I should have written sooner...

......about the amazing, incredible, God-ordained beauty that is.......our trip to Scotland. You know, the trip we've dreamed about, thought about, planned out, had our hearts set on, thought would actually never REALLY come together or be possible??? Yup, that trip. Yup, we're going. I still feel a surreal sense of wonder when I say that. Many different factors went into the decision for us to go, including an insane sale on Airtran tickets that allowed us to buy my mom a ticket down here, and of course, her extremely generous willingness to come watch our wild children while we are gone; getting Claire's SS card finally, and being able to do our taxes and getting back almost twice what Nate had estimated (and this was just weird because usually he knows our finances to the penny, he was really surprised); getting some really great commission checks, having rewards money on credit card that covered car rental and gas, and several other really "Divine deals". But, what preempted all of that was some dear wise friends encouraging us to go see the movie UP. I know, you're thinking..."Uh, what does a Pixar movie have to do with going on a ridiculous vacation?" Well, go see the movie and then you'll see. Nathan said he wants to take me to "our Paradise Falls." :)

So, on August 12th, after my mother arrives on the 11th, we will board a plane in Atlanta and fly a bajillion hours to Edinburgh, by way of Amsterdam and arrive in the land of glen and loch and munro at about 10:30 in the morning. There, we will rent a car and I will laugh uproariously and also pray for safety as Nathan drives a stick shift on the wrong side of the road out of the city of Edinburgh. We will head north where we will eventually arrive at an undisclosed (to me) location after taking in several points of interest along the way. Nathan is doing this just like our honeymoon. I know we are going, but I won't know the actual details of the locations until we get there. He just keeps saying "Man, I really want to tell you about this.....but I won't." :P There we will spend three nights, going out every day to planned excursions which will include seeing lots of different castles, looking for long lost relatives in graveyards and kirk lists, among other things. We'll visit the battlefield of Culloden, where so many brave highlanders lost their lives in the doomed effort to follow Bonnie Prince Charlie to his throne and establish their independence from the sassenach English. Then we will drive to another bed and breakfast (this is my guess, I suppose we could be staying in a tent) for two nights, and I think from here we will travel to the Isle of Skye among many other amazingly beautiful places. Nathan really wants to watch the sun set over the ocean. Then travel south for another night somewhere else, planned excursions, and I think this will be the day we "bag our munro" (climb a small mountain), then farther south for our last night in accomodations, then back to Edinburgh, where we will party til late in the night because our flight leaves at 4ish in the morning. We return the 21st, which is actually the day of our 10th anniversary. We will touch back down on American soil at almost exactly the time we were wed a decade ago. While we are there we will also get our picture taken with Nessie (or at least the statue of her by the visitors center at Loch Ness) re-enact part of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, since it was filmed in Scotland ("Silly English Knnnnights!!") eat oatcakes, bannochs, scones, cullen skink and possibly even haggis, have a wee dram of some real Scottish whisky (no "e" in Scotland), and I will try my best to get a picture of Nathan in a kilt.

Also, amongst all the fun we will be having seeing and being in historic places, castles, bed and breakfasts, taking pictures, walking and all, of course we will be without our children. Now, this makes me take a breath, and have to really trust God, and settle my heart. I have never been away, and certainly not this far away, from my kids for this long. I am not worried for their safety or their enjoyment while we are gone, they couldn't be in better hands than my mother's. I need to mentally make the leap that this is okay before I go, though. I will miss them, and it will certainly be strange to be without them. On the other hand, though, besides 24 hours when Grace was a baby, this will be the first time that we will be alone, together, without me hugely pregnant, ever since we had kids. It makes me just stop and think and smile. IF I can get over the fact that we will be millions of miles (okay, it will just feel like that, I know) away from the children, I know we will enjoy it- just the beauty of being with each other, no one, nothing else to take care of or pay attention to than each other. And the fact that this is a celebration of the fact that the Lord has brought us through 10 years of marriage together. That is amazing to me. If I stop and reflect on that fact, I am just in awe of what the Lord has gotten us through, how He has grown us, through circumstances that neither of us ever would have chosen, let alone thought we could get through. And here we are, closer than we have ever been, about to embark on a new facet of our life together, and leaning on the Lord and thankful for all He has given us. What a blessing.

And now, completely apart from anything having to do with Scotland or anniversaries, I wanted to copy something my wise English friend Zoe posted on Facebook today. She is a veritable fountain of knowledge of old, beautiful prayers and blessings, and here is another one. I will leave you with this:

A Franciscan Benediction:

May God bless you with discomfort

At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships

So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger

at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,

So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears

to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,

So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness

to believe that you can make a difference in the world,

So that you can do what others claim cannot be done

to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen Amen Amen