So the past couple weeks are a bit of a blur.
Liz and I went to Amsterdam on the 15th for a conference with Communitas. It was an enjoyable time. After getting back we had a day off to hang out with Méabh as St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland.
Later that week I went to a meeting sponsored by the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland. It has become even more difficult for Americans to move here to Ireland. And since we would love to see more people move here and work with us, this is something we care about. After hearing so many stories, I was so thankful how easy it was for us to get here.
As I mentioned recently, we are trying to set up an official charity/church. If we are able to do that, that would actually make it easier for us to get people over here…so that is exciting!
The following week Wallace (one of the guys we are partnering with here) and I met with a group of people who are interested in ministry in Dublin. Two of the families are currently in the States, but wanting to move here. We had a great conversation with them. And would love to see them get here.
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation was when they told us that they had been hearing from many people, “Move to Ireland, but whatever you do, don’t move to Dublin.” To be fair, there are a lot of Christian workers in Dublin, but almost all of them are on the Southside of the city. But there are still almost none of us on the Northside. Needless to say, we are hoping to see more people join us!
Last week was also Méabh’s 8th birthday…that happened fast!
Mortgage
As you probably heard, we were approved for a mortgage. That’s great! Now we are starting to bid on houses, and that may actually end up being more difficult than getting the mortgage. We are currently bidding on a place in [Killester], but the likelihood is that we’ll be outbid on this one. Currently properties in our area are going for around 5 to 10% about asking, so that is a bit crazy.
So, we are house hunting and would appreciate your prayers. There is no way, barring a miracle that we can get a place in Clontarf. If we can afford a place in Marino, it will be a fixer upper that will likely be beyond our skills and means. So we are thinking about how far we should be from where we are. 10 to 20 minutes and we can have something with more room and in move in condition.
The important factors are:
- Room to host people
- Easy to get Méabh to school
- space to teach violin.
We don’t really have clear direction and would love your prayers.
Other Stuff:
Well, actually the main stuff. The missional community is going well. We have missed a few week as people have had so much going on…Including Wallace’s mom dying. Please keep praying for their family.
Even the Communitas Marketing team has has a lot going on.
So, we went into the new year with several big projects. A couple are basically done!
- Our US taxes are into the accountants and just about done.
- we have a mortgage!!!
And others are still not anywhere close:
- Setting up the charity/church is going to take more mental energy than I currently have.
- Irish taxes…not due until November, so they are probably going to wait a while.
And a few others are in progress:
- My Irish citizenship papers will be filed in May.
- I’m starting to make some progress on my essay for my Master’s class essay…at least I know what I want to write about.
We have started planning our Easter dinner and already have almost 20 people confirmed.
With all that, life is exciting!