later... I'm always saying that...

We have some newfound (and I would say welcome) busyness with Ian being back in school so we haven't exactly been good about posting this week.. I find that funny as I have been spending most of my days irresponsibly reading books for fun instead of being productive and changing the world... It has been a nice time of reflecting (there was a danger a few days ago of me being a revolutionary epistemologist what with all my thoughts about knowing and learning.. but I got over it :) ) and leisure that I haven't known in about 15 years or so. I have struggled with feelings of "uuummmmm.. so what am i doing here?" since I am accustomed to being ridiculously busy every day of my life, but I think it has been good in the time it has given me to learn the value of being.. just being.. which I hadn't considered in a while, as well as given me good time to bake and make some Scottish mouths (and English and American mouths) very happy :) Ian has been enjoying school.. he'll post about that later. In my times of unbusyness there have been a few highlights for example.. ladies Bible study - AMAZING every week! I love it so much :) There are some really incredible women here who are so loving and welcoming (even if you break down crying just to share a simple prayer request! I'm telling you, sometimes these emotions need a straight jacket! It was SO not a big deal, and yet, there was old faithful, spurting forth when I least expected it) I also went to book club which was great as well.. Some focused, intelligent conversation is very welcome after my adios to college life (not that the people I interact with, especially not my genius husband, are unintelligent, but I think/hope you all know what I mean). Then we are hosting a Bible study on Thursday nights at our flat which was so wonderful! Matt (the intern at the Free Church) did a GREAT job leading us and we had some really great conversation about the first few verses of John.. Actually it might have been the best conversation I've ever had about those verses. It was really interesting to have all those postgrads putting in their two cents (or maybe I should say pence!) coming from their fields of study to dissect such an abstract passage. Needless to say, it was like the best candy Ian has ever had, maybe even better than Shepherd's Pie... Then to finish up the week we had dinner with the Wheaton's on Saturday evening. They hail from Massachussets and were actually in Japan for a while working on starting up a seminary before they came here. They have 5 boys under the age of 7 - whoa! They are so much fun and such smart little guys. We had a wonderful evening of Mexican food (Ian was beside himself) and uplifting conversation. Then today we had regular service this morning, Ian and I took a long, romantic walk on the beach in the afternoon :), and then we had a pot luck dinner before evening church. It was delish and following during evening church we had our first communion in Scotland. We have an even busyer (I know I'm spelling that wrong, but I didn't want it to be read as business, as in walmart is a business, so I'm spelling it wrong.. don't judge me Alex or Laura.. I'm aware..) week ahead of us with coffee dates, presentations, dinner dates, and Bible studies.. It should be fun! keep praying for that job.. I'm considering foregoing the serious search for a full time position and taking a combination of smaller things that have come to my attention in some different areas here. Should any of that come to pass I'll explain further.. until then, please just keep praying for that situation! For those of you sending us mail and packages - thank you so much! We love it and keep it coming! We are so appreciative of the thoughtfulness and keeping-in-touch that so many of you are so good at :) and we apologize for our lack thereof. Hopefully we can post some pictures soon and hopefully we will have some internet soon!! Patience is a virtue.. if you want to learn it, move to Scotland.. believe me, you'll learn :) We love Scotland! We actually really do love it here and are so excited to share our love with anyone who wants to come our way - so come on over! :) Ok.. more to come..