July's Trip to Lewis

You know, sometimes when we go through a time of trial, our trial becomes so all-consuming that all our blessings are seen through the light - or darkness, rather - of that trial. And so, instead of counting our many blessings, which are greater than we can articulate and more numerous than we can count, we mope and weigh down our heart with our woes and our afflictions.

I was reading Psalm 105 yesterday, and these words sprung off the page and into (I hope) my heart:

1.O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people.

2 Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works.

3 Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

4 Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.

5 Remember His marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth;

6 O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob His chosen.

7 He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

With this in mind, I am going to write a couple of blog posts about our recent trip home. 

Home is the Isle of Lewis. Obviously.

The posts will be weighed in favour of photos rather than of words, and when you see the photos, you'll understand why:

Catherine, Caleb, and I took a trip to Harris along with my sister, Marina, and my niece, Iona.

To say we were almost bowled over by the beauty of God's creation around us is an understatement. Here, Catherine and Caleb and looking out on Loch Seaforth, enjoying the peace and tranquility it affords.

Erm, hang on. Did I say peace and tranquility? And did you actually believe me, considering I'd already told you my sister was with us.

Really, shame on your naivety.

I call it 'youngest child syndrome', and many of you not-youngest-siblings will agree that the condition is widespread and is utterly non-treatable.

This wee fella. What can I say? Other than that I love him so very, very much.

Honestly, almost around every corner, we ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the beauty before us. The weather was gorgeous - about 25C (77F), with a gentle breeze to keep away midges and, as you see, stunningly blue skies. In other words: perfection.

There is no doubt that our wonderful Creator, who showered such delights on us, is a God of design and beauty and kindness. What therapy for mind and soul these views are!

We stopped off at Horgabost, had our picnic lunch on the machair, and then enjoyed a couple of hours on the sands.

As you see, even on the most perfect of days, our island beaches have plenty space for all visitors. Crowded beaches are not something we know anything of in Lewis or Harris!

Caleb was flying high, enjoying the attention, undoubtedly, more than the scenery. 

And surrounded by all of us, attention was most certainly not in short supply.

How could it be, when he is such an adorable bundle of utter joy?!

Did I mention joy? Yes, I have so many blessings to bring joy to my heart, and of temporal blessings, this wee guy is most certainly a big part of that.

"And no matter what kind of face you put on, young man, Granny is still going to smother you in love and hugs and kisses."

Aye, probably even when you're a teenager. Now, wont that be fun!

News ...

One more post about Mum's birthday day.

This lady on the left ...  

... had something to tell her audience.

Oh yes, she had some wonderful news to share on that evening.

It went something like this:

"We put an offer on a house today."

Cue lots of oohs and ahhs, and 'Oh, Catherine, that's great news!' 

She went on:

"There are three bedrooms. So, that's our room, the guest room, and ...

come August, the third will be used as a ...

nursery."

Bit by bit, the news sank in ...

deeper and deeper ...

until it had finally sunk in.

And the joy could no longer be contained!

That was until someone explained that if Catherine was having a baby, then my baby sister was going to be a ...

Great Aunt!

Great Aunt sounds WAY older than Granny!

Imagine, my baby sister finally may have to grow up!

My Sister ...

There are so many angles from which to come at our recent wedding, but this one is going to concentrate on my sister and me.

A few months back, Marina and I were involved in a radio programme being broadcast on what was, apparently World Sibling Day.

We spoke (and laughed) about what it means to have a sister, and on our similarities in the things that really matter to us – our faith and our families, in particular. We also spoke on some of the (many) differences in us in the things that don’t – to her – matter so much: you know, things like history, and politics, and such like. And on the other hand, things that don’t – to me – matter so much: you know, like fashion, and dress sense and such like.

But we both know, probably at this stage of our lives more than at any other, the preciousness and blessing in having a sister. Seven years of a difference may seem like a fair bit when you’re young; but when you’re our age (of course, Marina is still very young....), seven years seems much less of a gap.

Over the weeks and especially the days leading up to the wedding, I saw more than at any other time of my life, just what it was to have a sister. Apart from the number of times she answered my, ‘What do you think, Marina?’ questions – invaluable, at a time when I had a million questions going around in my head. 

She is so good at saying, depending on the situation:

“oh, that’s a good idea!”

or, “What? That’s a rubbish idea!”

or, “Hmm, let me think about that. Let’s see how that would work”

But simply having her around for moral support, and for very, very necessary light relief was incalculably beneficial for me.

And so, in this tribute-to-Marina and to sisters everywhere, you’ll forgive the load of Marina-and-I photos in this post.

I’m beginning at the morning of the wedding. I had to include this photo of Marina and her beautiful daughter, Iona. 

Marina has her, ‘Erm, excuse me, but who made this tea, and why is it not to my satisfaction?’ expression on her face, while Iona sits so beautifully serene beside her.

We all had the benefit of being together in Inverness all week – Marina and Iona, along with our whole family (and Elissa, Catherine and DR’s American friend, who had the pleasure of meeting Marina and myself for the first time, but Elissa is for another blog post). It was such fun for us all simply being together. We had three days before the actual wedding of coming and going, to-ing and fro-ing, but also of simply chilling, relaxing, and having light-hearted banter. All this time, I was so very aware that this pleasure of simply being together was a luxury. I wanted to savour it, and having Marina there added to the enjoyment so much, not only for me, but for the kids too.

So, back to the wedding morning....

Our good friend, Donald (known as Twin) – who is responsible for taking practically all the photos I can show you – was with us the morning of the wedding. He and Marina were in school together, so they go back a long way. Old friendships are fabulous, don’t you think. Twin’s camera was useful, but his constant source of laughter was truly invaluable.

Here, he’s taken Marina and I outside (I forget why, but he possibly had no logical reason other than to grab a few snaps on his phone), and is trying – successfully – to make us laugh.

The difference between Marina and I is that she is able to laugh elegantly. She keeps her composure and her good looks, while I ... well, you can see how I laugh at Twin’s comments. One day, I shall grow up to be just as mature as Marina.

Or maybe not.

And you know, the relationship between Marina and I doesn’t stop at us two. As the years have gone on, and Iona has grown up and grown to love Catherine and Katie more and more, and our own girls have grown closer and closer to Marina, the extent of our love has widened as well as deepened.

Isn’t it good that Iona has such good role models ....

Yeah. Right.

So many of the memories we made over the past year or two have included Iona as well as Marina. Both Marina and I have noticed more and more over the years that our kids are happiest at events when they’re all there together. It’s a joy for us, and clearly a joy for them too. For myself, I’m a different person when I know Marina is involved with our preparations, and when she’s there by my side.

From 18th birthday parties to 21st birthdays to Hen Days, Iona, as well as Marina, has been part of them all, and she and our girls have grown to be more than simply first cousins. As I said, having a sister has benefits that widen and deepen and begin to include so many more people than just the two of us.

Here’s my dear sister and her long-suffering very fortunate husband. Strangely, although Marina and I are very different in so many ways, we went for very similar fellas, I’d say. We both got great husbands. God was truly good to us both in that regard.

Having the same foundation in our lives makes our relationship more than simply that of genetic sisters. We are sisters in Christ too, a relationship  that will last beyond this life, and transcends even the closest of familial relationships. The combination of the two is so precious.

I also think that being different ...

in our natures – I am so glad for who she is, and her constant ability to make me laugh (especially at myself); I love how easy it is for her to speak of matters of the soul and of what she has recently been reading or hearing of our Saviour, and her enthusiasm when she learns something new

in our interests – I reckon her lack of interest in my ‘pet subjects’ .... you know, things like the American War between the States, or the history of Fascism in Europe, or the progression of a European Union, etc etc, enhances our relationship. In fact, as I write these things, I can see her eyes glaze over and I can feel that look she gives me. It says something like, 'Anne, I know there's a noise coming out of your mouth, but to us normal people, it's nothing more than that: noise. I'm officially zoned out. You are officially boring. I want tea and cake. Zip it."

Isn't that right, Marina?

Despite, and probably because of these differences, I love my sister so very much. And now that we've moved away, I miss her more than I can say. Yes, I know we can be in touch every day - and how I love modern technology for this! but I still miss that I can't just hop in the car and pop in for tea and cake and chat (as long as I keep off my pet subjects, eh, Marina!)

So to all you sisters out there, remember this: y'all are the best thing since sliced bread. 

Velcom to Vittenberg ... and a Mish-mash

Dearie me, life is busy. Where have I been?

I have been to Wittenburg.

Can y'all think why? More to follow...

You remember Jackson?

You remember - the grouse-retriever-for-Royalty?

Well, this is what he has been reduced to.

The guys were lifting potatoes today again. This time, the wind wasn't so strong, but the rain didn't stopped all day.

Mud, mud, mud. It's so much part of my life, I simply cannot imagine any other way of living.

Here's one of Katie's pizzas from the other night. This was it just before cheese was added.

The first time Katie made pizza from scratch, it was nice, but I really could only think of one thing: 

Why would anyone go to all this trouble when I could go to the freezer and stick one in the oven?

The second time she made them, I realised they are much yummier than any shop-bought ones.

And the whole job becomes less time-consuming every time she practices it.

You remember my day in town, the crane, and dinky toys?

This is now the view of my sister's back garden, taken from the bottom of 'the hole'.  

If you look right in the middle of the photo, you are able to see the top of the washing line pole. Just to give you an idea of the height of the rubble pile.

Today, I made these Raspberry Muffins.

The photo is from Cooking for Seven's blog, and is only one of countless wonderful photos and recipes on this site.

These muffins are de-lic-ious. The streusel on top is so yummy. It reminded me of Laurie's coffee cake. You know the cake that's got coffee in its name but not in itself. I like to drink coffee, but I don't like coffee in anything, so I was mighty relieved when Laurie's coffee cake was coffee in name only.

Am I making any sense?

As well as the Raspberry Muffins, I made oatcakes and some fruit loaves today.

Then my cousin and her family came to visit.

Then my pal and her family came to visit. 

I'm so glad my house was immaculately tidy when they all came. 

Yeah, well, anyway....

While I was baking today, I listened to the sermon Why Have I Found Grace? I love that title. I love the sentiment behind the question.

I'm so glad we've been able to have a wee yarn just now. I feel like I've not seen y'all for ages. I hope y'all have a wonderful Lord's Day.

Cranes, Diggers, and Fascinated Little Boys

This is my sister's house.

She, her hubby and family live here. They are in town. Therefore, they have trees.

This digger in the foreground, needs to find its way into their back garden, and there is only one route possible.

This crane...

is being steadied...

and readied...

is being stretched...

and hooked...

to hoist the digger over the house,

right over the house,

and into the back garden.

These guys were good. Really good.

No swinging; no mistakes; no panic. Just up, over the house, and into the perfect position in the back garden.

When they were done with the first digger, another had to have the same treatment.

It looks kinda like a dinky toy, doesn't it...

And into the back garden,

brought down perfectly between the washing line poles.

All in a day's work for these guys. 

Watching the action were three enthralled little boys.

See this wee guy closest. 

Here are his feet.

Isn't he just adorable. If his dad hadn't been there, keeping a watchful eye on him, I could quite easily have taken him home with me. 

And so, another photo of something you don't see on my blog every day.

Trees.

Aye, easily seen I was in town today.