Pictures!

Thanks to the kind allowances of a new friend, I was able to put pictures up on Flickr last night. Thanks Gwen!

Stamullen & House
Beach/Playground
Malahide
Random

A New Home

Hello from sweet, still Stamullen! It has been way too long since we last posted, so I wanted to give you a brief update while our kind neighbours let me use their internet!

On Friday we rented our first house in Ireland. It is in a nice, and rather large housing development (as are most houses around here) on the west side of the village. We are only about a 10-minute walk from the grocer, the butcher, and the salon stylist. :) I wish I could tell you all the ways God provided for us in these first few weeks here... it seems that starting life over in a new country actually requires a lot of work! But God was so faithful and within days we had a bank account, were able to purchase our first Irish car (a Skoda Octavia), and found a house. We are really growing fond of our little town!

Until we get internet in our house, I'll just post one picture for now...



The kids are doing great, and Jackson has already found quite a few playmates within a few feet of our house. Ella is her wild self, escaping our front door whenever possible, and when not getting carsick on the winding country roads, has been pleasant and healthy.

Matt & I are so grateful for our new home, though we do give in to occassional bouts of wistfulness thinking about all the times we have moved house, started over, and until now, have been able to do so quite easily in our home country. But as we drive through the hills, take our children to the ocean, worship with Irish believers, and meet new friends, we are reminded of God's goodness in inviting us to share this all with Him.

Please keep praying for us, particularly for Jackson (who is probably the most homesick). Until that pesky internet comes (two weeks?!?!), I'll sign off for now...

Much love to you all!

We're Here :: Our First Week

We have settled in nicely to our temporary accommodations here in Ireland. After living my whole life in one country it is a strangle feeling to be foreign. Our main accomplishment has been getting a cell phone or mobile phone. We have gone out to look at houses to rent and a car to purchase. For renting a house and getting a bank account we need to have a PPS # which is similar to a Social Security number. We have been eager to get things done but some things simply take a long time to get done. Our main goal over the next month is to get our PPS # and a year long visa. Our hosts have been very gracious to us and have given us time to rest and get over jet lag. The village where we are living is beautiful and surrounded by hills.

Ella and Jack have adjusted to the time change well, much better than their parents. They are getting along well with the children here (aside from the random "row" from time to time – it is hard to describe to a 5-year-old boy that his playmates are from a different culture!). Our Irish hosts live on a farm, so we have all enjoyed wandering the grounds and playing in the WARM spring weather!

Please continue to pray for us as we work to get a resident alien visa (we will have to renew this every year). Also pray that we will navigate the various government agencies with patience and grace. We have discovered it is easy to get overwhelmed with "to-do" lists and with our very little understanding of day-to-day Irish life.

We hope to be able to post more frequently once we are in our own place. We aren't yet able to connect our own computer to the internet, so photos will have to wait. Thank you so much for the emails and notes of encouragement!

:: UPDATE ::
We finally found some broadband internet service and were able to download just a few pictures of our first week in Ireland. They can be found at: http://flickr.com/photos/mhuber. These pictures are mainly of the farm where we are staying - we will be living about 1 mile from here or so (Lord willing!).

Thank you for your continued prayers! We would appreciate it if you would lift us up tomorrow as we meet with an immigration officer for our registration cards (similar to a visa). This will allow us to stay in Ireland for one year (we have to reapply evey year).

God bless! (and Happy Mother's Day to my lovely American mom friends!)

Karen, Matt, Jack & Ella

Tomorrow is the day

Hey Friends,

I've been wanting to post all week... about our time in Appleton, about the packing, about the goodbyes... and just don't know how to put into words.

So I'll leave you a few pictures and a request for prayers as we leave our home and our people and begin a new life in Ireland.

Jackson's Homies

Here's a pic of Jackson and his two good buddies, Miles & Ryan, at Jackson's last night of Cubbies.  Such a sweet photo... makes my heart hurt a little...

The saga of the crate begins...

We didn't actually get to see them build the crate, but here are our belongings (those which will make Ireland feel like "home") that will hopefully meet us on the other side of the ocean... in about 6-8 weeks.

Counting down the days now...

Hey friends... it's been a busy and slightly stressful week.  I had a glaucoma scare... since we're leaving the country for awhile, we're busy getting to the doctor and making appointments.  After three appointments with the eye doctor (one more left to go), it appears for now that I am at a "low risk" for glaucoma, even with my narrow angles (I know so much more about eye health than I did a week ago!).  The appointment today involved lots of bright lights and a wee bit of anxiety, but the Lord was gracious to me and I stayed relatively calm, cool and collected.  I go back in two weeks for some follow-up tests, but my doctor is positive, and so am I.

One week from today we will drive the small remainder of our earthly possessions to an international moving company warehouse, where they will be crated and travel by train and boat to Ireland (a process of about 6-8 weeks, apparently).  I always figured that when we knew the date we were leaving for Ireland I would be able to pack up everything in like one day and head out... what a shock that I'm having a difficult time letting go of all these really unimportant things (we are actually paring down what little we own into what we can't take and what we can... a painful process in practice).  So, your prayers are much appreciated... not just for us, but for our kids, too, who have so little practice in the art of saying goodbye...

And then, three weeks from today, our family will land in a new country for a new adventure.  Still so much to do between now and then, but it's there in the very near future and I'm sure God's got a trick or two up His sleeve between now and then.

A week to remember...

Something exciting happened this weekend, but I can't remember what it was...

Oh yeah: KU wins the national championship!!!

I'm sure you're thinking, "Karen, what took you so long? That was two days ago!"  Well, after all the screaming, and the running around, and then the heart palpitations, the basketball hangover, and the driving around the city looking for championship gear, I have finally collected my thoughts in order to write rationally about the biggest thing to happen to Kansas (and Kansas City) in the last 20 years.  (not to mention our last Final Four here in the States)

Here's the thing: when I was 9 years old I watched KU beat Oklahoma in the Championship game (played here in Kansas City).  I went home (from my dad's house), looked at myself in the mirror, and said, "I am going to KU!"  That was my dream: I was going to be a Jayhawk.  And I was.  I went to KU.  And I hated it!  I mean, really, really hated it.  I was not at all prepared for state school life, especially KU/Lawrence life.  It was my Dark Ages.  My year of discontent.  

The only light at the end of the long, dark KU tunnel was the basketball.  Oh Scot Pollard!  Jacque Vaughan!  Raef!  1997 was their year... the best team ever, is what they said.  And then, much like my KU experience, it went bust (we lost in the Sweet Sixteen that year).  Not that my love for KU was dependent on basketball, but I realized that one cannot attend a school on basketball alone (unless one is 6'8" with a smooth fade-away).

I dropped out of KU after that first year.  Despondent, I ran away to Moody, where of course, God had Matt waiting for me.  Sometimes I think back and wish I could've loved KU for what it was, faults and all.  I wish I had been braver, stronger, smarter... but if I had been all those things, there would be no Matt or Jack or Ella.  

I can love KU now, on this end of things.  There's the basketball, of course!  And there's the great friends I have, KU students past and present.  And perhaps I'll go back for my graduate degree in British Lit or Journalism (can I do that from Dublin?).  Who knows?  But for now, I bask in the glow of my state, my school, and a part of my history.  I am a member of the #1-in-the-nation's extended family.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, GO KU!

Pathways

Matt's aunt is recovering from breast cancer surgery this week.  Her husband and children have been kind enough to have a website where they can post updates on her condition, recovery and words of wisdom.  Uncle Tim posted this today and we thought we'd like to share it with you:

Last December I was reading my Psalm for the day, which on that day, December 29th, turned out to be Psalm 77. I really have no idea how many times in my life that I have read that Psalm . . . many actually because for years I have been reading through the Book of Psalm twice a year. But that day the last two verses, 19 & 20 really jumped out at me. I was reading from the New Living Translation . . . "Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters - a pathway no one knew was there! You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds."

I've heard and read the story of Israel crossing the Red Sea more times than I have read Psalm 77, so it was all very familiar. I realized that God knew that at the bottom of the Red Sea a "road" for the Israelites to travel was just waiting to be uncovered. I wrote in the margin of my Bible, "Pathways . . . roads in our lives that feel and appear to be impssible. But like Israel God will lead us!" Being a preacher that led to a sermon title . . . "God Knows The Road!" God knew that at the bottom of the Red Sea, of all places, a road already existed which He would uncover at just the right time. It was a pathway that no one else knew was there . . . but He did.

We had no idea in December that a February mammogram would reveal cancer - but God did and He has uncovered a pathway for us to travel, one he has known was there all along. Like Israel he is protecting and guiding and providing for us all along the way.

So let me encourage you that God knows your circumstances . . . and he also knows the road at the bottom of the "Red Sea" that seems to loom in front of you.

If you think of it, pray for Aunt Mary today.  And also, commit to the Lord that pathway you may find yourself on, the one at the bottom of the Sea... the one that seems impossible.

Goodbyes begin...

I said good-bye to my grandma last night.  A week-long goodbye actually, to cover the unknown amount of separation.  I haven't cried yet, but it pierced my heart a bit to see tears in her eyes as she said goodbye to the child we gave her name: Eleanor.

So I am learning what it means to say goodbye well.  No judging, no fighting (easier said than done), lots of hugs and backward glances, the "I love you" I forgot to say in person, but the "thank you" I tried to say everyday.

The goodbyes will come fast and furious now.  We joyfully (and fearfully) purchased our plane tickets.  We will land in Dublin on Monday morning, May 5th.  Praise be to God!