Root Soup Really Takes Off!

Friday the 11^th of February was an early morning for Lucy. We have been blessed with a schedule that allows us late morning starts, but since Lucy was present all day in the Ember, she was up and around early. Micah and the garden clan headed up to the allotment for a windy day of painting, hauling soil and beginning to plant! The wind was so strong that they had to be careful not to get blown over! In the Ember in the afternoon, Lucy went with Thomas to purchase some new boots (for Thomas). He is the easiest guy to shop for (unlike Micah) because he is not picky at all! The first pair of boots he tried on he loved and they fit him great! The evening for Lucy was spent hanging around the Ember with the guys enjoying cups of tea and a little television!

We had the entire weekend off which doesn’t happen too often so we used the day to go for a run and then enjoy an early dinner with Joy, Bobby and their two boys. In the evening, Lucy headed with Joy to meet some other women from church for a ladies evening and Micah and Bobby played cards for their ‘boys’ evening’. It was a good day of fun and fellowship.

Sunday started by heading to church. After church we walked down to St. George’s Market in city centre to get a bite to eat and enjoy the nice weather. By the time we walked home it was almost time for some dinner and a good relaxing movie!

Monday morning began with prayer and then the team meeting. After the meeting, we caught a ride to the train station with Jenny so we could head to Bangor for a nice afternoon out and Lucy’s chiropractor appointment. After a lovely cup of coffee and some lunch, Lucy had her last scheduled appointment. It has been a real blessing to see progress through the chiropractic appointments. Although it hasn’t taken away all the migraines, it has allowed Lucy to stop taking medicine daily as well as decreased the intensity of the migraines! So praise God for this healing! By evening we were both pretty tuckered out so we enjoyed doing very little!

On Tuesday we had a formation on the mission of L’Arche Belfast. It was good to revisit the mission statement and see areas of strength and weakness in how we as a community are living out the mission. After the formation, we both worked in the office. Lucy is trying to finalize a volunteer for the beginning of May before we head home to renew our visas. Micah is working hard at nailing out the details of the future plan for Root Soup as well as organise events! In the evening, Micah headed to the pub with Bobby to watch a Champions League football match and Lucy went to Joy and Bobby’s to stay with their sleeping kids since Joy was out at a church event. Tottenham was able to hold onto the win so Micah was a happy man!

Wednesday began with Micah heading to the Root Soup kitchen and Lucy heading to women’s cell. The women’s cell that Lucy is a part of has about 7 children between the young mums so Lucy took her turn watching the kids so the other women could focus on the study. Lucy learned pretty quickly that caring for 7 children under the age of 5 is not her calling! Chaos and Lucy are not good friends! In the afternoon, we were both back in the office. Wednesday evening we went out our cell group. It was the last week that we will all meet together. Because of the growth in the church, our cell group is dividing (or I guess multiplying is the correct term) into two groups to make room for new members. It is an exciting time at City Church, but also a time of a lot of adjustment for the ‘old-timers’ of the church.

Thursday was a rest day for the two of us. After a run, we spent the day cleaning and hanging out. In the evening we went over to Joy and Bobby’s to stay with their kids so they could have a date night. Babysitting is pretty easy when the kids sleep and we get to watch TV!

Friday morning, Micah headed to the allotment for the day. They continued their work of prepping the allotments for planting! The garden crew has had some bad luck with weather recently...it has been cold, windy and rainy for quite a few weeks now. They are all looking forward to the warming up that spring will bring! Lucy was gearing up to go to the Ember when she got a tummy bug. The rest of the day was not so much fun for Lucy!

On Saturday, Micah went to the Ember and Lucy stayed in bed with the tummy bug! Micah went to Common Grounds with Thomas in the morning to volunteer. After lunch, Larry, Micah, Neil and Matthew went to city centre in search of boots for Larry. Larry loves boots. Whenever someone has boots on, he says, “boots nice”, but because his feet are so small since he is a wee man, finding adult male boots that fit him is a task! The four guys went to lots of stores and walked a few miles in search of boots and alas they did find some! Larry has been the proud wearer of his boots ever since! By evening, it was time to relax in the Ember!

By Sunday, Lucy had finally stomped the tummy bug and the two of us were able to head to church in the morning. After church, Pam (a fellow BVSer) came over for a late lunch and to catch up. We live on opposite ends of Belfast, so we haven’t seen each other nearly as often as we would have liked to, so it was a really nice time to hear how things are going for her!

Monday began the same way as always with prayer and a team meeting. The team meeting focused on May’s one year review. She moved in just before we did and it’s hard to believe that it has already been about 1 year!! After the meeting, Micah went with Stephen, a guy from church to show him the manure stash that the garden crew uses for the allotment. (Stephen is building some raised beds in his garden and needs a bit of fertilizer.) After Micah got back, we went for a run and then shopping for some groceries. When we were walking to the grocery store, we saw a Roma man who used to beg on Ormeau (the road we live on). He and Micah would always give each other the thumbs up so he has a special place in Micah’s heart. We hadn’t seen him about for awhile (He is now selling ‘The Big Issue’, a magazine published once a week and sold at intersections), but Micah got to chat with him a bit and of course give and receive the thumbs up. By the time we were back, it was time to prepare some appetizers for a dinner at Joy and Bobby’s. The evening was spent enjoying yummy food and good friends.

Tuesday morning began with the team giving a ‘spring clean’ to the Ember. With so many people going in and out of the Ember, it needs a good clean every now and again. Once we finished cleaning (and eating doughnuts), we were both back in the office. Lucy worked on preparing a brochure for Root Soup and Micah continued to work on organizing the upcoming Root Soup evening as well as got groceries for the cooking on Wednesday at Root Soup. We went to dinner on Tuesday at the Ember. It had been awhile since Lucy had been over since she was sick, so it was nice to be back! Tuesday evening had some nasty weather, so we stayed in the house!

On Wednesday, Lucy headed to women’s cell and Micah headed to the Root Soup kitchen. Micah was in charge of the kitchen, because Alison (the trainer) was off this week. It was the first profitable day in the kitchen, since they sold their first batch of soup!! Good work Root Soup! In the afternoon, we were both in the office again. Lucy worked on printing more brochures for Root Soup and spent way too much time trying to figure out how to print on an envelope! Micah was organizing, organizing and continuing to organize the event!

Today, Micah is prepping for the Root Soup event, ‘Friends and Forks’ with Alison and Bryson that is taking place tonight. The hope is that people directly connected with L’Arche Belfast will bring friends in order to spread the word about Root Soup (and raise a little money!). Lucy is taking a bit of time to relax since it is our rest day! We will let you know soon how the event goes!

Overall, life in Belfast is going really well. We are enjoying the weather warming up a bit, our jobs and our friends in and out of the community. But, we are starting to look forward to seeing out friends and family in the States in a few weeks. It is hard to believe a year has almost passed!

Back to the clouds and rain!

24 January began with a team meeting. Then we caught a ride into town with Jenny so that Lucy could head to a chiropractic appointment and Micah could head to city centre. When Lucy got back to the house, Micah was a bit worried because Micah’s parents had emailed to ask to skype about ‘something important’. We had just talked to them the day before so it was a bit troublesome. No fear though...they were just calling to wish Lucy a happy birthday a day early! Since we missed dinner at the Ember, Bobby and Joy dropped extras over for us. The rest of the evening was just filled with relaxing.

Tuesday began with ‘breakfast in bed’ for Lucy. It is a L’Arche Belfast tradition to get breakfast in bed on your birthday, but since we are early risers compared to much of the community, it was not in bed, but still quite lovely. The rest of the morning was spent in a formation on supervision. In the afternoon Lucy accompanied Maria, Frans, Larry and Jillian to a talk at a college for future teachers. It is always wonderful to see Larry and Jillian using their gifts to inspire others! Micah spent the afternoon working on stuff for Root Soup. For dinner we headed over to Bobby and Joy’s for Lucy’s bday dinner. Micah made delicious meatballs! They were so yummy!

On Wednesday, Micah headed to Root Soup in the morning and Lucy headed to women’s cell. At Root Soup, they made a lip-smacking potato and leek soup! In the afternoon we worked in the office. When we were on holiday, a few assistants helped Larry steal Micah's clothing that he left behind (because Micah picks on Larry a lot). So in order to get his clothes back, he had to wear an outfit of Larry's over to the Ember. Larry is just a bit smaller than Micah so the picture below says it all!

Thursday morning Micah and Bobby came close to completing the chicken coop and run. In the afternoon we moved the stones from the chicken run so that they will be able to scratch around. Before dinner we did some grocery shopping for our house. For dinner we had a celebratory party because L’Arche Belfast was inspected by the local quality control and passed!

On Friday, Micah headed to a training about strategic planning. Micah felt that the training showed that Root Soup is on a good path and showed a few ideas for improvement. Way to go Root Soup! Lucy spent the morning in the office and the afternoon in the Ember.

Saturday we were in the Ember all day. Micah went to Common Grounds Cafe with Thomas in the morning to volunteer. Afterwards, Micah and Matthew worked on the chicken coop. Lucy spent the morning with Jillian getting coffee and doing some shopping at the local green grocer. In the afternoon Lucy and Thomas did some crafts in the Ark. After dinner we all watched a movie. It was Matthew’s pick and not that great.

Sunday began with church. Lucy had her first experience in the crèche (aka the nursery) at church. Since we were there a bit early to set up the crèche, Micah got selected to be a part of the drama during the sermon. The sermon was on Jacob and Esau and Micah (being so smooth skinned) was chose for Jacob. He got to put on part of a bear costume to make him hairy during the deception part! Lucy is pretty disappointed she missed this!! It sounds pretty classic! We made a yummy lunch and then enjoyed an afternoon of scrapbooking, drawing and movies.

First thing Monday morning we had a team meeting. Afterwards we continued to work on the chicken coop. We got it close to complete! In the evening we headed over to the Ember for some dinner!

Tuesday began with a second formation on supervision. In the afternoon, we worked in the office. Micah headed to the store to buy a few odds and ends for the Root Soup kitchen. The early evening was spent almost finishing the chicken coop!

Wednesday started with Micah heading to Root Soup and Lucy going to Women’s cell. After Root Soup, Micah went to IKEA with Matthew before he accompanied Matthew to the dentist. In the evening we headed to the Ember for dinner and then went to our cell group.

Thursday was a great day! We headed to IKEA with Bobby to enjoy the free coffee and tea that we get for being an IKEA family member! After having some lunch, the two of us headed into city centre to get some scrapbooking materials. The evening was spent scrapbooking and drawing.

On Friday, Micah headed to the allotment for the day. It was super windy so they made lots of raised beds and tried not to get blown over! Lucy spent the morning in the office and the afternoon in the Ember. Micah worked until dark finishing the chicken coop while Lucy and Thomas made some dinner in the Ember.

Saturday we were in the Ember all day. Micah went to Common Grounds with Thomas to volunteer. Then Lucy, Micah, Larry, Thomas and Jillian headed up to Forestside to buy toiletries and a DVD. Larry and Micah then headed to Bobby’s to brew some beer. Larry was in heaven! Later on, the rugby match between Ireland and Italy was on. Then Lucy, Jillian, Thomas and Makiko headed to the Ark to do some painting and crafts. The evening was spent relaxing in front of the TV watching Thomas’ favourite show (Casulty)...an awful hospital drama.

On Sunday we walked to church in the rain! It was the first time it rained on us when we were walking to church on a Sunday morning! Pretty incredible since we live in N. Ireland! Bobby, Joy, the kids and Jessica (a visitor of Bobby and Joy’s) came over for lunch. We were planning pizza, but ended up doing hamburgers because the local grocer didn’t have what we needed for pizza. Our ‘lunch’ was finally started at about 4 p.m. but it was really nice! Micah did a great job grilling the burgers! Yum! Then Bobby and Micah went to Sainsbury to buy groceries for the Superbowl. Once back, our chickens came!! Nigel (a guy from church) brought us 3 chickens from his father-in-laws farm. After clipping their wings, they were put in the coop for the night. After the chickens were safely put away, Micah went out with the volunteers to a pub. (Lucy was exhausted by this point and needed a bit of alone time before people arrived for the Superbowl!) Micah arrived back just in time to welcome people from church for the Superbowl which started at 11:30 p.m. here! Most people watched the first half and headed home, but Micah, Bobby and Malc (the pastor of City Church) were hardcore and watched the entire game. Micah got to bed about 3:30 a.m. Crazy boys!

Monday began with Lucy leading prayer and then we had our team meeting. In the afternoon, we did our visa application that we will be trying to renew in about a month! This process took much of the afternoon. In the evening, Joy, Bobby and Sam stopped by to chat and then we had dinner. By this point in the evening, we were both exhausted after the little sleep the night before so we watched a movie and headed to bed!

On Tuesday we learned all about food hygiene! Woohoo! In the afternoon we worked in the office. Lucy is trying to recruit a volunteer for April and has not found anyone yet so please keep that in your prayers! After work, we headed over to the Ember for Megan’s (Scott’s wife) birthday prayer. After the prayer, we hurried back to the Ark to get something to eat before Jenna and Peter (the MMN volunteers) came over to play some games.

Wednesday started with Micah heading to Root Soup and Lucy heading to women’s cell. In the afternoon we both worked in the office. After work, we went grocery shopping then headed to the Ember for dinner before going to cell.

Today Lucy went on a walk in the morning with Joy. We are planning this afternoon to head to Ian’s Bakery for a traditional fry and then walking in the Castlereagh hills. We will just see what the rest of the day brings!

It has been a busy time, but Micah is pumped to have chickens (even though they haven’t laid any eggs yet L ). It is hard to believe that we have almost been here for 11 months, but we are getting excited about the possibility of seeing many of you when we are back in about a month to renew our visas! Pray that we can have patient hearts as we wait to see family and friends again (especially Lucy!).

Our 3 beautiful hens!

Our coop and run.