day this week at one of our favorite castle ruins, Raglan Castle, with some friends. We have been friends with this sweet couple since we lived in Pontypool and we had our children at about the same time, so it's always fun to get together with them!


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Cerys and this sweet boy were born 10 weeks apart!

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All the girls! Bailey and her were born about 6 weeks apart!

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Our little family

The Evidence

So back in January I was driving home from somewhere and suddenly, before I could do anything about it- I saw it. The flash in my rear view window. Darn. I had just been caught on camera speeding on a road that I drive frequently! I knew the speed camera was there, I see it all the time and I must have just been daydreaming or something, but I totally forgot to slam on the brakes slow down before passing the camera.

Weeks went by, and I never got anything in the post so I just figured I got by and maybe there was not any film in the camera? HAHAHAHAHA. Well, last week I got a letter saying that they knew it was our car by the plates and we needed to fill out this form and identify the driver. I was in near tears y'all! I've never gotten a ticket, not even in the States!!! So, I "identified" myself and sent it in.

This morning a letter from the police arrived saying that, well, let me just quote it for you....
"We have evidence that you were the driver of vehicle ------ at the time of the alleged offence of excess speed ------"

That makes me sound so horrible!!!! I cried. Marc told me it was not the end of the world. Easy for him to say. I get to pay a hefty fine and I got 3 penalty points on my UK licence!!! If you get 12, you will have your licence taken away. 3 points!!! That seems a bit much to me, but there is nothing I can do. I have heard from others that the points will be erased after 3 years if I have no more offences.

Easter 2008

Thanks to my mom who brought over some easter egg dye- we dyed about 7 eggs on Saturday. The girls thought that was great fun.

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Cerys put them all in a circle and said, "Look Mom, they are having a meeting!" Where does she get this stuff??!?!


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Then we hunted eggs in the back garden. Please don't be alarmed at their gift sacks they used for holding eggs. There are not "cutesy" baskets here and so you do what you gotta do! And really, they only used them for a few seconds so no big deal!

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Monday we drove over near Swansea and did some cave crawling! They have 3 caves there that were discovered in 1912 by the Morgan brother's- one of which had dinosaur bones and teeth found in them. This was a fun little "park" with fake dino's everywhere. Dinosaurs in Wales...who knew?

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This was as close as they would get to this one!

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CHEESE! Inside one of the caves- they LOVED it!

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Nothing like the rolling hills of Wales- and a bit of dinosaur thrown in.

The Power of The Cross

I first heard this sweet couple in January of 2007. Two days before we were to move here to the UK. Marc and I walked into our church service with my mom and sat down. They were introduced and I immediately teared up. I was close to tears anyway, this being our last Sunday but still. As soon as I heard their Irish accent I just about lost it. Then they sang In Christ Alone and I did lose it. It was a quiet sob at first, then I was just trying to not make any snorting noises. It was just a sweet reminder to me that God knew what we were about to do, say goodbye to family and friends and move here. I don't know how or why, but just hearing their accent reminded me that God has ordained all things and He used them to speak peace to my heart. As God would have it, I feel they were there just at the right time! Thank you Lord.

So, enjoy Keith and Kristyn Getty as you reflect on the Power of the Cross!

One VERY Proud Girl

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Ok, so her "c" is backwards but she is so proud that she learned to write a capitol A this week! :)

Oh, and have you done a bracket? I'm in this year, because I thought it would be fun to choose my teams based on what school has the best sounding name and is most fun to write. I know, very sophisticated. I just have to mention here that I didn't choose Duke to go all the way. Sorry Monica. You know I had to pick NC. Go Tar Heels.

Small Refrigerators

I have to be pretty creative after our weekly grocery store run... as you can see, our fridge is maybe slightly taller than what we had in our dorm room in college. (The fridge is the first door, the freezer is next to it.)

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Sorry this one is so blurry, but as you can see, it's a tight fit and another reason I have to make weekly grocery store trips. (The dish in the bottom was Big Mama's Baked French Toast I made this morning- it didn't taste as good as I thought it would- probably because I did not use half and half or the praline topping. And I cut the recipe in half- so don't freak, I didn't use 8 eggs!)

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Actually, most days our fridge size is just fine with me. I can get quite a bit of things stacked in there. We don't need a huge one- although I'm sure I would be able to fill it up quicker than I think I could! I just hate having to bend over and take things out every time I need to find something!!!!

Another Waiting List

It seems like there is always something with us and the National Healthcare System (NHS). You might remember last year we dealt with a possible problem with Cerys and ended up paying privately to get some answers. Thankfully it was all sorted fairy quickly after we paid for her to be seen. I'm so thankful we are taken well care of by our company, so that we can be able to pay a private doctor for things like this. But then there are a lot of people here that can't do that and that makes me sad for them. Especially those waiting for years for operations due to lack of beds in hospitals or long waiting lists to see specialists.

My recent minor operation to remove that fatty lump (gross) was taken care of fairly quickly. The GP didn't know what to do with me, so she referred me to a specialists at a private hospital. I got in to see him within a few months, which was quite good I thought considering all things. After I got my first appointment, things moved fast since he asked if I could pay for the scan and the surgery. If I had not been able to pay, it would have taken longer.

Around the first of December I had the GP look at a mole I have (sorry, another gross!) because I'm so fair skinned and have had several removed, I thought this one was worth having a doctor take a look. She agreed it needed to be removed and said it could be done in the office. Wow. I was surprised that it would be that easy. Should've known. I was told I would be contacted by the secretary and made an appointment time to come in. I never heard anything, then a few days later we went to Africa. After we returned, I had a letter in the post saying that I had been referred to a dermatologist at the hospital (not sure what happened to "oh, we can do it in the office") and I should be getting an appointment time soon. Remember, that you can't make your own appointments for things like this. They just send you a letter in the post and if you can't make it at that time, you go back on the waiting list. So, after months of waiting to hear from the hospital, I phoned them today to ask where I was on the list.

I was told that I was on the "routine" list and from the start of January it was 5 months long. Once I reach the top of the list, I would be contacted again to make an appointment. So, I'm looking at maybe getting a chance to set up an appointment sometime in June.

Several of you have emailed and asked what our opinion of socialized medicine is. We appreciate you asking. Maybe this will help some of you understand what millions of people here are facing. We've had some good experiences with the NHS, we really have - but right now, I think there are some serious things that need to change. I have a friend here that has an 11 month old baby that needs to be seen by a pediatrician. She is not sitting up or standing and there is major concern, as you can imagine, with this sweet mother. She is STILL waiting for an appointment with a pediatrician at the hospital. She was told last week that it would be July before she was able to be seen. My heart breaks for her. My other question is...so they are telling her that every pediatrician at every hospital is booked solid- patient after patient-5 days a week- until July? I don't think so. Something does not add up.

He's Home!

Well, I haven't written much because we are enjoying having Daddy back!!! He went to the states the day after my family arrived- I'm sure he was glad to get out of house of 6 "girls" :) We had a busy week with them, and saying goodbye last Sunday was awful, of course. I spent most of last Sunday crying and cleaning- sometimes at the same time! But it did give us a few days to get the house back in order for Daddy's return on Thursday! We met him at the train station, and the nice man working the gates allowed us to go up to the platform to meet him! It was so much fun as Marc got off the train, both girls took off running and screaming "DADDDDDDYYYYY" I had left my camera in the car, but I did get one on my mobile phone if I can figure out how to load it on here!

So, we're just enjoying having Daddy back after 11 days! All his girls are happy! :)

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