Scotland Ho!

Planes, trains and...more trains delivered us at last to Perth, Scotland. We arrived on a beautiful sunny day to the lovely welcome committee of our friend and boss this year, Annelie.

This is in our hotel room at the Parklands on the South Inch. The lighting is awful but I liked the pictures, so...The balloon says "Welcome Home!" What a treat and what an impression this extravagant train station welcome made on Claire, a greenhouse gas consultant we sat with and talked with on the train from Edinburgh to Perth. You just never know who might be touched by something you do for someone else.

We are tired and elated; in love with and annoyed with one another; homesick and falling in love with our new home. Leaning on God.

Gradual Culture Shift

Today was the first day of our Scottish adventure. We began in Portland at 5:40 a.m. Does EVERYONE take a photo of feet on PDX carpet? Just in case it's obligatory...

Then it was off to Canada! Definitely it's own country (Canadian friends!), but not so very different that we needed to try strange food or speak a different language (or try to understand "English"). French always followed our familiar English, on the flight and on public transportation in the city of Toronto. Americans all know the "eh" and "aboot" thing so we feel very at home still. Because this IS the first day of our 365 day adventure, we had Indian food for dinner - HA! Crazy kids. 

We are exhausted and exhilarated, not yet burdened by homesickness and still leaning on God.

Counting Down to Takeoff

T minus 12 days and counting. People ask "Are you busy getting ready to leave?" (Overwhelmed) "Are you excited?" (Like a kid on Christmas Eve) "Isn't it going to be hard to leave everyone, especially your new grand baby?" (Way, way beyond hard)

I keep imagining we are astronauts, two weeks from launch date. So many details still to fit into place; (surely) an element of dread at leaving loved ones far behind; (just as surely) palpable excitement for what is to come; and (most certainly) a conviction that this is what you were made to do.

OK, so Scotland isn't exactly the moon and our danger factor isn't any higher than an average trip abroad. We are concerned about where we will live and if we will come off as ugly Americans, rather than being concerned about our O rings functioning and will we successfully re-enter earth's atmosphere. Yet there is definitely the "can't get home quickly/easily" factor and most definitely the "out of our element factor". And that probably explains the high excitement factor. 

When was the last time we stepped out so far on a limb? I admit, I am comfy being comfy and this limb is looking shaky and small. Common sense is screaming "Back up and get down from this tree, you nut!" Wisdom, however, is quietly saying "Step out and see what God has planned for you." And that is the most exciting thing we have ever done, the most compelling skinny limb we have gone out on. Leaning on God.

It's the goodbyes that get ya.

 

Back in the Saddle Again

After a five year absence, Tom and I were back at Washington Family Ranch for a week of Young Life camp! For the first time, we were not there as part of the Medical Team at a High School camp but as Adult Guest Hosts at a Young Lives camp.

We were blessed with lovely people for guests who both experienced the wonders of the camp and gracefully overlooked our rookie mistakes:

They cheerfully labeled the "elderly grandmother hopping out of the Jolly Trolley to push us up the hill" as a unique adventure. And, they were kind when half of our hosting team vanished for a few hours to consult on and confer with the (official) medical team about an infant who needed a weight check. A food scale in the dining hall, parchment paper and a cookie sheet got 'er done.

Sadly, the Jolly Trolley incident was not captured by anyone's smart phone but Tom's pediatric adventure and my great blessing to get to hand out Bibles to new believers on the last morning of camp were.

God works in many ways and we are so often surprised by Him, aren't we? From giving an older woman the gift of being able to be our hero by pushing a stalled golf cart up off a gravel path to figuring out how to help a young mom and her infant when the necessary equipment is not available, God is never restricted by limited imagination like we often are.

We are re-energized and more excited than ever for our year in Scotland helping Young Life serve the Lord. And who knows what THAT will look like? 😊

Welcome to Scotland Ho! As Tom and I embark on our gap year in Scotland we will give brief, hopefully entertaining, updates on our adventure. We will post photos and experiences from beginning (PDX on Sep 19, 2016) to end (PDX on Sep 20, 2017) and as many points in between as we are able (i.e. remember). Until that time, we will continue the eye-twitch inducing tasks involved in preparing to be away from home for a year. If anything particularly interesting happens before we leave, we will try out our new blog, but officially we will begin in September. Stay tuned!