Settling In

First, I must apologize for the long delay between posts. My mom and I arrived safely in Scotland nearly two weeks ago, and I am just now making this first post from Scotland. We had a wonderful whirlwind of activity the first week, making the most of every opportunity to explore while Mom was here. The other reason for the delay is the lack of Internet access.
Rusty and I are staying in a wonderful country cottage, loaned by a very generous family in the Nazarene Church in Perth. It is beautiful, cozy, and peaceful, but it is also quite remote, and we have no Internet in the cottage. The main estate, Ochtertyre House, has wireless, so on nice days, we can sit in their courtyard and borrow theirs, but the weather here is often chilly and rainy, and there haven’t been a great many “nice days” so far. All this to say that posts from the cottage may not come as often as I’d hoped, but once we’re settled somewhere else, we hope to have more consistent coverage.
So Mom and I arrived in Aberdeen on October 1st after a long journey. We were greeted by John, husband of Isobel, housekeeper at Ochtertyre. They live in a lovely apartment on the property and have been incredible neighbors thus far, offering rides, meals, sightseeing, etc. John offered to pick Mom and I up (nearly a two hour drive) and he met us in his kilt! Rusty was in London when we arrived, getting our animals through customs and preparing for his own long drive (on the left hand side of the road) with our 3 animals, but he had left us dinner and Isobel met us with a plate of pancakes (which seem to be a typical snack food here) and we settled in quite nicely. We were also quite relieved when Rusty arrived late that night with the animals and our family was intact once again.
During the week my mom was here, we took beautiful drives and saw lots of wonderful sights. We made it to Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Aberdeen, and a number of small villages. We also did quite a bit of “settling in”, visiting Costco, Ikea, Tesco (our new grocery store), and a number of Scottish eating establishments. It was so wonderful to have her here and I hated to see her leave last Wednesday.
Since it’s been two weeks since I posted, I could probably write forever, but I’ll close with a quick “status update”. Rusty and I will be staying in the cottage at Ochtertyre through mid December. He will be traveling to Aberdeen for school 1-2 days a week, perhaps staying a night in between. He has several scheduled preaching engagements in local Nazarene churches and is pursuing some pastoral possibilities. I am looking for a job as well and have put in quite a few applications in quite a few different places for quite a few different jobs! It is a long and frustrating process, but as in my last post, I am learning to wait and trust. We are so grateful that we are able to stay in this beautiful place while we look for jobs and a home and wait on God’s leading.
So, “that’s us”, as the Scots say. We are missing our dryer and Ziploc bags, but have been overwhelmed by kindness and hospitality and are quite enjoying learning a new culture and seeing all that this beautiful country has to offer.
Until my next post, here are a few pictures that truly do not do this beautiful place justice…l

John O'Dea and I at the Aberdeen Airport

Rusty and I and the view from Kindrewry Cottage

Mom and I in front of the cottage

Crieff, the nearest village