first things first... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Davidson
when ashley and i went to Edinburgh...we saw the woman who holds the Guinness world record for most piercings...we just found this out today!!! i knew there was a reason for coming to scotland!

more in-depth: this has been quite the journey. i have gone in and out of thoughts on what is important to me in life. i never knew one way for God to help me grow would be to send me to scotland. but it has a lot. i have basically been forced to face myself each day with who i am. i realized how in the past its been easy for me to put others interests/feelings on myself, kind of ignoring what my interests and feelings are. but i've started to discover those things that get me excited about life. its not going to pubs, living the 'city' life, or trying to make a million friends at once. it is about walking in to coffee shops and sitting down in a comfy chair to have good conversation or a writing session with God. it is about going up and down hills to my art classes and realizing that it is ok not to be perfect. that sculpting a human body is not going to look like it belongs in an museum my first try. and drawing does not have to be a certain way, just as long as i let myself breathe and love the process. it is about accepting someones love and friendship, knowing they wont leave even if i can't make decisions all the time. it is about realizing that back home my heart misses when i thought i wouldn't miss it at all. i have to come to the understanding that life here for me is more that the stereotypical scottish life, it is about walking with God everywhere I go and listening to Him tell me each step He wants me taking. No matter where i go, who i am with, how my life is here, He tells me its where He wants me.
Saturday I went to a worship concert called 'Soul Survivor' with Mark. He heard about it through people from his church. It was held in the South end of town (a place needed to be discovered) at the Queen's Park Baptist Church. It was an amazing night, a night I had been longing for ever since I came here. A night of praising the Lord, dancing and singing to Him, and accepting and surrendering life to Him again! It was amazing to see all these people fill this place up coming together to sing for the thankfulness and praise to a God that LOVES. I couldn't help but cry a little...of course.

more out-depth: i got a card from mom and she said maybe the best chocolate cake that mark and i have will be one that we make...so our daring selves tried this. friday night we spent a couple hours preparing the best 'EGG SPONGE, non-tasting chocolate, so bad had to spit out CAKE'. haha. it was awful, but of course the measuring techniques here are different, we didn't exactly have all the right ingredients and the ovens were foreign to us...excuses i know. But it isn't the last time, we think we can only get better turnouts!
we also tried to find the play Peter Pan (which crazily is the minneapolis childeren's theatre here touring) but it was in the East end of glasgow (the called 'dodgy' part of town). But after 2.45 hours on a bus we only found it after the play had started! just wasn't meant to be to find peter pan that day.
sunday went to Re:Hope again, it was different this time since Sandra and Kenny weren't there but it was nice to think about them having a lovely time in Texas! I am joining a Bible Read through group, which gets together every tuesday in starbuck to talk about a book in the bible. Im quite excited about that!
things i miss: cinnamon toast crunch, natural skippy peanut butter, high-pressure shower heads.
...before i end this post i would like to open the comment section up for anyone that has prayer requests that I could pray for!
see you!