Only a few days left

It's Saturday. I've figured out where most things will be packed and Kyrie's Girl Scout vest (waistcoat) has all her patches on it ready for bridging tomorrow. It was sunny to start with today and my dear husband just had to be out and take us with him on a long drive. I have to admit I was reluctant and I knew the kids would be, too, but overall it was a nice drive. Unfortunately, we left just before lunchtime and didn't find a place to stop until around 3pm. Aidan bluntly stated that his dad was trying to starve his children. Lunch\dinner (linner? dunch?) was at Lisi's Country Restaurant near Aviemore. It was a lovely, cozy place and the food was excellent- even taking into account how hungry we were. We had rain and a little bit of hail on the way home.

Tomorrow is our last Sunday at our church here in Banchory. Next Sunday we'll be walking into a different building with different people, but still the same family of God. We're kind of wondering where we'll end up. We may try the church plant started by our previous congregation in The Woodlands.

I hope I'm not too weepy tomorrow.

I'm not sure when we'll have a chance to blog again as the two remaining desktop computers will be boxed up for the air shipment on Monday. Unless I get a chance tomorrow, I'll likely be writing from Houston. It seems a bit strange and still a little unreal.

Trusting in the Lord,
Naomi for the Colliers

We're still leaving on the 30th!

Whew! Tartan has decided it's better to continue with our original plan than change everything to get there a day earlier. (Thank goodness!)

>Naomi

Packing

The packing is moving along very quickly. Tartan likens it to being just ahead of an avalanche- we get an area ready for packing and *whoosh* it's all packed up! The house has more of an "echo" feel each day. I stopped working on this post and it's now Wednesday. All the sea ship items have been packed up and taken away. They'll come back on Monday to pack up the items for the air ship. Tartan is in the process of making all the changes necessary to have us fly out on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. I don't take to such big, sudden changes very well, but I'm trying to be sanguine.

To change the subject...

We had a great weekend. Tartan got home just in time for our silent auction or "fire sale". It was fun and we got rid of just about all our UK-only items. On Sunday, friends hosted the annual AWANA end-of-year party and the weather was actually very nice. The kids ran around playing with their friends and Tartan and I sat about and chatted. And we all ate really well.


In other news, we are buying a house! It's a 4200 sq ft house on an acre of land surrounded on 2 sides by a lake with fountains in it. The few pictures that are online and Tartan's descriptions tell me that it's a gorgeous house. The only downsides are it only has 4 bedrooms and there's currently no "Bug fence". We'll be able to move kids around (or send them out to the yard to camp out) whenever we have visitors and we'll have to build some kind of enclosure in back to keep Kayleigh away from the water. We're already thinking about a wooden swingset\fort and an enclosed trampoline. The master "retreat" has a sitting area with a gaslog fireplace and a door out to the back patio.

That's all for now. It's been hectic and obviously a big disruption in our lives, but with the help of so many friends it's gone well so far!

Trusting in the Lord,

Naomi for the Colliers

I'm going to go through some painful Internet withdrawal this week. Yes, the movers are all over the house, packing up, and later today the computers shall fall victim to the packing. As almost all my schoolwork is packed up, I am spending most of my time at the Banchory Library.
We shall miss Scotland a lot. It has wonderful, sweeping scenic vistas. It has all the friends we've made in the three years we've been here. It has Doctor Who and the Banchory Library, though I think only I shall sorely miss the last one.
Dad says he's found just the house, in the Estates of Legends Ranch, with spacious backyard and lake. I think it's a wonderful house, but I'm going to miss being able to walk to places. You have to drive everywhere in Houston. However, I may instead work on long-distance biking to the Library and friend's houses.
Our last days here are being very chaotic, and I am feeling nervous about the move itself. I get a strange hollow feeling in my stomach whenever I think of going to the Aberdeen airport and getting on the plane, seeing Scotland for the last time...

Not all those who wander are lost...

Trusting in the Lord,
Alex for the Colliers.

Thursday's nearly here!

That's the day the removals crew shows up and starts packing us up. I think we're ready for it- at least I hope so. I'm very thankful for all our friends who are taking it in turn to watch the kids, especially the youngest two.

Before I forget, AWANA finished for the year last Sunday and so: a big congratulations to Abigail for completing all 4 red jewels and at least one green jewel in her Skipper handbook and to Aidan for completing all 4 red jewels in his last Sparks book. It's hard to believe that Aidan will be in Truth and Training next year. Last and certainly not least, congratulations to Kyrie for completing her 2nd T&T handbook!

Tartan has had probably his worst travel day ever (sounds like a bad Richard Scarry title). He's stuck in Amsterdam, but will hopefully be in Houston sometime tomorrow. He heads home Friday, arriving Saturday. It's our prayer that that part of his travels, as well as tomorrow, will be smooth and without incident. He should still have some time to look at a few houses- and maybe even find "the one".

Trusting in the Lord,
Naomi for the Colliers

Another "last"

Alex, Kyrie and Aidan had their last piano lesson in Scotland today. Adele has been teaching Alex and Kyrie since very shortly after we arrived here and got Alex to the point of passing his ABRSM Grade 2 with merit in March. Aidan just started this year, but he's really enjoyed learning the keys and playing songs. Today he got to learn "Boogie Woogie Beat" or as Aidan read it, "Boogie Woogie Beast". It'll be a little different when they start lessons in the States. They're more geared toward having recitals than passing exams.

Cheers!
>Naomi

Our last campout - Daviot

Hello again! Alex here, and I'm here to report on our last Cub Scout campout. Amazingly, it was a dry campout, a rarity in these parts. One of the best campouts at the Daviot Stone Circle I can remember, on this campout we got to do archery and BB shooting. Legolas I am not, but I was reasonably proficient at archery. The campfire was wonderful, but the morning was windy and cold. I survived, and I'm sure the entire family will remember our last campout. Meanwhile, at the house, everyone is Doctor Who-mad. Especially Bug. Mom is concerned with her Dalek obsession. The move is May 30th, mark your calendars.

Don't Panic...

Trusting in the Lord,
Alex for the Colliers

Aidan's 1st blog

Sat. The first thing I had to do was tying knots- square knots. And then I went to the Admiral's Benbow (the leaky bucket) where I had a lot of fun. Then I went to Skull and Crossbones and went water-cannon shooting: got wet! And then I went to outrace the Black Pearl which was a raingutter regatta. And then I went musket shooting. I got to shoot bb's. I hit the target once. Nighttime. Had s'mores. Then to the campfire where Dad and I sang the song of the "Scottish" Moose- Fred. Then went to bed. Sun. Had breakfast of egg, pop tart and a tropical Capri Sun. Then we started off for the airport. When we got on the plane, I played a lot of Harry Potter on my gameboy. We drove a lot of miles from Edinburgh to home. When I got home I was happy to see my family. The end.