Life above the Parador...STILL!!!

June 15 was a typical day in the office. In the evening, we headed to the Parador with Thomas for dinner. Micah learned his lesson the week before and ordered a burger and chips this week. This pub is better known for its traditional Irish grub.

On Wednesday we went to a wee bakery down the road for some delicious doughnuts and coffee/tea. Afterward we began the process of buying the essentials for the Ark which is quite an overwhelming process. We went to Ikea, Homebase (a home improvement store), and Harry Corry (a home furnishing store). After returning from the stores, we were prepared to begin to paint our bedroom since the landlord was being cheap, but since Micah complained about how long it would take and that it would delay us moving in, the landlord said his painters would do it for us. Yay for a professionally painted room! (Note: we still haven’t moved in.) The evening was spent babysitting Scott and Megan’s youngest 2 kids: Aodh and Octavia. We enjoyed dinner and a trip to the park! A good end to a busy “rest” day!

Thursday we were back in the office. Lucy spent a lot of the day preparing for a group of 26 Eastern Mennonite University Students and 2 leaders to come volunteer for a couple hours the following Monday. Micah was in Dublin visiting various social enterprises with a local mentoring group for beginning social entrepreneurs. The evening was obviously spent watching the World Cup!

Friday, Micah came over to open the Ark so the movers could bring in the kitchen appliances as well as meet with the landlord. Soon enough, the movers were bringing in a HUGE industrial size fridge with an ICE MAKER! The real kicker was it was used. After they finished Micah gave Maria a call and told her the progress/problems. Maria was furious. After all of the landlord’s penny pinching manoeuvres, the fridge was the last straw. Immediately she began looking at other rental properties in the area before calling the landlord and telling him that if he didn’t give us everything we wanted we would move out. The landlord said he wanted L’Arche as tenants and would replace the fridge as well as meet Maria’s list of demands including painting and recarpeting of the whole house!! Micah then had a meeting in the morning with an assigned mentor through the social entrepreneur support group. In the afternoon, he headed up to the allotment with Matthew and Cami. They finally brought back strawberries!! Lucy rested in the morning and in the afternoon was present in the Ember. We enjoyed the USA vs. Slovenia and England vs. Algeria games that lovely day!

On Saturday we celebrated Matthew! For his birthday, L’Arche gave him one day out of his choice. He decided to go bowling and have a barbeque. It was a great day and was a lot of fun to see the core members in a new setting! We have been having beautiful weather here in Northern Ireland and the day of the barbeque was no exception! It was a perfect day to be outside even though it was kind of like eating in a construction zone since the grill is in the back garden of the Ark and it is a MESS!

Sunday, we went to church. After church, we met Mark, one of the leaders of the EMU group and a family friend from Hesston. It was a good time of catching up for Micah and Mark as well as a good time to hear about the group and just chat. The rest of our “rest” day was spent preparing for our group of volunteers the next day. We bought lots of groceries including lots of packs of 12 pence sausages, and additional cleaning supplies.

Monday was a crazy day in L’Arche Belfast! The morning began by welcoming Scott and Jenny back from a week retreat in France followed by food preparations for lunch and last minute runs to the home improvement and grocery stores. Soon enough, 26 EMU students and 2 leaders were waltzing into the Ember living room to be greeted by Maria. She then talked to them about L’Arche and the new projects in North Belfast (like Root Soup). After the talk, and tea and coffee, we all rolled up our sleeves, split into 4 groups and got to work for 2 hours paintings, cleaning, weeding and packing up. It was amazing how much work they accomplished in such a short amount of time! They were truly a God-send at such a hectic and work-filled time for L’Arche. The Ark for example went from a complete mess to the beginnings of a home. We are so thankful for their willingness to work unexpectedly on their trip. (FYI: we have already connected with Hesston College and EMU in our 3 months here...we are expecting Goshen, Bluffton and Bethel to come to visit as well!) After the volunteers left and we cleaned up, it was time to do nothing for awhile!

Tuesday, we had our weekly team meeting followed by a day in the office. Micah had a meeting with East Belfast Mission (a social enterprise). Lucy had her last day as a co-volunteer coordinator! Faythe is heading back to the States soon to spend time with her Grandmother who is sick, so she is making her last week in Belfast work-free. We had dinner in the Ark with Thomas! It was nice to not have to go out to eat. Most people go out to eat for something special; we think it is special to get to eat in our home again!!

Wednesday, we began our rest day with a trip to the bakery for doughnuts. Afterwards we spent time cleaning the Ark. Although “cleaners” came, it is still quite filthy. Their main job was to prep for painters. So we scrubbed our bathrooms so they are again usable. The afternoon was spent watching the USA and England games. We saw Tony, Joel and James (three friends from Goshen) on BBC coverage of the USA game!! Pretty crazy! Go USA for winning the pool! The evening was spent picking up some odds and ends at the store.

Thursday, was a busy day in the office. We did everything from paperwork to emailing to moving the office from the office to the bathroom to prepare for the carpeters to come on Friday. Thursday afternoon the movers came to take Henri and Lesley’s office down to Maria’s old office just down the road. It was quite a day. Thursday evening, we headed over to Maria’s to water her plants and have a frozen pizza. She was out of town for a meeting and we needed to escape the craziness of community for a bit.

Friday was another day of madness. This was supposed to be the day we moved back into the Ark, but alas it did not happen. The tiler did not show up for the kitchen backsplash, the boiler has not been inspected, the front door lock hadn’t been fixed from when the fire brigade broke in, and the door frame close to the fire had not been put in. So Scott spent a bit of the morning on the phone with the landlord, getting him to finish these tasks as well as figuring out where the carpeters’ money was since they were expecting to be paid. Micah also had a meeting this morning with his mentor for the social enterprise before heading to meet with a funder. Scott and Micah headed up to the allotment in the afternoon with Matthew, Cami and Makiko (their numbers keep growing!). Once the core members got home from work, Lucy headed down with Jillian, Thomas and Larry to the Parador to sadly pay for yet another week. Although the people at the Parador are very nice and the accommodations are adequate, we are ready to be home! The best part of the day was when the garden crew came back with pounds of strawberries!! Yummy!

Saturday we were present in the Ember. The morning was passed with household chores and morning routines. In the afternoon, Thomas was keen to place a bet on horseracing. It is a fond childhood memory going with his father to the bookies so once in a while he places a large £1 bet on a horserace. Yesterday he bet £1 on horse #1 at 25:1 odds. Little was expected from anyone but Thomas, but sure enough about halfway through Premio Loco charged to the front and won Thomas £25, which he used to buy a round at the pub later that evening during the USA game!

Today, we went to church. Earlier in the week we had our 3 month check-in with Faythe and she had suggested we make some friends outside of L’Arche. We had told her that we were thinking about joining a cell group at City Church and she strongly encouraged us to pursue it. Today after church the woman sitting next to us introduced herself and after chatting for a wee minute and finding out where we worked, she told us she was on the founding board for L’Arche Belfast. After chatting more she asked if we were interested in joining a cell group to get to know more people at church. She then introduced us to an Elder who happened to be sitting right in front of us. It just so happens that the group he is in meets just blocks from our home on a night we are free. We think God wants us to make friends too. For lunch we went to Little Wings, an Italian joint, for Gosia’s birthday. It was a great little place with lots of character. In the afternoon we watched Germany destroy England but enjoyed some cake and ice cream while watching it. The evening was spent trying to find hostels for Micah’s family. Today was the first day in a long time that we have felt a full rest day!
It has been a trying and full couple of weeks. The Ark is nearly finished (for real this time), and community holiday is nearly here (6 days till we depart!). Although it has been an exhausting experience, the end really is in sight!!!

Matthew Bowling


Larry Bowling


Spectacular EMU Students


Updated Picture of the Allotment...Aka Micah's fav spot in/near Belfast. There are strawberries in the near, front left and back left raised beds. Potatoes in the middle left raised bed. Raspberries in the back and peas in the middle right. Things are looking good!


Gosia's Bday Lunch!

Life above the Parador

Saturday June 5 we walked to city centre to enjoy some shopping and time in a cafe before heading to Aunt Sandra’s Candy Factory for a tour and some delicious samples! The two of us along with a birthday party of 10 year olds enjoyed hearing and seeing about how lollies, hard candy, and honeycomb are all made “the old fashioned way”. It was delicious and educational!

Sunday we headed off to church in the morning and on the way back took our check to our new temporary home, The Parador Bed and Breakfast above the pub. After packing and watching some tennis, we moved into our room above the pub where we are still residing.

Monday, Lucy led the Morning Prayer for the community before the team meeting, focusing on an article by Shane Claiborne. After the prayer, we continued the morning with team meeting. This Monday was atypical because usually we have a rest day, but this week Lucy and Faythe organized a dinner for the “friends of the community” that reside in Belfast. So, people that used to work for L’Arche were invited to dinner. This meant the majority of the day was spent preparing food, cleaning the kitchen and setting the table. It was a lovely dinner and a great way to get to know contacts for the future!

Tuesday began with Neil’s review. We had a meeting to talk about Neil’s strengths and weaknesses at work. Pretty much Neil led the review and the rest of us just supported him in his self-analysis. After the meeting, Micah went with Maria to visit an office space in North Belfast. Due to the fire, the main office is moving from The Ark to Maria’s office and Maria’s office is probably moving to North Belfast. Pretty messy situation right now, but L’Arche seems to thrive in chaos. Tuesday evening we continued our weekly tradition with Thomas of a dinner together. Since we have no kitchen yet again, we headed out to the Parador (our home pub) for dinner. Thomas loved it since he had a burger and horse racing was on the TV.

Wednesday we spent a day perusing the shops and enjoying coffee during the day. The evening was spent babysitting Scott and Megan’s three kids: Noah (11), Octavia (4) and Aodh (19 mo). It was an enjoyable evening of Star Wars, playing outside and bedtime stories.

Thursday was a day in the office. Micah spent the morning emailing and the afternoon going over details of Root Soup with Maria. Lucy spent the day with Faythe finally making a few decisions about volunteers! WOO HOO!

Micah took Rosie (the community car) to her MOT appointment on Friday. The MOT is a government mandated yearly check up to make sure the car is performing as it should with emissions, brakes etc. Rosie failed. She had a headlight out. So she has to get that fixed and then get retested. Micah spent the rest of the day at the allotment with Cami and Matthew. They ate the first fresh strawberries and didn’t Lucy any!! Lucy spent the afternoon and evening at the Ember. She made dinner with Jillian and Larry: huevos ahogados! And the moment we all were waiting for happened in the afternoon...the WORLD CUP STARTED!! Our community has filled out world cup brackets and has been looking forward to this beginning!

Saturday, we were present in the Ember all day. Lucy helped Jill in the morning and they headed off to Michael’s (a fruit and veg store) to get some groceries. Micah took Rosie to get her headlight fixed first thing in the morning. After we both returned Fabio, a volunteer at L’Arche Kilkenny from Brazil, came to visit for lunch. The afternoon was spent doing laundry, cleaning of the house and the car as well as watching football and horseracing. After a delicious dinner of pancakes, sausage and fruit salad, Lucy, Thomas and Jill took off for a long walk in the lovely evening weather. The rest of the community got set up for the rivalry, USA vs. England, which was cause for a party. Luckily for the community, it ended in a draw so peace was restored.

Sunday we were on rest. We lounged around most the day. In the evening, Larry invited us to go to the pub with him and James. So we enjoyed some time out with Larry and James while watching Germany thrash Australia.

Today Micah led prayer in the morning. He used the song, “I Saw God Today” by George Strait. Afterwards we had our team meeting. In the afternoon, we headed out to some charity shops, Common Grounds for ice tea and a smoothie, and the park to enjoy the sunshine. Then we headed to dinner at Cafe Naz, an Indian restaurant. The evening was spent with the World Cup (of course) and Phase 10. It was a great rest day!

Life has felt a bit unsettled. The Ark has not made much progress as of late. The cleaning is finished, but nothing else is done. Also, the landlord is underinsured so nothing will be replaced above the offices (aka our bedroom). It wasn’t what we expecting. Hopefully the smell will leave the carpets before we move back in. Life in the pub has been better than we could have ever expected. The owners are very friendly and caring. They have been so welcoming to us, but we are again living out of a suitcase, which is unsettling in and of itself. Please pray for our patience as we continue to wait to move back home to the Ark.

What a Week!!

After we blogged last, we found out that we would not be going to Cork. Faythe called to confirm on the 25^th of May that we had a car hired for the following day, but the person had been meaning to call to say that he did not have any automatic cars. This would be fine, but it left Micah as the only driver since Faythe doesn’t drive manual and since he had only been driving in the UK for a few days, a 10 hour trip did not sound too safe.
So Wednesday the 26^th turned into a day at the office for Lucy and Micah had rest. It was a fairly uneventful day since the next day, we were heading to a “best practice” meeting for starting the social enterprise. We met in a Loughgiel at a community centre that offers activities and opportunities for the village. After, we FINALLY made our way to Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. It was a rainy day that seemed to only rain when we were out of the car exploring, but nevertheless we enjoyed seeing God’s magnificent and crazy rock formation. When we returned to Belfast, we enjoyed a cup of tea with many members of the community to say goodbye to Anna who left early Friday morning.

Friday, Micah went up to the garden and Lucy was present in the Ember from 2-7. In the evening we went to a great ice cream shop on Lisburn Road and enjoyed the deliciousness with May, Jenny and Cami. Lucy found out the Smarties in this part of the world are made of chocolate, not what she grew up with. Sad but true.

Saturday we strolled down to St. George’s market to meet a fellow BVSer for lunch. It was great to catch up with a good chat. The afternoon was spent celebrating Thomas’ and Matthew’s (a friend of the community) birthdays. We all went over to Matthew’s house where his mom had prepared a FEAST of delicious food including savoury pies, ribs and delicious desserts. It was quite a party! The evening was spent hanging out at home, but the real adventure started after we had gone to sleep.

At about 12:30am Saturday/Sunday night we were awoken to the sound of a fire alarm going off. We have had issues with our fire alarms in the past so didn't think much of it right away. Micah got up and opened the bedroom door to find smoke rising up the staircase. After realizing that we would be able to make it down the 3 flights of stairs we called 999 (911) and waited with Kathy on the phone while the fire brigade came. We were able to put a pillow at the base of the bedroom door to minimize the smoke entering the room but it quickly started coming through the top of the door. Once the fire brigade arrived they broke through the front door and were up the stairs quickly. They immediately told us to come with them down the stairs, which was easy for them to say because they were the ones with oxygen masks. But we quickly made our way down the stairs holding on to the firemen and to each other. Once outside we were attended to by EMTs, Lucy was given oxygen and we were asked questions by the police. We phoned James who was staying overnight in the Ember and he came down to help and once we were treated we headed down to the Ember for a cup-a-tea. Firemen came down to the Ember and wanted to talk about the fire so Micah went back to the Ark to see where the fire started. It was the ice machine in the freezer. The ironic thing about it is that the ice machine doesn't even work. It melted the freezer and went down and COMPLETELY melted the mop and mop bucket sitting next to the freezer. After talking to the firemen and getting oxygen Micah headed back to the Ember where we went up to a bedroom they quickly got ready for us to try to get some sleep. After much processing and watching some tv to get our minds off the fire we struggled to get a wee bit of sleep.

We kept going back to "what ifs...". The main thing we kept going back to is the fact that we had originally left our cell phone downstairs in the dinning room. After watching a movie in our room Lucy needed to use the restroom and on her way down Micah randomly mentioned to get the phone and without questioning Lucy went and got our phone and we had it on our night stand. The thing is we never use our phone so we never know where it is. God was looking out for us!! Overall, we are SO grateful that we are safe and in good form. God was obviously with us!!

Sunday we were present in the Ember. We spent the day doing all of our laundry. All of our clothes reeked so Sunday was filled by washing them. The rest of the day was passed hanging out and re-gathering ourselves. We continued staying in the Ember overnight till Wednesday.

Monday was a bank holiday so the core members were off work. The project of the day was to redo the summer house in the front yard. The dream is to have a place to hang out in the garden, but we will see if the project gets finished and then if it gets used. Scott and Megan invited us over to dinner on Monday night. We were treated to a delicious burrito meal and the joy of spending time in their home. They went out for a date after dinner and Maria came over to babysit so we enjoyed chatting with her till Scott and Megan returned. It was a good relaxing evening.

Tuesday, before our team meeting, the insurance adjustors came to look at the Ark. It was decided that professional cleaners would be hired, the whole kitchen would be ripped out and replaced, walls would all be painted and most carpet would be replaced. After the meeting, Micah headed off to lunch at a burrito place with James and Neil and Lucy headed to the French Village (a cafe) with May, Jenny, Makiko and Cami. After lunch we did a bit of work in the office before going to Thomas’ birthday prayer. After his prayer, it has become Tuesday evening tradition for Thomas, and the two of us to have dinner together, but since the Ark was unusable, Thomas decided on fish and chips. We got take-out from a place just down the road and we enjoyed the greasy mound of food in front of us. By no means was our healthiest dinner, but it was quite tasty.

Wednesday we were present in the Ember. Micah helped Thomas in the morning and Lucy helped Jill. Micah went down to meet the cleaners when they arrived at the Ark. We had to move a few things around, but they got started ripping out the kitchen and it was dramatically bare by the end of the day! In the afternoon, we enjoyed reading in the sun and watching a wee bit of TV, this was soon interrupted by someone at the door. Lucy opened it to find Ross Weaver (a family friend and Goshen College student from her hometown). He had been in London with his family before he headed out for some travelling on his own and thought he would drop by. It was a nice surprise to see such a familiar face! In the evening we headed over to Maria’s house. She offered that we could stay there while she is away at a meeting till Friday. So we had dinner with Ross, Larry, May and Makiko at Maria’s, in her beautiful garden.

Thursday we enjoyed the sun in the morning out in the garden before heading into work in the office. Faythe worked a lot of the day at finding alternative housing for us since the Ark will probably take 2-4 weeks to repair. After a few people shut her down because of the 1 month contract, she found a couple of possibilities that we went to look at in the afternoon. The first was an apartment near Queen’s University. Upon entering, the smell of cigarette smoke was overwhelming so that one was not too appealing. The second option is a bed and breakfast above a pub just down the road from L’Arche. It was really clean and the people were really friendly so Friday we needed to call back to check on prices. Supposedly the manager may be able to “cut us a deal”. In the evening we took a walk wandering around trying to find Stormount, which is the Northern Irish Parliament. All we found was an old lady that was worried about a little lost dog in her neighbourhood. So we tracked down the dog and discovered its tags had no useful information. The dog was terrified of us and eventually ran away into someone’s garden where we could no longer help it. After returning to Maria’s we finished off the evening by lounging around the house.

Friday morning was again spent in Maria’s back garden enjoying the beautiful weather and sunshine. Micah called and talked to Peter at the Parador, the B&B pub down the road. Peter said that the regular price would be £1,500 for a month and then said he could give it to us for £900. Micah said that all they could afford to pay was £175 per week and given the circumstances Peter was willing to help us out. The only catch was that we cannot move in until Sunday. Shortly afterward, Scott and Larry came by to pick Micah up to go to the allotment and Lucy stayed back and relaxed. Larry came along for a couple of different reasons: first of all he hates to go to the cafe on Fridays, and secondly Thomas and James went to England for the weekend for a wedding and Larry didn’t get to go. So we tried to make up for it with a day off work and donuts. After much planting and weeding Scott, Larry and Micah headed back to Maria’s to pick up Lucy and left for the Ember where Lucy was present in the afternoon. Micah and Scott trimmed the bushes in the front yard and made the weekly trip to the manure pile. We just spent the evening relaxing and recouping from the week.

We have had quite the rollercoaster of a week, from the highs of the Giants Causeway, the North Coast and Thomas and Matthew’s birthday party to the lows of our house fire and what comes after. But through it all we have been extremely blessed by the support of our community here in Belfast and across the globe! Thanks for all the prayers and please continue to keep us in your prayers as another few weeks of transitions occur.

Giant's Causeway


Giant's Causeway


On the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.


View from across the rope bridge.

Thomas at his 28th bday party.

Matthew at his 30th bday party!!

The bloody culprit!

Our poor kitchen.

SUNSHINE!

Saturday, May 15 we were present in the Ember for part of the day. Micah went along with Thomas, Neil, Sharon and Larry to a Special Olympics track race at army barracks in Lisburn. It was fun for him to see Thomas doing something he is passionate about. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and catching up with the community.

Sunday was another day in the Ember. The two of us made a brunch for the community: pancakes, eggs, bacon and fruit salad. It was a real easy lazy Sunday. In the evening, Micah went to Holy Grounds to hear Thomas give a talk at his church service. He talked about his life growing up and then life now in L’Arche.

Monday was a rest day for the two of us after the team meeting. Afterwards we ran errands to get food to replenish our stock after our vacation and because we were having guests over throughout the week. When we returned, a meeting to plan a future event was sprung on Micah. He had not checked his email since returning from holiday and we were glad that we had come back in time for him to participate. After Micah’s meeting it was already time for dinner. The evening was spent on household projects such as fixing light switches and replacing light bulbs and before we knew it the day had passed.

Tuesday we were had a formation meeting in the morning. It was Thomas’ reference meeting. In a reference meeting the team discusses the gifts and challenges of living with Thomas and then brainstorms ways to help him to continue to grow in the community. After the meeting we both got to work in the office. After a week away from office work, we had many emails to respond to and projects to catch up on. Soon after work we were busy in the kitchen, Faythe, James, and Thomas came over for dinner because James told Thomas that he was leaving at the end of July and that Lucy would be his reference person then. To be a reference person means that if Thomas needs to talk about something he can know who to go to, if he needs new clothes or a doctor’s appointment, Lucy will make sure it gets taken care of. It is not a big responsibility, but precautionary measures to make sure the core members’ needs are not overlooked.

Wednesday was another rest day; we did some cleaning around the Ark, ran some errands, and got some delicious pastries. In the evening we had the honor of Larry joining us for dinner. The Ember was a busy day with lots of activities, and Larry does not tend to like to ride along, so he came down for dinner and to watch some TV.

Thursday we were back at work in the office. Micah and Maria work on an application form to receive guidance and support from corporate companies. Lucy answered MANY email enquiries about our one September opening. It is going to be a busy couple weeks of interviewing. After work, Micah went to coffee with one of the board members to discuss the business side of Root Soup. The evening was spent enjoying reading and drawing.

Friday, Micah was at work in the garden allotment. He and Scott pulled weeds, picked leeks, onions and rhubarb and mowed the grass. Lucy was present in the Ember from 2-7. When Jill got home from the day centre, the two headed up to the local shopping centre to pick up a few groceries, a new coloring book and a cup of coffee. It was a lovely sunny afternoon for a walk. Afterwards the evening was spent cooking dinner, coloring, dancing and enjoying cups of tea.

Saturday was probably the most beautiful day of weather we have experienced since coming to Northern Ireland. We were able to soak in the sunshine in our back garden and drink tea and read and draw and truly relax. It was a glorious day of pure leisure. In the evening a few of the other assistants came over to our home to watch the Champions League Final football (soccer) game.

Sunday we were present in the Ember all day. In the morning, we met the newest assistant from Japan, Makiko. She arrived on Saturday evening and is staying for one year. Lucy was planning to attend church with Jillian on Sunday, but her father phoned to say that he wanted to take a drive with Jill and would like one or two assistants to join them. So Lucy and Micah went along and drove along the Atrium Road that follows the North Coast up to Ballycastle. We enjoyed a walk out to a lighthouse, lunch in an outdoor café, driving by the sea and many beautiful views from Torr Head. It was a wonderful day with Jillian and Larry (Jill’s dad) and a great way to spend another sunshiny day in Northern Ireland. Once we arrived back at the Ember, we were had our weekly Sunday evening prayer and then sat out on the front lawn to enjoy the cool evening breeze.

Monday we had our weekly team meeting. Afterwards, Micah headed to a meeting with Maria to look at possible locations for the “Soup Shanty”, an event in October to kickoff Root Soup. Lucy spent the afternoon cleaning and reading. In the evening, the two of us enjoyed cooking ourselves some delicious groundnut stew.

Tuesday started off with a morning in the allotment. For our team formation we had a workday pulling weeds on the paths. Micah and Scott were grateful to have the eight extra hands pulling weeds. Afterwards, a core member and assistant from L’Arche Dublin who were in Belfast for the day came to the Ember for lunch. We enjoyed a nice lunch with them, before heading back to the Ark. Typically on Tuesdays, both of us work in the office, but tomorrow we are heading down to Cork because Lucy and Faythe have an assistants coordinators meetings and Micah is helping with the driving. So, Micah worked a short day and Lucy did not work today. The afternoon instead was spent preparing for the evening. Tonight was the goodbye prayer and party for Anna who leaves on Thursday. So we had a costume (called formal dress here) party and barbeque. It was a lot of fun and you will have to check out the picture of Jill below!

It has been a very low key week in many ways, but we are moving into a busy time. Today started the craziness of goodbyes, meetings, many interviews of potential assistants and of course THE WORLD CUP!! So we enjoyed the calm of the past weeks and will seek the calm moments in the weeks to come!

Thomas running at Special Olympics Meet.

Jillian walking out to the lighthouse.



Picture of the lighthouse

View from Torr Head

Jillian and Anna at Anna's goodbye prayer and party.

Lovely Jillian in her "fancy dress"

Amsterdam

ATuesday, May 11 we headed to Amsterdam, Holland to see Ana (Micah’s sister) sing on choir tour with Hesston European Chorale. We arrived in the airport in the Netherlands at about 5:30 and took a train to downtown Amsterdam to find dinner. Following a crowd of people onto what seemed like the only way across a canal; we boarded a ferry and went along for the ride. The ferry was loaded with 50 bikes, 10 mopeds and 5 foot-passengers. Once across we started walking into the neighborhood of small houses soon to be very confused on where downtown Amsterdam was located. Micah after looking at the map, asked a Dutch teenager where we where and we had cross the wrong canal and we walking north away from downtown. Oops! So after walking back to the ferry, across the canal, through the train station, we arrived in downtown Amsterdam to find more bikes than people, rubbish piles almost as tall as Lucy (later we found out there was a strike) and almost no traffic noise because of all the public transportation! We then found dinner at a delicious pancake house and had some savory Dutch pancakes. Micah had a lamb scharma pancake and Lucy had a goat and feta cheese pancake. Yummy! Next, we found the bus to Aalsmeer, a nearby town, were our gracious hosts, the Maarsens live. As we were tooling along on the bus, we weren’t seeing our stop on the display screen, Micah asked the driver and he said the bus doesn’t go to the stop and we would have to take another bus to get to it. So we hopped off, feeling pretty bad because we were going to be late for Marye to pick us up. But walking to the next stop, we heard our names being called and there was Marye. We had hopped off at just the right spot! That was a good ending to a day with a lot of walking!


Instead of parking garages for cars they are for bikes!


Rubbish Strike at work!



What a back yard!



One of the many canals!

On Wednesday we were treated to a lovely Dutch breakfast after waking up. We had good seedy bread and sweet bread, homemade jam, and amazing cheese. After breakfast, Marye took us to the airport to meet the choir. As we were driving to the airport we saw their plane landing! Upon finding their Amsterdam contact person, we were warmly greeted by Drew Nussbaum, the brother of one of Lucy's college housemates. It was a nice surprise to see him since he is living near Amsterdam! Once they emerged, we were glad to see their tired but safe faces! It was so good to see Ana in Europe! From the airport we headed to the hiding place of Anne Frank during World War II. It was quite an experience to walk through the building after having read about it throughout our school years. It gave us a really different understanding of the space where they hid for 23 months. After the museum we found lunch with Ana at a little sandwich shop and then headed to Zaanse Schaans Open Air Museum with the group. It is a museum the depicts life in the Netherlands in the late 19^th century. We saw wooden shoes and cheese being made as well as traditional wind mills at work. We only had a brief time there but we managed to squeeze in another dose of Dutch pancakes on Micah’s mothers demand and Ana’s benefit. From there we headed into Haarlem another town outside Amsterdam where the Hesston Choir sang the next day and was picked up by host families. Marye picked up Ana, the two of us and another choir member. Marye dropped the three Louckses off at Jo Groeneveld’s for dinner. Jo and her late husband Dick hosted Micah’s dad for a year in the 70s. The Groenevelds own green houses which Randall worked in. They have been passed onto one of their sons now. We enjoyed a delicious traditional Dutch dinner with both Jo and Arie (one of Jo’s sons). We had soup, chicken, potatoes, and many different vegetables. We were all quite full at the end and had learned some new stories about Randall that he would have kept to himself. After dinner we headed to see the place where Randall lived and worked where we met Gert, Jo’s older son, who now owns the green houses. The green houses have changed and upgraded many time since then, but it was still good to see the kind of work that Randall did. After leaving the green houses, Arie and Jo drove us around Aalsmeer before taking us back to the Maarsen’s.

Cheese being made!

Wooden shoes being made!

The shoes didn't quite fit...

Windmills.

Ana, Arie, Jo and Micah in Jo's house.

One of Gert's greenhouses.

Gert showing them the ropes.

Micah sad that he can't work in green house.

After another delicious breakfast, Marye took all of us to Haarlem to meet the choir bus. From there we went into Amsterdam. The plan for the choir on Thursday was to go to a museum and then head back to Haarlem to practice, but we decided to skip the museum and explore the city a bit. We went to a flower street market and looked around. Then we attempted to go to Singelkerk, a hidden church at one point with the largest Mennonite congregation. It was closed due to Ascension Day, a national holiday. So sadly we were only able to see the outside, but Marye told us it gives us a reason to go back. Afterwards we wandered around and eventually had lunch in a café. After walking around a bit more, we caught a train into Haarlem. On our walk to the Mennonite church where Ana was singing, we saw the bus pass. It is amazing how much quicker public transportation is in Holland! We left at 1:15 and got to Haarlem at 1:30. They left at 12:30 and got to Haarlem at 1:30! For us, the afternoon was filled with hearing the choir practice and watching their performance. We were impressed by the choir’s ability to perform the day after they arrived in Europe after a day filled with activity. They did a magnificent job! After the performance, the choir headed up to the North Sea, but we had had enough of the cold weather, so we went back to the Maarsen’s. We enjoyed spending the evening with them and then had a once in a lifetime opportunity. Arie the evening before offered to take us onto the floor of the world’s largest flower auction while he delivered his flowers. He picked us up after he had cut and arranged his flowers for delivery at about 10 p.m. and we headed to see his green houses before heading to the auction hall. The building for a long time was the largest building under one roof. Even though that is no longer the case, it is still a huge building! We were told it is about 2 miles long by 1.5 miles wide. Each day flowers from all over the world are delivered and the next morning auctioned off to company buyers worldwide. 48 million flowers and plant per day go through the auction hall. After his trailer was unloaded, he took us around to see different parts of the floor and lots of the flowers. Many of the flowers looked fake because they were so beautiful and perfect. It was an experience that we will not soon forget!

Street Flower Market

Outside Singelkerk.

Hesston College European Chorale.

ANA! (in the back)

Arie's flowers waiting to be unloaded at the auction.

Gert's flowers at the auction.

Friday morning was another early morning. We headed back to the auction hall for a visitors tour to see the buying side of the auction. The hall was a lot more alive in the morning and people were zooming all over the place on scooters pulling carts of flowers. It looked like an organized mess. The morning meant a lot more since we had been behind the scenes with Arie the night before. After finishing the tour we caught a couple buses to Keukenhof, the world’s largest bulb flower garden displaying the beautiful flowers of Holland. We spent the next hours walking around, taking pictures, and enjoying the beautiful flowers and colors. It was then time to catch a bus back to the airport and fly back to Belfast. We arrived back in the evening and were picked up with a warm welcome by Sharon, Thomas and Jillian. It was a nice welcome home!

A view of some of the flowers either waiting to be sold or already sold.

One of the auction rooms. This one actually showed flowers still. Some only show a picture and people just buy from the name of the grower.

Among the flowers.

Beautiful.

Lovely.

Our first holiday was a nice combination of relaxation, spending time with people, touristy venues and flowers! It was so nice to have such a warm welcome by the Maarsens and Groenevelds as well as the Hesston Choir. We enjoyed our time in Holland, but are glad to be back with the community in Belfast!

Sorry about the quality of the video. We were in the wrong spot for the trio so there is some handing off of the camera and it had to be really compressed to be iploaded. But the trio and choir sounds AMAZING!

Goodbye Naomi

Sunday May 2 we were present in the Ember. This was one of the few rainy days recently in Belfast. So we were trapped in the house for a long Sunday. The two of us enjoyed cooking fajitas for the community for lunch. The only way we get Mexican food is by cooking it ourselves! We passed the rainy day painting, cleaning, baking, talking and listening to music. Due to changes in routine from Jillian, she had a tough day. It was hard to find anything to pass the time that made here happy. When she became bored with an activity, she would let Lucy know with challenging behavior. It made it a trying day for Lucy in the Ember. The evening cleared off so we could enjoy some brief walks with core members before settling in for the night.

Monday was marathon day!! Almost 19,000 people participated in the walk, marathon, fun run, and team relay (where L’Arche participated including MICAH!). Micah headed out to catch a bus to his spot at about 8:15 a.m. even though he didn’t run until about 11:30! Micah enjoyed the 5.3 mile run along the Belfast Lough. He ran it in 41 minutes!! What a speed demon! Lucy was present at the Ember so she headed down and made a picnic lunch for the community for after the marathon in the park and worked on food for the barbeque to celebrate in the evening. Thomas finished the last half mile of the race with Scott so those of us in the Ember walked down to the meeting point. We did not anticipate how quickly the team would run and were a little late, so Scott had to run back to get Thomas. After 20 minutes of searching, Thomas and Scott finished the team relay in style…Thomas really going “quick quick quick”. The team time was 4 hours and 25 minutes (so if you subtract 20 minutes of search time that right at 4 hours!) Good work team!! The evening was a celebration spent around the barbeque at the Ark. We enjoyed sunshine, burgers and community. It was a great reward after a long day! After the barbeque wrapped up, most of the community went to a local pub to start the send off for Naomi who left on Friday. Jill is usually goes for a bath and then to her room right after dinner, but this day decided to come out with us and was in fine form! She was all smiles and held hands with Thomas the whole way down to the pub. It was great to see the lovely lady that Jill is most the time.

Tuesday we had our team meeting. Then the two of us worked in the office. Lucy began to rework the volunteer application and Micah worked with Maria on the exact direction of Root Soup. The evening was another celebration. We had Naomi’s leaving prayer and party. At a person’s prayer each person says what they enjoy about the person and then their hope for the person. Then it was onto the party. Naomi wanted lasagna for her leaving meal. It was really good! Naomi is a big fan of going to concerts so the community put on a gig for her. Everything from poems to the Canadian National Anthem to skits was done in honor of her time as part of the community.

On Wednesday we had a rest day. We passed the time running errands, pulling weeds and relaxing. Micah went with James to watch Tottenham qualify for the Champions League next year!! The evening was spent hanging out in the pub with Naomi and all the core members and volunteers.

Thursday it was back to the office for both of us. Lucy and Faythe had an exit interview with Naomi and then Lucy had the last phone interview with a potential volunteer for September. It was the first phone interview that she actually led!! So now it is time to start the decision making process!! Micah sent emails, organized papers and wrote letters.

Friday was the day of Naomi’s departure. Scott and Micah spent the morning working at the garden at the Ark. Then they headed up to the Allotment for the afternoon. Lucy spent the morning cleaning before trying her hand in the world of crafts. The evening was spent in the Ember. The evening turned into a craft night of card making, coaster making and drawing.

Saturday we were present in the Ember. Micah went to look at cars and buy a DVD with Sharon and Larry. Lucy went on a walk to Ormeau Park with Jill on a lovely sunny day. After dinner we went to support a fundraiser to help send May and Cross Links to the Holy Lands. Cross Links is a cross community group that brings together members from the Catholic, Protestant, Chinese and Indian communities. It was a concert at Common Grounds.

Sunday we went back to City Church and then had a picnic in Botanic Gardens. Then afternoon was spent truly relaxing at home. Congratulations Ana for graduating from Hesston College!!!

Today, we had our weekly team meeting. Then we headed to city center for some shopping. Shopping was productive but the bike ride there and back was a wee bit chilly. After returning home, we finished packing for our trip to Amsterdam tomorrow!! The evening was passed with dinner at the Ember and planting our back garden!!

We have now had our first L’Arche goodbye. It was a busy week with the activities surrounding Naomi’s leaving, marathon and preparing to see Ana and the Hesston choir in Amsterdam! We will update you soon with our adventures in the Netherlands (and with Dutch!).

Saying Goodbye to Naomi (2nd in from Left).

Assistant's Night Away

Last Monday we had our weekly team meeting where we discussed how the core members were doing, the upcoming marathon and the April birthday party. Then Micah and I went on a walk through Ormeau Park to enjoy the lovely weather.

On Tuesday, we learned all about fire safety in our formation. It was quite an exciting meeting! Then Lucy worked in the office in the afternoon and interviewed three potential volunteers and Micah worked on reading about other social enterprises. The evening was spent in celebration of the three April birthdays: Anna, Jill and Noah (Scott’s son). So we began by having Anna’s birthday prayer and then had a big feast of their favorite foods: chips, sausages, samosas (delicious!), and crisps. What a healthy meal! It was a good time of fellowship with the community together!

Wednesday morning we began the project in the back garden. Micah cut down a large bush and Lucy trimmed a Rosemary bush that had been growing wildly for a number of years. It is now drying in various closets around the Ark and Ember! At 12:30 all the assistants gathered for an “Assistants Night Away”. We went to Downhill, which is on the north coast. It is a quaint little town with a beautiful beach to walk and a cliff overlook. We had a lovely curry dinner and plenty of time to talk! It was a nice night away with the assistants. (Don’t worry Maria and a former assistant stayed with the core members!)

Thursday we arrived back from the north coast about lunch time and then had a doctor’s appointment! We will officially be on the National Health Service as soon as our information is entered!! Pretty exciting stuff since almost everything from Sudafed to prescription medicine and doctors visits are paid for. Micah continued to plug away at gathering information for Root Soup as well as developing a survey after we returned in the afternoon.

Friday, Micah was suppose to go to the garden but it seemed as if it was going to be a nasty day so Scott gave him more time to work on Root Soup. Maria told him to write a business proposal. (This was the first time Micah was on the schedule to work since Saturday…pretty tough week for him). Lucy had the morning off, she spent it cleaning and in the back garden pulling weeds. The house we are living in has been used for an office for the last few years, but no one has actually lived in it, so it has been a process to get it back to a point where it appears to be lived in! It has definitely taken some TLC and some elbow grease! Also, in the back garden, there is a sign in the garden that says “weed friendly garden”. Let’s just say that sign will soon have to go! We were present in the Ember in the evening. So we were over for dinner, walks with a couple of the core members and the project of putting Jill’s pictures into albums and taping them in so she doesn’t take them back out. All in all it was a good evening of hearing Thomas get VERY excited about running across the finish line in the team marathon on Monday!

Today has been a lot of walking so far! We walked down to St. George’s market and walked around there a bit. Then we went on to city center to run some errands. In city center today was Festival of Fools. We saw people putting on dramas, street performers, and our personal favorite, which was an act of a man juggling swords while drinking a beer off his forehead! Then we went back to St. George’s market for lunch (which was delicious!). Finally we walked BACK up to our home. So it doesn’t sound like much when it is written down like this, but it was a lot, but still a good day and we only got sprinkled on so that is a plus!

It is hard to believe it is already May…especially since later this month we will be seeing Ana (Micah’s sister)!! Each week seems to bring new and exciting differences and challenges, but yet we are in the comfortable environment of our community. Pray for Micah as he will be running in the Belfast marathon on Monday (only 5.3 miles since he is doing the team relay with other L’Arche assistants)!

We appreciate your continued support and emails. It is great to hear from you all!

Beautiful Flowers in Ormeau Park!

Rosemary drying in our closet! Lucy is so proud!

North Coast.

View from top of cliff at North Coast.

Dinner at Assistant's Night Away! Yum Yum!

Festival of Fools in City Center