And then the sun came out!

Sunday May 31st
Balmoral and the Highlands, Scotland

Here's the thing about Scotland: there is lots of daylight here. Lots. Like it's fully bright at 5:00 am. Pretty hard to sleep without darkening the room, and I am a terrible sleeper. So I was up pretty early. Yay for scripture study before 6, I guess!

Breakfast was okay... The French hostess was impossible to understand. I had cereal with milk (which is not like American milk, oddly enough) and some toast with marmalade. Yum!

We left right after breakfast for Balmoral Castle -- the Royal Family's Scotland home! We stopped at services (aka rest area with restaurants and petrol stations) to fill up with petrol and get some caffeine (diet cherry coke!) then headed on. The drive was motorway for less than half, then was country roads. Really crazy. There's no shoulder on the roads here, so it's always a tight squeeze. And when people park on the street? Even worse!

But the drive was worth it! Absolutely gorgeous countryside and little towns. Low hanging clouds made everything so cool and very Scottish. Lots of gorse, which is a weed-like bush with stunning yellow flowers. And a drive with us characters makes for some hilarious moments. Like when we wrote two versions of the 12 Days of Christmas, one for our trip and one for our souvenirs. And when we did a Chinese fire drill yesterday in the middle of nowhere Scotland... Today's highlight was "Bridge! River! Disabled people!" (There was a traffic sign that actually said disabled people... Leave it to the Scots to be blunt!)

How cute is this little drive?

One lane bridge. Not scary at all, right?

Typical Scottish weather and roads

There was some crazy long and intense bike race going on once we got off of the motorway and headed into the highlands. There were hundreds of cyclers up there! Dangerous and winding roads, hills, fog, nasty winds... It was not the sort of race I would have liked to cover as a trainer, let alone do! And since there's no bike lane and no shoulder, they were on the road... So we had to pass them. In winding roads and no shoulders and hills and rain and mist. Scary stuff!

So pretty in rustic, natural way.

Typical Highlands scenery and weather. I LOVE IT.

The Highlands are full of sudden bits of magic.

Terrifying time with the cyclists in the highlands.

It was amazing to see the difference between the lowlands and the highlands. It was like a completely different country, and yet it still had the same breathtaking beauty and majesty.

UGH. I couldn't take enough pictures!

Can you blame me???

Then we got there. BALMORAL CASTLE. Amazing and glorious. The most perfect castle ever. Freezing cold and drizzly, so perfect for Scotland. We took an audio tour of the grounds, which was so interesting and cool! Awesome exhibits there. Then we bought stuff and had lunch at the cafe. I had a meat pie and homemade shortbread and hot cocoa, and it was fantastic. Perfectly Scottish and so yummy.

STUNNING. I can see why the Queen loves it here.

The most perfect castle ever.

And then....the sun came out. And we stayed longer and walked around more and had sunshine to change the whole landscape. Steph and I twirled on the lawn at Balmoral, knocked on the door (no one was home), and walked by the river.

This is real and natural. Can you believe that?

This completely took my breath away.

I couldn't get enough.

Can I just live here?

We took more pictures and then drove back, and the ride was even more gorgeous than before. We got out randomly in the middle of the highlands to take pictures of the area and of each other, doing our now traditional "middle of the road selfie", this time with some Highlands flare.

I mean, REALLY, Scotland???

I couldn't breathe, it was so gorgeous.

We had to pull off and take pictures.

Oh, my heart... I fell in love.

I couldn't believe the difference in what we were seeing. My eyes couldn't see enough, I couldn't take it all in, and it took everything I had to process the colors and beauty of that area. My heart belongs to the Highlands now. I gave it away fully and freely.

Pure unfettered joy. I adore this place.

Please let me follow that road wherever it goes.

Once we got back to Edinburgh, we took a bus back into the city centre and sat up top this time. I will always recommend sitting up top on a double decker. You can see everything! And it makes it much easier to see where you are headed and when to get off. We were still full from our amazing lunch, so we skipped dinner.

We wandered Edinburgh and the Royal Mile (the mile long shopping strip with pretty much everything you could want) and finished up shopping, took a picture of some bagpipers, walked the park by the castle, wandered a cemetery, circled the castle, and got a few things for our drive to the coast tomorrow.

The sun makes everything magical in Scotland.

Edinburgh is just so cool.

This is 10:00 is at night. SERIOUSLY, Scotland?

It was a long day and we didn't walk as much as normal, only 4 ish miles, but we did so much! It was a great day, and I'm exhausted. It's almost 10 and the sun's not down yet. Scotland doesn't mess around with daylight hours! 

Tomorrow is more Scotland adventures. Off to Rosslyn Chapel, Inveraray Castle, and then Cairnryan (our little coastal town that we're taking the ferry from). Road trip! Let's hope my phone lasts -- it's so full of pictures!

Christmas Countdown Day 1: Joy

To kick off this year's Christmas Countdown, I thought I would talk about something that is so important to the holiday season, but doesn't usually get talked about. It's the magic of the season, the feeling that everybody gets around this time of year, the imperceptible change that makes the whole adventure from Thanksgiving to December 25th worth it.

It's JOY.

The Christmas season, with all of its lights and sounds and smells, with all of the memories, all of the presents and shopping and food and songs, is not about any of it. It centers around the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are celebrating His birth, the wondrous miracle that it was. He came down to earth to save us all, to atone for our sins, to ensure that if we are faithful and repent we can return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven after this life. He brought--and still brings--peace to the broken hearted, comfort to the wounded, happiness to the mournful, and heals all hurts.

When we think of Him, when we remember His birth, His life, His atonement, His death, and His resurrection, how can we not be filled with infinite gratitude? How can our hearts not be filled with joy?

That is the magic of the season. Though you will never find a bigger fan of Santa Claus than me, he is not the reason we celebrate. Christmas is about celebrating and honoring the birth of our Lord and Savior.

My heart thrills with joy and a million other emotions every time I hear the words of my favorite Christmas hymn.

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Saints and angels sing,
And Saints and angels sing,
And Saints, and Saints, and angels sing.

Rejoice! Rejoice when Jesus reigns!
And saints their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more will sin and sorrow grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He'll come and make the blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

Rejoice! Rejoice in the Most High

While Israel spreads abroad

Like stars that glitter in the sky,

And ever worship God,

And ever worship God,

And ever, and ever worship God.

I promise to have some lighter, more fun posts later on, but I wanted to start this off right.
Merry Christmas. God bless. And JOY to the world.