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 -
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!
