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.