6 weeks...

Hello family and friends,

We have been slacking with our blog and we apologize for not being good at communicating as of late. A lot has happened since we last blogged (obviously since it was October).  We celebrated American Thanksgiving in all its glory. Had a lovely time connecting with our community and remembering the wee things we are thankful for.  We celebrated Christmas through the L'Arche Belfast tradition of Kris Kindle (aka Secret Santa) and had a lovely time celebrating the actual Christmas day with Thomas, Makiko, Tae Woo, Scott's family and Maria.  We travelled to Paris and loved every minute of it.  Throughout the long weekend we walked over 26 miles whilst exploring the city.  We moved house (our old landlord moved into our house so we were forced to relocate).   We have attended a wonderful course in Birmingham called 'Urban Christian'.  It was a great encouragement as we look forward to our next step that God has a heart for cities.  (If any of you are familiar with the book The Naked Anabaptist by Stuart Murrary, he was one of the leaders of the course). Lucy had 2 college friends (Sara and Jodi + 2 of their friends) come visit for a weekend, which was lovely. So life here has continued to be filled with the same old same old as well as new and exciting experiences and adventures.

As the title of the post says, 6 weeks from today our visas expire.  It is wild to think that our 2 years here is close to finishing.  Although we will deeply miss our friends in Belfast and deeply treasure the impact living in L'Arche has had on us, we are also so excited to see what God has in store for us next.  After our visa expires, we will spend a few weeks travelling around continental Europe before heading back to spend time with all of you who we can!  Then in the beginning of June we will be moving to Detroit, MI.  That is about as far as the plan has been revealed to us as of yet as we are both applying for jobs and will secure housing when we return. We would petition prayers of peace and revelation as we continue to work through what God has in store for our next steps!

Thank you all for your continued support as we finish up our time here in Belfast.  We look forward to seeing many of you in May!

Thanksgiving 2011

Christmas 2011

Paris-January 2012

Christmas Letter

Check out our Christmas letter below!

http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=ae65fe2808aa2474e0006dbef&id=6d4ba1c1bc

Celebrations!

It has yet again been awhile since we blogged.  Sorry for doing such a bad job updating you all at home.  The past month has been filled with celebrating (L’Arche Belfast’s 10^th anniversary and Micah’s birthday), Trent and Erin visiting, and the changing of seasons.

It seems since the last time we wrote the weather has changed from summer to winter and then back to autumn. The daylight seems to be disappearing fast.  A few months ago it was light until after 11 and now it is barely light at 6. But at least we are now having the lovely weather that makes us want pumpkin, butternut squash and parsnips!  It is time to start baking again (as soon as our oven if fixed!).  This weather makes us both miss those beautiful autumns in Goshen where the leaves became a variety of brilliant colours.  Here it either yellow or brown no beautiful reds and oranges!  If you are somewhere with beautiful falls….take advantage and remember the beauty in it!

The 10^th anniversary was a real success.  Over 200 people met to celebrate the past 10 years of L’Arche Belfast through stories, songs and symbols.  After celebrating the past, we took time to look toward the future and the community leadership was handed over to Scott.  Everyone had a brilliant time and Root Soup was the buzz around the tables.  It was amazing to see how many people have touched and been touched by L’Arche Belfast.  The day was filled with work for the two of us.  With Root Soup catering, Micah and the crew were busy in the kitchen.  Lucy helped Larry out throughout the day which is a pretty easy job since he is one happy man!  After the main celebration, the past and current assistants gathered for dinner at the Ark.  It was lovely to see the core members reconnecting with past assistants!

 Two days after the 10^th, Trent and Erin (Micah lived with them in Seattle during MVS) arrived in Belfast.   We got to show them a bit of what we do before hitting the sights around Ireland.  We were able to see the north coast (Giant’s Causeway), Dublin, Rock of Cashel, Dingle Penninsula, Galway and some traditional music.  Sadly the day they were supposed to go to the Cliffs of Moher it was REALLY foggy and we couldn’t see a thing! The week provided Micah a great chance to reconnect with good friends and Lucy a chance to get to know them a bit better! 

While Trent and Erin were here we got to celebrate Micah’s 26^th birthday!  YAY for Micah!

Today we had our Halloween party.  Between charades, a New York theme and lots of good food, we had a great time! Lucy was a mouse and Micah was a mobster.  Good fun with good friends sums up the day!

Other than the travels and celebrations, we have been working away.  Micah has worked hard at the sustainability of Root Soup.  The Root Soup team had a planning day where they looked at how they are going to accomplish their business plan.  It was helpful, but also showed how much work there is to be done in the next few months.  Lucy has been searching for 1 more volunteer and is preparing to hand over a few of her responsibilities with volunteer coordination in preparation for our departure in 5 months.  Hard to believe it is almost that time!  Please be praying for us as we begin to look toward the future.  We desire God’s wisdom in both our future plans as well as in ending well here.  5 months is still a lot of time, but we are sure it will pass quickly, so please be praying!

Is it really the end of September already?!?!

It is hard to believe it is already the end of September.  Recently Root Soup has been quite busy catering and hosting events.  The crew hosted a fundraising cinema night at a 1950’s Tudor style cinema in Comber.  The movie was great.  The food was great.  The turnout was great.  We watched Radio and had old fashioned candies and popcorn!  Doesn’t get much better than that! 

Then, last Sunday, Root Soup catered for over 90 people at an after church lunch.  A few people said they were expecting ‘just some vegetable soup’ but were pleasantly surprised by the 3 choices (spicy parsnip, potato and ham, and French onion). The guys from Open Door did a great job greeting people, serving soup and clearing up! It was another successful day even though the cooker blew its fuse and was off for about 30 minutes before we realized!

In addition to Root Soup, we have been busy helping to plan the 10^th anniversary for L’Arche Belfast which is on Saturday.  Lucy has been in charge of invitations, RSVPs and coordinating the food.  Micah (and Root Soup) will make the soup for about 250 people as well as a light dinner for about 40. It will be fun to be a part of a milestone in the history of L’Arche Belfast!

The weather here has begun to be a bit unpredictable, but one day the sun was shining and it was just lovely, so we decided to bike on the Comber Greenway.  It is a 7 mile path that we can pick up near to our house.  We have been desiring to bike out to Comber for a while and we absolutely loved it (even though we rode into the wind on the way home!).  It is always nice to get away from the loud traffic of the Ormeau Road!

One funny story from the Ember (where the core members live): Lucy was helping Jillian to phone her dad one evening and we didn’t get a hold of him so she headed up for her bath, but on the way up she kept saying ‘Larry out drinking.  Larry bad boy out drinking. …’ It was incredibly funny!  She is such a great woman!

In the midst of the busyness of this time, we were able to get away for a weekend down to Wicklow with Joy, Bobby and their boys.  Our friend, Sam (who just moved to Russia) and his family own land in the mountains.  They have a beautiful piece of land and were gracious enough to let us use their ‘hut’. It was a brilliant weekend of laughter, reflection and great memories.  It is hard to sum up in words how beautiful and peaceful it was!  Maybe pictures will do a better job!

 

In the next week we are really looking forward to celebrating the 10^th anniversary of L’Arche as well as have 2 friends visit (Trent and Erin who Micah lived in Seattle with).  It will be wonderful to show them a bit of our life here!  A prayer request for us is that we find more volunteers soon.  We have had 6 for quite some time but because of different circumstances we will be down to 3 at the beginning of October. It will be a tricky month so we would appreciate any prayers!

Root Soup Video

Here is a video that Micah made about Root Soup to show at the cinema night fundraiser tonight. Hope it gives you an idea of what he has been up to!

End of the Summer Holidays

The past two plus weeks seem to have followed the theme of the summer, busy and beautiful.

We week of August 22-26 was the Root Soup Summer Activities Programme. It was a week full of food, fellowship, and fun. We had eight young men, ages 10 to 17, in the kitchen making soups, buns, wraps, and just about anything else you can think of. We also had other activities for them though out the week. Tuesday we made packed lunches and had a picnic in the park followed by games. Wednesday was our healthy eating day where we talked about healthy eating. Thursday we went out to Bangor to a community farm and learned about gardening. Friday we headed up to the allotment and celebrated the week with a BBQ . Overall it was a great week! Micah was absolutely wiped out by the end of the week.

Lucy went to Root Soup on Wednesday since everyone else was involved in the Summer Activities Programme. I can give you an outside perspective on what happens on a Wednesday in the kitchen. When we arrived in the kitchen, we began with some tea and coffee (typical Northern Irish style). There were 2 guys from Open Door Housing, 2 L’Arche people, me and Neil (another assistant at L’Arche). Then we began to cook cottage pie and flour-free peanut butter cookies. Everyone chipped in on the chopping, stirring, peeling and preparations. During the time we were preparing, a few of the other guys from Open Door would stop through. I heard several times that Micah and I look like siblings because of our smiles. I have heard that as you live with a person longer you start to look like them but it’s just been 2 years for us! Imagine us after 50! After the preparations were done we started on the cookies. I didn’t realize that peanut butter cookies were so American, but the guys thought it was really weird to make cookies with peanut butter. They were convinced by the end of the meal that it was a good idea! Throughout the lunch together, the conversation ranged from politics to films to favourite activities to job searching. My perspective of Root Soup was reinforced by being in the kitchen. It is an amazing project that connects people from many different backgrounds, capabilities, and outlooks through cooking and eating together in the spirit of growth and community.

The weekend following the summer scheme, we had a stay-cation (rather than a vacation). We stayed behind from a work-weekend at Corrymeela and church camp to spend some time relaxing together. We had nice food, did some errands and simply hung out. It was the perfect weekend of no obligations!

Our friend, Sam, had a premier for his documentary, Wannabes that showed on BBC. The documentary followed a band from West Belfast as they tried to ‘make it’. Check out the trailer for the documentary below! Beware there are a few naughty words...

Last weekend we had the chance to go to Scotland with Thomas. Thomas LOVES going on holiday so it has been about all he could talk about for a few weeks. The requests that Thomas made for the trip were that we flew in a plane, had burgers, had a road trip and stayed in a hotel. So once we checked those off we were able to be creative with the other things we did. In the airport, Thomas was in a wheelchair so he didn’t pass through the metal detector and had to be patted down. Afterwards he told us, ‘That man touched me,’ which is incredibly true, but wasn’t what we wanted a vulnerable adult saying in a public space! We flew into Glasgow airport and rented a car to drive up to Inverness. We stopped for lunch on Loch Lomond before continuing. Most of the way up was a national park which was gorgeous! There were many Lochs, mountains and heather (which was purple and beautiful!). By the time we got to our hostel just off Loch Ness, we were all pretty hungry and tired from the trip!

Loch Lomond

Loch Ness

On Friday, we went down to Fort Williams and had a delicious seafood lunch before having a boat trip on Loch Linnhe. We saw seals, salmon farms and just tons of natural beauty. The pictures will explain it better than me. After a bit of shopping we headed to a pub for dinner.

Hanging out on the boat.

A view of Loch Linnhe, that we took our boat trip on.

On Saturday we had our road trip up to the northwest coast. It was gorgeous but a bit too much driving for one day! Again the pictures will show our day better than anything I could describe.

A view from a lookout on the north coast of Scotland.

The amazing Scottish Highland cattle.

Amazing view over Loch Ness

Our final day, Sunday, we drove back down to Glasgow to fly home. We sadly didn’t get any pictures of the beautiful scenery because we were a bit short on time. By the time we were back in Belfast, we were all ready to be home, but we had a brilliant time in Scotland with Thomas.

Check out the poem below that we have been reflecting on today. It was written by a Northern Irish man.

Malcolm Duncan

God-Gazer

I want to be a God-gazer,

captured by the brilliance

that springs from the radiance

of You.

I want to be a God-gazer!

Not a cheap food grazer

or an easy option lazer.

I want to be a trail-blazer

for the ordinary, everyday life.

I want to be a God-gazer -

not just copying the halcyon ways

that shimmer brighter in the haze

of by-gone rays and the good old days.

I want to be a God-gazer!

Looking beyond the trappings of success,

cutting through the stucco of respectability

like a laser piercing darkness.

I want to be a God-gazer!

Reaching for the stars and

seeing beauty in the moment by

becoming fluent in the language

of the God Who is here, Who is now.

I want to be a God-gazer

until my imagination is saturated;

until my thirst is sated;

until my passion is stirred;

until my intellect is stretched

as far as it can be;

until my yearning yearns

for others to be free.

I want to be a God-gazer -

not a meetings manager

or a people pleaser

or a 'tea and sympathy' vicar -

not a leadership trainer,

not just a speaker

but a seeker.

I want to be a God-gazer...

and for a moment I want God

to gaze through me.

I want others to see

His eyes

Heart

Mind

and Love

above everything else in me.

I want to be a God-gazer

captured by the brilliance

that springs from the radiance

of You.

Life-giver!

I want to be a Life-giver

not a life-sucker.

I want my life to be releasing

not appeasing or placating.

I want to be a Life-giver,

A drainpipe without blockages,

A circuit without stoppages,

A connector without breakages.

I want to be a Life-giver!

A 'you can do it' releaser,

A 'have a go' preacher,

A 'you were born to do this' pastor.

I want to be a Life-giver -

Seeing rivers flow, not die,

Seeing others rise and fly,

Helping friends reach for the stars

even if they sometimes miss.

At least they can say they tried.

I want to be a Life-giver,

Generous in spirit and in heart,

Letting the forgotten make a start

at being Life-givers, too.

I want to be a Life-giver

because I am a God-gazer

not because it's about me

but because it's about Him

because life can't spring

from any other 'thing'.

I want to be a Life-giver

connected to the Source

and pointing to the Son -

standing in the shadow of the Light

celebrating Him.

World-changer.

I want to be a World-changer

not just a furniture re-arranger

or an 'it could be better' winger

or a 'have the left overs' stinger.

I want to be a World-changer!

A doer, not just a talker.

I want to spread the clothes of heaven,

No more or less than a poor man's dreams,

beneath the feet of Jesus.

I want to be a World-changer -

'Cos on a morning many winters ago

the tomb was open

and the curse was broken.

Death had to let go

and re-creation burst out

of an old wineskin

like water from a geyser,

Like the cry of a child

pushed into the world

and nothing

would shut Him up.

I want to be a World-changer

because it's started...

because the vanguards on the move...

and love is pushing out hate

and light is shining out

and darkness can't understand it

beat it

change it

hide it

kill it

stop it

win.

I want to be a World-changer

because there's safety in this danger.

There's meaning in this purpose.

There's joy in this mission

and too many others are missing

the power of life in all its fullness.

World-changer? Life-giver? God-gazer.

God, break in - then break out

Fill - then make me leak.

Plug me in and push me out.

In me, through me, around me.

Make me a Patrick.

Make me a Brendan.

God-gazing, life-giving, world-changing.

Captured by the brilliance

that springs from the radiance

of You.