A Cheery Cheerio

Well, this will be the my last time to blog before I'm back in Oklahoma, no doubt, although I may be able to snatch some time in Atlanta; we'll just see how it goes. It has been a packed last few days, running to and fro doing last minute things, but I think I'm mostly sorted enough to set off for London tomorrow, and then for the states Tuesday.

Wednesday was the last goodbye to the ol' office. Ling Phipp was a wonderful little office, and we were both sad to part ways. The other secretaries whom I primarily worked with brought me a surprise bouquet of flowers, which is so beautiful, and the other workers put me together a couple of other tokens. Working there was truly a blessing from the Lord. We went out to eat together Tuesday night at Pepito's Mexican and I ate a Chimichanga which was so tasty; 'twill definitely be good to be back in the land of Tex-Mex.

Saturday was spent watching Derby play away at Hull. Let's just say Hull isn't too far up on the charts of tourism hot-spots. And it was raining, but it gave me a real taste of what it has meant to Sam being a Derby fan all these years. Of course the crowd of away fans is always more enthusiastic than the usual home attendance, so there is more of a buzz, more singing, chanting, more group unity, all those fun things. It was great. But, though the Rams dominated the match, having possession at least 80% of the time, they managed to lose 2-1, with 2 disallowed goals to boot. It was a tragedy of injustice. It must have been awful playing on such a wet pitch, though. The lads really played their hearts out, too, you could see it. It was good times with Sam and his Dad, even though the outcome was less than hoped for. But, its like Sam said afterwards, "We don't go to see Derby win, but to see them play and support them." Its interesting how the Lord gives us blessings like sports teams. Many, I'm sure, see them as superfluous to life and even unspiritual, because one could be doing something 'more spiritual' with one's time, but I love seeing how much joy it's brought Sam over the years and how its shaped his character supporting and loving them whether they win or lose, just because they are his team, and they are his team because they were his Dad's team.

But, enough about 'football'. Today was the last day at Oasis church, and it was goodbyes all around. It has been a great church to be at while we were here, and it will be nice to visit whenever we come back for visits. Then it was a giant Sunday dinner with family and a few close friends in which we stuffed ourselves on roast leg of lamb with mint sauce, chicken, stuffing, various other veggies, etc and then retired to the living room for tea and a sing along. Sam's Auntie Revel played us hymns on the piano and we all sang. It was great. I love doing sing alongs with Sam's uncle Ashur, also, because he just loves it so much. He came to the Lord I think a decade or so ago, and when he sings hymns he just sings with all his heart. It is so moving and encouraging. But, it was lovely as well having all the others around singing together. Truly a blessing. I'm looking forward to singing with my family at Thanksgiving!

So, yes, now Sam is having a little nap upstairs because he is completely knackered having run on as little sleep possible this week, I have have just a few more things to cram in my new giant backpack, and then maybe we'll even have a spare hour to have a last pint down at the White Lion before we go. I will sure miss the abundance of establishments of drink which don't play music too loud to relax and have a chat. There's always the good ol' Royal B, though.

But anyhow, enough rambling. I will be back in the USA very soon, and then back home on the range, how exciting! Sam is weeing himself with the excitement of getting to pet poopis.

A few more pics

Here are just a few pics of a weekend in London with the lovely Julia, Sam's older sister. We got hissed at by the those Canada geese below. And they stuck out their goose tongues at us. But, I got to see a black swan, which was so beautiful; I'd never seen one of those before. St James's Park is the one which we are strolling through. It was a gorgeous day, and there were Londoners and tourists alike enjoying the park and having a stroll. After the park, we went to the theatre (sic) to see Billy Elliott, which was highly entertaining. My second live professional musical experience. Although the UCO man-pig a-tonal opera I saw one time featuring Cammy as a man-pig was could have passed as one. OH WAIT. Anyways, the time is truly flying, and Sam is getting a bit wound up because of all he has to do before he comes back. But, we will figure it out. We have been working through a book called 'Money Before Marriage' by Larry Burkett, and it has been very good. We have not yet made it through the 'figure out your personality' part, but that has been very useful so far, and interesting. I'm looking forward to setting up our budget, and I was very pleased to be able to use some of our excess money this month to support M13, a youth project in urban Manchester which is helping clean up the council estates, which are like projects, by just getting the know the youths in the area, loving them, and giving them the means to direct their energies positively, all the time showing them the love of Christ. They unfortunately don't have a web site, but they are an awesome ministry. The last bit of news I have is that I finally finished knitting the Kyoto sweater!! It is now blocked and drying in my room, waiting to be seamed up. So exciting! My first big project. So, yes, only 7 more days until we fly back home. They shall fly as well.

Little roadtrip we have cooking.

Here is a professionally-rendered map of our impending roadtrip around the North East. All in the span of one week (Oct 25 to Nov 1), we'll be traveling to Baltimore; Washington D.C.; State College, PA (home of the Nittany Mountain Lions); Stroudsburg, PA; and Durham, NH. We will be couriered by the cushy, classy, aromatic Greyhound (for the sophisticated vagabond gypsy), and we will be accompanied by Sam's best mate & best-man-to-be Chris Gawn (he's single, ladies, enjoys good conversation and films, and will soon be a practicing lawyer in Manchester!).

Basically, we're visiting various friends of Sam's at each stop, excepting State College where we will be visiting hopefully future friends. I'm really looking forward to it! State College especially looks to be goodtimes as, a) it has the potential to be Sam's & my home at some point if he gets accepted to its PhD program, b) we're meeting up with the PSU RUF for their large group meeting & the campus minister we have communicated with sounds really great (as is the usual case with RUF ministers), and c) its homecoming weekend v. Purdue, so little State College will swell to overflowing like a chubby kid locked in a sweetie shop!

After we leave Durham at the end, he and I then fly to Atlanta where Sam is delivering a history paper at the Southern Historical Association annual conference. Maybe not quite as riveting as a Greyhound roadtrip, but honestly I'm really looking forward to seeing him in action! And seeing him be all history- nerdy around his history friends & professors.

How to Summon My Not Impressed Face

Ask: So, what part of Canada are you from?

the Green & the Orange

Hard to know where to start, really. I’ll sort of stick to chronology, with thoughts interjected. Well, after we rolled off the all-night ferry from Liverpool to Belfast, it was Sunday morning so we wasted a few hours in Bangor harbor, waiting for church to start, breathing in the sea air, and generally taking in our first impressions of Northern Ireland. We attended church at Martyr’s Memorial Free Presbyterian under the Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley, who if you know anything about politics is the leader of the Northern Ireland loyalist protestant who-have-yous, very well know for his strong presence and charisma. Obviously my explanation does him no justice, but we couldn’t pass up a Sunday morning in his congregation, knowing the big man’s reputation. He was, indeed, an impressive figure, although his congregation was shockingly small and Sam’s mother and I were the only un-hatted ladies in the church, oops. A great experience, though. By the time we had some food, a pint (or half) of Guiness, and found our Bed & Breakfast, it was time to find an evening church service. We ended up at Wellington Street Presbyterian Church in Ballymena. It was so lovely. It was like finding CTK, in Ireland, where everyone had Irish accents. Well, maybe if CTK had a slightly more laid back evening service with extended worship, i.e. one song after another with a bit more feeling. But, really fantastic, and such a blessing, been missing my good church, dontchaknow. There was just so much warmth, and solid community and real love for Jesus married with good doctrine. Refreshing. Incidentally, after the service and Sam’s mother’s subsequent comment of “I like the Presbyterians except for one thing- the fount isn’t deep enough” Sam and I had a large discussion over beers about said subject. But that’s another topic for another day, I’m afraid. It was encouraging, though, and the discussion brought us back to Christ and the gospel and our need for such, which is always good, as opposed to bringing us to icy outs whilst sticking to our principles for the sake of principles, and I’m sure we will work it out. Christ is sufficient for even that, it seems.

But, basically the rest of our trip, timewise, was just driving around, looking at the coastline which is all more beautiful than the bit before. Did a little bit of wading in the very cold water. Generally just enjoyed breathing in the fresh air, sleeping in, thanking the good Lord that he allowed me to visit this beautiful place, and enjoying the fine company of Sam and his parents.

One interesting place we happened upon is the Corrymeela community. It is this peaceful little beautiful center dedicated, as you can see from the picture, to peace and unification among Christians, obviously spurred on by Irelands Catholic/ Protestant troubles. It was so wonderful. Kelly B would absolutely love it, I must tell her about it. But, we had been told about it, and decided to stop in as we passed by. They brought us in, showed us around, fed us, talked with us about their own experiences with Corrymeela, and basically just truly showed hospitality in the Christian sense. Though their theology is loose, to put it very generously, it was very impacting to see the place that this community has in a place like Northern Ireland where religion is known much less for its loving actions and much more for its hateful words and bloodshed. I can hardly do it justice, really, but it was a cool place. And it had a parabolically built chapel which had fantastic acoustics. We sang a chorus of a hymn and it sounded awesome. The person across the room sounds like they are speaking right in your ear!

The other thing interesting/creepy/ impacting about Northern Ireland, segue-ing from Corrymeela, was the marked and open sectarianism. Peoples’ alliances are clear, and they’ll differ just from tiny village to tiny village. One village will have the Irish tricolor blazing from every telephone pole, IRA murals on the buildings, Sinn Fein office, the very next village will have the red hand of Ulster, the union jacks, the orange halls. There is very little neutrality. And its creepy because it really is just little villages. I mean, there are some bigger towns, but its no cosmopolitan country. The police stations in every town are heavily barricaded with barbed wire and the like. Imagine seeing the Noble, OK Police Station all decked out in giant walls & barbed wire. Creeeeeepy. But, hopefully the troubles are well and truly on the way out. It sounds a bit cliché, but I kept thinking of Sunday Bloody Sunday and I earned a new respect for U2, which is saying a lot because I already thought that they totally rock.

But, yes… there is more that I could say, but I guess it’ll either come out later or we’ll chat or something. It was so nice to get away for a while, drink some tasty beer with Sam, eat delicious food, sleep in, look at breathtaking sight after breathtaking sight, think about big and small things and talk them over with Sam, get lost on the backroads between Ballysomething and Ballysomethingelse at night, and then puke my dinner after we made it back finally, in the dark because all the electricity was out. Wait, that last part wasn’t all that great, actually. And you can just sort out the participles on your own, chumps. Enjoy the pics.

Update

Back safe & sound from Ulster. Pictures are downloaded onto computer, need a little sorting and then will be posted for your viewing pleasure. Amazing trip! I have a newly piqued interest in the IRA/Irish history concerning loyalism v. republicanism. Also, Sam says the Guiness really is better in Ireland. I hadn't actually had it before the trip so I couldn't comparatively comment, but I thought it was quite delicious.
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Gave Sam a hairchop last night. He told me to hurry, so... I did! And now its short. But, it looks surprisingly cute still! I like it short or shaggy, it turns out.

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Wrist aching from too much knitting on trip. I was just trying to keep my mind on something other than my nausea from the extra windy little country roads and I guess I overdid it. On the upside, the sweater now only lacks about 8 x 12 inches of stockinette on US8 needles plus a strip of seed stitched collar, yay.

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Check out these beauts for the collection, woo. Just when you thought me talking about knitting was getting boring.... whoo boy, let me tell you about my stamp collection...
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T-minus 18 days before I depart m.o.e. It will be so nice to see everyone again! And my little house, and my banged up poor car.