That’s right. He is officially deceased. Hard drive is safe. The power board went out, according to Shane, who spent his morning disecting it piece by piece. A new powerboard? A whopping $1000.

So - the positive is I have less to pack for Scotland. The negative? The fact I can’t design, write, or do any of Mosaic Edinburgh’s communication while we are in Scotland.

I am just going to have faith that Steve Jobs or one of his croneys, (heck, I’d even settle for Bill Gates this time, although it was his computer that is causing this mess…) will read my blog, and send me a new MacBook. Or at least let me borrow one for September.

Prayers, greatly appreciated. And I know it’s lame to ask you to repost this, when there are so many other crisises going on in the world, but if you wouldn’t mind reposting this, well, you just never know.

Not counting today, we leave in three days. I’ve decided that, although I will be using this blog to update photos & videos and give brief summaries, I’ll be keeping a separate detail journal on a different blog. That way you can choose how much of our trip you want to experience with us - just the pictures, or if you want to read how God is working each and every day in our lives!

I’ve already started writing on the other journal, just to record some pre-trip lessons we are learning. So, follow me over to Anne’s Scottish Musings (http://edijournal.wordpress.com/). After this post makes its way off my page, you can access it by clicking the icon on the left.

Thanks for your computer prayers. I still don’t know if it will be working by the time we leave, but I am leaning towards no. So, if any of you out there have a laptop I can borrow…

It has been a crazy week - we leave for Scotland in TWO WEEKS now and the reality of this trip has finally hit. We have been emailing people in the UK like crazy, it seems as if we already know fifteen or so people and we’ve never even stepped foot over there. What’s great is most of these people don’t know each other yet, but they all share the same vision for creating a movement of love and service in the UK - whether in England or Scotland!

On another note, we have been overwhelmed with your generosity. It is amazing that people from all over the country - most of whom we have never met - have been so willing to invest in this trip. We needed $800 and to date, this community at FlowerDust.net has donated $650!

Honestly, we weren’t expecting much of a response since - well, most of you don’t know us personally. The fact that you have trusted us with your gifts and prayers means more than you know.

Please continue to pray for us the next two weeks as we finish the practical things like packing, lining up cat-sitters, finances, handling work responsibilities and time management.

But we especially covet your prayers for our health and safety, physically and spiritually as we prepare. My mom will also be having surgery while we are gone, so prayers for her health are appreciated as well.

We know there will be forces working against us, trying to divide us and beat us down, and through your prayers of protection and God’s grace, we will be more than covered.

Any advice for traveling overseas or missions?

It is less than three weeks before Chris and I leave for Scotland. We are so excited to get to meet and serve the people in the city of Edinburgh with James Petticrew and Mosaic Edinburgh. It has been amazing to see how this vision is becoming a reality.

We are in the last leg of raising support for our trip. With the exchange rate being almost double at the moment, we’re trying to stretch every bit of our savings so we can manage the costs of living out there in September.

I’ll be bold here and cut to the chase. We need to raise about $800 more dollars for food expense alone for the several weeks we are there. Below is our last support letter (click the haggis picture to read it.)

Even $15 would buy a meal for the both of us.

Also, I thought it would be responsible for us to post our current financial statement so you can see how blessed we have been to have people support us, as well as God giving us the discipline to save.

Donations Collected: 1407.00
Personal Savings: 2396.12

Expenses Paid: $1881.34
Upcoming Expenses: $2800
Total Expenses: 4681.34

Total Income less: 3803.12
Total Expenses: 4681.34
Left to Raise: 878.22

However, to be slightly amused, or to find out what a haggis is, click the haggis picture below. It will also take you to see what we’ll be doing, and easy ways you can help!

If you would like to buy us a meal (and save a haggis) online, please click here to be taken to our secure Paypal donation site. If you’d rather mail in something, or have a question, please email me.

Thanks for remembering us in your prayers too. If you want, please pass this on - you never know who might be up for catching this vision for Edinburgh!

Chris & Anne Jackson

First of all, happy Mothers’ Day to all you moms, grandmas, aunts, and other maternally instinctive souls.

Secondly, I am dead-smack in the middle of editing my very dear Scottish friend James’ 90-100 page dissertation for his Ph.D in ministry at Asbury. I say that for two reasons:

1) So you will know how smart he is

2) So I can feel smart for editing a Ph.D’s paper (*note: FEEL smart)

I spent a good 2 hours before church at Starbucks diving in. At times, I would forget I was supposed to be looking for passive tense verbs or misplaced commas and I would get wrapped up in what he was writing about.

At church today, Pastor Steve talked about some of the Sacred Pathways of worship (based on the Gary Thomas book.) The service was structured very differently than normal. A meaningful moment happened about a quarter through the service. Probably close to 800 or so candles were set up around the auditorium and we had a response time for anyone who wanted to go light a candle for a recent commitment they have made. Some of the larger candles were already lit, signifying the light God is to us, and has passed on to us…and we were to light our candles using the flame already burning….

After reading half of James’ dissertation about the spiritual condition of the UK, specifically Scotland, and talking to Chris before the service about how much we feel our hearts breaking for those in Scotland, we went up and lit a candle to physically represent our commitment to pointing the people of Edinburgh to Christ during the 16 or so days we are there. It was a very moving moment for us…also seeing hundreds of people make the walk and light their own candles as a response to their personal commitments.

Well, I need to get back to the remaining 48 or so pages I’ve yet to read and edit….

Question: Out of the following, what environment(s) do you personally express your worship in?

*Nature
*Senses
*Ritual
*Solitude
*Obidience
*Celebration
*Knowledge

We are close to purchasing our airfare for our mission trip to Scotland, and partially due to the increase in gas prices, our tickets have gotten a little more expensive. Basically, we have $1350 collected for Scotland, and our tickets are $1500. So, if you feel led to pray for us, please pray we’d be able to come across this money quickly. If you feel led to give, please email me or donate via PayPal.

Happy Friday!