catch-up.

Definitely in need of a catch-up on here.

And boy is there a lot to fill you in on.

I am writing to you from sunny California.

Yup. It happened. wow.

It is very surreal. I am still adjusting to it.

I often find myself just in awe of God and all that He has done in my life.

We got the good news in March and I pretty much booked my ticket as soon as I could.

In hindsight, it was a little rushed.

But remember, I have been waiting for years for this all to happen. So when everything was finalised I was desperate to leave.

And it has really been a whirlwind ever since.

I have been here for 2 months and it already feels like 2 years in some ways!

I already love my job.

Seriously, the Lord made the perfect job for me.

I work with some of the greatest people ever.

No joke.

They are becoming very dear friends.

I feel part of the family already.

I am part of the most wonderful small group.

I look forward to it each week.

The Lord has just flooded my life with so many lovely people.

He has blessed me with some great, solid friendships already.

I am one thankful girl.

Having said all that, it feels a little different this time.

 I can't quite put my finger on what exactly is different, but it sure is.

I am missing my family.

Big time.

Especially my brother and sister.

I find myself daily longing to hang out with them.

I am fortunate that I get to speak with them pretty often.

I spoke to my sister this morning for a couple of hours.

Funny how hours can pass with sisters and you don't even realise it!

I also spoke with my mum last week.

That was wonderful.

I miss her a lot.

There are some things that only your mum can make better.

We were laughing and talking.

Nothing beats laughing with your mamma.

I can't wait for the day that we are in the same room and laughing.

So there are days when I feel pretty lonely.

In some ways I am thankful for this.

I am thankful that I can lean on the Lord knowing that He has my very best interests at heart.

I am confident that this is where the Lord wants me to be and I will strive to do my best for Him.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:5-6

I am fully trusting in my ever faithful Lord.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

He wants me to flourish in all that I do.

My hope is in Him.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7

I am still rejoicing!

Here are a few photos from the past few weeks.

Her smile is contagious.

These little girls never fail to make me smile.

Having fun with my sweet friend.



My small group ladies. They are such a blessing.

I love these two lovely ladies. They are such an encouragement to me. I am so thankful for their friendship.

So there is a little bit of a catch-up and some photos of my sweet blessings.  



Timing.

It happened again.

A whole month passed again.

Oh my goodness, I don't know where it went...but it certainly has gone!

I feel like I am super duper busy right now.

(I hate using that as an excuse)

Don't you feel like time sometimes goes by so fast, but yet it feels like it is dragging?

Yes, I know that doesn't make sense but that you all know what I mean!

I have been quite disheartened these past couple of months.

As you know, I am trying to get to America to work and live.

This has been a long process, like really long.

Over a year and a half has passed since we started working on it.

So I am ready to be there now.

It consumes all my thoughts, day and night.

I long for the day that I am worshipping in the Church where my heart is.

But I know that the Lord is working in me at this time.

He is teaching me so much.

Today a certain story in the Bible was brought to my attention.

Remember Lazarus? Jesus was called to heal him when he was sick. He didn't come then.

He didn't even make it back in time for the dead body to be prepared. He came in after Lazarus died.

Timing. The Lord has is it down.

He knows the perfect time for everything.

I know this, so why do I doubt?

Why do I question it all?

Thinking about Lazarus reminds me that He is in control and will come in HIS time.

I believe that the Lord has called me to go and work in California, and if this is His will then He will get me there. I take great comfort in this.

There is no one else I would rather put my trust in.

He provides for us in every way. 

His timing is so much better than mine.

I don't always remember this though.

So please pray for me.



Vanilla memories.

This little beauty above has been a great friend to all the baking I have done for years. I'm pretty sure that it is what makes my baking taste so good! Let me tell you about how this came to be in my kitchen.

This was a gift from my dear friend, Margie. She gave it to me when I was visiting her in California in 2006. If I remember correctly, she askes a friend to get this while they were in Mexico. I still don't know how I managed to get this gem home. When I was flying home that summer my flight was early in the morning from LA so we all spent the night at a Hotel near the airport. We woke up in the morning to find the news littered with everything that was going on at the airports. There had been a bomb scare at one of the airports and they were being extra cautious about all liquids that were going on the flights. When we got to the airport there were queues going all along the side of the airport. It was making me very uneasy, aswell as being upset about saying good-bye to my American family. I was sure that they would put my suitcase through the scanner and see this huge bottle and think for sure that it was that "B" word!!! But thankfully for me, and everyone that I bake for, the vanilla made it all the way to Scotland.

I have had some great times with my Mexican vanilla and will definitely miss it in my kitchen. I might just have to make a trip to Mexico for some...it would definitely be worth it.

But, after writing this, I would much rather make a trip to California to make more memories with American family. In fact, I would love to be booking a one-way ticket. Praying that this will happen soon.

"renew a steadfast spirit within me"

I know already did a post with the title "NEW year"..but I really didn't talk about 2011 at all. So here it is. I am excited for this year. I believe that it will hold many changes and challenges and I so ready for this. Last year I was so sure that I would be moving to California at some point during the year. This year I know that I will be moving to California, but I also know that this will be in God's time NOT mine. So maybe not even this year (I am praying that it is this year though) I am very encouraged by the fact that this is bigger than me and that there are many people praying about this with me. You can pray with us if you like? ♥
I am preparing myself to say good-bye to many dear friends, people that have been around me my whole life. This makes me a little bit sad.  But I know a lot about being far away from friends and still being close to them. I am not worried about losing touch with friends. I am worried about missing people, also something that I know a lot about. But aswell as saying farewell I will be saying a huge HELLO to my American family. And this I am excited about. When I first went to California in 2004 the LORD planted something sweet in my heart, in 2006 I said to my dear friend, Nikki, that one day I would be living over there and in 2009 the LORD told me it was time to get moving!

So really, I don't know what 2011 is going to hold. But I do know who's hands it is in and this fills be with confidence!

I got baptised when I was in California in 2009. Another dear friend of mine, Karen, read out the bible verse I chose. I should do a post on my baptism, it was definitely the LORD's decision. Anyway, the verse that I chose was Psalm 51:10
"Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
This is still my prayer.

One things for sure, in 2011 I will be praising the LORD.

A NEW year.

Happy New Year...a bit late! I guess I am still in shock that it is now 2011. WOW.

I have actually been off work and had lots of time on my hands. I have loved it. I have watched movies, spent precious time with my family, baked (of course!), spent hours talked to friends who are further away and had some much needed rest. There have been many times that I have sat down to post something on here but, as you can see, I am only now getting round to it.

A little reflection on 2010. In some ways this has been a crazy year for me. This time last year I was such a horrible mess. Probably not the best way to put. If you remember back to them I had just quit my job with the intention of pursuing what I believed to be the LORD's plan for me. At that point I hadn't really, completely thought things through I was just thankful to get out of a job and course that was not right for me and that was making me almost ill with worry. But I had not given a thought to where I would get a job. I remember meeting with my friend at the time and she encouraged me with Matthew 14:22-33. I had to step out of the boat with 2 feet and put my trust in the LORD.

Early in January I was still jobless, and getting a bit worried about it to be honest. Of course, the LORD provided a job for me that was 5 minutes from my mums house. I was SO thankful for this job. I think I cried for probably the first week I worked there. But it was a new job and different to anything I had ever done so I fully put it down to that! It has turned out to be a great job for me and I have made many friends there.

It has been a year of a lot of learning for me. Putting my trust in the LORD completely has been the best thing for me and I totally take comfort in knowing that He already has the perfect plan worked out for me. I have learnt to work on the LORD's terms, and not mine. In MY plan I would be in California right now. I have learnt that the LORD will work everything out, and if this is His will then He will work it all out in His time, not mine. That has been the biggest learning curve for me.

I was able to spend the summer with my Californian family. I really felt the LORD's hand over the whole trip. If you have read this before you will know that I went with the lovely Anna. She stayed for 2 weeks and I stayed on for longer. When I was booking the tickets my return date seemed to just come from nowhere, but I believe that the LORD guided me to that date. There were a string of events that all took place after Anna had left, even on the way to the airport with her, that I believe that LORD had planned. If I had of gone home with her then I would have probably missed out on the events that took place after this. What a blessing. The LORD definitely confirmed last summer where He wanted me to be and I have, with the help of many great people, been working on getting there ever since.

Honestly, I feel like I have been rolling down hill since then. Time has just flown by. I am soo thankful for this year and all the experiences that have come with it.

I am anxious to see what 2011 will hold!

♥

Back in the Summer of 2004!

I am finally finding time to sit down and blog about my summer. Sorry it has taken me so so long. It was a pretty exciting summer filled with fun, friends and family.

The first time I went to California was way back in 2004 with my sister. We were invited by friends we met at a wedding in Scotland. Long story short, we met a lovely couple there who invited my sister and I to spend the summer with them. We were very excited about the opportunity to go over there having loved the time that we got to spend with them while they were here. So off we went, I was 15 and my sister was 17. We all hit it off straight away and had a wonderful summer together. The last week we were there we went to their Church Beach Camp. My sister and I were both really, really dreading going to this camp. We had no idea what it was going to be like and didn't really know anyone that was going to be there. Little did I know that this would be a life changing week with lots of learning. It was so hard to leave them when we came back to Scotland. We didn't really know if we would see each other again.

We shared with our Church what we had experienced that summer. We were able to show them the Beach Camp baptism video. This really moved them and they were encouraged by this. We wanted more kids from Scotland to be able to experience what we had. So we pitched this idea to the Elder board and they loved the idea. The Church were happy to pay for the flights for the kids to get over there. In 2006 we were all set to go over, myself and another guy who attended our Church. At the last minute her pulled out so I went over by myself again. Of course, I had another great summer there.

I come from a small Church so for the next few years there really wasn't any kids that were old enough to go over. Until last year, 2009. My baby brother was now 16 and I thought it would be great for him to experience this before he finished school. And a close friend of mine was also in her final year of school. So we got ourselves oganised to all go over. I was so excited that finally I was going to be bringing more students over with me. It was a wonderful summer. They both learnt a lot and got to share their summer with two wonderful families who fell in love with both of them. I was able to go along to Beach Camp with them and help with the childcare there.

This year we were fortunate enough to send another student over again this year. I went over with her and was able to go along to Beach Camp with her. Anna is such a beautiful young girl, inside and out, and it was a real joy to have her there this year. She has a such a sweet spirit about her.

This year I was blessed with a lovely group of girls. They are all such sweet girls and loved having the opportunity to spend each evening with them at Beach Camp.

This summer I was so happy to spend more time with my very special friend. It is very hard being so far away from someone the is so dear to me but I am very thankful for the friendship that we do have. I have so much fun with this lady. She is such a blessing. Love you, boo.

Every year that I return to California I always make new friends. This year was no exception. I was lucky enough to share a tent with this girl as well as LOTS of laughs. She is a close friend of my lovely boo so we were sure to have a great time together. And we certainly did. The Lord definitely blesses us through friendships, and that is exactly what He did this summer. We had a lot of fun together this summer. I miss seeing these lovely faces each day.

For some reason I seem to have NO photos of my dear family over there, The Allens. They know how much they mean to me. They are famly for sure. I was blessed with many laughs, long talks, hugs, grandkids, "taking the mic", delicious meals, and even more special memories made. I love you dearly and miss you lots.

I will leave you with just a taste of what it is like when Karen and I are together. Lots of faces that look like this.

"Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart." Philippians 1:3-4

Remember me...

Yet again, I am writing a post and it has been weeks since my last post. I always say to myself that I will write each week and I still think this as the week rushes past me!

This isn't even a real post as I don't really have a lot of time to write just now and I need a lot of time to fill you in on my summer. But I will leave you with a photo that my American mother took this summer.