First Pot of Soup!

Sunday the 5^th December began with church. It was a really relaxing afternoon of Christmas movies and playing games.

Monday began with prayer and a team meeting. The weather was a bit yucky, but Lucy ventured out for a chiropractor appointment in Bangor. It was decided that Lucy could start decreasing the amount of times she had to go to appointments, because her neck is in line and will hopefully stay that way!! Micah did a few errands and then stopped by Bobby and Joy’s house to drop off some leftovers. We ended up staying for dinner and watching one of Bobby’s favourite shows, River Cottage.

Tuesday was decoration day at the Ember. The morning was spent organizing decorations, buying a tree and untangling lights. The rest of the decorating happened in the afternoon when the core members were back, but we did not help because Lois and Wayne arrived. Lois and Wayne attend Lucy’s home congregation and Lois was Lucy’s mentor through high school. They are currently living in London volunteering as care workers for MMN volunteers. There is a MMN couple that recently moved to Belfast so they were able to combine visiting them with visiting us. They arrived about dinner time so Peter and Jenna (the MMN couple), Wayne and Lois, Frans and Julia (our new housemates) and Thomas joined us for dinner. It was a good evening of catching up and playing the Mennonite game!

Wednesday was another Root Soup day. Micah and Bryson (a trainee) went shopping at IKEA for additional kitchen supplies before returning to the office. Lucy worked in the office all day. She met with Frans and Julia to make sure they were settling in and to give them a chance to talk through some of the new ways of life that L’Arche provides. After work, we headed to the Ember for dinner and then Wayne and Lois returned from a day out (they stayed in our guest room) so we enjoyed chatting with them.

Thursday we went on a walk along the river with Wayne and Lois before heading to Protection of Vulnerable Adults training. The evening was pretty low-key.

Friday was a garden day for Micah. They worked a lot of transplanting and weeding. Lucy had the morning off so she took the chance to do some reading and cleaning. The afternoon for Lucy was spent in the Ember. Lucy helped Thomas get KK gifts and Lucy got her first present from her KK!! It was a great present of clementines and assorted nuts! Friday night we headed to city centre to meet up with Peter, Jenna, Wayne and Lois to listen to some traditional Irish music. The music was suppose to start at about 9, but the upstairs (where the music was) didn’t open till 9:30 and the musicians didn’t start playing till after 10. Then they only played 2 songs before heading out for a smoke break! Bummer! We only heard a total of 4 songs before heading back home, but it was really good music!

Saturday was an Ember day. Micah headed to Common Grounds with Thomas to volunteer. Lucy helped Jillian up and around before heading out with her to get some fruit and veg from the green grocer and buy some toiletries. Then afternoon was spent up at Forestside doing Christmas shopping or lounging around the beautiful Christmasy living room! In the evening we all headed down to the Ark for ‘Larry’s Pub Night’. Larry loves the pub but is often too lazy/overwhelmed by the number of people there to actually want to go to the pub, so we brought the pub to Larry. It was a great night of charades, singing, dancing (mainly by Jillian) and chatting.

Sunday we headed to church with Wayne, Lois, Peter and Jenna. After church we all went to a nearby sandwich shop before parting ways for a few hours. The afternoon for us was spent relaxing and napping! For dinner we headed over to Peter and Jenna’s house for jacket potatoes made by Lois and Wayne.

Monday started as usual with prayer and a team meeting. After lunch, we headed to the train station because Lucy had a chiropractor appointment. Lois, Wayne, Peter and Jenna had all headed to Bangor earlier in the day and we met up with them after the appointment for a cuppa tea. After getting back to Belfast, we headed to the Christmas market and then out to dinner at a great eclectic place called ‘Made in Belfast’. It had lots of character and really nice food.

Lois and Wayne headed to the airport on Tuesday morning. We decided to head to Ian’s bakery for breakfast since it had been a few weeks since we had gone. It was as good as ever. Afterwards we headed to buy some toiletries at Forrestside. Christmas shopping is making every shopping centre crazy busy!! We will avoid them if possible till after Christmas! We worked in the afternoon in the office then headed to the Loom, a new prayer space for the community. We had dinner and decorated the space. After the gathering, the live-in volunteers had Volunteer Night Out at a pub with Irish music. It was good craic!

Wednesday was an exciting day for Root Soup. Micah and Bryson made the first pot of soup for Root Soup! Lucy went to women’s group in the morning only to find out she should check our cell phone more often because it was cancelled. So after a cuppa tea, it was back to work in the office. Once the soup was made, 11 people enjoyed a bowl and some yummy wheaten bread. It was a big step to actually make a pot of soup! After work and dinner, we went to cell group where we enjoyed festive food and good company.

Thursday was a rest day (finally!). We used the morning to go grocery shopping and clean up around the house a bit. Then we took some time to relax before heading to Common Grounds for dinner and ‘Carols in the Cafe’ put on by our church here.

Friday was a different sort of day. It snowed quite a bit during Thursday night, so Jillian and Thomas weren’t able to go to the day centre. Jillian spent the day baking with Julia; Thomas spent the day with the two of us cleaning out his room. Thomas got rid of a LOT of stuff and his room is now dust free J. After work we learned a new game called 66.

Saturday we were back in the Ember. Lucy and Jillian headed to the green grocer and out to coffee. Micah went to Common Grounds with Thomas to volunteer. The afternoon was spent Christmas shopping, hanging about and going to IKEA. After we were at IKEA (looking for a new wardrobe for Thomas), we had a wee snowball fight. Thomas, Jillian and Larry were not impressed. Jillian kept yelling ‘cut it out’!

Today we went to church and then have spent the afternoon playing games and enjoying warm tea!

The past bit we have enjoyed Christmas’ arrival, from the Carols in the Cafe, to the snow, to the Christmas cards from Church of the Brethren members. We are looking forward to celebrating Christ’s birth next weekend. We will try to post pictures in the next few days, but for now we will leave you with warm holiday wishes!