That’s right…I did SSAP!!!!
Oh yeah!
And, I did it with only 5 faults……sure one of them could have been an immediate failure had a car come speeding over the hill I couldn’t see over while turning right…..but hey, that didn’t happen, and I am now a UK driver!
Yahoo!!
“What’s next on the list of challenges for the Luses,” you ask?
How about 7 people traveling for 14 hours this coming Friday….most of it on a plane!
Fun stuff!!!!
Thanks for the prayers!
Yep…..that’s what I will be attempting today in a matter of hours.
At 2:30pm I will be taking my driving test.
No pressure…..my wife passed hers on the first go.
No pressure…..
Had a dream last night that I was back in the States driving on the wrong side….I’ll be there in a few days…hope that dream doesn’t come true!
No pressure……
I’m not pregnant, I’m not an attractive woman (as is my wife), I’m an American…..I’m afraid there is really nothing going for me…… but that’s what makes life interesting right?
The unknown…….
The pressure…….
The prayer……….
This coming Sunday, 31st January, we will be baptizing 4 people from the body of Renfrew Baptist Church!! I am told that we have not had any baptisms or new people joining membership of the church for over a year at least.
This is exciting news, and all the glory goes to God!
God is doing some great work in our town and we are blessed to be a part of His work here!!
Especially exciting for our family is that one of the four will be Charlotte!
I will do my best to post some pictures after Sunday!
Back to the United States for a two week visit!
We will be in Portland February 13th to March 1st.
More details soon to come…..I hope we will get a chance to see you! 
So, if I were holding to the very strict code of missionary reporting, I would not have begun this little note with the title that I did. But…..I often times feel very “un missionary,” so maybe the honesty will be decently received….maybe….
I don’t remember the last time that I was really, truly sick on Christmas…..but I will remember this one. To make it a bit more trying, Shauna was also seriously ill.
Still, through it all, the kids had a blast. Many family members had sent wonderful gifts, I did manage to get the turkey in the oven, and we did not have to cancel Christmas this year!
Sickness always introduces the most necessary and oft forgotten fact that life is so frail. We are truly sustained each day by God…..”instead we ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live…” It takes so very little to come in and mess with my “plans.”
I thank God for sickness and that in my weakness this year of 2010, His grace will be sufficient!
May God bless you all as he has our family!
I have been whining.
It has made me feel good for a minute and then worse for days after.
I am, in my nature, a whiner. My sinful, fallen, repulsive un-regenerated, should be crucified nature.
Why I do what I do not want to do, I have no idea.
There is not enough time in this life to whine.
All done. On with the battle, forward with Christ!
Taren Kenneth Luse came on 1 December, 2009 at 10:23pm to the RAH hospital in Paisley, Scotland.
His name is a slight derivation of Taran (it is of Gaelic origin) and means “thunder.”
The new baby’s location in the car…next to the last baby of the family!
A great big sister!
Getting valuable instructions about new baby.
What a fantastic family!!
We are blessed by the arrival of Taren, and us boys are happy to have a little better odds!
Here, in Renfrew there are cars.
We actually, got a used Kia mini van.
It’s really nice, low miles, blue, and seats the whole family…even the new Luse!
It is a blessing.
However; this meant that Shauna and I have to take tests for a UK license.
Shauna passed her written, and then last week did the unheard of for an American, passed her practical driving exam on the first go!! Most of our friends here from the US take at least two shots at it.
I passed my written test a week and a half ago…and now on to the driving….however; I’m not a charming american who is pregnant…so I have no delusions at all of passing on the first go. (And yes…even she will admit that the charm and pregnant helped)
We now re-enter the world of traffic, petrol, and insurance. I did not miss those things at all…..but, not having a car for a bit has made me much more aware of the blessing that having “wheels” can be.
Of course, we did not have a 4th of July celebration here in Scotland this year….however, today is Guy Fawkes day!!!
It is a celebration which marks the overthrow of a plot to destroy the parliament building in London by Guy Fawkes and others in 1605.
We had access to some “new” fireworks…mainly the kind of rocket that has previously been illegal to us in Oregon.
Here is my first experience…..I stuck the stick into the grass a little too deep….
The other videos we don’t have for you:
1. The roman candle that fell over and began to shoot out in a clockwise rotation, but stopping before it pointed at all of us.
2. The rocket that shot across our yard and into the apple tree
3. My son smacking himself in the forehead with a sparkler (no damage done, not even a singed eye brow!)
Maybe next year we’ll have more video for you….or at New Years…..I hear we can buy more then!
We began Nehemiah this week at RBC…..fantastic…absolutely fantastic!
We took the whole first chapter in one morning! If you haven’t read it lately, do it….it is worth the time.
One of the things that Nehemiah says to God in his amazing prayer is:
Neh. 1:8
“Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples;
Remember….so here ya go…a visual remembering of some past years for the Luse’s…. (I know…it’s not what Nehemiah was talking about, but remembering is a very Biblical and wonderful theme…)
