Friends that are just like family

When you move around and you live hundreds of miles away from home, other people become like family. I'm pretty used to having friends that I treat like family. When I was about 5 years old we moved from Texas to Louisiana and left behind all our family. There were times when I really hated not having them nearby especially during the holidays. In our small town it seemed like everyone knew everyone, or they were related to one another. But I've made some great friends that are better than family. My husband and I spend time with them every time we go to Louisiana and they treat us like relatives and I love them and know I can count on them always.

So now that we are really far from home, we've met other military folk that are just like us. We now go to church, and spend one day a week going to bible study and sharing food and stories.  I also volunteer once a week to make food for new Airmen and their families. But most of all I can already tell that we have met friends that are going to be like family by the time we leave. The funny thing is that the first people I met and that made me feel at home were from Louisiana. One is from Shreveport, and the other is from Metairie what a small world, and how funny is it that God puts people in your life just when you need them.

Tonight we are going to game night, and I'm making a pot of chili to share. And tomorrow I'll be going with my new friend to Ikea to buy some stuff I need to make our little English home feel a little more like home. I feel really blessed to have the friends that I do and even more blessed to make friends along the way.

Here's some of the friends at a baby shower we threw for one of them. 

Reunited and it feels so good.

So, excited our dog arrived today from Washington DC. We had to leave him behind when we moved because he was a short nosed breed and they wouldn't allow him to fly. We were so upset to leave him and couldn't wait until September 15th when the embargo would be lifted to get him home. I couldn't wait to take him to the bus stop and let the kids see him. 

Louie has been with us for three years and has been the best dog. We paid a lot to get him shipped to us but he was totally worth it.

I wish I could turn back time to when they were both little. 

Norwich

On Labor Day we took a day trip to Norwich. It was perfect weather and not very busy which gave us a chance to look around and see some of the city. Pictures are not as clear because I forgot my camera, these were all taken with an iPhone and they're not that great.

This is the Royal Arcade it's a walkway between the Norwich Castle and it's so pretty with shops lining both sides.

The market in Norwich is opened everyday, and it's also one of the oldest. I believe that it's 900 years old. This market here is a lot different from the ones we've been to so far. They have rows and rows of permanent shops. There are about 2 aisles of just food. And I especially like that they are covered to keep you dry in this rainy England weather.

This is the Norwich Cathedral, as you can tell from all my other post there are a lot of cathedrals around England and almost every village has one.

This cathedral like many in England is old and has been through reconstruction several times. This building has been through a fire, riots, and abandoned. So even though it may be 900 years old, different parts of the church are newer, and by newer I mean like 17th, 18th and 19th century. There is no admission into the church they only ask for a donation to help with the upkeep.

I didn't get a picture, but just to left of the this photo is a large square and on the day we went, there was street performer singing. Just right of the kids sitting on the steps, was a TV and Movie store, it was awesome! They had Harry Potter, Dr. Who, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and lots of other TV and movie merchandise.

This is Norwich Castle...
It was mostly used as a prison, and then a museum. But it started out being built as a castle for William the Conqueror. The area where the castle sits use to have about 100 homes and they were demolished, so the king could build his castle. Even though the castle was built as a home, no king has ever lived in it.

The museum received a large sum of money in 2000 and they have refurbished a lot of the exhibits.

Here's a display of the dinnerware that was used at that time.

The inside looked a scene from a movie like Game of Thrones or Elizabeth. It has big arches, and stairways that lead up to the second floor but really it's just a lot windows. In this room, there are two wells covered by glass so you can still look down and see them.

          We had to duck down to get through some of the walkways, maybe people were short back then. Or maybe I'm pretty tall... Not!

These were found buried in a large pottery jar in 1849. It's so interesting to me that in this country you could find treasure literally in your back yard. Even the local grocery store has a plaque outside with information about Anglo Saxon artifacts found when they built the store.

The museum had a large natural history display. Most of the large animals in the displays were shot and killed by former kings. That includes some of the tigers in this one.

Norwich is not as exciting as some of the cities we've been to so far but the shopping was great there's a two story mall right next to the castle. And then there's the market and some newer department stores towards the cathedral which was all very close and within walking distant.