Greetings from the month of April!
There have been many times over the last few weeks that I have wanted to sit down and write, but just didn't quite get to it.
However, I just wanted to give you all a little update as to what our lives are looking like these days!
We are pretty much settled into our home and it's starting to feel like our own! It takes a little time to get things how you want them and to put your touch on everything. We are looking forward to Richie, Harrison's college roommate, coming next week! It'll be the first time we can offer a spare bedroom to a guest and not have to say, "Well you can sleep on our living room floor!" It'll be nice to have an old friend in town and Harrison is looking forward to taking him around the city. We hope to go down to Dublin one of the days as well. It's only a few hours from here and the train will take you straight to it.
Above, are just a few shots from our house. The top one is my desk! I've waited four years to have room for a desk and it is so wonderful to have the space! On the bottom is what you see when you first come in the door. The photos hanging are from my Mom and Dad! They said that they were pictures that were hanging in their first home in Bessemer! I love having them hanging here in our home and it doesn't hurt that they are of bunnies!
The weather still hasn't turned. It won't turn much, because by most of your standards it'll be cold here year round, but it should warm up a little bit. Yesterday I was wearing three layers and a scarf, and for those of you that know me well, I can get hot when I'm wearing a t-shirt and it's 60 degrees out! The cold here is pretty much the same as when it gets cold in Alabama, but there is wind. The wind makes it feel much MUCH worse.
These photos were taken about 5 minutes apart from each other, both out of our bathroom window. The weather changes really quickly here. It also hails quite a bit too!
I think the biggest difference in our life at the moment is that we have time. Yes, TIME. For most Americans, we think "What is that?"
The American culture is so centered around work and constantly keeping yourself busy with activities, most of them involving work or school. I'm not saying people over here do not value those things, but they don't center their life around it like we do. When I was first looking for a job over here, a lady at church said to me, "Well you don't want to work EVERY day." I looked at her kind of puzzled. In the States, WE WORK FIVE DAYS A WEEK. There aren't really any exceptions. Unless, you are a working mom and can only fit in a part time job or you are looking for full-time work and are just taking something in the meantime. Here, they consider 30+ hours full-time. This was really frustrating to me at first. It was really hard to not think of it like an American would. Well what will I do with the other 10+ hours of my week, when I should be making money! Now I 'm starting to catch on, MAYBE I SHOULD ENJOY MY LIFE?!
What a concept!
What a completely un-American concept!
Qualifications here are much different here for career type jobs, because most people start training to some capacity at the age of 16 for their vocation. So unless, I can make up 9 years of work I am really behind the curve on this one! That was another frustrating part about job hunting. I picked up a part-time job just right around the corner from our house at Jackson's. The Jackson's own multiple stores on the main street, a hardware store, home store, clothing outlet, and coffee shop. Most days I work down in the hardware/home store (it's like a family run Bed Bath & Beyond, they literally have EVERYTHING), there are some days that I am up in the coffee house and thanks to the Harris' I didn't need much training!
I took it with the intent of it being temporary just TEMPORARY. I had my eye set on the prize of being back in what I consider my vocation, education. However, I started to really enjoy my time there and the hours are great and it's so handy being right around the corner. The Lord started to really work on my heart during this.
The American in me was telling myself, "When you get back to the U.S. and are applying for jobs at Classical schools what will you be able to tell them you actually accomplished towards you career here?"
I was offered a full-time job at a coffee shop up in Belfast, but I ended up turning it down and committed to my part-time work at Jackson's because the Lord was whispering in my other ear, "I have given you a golden opportunity have TIME. To make the church the center of your focus and not your job. To have the time to travel and see more of my creation, don't squander an opportunity that will not come around again."
All of that clarity really hit me. When I started to think over the last four years, I realized that out of the two jobs that I held over that time, I was married to them. Whether intentionally or unintentionally I don't know. When we were living in San Diego, I worked 40-45 hours a week just to barely pay rent, Harrison's school, and my student loans. When we moved back to Birmingham, I worked non-stop because the whole point of us being in Birmingham was to put away money to come over here.
I've finally been given the opportunity to live in a place that we can easily make our rent payments, Harrison's tuition, my student loans through our jobs here and the support that other's continually graciously lay upon us. Even with me working this different schedule, bills will still get paid! I would hate to go back to the U.S. and in my first job interview when they ask me about life abroad all I could say was, "Well all I did was stand behind a coffee counter all the time and I never left Belfast"
I started to realize too that when thinking in regards to Classical Christian education that part of the values that we try to instill in the kids is the shaping of the WHOLE person. Making them good stewards of intellect, talents, and TIME for the sake of the church and for fellow man. What a perfect opportunity to work on that last one. What had I really been doing with my time? As a pastor's wife I surely haven't been giving it as effectively as I should to the church. By taking the job at Jackson's I have opened myself up to the opportunity to be involved with the church on many different levels. I'll be able to help Christine on Monday night's with the Girl's Brigade, playing Badminton on Monday mornings with some of the church women, mid-week Bible Study, youth events, Wednesday night Zumba at the Parish hall etc etc
I would much rather come back from this experience and be sitting in a job interview at a school and be able to say, "Well I worked part-time at a shop near my house and in doing that it allowed me the time to travel around Europe, enjoy my art hobbies, and pour my time and energy into the church."
We are feeling so blessed to have been put here in Saintfield at this time in our life. I just want to say thank you to all of you that have supported and continue to support us both financially and in prayer. This is an experience that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.
May the Lord bless each and every one of you!
Soli Deo Gloria,
