Happy Easter!

Wednesday 20 April began with Root Soup and women's cell. Micah is continuously amazed at the positive impact that Root Soup is having on the men that live in the homeless hostel. One of the men asked, 'When can we have a barbecue with the Root Soup family'. In the afternoon we both worked in the office. Micah met with a guy from Ardmore advertising who is working on a website for Root Soup. Micah isn't quite ready to give the link so you will just have a wait a bit longer. Lucy found out a volunteer that had agreed to come in May decided not to come. It is a bit stressful to find another volunteer in such a short time period, so pray for good candidates! Wednesday evening we headed to our cell group!

Thursday began the 'Holy Week' community activities. We all headed up to the North Coast to visit Giant's Causeway, have a picnic and do footwashing. It has been an annual tradition from the beginning of the community (minus last year when it was snowing on Holy Thursday). It was BEAUTIFUL day full of sunshine, good food and great people! Once we were back, we had ice cream for dinner with the community! YUMMY!

On Good Friday we attended a ecumenical service that began in Ormeau Park and ended at Jillian's church. Afterwards Root Soup catered a meal for us in the park. It was another wonderful day with lots of sun! Once we were back from the park we sat in the back garden and ate more ice cream before going for a run. Eating ice cream before a run is a bad idea just in case you didn't know!

Saturday was a day at the Ember for us. It was a pretty quiet day amongst the busy community days. The two of us headed up to Forestside with Thomas and Larry to do some errands. Then we made some yummy wraps for lunch. The afternoon was filled with lounging. In the evening we made delicious veggie burgers instead of our usual Saturday dinner of fish and chips! It was a nice healthy change.

Easter Sunday began really early with a sunrise service with City Church. It was held at the park around the Malone House, which is a old, big country house. We had a lovely service followed by some bacon baps! It was a good way to start the Easter day. After we went to Joy and Bobby's for some much needed coffee, before returning to bed for a few hours. Once we were a bit rested, we got ready for our Easter dinner. There were about 20 of us that enjoyed salmon, corn casserole, green beans, lots of different salads and LOADS of desserts! It was a nice way to finish off the Holy Week but we were glad when all the busyness was finished!

Monday was a rest day (which we were very thankful for!). In the morning we went for a 6 mile run! Woot Woot! Afterwards we went to get a coffee before going grocery shopping. In the afternoon we spent a few hours making lasagne for Makiko's leaving prayer (on Tuesday). After we were done, Lucy got a bit sick from a bad headache so it was pretty much straight to bed for her!

Today was another rest day. We tried to go to IKEA with Joy and Bobby, but alas the buses in Belfast are still on a holiday schedule so there were no buses going to IKEA in the morning. It is an interesting difference between Northern Ireland and the USA that businesses take holiday even when the could be making money. So instead we ventured to Starbucks. You can always count on the American chain to be open! This evening we had Makiko's leaving prayer. She has been in L'Arche for almost a year and is returning to Japan on Saturday. She has brought a lot of life to the Ember so it will be sad to see her go! After the prayer, we had a huge dinner and good fellowship!

It has been a busy week, but we have enjoyed the community time celebrating Holy Week. We hope that everyone had a chance to celebrate Easter and all that it means! (We will upload pictures of Easter in a few days...our computer is hopefully being fixed by a friend!)

Back for Year Two

On 15 March we headed to the airport at the awful hour of 4 in the morning. Thomas was convinced he wanted to drop us off but for some reason he couldn’t find anyone to drive us, so we stuck with our original plan of taking a taxi. After a lot of hours of travelling we arrived in Chicago to be greeted by Lucy’s mom and sister, Anna. It felt good and weird to be back in the USA after a full year. We spent the next 3 weeks visiting, Lucy’s family in Bloomington, IL, Micah’s family in Hesston, KS, Micah’s sister in Tucson, AZ and our old stomping ground in Goshen, IN. We are so thankful for the time we were able to spend with family and friends!! On 5 April we began our journey back to Belfast and arrived back to our house at about 11 in the morning on 6 April. We took that first day back to relax and sleep, go visit Bobby and Joy and their boys who had grown so much and have dinner with the community at the Ember.

Lucy getting friendly with a cactus.

At the Mirror Lab, where they make the worlds largest mirrors for telescopes.

The Loucks Fam.

Our niece Ashley on an Easter Egg Hunt.

Our new nephew Syler, who we met for the first time.

On Thursday we were back to work (after we slept about 12 hours overnight!). We worked a bit in the office responding to many emails, getting caught up on how much Root Soup had grown in the three weeks away, returning phone calls and doing other tasks that were left while we were away. In the evening we were pretty quick to go to bed! Getting over jetlag yet again took awhile!

On Friday, Micah headed up to the allotment. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine. The allotment crew built raised beds, planted, weeded and enjoyed the sun! Lucy had a rest day so she headed over to Bobby and Joy’s and joined them for a trip to Botanic Park and for lunch. After Micah got back we had a few friends over for a BBQ before Micah headed to Street Pastors’ training.

Saturday was a day in the Ember for both of us. Micah headed up to Forrestside with Larry in order to buy a DVD. Lucy mowed the grass at the Ember and picked up trash around the garden. After lunch, we all headed to Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park for a stroll and some ice cream. For dinner we had another BBQ at the Ark. After the BBQ, Thomas, Sharon, Matthew and Lucy went to a ‘Crosslink’s’ performance that May was involved in. The ‘Crosslink’s’ group is a cross-community group (takes both Protestants, Catholics and other minority groups) to work against stereotypes and bullying. The performance revealed a lot of stereotypes held between groups and involved dancing, singing, artwork and drama. It was a nice evening out!

Sunday we headed to church in the morning. After church, we went to Joy and Bobby’s for lunch and sat in the back garden for hours in the sunshine picking dandelions and chatting away. After we left Joy and Bobby’s we met up with Pam and Kendra (two fellow BVSers). Pam was working at Quaker Cottage in Belfast and finished this past Monday. Kenda is working in Hamburg Germany working at a peace organization. It was great to have dinner and play cards with them!

We were back at the prayer and team meeting on Monday. In the afternoon we met up with Pam and some of her co-workers at the Eg. Then we went to a kebab place. Lucy hated the kebabs and Micah loved them!

Tuesday we had a formation on the future of L’Arche Belfast. We looked at what it meant to be a leader and decided qualities our next community leader needs to have. Then we worked in the office for the afternoon and then cleaned the Ark. After work, we had dinner in the Ember.

Wednesday morning, Micah went to Root Soup and Lucy went to women’s cell. We both enjoyed being back! After Root Soup, Micah had a meeting with NOW Project. The NOW Project is interested in a contract with Root Soup to either receive training or buy soup for their cafes that employ people with learning disabilities! So exciting to see God at work in Root Soup! After dinner at the Ember, we headed to cell group which met at the church because our church was participating in the 24/7 prayer movement. Currently in Ireland and Northern Ireland every day of this year, people are praying 24 hours a day for different cities on the island. The month of April, the focus is on Belfast so different congregations are providing prayer spaces for people to pray in 24 hours a day. City Church hosted the movement for 2 days so we were able to focus on the Holy Lands (the area that is right around our church), Belfast and Northern Ireland.

Thursday was a rest day but we attended a meeting about Project Able. Project Able is a scheme providing work placements to people on the autistic spectrum and they are working in collaboration with Root Soup. They provide trainees for the allotment. In the afternoon we were really lazy (we can still blame it on jetlag!). In the evening we played games with Frans and Julia.

On Friday, Micah worked at the allotment. The garden crew made raised beds, weeded, put up lattice for the peas to grow on. Lucy worked all day in the Ember. In the morning she helped Thomas get up and around. In the afternoon she coloured with Jillian and then cooked dinner before watching a bit of TV with the lads. Larry is away on holiday leading a retreat in Poland with Gosia and Maria so things have been quieter in the Ember (even though Larry is a very quiet man!).

Saturday was a rest day, but instead of resting Micah had a meeting from 9:30-3 with the Community Leadership Programme. The meeting was led by a facilitator who was selected for Root Soup because of his fundraising expertise. The group talked about Root Soup mission, vision, aims and outcomes in the morning and fundraising in the afternoon. It was a very long meeting but also very beneficial as Root Soup continues to grow. During the meeting, Lucy babysat for Scott’s 3 kids (since Scott was at the meeting and his wife was in Scotland). After the meeting, we went on a walk and stopped by Joy and Bobby’s house before spending the evening resting!

Sunday we went to church and then spent the rest of the day at Joy and Bobby’s. Micah and Bobby went to pick gorse (a yellow flower) in order to make gorse wine. Lucy and Joy hung out with the kiddos.

Yesterday began with prayer and a team meeting. Afterwards we went on a run and went shopping for some toiletries. We went to the Ember for dinner and came back to do nothing! Micah spent the evening looking at computer possibilities because ours is on the fritz. Bummer!!

Today we are having a full-on rest day. Other than Noah’s birthday prayer we have no plans! Woot woot!

It has been a period of adjustment since being back (especially for Lucy), but slowly we are settling back into our daily routine and the life of the community. The end of this week is full of community events preparing for and celebrating Easter. It will be a time of lots of laughs and probably a bit of frustration, so keep us in your prayers that are hearts remain full of joy during the celebrations!