Once upon a time, two English majors fell in love, had four children, and moved to Scotland.
Meet the Team
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Gary (33)
Loves cooking, developing recipes, learning, playing with his kiddos, writing, and trying new things.
Personal Passion: Communicating the meaning of the Gospel through memoir and critical reflection.
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Amanda (32)
Loves room escapes, fantasy, making people laugh, love stories, music, puzzles, cuddling her boys, and the Legend of Zelda.
Personal Passions: Ministry to people with neurodivergent experiences (esp. ADHD, OCD, Tourette’s, and ASD).
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Taran (7)
Loves Legos, Minecraft, Star Wars, Avatar the Last Airbender, hot pot, making art, and storytelling.
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Hunter (6)
Loves choo choos, cuddles, running as fast as he can, swinging and biking.
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JJ (5)
Loves all superheroes (but especially Batman), climbing, swimming, jumping, and being an American Ninja Warrior.
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Zachary Zaiden (Zacky Zai) (4)
Loves any and every vehicle, hugs, being silly, and making everyone say “awww!”
The first question you may be asking yourself is, why should a family of six pack up and move to Scotland? Isn’t there plenty of work to be done (and fun to be had) in the States?
Well, sure. And the first answer is that we don’t fully know the reason why - and it would be suspect if we presumed that we did. There’s always an element of obedience, and of intuition, to such decisions. We don’t know what we don’t know.
The second answer, however, is that we’ve been preparing for this much longer than we even knew it was an option. Gary and Amanda were brought together by a love for adventure, exploration, and possibility.
Traveling to Wales to attend YWAM as students - for almost our entire first year of marriage - was an adventure, and a difficult one. Heading west to Denver for seminary was an adventure, as was moving back to Ohio and navigating a river of new communities as we finished up school. Having a preemie, and then adopting three boys under two wildly different circumstances has pushed us past our limits of comfort and predictability.
Along the way, we’ve picked up an array of experiences and passions. For Gary, this looks like creative writing (think essays and poetry) , cooking/bread baking, and spiritual devotional practices. For Amanda, this looks like creative writing (think epic fantasy novels), fostering imagination and belonging, and honing her skills as a copywriter and editor.
We are going because we felt God was telling us that our adventuring wasn’t over - our ten years of upheaval hadn’t been to prepare us for a future of routine (makes sense, right?). Going now while the kids are still young and life is still oh-so-busy feels risky, but it also feels true to who God has formed us to be. Beyond that, we all - especially our children - feel a yearning for community and to live out our ideals of serving Jesus’ Kingdom wherever He would have us go.
So, we applied to join the YWAM base at Seamill, Scotland. We liked what they were about, and of course there’s the appeal of living in what is basically a castle by the sea. The base and surrounding community felt like a place our sons could thrive and grow. And, after spending time getting to know us and time asking God for wisdom, they invited us to come and join them on their mission. That’s why Scotland!
