Settled In

Well, we made it, in one piece, with all the luggage that we checked in at Heathrow, with no problems! Thank you for your prayers!

So now the BIG task is settling in. We're waiting for our container to arrive in Dar Es Salaam, to clear customs and then be driven the days journey up to Dodoma to really feel at home but we're finding that already it's all becoming very familiar!

Abigail has had an issue with saying goodbye's and leaving places ever since our first home assignment in 2010. This last extended time at in the UK was OK for the first month but in the second one, her sensitivity to leaving was heightened all the more. She didn't want to leave anywhere because all we were doing was going somewhere else that we would have to say goodbye to.

One day, when we were in the UK driving away from another fun time with friends, a little voice in the back of the car said 'I don't like leaving, why do we always have to change'. That same little voice was reassuring her younger sister on Monday this week, 24 hours after arriving in Tanzania with, 'Don't worry, we're here and we don't have to leave for a looooonnnng time'!!

We really enjoyed the chance to catch up with so many people while we were in the UK and have quality time with family but there was also an element of always being on the go. This week, although we've been busy getting things sorted both in the house and out (tax numbers etc), there has also been the opportunity to have a little bit of space too ... and we're all feeling a lot more normal as a result!

So much so that yesterday, when it all went quiet in our house and I went searching for two little munchkins (in case they were getting up to mischief), I chuckled to myself to find them exactly where they would have been in our old house ... in their bedroom, on Abigail's bed, reading stories together!

MAF has a reputation for being brilliant at hospitality and while we were allocated dinners out for the first few night here, we chose to stay at home, sometimes with the food, sometimes cooking for ourselves. The last two months have taken it's toll on us and getting settled into a routine as a family had to be our first priority.

The girls have taken it all very well, although they turned up their crankiness levels in the last few weeks in the UK, way beyond anything I've been used to before ... understandably so, their worlds have been turned upside-down. 

If you spent time with us in our last month in the UK you may have caught them on a good day or on a super cranky one. Apologies if you caught us on one of the cranky ones ... they really are good girls most of the time and hopefully now that they are settling down here, the crankiness levels will slowly turn themselves down too!