You know you live in the UK when your 1999 Honda Accord is considered a "big car."

You know you live in the UK when….

• You live in a “flat“
• Your daughter looks outside and says, “Mama, it’s not raining!  Hurry!”
• You chuckle when Americans say “pants” instead of “trousers” (and you still do it just because)
• A completely overcast sky but no rain yet means it might still be a nice day and a totally blue sky might mean imminent rain
• 75 degrees is a heat wave
• You have to convert “1 stick of butter” to how many cups to how many grams or ounces and you still don’t quite get it right
• You think in pounds and pence
• You say “nae bother” instead of “no problem”
• You know exactly how many days it will take to recover from jet-lag and at exactly what hours your children will awaken in the middle of the night
• You only have 2 water options- ice cold or scalding hot (not sure why it’s so hard to install 1 adjustable faucet)
• You refer to yourself as the dish washer
• Your clothes have a lovely wrinkled bit where they were not spread out enough to dry on the radiator
• You say “bit” very naturally
• You start forgetting which words have double letters (travelling?) and when to use “y” (tyre?  tire?)
• Nursery=creche and preschool=nursery and you are no longer confused by this
• You choose to walk the 30 minutes to church, pushing a double “buggy” instead of driving and paying to park far away
• You have memorized signal changes and know when a pedestrian crossing is coming
• You start to hate seagulls and their greedy beaks
• You know even  less about American politics and sports (while UK natives are eager to chat it up and criticize them all)

A while ago I wrote a post about “life in the UK” and overcoming some of the noisier challenges, such as life in a flat and attack seagulls.  I joke a lot about our new lives and lingo, but all in all we are quite happy here.  (No, moms, that does mean we are staying forever!)  I think we have finally gotten to a point in our marriage, our studies (and by “our” I do mean Josh’s), our parenting, and our hearts that we are content to be together and try to trust the Lord more.  I never knew how much I needed a Savior and the gospel until I lost my comforts, ya know?  Don’t get me wrong I still have a wonderful immediate and extended family, a great flat, and a good life, but it has taken me this long (1 1/2 yrs) to realize that geography and luxury items do not mean as much as I thought.  I can still follow the Lord, and perhaps follow Him more fully without all the baggage of instant gratification and consumerism (tho I am still committed to “Consumer Things I Love Thursday”).  As the good Tim Keller says, those things are good, but they are not ultimate things.  They cannot save us and they cannot fulfill us.  Amen.