This Monday morning, I dropped two of my kids off in their new uniforms for their first days at Christ Church New Malden Primary school. It was the culmination of a summer of a lot of drama and paperwork that marked the end of 12 years in Poland, and 16 years out of the country.

There are many reasons why we’ve made this move and made this move now; and from many perspectives it’s a terrible time to move but it felt right to us (and the Spirit?) to move back now.

The kids have taken everything very well so far. They were excited for school and have made the most of visiting some London attractions over the summer — the highlight was probably a trip with their cousins to Legoland!

Personally, despite all the paperwork and challenges we’ve had moving here, I’ve felt so relieved that I didn’t have to deal with

I doubt we will remain in this area in the long-term - it’s just too expensive for us to afford a place around here - but where ever we end up, we’ll have easy access to our family here.

So in my fortieth year, after almost 16 years out of the country, I’m back.