School begins, vacation ends

We arrived home from our adventure in London and Scotland on Tuesday evening still amazed at the events that had happened. Just briefly, we had flown into London and had arrived the previous Thursday around lunch. This was the longest time (6 days) that Rog and I had had together alone, in 30 years. We got to reunite with friends after the theatre that night, get on the train to Durham the next morning to stay with a cousin I had never met, and begin what seemed like a very orchestrated few days.

We arrived in Durham, Northern England, and instantly clicked with my cousin Les and his wife Edna. The next day or so we saw the sights of Durham, including the most magnificent cathedral that is 1000 years old. And, as if it was planned, the choir just happened to be rehearsing as we entered this wonderful, breathtaking church. Les, knowing I was a singer, had invited some of his Scottish and English friends around that evening for a jam session. We sang scottish songs, country songs with a scottish accent and listened to Les play the Northumbrian Pipes. It was and evening we won't forget. Rog played base and we all sang along until around midnight.

We got up early the next morning and headed up to Scotland to find Carmunnock where Roger's great grandparents had lived and his grandmother had been born. On the way we found Gretna Green, our scottish clan symbols, which of course we brought home, and finally Carmunnock. There were two things Rog wanted to see here, that was "Coulters Wood" which was named after his grandfather's family, and his grandmother's house that we knew was still standing and had seen photo's of on the internet.

We saw the welcome sign to Carmunnock and pulled in to take a photo. What a surprise for us. Right behind the sign was another one through a little gate that said "Coulters Wood". After that we went on to find a charming old church where there was a wedding, piper and a graveyard. We found his great grandparents gravestone, before walking on to find his grandmothers birth home commonly called "The Crawford House". Event after event lead us to meet his mum's first cousin and see multiple family photo albums. It was an amazing day that seemed to have been planned for us before we began. Of course, God's timing is perfect. We had planned this trip last year, and because of Isaiah joining the family, it all had to be put on hold until we felt it was the right time. So although we celebrated our 30th anniversary almost at our 31st, it could not have been planned better.

We went on just three miles to find Les and my grandmother's village, Shettlestone, which was now swallowed up in the Glasgow ghettos. What a difference in just three miles. Of course, Carmunnock is a preserved villiage, where the other is not. It was like two different worlds. We visited Hadrians wall on the way back and spent our last night having dinner together in Durham at a wonderful Thai restaurant. We will remember this trip for a long time. A big thanks of course goes to Shaun and Laura our eldest son and his wife, for taking on the challenge of 9 kids, 6 dogs, 6 goats, 2 horses and 10 chickens!

We came home to school, and the usual routine. We have all nine going to the small private Christian school most have gone to now for several years. Isaiah and the boys started there with the others this year. Of course the boys have attended here before but because of their special needs needed to go back to the public system for assessment to be able to get the help in their education that was needed. Isaiah, has been at a special school called the Welcome Center that is designed for non-english speaking children to assimilate into the normal school system. While he learned a lot last year, he is certainly facing huge challenges this year with the amount of reading he has to do. So it's up and at 'em again for the next school year and what it brings.