TRANSITIONS

As I write, we have seven weeks left of our year in Scotland. Roughly 1.5 months to wrap up our life in Perth, Scotland and organize re-entry into our life in Salem, Oregon, USA. The preparations to go to Scotland one year ago were crazy busy, confusing, scary, and filled with doubt. The preparations to go back will soon keep us crazy busy but right now we are feeling deeply bittersweet emotions.

The sweet is easy.

We are SO excited to be with our family, our friends, in our house, in our town. Driving on the right (and yes, still to us, correct) side of the street - bliss! Food that is familiar to us and appliances that work with our experience and training. Central heating. Stores where we can find exactly what we need or where we at least know the proper words to use to ask for the things we can't find. Almond lattes made with almond milk and almond syrup; beans and rice made with Mexican spices and rice in the rice cooker; British shows on PBS (we can't afford to pay for the deluxe cable to get those shows here - go figure);  seeing our neighbors again when we walk through our hood and having OUR DOG again!!! The list really does go on and on...



The bitter is hard.

Tom's mother, Grace, passed away on June 24th. She had suffered greatly from Alzheimer's but her health declined very quickly in her last few months of life and we were caught off guard by the sad phone call from Tom's brother. When we return home, then, one sweetly anticipated reunion will not take place and that will be hard.

Nor did we foresee building relationships and attachments in Scotland that would cause such a huge sense of loss as we prepare to leave. Many people here have become our community and our friends: Tayside Young Lives staff/volunteers/mums/tots; Cairn Brae (the Young Life camp) staff; the pastors and members of Trinity Church of the Nazarene; Young Life International staff (UK and Ireland); the US Young Life staff who have dealt heroically with our weird financial/visa requirements; and the good people of Perth who have patiently dealt with us as neighbors, customers, clients and patients. In the course of 10 months, two men we were blessed to come to know here have died of cancer: Hugh and Roger, we already are missing you. We have rejoiced in the birth of new babies and have many little friends we will miss seeing grow. The brave, tough and tender Young Lives mums and their wee ones have our hearts forever. Our church family is so dear to us that I can't find words to express our love for them. Campbell the Kilted Barber - I mean, seriously - you could not invent a lovelier man.

And Scotland the country - every shire and kingdom (Fife! Fife! Fife!) has a charm and wild beauty and history worth spending time exploring. Perthshire will always be our home away from home. A wondrous country!

It's hard to quantify what we have accomplished in our gap year in Scotland. We deeply hope that we have made an impact here; being here has certainly made an impact on us. We are trusting and leaning on God to use our time here for His purposes.

We have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams this year. "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap." Luke 6:38

Halfway There

Today is April 19, 2017. On this date 7 months ago we flew out of Portland International Airport to begin our gap year/Young Lives volunteering/adventure in Scotland. Five months from today we will arrive back at PDX, concluding our time away.

To say this fills us with mixed emotions would be an understatement.  We have been experiencing what we call the "6 Month Blues" - the time period (which varies) in which you hit a wall, feeling a great distance from life at home but not a true part of life in your adopted country. It's a common thing, friends who have lived away from the US for many years tell us. The advice they gave us is to push through, appreciate every personal encounter while we are here and realize that each day has value, even if we are temporary players in the lives of the people around us. The value of a relationship can't necessarily be defined by it's length. So, on we go...

Busy times with a looooong Easter Holiday (2 weeks) thrown in! I will make a list of what we've been up to and throw some photos in to reduce the mind numbing affects of lists.

Sunday dinner in Dundee with Scottish friends from Young Lives; Trekkers (church group) walk Gleneagles (yes, THAT Gleneagles); begin the creative process with Dorothy in Carnoustie (another famous golf course there, I believe) of a prayer email for the Young Lives Team; Young Lives Committee meetings; Clubs at Fun Factory in Dundee; Committee Leader Weekend in England; the generous gift of 5 nights on the island of Tiree in the Outer Hebrides -

 Dinner at the home of Edinburgh Young Life Area Director Andy Chittick with his lovely wife and children then a wild drive through Edinburgh (think Italian Job, seriously) to a Committee event that included "pancakes"; kitchen helpers/servers at a Come Dine With Me fundraising dinner for Young Lives; a much needed and wonderful visit from our friend Mona -

Trekkers walk the Tay bank and visit Errol (Errol! My next pet name!); attend the Nazarene District Assembly in Paisley; serve as cook's helpers/servers/pits crew for work week at Cairn Brae; Kathy gets to attend a Scottish wedding reception for one of our Young Lives mums, Sam, and pose for a picture with Jacques, husband of Tayside Young Lives Area Director (and our "boss") Annelie -

Enjoying invitations from our church friends for dinners, tea times, walks; attending our first Scottish wedding as part of the "whole church welcome for the service" scheme; visiting two of our local castles (Elcho and Loch Leven) -

Taking on a bit of the Fife Coastal Path, from North Queensferry to Aberdour -

An afternoon in Edinburgh (on the bus, like locals) at the National Museum and accidentally discovering Grassmarket; driving south to see Culzean Castle on the west coast and overlooking Aran Island (the Scottish one, not the Irish one) -

This afternoon we hop on the bus to Edinburgh again. Our destination today is Holyrood - the seat of Parliament in Scotland. "Serve Scotland", a Christian organization, is being honored with a reception highlighting the ways they are a benefit to Scotland. It's like being invited to the US Capitol - woohoo!

SaveSave

In the Bleak Midwinter

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows us, especially to our children, that technical difficulties have found us. A frozen laptop and an aging iPad have delayed and messed with our attempts to keep our blog updated. All seems to be in order now so here, in pictorial form is November and December of Tom and Kathy Do Scotland, leaning on God.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Since we last checked in, we have moved from our lovely but temporary home in Comrie to our "forever for one year" flat in Perth. Two weeks of many visits to the Salvation Army Furniture center,  to assorted Charity Shops and every discount store we could find, and our home is pretty much complete! Yay! We are so thankful to have our own place to land. Home away from home, I guess, would be the most accurate way to describe our feelings when we walk in the door.

Don't judge - Houzz is not going to be beating down our door for a photo shoot, but we are very happy that our modest furnishings are cozy and welcoming:

We have two bedrooms and are waiting for that first visitor from home (you?). German Gasthaus is our decor - apparently 2016 is the year for Scots to donate all their knotty pine furniture to charity. Our flat may not scream "Scotland!" when you enter but it clearly tells the story of our needs being abundantly met by a very gracious Father who loves us. Leaning on God.

Young Lives Camp, 2016 Cairn Brae

The photo below is of the campers and their leaders at Young Lives Camp, Cairn Brae, Scotland 2016. Their pose says it all: campers/leaders/Young Life International/Young Lives = YL!

Tom and I were blessed to play a small role at this camp this year. We were the cooks/program helpers/general grunts. A peek at part of our schedule:

Bollywood and an around the world treasure hunt both involved us and got us out of the kitchen. For a couple of old geezers (in this group at least!), we did OK.

(Hint: monkeys!)

Young Lives is Young Life for young mums. Year round time with mentors, bi-weekly Club (which includes a meal with their children and childcare during Club time) and bi-weekly time in Bible study, teach these young women who Jesus is and how precious they are to Him. None of us are  meant to live life alone - we are children of the King and He is here for us.

This is the group our time will be focused on this year. We will be extra hands and feet for Annelie, Area Director for Tayside Young Lives. Young Life International has given us a 30 hour work week which we will be keeping track of for the UK government. Visa holders (through their Line Managers, who in our case is Annelie) are held accountable for using their time in the UK for the purpose stated in the Visa application. It's all very official and so...not too much monkeying around for us!

Leaning on God.

Wildlife Thus Far

In these early days of our time in Scotland, our "wildlife sighted" count is at 3.

1. A deer leaping into the woods on our country lane. From it's posterior (all we could see) we were unable to identify it other than it was not a blacktail deer. Do they even have those in Scotland? I'll let you know if we have any updates on that.

2. A spider the size of a chihuahua in our bathroom. Maybe only the size of a hamster, but really, really big and kind of brown and smooth. I only saw half of it - it was lurking behind the sink and then it scurried into an inaccessible place. I half want to see it again because it is taking on increasingly epic proportions in my memory. I would google Spiders of Scotland but my Scotland Road Photos (see last blog) experience makes that unappealing. If I spy it again and have my phone with me (unlikely, due to Shelob's last known location) I will take a photo.

3. Phil the Pheasant, our very own resident wild fowl. He is skittish but beautiful. Our Scottish friends are unimpressed. Apparently they are the equivalent of Stellar Jays at home - beautiful but very common. We are impressed and have taken many photos of Phil. Here is our best shot so far. Oops, sorry Phil! Poor choice of words.

An American Driving in Scotland

3 days driving in Scotland without incident. Whew.

First - the car. I was very nearly begging, crying and begging some more for an automatic transmission rental. We need to have transportation to do our job here and it takes a few weeks to be in the position to buy a car. I figured if I have to remember to drive on the left AND maneuver through roundabouts, the last thing either of us needed was for me to also be shifting with my left hand as well. As it turns out, automatics are much less plentiful than manuals and they must be requested well in advance. As it also turns out, driving a manual is like riding a bicycle - you never really forget how, it just takes a few wobbly (or jerky) spins around the block for it all to come back to you. So, we are driving a little Hyundai something or other and it's fine. You might think a large vehicle would be comforting in the sense of having more metal between you and all those oncoming lorries and such, but I'd rather have more space between us. So, small it is.

Second - driving out of the city. Perth is not a huge city but still a city. On the straight bits, it's pretty easy for this American to drive. After all, there are other cars to follow. They drive on the left, they stop in the right spots for the red lights, they stay left after they turn, they somehow know when the streets turn into one way streets even without all those arrows everywhere you see in the US. Oh but those roundabouts. They make total sense and even the markings are very clear but I find them only slightly less than terrifying. That's because the markings are just before you enter the roundabout. The puny one lane roundabouts we have at home are easy peasy - you just pull in and pull out where you want. But THESE roundabouts have three different options (although I'm sure there are even bigger ones out there - waiting to eat us up!): left arrow in left lane for first exit, straight arrow for second exit, right arrow for (NO! Don't turn right - go straight into the roundabout, then... wait for it -) the third exit. If you totally know where you are headed, piece of cake. If you are not exactly sure about this intersection, if you need to look at a street sign or something - forget about it! You have to go into these things with great conviction that you know where you want to go! Oh my.

Next - the country roads. For three days, I have gripped the wheel and have seen nothing of Scotland beyond the confines of the muddy/rocky/narrow edge and the oncoming cars close enough to reach out and touch. My husband has cheered me on, told me where to go (don't you go there), suggested with much earnestness, that I move away a bit from the edge (there are no shoulders) and tried to remain calm. Of course all the roads in Scotland aren't that dramatic - the motorways (freeways) are somewhat comparable to what we are used to, but man - a whole lot of the roads are that dramatic and more so. Never have I been so deliriously happy to get behind a bus or a piece of large farm equipment as I have been on a Scottish country lane: oops, have to go slow, what a shame.

Because I have not had the inclination to pull out of traffic to take a photo of any of these roads (are you kidding me?!), I googled "Photos of Scotland roads." That was a mistake. About every 6th photo is of a horrific road accident (hyperventilating here). OK...getting past those, I still couldn't find the exact type of road we have been driving to reach our Comrie house or the stone cottage our "boss" for this year lives in. Try it - google Scotland Roads and be amazed. And take it from me: our year ahead will find us navigating wee narrow, winding, scary, breathtakingly beautiful roads that I hope to be able to lift up my eyes and enjoy before we leave in 359 days.

OK, here's one that's similar to our roads (well, except for the snow):

Leaning on God.