This morning we met together with ten churches to celebrate what God has done in our area. Most of the ten were planted as the result of one small church in Cork city, and the work continues as the churches continue to work together to help each other plant new churches. What a blessing to see and be part of this!
This week a tragedy struck close to us. A five year old girl, who had just started at the same school our children just started at, died suddenly in the night. Yesterday we went to coffee morning held in aid of her family. This is what we saw:
The room was buzzing with conversations in every corner, the kind you’d have expected as soon as you saw the cups of tea and tables full of cakes. Some of the people were in large groups, some were in couples, and the chairs were nearly as full as the tables. Volunteers roamed, filling cups and gathering rubbish. It was the definition of a successful coffee morning, until she came.
The reason we were all there: The Mother.
She never said a word, and only stayed a few minutes. But her presence was a power: as soon as she entered, the conversations died, unable to stand before the awesome force of her grief. In her hands she held a small decorative light someone had given her, held it like it was the most precious thing in the universe, held it like it was the sweet little girl she had lost suddenly to a sickness that came out of nowhere and robbed the light right out of her eyes. She sat down. She cried freely in front of a whole room full of cakes and eyes. A friend eventually broke the silence by saying thank you to everyone for coming. A priest said something about Mary over and over again. Then they left.
As I looked at my cold tea, I realised that now I knew what the Bible meant when it said: “The voice of Rachel, weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more”
I’ve seen Rachel. I’ve seen the Mother.
Last Friday Seth got to reprise his role in Les Mis from earlier in the year in an encore performance. It was great fun all over again, so he was glad he got “one more day”…
Last week all three of our children started in their new school, where we are trying to move. It’s a bit of a commute to get there, but we’re hoping that we can move there soon, so we thought a time of commuting would be better than switching schools mid-year. It’s Rebekah’s first year in school as well, so the last few days have been a big adjustment for all of us. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for, though, and we’ve already seen some answers to prayer along the way.
On Saturday Seth joined a group of our new friends from the church in Midleton on a cycling trip down an old railway track that has recently been converted into a greenway. The views were incredible, the day was beautiful, and the conversation was great. After 45km the legs were a bit sore, but it wasn’t so much that it stopped being enjoyable. Ireland is truly a beautiful island.
This week we had the wonderful privilege of participating in the wedding ceremony of a young Irish woman we have known since she came with a friend to our church’s youth club years ago. She married a wonderful Godly man she met at university, and like all Irish weddings, the celebration went on for most of the day and far into the night. We count it a huge blessing to get to see God’s work through the years and celebrate the beginning of this new family!
One of the realities of living overseas is getting acquainted with the US Embassy. In Ireland, the embassy is in Dublin, and there are times when getting or maintaining our US documents requires a visit. This week we’ll be going up to renew Daniel and Rebekah’s passports. Today I (Seth) took them to get their passport photos and noticed that I didn’t have to coach them not to smile – they already knew exactly where to stand and what to do. International living is the norm for these kids.
On Sunday our family drove to Midleton for church, instead of going to church in Youghal. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel strange. Not that the people in Midleton are strange, mind you, but after years in Youghal the reality that this transition is beginning to actually happen is a bit jarring. We do like the church in Midleton, though, so that’s nice!
It took the best part of two days to get here, but we finally did make it back to our house yesterday. The only adventure we had along the way was that our first flight was delayed, leaving us just ten minutes to run through the airport (and get a bus to another terminal) in New York to catch our flight to Ireland. We were definitely puffed (out of breath) when we got there, but we did get there in time! Now we are trying to settle back in while our bodies try to catch up to the time difference. All in all we travelled around 10,000 miles in the last three and a half weeks, and we’re ready to be done. We are so thankful for the time we had in the States, though, and thankful for a home to come back to – even as we pray for it to sell, so we can move to Carrigtwohill.
In the last couple of weeks we’ve traveled from Ireland to Georgia to Tennessee to South Carolina to Virginia. We’ve seen lots of family and friends and several of our supporting churches. We’ve had some really yummy American food that we missed, like crispy bacon. We celebrated Daniel turning ten years old and had fun being in the USA for the Fourth of July. It’s been a great trip. Even as I write this, there are evening crickets singing outside, a sound I miss in Ireland. We are thankful.
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