Not your average shopping mall

So the chilling continues, but now we are in Orange County visiting friends and getting ready for our road trip. Today we visited a place we'd never been to before, and it was quite a treat.

We didn't shop, but just wandered around, brousing through the stores and enjoying the the setting.

Sherriff Sawyer kept us from getting into trouble.

The best part about this shopping center was the outdoor atmosphere. We sat on some tree benches in the shade for a while, enjoying the breeze. The coolest feature was the hammock!

Chillin

It hasn't taken long to have our first barbeque back in the States. We are at Kelli's family's house and they decided to get a new barbeque - and we were more than happy to help them eat some hamburgers.





We have also enjoyed getting to know the new puppy - Tigger - who has been fun.



Tigger seems to think that if he follows me around he will be well fed. Probably a pretty safe assumption!



Other than that, we've just been chillin in Bakersfield since we've arrived a couple of days ago. We are trying to get over jetlag and trying our best to relax a bit. We'll have some more updates soon!

Last few days in Aberdeen

As I sit and write this we are getting ready for bed on the eve of our departure from Aberdeen. Almost exactly four years after we arrived, we now leave, with about the same amount of clarity about our future! This time has, without question, been a truly blessed time, and we will both miss Aberdeen dearly. For four of the five years of our marriage we have lived in Aberdeen, and it has truly become home. We both know that the weight of this life change won't set in for many weeks, and we know that we go back with excitement for the future but also a real melancholy about leaving our friends and home here.

Even though our time here was "winding down" this past week, we've made sure we made the most of it. I graduated, as can be seen below...



...we spent some good time with friends over some ice cream and coffee...



...had some going away parties...



and shared life with those here who we've shared life with.




We hope and pray that all of our friends will make it over to the States for a visit, and we are already planning our next trip out, Lord willing, with our little girl, at some point. This phase of life has been a blessed time, and we leave Aberdeen knowing it will always have a soft place in our heart. To our Aberdeen friends, we hope we will continue to share life with you from afar, and trust that the Lord will allow our paths to cross soon.

Hello's and Goodbye's

We are well in the mix of saying our goodbyes to our friends here in Scotland, which is never easy, but we also had the chance to say hello to some friends who we met here who have since moved on to Israel. The Foreman family came back for a visit and so it was fun hanging out with them. It is a bit weird to be catching up at the same time as saying goodbye, but it was fun to meet up with friends we haven't seen in a while.



We took a stroll along the beach which was the place Kelli and I would always run into them our first year. We both tended to take late night walks in the Summer and so it was fun to do so again. We'll try to get more updates done if we can, but things are getting really crazy here until we go.

Our final castle adventure

Yesterday we quite randomly happened to visit one last castle before we depart Aberdeen. The intention of this adventure was to visit the castle gardens. Interestingly, this castle was one of the first grounds we visited four years ago. During Easter break of 2006 we came to Aberdeen for a week to see if Kyle wanted to study here. Our cousins took us to this castle on that trip; however, the gardens were closed during that time. So, four years later, after visiting many castles all over Scotland, we made it back to see these gardens. Truly a peaceful stroll and a lovely evening.

Last trip to Inverness

Today was a long, but very good day. We took the train to Inverness to say goodbye to our cousins. The weather was perfect for such a train journey. This picture does not do justice to the views from the train window. Scotland is truly beautiful, with all its green hills, peaceful animals, and bright blue skies.





We spent some time in our cousins' garden...lots of beaufiful flowers.










A lovely visit.