Barn Gals: July 2008

Yesterday, I baby sat for a family in our church. Around the walls in their dinning room they painted the following:

Christ it the secret of happy home life.

What are some of the secrets of happy home life? The answer might be given in one word ~ Christ!

~ Christ at the marriage-alter

~ Christ on the bridal journey

~ Christ when the new home is set up

~ Christ when the baby is born

~ Christ when a child dies

~ Christ in the pinching times

~ Christ in the days of plenty

~ Christ in the nursery, in the kitchen, in the parlor

~ Christ in the toil and in the rest

~ Christ along all the years

~ Christ when the wedded pair walk toward the sunset gates

~ Christ in the sad hour when farewells are spoken, and one goes on before and the other stays, bearing the unshared grief.

Christ is the secret of happy home life.

(Quote from Secrets of Happy Home Life by J. R. Miller. Page 3)

Well, just as I promised here is my Scotland post. The pictures in this post are not in perfect order, but I am sure you will enjoy it anyway.

Getting to Scotland was a bit of an adventure, but we did get there safe and sound. After missing our international flight out of the States, we were able to fly standby on the last flight out for the night. We made it to London Heathrow, and missed the connecting flight to Glasgow Scotland. They rebooked us to Edinburgh Scotland, which in the long run was better, seeing that the taxi ride was 25 minutes and not an hour! We got to the hotel with an hour or so before the opening dinner. After all of the trouble with the flights, we had no bags!! Yes, that is right, we went the next 3 days in the same clothes. I will say, I have never been so happy to see my suitcase in my life. It was like having a birthday at the age of 5!

The whole trip was just wonderful. One thing that struck me the most was walking past the graves or the markers on the side walks of the men and women who died for Christ. I will say that this trip caused my eyes to be opened even more to the reality of how great the cost is to be a follower of Christ. I do understand that not every person will have to die a martyr's death, but we must stand & fight for Christ no matter the cost. Coming away from this trip, my prayer is to be found faithful even to the end of my days.

The days were full of going to different places, lots of great conversations, and many wonderful memories were made. The weather was rather wet, sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon, and who knows what in the evening! The locals said 'That in Scotland, you can have all 4 seasons in one day!!'

Let me give you a few big highlights that I came away with:

1) For the opportunity to be able to attend a history tour like this one.

2) Walking where the founding fathers walked.

3) Hearing the God honoring talks given by, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Potter, Mr. Morecraft, and Mr. Gunn.

4) Singing hymns in a couple of different churches. What a joy it was to hear voices of praise lifted up to our Heavenly Father.

5) Trying new foods! (Yes, I did try Haggis, and if you don't know what it is, look it up on google!)

6) The bus rides gave many opportunities for conversation. I was very thankful for the

hours we had over the 2 weeks of being gone.

To be perfectly honest with you, I could sit here and type for many more hours telling of the many blessings from the Lord and showing the other 1000 plus pictures I did not post. For tonight, I am going to end this post here. I hope you enjoy this little window into the land of Scotland.

Until next time!

Blessings,

Blair

Let me just say that the 'look left, look right' thing, is really a life saver!!

This is the Grass Market in Edinburgh, where many men and women were put to death for their reformed faith.

Miss. Rebecca Zes

Miss. Erica Daming

Singing praise in the Iona Abby!

Kelly on the Island of Iona.

Yes, there really are sheep all over the land of Scotland!!

This was the area where you could get a cup of tea for the ride...

Sarah and Rebecca looking over the train schedule...

The Jacobite Steam Train...

Mr. Doug Phillips

Mr. Bill Potter

Wesley S.

Dr. Joe Morecraft

Mr. Collin Gunn

Kelly and Triumph walking through St. Andrews.

St. Andrews

The Falkirk Wheel....

The monument for the battle of Bannockburn

Justice taking notes.

Honor is ready for battle...

Faith looking from the 'Ladies Lookout' at Stirling Castle...

Robert the Bruce Monument

This is the beach where Chariots of Fire was filmed.

Here in this driveway, Patrick Hamilton was burned at the stake.

Elizabeth and Noah Daming...

Peter Serven was the photographer for our tour...

Katherine Walsh watching the Highland Games...

After the games were over, the men from our group went down to try their hand. It was so much fun to watch them throw the 50 lb. dumbbell, and the 86 lb. rock.