We’ve been home from Scotland a week now, but we hit the ground running… back into real life and ministry and back into writing this 25 page research paper that I may have mentioned about a million times now. It’s one of the two seminary classes I’m taking, and taking two classes at once might just be the death of me. I’m on page 9 and I need to be on page 25 in just under three weeks. Not to mention the workload for the other class. Not to mention life.With all this in mind, we thought it would be a great idea to go to Scotland for a week to visit Kayla and then turn around and go to California for a week to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday. And then I thought we would just wrap us this month of crazy with a big 50th birthday bash for Robert about a week after we get back from Cali.

We are not the smartest people. 

 

But these kinds of milestones don’t happen every day, and we don’t want to miss any of them.

We had such a wonderful time visiting our wee bonnie lassie in Scotland.

(Translation: wee= little; bonnie= pretty/nice; lassie=girl)

She’s not that little anymore, of course. In fact, she’s big enough to be living in a flat in Glasgow, shopping for her own groceries, navigating public transportation, and interning at a local church.

But she’s still a wee lass to us!

Here’s what we did…

Day One/Wednesday: Landed in Edinburgh at 9:30am local time, found breakfast, walked 287 steps up to the top of the (Sir William) Scott Monument  and spent the day walking up and down the Royal Mile which is a one mile stretch between the Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. We toured the home of John Knox (the Scottish Reformer) and hiked in Holyrood Park to a gorgeous overlook of the city.

Kayla hopped on a train from Glasgow and met us in Edinburgh just in time for dinner.

Day Two/Thursday: Walked the Royal Mile again with Kayla and then took a bus tour around the city. Hopped off at the Royal Britannia and spent close to three hours touring the Queen’s now decommissioned yacht. (So glad we watched The Crown!) Not only did we get to see the Royal Family’s private quarters, but also the captain’s quarters, yachtsmen quarters, the kitchen, wash room, and engine room. We only took a break to have a proper afternoon tea in the full service tea room on board.

Day Three/Friday: Took a train to Glasgow and made our way to Kayla’s flat. We got to meet her roommate and partner in ministry, Pilisa. Then we checked into our own flat via Airbnb which was only a 2 minute walk from Kayla’s place. We spent the rest of the afternoon touring Glasgow’s City Center and The University of Glasgow. Though the Harry Potter movies weren’t filmed there, the campus is said to have served as inspiration to J.K. Rowling. (And we did stop in The Elephant House, which is where Rowling wrote, while we were in Edinburgh.)

Day Four/Saturday: Took a train to Stirling which is about an hour northeast of Glasgow. After a quick (but delicious) brunch at a quirky little grocery store/cafe, we walked 2.5 miles from Stirling Center, across Stirling Bridge, to the William Wallace Monument. It was a gorgeous day in Scotland which is rare – 55 degrees and sunny. The monument has a very narrow spiral stone staircase (246 steps) to the top and three or four levels that offer museum type displays and information.

When we made it to the very top, we asked a young family standing nearby to take our picture. The husband was wearing an SMU baseball cap and they were all speaking “Texan.” Turns out they were from Rockwall, Texas. What are the chances?

Day Five/Sunday: Cooked breakfast at our Airbnb for Kayla and Pilisa before church and then walked to Dennistoun Baptist Church (another 2 minute walk) for their pre-service prayer time, actual worship service, and tea/coffee fellowship time afterward.

(By the way, Scotland hasn’t really done coffee until recently. And they don’t have half and half, only milk. Well, I think they actually do have something like half and half but it’s called “single cream” and it comes in a small yogurt like container. I think they pour it over tea cakes and such, but we bought it to pour in our Airbnb/french press coffee which was heavenly.)

It was very meaningful to me to sing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” together with a small band of (mostly new) believers in Glasgow. This little church was once the largest church in Glasgow, but dwindled down to a small handful of elderly women who stayed and prayed for revitalization. Now they have a new pastor who is really re-planting the church. It’s hard work, but they are making great strides and seeing God work in wonderful ways.

Kayla and her roommate had to help lead the Sunday Alpha courses offered for teens in the afternoon and adults in the evening. Robert and I took the train into the City Center for afternoon tea at Mackintosh at the Willow with friends who’d been a part of our church in Amherst a few years back but now live in Glasgow.

Day Six/Monday: Kayla had to be at the church around 12pm to get ready for an afternoon ministry called Conversation Cafe. We took advantage of the morning to stay in our Airbnb and get some work done. We joined the “Cafe” for the last hour and got to meet some of the men who come to this outreach of games and conversation. Many of them are estranged from families and struggle with mental health issues.

That evening Kayla, Pilisa, Robert, and I went to the flat of other friends of ours from Massachusetts who now live in Glasgow full time and partner with the church there for support and outreach. Patrick happened to be back in the states for a wedding, but Erin cooked us a delicious dinner and we enjoyed hearing about what their transition to living in Scotland has been like – and playing with her little girls and dog, Brady!

We shopped for groceries for Kayla and Pilisa before we got on the train to go home that night.

Day Seven/Tuesday: We took Kayla out for one last breakfast together before she had to report back to the church for ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) class. It was hard to say goodbye to her again, but she’s almost half way through her semester there and we’ll see her again mid-December when she returns home.

Robert and rode the train to the bus station, bought tickets back to the Edinburgh airport, stored our luggage for a couple of hours and headed back to City Center to pick up a few last souvenirs = Starbucks mugs and chocolates for our UK friend, Isabelle, who misses home and needed some Cadbury Dairy Milk and Maltesers in her life!

It was an easy hour long bus ride to the Edinburgh airport, and we were headed back to the states by 5:30pm that day.

So glad we got to see some of Scotland and experience a bit of what Kayla is getting to do this semester.

Off to southern California soon!