Martha Had A Little Lamb

This weekend I had the awesome blessing of visiting Martha way up north in the Highlands of Scotland. Martha is my closest friend here and one of the students in my home group. She's studying Radiography (yep, she's a smart one) at RGU but has finished classes for this semester and returned home (which is about 4 hrs north of Aberdeen) until she goes on placement in late May. We got to do all sorts of things in the three short days I was there, including a visit to Loch Ness, John O'Groats, Inverness, Dunrobin Castle, and various other wee villages along the way. But in all of our galivanting about the Highlands of Scotland, my most favorite part was the visit to her grandparents' farm. If you know me at all, you know I'm a seriously dedicated fulltime animal lover extraordinaire. The mulitudes of sheep, cows, donkey, chickens, and other barnyard animals were almost more than I could handle. Needless to say, I hugged every animal in sight and it was awesome. The picture directly above is Martha and I on her grandparents' farm. The ocean is behind us (north coast) and all surrounding us are hills scattered with grazing sheep and cows. The little lamb with Martha in the picture above was just born (which is why it still has blood and birth muck all over it). They get on their feet pretty quick after birth, but are still pretty disoriented and wobbly so it's easy to catch them in the fields. If you're not careful they'll think you're their mother and start following you around. Seriously cute but not the best idea when the mother sheep is standing close by giving you a death stare! Click here to see a little video I shot while hanging out with the sheep.

Yeah, I really wasn't kidding about the hugging bit in the paragraph above.

Chatting it up with my new donkey friend.

This is part of the land owned by Martha's family behind her aunt's house. We were trying to chase down some sheep :o)

Baaa Baa sheep on her grandparents' farm.

Just some beautifulness in the Highlands of Scotland

I got to hold this little lamb for about two hours! I fed it a bottle and it fell alseep in my arms!!

Oh my goodness, SO ADORABLE! She was the cutest thing ever.

I only petted it's head because the rest of it's body was kind of gross.

All kind of animals everywhere, including dead crabs. I borrowed this cool yellow jaket from Martha's grandma.

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Loch Ness

The picture to the left is proof that you can be a tourist and still look extremely cool.
Important Update: I was unable to locate Nessie during my short visit to the alleged monster's home, seeing as Loch Ness is about 30 miles long and one of the deepest lakes in Britain. Sorry to disappoint! But don't dismay, the monster lives. Keep the dream alive.

To the right, Martha and I are looking seriously windswept, with the beautiful Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle in the background.

This is another cool thing to do if you're a tourist.

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John O'Groats

Martha and I also made the treck up to John O'Groats, which is the northernmost part of Britain/Scotland. The little village is basically just ocean and a few gift shops, as well as a sign pointing to the North Pole, but it's fun to be able to say you've actually been there. In the picture below you can see that I'm standing in front of the "last house in Scotland" (que the 'ooooo, ahhhhh' from the crowd). Get it? It's the last house cause it's the very top edge of Scotland, so there's nothing beyond it except ocean. Ha ha......sigh. Cool.

If you've never taken a jumping picture than you're really missing out.

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Dunrobin Castle
Dunrobin Castle was seriously beautiful and I took about a hundred pictures (not kidding). This blog couldn't contain them all, so I'll just post this one because it gives a good view of the castle and the gardens, which are located right on the sea.

Last but not least, Martha treated me to my first ever Fish and Chips supper, complete with mushy peas - a real British treat! I usually try to avoid things that will make me fat (except cheesecake, chocolate, and peanutbutter and...well, okay, let's not be silly - everything in the sugar food group is an exception) so I've somehow managed to live on the coast of Scotland for 8 months without partaking in fish and chips even once!

As you can see, it was an exceptionally lovely visit in every way and I'm very grateful to Martha and her incredibly hospitable family. The best part was probably just getting to spend some time and catch up with Martha, who has been a very dear friend and a major blessing from God these past 8 months in Scotland.