Not as young as I used to be

Monday and Tuesday, the schools were closed for teacher work days so we planned a Youth Fellowship event: sleepover and roller bowling!

Last night thirteen kids showed up at our house around 7:00, we hung out and ate for a while and then the girls left for the house where we slept. Normal boy/girl sleepover stuff ensued. James was smart and went to sleep around 2:30, I was up until 4:00. When the alarm went off at 8:00, I thought I was dreaming.

Back to our house for breakfast (made by one of the kids who's family owns a butchers shop), then left for Roller Bowl at 10:30. They call it Roller Bowl because here, this is bowling. Three games of bowling and then Harry Ramsden's for fish and chips.

I fell asleep on the way home. We cleaned up the house, and have been sitting on the couch ever since. There was a time when 4 hours of sleep followed by a full day wouldn't phase me. I'm getting old and less resilient.

Looks just like an American bowling alley, just with a different name.

These are some of our Youth Fellowship kids.

Home Alone

James just left for a conference in Edinburgh. Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle is headlining a men's conference. He's really good. We teach Sunday School during the morning worship service, so since we miss the sermon, our Sunday afternoons involve a lot of relaxing on the couch and listening to a sermon online. Most Sunday's, it's been something from Driscoll.

James took another guy named James with him, I'm so excited for them, I know this is going to be a great trip. I love it when James can do stuff like this. I'm all for guy time; it makes him a better person, which makes him a better spouse, which is never a bad thing.

I remember when this marriage thing was brand new to me, I was really jealous for his time. Knowing what I know now, I wish I could have told myself during those first 6-8 months how silly I was being, and that I was doing us both a disservice by hindering the time he needed for personal growth.

I'm definitely not an introvert, but occasionally I need time to myself. I just got back from Youth Clubs, and I am looking forward to curling up in bed with my hot water bottle (since James usually warms my ice cold feet) falling asleep to an episode of Grey's Anatomy, (since my Project Runway episode will be downloading while I sleep. yay!) getting up tomorrow and doing a whole bunch of stuff, all by myself. It's going to be great.

I'll enjoy my day, James will enjoy his, and I'll be stoked to have him home again tomorrow night.

Tumble Dryer!

No more clothes hanging all over the house, no more jeans that never regain their shape, no more socks that fall off when I'm running from being stretched out, no more having to plan 6 days ahead a time to account for drying time. We are the proud owners of a tumble dryer (known in America as simply a dryer).

We found it on Ebay and picked it up in Inverness, an hours drive from Dornoch. The dryer is less than a year old, looks brand new, and was a fifth of the price it would cost new.

All those "no more's" aren't real problems, just aspects of our life in Dornoch that aren't there anymore!

It is funny where it's set up. The only place it fits is in the
spare bedroom/office/storage room/bike rack (aka the slash room. bring back memories from living at 2119 old roommates?). And there's not an external vent, so we have to stick the tubing out the window when the dryer is running. Should make for some interesting cold days!

Project Runway Fantasy League

I'm so excited about being in this league. The Catrows started it (I'm not sure which half came up with the idea) and it's fabulous that I can be involved, even though I'm in a different country than all the other participants. I've never participated in a Fantasy League and have always been slightly confused by them, so I'm slowly learning how this thing works.

I'll have to download the episodes of Project Runway on iTunes since we never get the first-run of any American TV shows, they're always shown a year later. We've heard you can get Sky TV and watch American shows right away, but I think it's pretty expensive.

Honestly, I don't really care if I win*, I'm just excited to be a part of this process with friends from home; it helps me feel connected!

*Well, that's not really true. I just found out I already have 3 points since my draft pick cries in the first episode (crying is an extra credit category that allows for points). I'm stoked!

VISITORS!!!

I found out yesterday my parents are coming to visit us! I'm super excited. It was going to be a surprise, my husband was in on it, but my mom couldn't stand to keep it a secret.

They'll be here right after Christmas for a week. Just knowing they'll be here helps to stave off feelings like these these.

So many times I've thought about wanting to share certain experiences or aspects of our lives here with people from home, and now we'll get to!

homesickness

Last week I had a bit of a breakdown. I was getting ready to go to sleep and suddenly, out of nowhere, I was overwhelmed with feelings of homesickness. It was like I got hit with a 10 foot wave, and was in that place where you're trying to find your way to the surface, but you've been tumbled about so much, you don't know which way is up.

The tears flowed for about an hour, and then I fell asleep. Thankfully, I have an amazing husband who comforted me through the ordeal.

These feelings of homesickness are new for me, I've never experienced anything like it, I guess since I've never been away from home this long (college doesn't really count since it was a 45 minute drive to my house). I'm not regretting this move at all, just missing everyone and everything that is close to my heart.

When we were getting ready to leave Richmond and had to say a bajillion difficult good-byes, I continued to remind myself that if we didn't have these wonderful, close relationships, these good-byes would be easy. If the goodbyes were easy, life would be a lot more difficult than leaving Richmond was.

Now I'm reminding myself that God is working through this sadness, showing me how His perfect love will carry me through.

One day we'll be leaving Dornoch, and the elation of seeing our friends and family again will be combined with the sadness of leaving our new friends and home here. Until then, I'm sure the waves of homesickness will come and go many times...just more chances for me to gain appreciation for all those people I'm missing.

Caffeine Free Me

I quit caffeine 10 days ago.

I've been addicted to caffeine for quite some time. College was the main culprit in cultivating my dependence on it. It got really bad for a while when I switched to espresso. I was up to about 10 shots of espresso a day when I realized it was getting a little ridiculous and needed to switch back to regular coffee. Along with that switch came some debilitating headaches.

Starbucks got a lot of my money for a few years until I realized how silly it was to constantly spend that much on something that was gone in thirty minutes.

Diet Coke was added to my caffeine repertoire after college when I noticed that calories didn't melt off like they used to.

Recently, my habit included one or two cups of coffee in the morning, and rarely some diet coke or another cup of coffee sometime before noon (any caffeine after noon, and I'd be up all night). I didn't drink a lot of it, but often enough that I was really addicted. I realized that looking forward to that morning cup of coffee to jump start the day, while falling asleep the night before, is not a good thing.

I began tapering down about a week before the final switchover date. Instant coffee is the type most commonly used here so I was able to alter the ratio easily. The exhaustion has been the most difficult withdrawal symptom. Every evening I would get so incredibly tired. It was way worse than any jet lag I've ever had, but probably not quite as bad as the tired you get when you're really sick with the flu or something. I'm still getting tired, but as bad as the first week.

I also realized it was more than just a physical addiction for me, it's been a challenge mentally as well. I honestly felt sad making my first few decaf coffees, or when I would choose Caffeine Free Diet Coke rather than just Diet Coke. I'm a little ashamed to admit that, but there it is.

This is the best instant coffee on the market. Thankfully, they make a pretty good decaf version. Unfortunately, I bought the huge caffeinated version right before I decided to quit. I've also found another hot drink that I really like to replace the caffeinated ones with: Twinings Fruit Tea. Yum.

Here's to a healthier me.

Hurricane?

That's what we'd be in the middle of if we lived in America.

We've had some windy weather lately, today has been the worst of it, with gusts up to 81 mph and sideways rain at times. But it's definitely not categorized as a hurricane, and really not too much more than bad weather according to locals. The temperature has been around 3 degrees Celsius which is about 37 degrees Fahrenheit.

The schools have lost power and were closed early, and sometimes they close bridges when the wind is too bad, but they haven't today.

One of the most amazing aspects of this kind of weather, is getting to see rainbows ALL THE TIME. Today, we saw a full arch rainbow, all of Roy G. Biv was very clear. It was over the Dornoch Firth. We even saw part of another rainbow above the full one. But, no camera in the car, so I can't show you a picture.

*Weather Update: It's a few hours after I originally posted, about 5 degrees colder, and there's a wintry mix of rain AND snow. Funny, last I checked it was till Autumn.

Gender Differences

These are some photos from the Youth Fellowship group we have at our house Sunday evenings.

Do you see James' feet, at the bottom of the pile?


And the girls: wondering why people say we're the silly ones.

Guy Fawkes Day

Yesterday we joined thousands of Scots in Inverness to celebrate Guy Fawkes day. In short, a guy tried to blow up British Parliment in the 1600's, he and some of his accomplices were caught and killed, (Fawkes jumped from the gallows and broke his neck before they could hang him)and his foiled attempt is still celebrated with tons of fanfare. Kathleen, a girl doing work similar to ours in Nairn, Scotland, showed us around Inverness. We froze together, and enjoyed the rediculously huge bonfire. After the bonfire had burned down a bit, they had a pretty impressive fireworks display.

Can you see the mannequins? Yup, they were burned.

Kathleen's from Memphis. She's been here for 18 months and is leaving next year sometime.

It's hard to see, but an amazingly huge fire.

Self-taken photos, my favorite.

A New Wall Hanging

James found a treat for us on Ebay the other day: the Virginia State Flag! Since it was being sold by someone in London, we were sure there wouldn't be any competition for it. The funny thing is, it's not the official flag. Up close it looks like a child tried to replicate it; it's hard to tell from this picture. But, it's a nice reminder of home!

Hot Water in a Jiffy

Everyone here (and all over Europe, as far as I know) uses electric kettles. I think it's a necessity since they drink coffee and tea CONSTANTLY and need hot water at a moments notice. Really, they're amazing. I can boil water for coffee in less than two minutes. Why do I have to boil water for coffee you ask? Because typically, everyone uses instant coffee. Yeah, instant. If it's not instant, they use a cafetiere, aka French press. Never have I ever seen anyone use or even own a "regular" coffee maker.

I use it to cook with: boil the water super fast in the kettle and then pour it into the pot to cook vegetables or whatever. It's awesome. And, I almost forgot, I use it to boil water to put in my hot water bottle when it's really cold and my feet are like ice!

America needs electric kettles!

First Scottish Halloween

Trick-or-treating is called Guising in Scotland, from the word disguise. Wednesday morning we led two assemblies in the Primary school (ages 5-11) and invited them all to do some guising at our house. It was so exciting when our horrible sounding buzzer of a doorbell wouldn't stop ringing. They all had jokes to tell us. We didn't think anything of it until we learned tonight that the tradition is, you have to do something (tell a joke, sing a song, recite a poem) to deserve some candy. Not for us Americans! We'll give you handfuls for just standing there!

Here are some of our visitors:

These girls came back three times; the skeleton kept giving us treats from her bag.

Don't let the masks fool you, these are all girls.

These are the "this cape I found is my costume" boys

This little guy's mom said he was begging her to bring him to our house. So cute.

Uh-oh, somebody's losing their pants.

The boy on the right is a riot.

Between the two of them, they put away about 25 snickerdoodles.

The pumpkin on the right was wandering around, not able to see a thing. Her big brother (batman) was doing his best to watch out for her; it was so cute.

I know they look like regular kids in costumes, but to us they're our new friends, and they're very special.

Allow me to introduce you to...

Stuart and Shirley

Aren't they so precious? They've been one of the biggest factors in us feeling welcome and at home in Dornoch.

Shirley grew up in Embo, the old fishing village two miles north of Dornoch, population 300. She lived most of her adult life in Essex, England with her husband Stuart who worked as lawyer. Seventeen months ago, they made their final move here, after vacationing for years in Dornoch.

They are every bit as sweet and kind and generous as you could imagine. They had us over for dinner soon after we arrived, fed us haggis, and it was actually pretty good! We're no longer surprised when Stuart pays us a surprise visit with some goodies in hand. Once it was Cadbury drinking chocolate (like hot chocolate, but better), or a meat pie from the local butcher, another time it was some tasty chocolate cookies and orange juice. This weekend Shirley let me know she had some homemade chili for us. When unpacking the bag, I found she had also stocked our fridge with fresh fruit, a big bag of rice for the chili, a huge pack of cookies, and even some salmon! One of the times we were having tea with them, I mentioned I liked her fruit flavored tea and she sent me home with an entire box.
They really take good care of us!

Even though they're retired, their days are always full. One of their weekly committments is running a Road to Recovery meeting in Dornoch for recovering addicts. We love them and are so excited to spend the next two years getting to know them even more!

Weekend in Review

Friday
-Up around 7:45
-Drove to schools, dropped of fliers for Youth Clubs to be handed out to all 450 students in the Dornoch school system
-Drove home
-Realized we didn't leave enough fliers, drove back to school to drop off more fliers
-James met Angus and Chris for coffee
-I ate breakfast, had coffee, read the Sunday School lesson
-Talked to a Scottish lady on the phone for a long time about the youth fellowship group she's starting on Sunday, answered all her questions, shared about what we do
-James returned; we drove to Angus' house
-Drove with James and Angus to Morrison's, bought all the food and drinks for youth club, and did some personal grocery shopping.
-Ate lunch at Morrison's, had a sandwich, it was tasty
-Got gas. $90 to fill up the tank on this tiny car.
-Drove back the scenic way
-Dropped Angus off at his house
-Went home, unpacked our groceries
-Got ready for Youth Clubs.
-Neighbor dropped off fliers for an Australian Creationist speaking in Dornoch next week
-Left for Youth Club, see here for schedule of the night.
-Home, ate late dinner, we were really hungry
-Relaxed
-To bed.

Saturday
-Up around 8
-Realized we were both really tired
-Read, studied
-Organized our receipts, scanned them, sent in an expense report to be reimbursed from our financial support account. (thank you supporters, we thank God for your generosity every day!)
-Cleaned parts of the house
-Got a visit from our friend Stuart, he brought us a meat pie made at the local butcher shop
-Went for a bike ride
-Made a bunch of phone calls to family in the states
-Ate dinner: the fantastically delicious meat pie
-Watched Grey's Anatomy on iTunes
-Changed the clocks back one hour
-To bed

Sunday
-Up around 8
-Breakfast, coffee, read
-Got dressed to run
-Drove to parking lot where some ladies meet to go on a weekly group run.
-Almost gave up when no one was there, drove around for a minute, saw some ladies arrive
-Met 4 ladies, ran with them for about an hour
-Raced home to shower and get ready for church
-Left for church
-In worship until kids left for Sunday School, left with them to teach Sunday School
-Post-worship conversations
-Made plans for some kids to come by later, we'd walk to the beach to fly kites, if they could
-Drove home
-Ate pancakes and bacon for lunch. (Scottish bacon is different from American bacon, we miss our bacon)
-Relaxed on the couch
-Read and planned for Youth Fellowship
-Baked some cookies, they were a part of the lesson
-Kids didn't come, sorta glad, I just wanted to relax.
-Straightened up
-It was cloudy, which made it dark by 4:45
-Left for evening church service
-Chatted after the service, was given a wonderful gift of tons more food from our friends Stuart and Shirley!
-left in a hurry to get home for Youth Fellowship
-Youth Fellowship: hung out, pizza, cookies, lesson, games, hung out some more. good times
-Talked to my Mom, Aunt Su-Su, Grandmother Nanny, and two Cousins Charis and Madison via video Skype. gave them a tour of our house via computer camera.
-James watched some of the NY, Miami NFL game that was played in London
-Cleaned up the kitchen
-To bed.

YC Details

The first Youth Club for the school year was last night. We had a blast. This is the schedule:

6:30 first age group arrives: grades P1-P6, ages 5-10
-register them (write down their names and phone #'s, collect their entrance fee: 50 pents
-played games with the kids. all kinds of board games, arts and crafts, foosball, air hockey, limbo, etc.
-tuck shop was opened: (it's what Scotts call a snack shop) they can buy crips and juice
-tidy up time
-talk time: the kids sit down and Angus talked about what and why we do Youth Clubs. sang a song, had the kids come up with the rules they'd like to have
7:45 time to leave

15 minutes to change over games for older group

8:00 older group arrives: grades P7-S6, ages 11+
-register them, collect their entrance fee
-had them sit down and reviewed rules, talked about and what Youth Clubs are and why we do them.
-played games with kids: board games, table tennis, pool, air hockey, foosball, etc.
-tuck shop open: crisps, candy bars, sodas
-older group over at 9:30
-cleaned up, put games away, went home

We met a bunch of kids who live in our neighborhood and can't wait to see some of our new friends around town!

James' Artwork

James made this flier that was passed out to all the kids Friday morning at their schools. Very nice, don't you think?

Bring on the Sun

I LOVE getting mail from home. I can't explain how exciting it is to see the red postal truck stop in front of our house (the truck means a package is coming), or see a letter that has come through the door mail slot with an air mail sticker on it (the letters come via bicycle).

As exciting as it is, I cringe when I look at the price of the postage, SO EXPENSIVE! I feel guilty that people have to spend that much money to send us a treat. But then I start opening the box or envelope and my excitement comes flooding back again.

The other day I received a much anticipated package from my parents. They were extremely generous in purchasing a Happy Light for our house. The time change is this weekend and daylight will steadily decrease to 6 hours a day. The excessive cloud cover in Scotland will probably prohibit the sun from shining during many of those hours. So there will be a shortage of sunshine, a decrease of Vitamin D absorption, and an increase of possible health issues. And I read here that "In the UK, the suns rays are too weak for a good half of the year to allow absorption adequate enough to aid in the body's production of vitamin D."

Have you ever wondered why you felt kinda blah, and then realized it might be because there have been a few dreary days in a row without the sun? I think Scottish people spend most of their winters like that.

We've heard lots of stories of people who suffer from depression in Scotland. I think these lights need to be sold in every corner store, then disorders like SAD might not be quite as prevalent!

We're using our light everyday. Yay for sunshine, even if it's fake!
Thanks Mom & Dad!

What does your dryer look like?

This is ours:


Did you catch the sock tree hanging from the curtain rod? Oh, and please ignore the horrid curtains that came with the house, I haven't gotten around to taking them down.

I was inspired to share this with you after seeing our friends' dryer. They've just moved to Mexico City from Texas, and are missing some of the same things we are. And it reminds me of the site that Val pointed out.

Reality Sets In Slowly

We attended a funeral yesterday. It was for a member of the church who was in her 80's and suffered from MS. She was a twin. As you can imagine it's a heart wrenching time for her sister; they had lived together their entire lives.

There's something like a funeral (or a birth for that matter) that makes reality a little more real. Attending this funeral brought home a bit more, the reality of our move to Scotland.

It sounds like she had a full, challenging, and joyful life, and is now having an even more amazing eternity.

A First

On my jog today I wore...SHORTS! And I was only slightly chilly in the beginning. It was wonderful.

Scottish Vocabulary

I'm sure there will be many more additions to this list as time goes by and we learn more words.

Rubbish: trash, also used as an adjective, "the weather today is rubbish."

Bin: trash can

Boot: trunk of a car

Lorry: large commercial truck; like a tractor trailer, but smaller

Crisps: potato chips

Chips: french fries

Trolley: shopping cart

Mobile: cell phone

Keen: same definition as what we know, but it's used all the time. "He's very keen on going to the football game."

Football: actually means soccer

Pants: girls underwear

Trousers: the proper word for the things you put on your legs

Chancer: a slang word said about someone who's being sneaky, conniving, rude, etc.

Make Tracks: used often when someone is saying they need to leave, "I'm going to have to make tracks now, it's getting late."

Car Park: parking lot.

Small Town=Fantastic Opportunities

I'm a city girl at heart. While Richmond is a relatively small city, it was a bit unnerving, wondering how I would feel going from that, to living in Dornoch, Scotland. It is a town with a population of less than 2,500, way smaller than my Church Hill neighborhood.

We've committed to spending two years in Dornoch. I've found that I feel a huge responsibility to be as successful as possible during that time. It's a constant struggle of mine: remembering that I don't have ultimate control of what happens, that it's totally up to God's planning. Regardless, I feel an urge to know, and have an affect on, a huge amount of people. (I remember having the same desire when I first got to college. But that was purely for social reasons; now I have a greater desire for the people I meet.)

I've realized the size of this town is a wonderful benefit, and it's one thing that will keep me from getting too overwhelmed. I can be sure that every time I go to the "downtown" area (which is about three block's in size) I'll see someone I know or at least recognize.

Here's an example of one of those trips:
I jogged down to the main area of town on Friday, stopped at the ATM, and got in line behind a neighbor I had just met yesterday when I dropped off a carrot cake for him. Leaving the ATM, I put the cash in the wrong pocket of my jacket, it fell to the ground without me realizing it. A kind man behind me let me know, and while I was expressing my gratitude, the neighbor man drove by in his car and offered me a ride home. I declined since I was jogging (and because, even though there's virtually no crime in Dornoch, he was essentially a stranger and you never know). Then I turned around and was greeted by our friend Stuart. Stuart and Shirley are a retired couple who have been incredibly welcoming to us since we've arrived. We chatted while walking toward his car, and as I jogged off to my house, I saw another neighbor I had just met two hours before when I took him some chocolate chip cookies. He and two of his friends were dressed in their traditional Scottish kilts, headed to a wedding at the Cathedral.

I go into the shops in Dornoch all the time, most of the time it's because I actually need to get something, from the market or the hardware store. But sometimes it's just because I want to see the people, and I know I'll see at least one employee I've met before.

Our work here is mainly relational: we meet, spend time with, and get to know people. It's wonderful to be able to see, and become friends with, these people during our regular life activities. It doesn't get much realer than that.

Just Call me Paula Deen

Well, not exactly, because I can't cook like her, would NEVER want to be a chef, and couldn't use the amount of butter she does in good conscience.

But I have been baking enough this week that I wished I at least had my own cooking show so I could talk out loud and not feel crazy for doing it.

The school's two week October holiday ends this weekend, and so we've had some time on our hands since many of the families travel. I decided it was the best time to try and meet lots more people. Knocking on people's doors just to say hi would be somewhat strange in America, but it would be lunacy here.

So, I had to be sneaky. I'd use the guise of yummy baked goods to get my unsuspecting neighbors to open their doors, make them meet me, and let them think all I wanted was to give them a carrot cake or some chocolate chip cookies. hehehe. They all fell for it.

My one mistake was giving them the goodies in disposable tins. If I had used my real plates, they'd have to come to MY house to return them. Ah well, I'm just beginning to learn all the rules of making friends in Scotland.

Our New Favorite Drinks

We were introduced to these treasures when we visited a couple of years ago, and were sure to stock up on our first Tesco run. They're concentrated juices. Sounds simple, but they are YUM.MEE. They're really popular around here.

My recipe is 1 part juice to about 10 parts water. James gets a little bit crazier and goes for a ratio of around 1:7. And no added sugar, can't beat that! Well, they do have aspartame, which isn't the best, but you can't have everything.

Excess vs. Minimalism

Not only does the UK have smaller things, it has less. We were hitting up all the home improvement hardware stores for a few items and ended up not finding anything we were looking for. First it was B&Q, then Wickes, then Homebase.

B&Q looked a lot like Home Depot when we walked in, but of course, smaller and extremely quiet. None of the usual noise you'd find in one of those stores in the States. It turned out to have a lot more decorative items rather than hardware stuff. Wickes was a little more like Lowes with some lumber, but even smaller than B&Q. Homebase was more like a mix between Garden Ridge & Sears, minus the clothes.

Even yesterday's grocery shopping at Tesco, the king of UK grocery stores, left me needing a bunch more things that were on my list.

I enjoy having a minimal amount of stuff, with a few extra things for fun and entertainment. But I like to be able to go into a store being sure that I'll leave with the item I was looking for. That's an aspect of America I miss.*

*Please be assured, these are not complaints, living here is an awesome experience that I'm so grateful for. It's just that it's very easy to compare and contrast what I'm familiar with to what I'm becoming accustomed to. Thanks for reading!

Put an End to Personal Body Odor Problems for Good

Yes my first blog post will be about Brian J. Conant, President of Flat-D Innovations, Inc. and Inventor of “The Flatulence Deodorizer” (U.S. Patent-6,313,371) .

My wife found this, all credit is due to her, and her internet search powers.
My response "It's who I am, I was born this way."


James

Weather changes

This was taken around 11:00 on a Sunday. Oh the glorious blue sky, barely a cloud in sight.

This was taken at the same place about 3 hours later. Nothing but clouds.


Here are some more images that show how drastic the changes in weather can be.

Looking to the South


Looking to the East


Looking to the North


These are photos taken a block from our house, first you see the The Royal Dornoch Golf Course bordered by the Dornoch Firth. which flows into the North Sea. There is a bunch of cloudiness, wind, and rain, but when the weather is nice, it's incredible.
And we get to see tons of rainbows like this one!

UK=small, America =BIG

Things in America are regular size, right? I've lived there my entire life, so I wouldn't know any different. The UK does everything on a smaller scale. Or, are things normal here in Scotland, and super-sized in The States?

All I know is it's hard to get used to things being smaller. I still look twice when I see a person's kitchen trashcan that's smaller than most bathroom trashcans I'm used to. All appliances are smaller too. You won't find washing machines like this here.

Our house came with a "normal" size fridge. We tried to live with it, but feeding lots of high school kids means having tons of ready to be cooked frozen food around. This fridge just wouldn't cut it (do you see the white rectangle along the top? that's the freezer).

So we purchased a "large" fridge freezer combo, as they call them here. That's right, livin' the posh life.

And here it sits, in our foyer closet, that's the only place it will fit.

I'm all for free range products...

but this is a little ridiculous. This is what I was greeted by when I opened my first dozen of eggs bought here in Scotland. I removed all the other eggs and let this one sit in the container for a few days; partially because I thought it might be the start of a new baby chick for the Murphy household. Apparently people enjoy seeing things like this because it proves to them just how fresh the egg is. I've been told I might also find feathers in a whole raw chicken.

the new ride

Here's where I told you all about our new car, and now I can show you a picture! It's a Renault Clio. Are you able to notice what side the steering wheel is on? I still go to the wrong side of the car when getting in!

We actually work too. Really.

It might not seem like it from reading this blog, but since we've moved to Scotland for this two year stint, we actually have begun the work we came here to do.

The church we are working with is called the Dornoch Free Church. Free Church refers to the denomination, you can read about it's history here and here. And you can check out their website if you'd like more details. Our main focus is youth work, and there are other areas we will be involved with as well.

A couple of weeks ago we sat down with the DFC pastor, Angus, and outlined what the main areas of our ministry will be.

These items are currently in place:

-Youth Fellowship (YF): Sunday evenings from 7-9 at our house, mostly kids from the church who hope to make it a group that is welcoming to other kids in the community; includes planning monthly events with them, weekend trips, outings, etc.

-Youth Clubs: Event started by the church 2 years ago; meets every Friday during the school year; 6:45-7:45 for ages 5-10, 8:00-9:30 for ages 11+; Games, snack, place to hang out, short message; in the past they've averaged about 70-80 kids a Friday; Youth Club starts up again after the October school holiday on Oct. 26th.

-Scripture Union: lunchtime Bible Study for students who choose to come; Held weekly in schools, one in upper school (ages 11-18) and one in lower school (ages 5-10)

-Assemblies: Also held in each school and weekly; 20 minute assembly for varying ages; pastors, youth workers in the community are invited to speak on a theme that the students are studying; freedom in what we can say, unlike public schools in the States.

--James is involved in an existing adult men's outreach group that meets twice a month. One week is a speaker, the other week is a games night.

--Afternoon Tea: monthly; held in church hall; community-wide tea and desserts for elderly and retired people; also includes a talk on something or some sort of entertainment (singing, guitar playing, etc.)

These are some of the ideas/hopes/dreams we have:

-Begin a Young Adult Fellowship group: hopefully to be held in our home for ages 18-late 20's; possibly twice monthly

-I plan on working with ladies in the church to begin a group to meet monthly; time for ladies to get together, have some tea and dessert and get to know each other; would like for ladies to invite neighbors and friends from work so a network can evolve from many areas of the community

-Look into having a branch of a pregnancy resource center (located in Inverness an hour away) in Dornoch; a phone hot line, local volunteers, a resource for women to have use of or buy discounted/donated baby supplies.

-Work with church to compile a welcome packet for new members of the community (a 200 home development is in the works in Dornoch) outlining various services they offer.

Our unofficial title is "congregational support worker." It changed from "youth worker" since we're here to help out in any way we can, primarily focused on kids, but available for tons of other areas.

Here's some proof that we hang out with kids. These are the pastor's three kids, we took a walk on the beach after we had dinner with them at our house. James was teaching them how to play American football. Then one of the kids threw the ball when he wasn't looking and gave him a swollen, slightly blackened eye.


And here's me trying to injure myself.

Hiking Fun

We went for a short hike one day and had an adventure. On one side of the mountain it was windy, cold, and rainy; I was wishing for a hat and scarf.


The other side was beautiful and sunny, I ended up shedding a couple of layers.


On the way down, we couldn't find the path. We walked/slid down.


Good times.

Exactly how much does it rain in Scotland?

So much so, that my recycling bin comes with a shower cap!

(Are you able to read how they spell curb on the bin? "Kerbside")

Murphy Family Photo

Well, 5/8ths of it anyway. Thanks to my mom, I can share another farewell photo from the airport with you!

an unexpected surprise

A few days after we arrived, a bouquet of flowers was delivered to us from a family in the church. It was a touching reminder that we are supported and loved by the people of the Dornoch Free Church. The family who sent them (James & Coral, and their teenage kids Elisha & John) are one of the families who have played a huge part in helping us feel welcome and assuring us that we have friends here! What a blessing!

First things first...

Continuing with catching you up via pictures...after Angus picked us up from the airport in Edinburgh, he had to make a couple of stops. We were in a daze and would have agreed to just about anything at that point. But it was quite a treat to be able to go to Ikea! Here is the most important purchase we made there, according to James


And wouldn't you know it, Wal-Mart has infiltrated the UK

The inside is very different from it's US counterpart, not nearly the same 'superstore' feel I'm used to.

Our Richmond Send-Off, and Scotland Welcome

Now that we have internet, I can share some photos with you! But, I have some catching up to do, so we'll have to start with the day we left, three weeks ago today.

I think I've stepped into some alternate universe where time passes at a slower rate, and feels 50 bajillion times longer than usual. It's hard to believe we've only been here three weeks. It feels like at least 3 months. But each week passes a little bit faster, so I think time will get back to normal soon.

Here are some of the people that came to bid us farewell at the airport, it was a great time.


This is my parents, my nephew, my dad's dad and his lovely wife Rose. I'm sad we didn't get a Murphy family photo!

I have very fond memories of that day. It could have been a disaster, but all was well. I remember being in line at the security checkpoint and looking back every chance I got to wave to my family and make sure I could get one last look, again and again.

And here's the first photo I took in Scotland. It's hard to tell exactly what it is, but that's James on the left and the window in the background says "Welcome To Scotland." I would've tried for a better shot, but we were more concerned with gathering our luggage and leaving the airport.

I'm so spoiled

Three weeks without home internet access and we were pulling out hair out. Seriously, I have some priority issues. But the problem has been averted...we have internet!!!

Lunch at Luigi's

I enjoyed bacon, avacado, and brie on ciabatta bread for lunch today at a local restaurant in Dornoch today. For desert I savored a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. It was a fairly warm (about 65 degrees) sunny day, so I could justify the ice cream.

One of the employees is from New Jersey. It's so fun to be in Scotland and talk to a man with a New Jersey accent. He moved here 10 years ago and helped open the place with his girlfriend who is from here. Chris says he visited Dornoch and fell in love with the place. He hears people marvel at his story all the time, but he doesn't think it's such a huge deal. He just says he did what everyone else wants to do.

Then we biked down to one of the markets in town. It's farily small. To give you an idea, it's about a third of the size of Joe's Market on Libby Ave. in Richmond. I met and chatted with Archie for a few minutes. He's the butcher and I got to see him cutting up a huge piece of pork into pork chops. It was pretty interesting.

Just a couple of the people we've met since we've been here. We're adjusting to small town life better than we thought we would!

A New Car!

We recently returned from a trip to Inverness (45 minutes south) with Angus to speak with a friend who is high up in a car dealership about us possibly acquiring a car. So far our bikes have worked well for transport around Dornoch; but it will continue to grow colder, and there are times we need to drive to farther away places.

We've considered various transportation options (buying, leasing, renting, public transportation, which is very limited in Dornoch) which all turned out to be very expensive. Insurance has been another barrier. With our Va licenses, we are allowed to drive for one year, after that we are expected to pass a UK driving test, which we've heard is extremely difficult. But without that, insurance could end up being very costly, making the idea of getting a car way more expensive than our budget allows.

So we went to today's meetings with high hopes, since it was pretty much our last option. Scott is an elder in another Free Church of Scotland and has been very generous to other Mission to the World workers like ourselves. He offered us a deal that made our jaws drop. We would use a brand new car, pay a monthly fee, insurance included, and trade it in every four months for another new car (so they could sell the car as "slightly used"). The fee for the monthly car rental and insurance is so low, we could never expect to even rent a car for a week at that price.

Seriously, we are shocked. But, as Scott said, we shouldn't be surprised at the blessings God provides!

A Glorious Day

I just walked into our friend's home from lying out front on their steps. I was soaking in the sunshine, breathing it deeply, trying to store it up for days when it won't be so fabulous.

The sun is bright, the sky is more blue than cloudy, (the most blue sky I've seen in two weeks!) and it's actually warm while in the sun and shielded from the wind.

I'm loving it.

Animal Woes

I really miss our animal's. Owen (dog) and Naomi (cat) were adopted by my parents and aunt & uncle, respectively.

We tried really hard to bring them with us, but it just didn't work out for various reasons. I'd link to other blog posts describing it in detail, but I still can't figure out how to do that on these UK keyboards.

I know they are in great homes and are well taken care of, which is a HUGE relief. It really cuts down on my level of worry. And we are so extrememly grateful for the sacrifices they have made by adopting them. But I still miss them both very much. And it's sad to think that they are seperated, since they basically grew up together from the time they were about 4 months old.

Most mornings when I wake up, still in the half asleep mode, my first thought is, "I need to go let Owen out." Then I wake up completely and am saddened once again. I'll even walk in our front door sometimes expecting to be greeted with meow's and a wagging tail.

But, we had to make sacrifices to move here, and they were all worth it since we know this is where we're supposed to be. In the grand scheme of things, it really isn't that bad of a thing, just difficult at the moment.

Why the constant state of tiredness?

Jet lag is behind us. They say it takes the same number of days to recover as there are difference in hours. That would be 5 hours difference between Richmond and Dornoch. We're coming up on day #14 in Scotland.

So why are we still tired?

We don't have any trouble falling asleep, and that's pretty remarkable for me, it usually takes me at least half an hour. Not lately. But we wake up so exhausted, not wanting to get out of bed. The bed is pretty comfortable, and even though they don't like to use heat here at night, we stay pretty warm. I don't think it's exhaustion from uncomfortable or cold sleeping conditions.

I have a couple of theories, and so do some Scottish friends of ours.

We're on a totally different schedule. I'm used to working the hours of a regular day job, having a defined schedule that doesn't change too much. Now, we start the day at different times everyday, have varying things to do at different times each day, and have full days or full nights depending on the day. I think this may have something to do with the chronic fatigue (it's not quite that bad, but it's the easiest way to describe it).

Theory number two is, it's much colder here. You know how much you want to pull the covers over your head and hit snooze for an hour when suddenly it's 30 degrees colder outside? That's our life.

Now, some friends here have other ideas. They say it's the air. We've had two people tell us, independently of each other, that the air is so different that it takes a while to get used to it. One person said it's so much cleaner, your lungs don't have to work as hard, so you get tired quicker. mmmmhh, not so sure about that one. Another person said it's just the air of the Highlands in Scotland; to go to the western coast of the country, would make you even sleepier. Could it be the change in latitude (about the same as Juneau, Alaska)?

Another man says that when he moved up here from London years ago, it took him 6 months before he could wake up feeling rested. 6 months?!?

Whatever it is, I hope it hurries up and goes away, I'm tired of being tired!

Mad Gab

Have you ever played this game? It's so much fun. I'd give you a link to the game, but I can't figure out how to do it on this UK keyboard; there are some differences and it's not working for me. You're on your own to look it up. Anyway, things are written a certain way: "Amen Ask Hurt". Your teammate will try to say it outloud until you can figure out that they're actually saying "a mini skirt."

We played it last night at Youth Fellowship with the kids, and didn't realize there would be certain phrases that would mean nothing to Scottish people. Turns out, about a third of the cards are useless here! Just one of the many interesting differences we've noticed.

Yay for bikes!

Our bikes have arrived! We're soooo excited. And the customs tax that was originally going to be almost $400 was dropped, seriously that is so amazing. Who knows why that happened, we don't really care why, we're just glad it happened!

Another amazing thing that happened was our Visa's were approved for two years. Everything you read says only one year at a time, anything more than that, you have to reapply. Doing that would cost around $2,000 which we don't have budgeted. It's incredible the way God works everything out.

The weather is definitely colder than what we're used to. When people here ask us about the climate in Virginia, they almost pass out at the mention of 80F being comfortable, that's a heat wave to them! It's been in the 50's-60's, windy and rainy. But there is a trade-off for the not so great weather. When it's nice, it's absolutely brilliant (to use a common Scottish descriptive.).

We're on our way to getting internet in our house, which will lead to lots of pictures for you to see, a tour of our house, and way more blog posts! I can't wait to share lots more stuff with you. We've signed up, and they say it won't be more than 15 days until it's connected. The countdown is on!

quck post

It's incredible how much we've come to rely on the internet for so many things! Hopefully we will have a local phone by tomorrow, and then we can set up our internet access at our house. I'm typing furiously from the library since I have three minutes until my session ends. Other things such as setting up a checking account, getting cell phones, deciding what to do about a car, are slowly coming together.

The people have been so amazing. We've felt so welcomed and loved already. I know there will be many times (and have been already) when I ache to be with my friends and family in the states, but having people here who are so awesome helps me know that those times won't be completely unbearable.

We've had our first Youth Fellowship meeting with kids grades 7-12, it was so much fun, they're really interested in doing tons of events, which we're stoked about!

I can't wait to share lots of pictures with you as soon as I can.

Post #1 from Dornoch, Scotland

Here we are, it's still very surreal. It's slowly sinking in that we are now living in Scotland. In 3-4 weeks when we're still here and not packing up to go home, it will become even more real!

We had a wonderfully uneventful trip. No crazy stories, which is just fine by me. Angus picked us up from the airport in Edinburgh at 9:30 am GMT (4:30 am EST) and we started the 5 hour trip to our new home, Dornoch.

Our first stop along the way...Ikea. Second stop...Asda, a super grocery store owned by Wal-Mart. As you can tell we're having a very familiar experience so far.

And I know you're all waiting to hear the results of my previous post concerning the on-going debate James and I have had about our trunks and whether or not they would fit. Down-sizing to 6 was a great idea, they and the two duffels, and two back-packs all fit in the van. And, much to James' joy, we probably could have fit two more in...James won.

Hope you're all having a great day, we're going to sleep!

Do you think James will fit on the plane?

I definitely think he will have to duck. It's a small one, but the flight's only an hour, so he'll only have to fold himself up like a pretzel for a little bit.

We're sitting at the gate in Richmond, waiting for the go-ahead to board. There's a little bit of a wait. We definitely don't mind having to sit for a while, it's been a few years since we've had the chance to sit and do absolutely nothing for this long.

After the quick jaunt to Newark, NJ, we'll head off to Edinburgh around 10:00 pm to arrive at 10:00 am Thursday Scotland time (5:00 am your time).

Hard to believe we're finally traveling after nearly two years of prep: we're super excited!

Check-in was rediculously easy. No waiting, and we didn't hold anybody else up in line. We downsized our trunk number from 8 to 6, two duffel bags, and two bookbags...so there might be a chance we can fit all our stuff in Angus' car when he picks us up on the other side of the Atlantic!


We had a fun send-off at the airport, thanks so much to everyone who came to see us off. And as I requested, there were no tears! Thanks for holding back, it has made the rest of the day much easier for me. It was a fun party.

The Visa's Have Arrived!

Monday morning I got a call from FedEx asking for directions to the delivery address for our package. What?!?
Since when does FedEx call the recipient of a piece of mail for directions?

You can imagine I wasn't too surprised when by 5:00pm, no package had arrived at my parents house even though a 10:30am arrival was guaranteed.
We were pretty stressed. The FedEx lady had it confirmed in her computer as delivered. We looked everywhere. No Visa's in sight.

Thankfully, my dad thought to check with the pschizophrenic neighbor. Sure enough, it was delivered to him...and he opened it! I'm not being facetious, he's really pschizophrenic, I won't go into details now, just trust me on this one.

So we have them, and I will never use FedEx if I have a choice in it. I'm a UPS girl from now on.

I'm sitting here trying to come to grasps with the fact that we're moving to Scotland...TOMORROW! It's pretty insane actually. I'm very touched by the expressions of love so many of our friends and family have exhibited. They are what help keep us encouraged and excited! You have all helped us make it to this point in the journey, and I'm sure we will be relying on you even more from this point on!

I've been especially touched by my friend Valerie's most recent words of love here and here. I'm so glad you're in my life Val, you are exactly what a friend should be.

Weekend Wrap-Up

This is the last weekend review I'll do from the States for two years *sniff*

Friday
-Did all sorts of preparation stuff to get ready to go. I couldn't even begin to tell you what we did, but it was a ton of stuff.

Saturday
-More of Friday's events
-Welcomed the Murphy family
-Went to a farewell party thrown for us by our incredibly amazing friends. Had SUCH a wonderful time, didn't cry once because I was having so much fun talking to many friends.

Sunday
-Up early to visit my brother and say goodbye. Cried.
-Off to church at Stony Point
*Said goodbye to the 10th & 11th graders in the Sunday School class we've helped teach for 4 years. Cried.
*Went to worship, got commissioned by Pastor Frank with our parents up in the front of the church. Didn't have to say anything thankfully. Cried.
*Went to lunch for my mom's birthday with a bunch of family. Didn't cry!
*Went to Franklin Street Community. Was honored and touched by the kind things Benjamin Ferrell said about us. James and I spoke for a few minutes about our departure on Wednesday and how our hearts are feeling. Cried. Like a Baby. So much so that I couldn't speak for a few moments.
*Back to Stony Point to speak for a few minutes, Cried. But just a little. Made the congregation laugh. Was glad for the laughter.
*Listened to the report from the team who went on a mission trip to Uganda this summer. Had my heart broken again after seeing the joy on the faces of the children who have unfathomable troubles but love the Lord so much. Realized how silly my troubles are
*Enjoyed a fun dessert reception with Stony Point Family. Cried. A bunch of times.
*Bought some jewelry hand-made by Ugandan ladies.
*Home to do a little laundry, relax for a moment, and go to bed.

An Ongoing Debate: What's Your Opinion?

We are packing up 8 trunks to fly with us to Scotland. The dimensions of the trunks are 31x17x13. We will fly into Edinburgh and Angus, the pastor of the church we will be working with, is kindly picking us up to make the 4.5 hour drive up to Dornoch. If you are familiar with European cars, you'll know they are all VERY SMALL. Last time we were in Scotland, we saw one pick-up truck and were astounded: it looked huge compared to the normal vehicle. We even saw a three wheeled car, and it wasn't abnormal to the locals. Europe is not an SUV and mini-van dominated society.

Seven of our Eight trunks, with Owen for size reference.

The debate: I think that there is no way our 8 trunks will fit in the car Angus will be picking us up in. Even though they have purchased a new larger car since we've been there (we don't know the exact size), I still don't think it will work. James is convinced it will.

I envision us renting a second car, not a huge deal, just easier if we are prepared for it.

Let me know what you think, and stay tuned for the results as soon as we get internet access in Scotland.

My "giant-sized" husband

I'm proud to be married to someone who is described as such. I'm also excited to know that my husband has the reflexes of a cheetah when someone is in trouble. You may not realize this, since he's very relaxed and usually moves at a comfortable pace.

Another exciting development of the day is, if anything ever happens to the Catrow's, we get their unborn children.

Here's an example of how children flock to him because of his giant size and teddy bear demeanor. This is a little girl Georgia, a daughter of some friends of ours who are volunteering their medical skills in Ethiopia for two years. These people are pretty amazing.

more endings

We have a very exciting adventure ahead of us. We're actually in the middle of the adventure right now, it just doesn't seem like it since we're still at home. Sometimes when I stop and think about the fact that we're up and leaving the place and people we adore for two years in Scotland, a place we don't really know for people we sorta know, it seems pretty crazy. It is pretty crazy. But we know for sure that this is what we're supposed to do.

Being assured of a calling, and excited for the adventure, doesn't make it easy to leave.

There was a span of about 4 hours that was pretty insane today.

I left work at 3:00, realizing at 2:50 that today is really my last day, I wouldn't be working on Monday as I had previously planned. I walked out and immediately started crying, but better outside alone rather than inside around hordes of people. Then I got the kindest voicemail from Blair, one of my oldest bestest friends. I voicemailed her back and totally lost control while leaving the message. Who knows if she could make any sense of my blubbering.

Racing home, I met James at the house to get Owen in the car and off to a nice lady's house. This wonderful lady is having a 3 day trial run with Owen and her three dogs to see if it would work out for her to keep Owen while we're in Scotland and then, get this...GIVE HER BACK TO US!!! It would be a dream come true. If you think of it, please say a prayer that Owen will be on her best behavior and not do anything really bad while she's there. If this doesn't work out, well, I don't want to think about that yet because we have no idea what we'll do. So I'm missing Owen terribly right now. It's way too quiet without her.

Before and after the sleepover drop-off, I was making a million phone calls to the Visa people to try and figure out if we had a chance of getting them before our flight leaves on Wednesday (another thing I don't want to think about, because the Visa people have our passports, so if we don't get our Visa's, we don't get our Passports, and we don't fly). Turned out, as usual, that something else was wrong and needed to be changed, info had to be faxed in, our credit card had to be charged again, the mail avenue had to be altered. And of course, my phone died right when it was most important that it didn't. Then followed mad dashing to try and get to a fax machine that works. Fax machines seem so archaic, why can't I just email you?

All this to say I was super emotional. Packing up more stuff, with my mom to help, was a nice mindless way to spend the evening. It's wild being on this roller coaster of emotions. But, the only way I'm able to get through this is by resting in the peace and strength God gives me. I certainly don't have the strength to do it myself.

Seriously though, I have a pretty amazing life. How cool is it that we get to travel to another country, live for two years, and tell other people how much Jesus loves them!

my last day at work...or not

I drove to work fully prepared to hold back the flood of emotion that would inevitably overwhelm me today. I was pleasantly surprised when I only cried twice and was able to pull it together quickly. It was no shocker when I found out both my mom and my mother-in-law had been praying for me all day.

I said my goodbyes to most people, not all since I will be back next Monday to have my teeth cleaned one last time. After everyone was gone, my boss asked me if I would consider coming in tomorrow morning since the schedule was crazy and a few people would be out. It was easy to say yes because a.)I love my job, b.)I still have some things to do to transition other people into doing the things I usually do, and c.)it's hard to say no to his simple request since he's done so much for me over the past two years.

So tomorrow morning I know I'll hear this 25x's: "What are you doing here, I thought yesterday was your last day!?" This whole saying goodbye thing is getting to be anti-climatic.

Weekend in Review

Friday:
-worked late (for a Friday) until 3:00 to get lots of stuff done before my last day
-home to get some stuff done

Saturday:
-Up around 9:30, desperately wanted to sleep later
-Rode with my parents and nephew to a friends house on the Rapidan River for a picnic, fishing, hanging out at the river, fireworks, good conversations, an all around good time

Sunday:
-Sunday School and Worship at Stony Point Church; said goodbye to some folks, shed some tears.
-Home for 3 minutes
-Met my friend Jess at Kitchen 64 for lunch. Was disappointed by the restaurant experience, but had a great time with Jess. If I were a food critic I'd go into detail, but nobody cares about a lay persons opinion.
-Franklin Street at 4:00, lots of great conversations, as usual.
-To my parents for a family farewell party

Monday:
-Took Owen to meet a lady who might adopt her, and then give her back when we return!!! Owen will spend a couple of nights there this week for a trial run. Please say a prayer that it will work out and Owen and the three other dogs will all get along.
-Packed and did some laundry
-Went to Wal-Mart to get different containers to fly our stuff in.
-Exercised
-More laundry and packing
-Will continue to dread my last day of work tomorrow and try to make it through without totally losing it.