Adventures in driving and other things...

A few weeks ago Don decided it was time I learned to drive our car, a manual.  While I wasn't very thrilled with the idea,  I knew it had to be done if I wanted to be able to go out and do things on my own,  i.e. go shopping without dragging everyone with me! :)  So we began our lessons.  The first time I learned to back up in the driveway and drive in and out of the garage.  Then we drove on a short stretch of road near our house, in town.  That was soon followed by a longer stretch right outside of town.  Before I knew it he was having me drive every other day.  To Asda, to church, halfway to Inverness,... I've caught on to the driving part pretty quick, it's the driving on THESE ROADS that makes me nervous.  In the States the streets are much wider and most have a shoulder before the ditch.  Many of these roads are very narrow and there's no shoulder before the ditch.  Thus we found ourselves with a flat tire on the way home from church on Wednesday.  Don had me drive home and I took the longer route so I wouldn't have to drive the curvy road home.  A double decker passed on a turn and I moved over too far.  When I began to speed up there was a loud thump thump!   I'm glad we were so close to home.  I stopped and Don slowly drove the rest of the way home.  We were able to get it fixed the next day.  And today I found myself driving to the grocery store all by myself!!!  I certainly didn't think it'd wind up being so easy.

The days have been nice.  A little overcast for the most part, but not bad temperature wise.  The kids have been enjoying playing outside some.

Audrey turned 3 months old this past Saturday.  She's getting her first tooth.  I was so surprised when I discovered this.  My other two didn't get their teeth until they were 6 or 7 months old. I finally got her bed fixed up,  so at night she sleeps in her cot(crib) and during the day she sleeps in a small travel bassinet.  She's almost grown out of the bassinet.  Her room doubles as Don's office for now since she only sleeps in there. So during the day she sleeps in the bassinet that is usually in my room.

I have very few boxes left to unpack. Only 2 or 3.  It took me a while to get to my craft supplies because I didn't have enough storage. Now we just need to put all the boxes and totes in the garage and do a little decorating and our house will be done.  I'm looking forward to it!!

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!

Greetings from Scotland!

Yes, we are here! The moment we have been waiting for since God called Don has finally come to pass. The journey that began 5 years ago has led us to this - home.  Five years ago God called Don to Scotland. Two years ago we began our deputation travels and now here we are.
We began this week with our last Sunday service at our home church. Pastor preached a special service and afterwards he and the officers of the church prayed over Don. He then read the passage from Acts 13. One verse he particularly emphasized, verse 3 "...and laid their hands on them, they sent them away" After the service we had a dinner. Don preached the evening message.
Monday was hectic. Packing was quite a chore. We bought one new suitcase that was bigger, but I had to send Don out to get another one. I packed those bags to nearly bursting. I was afraid they were over the weight limit which they were. We did get everything packed and by the end of the day I was very tired. Don did a great job of keeping the kids out of the way.
Tuesday I was up early and we literally shoved in the remaining last minute items. Pastor Martin and a few people from church came by and we prayed together. Then off we went at about 10:30.
Let me say now, it is very difficult to travel as far as we did with 3 little ones!!! :) Our first stop was Chicago. I'm glad we had changed our flight and had 3 hours there, because we needed it. We had to go through security again and then make it all the way to Terminal 5 before our gate closed. It was nice that on the long flight they let families go first. One thing that was hard with ours being so small is that Don and I carried all the carry-on luggage. We didn't have much, but what little we did have made it quite a chore. :) They did do very well though. Kathy had a short crying spell when we arrived in Dublin because we had  to wake her up so she could walk off the plane. As soon as she was in her stroller again she was fine. Tip: if you're traveling with an infant and toddler, take a baby carrier/sling and an umbrella stroller. By putting Audrey in the carrier, my hands were free to push Kathy in the stroller. There were a few stressful moments, but all in all it went pretty well. Much better than the disaster I was expecting.
And now we are here!  The kids napped on the back from the airport. They went to bed early and didn't wake til 10:30 and 11 am!! I think as far as time we're doing good on recovery.
Today we went to Arbroath along the North Sea for some fish and chips. They were the best!!! 
Tomorrow we head up to Tain. After we have lunch with the Cashners we will go to our house! Please pray as we hunt for furniture. We want to be able to find some quality items that will last, but for a decent price.
Sometimes it seems like we're just visiting. I think it'll take a few weeks being in our own home to really sink in.  I'm looking forward to settling in and getting acquainted with the shops and people. I've already been trying to tell Harry and Kathy some of the different words to use. They find it fun.
Tonight Harry prayed: "And Lord help us to bless the people that they all get saved!" Amen!

The last days...

A lot of things have happened since I last blogged. With minor delays and much frustration we completed the paperwork for our visas and sent them off. Within a few days we heard from them that we had not sent our marriage certificate. Now this at first seemed to be somewhat of a problem., since our license was on it's way across the Atlantic on a big boat.  Then I remembered that I could request a certified copy by mail. We sent out the request overnight and received that within a few days. That had to be sent overnight to New York. They received that this past Monday and a week before our departure we received our passports with our visas. We have seen God's hand throughout this process.  It's amazing how quickly everything came together. Sometimes it seemed that with every paper or process we completed we were met with another obstacle, but in the end we simply needed to trust God to bring it all about on time. These past two months of getting everything together to apply we have definitely been tested and learned patience again and again.
Now the wait is almost over. In two days we board a plane to the place God desires us to be. I don't know what lies ahead for us, but I pray that whatever we do, wherever God leads us that we do all to glorify Him.
Today is Sunday, our last Sunday in our home church for a while.  We leave loved ones behind and we will miss them! We had a special commissioning service with a dinner afterwards.
We've been granted a 3 year visa which is the longest time frame they give. The kids are excited about going. I don't think they understand the time frame we will be gone. They know it will be a long time,  but I wonder when they will begin to ask if they can visit nana and papa, or Oma and Opa.
I'm ready to get into my house and buy furniture. Don can't wait to just finally be there.
"And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, THEY SENT THEM AWAY." Acts 13:3 KJB

Look who's 1 month old

New Title

So, the time has come to make a change. I don't know if I'll remain with the title, but for now I've renamed the blog mwinscotland.blogspot.com. In case you're wondering, mw stands for missionary wife. In about 3 weeks we embark on a new adventure. Our 'first term' as missionaries in Scotland will begin. While I will miss our family and church people, I am looking forward to the move and what God has for us over there!