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.