Squirrelling

After a busy but enjoyable half-term week visiting family in England and having fun at my cousin's wedding, we're back in Dingwall.  Sometimes I feel that we're actually in limbo-land at the moment.  There's so much to do but not much that we can get on with.  With God's timing I can see us rushing around madly in the last week of May (which is rapidly approaching) as he puts the final pieces into place.  I'm looking forward to it.

We can however tell as many people as possible about what's happening in our lives and something about what the Lord's doing in Nigeria.  This week Sid and Jean Garland reach the Highlands in their tour of Scotland and will be speaking in Greyfriars, Inverness on Thursday and Castle Street Church hall in Dingwall on Friday (24th February).  I'll be working with Sid who was one of the founders of ACTS (Africa Christian Textbooks) and he and Jean spent many years serving in the areas of health and theological education with Mission Africa in Nigeria.  Fraser and I shall be going to both meetings too.  We can't say much about Nigeria but we can let people know how God has been guiding us towards the mission, kindly encouraging us and pointing us towards the doors we should be going through.  It's great to get a chance to tell people about his faithfulness and give them an opportunity to get involved in this work.

Meanwhile I'm doing what I can to gather things in preparation for our new life in Nigeria, a bit like a squirrel preparing for the winter.  Last week I was in Cambridge with my sister and we went into the Lakeland shop.  I'm sure I'm not alone in being able to spend a fortune in it on things I don't really need but which would make life and culinary exploits so much better.  Usually I can justify it as being for the good of my family and last week was no different.  I saw (and not only was it the last one on the shelf but it was also in the sale and so definitely waiting for me) an old fashioned pudding basin with the Lakeland twist.  It didn't need a pudding cloth ready to provide a home for millions of bacteria, it had a ceramic lid complete with grooves for the string to keep it fastened.  Of course I had to buy it, after all it even said Sticky Toffee on the side.  It'll be great if we find ourselves in a situation without an oven -  all I'll need to make puddings is an open fire and a saucepan.  I suspect it'll be a great way to make friends.