Kids in jammies and Dunnottar Castle

I have told you how yummy Luke is in his shorts pj's and thought you needed to see his preciousness. I know, I know, I should have chosen 1, but I couldn't decide...

My tall lassie doing some important art in the early morning.

...and taking care of Mickie. Mickie had fallen out of favor, for no fault of her own. Sadly, we (read Rebekah) had lost her paci and thus felt less inclined to play with her. It was a day of great rejoicing!

These flowers are outside our flat and I just thought they were pretty and different.

Back when Luke was born, my precious friend and mentor Carrie, gave this adorable romper to Luke- I remember thinking he would never be big enough for it! Look at those meaty legs! And, yes, it was amazingly warm- almost 70 degrees!

Because it was so warm, Josh blew off studying for a few hours so we could hit Dunnottar Castle again. The kids and I were game. There's nothing like this castle on a gorgeous day. Since I've shown pics twice before, I only put a few on.

This was a part of the castle that we had never seen. Not sure how we missed it. Obviously, it has been restored.

Rebekah and I had a date while Luke napped and Josh studied. We went to the park, the beach, and Burger King. Revekah was barely on the opposite side of the booth, and then asked if she could it next to me. LOVE that girl. We had a great time.

We also got to go to our friends' place for their son's 2nd birthday. All in all, a great day!!

Rebekah-isms:

(pointing at a smoker): He's cigaretting. He's making a bad choice.

(pointing at stranger): Stranger danger! (pointing at multiple strangers):Stranger dangers!

(explaining to me): They're strangers to us because we don't know them. We're strangers to them because they don't know us. You're not a stranger to me because you're my mommy and I know you. I'm not a stranger to you because you know me and love me. Mommy...do stranger dangers know each other?

Luke giggles, taco salad, and random church and neighborhood news

Josh took 2 of his 3 exams this week for his (second) master's degree. Did I mention he already has a 4 year master's degree? Anyway, because he was studying so much, we brought lunch and a much-needed giggle break to him.

Evidently, Luke was not amused.

Luke loves having things on his head. He likes to balance them and then shake his head. I like to facilitate the activity.

I'd be lying if I didn't tell you how proud of myself I am. I have been looking at this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens for YEARS, thinking smugly to myself, that would never work. Well, alas, we find ourselves in a place that doesn't do Mexican food. So..here goes:

Step 1: Make taco meat and salsa.

Step 2: Fry the tortillas in 2 inches of cooking oil.

Step 3: Press down on the center of the tortilla while it fries, for maybe a minute.

Step 4: Let them drip on paper towels.

Step 5: Admire your handiwork and think how cool this will look on your blog.

Step 7: Make a taco salad with all your faves!

Yes, I know, I am amazing. I can hear Mike Malone saying, "Let another man's mouth praise you."

Anyway, today was amazing- 68 degrees!!!!! Hottest day of the year- by far!

It has been interesting in our complex recently. I kid you not when I say we live in the ghetto. It's not dangerous, just kind of a melting pot of Scottish, Polish, Muslim, and Malones. So, I don't mean to be anything other than informative, but this is a poor area. Probably no surprise, but that means a lot of broken homes and single moms. We definitely do not fit the profile of the average person living here. Having pretty much come from the lap of luxury, it was very strange to find ourselves here. Litter everywhere, language dripping from and cigarettes practically affixed to every mouth, regardless of age, and many, many parentless children, running around unsupervised. I have mentioned before that Josh takes our kids out most evenings as I finish up dinner. The nicer weather has drawn out the entire neighborhood, and I have been shocked to see how many kids want to talk to him/us. Once again, our own children- pale white, blonde, and blue-eyed, with funny accents- have attracted a lot of attention. Currently, our neighborhood friends are: Leah, Alisha, Jade, Fatima, Adam, Jessica, Callum, Cameron, and Lauren. We have started building relationships with their parents as we see them. Josh had a great talk with Fatima's dad (nominally Muslim, though his wife is covered, as are all the women) the other day about our church and its current issue-

side bar: the denomination (The Church of Scotland- Scottish Presbyterian) has a division (no actual divide has happened yet) because it just ordained and gave its blessing to an openly gay man (who I believe left his wife and children, allegedly amicably, as if that makes it better) that publicly shares the parish with his partner. The argument is that the plethora of Scripture against homosexuality does not apply because, at that time, they did not understand a committed, loving relationship between 2 adults. Ridiculous logic, in my opinion, and very patronizing to that culture, as if we could come up with something new (see Ecclesiastes). So, our church was 1 of 12 that filed a complaint against that decision- crazy week, but basically our complaint was not strong enough to overturn the ruling and the media has run with it out of excitement. Our church and others like it will have to decide how to proceed- whether or not to leave the denomination. We own our building, which is huge, but our poor pastor would lose his pension, I imagine, if we were to leave. Pray for us as our church proceeds.

So, Fatima's dad was curious what Christians thought about this issue and Josh was able to talk with him for a while. We now are more welcomed by the Muslim ladies in the area, who no longer avoid eye contact, wondering if we are racist, as many of the poor Scotsmen are. :( The Scottish girls seemed awed by the fact that we are married and have been married longer than our children have been alive.

Pray for us as we try to cultivate more relationships here in the Powis area.

Bits and Bobs (Tidbits Scottish-style)

These pics aren't great, but it's what I have. We have been playing outside a lot, which is great!

Sitting beside me, Rebekah is mourning that "Notember" is far away- that's when we are returning to TX, sweet girl. I love her little mix-ups- she asked about the Eilers and why they were in Texigan? (a combo of TX and Michigan)

Luke is doing well- working on his 7th tooth, signing with fury, insisting on pat-a-cake by clapping until I do it, sitting up in his crib a lot, starting to eat better (yea!), drinking from my cup-yes, that was MY cup- he signs until I let him take a sip and his look of triumph as I acquiesce is worth the share and his tiny little gag.

You have to start them early.

NO- I did not let him actually drink a carbonated beverage. I have shared water and a wee bit of sugar-free peach tea.

Feeding himself something he foraged from the ground. I just loved his little legs and shoed feet.

Rebekah chasing seagulls.

Love this little face, making sure I'm there and just giving me smiles

and waves- he waves now!!

She loves my sunglasses...incidentally, they fit around her waist. Hmm.

Luke had just been signing for more of something delicious and I wasn't watching b/c I was documenting R in her, I mean, my glasses. he grabbed my shirt, yanked on it until I looked at him, and then signed again. So cute!! This am, I went in to find him sitting, piling his pacis in the corner of his crib. I garbbed him for a good snuggle, but he quickly took out his paci, dropped it, and signed for more. I guess that's his way of telling me he was hungry. :)