Catching up... May

The first weekend in May brought on Leslie's brother's wedding. Derek and Megan were married May 2, 2009 in Oklahoma City. It was a beautiful wedding and a lovely reception. It was wonderful time to spend with family.

We enjoyed a trip to Colorado to visit Tristan's Mom. It was great to be out there again. Tristan especially looks forward to seeing his beloved Rocky Mountains.

Mid May brought Leslie's sister Callie's graduation from High School. We were glad to be witnesses to that momentous occasion in her life. Congrats Callie!

May also brought a very sad and heartbreaking time for Leslie's family. Nick Prindle, Leslie's uncle passed away on May 22nd. We will never forget Nick and all of the joy he brought to our family. Please keep his family in your prayers.

We were also fortunate to attend Family Camp, a Northside Church of Christ tradition out at Rock Springs 4-H Camp near Junction City. It was an encouraging time of fellowship and great lessons. One of our favorite parts of family camp is the talent show. Tristan participated in the show by being a "contestant" on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" It was great!


Now here's the story of why we are still here in the States as of July 15th...
A week after we first got here in May we sent away for our new visas that we would need to continue working in the U.K. for the next year, since our original 2 year visa had expired. We applied for the visa that we thought we would need and really thought nothing more of it because we thought the process would be fairly easy and we would get our visas back plenty of time to get on the plane on May 27th. Well... we didn't get anything in the mail until after that date (which was okay, since we had already postponed our flight because of Leslie's uncle's funeral). When we did receive word in the mail, the word was DENIED. Our visas had been denied! We couldn't believe it! We were very upset and worried by this news. We would have to apply for a complete different type of visa.
At the beginning of this year, the UK government completely revamped their visa application process to include new rules and regulations regarding how people came into the country to live. In order to apply for our new visa, the church in Stirling has to go through a "sponsorship" process so that they can get clearance for us to come over. Once they all of the paperwork organized and turned in, the evaluation takes at least 4 weeks. We are now in week 4. So, beginning at the end of this week is when the church in Stirling should be hearing about their sponsorship. When they receive sponsorship, they will send us a number to put on our new application for the visa that we need. Our visa process should take 1-2 weeks, no more than 3.
So there you have it... the reason we are still on U.S. soil. This has been a difficult thing for us, but we know that through this whole process God has been with us. He's given us many opportunities to support others during this "waiting time". Although we are very very tired of living out of our suitcases, we are thankful for having this extra time with family and friends. If you are reading this and you have supported us in any way this summer (feeding us, housing us, encouraging us with a word or smile, entertaining us, or just plain loving us) we thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU! It's hard to say where we'd be with out you!

Catching up... April

Okay, it may seem a little pointless to go back this far, but I would like to give a run down of a few events to let whoever would like to know what we have been up to these past few months.

April...

At the beginning of April we went to a Young Adults Retreat in East Scotland. It was a great time of fellowship and getting to know some people our age better.

We were blessed to be able to find a new place to live. We are excited about moving into this place as soon as we get back to Scotland (more about that in a later post). We'll be sure to post pics as soon as we get settled in.

We moved out of our Nailer Rd house after about almost a year. The reason we moved was because our landlady who lives in Australia is coming back by the end of this year and we wanted to live in a place for a year rather than staying in the Nailer Road place and then finding a place to live for our last 6 months in Scotland.

We were also blessed to attend the Kirkcaldy Social. It was wonderful to spend time with other people in congregations around Scotland that we had met previously and getting to know some new people.

We also left for the States on April 22nd. We were able to spend time with the Church in St. John Kansas who has decided to partner with us for our remaining year in Scotland. They are a lovely congregation and very supporting of various missions efforts around the world. We are very glad to know them!

More to come...May, June, and now July!

March!

Wow. March has really gotten away from us, and in a week it will be gone!

We began March with a short trip to the Isle of Skye. Ever since we came to Scotland people have told us that we needed to go to Skye. Because of a break in Youth Club, we found our chance to go.

Skye in Purple.

Below: Eilean Donan Castle is not on Skye, but on the way there. It is a very popular castle that you might recognize from a movie or two.


This is the B&B where we stayed on the western most part of Skye with the sea in the background.

Niest Point Lighthouse on a VERY cold day!


Sheep seemed to roam free through the town. These were going single file down the single track road.

The village of Portree.

One day we were able to climb a hill. The "Old Man of Storr" is the taller pinnacle in the distance.


Lots of snow and a beautiful view at the top.


Resting from the vigorous climb!


We had a snowball fight and made a snow ghost at the top. So much fun!


Having a lovely salmon dinner at sunset.


Our new favorite mountain range the Cuillins in the background. Just stunning!

Even though rainy/snowy weather was forecast, we were extremely blessed to have such beautiful sunny weather while we were there!

We got Youth Club started back up again. Although Youth Club hasn't been as consistent as we've liked, the kids continue to do well with participating. In the picture below, the kids are playing review Jeopardy, reviewing all of the Bible lessons we've taught in Youth Club so far this year. They did quite well!


Yesterday we were able to enjoy a walk near Callander to Bracklinn Falls. It is amazing how many walking trails there are in Scotland! We love to take advantage of them when we have the time.


And, although I don't have any pictures of it, we've had visitors here since last Friday. A group of 12 have come over on a survey trip to look at working in Scotland. It's been great to be part of some of their devotionals, since it's not often that we get to sing "devotional type" songs. Tristan and I have 2 guys staying with us. We love being able to open up our home to them!

February Happenings

Thanks to James for getting us back on track here in the blogging world! We just needed that little push to get us going again! :)

February has gone by very quickly for us.

The first Tuesday we had our first ever Youth Club Parent's Night. It was a great success. Many parents attended and we had a lot of positive feedback about how great youth club is for their children.

Parent playing dodge ball against their kids. So funny!

The first Saturday of the month found us having a youth night at David and Emma's. We had lots of fun eating pizza and playing the Wii. We had a lot of good laughs and it was a great to get back together as a group.

Wii Sports!


And this past Saturday we hosted another FriendSpeak dinner party. We had spaghetti and meatballs and cheese cake for dessert.

We taught the game of Pit to them and they loved it.

It was a smashing night! We got to spend time with some of our readers that we already knew and got to know our new ones better. :)

Back Row L-R: Tina, Tristan, and Peter
Front Row L-R: Fina, Ring, Judy, Mia, and Leslie.

Burn's Night

This year marked the 250th Anniversary of Robert Burns birth. This year is also known as a year of Homecoming in Scotland. Basically it's a campaign to make people aware of Scotland's heritage and promote tourism. Check out this site for more information and to help plan your trip to Scotland! :)

Now onto pictures of a wonderfully fun evening!

Tristan enjoying his haggis, neeps and tatties!

Everyone that wore traditional Scottish attire.


The guys in their kilts.
Almost everyone "took a turn" and preformed something for Burn's Night. We had several poems read, traditional Scottish songs sang, guitars played, sing alongs, and an amazing harpist! Tristan even got to resurrect his Chi jigging skills from college. He was a big hit!

Me and my wee boyfriend, Cameron.

Me and my man boyfriend. I opted out of the Scottish attire this year. :)

Continuing in my effort to post weekly...

This post is especially for those of you out there who don't get our newsletter. If you are reading this and would like to get our newsletter via email, then just leave a comment and we'll get you put on our list!

We had to say goodbye to a couple of our dear friends at the beginning of this month. Danny and Jie have returned to China. It's been only a little over 2 weeks since they've gone, but we are really missing their presence.

Here are a couple of pics from the airport.


Also, this is a picture of Jie's hand. Do you notice anything different about it?

She and her father are the only people that she knows of that have the one line running all the way across their hands. I love unique things like that (which is why I had to get a picture of it)! Look at your own hand. You'll probably see 2 different lines!

We've won...

a blogging award?

First of all thanks so much to Jennifer who nominated us for this prestigious award. If not for you Jennifer, I would not be typing these words now. I'm glad to know that you enjoy reading our blog. Our blog has been left sorely neglected these past couple of months. So, my new goal is to blog at least once a week!

So now I pass on this award to these people whose blog I love to read because they always put a smile on my face! In no particular order...

Sam & Ryan
Amy
Jennifer
Krista
Kayla
Missy
Kelly
April & Clint
Nicole
Meagan
Donna

The rules that accompany this FANtastic award are as follows:

1. Thank the person who was so thoughtful for giving you this award by linking their blog to this post.


2. Put the logo on your blog or post.
3. Nominate 10 blogs which show great attitude/gratitude.


4. Link your nominees to your post.


5. Comment them to tell them about the award they've won.