New Adventures

The beginning of March saw my 6 month mark here in Northern Ireland. It also saw me moving out of the manse and living on my own! 

I packed Nigel (my wee purple car) to the gills and we moved across town.  

Moving day! Just another new adventure.

I was excited and ready to move out, but that first week of being by myself was rough! I felt like that puppy that no one wanted. As I told a friend that week, I knew it was a phase that would pass... just had to get through it. And through it I got! But let me just say, God is pretty cool and how He got me through that week. Just showing me His faithfulness in the little things, when I just tell Him about them. 

It was arranged that I was to have Sunday dinner at the manse with the McNeely's (the hot meal of the day is a big deal in Northern Ireland!), but Julie called me Friday to ask if I could make other plans as they had a family thing come up.... I told her no bother, I'd make other plans. I hung up thankful she'd been able to be honest with me, that it wasn't good for me to come over. But also as soon as I hung up... "now what am I to do? I don't have 'other' plans!" But this wasn't the first time I'd found myself in this place, and God had always either found a home for me to go to or I was totally fine being by myself. So, I just prayed and told God the situation and left it with Him....

The next day, Saturday, I was in Belfast meeting Amy. A friend from the States had told us we had to meet once I got to Northern Ireland. After friending Amy on Facebook (18 months ago!) I totally forgot I was supposed to meet up with her till about a month ago. So finally at my 6 month mark I got to meet this girl. 

We must have spent close to 5 hours just chatting at a cafe! Such a sweet surprise! As we were parting ways I happened to mention in passing (meaning absolutely nothing by it!) my situation with lunch the next day and feeling like an unwanted puppy. Amy, (bless her!) said "aw! But everyone wants an unwanted puppy!" and she proceeded to invite me to lunch with her family. (See, just telling God about it... it's that simple.) 

My first week in the new place also involved some pretty crazy, typical March weather of rain, snow, ice, and hail, all at the same time. I had planned to run... but upon looking out the window, this sight awaited me.... I just did yoga. 

This is Nigel, my wee purple car. Covered, as you can see in snow.

Just a week later this was the sight that greeted me on my run. As I said, pretty typical March weather. (Spring is coming!)

Good News Club

Starting ministries back up after Christmas, we decided to change things with the church’s kid club, The Good News Club. We now separate by gender. For the first half hour the boys play football (soccer) and the girls do a girly thing. Then they all come together for the last half hour for a Bible story and quiz (they love the quiz!). I am in charge of the girls and coming up with a “girly” activity every week. This was challenging! But thank you Jesus for answering prayer (and for Pinterest!)

Flower assembling  

The Good New Club girls made wee flowers out of popsicles.
Along with Lois, who comes along to help from the YF.

Flowers for popsicles, trying on the radiator.
These girls are so creative!

The alternating weeks from crafts we do baking.
This is the making of Rice Krispie Buns (melted chocolate mixed with Rice Krispies)

What would an evening of baking be without licking the spoon?

For Valentine's Day we did a themed craft! The girls made wreaths from paper plates.

The finished product! I'm always amazed by how creative these girls are! What's the expression, give them an inch and they take a mile?

Mother's Day is celebrated the first Sunday in March here. I felt like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel that week before! All I had for the girls were bits and bobs left over from previous crafts and colored paper. I had the girls just make cards for their mums. It was really brilliant! Keeping it simple really does work!

This was the making of Top Hats (melted chocolate poured into the bottom of a cupcake liner, a marshmallow placed on top with a Smarty (M&M)- with a drop of chocolate to hold it on - placed on the very top!)

This past week we made proper Rice Krispie Treats. They'd never made them before, so after being able to learn their "buns" it was fun being able to teach them some American one's. That said though, I had not realized how sticky melted marshmallows are! No pictures. It was an all hands on deck night!

Ironically that night I was giving the talk for the GNC. The talk was on Jonah. The week previous  we'd left Jonah thrown over the ship in the middle of a storm... what was going to happen to Jonah? What was going to happen to Nineveh? So this week when we picked the story back up, I asked the question: "Have you ever been in a sticky situation?" All the girls raised their hands!! "Just there!!" Oh those Rice Krispie treats.... that melted marshmallow.... Dear Jesus... Your sense of humor... What can I say? I could never have tied a craft/baking into a talk so well!