Catch Up Blog

Settle in for a collection of random and outdated thoughts from the past week and some more...

*I saw Lisa Hannigan in concert a week back. Fabulous. You may know her from her backup vocals on Damien Rice's last two albums, but she puts on a great show when she's on the lead mic, too.

*One week of Summer Scheme down, two to go. It's been nice working 9:30-4:30 and it's been a really great group of kids. They're trying out some childcare spots (the only difference is that they stay a little longer and pay A LOT more) and those kids are really enjoyable. We play lots of games and have lots of laughs. We still live in Belfast though, and that keeps things interesting. Today we took 14 kids to the park, aged 6-11 and on the way out. the whole lot of us were followed and cursed at and sang political songs to by a boy on a bike and his mates. It amazed me that these kids would follow us the entire way back to the gate (out the other side of the park, down the street and around the corner to the wall that separates the neighborhoods), continuously bullying a group of 14 kids and 6 adults. It kinda broke my heart. But it made it even sweeter to see how our kids responded. They didn't say a word back, they didn't touch the boys, they didn't counter their attack at all and I was so unbelievably proud of them. They stuck together and showed so much strength. I think it proved that what we do can work in little bits, and those little bits grow.

*I've been spending some time with some of the boys in my neighborhood lately as well. I saw them hanging out on our garden wall and figured I should meet them and learn their names... I should have realized that I was jumping into a deep end! I've meet a of them recently, and hung out in the front year with three today. I'm hoping that if they get some positive attention from us, they'll quit throwing water balloons at us mid-BBQ and at our windows all day long. So we sang Green Day and talked about funny words that people use in the States, like "sidewalk," "popsicle," and "trunk," and they asked me if I like George Bush and why there are soldiers in Iraq. The oldest said they just need to all come home, and they youngest said "but then the other side would win" and the oldest said, "it doesn't matter, it just needs to end." I brought up that idea a few minutes later when we were talking about the riots in NI, but apparently it's different here. It's good, though, to feel a bit more connected to the neighborhood.

*I've just finished reading Jesus for President, by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. It's really challenging, and has lots of good substance to work though. But it presents a lifestyle that makes sense, that resembles the lifestyle that Jesus lived verses the lifestyle of typical "American Christian." And it makes all that stuff about Jesus changing your life and calling you to a new life and living as Christ and death as gain make sense. It also encourages me to continue to shop at the local market on Saturdays (L does this too!), ponder learning to garden (Abby, come visit and let's make a veggie garden in my yard! The fact that I am even thinking these thoughts is definitely God!!), and really compels me to spend time in the front garden with the boys who use my house as target practice when I usually feel like checking out in front of the tv. I'd love to talk more about this- get in touch...

*I've also been taking advantage of evenings off to hang out with people at church. I'd really like to make connections there and it's been a painfully slow process, but I think it's getting better. Some nights are brilliant and I feel like a part of things there and other nights feel like complete failure, but that's life I suppose.