August 9, 2005

There's a reason we call him "Great"

Queen Shenaynay

Great Scot left a lovely comment to my recent blog entry about the AO/CM Conference. He said:

I note with great pride that The Queen, as well as the other members of the Ambleside Online Advisory, do what they do, and spend the enormous amount of time that AO requires of them, with no intent to receive monetary gain, but to instead try and help in their own way the education and enlightenment of an upcoming generation. The self sacrifice that each of these ladies display is truly inspiring.

I started to just reply with another comment, but I've decided to go one better and do it this way, up on the front page.

I want to say back to Great Scot what a magnanimous gentleman he is for being willing to share his wife's time and energy for the sake of the Ambleside Online project, in spite of the fact that it adds not one dime to our household income. He has remained supportive and encouraging even as the project has evolved into a massive undertaking, far bigger and more time-consuming -- and perpetual -- than any of us on the Advisory could remotely imagine back when we first began working on it.

It's the rare man who can bring himself to be so generous and benevolent, so humble, so willing to see something as demanding as AO as a calling in his wife's life. That's also the sign of a true servant, Great Scot.

Over the years, he's arranged many dinners so I could help with the work of developing the AO curriculum. He's taken the kids on outings so I could concentrate on things like book selections, composer and art studies and so many other things. He has talked to the top of my distracted head as I typed furiously and mumbled things like "uh huh, yeah, whatever is fine, honey."

And he has been happy to do it because he truly gets the whole vision, and -- mostly --because he sees that the Lord is in this whirlwind.

You're a great man, Great Scot. And you're my hero.

7 comments:

Leslie Noelani Laurio said...

Great Scot, those are touching words. It was a pleasure meeting you! Thanks for all you did to make the conference and our stay so wonderful. You and the Queen have a lovely home and a delightful family. That week is one of the highlights of my life!

TheHeadGirl said...

The Great Scot was wonderful for the helpers during the day of the conference. He was kind, remained calm during potentially stressful situations (lunch!), he made sure our needs were met, he was always available for any questions we had...he was every bit as Great as you've described him, Auntie L!

polemic turtle said...

Awwww.. :-) Hug! It's nice to see married people who like each other and tell other people nice things about their spouse. Most refreshing! :-)

Lynn Bruce said...

Like him? I'm nuts about him.

He looks great in a kilt, too.

::fans herself, goes to kiss him::

Karen G. said...

And here's one more nodding head, saying, mmm hmmm, that's right. He's one great guy and the Queen is truly blessed.

polemic turtle said...

Not all things are good in moderation, I dare say. Forsooth, I'll be frank and tell you that marriages like this inspire me to dream. :-)

Mom2the6Rs said...

Great Scot, I also felt that what these women did, do and are doing for Ambleside Online is nothing less than heroic. Heroic to keep it free...heroic to keep it accessable to all. Heroic to put in all the effort for no $$$$. Thank you so, so much! You don't even know....