A New Creation and Fun Vacation

Some of you may have heard by now that we have a new brother in Christ. On Sunday November 9th Danny decided to follow Jesus and put Him on in baptism. We are greatly rejoicing over this new creation!

Tristan and Danny

Stirling Church at Danny's Baptism

Later that week on Wednesday, we traveled with Danny and Jie to Ardnamurchan (on Scotland's west coast) to visit Mike and Joan at their lake side house there. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and fun. We were blessed to see some absolutely stunning scenery while there.

Below Tristan and I are posing in front of a monument to the place where Bonnie Prince Charlie and his clansman army raised the Jacobite flag and began their march to storm London. I do not envy their long journey of 526 miles.

Thursday we took a ferry to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. As you can tell from the picture, we experienced typical Scottish weather.

Thursday was also Jie's birthday, so we had a celebration for her. She doesn't quite look 28 does she? (Joan, Jie, Danny, and Mike)

Friday, Mike mentioned that he had kayaks and that if we fancied a go on them we could. Well, if you know Tristan and I, that's right up our ally. Not to be put off by the rolling tide or howling winds, we suited up in Mike's astronaut-like dry suits and wellies, ready for an adventure.

As you can maybe tell from the fuzzy, unclear picture below, it was an adventure indeed. Tristan is the one in the freezing water. He came over to talk to me about 10 minutes into our paddling around the bay, and while a bit distracted from our conversation about my sore thumb, a wave came and flipped him over.

Tristan was wearing a dry suit, but water came in through the gap by his neck and got him fairly well soaked. Hehe :)

Here are a couple of things that I learned on this trip that I found very interesting. First of all, deer can swim. Mike said that he's seen them swim to a little island on the lake to eat the grass there. Maybe that is just a special talent of Scottish deer, because I've never heard of that before. Secondly, sheep can roll over cattle guards. People say that sheep are dumb, and I can see how they would say that, but for them to be able to figure out how to get across cattle guards is crazy to me!