Baby Colin

By now most of you probably already know that our son, Colin Edward, was born on Christmas Eve. Karen had been feeling some contractions early in the morning, but they seem to far apart. I (Scott) decided to go ahead and go to work at my “part-time” job at Walmart (around Christmas it was more then 40 hours a week), I was only there a short time when Karen called me and said to get home. We made to the hospital and in less then an hour later had ourselves a boy.
We trust all of you had a wonderful and blessed Christmas, and a happy begining of 2012. Our prayer is that we make to Scotland this year as a family. I will probably take a short trip over this spring to “scout” things out and re-establish conections. Lord willing we will be able to see many of you in the coming months as we again start our travels through the US. While certainly my tough Minnesota wife could travel, it is best that she and the little guy rest for a time, and we wait until the weather warms a bit. Once we establish a schedule we will post it.
Thank you for all your prayer and support during 2011, and God bless.

Liam and his backpack

I don’t really have anything in mind to post but wanted to write a little something – a picture of Liam is always a hit. Scott probably posted this on Facebook earlier this fall. Liam loves wearing his backpack. On our trip east it was so full and weighed almost as much as he does that it tipped him over a couple times. The strength of little tykes can be amazing.

Liam is going to be such a good big brother and great mom’s helper too. I’m not sure if he fully understands that a baby is going to be in the house, but he is fascinated by them. There can be bumps along the road as a child adjusts to having a baby in the house, I know, but we’ll take that if/as it comes. The due date is only a few weeks away, so it really could be anytime now – or a month if Colin decides to hold out on making an appearance.

This world is not my home

Some thoughts to share – hopefully they will not paint a negative picture in any way but honestly share some of the inner challenges in my (Karen’s) personal life and how God works in these.

I am really enjoying having our own place again – having a more consistent routine, getting better organized (I decided the other day that organization must be one of my hobbies), and simply the everyday tasks of tending to my home and family. The traveling we have done for the last year plus has been a blessing and gone very well. It’s neat to be in different churches, stay in people’s homes, get to know people better and meet new ones, and see the vast variety of our country, but there were days the travel weariness would hit.

We plan to travel more extensively again, Lord willing, after Colin is born and is a couple months old. One day as I thought about that, I thought, “But I really enjoy just being in one place and settling in for a while. Am I going to be ready to travel again?” As I pondered this more, I was reminded that this world is a temporary dwelling place and that I need to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33); that where my treasure is (in context speaking of possessions but I think can apply to anything in which we seek to find contentment), there my heart will be also (Matthew 6:21); and that I need to rest in the LORD Most High as my dwelling place (Psalm 91:9) no matter what my earthly dwelling may be. One of the ways God uses these days of travel is to remind me of these truths and to help me, sometimes painfully and always an ongoing process, toward focusing on Him and the eternal rather than the temporary.

It is good and right to be thankful for the blessings God gives, including homes and being able to stay in one place for a while. I am and will be thankful for these few months of being “at home”, but I will choose (and probably have to learn the lesson multiple times) not to let these things I enjoy be the basis of my contentment but rather trust the Lord in each “phase” He brings. And it does help that I really do enjoy the traveling even with its challenges.

Scott wearing his kilt!

While we were at Marcus Hook Baptist Church in Pennsylvania, I convinced Scott to wear his kilt for sharing with the Awana kids. (I tried to take a picture while he was sharing with the kids, but the lighting didn’t work.) This is the first time since we’ve been married that he’s worn it in “public,” so I was excited. Hopefully some day he will be able to complete the outfit with “proper” shirt and socks to look even better – they cost a bit.

Eastern (U.S.) Hospitality

Liam loved riding the "Gator" with his buddies Levi and Noah

WAY too long since we’ve posted on here! This trip we have been on the road since October 8 in Maryland, Pennsylvania, now West Virginia, this weekend North Carolina, and back to Indiana on the 31st (Monday).

One of the biggest blessings while we’re on the road is the generous hospitality of many we stay with. In Maryland we stayed a week with friends who have five children ages 1-7; Liam loved having the playmates! Beautiful weather allowed for a lot of outside time in their big yard with a sandbox and swings. His favorite was when the boys got the “Gator” out to ride around the yard.

A BIG thank you to the generosity of so many as we travel! Places to stay, homecooked meals, taking time to visit with us, financial gifts to help with travel and other expenses, bringing a meal to us, taking us out to eat, inviting us to a church event…so many different ways that you have blessed and encouraged us as we continue our journey toward getting to Scotland.

From California to Indiana

We enjoy our trip out West, visiting many churches, staying with many wonderful and kind people. We are constantly amazed at all the people who provide for us in so many ways. We even took a brief break for our aniversary and spent a night at the beach in Santa Cruz (Liam really enjoyed seeing the sea lions). From California we traveled to Oregon and worked our way back East to Minnesota, sharing at many churches along the way. We are still waiting to hear from many of the churches and people we shared with, but we hope to have gained further support. We are now back in Indiana for a few months strengthing the relationship with our home church. We do intend to make a few short trips in the next few months to visit a few more churches. For those who are not yet aware, Karen is again expecting and is due around December 23, we would encourage your prayers that she and the baby remain healthy.
The pictures are of Liam watching the sea lions, our drive down Lombard Street in San Francisco, and Scott on top of a large snow bank (covering the restroom) at Crater Lake, Oregon.

From coast to coast

It has been a sometime since our last post, primarily because we have been constantly on the move. In the last post we were on the East coast, we are now on the West coast (California to be exact). From Maryland, where we were in our last post, we traveled to New York to visit some of Karen’s family, then to Pennsylvania where we stayed at the Marcus Hook Baptist Church missionary apartments. While in PA we shared at Temple Bible Church in Elizabethtown; Calvary Baptist Church in Pemberton, New Jersey; Marcus Hook Baptist; and Harmony Grove Community Church in Dover. We what to again thank all these churches and the wonderful people their we got to know. We then had the priviledge of sharing, speaking, and teaching at the missions conference at Calvary Monument Bible Church in Paradise, PA. It was a great week of sharing and geeting know not only the great people of that church, but also many faithful fellow missionaries. We really enjoyed our time in “amish country” and the kind hospitality we were shown. Next we took a short break from our travels and stayed with Scott’s mom in Indiana, it was good to see family and visit our home church again. We also able to visit the wonderful Pittsborro Baptist Church. We took a short trip from Indiana to share at Charleston Bible Church in Illinois. The following week we began our trip West. Our first stop was in the Saint Louis area, staying at Hope Bible Church in O’Fallon, Missouri. We had an enjoyable week or so staying in their missionary trailer (even with all the tornados and hail that hit the area we were very safe and well taken care of). Along with visiting Hope, we also were able to share at Dittmer Bible Church. Next we enjoyed a week staying with family friends in the Branson area. The following week were kindly found a place to stay by Abudant Life Baptist Church in Lee’s Summit, MO. While in the area we shared at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Smithville and visited the Church of the Open Door in Leavenworth, Kansas. Scott also shared at a pastors meeting at Countryside Baptist Church in Olathe, Kansas. The following Sunday we shared at Overbrook Bible Church and Salina Bible Church, enjoying our time at both. We then traveled through Kansas, staying with the very kind Clark family, and then on to New Mexico where we shared at Alameda Bible Church. Nowe we are in California, having just shared at Faith Bible in Citrus Heights, and Carmicheal Bible, both wonderful and friendly churches. We REALLY want to thank everyone who we met and who encouraged us, took care of us, and loved on us, if I neglected anyone I am sorry, it was a lot to cover.

West Virginia and Maryland

We enjoyed our time in West Virginia, and were blessed with good weather. Now we are in Taneytown, Maryland, staying with Muller family. The pictures are of our trip to Gettysburg, and included as shot of Liam enjoying a cannon, Liam and Karen at the monument to the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and the Solider monument near where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, proof that a two minute speech can be good.

Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas

We have been very blessed with the weather on our travels, missing all the snow storms as we traveled from Indiana to Georgia (sharing at Grace Bible of Valdosta) then to Flordia where we stayed with family and shared at Grace Bible of Tampa (we go to a lot of Grace churches, because you can never have too much grace). Then we traveled to Alabama and shared at Wilton Bible Baptist. From Albama we traveled back to Georgia and stayed at the BMW mission headquarters. Next we traveled to South Carolina, stayed with the kind Pastor Owens and his wonderful wife. Charleston is one of our favorite places to visit, the pictures are of Liam getting ready to see the city, two photos of the Angel Oak one of oldest trees in America located just outside Charleston, and the Charleston colonial powder magazine (note the Scottish flag -the cross of saint Andrew on the right). We shared at Charlestion Bible and Trinity Bible church. Our next destination was Winton-Salem North Carolina, where at North Point Baptist. Now we are currently in West Virginia where we visited Grace Gospel Church and shared at Fellowship Bible. Thank you to all the people we have stayed with or visited thus far.

2011 Itinerary

We have just updated our itinerary for January-March on the “Itinerary” tab, and it is also available under the notes on our Scott and Karen missionaries Facebook page.