We are finally back in Scotland and have been home now for almost 2 months. By the date of our last update, I'd say we are more than overdue for some news!
After what seemed like an incredibly fast year, we are settled back into life as normal here in Scotland. Just a little over a year ago we left our home here in Scotland to return to the States for a furlough. We had no idea what to expect or what the year would look like. We just knew that we needed it and that God was saying to go for it. Some of the longings we had for going back were for time to reconnect with family and old friends and to build up a strong connection with Riverstone church, which has recently become our sending church.
It’s hard to sum up a year of your life in a single blog entry. So we will just share some of the highlights....
Time with our families!!!!! What a blessing it was to have a whole year to see our families. Although our parents were about 8 hours away from Atlanta, being home for a year gave us plenty of chances to go and visit them – and to spend our holidays with them! What special times they are that we can so easily take for granted until you don't have them for many years.
Connecting with Riverstone Church in Atlanta!!!!! This too was a huge highlight and blessing. The body of believers at Riverstone blessed more than we could have ever imagined... from helping us get settled in to our home, to serving us, to inviting us into their homes (and Home Groups – we joined 3 of them), to furnishing our house, to giving us cars, to loving on us and our kids, to giving us Thanksgiving and Christmas, sending us on a weekend away, and our kids to youth camps, encouraging us, praying for us, counseling us to strengthen our marriage and family, believing in us, and even to letting Lance preach. The list could go on and on. The point is, we have totally fallen in love with this church and couldn’t feel more privileged to be a part of them.
A chance to soak in our own culture again (and let our kids really experience it for the first time). We absolutely love Scotland. However, it was definitely very nice soak in all the things we love about America – the beauty, the food, southern hospitality, fall color, football games, Target, long drives, Heather even had 10 days of free room and board in Kennestone Hospital (Lance calls it Club Med), hot summer days, fireflies, pumpkin patches, $5 Hot and Ready pizzas, Granny's cabin and oh so much more!
So was if a year of rest and relaxing? Definitely not! Overall, it was probably one of the most stressful and busy years of our life. Ok, so that’s the part of America that we don’t want to soak in for too long J. Yet, we did come home feeling refreshed in a way that is hard to really describe. We have a renewed vision, better support (both financially and pastorally), and are ready to step back into all that God has called us to here in Scotland.
So what’s ahead for us in Scotland? We’ll save that for another blog! What we do want to say is ‘Thank You’ to everyone who was part of our lives over the past year. We love you dearly and were so blessed by you all.
2 comments:
Thank you for the update! Sounds like you're all doing great; I'm thrilled for you! I pray that God will continue to bless you all in all that you do.
Big hugs to all of you from Team Rentz!
Heather - Lance and family! We love you guys so much - you inspire us to reach higher and run harder - you help us to realize that the goal is attainable! Wow! If you hadn't come to the states for that extended period we would not have met and fallen in love you you and your precious family! We are grateful to a great God that brought us together for a time such as this!
We love you!
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