Thankful for the year that's been

Today marks 12 months since we arrived in Scotland from Australia.  The temperature difference was a shock to the system.  Even one year on there is a thick frost outside and the current temperature is -4c.  We have definitely shifted from Autumn into Winter.  Now that we have completed 12 months in Scotland, we have experienced each of the seasons.  One season that surprised me with its beauty was Autumn.  I realised that it had been over 20 years since I watched the leaves turn from green to varying degrees of yellow, orange and red.  Some of the scenes were quite spectacular.

This year has had its challenges as we adjusted to a new way of living with Simon flying in and out of Africa, Joshua returning to Australia to start university and Zara figuring out life in a new country and me taking on a new role with MAF remotely.  However, we have seen God provide for us in many ways and are thankful for that.  One of our biggest prayer requests at the beginning was to find a home that was close to my Mum.  God answered that prayer and we moved into a place just 5-10 min walk from her house.  She continues to live by herself with professional support and family support.  We just take it one day at a time.

This year we have enjoyed visits from friends from all over the world which has been such a blessing.  So good to catch up with people we have known for years but haven’t seen for a long time due to living in Australia.  We look forward to what 2024 brings in this area 😊

Recently we had the privilege of visiting two of our supporting churches.  We had a wonderful welcome from the fellowships at St John’s Ben Rhydding, West Yorkshire and Castlehill Baptist Church in Glasgow.  We are thankful to both churches for their interest and support of us as a family and in the work, we do with MAF!

We are also thankful for our home church at Wester Hailes Baptist who we have been able to reconnect with over this past year and for their continued support and encouragement.  I have especially enjoyed being part of a the Sensible Shoes study with some of the ladies.  The fun, laughter and time of learning together has been amazing - thank you to each of you!

Simon and I have also been getting involved in our local community as time allows.  I am volunteering at  a church cafe in a neighbouring village and Simon has just started helping out for a couple of hours at a local church's food bank.  There are always stories to tell at the end of the day.

As a family we are particularly looking forward to Christmas Eve.  Joshua will be arriving from Australia to spend Christmas with us.  To say we are excited is an understatement 😊 I am counting down the days now!

As we look to 2024, we know it will be another year of travel for Simon as he will predominantly be supporting the Liberia programme and other programmes as the needs arise.  I also have some travel planned early next year but first we are going to enjoy some family time.

In one of the churches we visited, a lady expressed that it was easy for her to say that life is busy when, in fact, it is rich.  She changed her perspective on life, and this is something I won’t forget!  Our lives are truly rich!

So, as we round up 2023, we want to say thank you to you all for your continued support of us as family. It has been quite amazing the different ways God has provided!  We want to wish you a blessed time over Christmas and the New Year and we look forward with expectation of what God will do in 2024.

Updated praise/prayer requests to the right :)

 

 

 

 

Seasons

One of the things we have really enjoyed since being back in Scotland is the four seasons.  For our years in Africa and in Australia we didn’t have the same variation.  We do, however, miss seeing the sun for longer periods of time as well as warmer temperatures😊.  In just over a month, we will have been in Scotland for one year.  In some ways it is difficult to believe that its already a year and in other ways it seems longer.  Between us we have lived in 6 different countries and had the privilege of travelling to many more.  One thing that strikes us the most is the people we encounter along the way.  We have been blessed to have friends all over the world and that is what makes a place - the people. 

As we look ahead to 2024 (I know it’s a bit early to think like that 😊) it looks like we will continue the schedule we have had in 2023.  Simon will continue to support the programmes in Africa in a fly in fly out capacity.  I will mostly be working remotely from Scotland with a few trips in between.  We would value your prayers as we navigate this season of our lives and care for Mum during everything else.

Since I last wrote there has been lots of travel for us all.  Zara had an amazing opportunity to visit a friend in the States for two weeks and had some amazing experiences.  She came home full of stories and photos to share.  As I write she is at a job interview for a barista job in Edinburgh.  Her plan for the next few months is to work and start her own Etsy business – watch this space!

Joshua is currently finishing his first year of University in Brisbane.  God has really provided a loving church fellowship and friends since he moved north of Brisbane, and we are really thankful for that since we are not close by.  It has been a challenging year for him but thankful for answered prayers along the way.  In September he travelled back up to Cairns for a friend’s wedding.  This was a friend that he grew up with in Uganda and so it was a special time of celebrating together this momentous occasion.

Simon is currently in Guinea, West Africa supporting the programme with flying as well as other needs.  The programme is short staffed, and we are praying for more people to join this team.  He will return at the end of October and then we will spend some time doing support raising in Scotland.  We are thankful that we can share with two churches in November of our work with MAF.  If anyone reading this would like us to come and share at your church or prayer group then please let us know.

At the beginning of October, we flew to Switzerland for a short home assignment (2 weeks).  We were able to meet with several of our supporters and spend some time with family.  The weather was beautiful as was the scenery.  We hope to return and visit more supporters early next year in between all the other travel commitments.

 

I wonder what this conversation was about ?  Who is going to get Mum with the first snowball!!!