On Holiday (celebrate!)

I mentioned earlier this year that I will be traveling at the end of my YAV year. I forgot to put up this message before I left, so greetings from Istanbul!

Full-on blogging is tough from an iPod, but I'm posting photo updates each day (when I have Internet) on Instagram (@pdcentre) and Facebook. I'm also trying to cross-post on twitter (also @pdcentre) for those that don't have one or the other.

I've included the hashtags #TriciAdventure and #awkwardselfie in most, if that gives you an idea of what you'll see there. What started as physical proof to my family that I made it on the next leg of my journey has become a bizarre trend of awkward self-taken photos of yours truly. Obviously the real ones will come later. With stories, etc.

Back to the states on 7 August - check ya on the flippy-floppy!

Pentecost

Today is Pentecost. The story that any of us who grew up in the church will likely associate with those photos of cartoons with fire above their heads, or crafts involving glue sticks and plenty of tissue paper (or popsicle sticks, as all the best are).

Over the years, I've been to plenty of different Pentecost services - some done really well, some less so. My favorite, of course, will have to be the Sweaty Sheep service that included water balloon fights, liturgical dancers and communion using breads and foods from all over the world.

Photo by Michael Whitman

Today, Fortwilliam and Macrory had a guest preacher, the Rev. Dr. John Dunlop. His message addressed waiting: how none of us like to wait, but when the thing that we are waiting on is the Spirit of God, we can't move forward without it. He focused on the diversity of the crowd gathered that morning, waiting together, gathering in God's name. All of those different gifts, opinions and personalities in one place. Each person gathered in that room was unique, but they all had names. They were all touched by the Spirit.

This message reminded me of the YAV program, which is appropriate since much of the funding for this program comes from the Pentecost Offering. We are young, we are exuberant, and we are sent out in the name of God despite our differing gifts, opinions and personalities to join in the celebration of the global church.

Pentecost is being celebrated today across the world in a vast array of cultures and languages, and my fellow YAVs are there: in Guatemala, in Kenya, in Tucson, in New Orleans and so many other communities. Learning, sharing and growing with others because of our shared purpose.

In the spirit of this global sending, I ask a favor: if the Pentecost Offering is not taken in your church, click the link above or text "young" to 20222 to give $10 to the PC(USA). To fund this program more directly, there are still a few NI YAVs who need a little help with their fundraising requirements. Please consider a donation in honor of Pentecost to Kathryn, who is doing great work this year at the East Belfast Mission.

For those interested in learning more about the YAV program, please visit http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/yav/.

Special blog post, Momma-style!

As promised, I've asked my mom to give a bit of reflection on her whirlwind tour of Belfast (and most of the UK). So without further ado:


It’s rather unnerving to do a guest blog; Tricia does what I consider a fabulous job with her entries. She did warn me about this request but it just gave me more time to fret about it. Well, here goes:

Thursday: Being busy doesn't even touch on what Tricia had in store for my visit. After the bus ride home from the airport we got our first sign of how friendly Belfast can be. With only 2 blocks to go, Robert insisted on giving us a lift. As Tricia said, people are so friendly here you learn to just graciously accept these kind offers. We crock-potted dinner and were on our way for one of my few opportunities to see Tricia active in one of her normal weekly-duties—Lunch with the Pensioners. Julia prepared a traditional Belfast feast and everyone that works at the Vine had nothing but good to say not only about Tricia but also her work there. We went on the see so much of the city that Tricia has been calling home this year, (or she was keeping me on my feet so I wouldn't fall asleep). The Maundy Thursday service was beautiful and gave me the opportunity to meet some of the people who have helped Tricia feel welcome in this foreign country. Going out after the service with friends and fellow YAVs was very comforting and gave me peace. The plan for new YAVs on their first night in Belfast is to stay awake until at least 9:00 P.M. But no, normal bedtime back home for me is 9:00 PM, add those 4 hours for Belfast time, equals 1:00 AM in Belfast. We only made midnight, but still a very long 38 hours. Glad I squeezed in that 1 ¼ hours of sleep on the flight over.

Meeting David and Anna on Thursday

Friday: After a traditional Ulster breakfast we trekked to Belfast Castle. The castle wasn't the main attraction but the several-hour hike up to Napoleon’s nose in the snow, ice and cold was the naz. Fellow YAV David included us in his weekly hike, and was a wonderful guide—patient and tolerant of Tricia and my less than perfect skills and a Florida mom who had never frolicked in snow. We got home in time to change for the Good Friday service and my opportunity to get to know Lesley, the pastor at Tricia’s church, and to meet others who have helped Tricia feel welcome in Belfast. It was nice to see Tricia involved with the service. The evening outing gave me a chance to meet TJ, the final North Belfast YAV. Things closed early for Good Friday so we got to bed before midnight.

Our view from "Napoleon's Nose"

Saturday: Tricia has made the trip to Giant’s Causeway with friends from the congregation before but we got the full-day tour with many sights of this lovely country both along the way and on the return to Belfast. Upon our return we headed back to Belfast Castle, now the main attraction. It was odd hiking up the hill in the cold and dark to get to the castle, but was so worth it to see all the Northern Belfast YAVs as a group. The friendship they share is priceless. The support and camaraderie they have towards one another is invaluable.

Photo op with the Giant's Causeway in the background

Sunday: Easter Sunday was a peaceful morning, not having to get out of the house until 10:00. Maybe not as calm for Tricia with every alarm in the house set to make sure she didn't miss the time change. (What devices automatically change time, which don’t?) The service was lovely and I got to see Tricia in another phase of her work: keeping the service and all of its digital aspects in sync; a nice presentation of Tricia’s work with The Youth Club was included. After the service there was a chance to meet others in the congregation. Stewart who complimented Tricia’s help with The Boys' Brigade, and several young couples who love Tricia and value her relationship with their “tots”. After church we went to the City Centre. More was closed than expected on Easter Sunday so we missed St. George’s Market and our falafel, but this just allowed us to eat at Nando's, one of Tricia’s favorites. Easter and the time change combined had us miss our tour of Belfast but Tricia came through once again. We got a very special, first-hand tour of the murals in Belfast and the Peace Wall, the biggest attractions of the Belfast tour, from TJ, who does much of his YAV work in this area.

Monday: Well this brings us to the 7:00 arrival at the International Airport for our flight to Newcastle for our “whistle-stop tour” that Tricia mentioned in her blog. She makes it seem like a simple tour but seeing how my first 4 days went, I’m sure you can imagine the “tour” of Great Britain at times seemed more of an “assault”. We made the most of the vacation time and finished it with a wonderful meal at a winery B&B that Tricia tricked me into having her pay for.

Of all the wonderful things Tricia mentions in her blog, what does Tricia’s mom do? Hears anything that she could worry about--life is scary; no, it isn't easy; trials and tribulations; etc—often not even hearing the context is which something is said. But I guess we all can be proven so wrong. With my short time in Belfast I saw so much. Not only have I seen my daughter’s successes and accomplishments, I've seen and witnessed some of her trials and tribulations.Tricia has met some wonderful people, has had irreplaceable experiences and has learned volumes about herself. She now sees that she can do anything and that every cloud has a silver lining. A mother could be nothing but proud. Tricia has soldiered through her YAV year with dignity and grace—for that I am extremely proud of her and admire her. And for who she is I love her.

Aww, thanks mom - love you too! For more of our photos from the trip, click here.

Holy, Wholly, Holi...

Bear with me on the obscure title, hopefully it will make sense shortly... 

The past few weeks have been extremely full in real life, which makes for figurative crickets on the blog end of things. As I was thinking about everything I had to update you on, I realized that two of them were pronounced \ˈhō-lē\... so I just went with it and stretched the other update to fit the theme.

HOLY
Holy Week was March 24-30. Since many of the local kids were either off school or preparing for break, many extracurricular events were cancelled - leaving me more time for the Church side. We participated in a joint communion service with Cave Hill Methodist on Maundy Thursday, an intimate service at Fortwilliam and Macrory on Good Friday, and of course the typical Easter Sunday festivities.  My special guest for these events was my mom, who flew in on Thursday morning. It was great to see her after almost an entire year apart, and I was glad to give her the opportunity to experience such a full time at the church (although it meant she missed out on a few of my regularly scheduled activities like homework club and Boys' Brigade).

WHOLLY
This one is clearly the stretcher in the theme, but nonetheless... as part of my mom's trip, we decided to take a road trip! The week after Holy Week (Easter Week) is fairly quiet at both my sites, so we hopped a flight to England and did the whistle stop tour, hitting highlights in England, Wales and Ireland. So while we did not hit the entire British Isles wholly (see what I did there? Also: sorry, Scotland!), we did make a noble attempt.

Our road trip - covered all this (plus Dublin) in 5 days!

View Larger Map

We had a great time visiting new places - and my mom even managed to hold her own with driving a manual transmission on the opposite side of the road! She will be writing a special "guest blogger" post within the next week or so to give her perspective on our time together and my work in Belfast, so keep an eye out!

Dinner in Dublin
View more photos from our trip here.

HOLI
My mom left on Saturday, and by Sunday I was deep enough into my "introvert recovery" that I considered skipping out on the Belfast Colour Festival that was taking place that afternoon. However, I decided that I would probably regret it if I didn't attend, and of course I couldn't let my £3 ticket go to waste, so I talked myself into putting on my ratty jeans and a white T-shirt and headed to the City Centre.

For those of you who have never heard of Holi, it is an Hindu festival marking the beginning of spring. (Please note that I am SO vastly simplifying this holiday!) It is typically celebrated in part by throwing colored powders at each other, which has been the inspiration for events like the Color Run. Since I love just about anything from India and I hate running, this was the only way I could hope to have mass quantities of colored powder thrown in my face. ;-)

Immediately after leaving the ring

While the event was definitely commercialized and I spent an hour crammed into a line with hundreds of strangers for just 10 minutes of color throwing, I was really glad I attended. Mostly, because it reminded me of my life back home. "Cross-cultural" here is mostly confined to Protestants and Catholics. I rarely have the opportunity to experience other religious traditions or dance like a fool to Jai Ho (which they played no fewer than 3 times while I was there). Plus, I love the concept of celebrating Spring. While it's still been unseasonably cold here, there's something to be said for shaking off the winter blahs and bursting forth in a blast of color!

So in that spirit, I charge you now to go forth and celebrate! Jesus is risen and the world is blooming!

Anyone can love the loveable

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you are all feeling happy and sufficiently loved today. If no one has told you they love you yet - just let me know and I'll send you a Valentine ;-)

In the spirit of this day of love, I thought I'd share a bit from my personal study. I came across Matthew 5:43-44 recently:

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor. (Leviticus 19:18) Hate your enemy.’ 44 But here is what I tell you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you. ..."

Many people who read this passage feel a bit of a kick in the gut whenever they hear this. Loving mean people is HARD! I think it's important to remember these words, but also to remember that it's not difficult to love those who are kind, or those who fit easily into our categories of "acceptable" behaviour and appearance... but sometimes, it's those who don't seem "loveable" that need it the most.

Reading this certainly made me take a second look at the people I see on a daily basis, and evaluate my actions toward them. I hope you'll do the same.

Love you!

Lenten reflections

Today is Ash Wednesday, which is strange here.

Rather than heading to chapel at lunch for the imposition of ashes, today was a day just like any other: prep the crock pot for our community dinner before rushing to mums and tots, work on lesson plans til JAFFA in the afternoon. The lesson today was on love and St. Valentine.

I might have forgotten Ash Wednesday altogether if it weren't for the boys from St. Malachy's College (a Catholic HS) at my bus stop on the way home, with the familiar smudges on their foreheads. Even though we didn't practice the imposition of ashes at the church where I was raised, it's a tradition that I have come to enjoy in later years. Not because I feel that everyone needs to see how holy I am for attending services on a Wednesday 42 days before Easter, but because it sets the tone for me: the silence of the chapel as we offer our foreheads sets the somber tone. Trying not to smudge the cross for the rest of the day keeps me in constant reminder of the journey I am beginning.

But today's reading from my Lenten devotional was Matthew 6:1-6, 16-28; which seemed strange for a day when many people in the States would be wearing their faith loud and proud of their forehead.

It was an interesting beginning to this study. How do you reconcile the idea of an outward act for your own reflection and one that could easily be seen as being showy or holier-than-thou? As with anything, I think the answer lies in the motivation of the participant - which none of us are in any place to judge.

On that note, Anna and I (and possibly a few other YAVS) are doing the World Vision Live Life Challenge, if you'd like to join us. For the next six weeks, we will focus on specific aspects of Jesus' teachings: fasting, prayer, giving, thankfulness and service. I will do my best to reflect on our study here.

Bonus Roomie Post!

So, I wasn't kidding when I said I really enjoyed the Christmas Eve service at Anna's church. For those who don't know my roomie, she is incredibly talented at just about everything she attempts, and I was in awe of her Christmas message at the service. It nearly brought me to tears (shutupIhavesomethinginmyeye), and I (gently) demanded that she post it so I could share it with you.

You can read her whole post here.

If you don’t normally attend church at Whitehouse (welcome!) or you don’t know who I am, my name is Anna and I’m not from here.

I’m over from the States to spend a year here, living in Belfast and working at Whitehouse.

This is my first-ever Christmas away from home. While I certainly miss being at home with friends and family, what I miss most these days is the familiarity of Christmas. I don’t know this to be a fact, but I would hazard a guess that Christmas has more traditions surrounding it than any other time of the year. We sing the same songs, eat the same food, and visit the same family at the same time.

One thing you may not know about me is that I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. I like to know as much as possible before I….No. I like to know as much as possible. Full stop.

I tell you that because while I could describe to you, at length, the Christmas traditions of the state of South Carolina, in Belfast I am humbled on a daily basis, because so much of what is tradition here is brand new to me. I’m a trained singer, and I don’t know half of the beloved carols. I never know exactly what’s going on, and I often feel as if I’m working with as little information as possible.

Spending Christmas away from the familiar has allowed me to relate to the nativity story in a completely new way. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever actually related to it much in the first place. I’ve never had an angel visit me in a dream and tell me that I was going to give birth to the Son of God, for instance. But Mary and Joseph were very much away from the familiar. In fact, nothing about that first Christmas would have been familiar to anyone in the story we know so well.

In the States, we have a term for that, and it comes from the great American pastime – baseball. What happens to Mary and Joseph, as we’ve seen tonight, is known as a curveball. You see, when you throw a baseball, it normally just goes in a relatively straight line, until the batter hits it, the catcher catches it, or it hits the ground because gravity has taken its course. But there’s a technique to throwing a baseball in which the ball will curve in its trajectory, and you usually can’t see that it’s curved until it’s right in front of you. Curveballs allow almost no time for the batter to adjust his stance, and are therefore notoriously difficult to hit. 

When Mary receives the news from the angel Gabriel that she’s going to be pregnant with the Son of God – that’s a curve ball.

When Joseph realizes that his fiancé is pregnant and he isn’t the father – that’s a curve ball.

When they can’t find a place to stay on their journey and the baby is born amongst dirty, stinky animals – that’s a curve ball.

Life is constantly throwing us curve balls. We lose our jobs. Our relationships end. Our loved ones die suddenly. It’s chaos. It’s messy. It’s scary.

You know, the Son of God had been predicted and prophesied for hundreds of years. Religious leaders of the time believed that God would come down in a blaze of glory – a man who would be larger than life, atop a flaming chariot with a horse made of gold or something. But this God, our God, chose to enter our world as an infant; born to two people who just went with the curve balls they’d been thrown.

I’d like to see the real nativity portrayed. A terrified, teenage girl with no midwife; a young man who would have never been present at a birth, pacing backwards and forwards, mopping the sweat off of his brow and muttering to himself; animals and all of the sounds and smells that come with them. This is the scene where God puts skin on. This chaos. This mess.

The nativity story isn’t one that was only relevant two thousand years ago. In the same way that the Christ-child was physically born, he is born in us again – into the chaos and the mess and the fear of our lives.

We don’t have to give much. We don’t have to have much. We don’t have to be perfect or have it all together or even know what’s going on most of the time. We just have to be willing.

I hope that your celebrations tomorrow are filled with the joy and hope and love of Christ. I also hope you’ll take the time to reflect on the staggering reality and significance of the birth of the Son of God into the unfamiliar, and into the reality of our own lives. 

Over the past four weeks, we’ve lit four candles: one for hope, one for joy, one for peace and one for love. And tonight we light the one that signifies the manifestation of all of those things in the world: the Christ candle.

I hope you’ll notice, as the light from this candle moves around the room, that even though some of us are close to Christ candle and some are far away, the candles at the farthest corners will shine with the same intensity as those closest to the source.

Happy Holidays!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Well, I survived the holidays away from home thanks to a festive roomie, adopted family and lots of Skype.

Opening gifts via Skype

Anna and I decorated the tree together (shown in the last post), then I left her to her own creativity to decorate the rest of the house. As promised, a taste of the holidays in our home: 

  

Handmade decorations and lots of cards from friends!

The YAV bunch celebrated Christmas together with a sleepover in East Belfast. As always, it was nice to have the opportunity to all get together for some fun. 

...because we are so normal.

I actually did something this holiday season I haven't done in over a decade: sing in front of other people. It was fun to learn the traditional songs that are so different from what we would learn at home as I sang at both the Carol services at the Vine and Fortwilliam and Macrory. 

On Christmas Eve, we went to the midnight service led by the youth at Anna's church. It was fun to meet the people she's talked so much about, and to see all the progress they made on the play they wrote themselves. I came home and skyped with the whole McClan for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Grandmother's house... what was 1 am for me was just after dinner for them so I got to participate in (/ take) the annual family photo from 3750 miles away! 

Anna and I woke up and did Christmas together before heading to our respective churches for the Christmas morning services. I skyped with my mom as she prepared for her Christmas feast (it was still too early back home for anyone else to be awake), and then made my way over to the home of the family that hosted me for dinner. 

 

They made me feel right at home as we hung out, exchanged gifts and ate WAY too much food together just like I would have been doing at home. It made being away from my family a whole lot easier.

My friend Steph and I rang in the new year in Paris, standing in the rain at the Arc de Triomphe as the Eiffel Tower sparkled behind us!

    

   

Now I'm resting up, working on getting over the cold that inevitably follows a NYE spent standing in the rain... and getting ready for whatever 2013 sends my way!

Lots of love,
T.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I love that I can look at my blog stats and see that there are people who check in regularly even when I don't write for awhile. :) Love you guys!

So yes, I've been gone for a few weeks and the madness has finally lulled a bit. The Artisan Christmas Market went off with nary a hitch yesterday (raised over £480!), so I've finally had some time to recharge my batteries and catch you up on the holidays here. So, without further ado, here's a peek into the lead up to Christmas here in Belfast:

Christmas Dinners
I have been to several of these at this point. While there is variety in the setting or the people you're with, a few things stand out to me as constants: the menu and the crackers. At home, people might eat turkey or ham or goose or lamb or... whatever for their holiday meals. Here, you will most likely receive stuffing sandwiched between a slice of ham and a slice of turkey, brussels sprouts, carrots, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes and cranberry sauce. Sometimes cocktail sausages as well. Wrapped in bacon if you're lucky. Christmas pudding is always an option for dessert. I did find an entire tumblr dedicated to Christmas dinners in my search for a photo, but apparently people who post pictures of Christmas dinner on the internet haven't had the exact same meal I've been served 3 times (and offered the option of at least 4 others) in the past 2 weeks.

Close enough. Found on mychristmasdinner.tumblr.com

Notice at the top of the plate a Christmas Cracker. Everyone here is SHOCKED that I've never had one of these at Christmas (I did get one at NYE ~ 1995, though...). Inside will be a novelty toy, joke, and paper crown. You pull either side with a friend and the one who gets the bigger part wins its contents. I kind of rock at that part.

Sherrie rocks the moustache from her Christmas cracker

  

Paper crowns for everyone!

Christmas Jumpers

EVERYONE seems to think this is an American thing. I don't understand how this is possible since they are widely available in stores here and you have to scramble through Goodwill to find one at home, but still. I have been getting good use of mine this year. Also, I learned to call it a Christmas jumper rather than a tacky sweater... because many people do not consider these tacky and I may or may not have insulted someone with that statement (much like my aunt's festive vs. tacky debate last year). A small sampling of the opportunities I've had to wear this already (and it's only the 16th!):

Fortwilliam and Macrory staff dinner - How sweet,
Mark actually thinks his counts as a Christmas jumper...

The boys' Christmas jumper party

Christmas decorations

Belfast really does it up. The entire city centre is absolutely covered in twinkle lights. I haven't managed to get a good shot of the festivities, but Beth has:

Anna and I did manage to find some time to decorate our tree. I'll post more of our fab Christmas decor later...

I've had many people ask what I'll be doing for Christmas. I will stay here in Belfast. The YAVs have planned a Christmas movie night / sleepover this week, and we'll all have services at our own congregations in the days leading up to the 25th. On Christmas day I have been adopted by a family from church, so I'm looking forward to the craic that comes with a big family. Speaking of big family, there will obviously be skype involved as well... so don't worry, I'm being well looked after!

Until next time,

xox

I promise I'm still alive!

Hello everyone, just a heads up that it might be awhile til my next update. Christmas season has begun with a vengeance and I’ll be running around like mad for the next few weeks. Church life!

Some highlights:

• Saturday was the church sale. I got a mug that says “We Love Grandma”. And yes, there is a picture of someone else’s family on it. Awesome. 
• Last night was Fortwilliam and Macrory’s Carols for All service. It was a lovely service with a 30-piece band, choirs and readers from all over the community. 
• This week at the Vine is our community Christmas dinner. This weekend is the staff Christmas party. Next week is our carol service... After programs end for the year, I’ll be working on putting together Christmas hampers for local families who need some help this holiday season. 
• I am planning the first-annual Artisan Christmas Market on 15 December, which still requires loads of publicity and logistics. 

Add in other Christmas festivities and services, and I’m a busy lady for the rest of the month. There is also a very special Christmas present in the works for my Second Pres youth. Get ready!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Participating in family holidays via Skype!

I had such a busy week, I've had to extend the holiday a bit longer to accommodate this post. I hope none of you will mind!

As I've mentioned in the past, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I always think it's important to take the time to be mindful of the many blessings in my life, and Thursday was no exception. In fact, I made a list before I even got out of bed. A few highlights:

Thankfulness list 2012

My family - always at the top of my list, because I love my family. Like an insane amount. Some might say this is because I live 4000+ miles away, but whatever. They have been so supportive of me on this journey, and I appreciate everything they've done - both to make it possible, and to shape me into the kind of person who would want to help people for a living. I've also learned that whether you're born, married or adopted (literally or figuratively), family is what (and who) you make it.

My other famil(ies) - my Second Pres family who show me such love and believe in me so much. My friends who rock my face off and I miss every day, my fellow YAVs both here and around the world who make me laugh when I'm having a hard day and get what it means to be spending Thanksgiving away from home. I wouldn't be here doing this work without your encouragement and support.

The opportunities I've been given to do God's work and explore His community - I love my job. My time as a YAV, and at the PC(USA) before that, has been really fulfilling. I'm not going to lie, I have days that are really challenging. But the people I've met along the way have made it worth it. The opportunities I get on a daily basis to make someone feel special or cared for - and having someone take a day out of their life to drive me up the coast, make a special Thanksgiving card because they know I'll miss my family, or even just remember my name make me feel accepted and appreciated. Even when they're mocking my accent.

Thanksgiving Tree at the Vine

For warm clothes, good food and clean water - I know I am really lucky. I have everything I need to live a happy, healthy life. I'm thankful for this.

For hot water - I have no idea why my just-awoken brain put this on the list, but I'll roll with it. Perhaps I was anticipating a shower, or appreciating my radiator and the hot-water bottle I sleep with. Maybe I just wanted a cuppa. I'm glad for it all the same.

For the beauty of God's earth - seriously, have you seen any of the photos I've posted in the last 3 months? This place is crazy-beautiful. It's not hard to be mindful of God's creation when you're surrounded by it!

There's more on my list, but I'll leave it at this. What are you thankful for this year?

Peace and quiet (retreat days 3 and 4)

After the first two crazy-long posts about our retreat, I thought I'd give you a break and do a quick roundup of the rest of the retreat...

The 3rd day of the retreat was just a chill day at home. I napped while the others went into the city, but otherwise it was more of the glorious same: sit by fire, play cards, cook food, read and repeat. It was Halloween, though - and I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I bummed around the house in the festive socks and earrings sent to me by my darling nieces. The boys conned us in to watching Cabin in the Woods that night by saying it was not really a scary movie. I beg to differ. Joss Whedon was the only reason I watched it at all, and the concept was interesting... but I maintain that with that much blood and jumpy-outy things, that's a scary movie.

Our last day of retreat began by packing up our little (big!) house and heading back to Murlough National Nature Reserve for the Bathgate group's Bible Study (we visited it for the first time during orientation), so it was nice to have a place feel familiar.

This time, the tide was high, and the sound of the waves beating the rocky shore made for a peaceful time of personal reflection. A nice end to our first retreat. 

And end it did. We arrived home to the realization that by turning off our boiler while we were gone, the gauge went crazy and we were now without hot water. Which heats our showers AND our radiators. So that was a fun re-entry to reality. Thank goodness for a quickly-responsive landlord!

All that... and a bag of chips!

Doug is taking the YAVs to the Mourne Mountains this week for our first retreat! Since we'll be away for Halloween, we used T.J.'s birthday as an excuse to dress up!

Anna as Henri, the French Existentialist Cat

Teej with the E. Belfast girls (we missed you, Courtney!)
From this picture, everyone looks surprisingly uncostumed.

T.J.'s friends from Woodvale.
Also known as Best Costumes meet Worst.
Yes, it's his birthday and I called his costume the worst.

I do not know what I would do without
a working single mummy and static cling in my life...
These boys are ridiculous.

All that and a bag of chips!