Pictures!

Here are some pictures of our time in Edinburgh and the drive to Skye.

Finally Abby is well, so we're seeing more of these sweet smiles! I think she was very excited about lunch here:

This was our lunch spot. Super delicious and fun retro atmosphere with a Scottish twist. We tried the sausages and mash...I think I'm a bigger fan of Scottish mash(ed potatoes) than the American version. The ones I ordered were stuffed full of leeks and bacon.
When we first arrived in Edinburgh we traveled the Royal Mile which should be named Tourist Row instead. There were plenty of these bagpipers, street performers, human "statues," and tartan shops. It was fascinating, but it left me wanting to find a spot off the beaten path.
Beautiful statues and monuments like this one were all over the city and added such a level of historical interest.
The "old town" was very medieval and through the "closes" (or alleyways) you could see down into other parts of the city. Through this particular close you could see the Scott Monument which was built to honor Sir Walter Scott.
Caleb slept right through Edinburgh Castle, but here he is snuggled up in the stroller with Michael.

This picture below was from one of my two favorite spots in Edinburgh: Princess Gardens. From Princess Gardens you can look up and see the castle and the old town, then you can look behind you and see the new town with it's Georgian architecture and high style shopping area. This particular picture is looking up.

This picture was from my other favorite spot: Dean Village. It was a hidden gem in the corner of the city. I would definitely want to spend a lot of time here if we have the chance to ever go back to Edinburgh. Michael and Caleb are looking at the view that you'll see in the next picture. The village was so picturesque with it's winding cobblestone passageways, the lush green riverbank, and the castles towering above.

Here's an attempt at a family picture. I didn't realize that Abby was so hidden though...she's on my back sleeping in the baby carrier.
In Princess Garden again...
St. Giles Cathedral was our meeting spot with the girls and a great end to our day in Edinburgh.
I didn't start taking pictures until more than halfway through our drive to Skye, so you'll miss the most beautiful part. You can google Loch Lomond to get a taste though.

This picture is heading into Glen Coe, the pictures below were taken at a pull off right in the middle of Glen Coe. It was stunning.




We experienced this a few times on our way into Skye: waiting for accident clean-up. The roads were super narrow, winding, and beautiful...not a good combination apparently.
These last few pictures are from Plockton. I can't wait to get more pictures and possibly some artwork from this area. It is unbelievably beautiful and right down the road from where we're staying.

Stay tuned for more later!

Whew, what a week!

After last Tuesday, Michael and I realized we were probably stretching the kids a little too thin, so the kids and I spent much more time at home the second half of the week. Going from 7 am to 9 or 10 pm without more than a quick nap on the run may be ok for a 20 something, but not so much for a 1 and 3 year old. In some ways it was a difficult transition for me because I love to be involved in everything that's going on, but I feel God working on my heart, and I'm praying that this summer I will find joy in learning to serve Him in the way that He wants me to.

Instead of a day by day account this time (since it's all starting to run together for me), I'll offer some highlights from last week.

The girls spent some time cleaning the beautiful old church that Glasgow City Free Church meets in. This was a great tangible way to love the church, and I think they enjoyed serving the congregation in this way. Abby and Caleb both tried to help vacuum...that didn't last long.

The girls also went out into another part of the city to pass out flyers for a church plant that GCFC is starting in the area.

On Thursday night we were invited to dinner at Finley and Kristen's house. This dear couple runs the international student ministry that is connected to the church. Finley, an ordained minister, is the associate pastor at GCFC. The Lord has definitely given this couple the gift of hospitality, and we so enjoyed our evening with them hearing what God is doing in the lives of international students in Glasgow. It is a very exciting work that is happening.

Saturday was our "off day," so our whole group headed to Edinburgh for the day. What a beautiful city. I can't wait to share our pictures with you, but they're not uploaded yet so that will be for another day.

Yesterday was our last day in Glasgow, and we spent the morning worshiping with GCFC and the afternoon eating and having great conversation with Ross, Fiona and their kids (a family from GCFC). In the evening, Michael had the opportunity to preach in the service and then share a bit about RUF at an after church fellowship. This was a sweet time with a group of people that have become very dear to us over the past couple weeks.

Leaving Glasgow this morning was very bittersweet for me. I must say that I will not miss taking public transportation. It was a good experience for us, but it definitely made me thankful to have a car :) We also look forward to our work in Skye.

However, it was so hard to leave. All around the people in Glasgow were pleasant, friendly and helpful, but in particular, we were so blessed by the congregation at GCFC. Every bit of time that we spent with them, we felt such a warmth of community and care...truly they exude the love of Jesus. All of us felt like we learned so much from their hospitality, their genuineness, their joyful self-sacrifice. Thank you, Lord, for the body of Christ.

In our Bible study last week, we read the first part of Philippians and talked about how the Gospel is our common bond and the glory of God is our common goal. As I look back on the time we spent in Glasgow, I rejoice the see how God worked out those verses both among our group and also between our group and the church in Glasgow.

Tomorrow will be our first day getting oriented to the community here in Skye, and I hope to be updating more regularly since we'll have internet access at the house. Thank you for all your love and prayers. I love reading your comments and feeling connected to y'all back home!

Warning…this is LONG. It’s mostly a basic rundown of what happened here over the past week. I hope to sit down again soon and give more thoughts and reflection. We hope you’re all doing well back home. Thank you for your prayers and love!

Monday, May 23

Our super trooper kids waited (mostly) patiently in the Newark airport to find out how we would get to Scotland.

Tuesday, May 24

My excitement about being in Paddington station was slightly embarrassing, but I’m so happy that we had the chance to have a glimpse at London.

Kathmar picked us up around 8pm from the train station, and I tried to get in the driver’s side of the car. Welcome to Europe J She took us to their home for lasagna and a warm bed.

Wednesday, May 25

A quiet day at the Dow’s house gave us a chance to overcome jet lag by sleeping the morning away and drinking tea all afternoon.

Thursday, May 26

Michael traveled to Edinburgh by train with Colin to attend the Free Church of Scotland’s General Assembly. Kathmar took me and the kids to the grocery store where Caleb introduced us as the loud Americans by throwing the biggest tantrum of his life.

Arriving at the cold missionary house in Paisley (an hour’s bus ride from the church in Glasgow’s city centre) was a little daunting after having 2 wonderful days in the Dow’ welcoming home, but once the radiators kicked in and the pot of tea was brewed, we began to feel more comfortable in our temporary home.

Friday, May 27

Colin picked Michael up around 9 to retrieve 3 of the girls from the airport (Jennie, Kaylan and Rachel). After a bowl of cereal and a shower, the girls were ready to go, so we packed into the Dow’s cars and headed to a park. The kids were ecstatic to be outside after several days indoors, so they ran around and enjoyed the playground despite the steady Scottish rain. Soon though, the adults had had enough, so we escaped to the café inside the garden center and enjoyed hot chocolate, coffee and tea.

Determined not to be held back by the weather, our family and the girls decided to head into downtown Glasgow to find a dinner spot. We were rewarded with a cozy Scottish meal in a basement restaurant that served fish and chips, haggis, and such.

After a 3 hour adventure that involved more bus stops than we can remember, a lot of rain, and finally a taxi, we made it home and crashed.

Saturday, May 28

Michael and the girls headed in to the church early to attend a Youth Fellowship Conference, and the kids and I took our time and walked into the town of Paisley to find the grocery store and a map.

The pictures below are of the town of Paisley:

We all met up at the church around lunch, and I had a chance to hear what the girls had been doing all day at the conference. The word “youth” meant something different than I’d expected. Instead of Jr High and High school age kids, the Youth Fellowship was for college age students from all over the city. They came to the church to hear a speaker, discuss how their faith was worked out in living, and sing psalms and other praise songs. We were all encouraged by their love for God’s word and the way they encouraged each other to live as Christians in their daily lives.

After the afternoon session, our group went to explore the city a bit and get coffee with a friend named Fiona with whom we would have the opportunity to spend a lot of time over the next week.

The pictures below are of downtown Glasgow:

This is the City Free Church of Glasgow where Colin Dow is pastor and where we spend the majority of our time:

Our coffee break (Kaylan, Jennie, Rachel):
(Michael-youth student from church, Fiona-spent much of her weekend and week with us)

Then we joined up with the students who were at the conference plus some others for a barbeque at the home of a family from the church. At the barbeque we all had a chance to talk with students and watch a futbol game with them on the telly.

Sunday, May 29

The generous nature of the Scots shone through for the millionth time on Sunday morning as we were all preparing to catch the bus into town for church, and Colin, the pastor of the church who would be preaching in the service, called to say he was on his way to pick us up for church.

At church the girls were able to help the Sunday school (crèche) teachers give the lesson and create collages for a craft.

After the service, we enjoyed tea and cookies (biscuits) with the members of the church before heading to the Dow’s home for a delicious lunch of curry, bread pudding, and more. Before we knew it, it was 4 o’clock and we were completely stuffed.

Michael and the girls left for the evening service with Colin and some others who had ended up at the Dow’s house throughout the afternoon, and Kathmar graciously took me and the kids back home even though her oldest child was coming down with a stomach virus.

What a wonderful Sabbath of worshiping with God’s people from across the ocean. The Scottish people have beautiful singing voices, and our group was blessed hearing the psalms that they sang in church accapella.

Monday, May 30

To start off the week, Michael and Kaylan took the bus to the airport and picked up Morgan, the final member of our group. We were so happy that she safely joined us! We joined Fiona at the church to receive instructions on passing out flyers to international students for a weekly Bible study. Because Monday was a bank holiday for Scotland, school was not in session and we didn’t get to talk to many students. We were encouraged remembering that God was still at work, and we enjoyed hearing from Fiona about the ministry to the international students and the way God brought new people to the group year after year.

After a relaxed lunch at the church, we headed out to the campus on the west end of the city to hand out more flyers. The girls couldn’t get over how much the campus reminded them of Hogwarts, and I think a few of them even considered transferring. Since the Kelvingrove museum was right next to campus, we had the chance to walk through before heading back downtown to join Fiona’s husband Roddie for dinner.

These are more pictures of downtown Glasgow:

The Necropolis in the distance:
The Cathedral:

Tired babes:
I love the juxstaposition of the modern with the ancient:
A live statue in St. George's Square:
On the subway:

The Kelvingrove Museum:
West End University of Glasgow:

Tuesday, May 31

The ladies at Glasgow City Free Church were having a pillowcase dress making day to make dresses to send to Africa, so the girls spent the day working on this project with them. I think they really enjoyed doing something with their hands that they knew was directly going to help someone.

Tuesday night we all cooked dinner together and sat down to study God’s word, pray together and remind each other of our purpose in being here. It was a needed time of reflection and fellowship.

I hope to post pictures of the dresses that were made on Tuesday.

We're here!

After a wild adventure getting here, we arrived in Glasgow last night around 8 pm Glasgow time. The kids did so well on the trip, and even Abby who has a cold and is running a fever stayed content on all the flights. Praise the Lord!
When we arrived in Newark on Monday evening we discovered that due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland, our flight from Newark to Glasgow had been canceled. After waiting in several lines for several hours we re booked our flight with British Airways, and flew into London on Tuesday. In London we made it through customs...barely! The woman seemed very sceptical at first, and I almost thought she wasn't going to let us in the country! After taking the Express to Paddington Station, we rode the Underground to Euston Station to catch a train to Glasgow. I especially was so excited to have this unplanned detour through London. The Paddington Bear books were some of my favorites as a child, and I felt giddy like a child walking through the station where the Brown family found a bear from Darkest Peru and fed him tea and marmalade :) Although the children didn't realize how special it was that we were able to see more of Great Britain than we expected, they hung on and Caleb especially enjoyed riding all the trains. He even named a few of them: Thomas and Percy. Even Michael was remarkable "go with the flow" for his personality that doesn't usually enjoy detours from the plan. God definitely gave him extra measures of patience and we really enjoyed the whole experience as a family.
I can already see how the Lord is using this journey to grow us in Him and to bond us together as a family. I am so grateful for that.
Please pray for us that we will have physical stamina during our time here in Glasgow especially. We want to serve the church here well, and we pray that God directs us clearly in how to do that. Our interns arrive on Friday, and we want to encourage them to roll up their sleeves right away and jump in.
We've been so grateful to the pastor's family here in Glasgow for the way they've taken care of us since we're arrived. They're wonderful! They've definitely served us in many ways already, and we hope to do the same for them and not become a burden while we're here!
Praise the Lord for his protection and beautiful sovereignty in bringing us here. We feel so incredible blessed to witness how He is working in the city of Glasgow and we are amazed that He has chosen to let us be a part of it for this short time.
We'll hopefully post pictures soon, but we're so happy to be able to keep you up to speed on our journey here.
If you think of it, you can also pray that our bags will be found and brought to Glasgow soon!