Happy To Be Back

   Back on August 20th, a few days before we left on our trip abroad, I wrote a blog post on this verse in Psalm 118,

"This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it."

   This post was still open on my computer this morning, some 22 days after it was written, and I find that it sounded good when I wrote it, but I certainly did not live by it in those days overseas.

   In the hurry of getting ready to go, in the looking forward to the things we were going to experience, in the long plane rides from Atlanta to London, in the 14 nights on board our cruise, in the bustle of a new port most every day, and in the long and tiring journey home to our own beds, it was easy to let the words of that verse slide into the background.

   Back in the early part of this year, a couple who had been our good friends for over 50 years mentioned that they might like to take a cruise around the British Isles. Mayre and I had been thinking the same thing for several years, but had never gotten to the point of pulling the trigger and doing it.

   This seemed to be the prefect time.

   My wife's mother, born in Scotland in 1893, had immigrated to Canada and on to the US when she was 18 years old. She had always talked about her homeland, and this trip would allow my wife to see the area where she grew up before coming here. We knew from past family members that a couple of her residences were still there and also the factory where she was a bookkeeper. Even before she passed away in 1992, she had put the desire to see those places in the heart of Mayre, although we just never did anything about it.

   So, even at this late stage of life, we bit the bullet and went, and, although I would not like to go again tomorrow, it was a real adventure worth taking.

   God blessed us with good friends on the trip, with an abundance of good weather, with experiences of new places and people, and with a whole day to see those important places that connect us with our past.

   Was it tiring? Well, we got home Monday night after a 24 hour day, and it took me until this morning to actually sit down and write.

   Did we eat too much? Sure, it was a cruise, and that's what we do.

   Did God keep us safe and well? Mayre had a slight stomach problem the first night on board and I came home with a cold, but all the days in between were free of any health issues.

   Did I take some photos? I have over 600 shots in the camera on the memory card and there is no telling how many I culled while looking at them as we went along. I'm sure some will show up on this site in the days to come, along with some commentary on the ports of call.

   So, after a bunch of days without computer access, I write this post to explain our absence. God gave us many days of His presence as we prayed for various things along the way. His hand of guidance and protection let us experience things we had only dreamed about for years, and we are thankful.

   And we did visit the places in Scotland that Mamie had loved, Carluke, Lanark, Stonehouse, Hyndford Bridge, and met people there that blessed us.

   More later, but we are glad to be home.