Friday 5 October 2007

Finally Here!

Here is the beginning of my first blog. I have generally been a little suspicious of blogs, seeing them as a product of a culture that will do anything to be known. However, now that we're in Scotland and I'm missing family and friends, I'm finding blogs to be a wonderful thing! I love reading about what all of you are doing, and seeing your pictures, so I have changed my mind completely. I don't know that my thoughts will be terribly interesting, but at least everyone will stay updated, and you'll get to see pictures of Scotland and Z on a somewhat regular basis.



The details of our arrival are many and harrowing. We arrived in London on August 31 only to discover that our visas were not complete. The rules for visas have changed drastically since I was at Aberdeen, and rather than letting us into the country on a tourist visa, the British authorities decided to refuse us entrance into the country. We spent nine hours in detainment (along with two gentlemen from Africa and a couple from some Islamic country -- she was in full burkha!). After being fingerprinted, carted around in a caged van, having our passports confiscated, and generally treated like criminals, we finally got onto a flight back to the USA. We spent the next two and a half weeks at my parents' in Kansas while we got the visas straightened out. And finally, on September 19, we arrived in Edinburgh, much to our joy and relief.



Nathan's getting settled at the University and is reading tons (especially Barth), and I'm trying to get used to the stay-at-home-mom gig. So far, it seems to be going pretty well. Aside from a few colicky days, Z is generally quite happy. He's learning to go to sleep by himself (yay!) and is becoming very interactive with me and Nathan -- smiling and talking away. The other day he got hold of Nathan's beard and thought that was hilarious enough to break out into his first true laugh.



I'm at the library because we're finding it takes a very long time to get the internet set up in your house. But we should have that done next week, and then hopefully we'll regularly post thoughts and pictures.



Christina

6 comments:

Kathy Stegall said...

Z learning to go to sleep by himself!? That's fantastic. So is the blog. So glad you are doing it. Don't know why my last post said it was from Sioux Falls Nate? Love, MOM

compound4life said...

tini- i cant wait to see lots of pictures of scotland...can you get some good ones of some old stone buildings? especially the less fancy and older ones....things that look done by hand where the stones have not been cut.....and all the surroundings...im curious to see it all...

anyways, hope it is all going well....

compound4life said...

and up close pics of the stone walls.....

The Niskas: Harry, Jen, Nathanael, and Jude said...

Wow...how wonderful you are finally settling in! I look forward to seeing lots of pictures and hearing about your many adventures!

God's blessings, Jen (with Harry and Nathanael!)

Anonymous said...

Love the blog and you can bet I'll be a regular checker to see what's happening. We miss you like crazy here! Harp & Bowl continues but we will be glad when this year is over to have you back! But while you're there...of course we want you to enjoy it to the fullest. Now that I've seen your blog... I say we bring the team there! God Bless....
Standing by for more updates!

Carrie said...

Hey, it is Carrie "Patterson" Anderson! Woah! Did I ever lose track of you two, wait...three! Crazy! I am so happy for you and Nathan! Marc and I are really enjoying Waco. Although we would be happy to take a little cooler weather. We just found out we get to go back to Sioux Falls for Thanksgiving which is quite exciting. I am starting to look for jobs at universities around here now so Marc can finish seminary at Truett. My blog is lifeundivided.blogspot.com. :)