Operation Tea and Crumpets Has Commenced!

Alex, Leah, Frodo, Smeagol, and Baby Rattray

Thus begins our grand adventure as an American expat family living in the beautiful northern countryside of England! Though not without its fair share of intimidating challenges, we are confident that it is a marvelous opportunity God has woven together for us. Let me take you back to the beginning, where the idea for this endeavor first sparked.

Alex has several ties to this country, both personal and professional. He was born in the city of Leicester and spent his childhood in the Midlands and London areas during his family's time here as missionary pastors, prior to their relocation to San Antonio in the mid-1990s. He returned to London for a semester study abroad opportunity during college, and it was then that his interest in craft beer was sparked which would eventually grow into his full time profession. 

In the Fall of 2016, we enjoyed a lovely vacation in the UK, traveling throughout Scotland, Wales, and England. We fell in love with the gorgeous countryside vistas, the local culture and cuisine, and the all the kindness and hospitality we encountered. Dreaming aloud, we both agreed that this would be a place we could easily envision ourselves settling down in for a time. Additionally, the English style of beer and brewing fascinated Alex as something he would very much like to learn more about. 

So upon our return, he began casually investigating details about brewing job opportunities in the UK and the process involved in relocating from the US. About a year later, we both felt strongly that this was something we wanted to make a real effort to pursue, knowing that it would require God's hand and blessing to bring it about. Alex began applying for jobs, clearly specifying with each one that he was an American citizen who would require work sponsorship to be hired. For many months, he received only responses that politely declined his applications. Finally in January of 2018, a few breweries began contacting him to set up video interviews, mostly ending without a job offer.

In the midst of this, we found out at the end of March that we were expecting a baby in early November! This was its own miraculous story, which I will share more about in a later post, and floating in a cloud of euphoria about becoming parents, we had to stop and consider what to do regarding his job applications. Should we continue, should we shelve the whole idea for a later date, or should we let it go entirely? After much prayer, we felt to move forward with his job applications until the summer, resolving to shelve the idea should he not receive an offer by then. 

It was around this time that he applied for an opening with the Sonnet 43 Brew House in the north east County Durham. After a couple of interviews, it seemed like a marvelous opportunity to work with a growing operation that valued quality beer and innovative brewing, one where he could learn their English style as he wanted to do and they could benefit from his expertise with American style brewing, as well. When the job offer came through at the end of May, we thanked God for His provision and asked Him whether this was the path He had chosen for us. Feeling a strong peace and confirmation, Alex accepted the position, and thus began our scramble to prepare for an international move just five months before our baby's due date.

I'll share more about the moving process later, for those who might be curious about boring details like work visas and such, but for now, I'll end this post by saying a few things. First of all, we are just overwhelmed by the goodness of God in our lives. There is no way we could have orchestrated this opportunity on our own; there were simply too many obstacles in our path that we had absolutely no control over. Throughout the whole journey, we said over and over that all we wanted was God's very best plan for us, whether that was to move to England or stay in San Antonio, because neither the exciting opportunity of the former nor the familiar lifestyle of the latter were worth traipsing outside of His desire for where our family should be located. We simply wanted to be where

He wanted us, serving Him wherever that may be. Secondly, the support from our family and friends along the way has been an incredible blessing to us, and we thank you all so much for that. We could not have done this without you! Finally, we hope you enjoy following along with our growing family on this grand adventure

that's bound to include a lot of tea and crumpets!