Abigael's passions in life

*Mummy

*Clothes and shoes

*Her babies

Historic Scotland

As a gift to celebrate Luke's graduation my Dad and Jennifer brought Luke an annual membership pass to Historic Scotland.

Historic Scotland is an agency that looks after and preserves historic buildings and structures throughout Scotland. There are currently more then 300 sites including Edinburgh castle, Stirling castle and many more.

Last Saturday we started using our membership by heading to Tanallon Castle which sits on a high cliff over looking the Firth of Forth and Bass Rock. The castle was built in the 1350's. We had a beautiful day and Daniel really enjoyed running around the place however it was a little scary trying to get him down the spiral stairs. While we sat there, we were able to see why Scotland is such a beautiful place to live - the castle was old but strong and the sea was calming yet powerful. Luke and I are blessed to be able to take Daniel and Abigael to these places and show them Scotland's history. Thank you Dad and Jennifer for the gift - I know that Luke and I will enjoy using it.

Graduation 2010.

On the 30th June 2010, I had the pleasure of watching my sister and my husband graduate from Edinburgh University. As they both graduated at the same time it allowed my Mum, Dad and Rachel's husband Werner to watch both of them graduate. It was an amazing day due to both the weather and being surrounded by so many people who were starting a new chapter in their lives. It was amazing to watch all the different people graduate and listen to their family and friends cheer for them as they were 'doffed'.

Luke was one of the first people to graduate in the ceremony and he graduated with 'The degree of Master of Theology in Theology in History'. He was the only one to graduate from this course.

Rachel graduated with 'The degree of Master of Arts with Honours in English Language and Linguistics' (thats right, I am surrounded by people who would never choose an easy course to do).

The ceremony itself was interesting in that we got to sit in the beautiful McEwan Hall which has a long history for graduating students. It was presented to the University in 1897 by William McEwan who was both a brewer and politician (therefore it was built from the profits of the selling of beer!).

We then listen to the opening words which were spoken by the Head of the School of Divinity and he quoted from Luke 12:48. Following this, the actual presentation of the degrees started -

First, the students walked up to the Vice Chancellor of the University to be tapped on the head by a bonnet (the original is said to be made from John Knox's breeches). The bonnet that is used now contains the university emblem which has travelled with a Edinburgh alumni into space. The speaker then used the bonnet to 'doff' the student who then received their diploma.

Following the presentation we listened to the Vice Chancellor speak about the wonderful reputation the of University. It is currently ranked the 20th best in the world however employers rank its graduates as 16th best in the world. The university's the School of Divinity, is consistently ranked among the best in Britain. Edinburgh is the second oldest University in Scotland, having graduated students for over 400 years.

I was very proud to sit and listen to this knowing that Rachel and Luke are part of this amazing University and for the rest of their lives they will always be graduates of one of the best Universities in the world.

Well done Rachel, you worked hard to get this degree and to achieve one of your biggest dreams.

Luke, I am very proud that even though it was hard and stressful you managed to follow your dreams.