wednesday is the new saturday

Now that I've finished the ICT class I was required to do for my course I don't have to be at college until 2:30 in the afternoon. This is bliss! The same is true on Monday but I usually set Monday mornings aside to do any school work due in during the week. And now that I've started working I don't always have Saturday off, so Wednesday has become my new Saturday. Except for the hour and half I'm in class I spend it doing things like taking pictures of the beautiful flowering tree outside my window. (This is surprisingly challenging because the windows are not clean and they do not open.)

I'm so thankful for this tree! Charlotte, my home town, is absolutely covered with flowering trees and bushes and gardens definitely all spring and to a lesser extent all year long. Having a flowering tree right outside my window helps me feel more at home here, and it has beautiful red leaves in the fall.

I also do things like make big lunches, and then document them by taking pictures. I also baked a cake. A strange cake. A rosemary and olive oil cake. My feelings on this cake are undecided... I do not have any pictures of it because it took longer than expected baking and I had to rush out the door as soon as it came out of the oven as waiting for it had made me late for class.
After my class I head over to Starbucks. Wednesday afternoons are when my knitting group meets. This particular Wednesday was the launch of their new branding. Look at the fabulous new cups! It was also momentous because I discovered a new amazing combination; chai tea and caramel waffles. Y-U-M!!!
Once I sat down to knit I realised that my pattern had not made it into my knitting bag... thank goodness for free wi-fi and ravelry. I was able to pull the pattern up on my iPod and I successfully turned the heel on my first sock.
From knitting group I went over to Boojum's on Botanic to meet my lovely friend Laura for dinner. Boojums is a burrito bar. A burrito bar that actually bears no small resemblance to places like Qdoba and Chipotle. A burrito bar in Belfast. This. Is. A. Big. Deal. The whole time I lived in England myself and my American friend Rosie were desperate for Mexican food. It just wasn't available. But here in Belfast, they have burritos! It was a happy evening.
After Burritos I had home group, it was a lovely way to round out a lovely day, with old and new friends and some good, solid Lenten reflections.

Normally my Wednesday's aren't quite so full. And despite the cold and wind and rain, and the fact that my boots seem to no longer be water proof, it was a good day!

job hunt

I've been waiting a while to get my CV (resume) back from the dear lady who has been making it for me. The waiting paid off this weekend with a CV and basic cover letter much more strongly built than I could have ever hoped to make myself.

So now, I am ready to begin looking for a job in Ireland. I am SO excited and a bit nervous about this. When something that has been a dream or a hope for so long suddenly becomes a reality it takes a bit of getting used to. At least for me. I remember how I felt when I was accepted to Transit. This is a very similar feeling, on a smaller scale. (I still have to find that job after all!)

If you know of any churches or ministries in/around Dublin or Belfast or anywhere else in Ireland who are looking for someone to fill a position involving outreach to small children (and their families) let me know!

this year has been about a transit van

not big and flashy, but it gets the job done. -Pete Greig, founder of 24-7

Today was our last Training Block. Tomorrow is our open house celebration. The guys from Egham are here, we've spent the evening laughing about Chuck Norris-isms and memories of the last 10 months. The walls of my room are starkly naked. I've filled one suitcase and most of another. The final good-byes have begun. I'm sad about leaving, but looking forward to what the Lord has in store for the next season of my life. It's all a bit shaky and emotions are close to the surface. But it's going to be good in the end.

the bug is spreading

Here are some more quotes from the year. This time courtesy of Lauren in Egham. (I don't feature in these but don't worry, they're still funny.) ; )

i had no idea i was so funny

So one of my fellow Transit-ers, Rosie, today posted a bunch of quotes from us all throughout the year on her blog. For some reason, unknown to me, I feature rather prominently. Thanks Rosie, for some great memories from the year!

PS, don't forget Eddie: "Leave the Tranny alone, he knows what he's doing!" "You must have tea and cake with the Vicar or you die!" "I don't want a cup of coffee from you, you're covered in bees!" "In the words of Albert Schweizer, 'I fancy you!'"

last day of school

So today was the last day of school. (We've been volunteering in school's as part of Transit.) I'm very relieved about that as school's work has probably been my least favorite thing about Transit. (The reason for this is a slightly long and rather complicated story which I just don't feel like reliving right now.) But I did work with some hilarious kids and lovely adults. The Teaching Assistant staff, who I did most (pretty much all) of my work with gave me a parting gift:



And this is very happy because I LOVE Burt's Bees!!!!!! And I haven't been able to find it any where in Guildford. And now I have a whole lovely little kit that's full of happy little sized pots and bottles of lovely smelling natural lotions and soaps and lip balms. It has put a smile on my face all day long. (It really doesn't take much to make me happy.) I could ramble on about how I kept pulling it out of my bag all day to admire it or smell it, but then I'd just be embarrassing myself so I'm gonna stop now. But, YEAH! : )

stirrings in czech

This is a post full of pictures. I don't feel my words will do a good job of telling the story of the week I spent in the Czech Republic. The pictures are in no particular order and come from the cities of Prague and Brno and the 24-7 Euro Gathering. I've also included random quotes of phrases that stuck out to me in the meetings.
"Planting a seed is a statement of faith."


"Thus says the Lord: 'Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.'" Jeremiah 6:16

"Where there is death we need to remember that there used to be life."

I've been remembering a lot of things the last few months. This is what I remembered at the Euro Gathering: asking my mom at our bi-annual missionary weeks why there were never any missionaries who went to Europe. Her answer was that Europe already had the gospel, they are already Christians. Even at the age of 10 or 11 I knew that was no longer true...

Something I discovered, I love travelling in Europe by train!

And I "saw" all the famous Czech people I "know;" Jan Hus, Jon Amos Comenius (Komensky in Czech), and Dvorak.

random picture post

I have finally uploaded a bunch of pictures that have been on my phone for ages, so this will be very random!
Open mic night at the John Hewitt my first night in Belfast. (April 7th) Wisteria in Guildford! (From this past Tuesday)
The sun is still shining and it's 8:00pm (from yesterday)
The very first proper English stile I ever climbed over (January)
Weeding at Sunbury Court (Almost two weeks ago) We spent this past weekend working on a community project called Ready 4 Action which mobilizes churches and youth groups from all over Guildford to do gardening and painting for people who for whatever reason are unable to do it for themselves. This is lunch on the first day and then the finished room. (As you can see the teams changed each day)

I got my face painted! (Ready 4 Action Fun Day, this past Monday)
A flower pot I painted at Fun Day and chocolate I won thanks to the boys entering me in the t-shirt contest against my will.
I maybe got a bit carried away with the face painting pictures...

And more wisteria (this is for Lacy!)

mission week photos! (thanks Frances!)

creative project

I heard He’s up there in that room
I’m afraid—I don’t know what to do
If He only knew what I’ve done He might never even look at me
I have to climb those stairs
I have to find His voice
As I make my way through the crowds nobody sees me, nobody notices me
I walk up those stairs and through the window I hear Him talking—telling parables
I can hear Him telling parables, I can understand what He’s saying
I should have changed my clothes
I’ve had this dress on for almost two weeks now and it’s stained in my sin
My sin—it’s like stains all over this garment but I have to climb those stairs
The room is crowded and I can’t see Him
He’s kneeled down and He’s talking in parables again
I just make my way over to the right and I lean against the wall
There’s an opening between the phrases
And I make my way, I make my break and I run and throw myself at His feet—and I weep
I have this perfume
I know it’s a gift from my lovers—it’s the only thing I have
So I break the neck of the bottle and start to pour my life
My mother forgot my name
My father disappeared when I was just a girl
I was used by everyone, abused by everyone and I was angry
So I ran and hid in the darkness—can you smell my darkness Lord?
Can you smell my sin, it’s being poured on you
And I worship you here at your feet
I hear them talking about me but I keep pouring
This is my one chance, this is my one hope, I have nothing left,
I’m gonna give you everything
Because I heard you heal the sick
I heard you give sight to the blind
I heard you would father the orphan
I heard you would be a husband to the widow
I heard you would forgive my sin
Demons will flee when the fragrance is lifted
Restoration comes when the fragrance is lifted
I’ve never known anyone in my life to look at me the way He is right now
He rebuked them in my presence and took my face in His hands
He looked in through my skin and said
“The fragrance is lifted. I can smell your worship daughter. You are free”
So I dance in a circle and I laugh out loud for the first time in my life
Cause the fragrance has been lifted—the fragrance was lifted
And I have the smell of His feet in my hair
Where He walked I can tell
Because the fragrance is lifted
-Rita Springer

just a few things

1) Spring is peeking in around here. I've seen three bumble bees and too many daffodils to count. The flowering trees are beautiful and remind me of home.
2) I'm going to London tomorrow for a dinner party at my best friend's new house wearing a new skirt I bought at a charity shop for 3 pounds 50.
3) We had a lovely (read challenging and thought provoking) Training Block Thursday and Friday on Justice and Mercy. I became much more emotional than expected when sharing a creative project I did about the woman who anointed Jesus' feet, key word: Identification.
4) I have lots and lots to think about right now. Training Block tied in with the book I just finished (Express Community by Phil Bowyer) tied in with creating a job description for want I want to do with the rest of my life... just a teensy bit overwhelming!
5) Check out this cool video for a 24-7 Prayer Week being held I have no idea where:

6) My room is very cheery at the moment as I spent most of the day cleaning, washing and redecorating the walls, washing the sheets and making the bed, having the window open, and burning a lavender and lemongrass candle. I did all this while listening to several hours worth of teaching on Jesus' part in God's Story.

does anybody have a testimony of grace?

Last week was this term's mission week. (Each term we have a week to get out of Guildford and do something "missional.") I was part of a group that went to a place in England called The Cotswold's. We stopped to pray as we were entering the valley we were visiting, asking the Lord for direction because we really didn't have any plans other than see what he wanted to do. Frances felt like we should get off the motorway and take the back roads and I had a word about seeking out old paths.

So Frances took the map and started navigating us away from the main roads. As we were looking for the right road we passed one called "Old Road" so we turned around and went down it. We decided to stop at this little old church to explore and pray a bit. While we were there a lady came in to do a lunch time prayer for Lent. We asked if we could join her and told her a bit of what we were doing.

She ended up asking us back to her house for tea and cake. While we were there she shared some of her story. She and her husband and a couple other families in the area had felt the Lord leading them to worship where they lived instead of traveling to bigger churches with more things happening in the spirit. So, for the last several years they had been attending this little Anglican church with ever dwindling numbers, praying for God to do something in their village.

She was so encouraged just to have us there, she said she had been praying for the Lord to do something just to show her that he was hearing their prayers. We prayed with her for a while before we left. It was really cool!

When we got back home I had a package waiting from my mom with all the stuff to do my taxes. (And some other fun stuff!) Over the summer I had used my credit cards to pay for Transit, trusting the Lord to provide the money to pay them off before I left. The money didn't come and I had whipped through my savings by January making payments on them. My parents aren't in a position to help me out and so I was planning to cash in some stock that was given to me when I quit my job to be able to make payments until the end of Transit. I was hoping my tax return would be enough to have a bit of spending money for the rest of the time, I was hoping for $500. When I did my taxes online my return came to almost $1400!!! Which should be enough to pay my credit cards through the end of Transit and have a bit of spending money too!

It's funny how difficult I make things sometimes. I worked really hard to stay in a place of peace and of trusting the Lord to provide, really, really hard. And then he did. And I felt a bit silly for all the effort I had to put into it! The lesson isn't quite over yet as I still don't know what is happening when Transit finishes (July 4th is our last day) and while the Lord provided enough to make payments for a while, I still have all that debt to pay off completely. Hopefully the trusting will be a bit easier this time!

PS, Pictures were taken but not by me, I'll post some when friends have put them on Facebook and I can steal them!

we've hit Jeremiah in our reading of God's story

this caught my eye yesterday:

You're a one-man defense system against the culture.

hmmm... interesting

a fresh, new start

Coming home is always such a wonderful feeling. I had a lovely time in Scotland with Kirstin and her family. Kirstin was/is still recovering from an ugly episode with some mussels so it wasn't a very activity packed holiday. Most days were spent pottering about the house, reading, watching tv, cooking, and eating. We still managed to have quite a bit of fun! Coming home was an exercise in patience. Riding on a bus for 12 hours is bad enough at night, positive torture during the day. But it's over now and all is well. All of the old things are washed and put in their proper places and all of the new things are making my room look very cheery and warm. I've caught up on emails, facebook comments, and myspace messages. I have a day to get ready for the new term tomorrow and then Monday whooshes us away for a retreat to kick of the second term of Transit, Kind to Others.

In this new season I've decided my focus will be paying attention. Being attentive to God, others, myself, the world around me. Just generally being aware. I have such a tendency to retreat inwardly and create these beautiful worlds of pure fancy; this year I want to live in the present, hopefully to bring some of those dreams into reality. Lord, please help me.

november

So, November has been quite a month! We kicked things off with a weekend of celebration. A big bonfire, my 25th birthday, and fireworks. Here's Rosie and I at the bonfire, Adri and I at the girl's birthday coffee where I had the best hot chocolate in the world!

Mid month I got my hair cut entirely too short. And although this picture is rather cool, I don't like it! We also had a week of prayer but I can't get the pictures of the prayer room to upload, so possibly more on that later.

Last week we had Mission Week and Rosie and I got to go to Ireland! We had a lovely time and the trip deserves it's own post, but here is a picture of me with our lovely host Amy at Starbucks.

I've been dreadfully lax in posting this month for which I am sincerely sorry. And I know this doesn't really cover all that has happened, but hopefully it gives a general idea and there will be more to come!

fresher's fayre

Last Wednesday we did a booth at the Fresher's Fayre at the University of Surrey here in Guildford. We did a doughnut eating contest. I was VERY unsuccessful... But I did get a free henna tattoo which was very exciting!