England from the Willis' Perspective

Well, if we had to sum our 10 day trip up in one word it would be: AWESOME! We all had a blast and the trip went above and beyond our expectations. We've included a small video snapshot of our time together. Unfortunately it doesn’t capture all the fun and the bonding that did occur, but you will get the idea!

I’ll have to admit, I wondered how the initial reunion would be between the six kids, but let me assure you within 30 seconds of hugs and kisses, Luke & Nate were wrestling on the floor, A.C. & Isabel were in their own world talking about things “girls” talk about and J.A. & Josh were picking up right where they left off in August.

London – We stayed in London from Saturday until Tuesday and got a grand overview of what a city of 12 million is like! I would say that our children not getting run over by double decker busses and crazy drivers, (driving on the wrong side of the road) was quite an accomplishment. J We only lost J.A. & Josh once and it only took about 5 minutes to find them. We walked all over London (or so it seemed) and basically did everything we could in 3 days. On Sunday we woke up to huge snowflakes falling from the sky which the kids were excited about. We worshipped at All Soul’s Church (John Stott’s church) that morning and I will have to say it was really moving. Julie had told me that there are typically 88 different nationalities worshipping there and as we sang “Beautiful Savior,” I looked around and couldn’t help but think about Heaven and how it would be when we are all there worshipping our King. We went to the Tower of London (highly recommend), walked across the London Bridge, rode the Eye of London, saw Les Mis (fantastic!) and went to the Natural Museum (huge)! In between those big things we watched the kids run through London acting as goofy as they possibly could, singing at the top of their lungs, jumping up on anything they could possibly jump on and basically just enjoying being together. We would generally all fall into the door of our hotel around mid-night and get up the next day ready to go again.

On Tuesday we boarded the express train and rode up toward the Lake District, then loaded all of our (10 people’s worth) luggage into their two automobiles and stuffed 8 of us in one car and Matt & Dennis in the other car. We took the scenic ride home, stopping in Ambleside to get a snack and walk around a bit. We weren’t too long into our ride home when we had the I-pod blaring and all 8 of us singing Hannah Montana at the tops of our lungs. We got to the Thompson’s house that evening and I must admit it seemed like we were at home the minute we walked in the door. It was great to sit at the dinner table that night and NOT be able to get a word in edgewise (yes, me, Pam) because of the kids talking about everything under the sun with one another.

The next five days proved to be just as wonderful as the 4 days prior as we explored how the Thompson’s were REALLY doing on the other side of the ocean. We took a BEAUTIFUL hike one day, the adults got one meal out alone, Luke went to school with Na and Josh went to school with the girls one day. We also took the boys skateboarding quite a bit and we went for a train ride up the country side. We saw all of these cute little towns that are located close to where Julie lives. Isabel even picked up rocks from the Irish seashore to bring home to America.

I would say the Thompson’s are just fine in England. Of course I don’t like to admit that. Through out the week as I was introduced to people, I could already tell people know what a blessing and treasure they have on their hands with the Thompson’s being with them for these few short years.

Julie has done amazingly well at jumping in with both feet. From learning how to drive (on the wrong side of the road and wrong side of the car) to learning how to shop, to learning her way around all of these little towns – it was fun to watch and fun to be apart of a very different life style than the one she was used to here.

A.C. & J.A. have definitely adapted quite well. They truly do love their school and they seem to have already made some very precious friends. They have both grown up soooooo much over the last seven months. They are both beautiful, thoughtful, affectionate and I miss them terribly!

Na, well, he’s my little hero! He still loves life with all gusto and still loves Luke with all of his heart (the feeling is mutual of course). I’m so proud of him because it takes a lot of guts to go to school (for the first time ever), be the only American, try to make new friends, figure out academically how they do everything and at the same time come home and live with two teenage girls (who sing musicals ALL the time J).

Denis, well what can I say? He’s still the adventurer we all know him to be. He asked me one night, what I thought about his decision to come over to England (not that my opinion really mattered in the grand scheme of things), but he wanted it so I gave it. I told him, if I were him I believe I would have done the same. His children, his wife, his marriage will forever be changed because of this move and the kind of change I’m talking about is not always the effortless but in the end is a good thing.

Now don’t get me wrong, the Thompson’s are not living in “fairy” land where there are no schedules, car pools, homework, late nights at work, soccer, ballet, choral, bible study, conflicts with friends, hard parenting times, hard marital conversations, etc….. but they are living at a place where it has forced all of them to get outside of their comfort zone and what they’ve always known and really examine their hearts, motivations and why they do the things they do! So, I would say for us, just being a part of their daily lives again, even for a short while, was, like I said at the beginning, like being at home.

Looking forward to our next trip! J

Pam, Matt, Josh, Luke & Isabel