Since I last posted, we enjoyed a great weekend of fellowship in Ayr (about an hour south of Glasgow) with our dear friends the Beers and the Mackays.  David had the opportunity to spend the day in Northern Ireland attending a minister's conference, which was a very uplifting experience.  Meanwhile, I visited with Allison and Liz and we talked homeschooling and pregnancy for a couple of hours.  :-) 

This week has been quiet but busy (it's always busy).  David had a presbytery exam on Tuesday (an exam on half of the Westminster Confession of Faith).  I have had an unexpected employment opportunity come my way. My friend Mirjam, who has three small children and is homeschooling, had been cleaning once a week for friends of hers, an elderly Baptist couple who live on my street.  The wife died of cancer last year so now the 83-yr-old man, Arthur, lives all alone and Mirjam has been continuing to clean for him.  However, Mirjam now lives on the south side of Glasgow and it takes her an hour to commute by train (bringing her nursing baby with her) to do this two hour cleaning job.  So she asked me if I'd be willing to take over the job since I only live 6 doors down from Arthur!  This will be a low-key, flexible job (only two hours a week) which will pay a welcome few pounds every week (every little bit counts!).  And it's basic housecleaning, which I'm rather experienced in if I do say so myself.  :-p  Amazing how the Lord provides!  I wasn't looking for work, but I don't mind serving in this way and earning a little bit on the side!

I've watched snippets of the Olympics this week.  The first time in my life that I've lived somewhere that had access to watching it!  We can watch it (recorded) on the BBC iplayer or live on the BBC website.  I'm not much interested in anything besides the figure skating, which is amazing!

David is busy working on his three dissertations which are required for final-year students in the seminary.

I need to finish preparing for the Lord's Day tomorrow. . . and we are having two couples from church over for dinner, so I need to get that ready to go into the slow-cooker.  :-)  Plus the usual preparations for teaching Sunday school in the morning, and teaching the lesson at the children's Bible club on Monday. . .

friends

Yesterday morning we were invited over to spend some time with our dear friends, the Haram family.  They have been such an encouragement and blessing to us since we moved here, and I think it's been mutual, because they have six children and are homeschooling, and so my background and David's have been encouraging testimonies to them. 

During our visit I had an opportunity to not only spend time with Shael, but also her sister-in-law and another family friend who have three children each and are homeschooling their own children as well.  Homeschooling here in the UK is not as popular. . . or as common. . . or as understood. . . or as accepted. . . as it has become in the USA.  It is still in the "pioneering" stage in many ways, and the families who have chosen to teach their own children at home are constantly swimming upstream against the social norm (even in the church).  In so many ways the very small homeschooling community here is in the same place that the USA homeschooling community was when David's family began homeschooling decades ago.  These homeschooling moms were asking me all sorts of questions about my homeschooling experience, and I think it is encouraging to them to hear that homeschooling in the USA was once where they are today. . . and look at how the Lord has blessed since then!

These ladies have been such a blessing to me because they are constantly donating baby clothes and maternity clothes that they don't need anymore. . . plus whatever else is hanging around their house that we might be blessed with.  So kind of them!  This week we were given a lovely comfortable rocking chair.  This has given me a very comfortable place besides my bed to sit!  :-)

I've been working really hard on a Sunday school lesson for tomorrow morning. . . and a Bible lesson for children's club on Monday afternoon. . . and lots of grading and working up assignment sheets for my brother Ezra's literature curriculum. . . so it's made for a busy end of a busy week!

Well, we've been out of town again. . .   I know, what a surprise!  :-p  It was just for a couple of days this time.  On Monday David traveled by bus to Inverness for his monthly seminary courses.  Usually I would go with him, but this month I had the opportunity to visit my friend Angela and her three kids in Dunfermline, whom I've not seen since just after I moved here in September.  Angela's husband James is one of the other seminary students and was also in Inverness for classes.  So on Monday I had a short bus ride (an hour and fifteen minutes instead of four hours) and enjoyed a really fun visit with Angela and co.  :-)  Angela just had her third child, Elizabeth Anne, in November.  So glad they were willing to have me come hang out!

Yesterday (Wednesday) I was very proud of myself for finding my bus home to Glasgow, finding my way from the bus station to the train station after I reached Glasgow, and catching the right train home -- all on my own!  David got home from Inverness an hour or two after me.

We got home in the midst of a lovely heavy snowfall.  We got an inch or two of snow here within a few hours but it is melting pretty quickly today (even though there is no sunshine).

Now, back to the busy-ness. . . David just completed two exams (systematics and OT) and submitted a paper, but now he has to really work on his three dissertations (a requirement for final-year students), drafts of which have to be completed by the next class period.  He also has some preaching engagements in the next couple of weeks.  I'm going to be kept busy with teaching Sabbath school and helping with the children's club, as well as my usual work around the house.


I've ordered myself a new slow cooker!!  After a lot of research, we decided to use the John Lewis gift cards we were given for our wedding to purchase a slow cooker, which I really need for hospitality and especially preparing meals for the Lord's Day.  I prefer to do my food preparation on Saturday to enable the Lord's Day to be a day of rest, and I haven't been able to do that since I moved here - I've had to cook dinner after getting home from morning worship.  So - those of you who very kindly and thoughtfully purchased John Lewis gift vouchers for us -- thank you!!  This will be such a blessing for me and I will be able to feed a crowd with my new 5-liter slow cooker.  :-)