Settling In

We have been here about 5 weeks now. Time seems to be flying for us. We are slowly settling in. Most of the furniture we need has been ordered or bought at a charity shop. Our house is filling up nicely. We're just waiting for a large bookcase and our dining set to arrive. Our boxes came in right before we left for a camp meeting in Arbroath. More on that in a bit. Many of them are unpacked. All that remains are maybe about 10 or so. They mainly contain my stuff for crafts and scrapbooking. My desk is getting pretty full. I think I'm going to have to either get another bookcase or some other type of storage unit so everything can be put away. Sadly a few things broke. I'll know better how to pack the next time. Things that were packed in totes were just fine.
Now to Arbroath. The missionary, Bro. Jim, that picked us up from the airport hosted a camp meeting in Arbroath just 3 weeks after we arrived.  We were able to get together with other missionaries around the country for a 4 day conference. There was food, fellowship, singing and preaching. We were all able to stay together at Windmill Christian Centre. It was nice to get reacquainted with missionaries we had met before, as well as meet others for the first time.
The kids are doing great. Harry and Kathy got their bunkbed and dresser a few weeks ago. Then we ordered some duvet covers for their beds. They are enjoying their 'new' room. They both picked out their own covers. Harry has a Thomas the tank engine cover and Kathy's is a princess cover.
Audrey is doing well. She slept through the night for the first time last week!  She's growing fast but still looks so tiny. She's more and more alert. The kids love to talk to her and play with her every time she's awake.
Don was able to find a nice desk and we ordered a bookcase for his office.  He turned 30 this two Sundays ago. We celebrated small. I made a big breakfast and lunch for him. Then we had pizza and ice cream for supper. Monday we went to Inverness so he could pick out some clothes. We had an enjoyable time there and were able to pick up some other things we needed.
This last Sunday we celebrated  our anniversary. We were able to leave all the kids with the Cashners and go to Trentham Hotel in Dornoch for supper. Don surprised me Saturday with flowers and Monday with jewelry!  It was a wonderful way to celebrate our seventh anniversary but first in Scotland.
All in all we are enjoying our time here. I'm still getting used to the shopping. I can't drive our manual car, so we a load up to go to the shop. It would be nice if I could drive myself places, especially shopping. So the other day he had me out in the driveway backing up and pulling into the garage. Then on Friday he had me out on the road. Just a short stretch of straight road out by our house. It's not as hard as I imagined it to be. I hope to be able to drive on my own soon. I believe he was going to have me drive to the store by the end of this week. I'm only nervous about stalling on the road while trying to drive away from a complete stop.
The days are getting shorter and fall has arrived. When we first got here everything was still so green. Just in the past week the leaves have turned and are falling. It's also been raining more than when we first arrived. We had snow, rain, sunshine, rain, snow in one day just last week.
For once in many years life is finally seeming normal again. We've gotten into a daily routine. Don will usually do some studying in the morning while I do some chores and the kids play in their room. These days the kids are always starving so lunch comes early or they have little snacks all day long. I think Harry is growing again because he'll always ask for something only an hour after we've eaten!! I'm just going to have to keep a lot of snacks around. :) Of course if Harry wants something then Kathy does to.
God has been so good to us. We are so happy to finally be here, in Scotland!

Hill of Fearn, Scotland - our new home

The trip

Our plane flight went rather well, as previously mentioned.  The second night didn’t go as well as the first. We put the kids to bed at 8. But to Kathy it was 2 in the afternoon, because she woke up 2 ½ hours later and didn’t want to go back to sleep! Both of them decided after a few hours ‘napping’ it wasn’t time to go to sleep. They finally went to bed around 3 am. Don and I hadn’t slept at all up to that point so we were very tired the next morning. After just a few days we’ve gotten back into a routine. I think we’ve adjusted to the time pretty well.

The house

Friday we headed up to Tain. It was about a 4 hour drive because of the stops we made. We were welcomed at the Cashner's house with lunch – tacos – my favorite!!  The Cashners put up with us until evening. Then we made our way over to our house.  I must say that I love my house!!  I must try not to get too attached. We thought it only had 3 bedrooms, but there is a bonus room in the back. It’ll make a great play room/school room/craft room. The carpet is pink. I love the color pink, but it doesn’t make a good carpet color! I plan on putting down some fun large area rugs in there. Our room is an en suite. There’s a laundry room off the kitchen. In the garden is a wooden play house for the kids. Inside is a small dresser filled with toys. I don’t know who left it here, but the kids are enjoying it.

Shopping

Grocery shopping is pretty easy. They have different names for some things, but if you’re not sure what it is, just read the label. Other shopping is a little more complicated. For larger items, such as furniture, you mostly order online or by catalog. The catalog ordering reminds me of out-of-the-way places where people would order out of the sears/roebuck catalog. This is an out-of-the-way place!! The first Saturday we went to a charity shop(thrift store) and found a couch set, hutch and desk for me. Some things we will be looking for at charity shops, other things we’ll buy new. Don ordered our bed and mattress just the other day. It came just this past week, a lot sooner than we expected. We had to reorder the mattress since the one we had ordered wasn't to our liking. Oh, the joys of ordering by mail! If we order anything, it’ll take a while to get here. We've also been able to find a kitchen table/chairs, a bed and dresser for the kids, a bookshelf for the play room, a phone stand and a desk for Don. We ordered a few more things for our living/dining rooms. Little by little we’ll fill up this house.

Tain is a small town. We live in a neighboring village called Hill of Fearn. Someone told us people would keep painting over the ‘n’ to make it read “Hill of Fear.” It's very quiet unlike the noise of what we're used to in Rochester! We’re not too far from the water. The first Saturday we stopped at the hotel in town for sticky toffee pudding. It was great!!!  Something I have to learn to make! Sticky toffee pudding is a chocolate cake with a toffee sauce poured over it. Ours was also served with vanilla ice cream, strawberries and a raspberry.

Bethel Baptist Church

Bro Keith Cashner is the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church.  Our first Sunday here was really nice. They have an afternoon service. It was a little different getting up on Sunday and not preparing for church right away. I kind of liked it since Sundays can be a pretty busy morning with a bunch of little kids. The Cashners are renting a room to hold services in. It took me back to the time my family was in Germany. After the church service we went back to the Cashner’s house for some fellowship. The second Sunday we were here the church celebrated their first year anniversary. The fellowship afterwards was a lot of fun!  We had such good food!!  Another thing I need to learn to make - roasted tatties.

I am really enjoying settling in. Tomorrow our boxes come in. I am so ready to have our stuff!!!  I am looking forward to unpacking and adding our personal items to the house!