Worshipping at St. Machars

The last few weeks Ashley and I have attended St. Machar's Cathedral Church for our Sunday worship. It has been a big change of pace to go from our normal Baptist church to a Church of Scotland Presbyterian Church. The church itself has been on the sight from about the sixth century in one form or another. The building as it stands today has some parts that are from the pre-Reformation time (c. 1560) with most of it being completed in the early 20th century. They have found a Celtic cross on the site that has been possibly dated back to the sixth or seventh century. Tradition has it that St. Ninian came here from St. Columba's monastery on Iona (still an active monastery by the way) as a mission to the Scottish Picks during the sixth century. The church is located just up the hill from the River Don, which is one of the two major rivers that mark out the North and South boundaries of the greater Aberdeen area (the Don is the northern border). It has withstood the religious wars of the Reformation and the following Cromwellian wars, the Jacobite civil wars, and finally WWII. Needless to say, it is very impressive.

What I liked best about the church service was its meditative nature and its focus on prayer. We easily prayed about 20 minutes of the hour long service and had much time to be quiet and reflective upon the Lord. The organ music was great, especially to ears that are used to guitars, drums, and the keyboard. We were also very impressed with the level of hospitality that was evident at the church and Ashley even went last Friday to their toddlers day out even with some of the ladies - Jakey even has a play date with one of the little boys!

Here are some pictures - there is also a video of Jakey playing ball that has no connection to the rest of this blog:

NEWS UPDATE!

Okay, well we have a few items of news. 1) we are officially flying home to AZ on June 24th!! We are very excited, but also a bit sad. We have been blessed with some great friends here who we will miss a ton. I am also sad to be leaving my business since it has been doing well. Derek is so sweet and supportive, he thinks if we stayed just 6 more months we would have a HUGE business here. But since neither of us feel a peace about staying longer (we prayed about it a lot), we are headed home and I will have to leave things in the hands of those here, but most importantly in God's hands. I am planning on coming back at least once a year to check on things.
2) we got our "LOST" buggy back! A month later! I got a random call from the Larnaka airport in Cyprus saying it had arrived there and they were sending it directly back to Aberdeen, we then got it a few days later. crazy! anyway, British Airways has reimbursed us for our new stroller so we are going to be passing our old one on to some friends.
3)here is our prayer request and praise news: I just found out I am pregnant!!! We are soooooo excited! But I am also a bit scared. Any woman who has ever experienced a miscarriage knows the fear I have during these early stages. I know a lot of people wait to tell people about pregnancy until after the 12th week to make sure things are fine, but I want to ask for prayer as early as possible. Please pray that all goes well. We will be coming home right as I enter my 2nd trimester so it's a good time to travel. Oh, here's something funny, my "due" date is right around December 28th! Happy Birthday Jesus:)
Anyway, we love you all!

Atlanta 4

Well, another day with Jakey means another day closer to when Momma comes home. I must admit, today I was wrestling with the little guy and realized how precious these few days are. Pretty soon I will go back to studying and working 40-50 hours a week and I will be longing simply to go on a walk with Jake at 1pm, or wrestle him or read him a book. Jake is a true blessing from God and helps me to realize how far I have left to go to be a good daddy. We miss you though Ash and Momma and can't wait for you to come back home.

We kinda vedged out today. We both stayed in our pj's today as it was cold and rainy all day. But we had fun eating pancakes for breakfast and toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch. Jake did so good today at lunch that he earned three potato chips as a reward! He was pretty good being obedient wise and seems to be responding pretty well. We will see what tomorrow brings. We will be going to St. Machar's Cathedral for church tomorrow so hopefully I will have some pictures to post on that.

The following picture is of Jake right after dinner in his pjs and the video is of us playing with his Ninny.

Atlana 2 and 3

Well, I missed yesterday (sorry Ash) but I did remember today. The last two days have been really good. Jakey seems to be doing a bit better with the new discipline that we have been working on. He still struggles at meal times, but is getting better. The Eilers have been dinner partners the last two nights and Jake always does great around his best girl Hannah. Here are some pictures and a video. We love you Ash and Mommy!

Here is a picture of the Eilers cooking their famous calzones. Also there is a picture of Jakey playing with a train.

Mommy in Atlanta part 1

Ashley is in Atlanta Georgia for the Arbonne National Convention until April 13th. From now and till then I will be posting pictures and a video or two of Jakey for mommy.

So Ash, all you missed out on was a very cold and wet morning. But, it cleared up enough around noon for a walk to the post office as well as some great play time after nap time. Then after a dinner where the battle of wills was won by daddy, the Jakester went for a bath. If you look closely you can notice on Jake's left arm some pen marks. Yep, Jakey found a black fountain pen and tattoed himself! Then it was a little play time before bed. We miss you mommy!

Glasgow with friends

Hello again - another Resler family adventure here in scotland. We went to Glasgow (the biggest city in Scotland) last weekend for a night and it was great. Not only did we get a ridiculous deal on a rental car - we got a Caddie - but we also got a great deal on the Radisson. We got the room plus a scottish breakfast for a great deal. Plus, the hotel was right down town next to our friend Pete's church (we went there on Sunday for church). We had a great time meeting Pete's lovely new bride Sarah and had a great time. We had a great dinner on Saturday and a great time at their church on Sunday. Jakey even got into the spirit and was sharing his airplane and car with the other kids during Cresch. After church, Ash and I went to the Glasgow Green for some play time in the park then it was off to Glasgow Cathedral. We have pictures below!


There is a picture of all of us at dinner. Then there is one of Jakey playing under the Pirate ship in Glasgow Green. Then there is one of all of us in front of Glasgow Cathedral. A church has been there from 1136 with the Cathedral being there in one form or another from the 13th century. There is a picture of Jakey peering out at us from the window sill in our hotel room. Also, there is a picture of St. Mungo's tomb (c. 600ad) where you can see the massive granite buttresses that support the sanctuary above. There is also a picture of the cemetery behind the cathedral. Notice the tall monument on the left of John Knox!








A big thanks to Pete and Sarah for a great time!

Random Thoughts...

Hi, it's Ashley again. I have been thinking to blog a little more, so here goes. So you read about our adventure in Cypress, other than the "glitches" we ran into, it was a lovely holiday. We both would really love to go back someday, though sans kids;) We are so thankful for the opportunity to be on this side of the Atlantic, we just wish we could see it all. We went to Glasgow this weekend to visit my friend Peter and his new bride, Sara. We had such a great time! There is so much to see there that of course you need a lot of time to do it all. I am sure Derek will post some pics soon. We are trying to see as much of Scotland as we can, but we know we will come back. We have made so many friends here and I have a great Arbonne team growing here, so we will have to come back:) We have booked our flight to come home in June on the 24th. We fly out of Dublin, we are planning to spend a couple of days there since we LOVE Ireland. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been (so far). I can't believe we are coming home so soon. Our time here has just flown by so fast! We only have 2 1/2 months left! I am excited to come home to family, friends, my dog, our new house, Derek actually having a job; but there is so much we will miss here: our friends, the culture, the diversity, the chocolate, the cheese, being so close to the Ocean, the lush land, the Scottish accent (though I won't miss having to say "what" all the time;). Did I mention the chocolate? I will also miss building my business so actively here. I have had so much fun introducing Arbonne to the UK! I was nervous at first about how I would be received as an American selling a new product; but it has been great! Everyone is BLOWN away by the products! Since I was nervous before, I took things a little slower than I should have and now that I have so little time left I am trying to cram more in; oh well, I can't look back, just learn from my (many) mistakes and keep moving forward. I think by being out here pretty much on my own I have really been forced to grow a lot as a person in both my business and personal life. I have had to become much more focused and I can no longer blame anyone else or make excuses; I will only fail because of ME, it is no one else's fault when I do. Those failures that I have had so far have taught me this very poignantly and have caused me to get my butt in gear. I WILL succeed, I have no doubts about it. Derek and I are both so excited to see how my business will grow even after we leave; we LOVE the whole residual income and exponential growth thing!! It's BRILLIANT!!! We have decided that Arbonne will be our "tent-making" so we can pursue ministry without financial worry. I am sooooo thankful that I have a husband that is not only supportive of me with this business, but who actively participates in it. He is so fun to watch when he is talking about it to people:) Anyone who knows Derek can see why it would be fun to watch him talk about self-care products;) The best thing he does, though, is talk about the business because he sees the genius of it; and he's not exactly an idiot, he does have a business degree. To encourage anyone further that this is a very viable business, check with my dad who has YEARS of experience in VERY successful business; he thinks this is great! Ok, now I am releasing a teeny bit of frustration with skeptics...on to other stuff.
Jake is doing really well. Cute as ever! He loves "arpoons" (airplains), cars, "ooo-ooos" (trains), "hoo-hoos" (monkeys, particularly Curious George), Bob (Bob the Builder), and Little Einsteins (he LOVES the music). Oh, and he will sing "Jesus Loves Me" with us at bedtime, his contribution is singing the word "Bible" over and over. He is really beginning to put together a few words to form fragments that have meaning. It is so fun watching his development. He has the most infectious laugh, add that to his BIG brown eyes that sparkle with mischief and his great smile complete with dimple, and it is near impossible to stay mad at him. Though we are instituting more "time-outs"...so much fun;)
ok, it is late, I am tired. "Tommy need sleepy"
Love you all!
Ash