Monday Progress Report: Friends Like These

I’ve enjoyed writing this blog over the past few months, and several good things have already come from it. I’ve been contacted by House Hunters International, made friends with a fellow American blogger in Aberdeen named Pam, and in general, it’s allowed me to archive our experience of moving to Scotland, and to keep our friends and family connected to our daily lives.

But probably the most awesome thing that has come out of this blog so far is the fact that my friend Jillian saw my "What I Would Have Brought" post while she was visiting the States, and because she’s apparently the most awesome person ever, she and her husband brought us back our favorite goodies. They even threw in some beef jerky, just because.

Before setting off for our first ex-pat assignment, we fervently prayed that God would bring each of us just one good friend. Unlike several of Jon’s company’s ex-pat locations, Aberdeen is not set in a camp or compound situation. While that’s a pro for living independently and having a lot of freedom within your host country, it also means that you’re thrown into a foreign city without an obvious built in community. Since I have a reputation for being chronically shy, I worried that my being a house wife would leave me feeling isolated and lonely. Well, I gave that fear over to God and prayed that he would introduce me to a friend. Instead of one, he decided to introduce us to more friends than we can count all within our first 2 weeks of being here. He even threw in some friends for Bailey and Samson as a bonus.

Sam's Cavalier friend, Luca, after a walk together in Countesswells Woods

It has helped tremendously with our transition, and though I think that we would love Aberdeen regardless, it has definitely sweetened the deal. 

And now that the shock of our shipment delivery has worn off, we’re starting to appreciate our home more as well. We even managed to hang some pictures on the wall this weekend. Watching Jonathan hang pictures made me so grateful that God created men. I’m all about women being independent, but I’m pretty sure it would have taken me an hour to hang each picture, whereas he seems to have a natural gift for it.

I think I’ve found a buyer for our sleeper sofa, so once we get that out of our sitting room and find a loveseat to replace it with, we’ll finally be finished with the unpacking process. Sure would be nice if Aberdeen had its own version of The Dump so that we could find a stylish, affordable sofa. I’m not expecting to have much luck with that, so Laura Ashley looks like our best bet for something of high quality that suits our style. Here is the sofa that I’ve been eyeing.

What do you think?