Sturms in Ireland

2008-10-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say today. Except that we're having issues with Aaron's visa. And we're doing really well. My PhD programme has started and I'm loving it. Our church is brilliant, and our community is fabulous.
We're happy. We're blessed. I mean, what more can you really ask for?
I'm asking for a visa.
I know that God provides, and when I was feeling really down about the whole thing, and just wondering what was going on... then this song came on my ipod...

John Hiatt 'Have a Little Faith in Me'

When the road gets dark, and you can no longer see
Just let my love throw a spark, and have a little faith in me
And when the tears you cry, are all you can believe
Just give these loving arms a try, and have a little faith in me

Have a little faith in me, have a little faith in me
Have a little faith in me, have a little faith in me

And when your secret heart, cannot speak so easily
Come here darling, from a whisper start, and have a little faith in me
And when your back's against the wall, just turn around and you, you will see
I will catch you, I will catch you fallin, baby, just have a little faith in me

Have a little faith in me, have a little faith in me
Have a little faith in me, have a little faith in me

Cause I've been loving you, for such a long, long time, expecting nothing in return
Just for you to have a little faith in me
You see time, time is our friend, cause for us, there is no end
And all you gotta do, is have a little faith in me

So I felt like it was a little message, just for me...reminding me of all the ways that God provided for us in the last years, getting us here, taking care of us while we're here. All of it.

So I'm going to listen, and trust, and remember how we've been part of little miracles for the last 2 years. I want to listen for what God is doing instead of trying to force my way.

So if you pray, pray, and if not, then think warm happy thoughts for us, ok?

Hugs.

Sadness

2008-09-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

I just looked at Fuller's website and saw that they're preparing to hold the memorial service for David Scholer on October 16, 2008.
I'm sad that he is gone.
I'm sad that I will miss his service.
I'm sad that subsequent generations of women in ministry will not get to meet the man who helped to definitively change their standing in the ministry community.
I'm sad for his family.
I'm sad that I didn't get to say goodbye.

He was a brilliant man, compassionate and full of grace. He lived the gospel the way it ought to be lived, with his whole heart, soul, mind and strength. He will be missed.

He is home with Jesus, and the celebration must be remarkable. How the chorus of angels and saints must say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

So much of who I am today came from the simple, brilliant faith of this man poured into the lives of students.

Thank you, David Scholer.

My July Surprise...

2008-08-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

I had meant to write about this earlier, but things have been busy, and I've been thesifying and dissertating and in general, dealing with all sorts of other things. :)
So at the beginning of the summer, in June sometime, Aaron sent me a text that said, "Save the date 7/26/2008 at 6pm. I was obviously excited, because I love surprises.
But of course I was curious. I actively didn't pursue figuring out the surprise, mainly because Aaron had put so much work into it, but I tried to figure out what it might be. I was thinking of concerts and dancing and dinner and movies and all sorts of things that Aaron might surprise me with, but came up with a blank.
Ironically, the first thing I thought of, I dismissed as "oh, but that's the 28th. Oh well, I really wanted to go, but maybe next time they're in Dublin."
So I waited and tried really hard not to ferret out any bit of the surprise, and Aaron was really good at hiding it from me as well. Apparently all day at the beach people were about to ruin it. It really was last minute. It was excruciating to not know, but definitely exciting.
We hopped on the DART -- Ania, Ula, Laura, me, and Aaron, and arrived at Sandymount Station, running a bit late because of the beach madness. We were meeting someone -- again, a surprise, but by this point I had figured out it was Pauline, back from the States!
So as we were walking towards Donnybrook, I see a sign for "Buble Parking" and I look at Aaron and say, "But he's playing on the 28th!" And Aaron laughed and was sad that I had figured it out before arriving at Donnybrook, but was really glad that I had the dates confused in my head.
When we got to Donnybrook Stadium, it was already swarming with people. Aaron handed out the tickets and we started walking towards the front.
We walked past the bleachers. We walked towards the stage... We passed a few ushers, and by the time we got to the very front section I was grinning like an idiot. I had never been this close to a stage (other than my U2 addiction) ever before. We were ten rows from the front, in the DEAD center. I swear, we were so close I could have spit on the man from where I was. It was freaking AWESOME.
So I'm bouncing up and down like an idiot, because I really only found out about this guy Michael Buble about a year previously, working at Steamers in Sierra Madre, and fell in love with his renditions of the Standards almost immediately. And I really did believe that he wasn't playing until the 28th, so the whole thing had turned into an incredibly surprising surprise.
The opening act was a group called Naturally 7. They were ridiculously good. They had no instruments, and each of them used their voices for the various drum, bass, guitar or other instrument bits of a song. It was fascinating. They also were unapologetically Christian, talking about God in their song, "Say You Love Me." The music was incredible.
When Michael Buble came out, the crowd went wild. But I was quite glad that people didn't start standing and mobbing the stage until much later. The first hour of the concert was like a lovely show in the Hollywood Bowl that I remembered from my childhood -- stars, seats, people acting classy. The funny thing, however, is that there were women about 20 years older than me throwing themselves at him.
Buble has a snarky sense of humor, and is really a bit of a slimeball, but it was still a really entertaining show. His intermediary commentary was every bit as fun as the big band brass section. His own compositions are actually quite good -- a rarity for one who mostly performs standards. The lights were fantastic, and the music captivating.
I think the whole experience was just delightful. I know that the rest of our group enjoyed it, but it was a magical evening for me. God also was kind and we had spectacular weather. Clear skies and a lovely warm evening with a refreshing breeze. I felt so loved.
So yay for Michael Buble! I think Aaron's posted some photos on flickr, and as soon as I figure out how to download the video from my phone, I'll upload that to my youtube account for those of you who introduced Buble into my life. :)

Homesick

2008-08-07T07:49:00.001-07:00

Hi friends and family,

This is a strange week. It's been lovely in Dublin, albeit a bit cool and somewhat damp. But since Aaron & I love this kind of weather, we're grand. I'm finding more and more that Dublin suits me right down to the ground. Someone asked me today what I loved about the city, and I just went on and on and on. It's a wonderful place.
Our involvement in church is simply lovely. It's really a large family. I'm enjoying the work that I'm doing there; Aaron is getting involved, and we feel loved, accepted and cherished. It's still a relatively new phenomenon.
I only felt that way with the church at Family Camp. Which is happening as I write this from damp Dublin. It's the first in 20 years that I haven't at least shown my face, and the first year with Aaron that we haven't gone as a couple. I spent years fighting for church and koinonia and the only place I found it -- until now -- was Family Camp. So it was the last safe place for me...
Until Dublin Vineyard.
Now don't get me wrong, Bel Air does its best, but with 3000 people, there's only so much intimacy to be had on the larger scale. The small groups were a try, but we never were able to feel like we had much in common with people other than Jesus. We LOVE our small group back in L.A. I just want that said. It's more of a question of "fit" and silly things like common careers, interests, hobbies. We had more of those with people outside the state.
So our "safe" place -- well, mine particularly -- is Family Camp.
And I'm not there. I'm grieving a bit about it actually. My heart really, really hurts. I'm not sitting around the campfire with Bill, Herschel, and Mike. I'm not listening to Bill Crawford. I'm not laying on the grassy slope underneath my favorite tree in the world. I'm not fighting to find a spare bar of signal. I'm not eating meals with different friends every day. I'm not taking my girls out to mani-pedis, and I'm not basking in God's amazing gifts of Mission Springs.
And I'm not having my ritual "end" to the year. Every day that was difficult, and every day that frustrated and made me doubt God... I would look forward to Family Camp, even if subconsciously, and just remember that it was there, it was coming, and I would be there. So this week, when I normally re-charge, relax, and re-evaluate the year, I am writing a dissertation critically evaluating US Evangelicals half a world away.
It's really hard.
I've been getting updates from my Mom, which is awesome. I even gave her a tutorial on Islam and Muslim-Christian relationships that shows that I really HAVE learned so much this year and really benefited from my experience here. I am wired by God to do these things. And it still really hurts. I would love to share with my family what I'm learning and how God is changing me and my marriage and my family and my life here.
I'm learning that God has other things to teach me about community and church family. Family Camp was a brilliant preparation, but there is something else for me. And I'm learning what that is. And I'll probably have a ridiculously good cry tomorrow night, realizing that the Communion Service is happening without me, that my girls are growing up, that my family is changing, and that I'm changing.
I think that is the scariest bit. That I'm changing and maybe someday God will teach me that I need God more than I need Bel Air Family Camp, however painful and sad that is.
Oh well, I'm being a bit melodramatic, but I'm sad, and missing my old home.
We'll be in Vancouver Aug 25-29 with Alyse and Mike, Williams Aug 29-Sept 1 with the Thompsons, Los Angeles Sept 1-10, St. Louis Sept 10-13(Katie, 15 for Aaron), and then Boston till Sept 17. We're hoping to see everyone, and enjoy being "home."
Because as I often say, and truly believe,
Home is not where you hang your hat, it's where you hide your heart.

Gas/Petrol

2008-07-23T07:10:00.001-07:00

I filled up a small car with a tank of gas today and it cost 70eu. That's over $100. For a small, 2-door, manual car that gets 40mpg.
I don't know if I can ever in good conscience complain about gas prices in the US ever again.
We're planning on coming home at the end of August. We'll be in Vancouver from the 25 Aug to the 29. We'll be in Williams from the 29 Aug to 1 Sept, and then in L.A. through the 10 or 11 of Sept. Then we fly off to St. Louis, then Boston.
Hope to see many of you while we're home!

I've been busy pluggin away at research for the dissertation. It's based on this document:
http://www.anevangelicalmanifesto.com and is looking at the ecumenical ramifications of the document.
Should be interesting.
And we've been dog-sitting Maggie May, a lovely puppy in Killiney belonging to our dear friend Christine while she's in sunny SoCal. We just swapped homes for a bit :)
Weather's been lovely, people are fantastic, and we're still waiting to hear on funding for school and work visas.
Hugs and love to you all!

Two Interesting Websites

2008-05-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

The Evangelical Manifesto
I haven't signed this yet, but it's definitely some amazing theological food for thought. There are a few things that I'll have to grapple with before signing, but I really think anyone who calls themselves Evangelical ought to read this.
The authors are an incredible team of theologians and scholars who put a great deal of effort into this document (they've been working on this for over a year) in order to place Evangelicalism into its appropriate context. I give them many kudos.

College Ministry Resource: Collective Muse
This is a college/young adult ministry website that is a fantastic resource for any working with the ages of 18-25 (ish). It was started by Rhett Smith, former college director at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, and is a great way to start networking and connecting with people and resources.

Blessings.

Final Jerusalem Installment.

2008-04-28T12:40:00.001-07:00

Sunday: Masada and the Dead Sea
Sunday morning, Lizzi needed to begin classes again, so we were left on our own to tour around. We had already decided that we wanted to see Masada, because it was the only site close enough to drive to for a day trip. So off we went, hoping to find a beautiful drive and a restful day ahead. We were both recovering from our cold, and felt mellow, but better than we had. The sun was out, and it was a beautiful day. We tried to go to the Garden Tomb, got lost, and then realized that it was a Sunday and that the Garden Tomb is closed on Sunday. Oh well. Off to the Dead Sea, then!
As we left Jerusalem for the Dead Sea and Masada, the GPS decided to take us to a restaurant in Tel Aviv called Masada. So after about an hour of driving in circles and confusing the heck out of the GPS machinery, we wound up on the road towards the Dead Sea.
The drive was gorgeous, I don't even have words for it. In the same way that I never knew how many shades of grey there really were until I lived in Dublin, I never knew how many shades of tan there were until we started driving through the desert. The mountains reflected a myriad of different shades. As we were driving, we passed through military checkpoints, at which we were simply waved through. The machine guns were still rather disturbing, though.
After an hour or so, we were driving along the coast of the Dead Sea. It lies in a valley, with I think what would be known as semi-arid desert steppes ( :) ?) lining either side. The mountains climb upwards into plateaus, and the contrast between the bright turquoise of the sea with the browns and tans of the hillsides was just lovely.
We arrived at Masada and simply stared upwards. Be sure to look at our photos to see the height of this mountain. It's ridiculous. I mean, it juts into the sky like a monster. I have no idea how the Romans had the patience to build a ramp to it.
But this place is the only place we visited where I felt it was just for the Israelites. Historically, Herod built a palace there, Byzantines built a church there, and technically it was part of the Muslim territory, but the true story that has given the place its notoriety is the story of the survivors.
After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, a number of Jewish citizens came to Masada to defend themselves against the Romans. In 72ad, the Romans marched on Masada. They built a ramp and began to destroy the fortifications. Rather than surrender, the Jews killed their families, then committed suicide, so that the Romans would not have victory. Upon overtaking the walls, the Romans came in to find only a couple survivors who had escaped the suicide by hiding. You can read more detail here.
The startling fact of this bizarre self-sacrifice to maintain Jewish identity was explained by our impromptu tour guide. Upon taking a gondola up to the top of this ridiculously high plateau, we managed to jump on a tour of Texans. The tour guide explained that current Jewish identity is forced to live between Masada and the Holocaust. It's an astonishing thought. I still haven't quite figured out what it means.
We wandered around, visiting Herod's hanging palace, where we saw spectacular views.
I couldn't help thinking about the power of identity and how the fear of extermination can cause strange actions.
The ruins were spectacular, showing an ingenuity that was remarkable. The storehouses could have rivaled Costco for their size and organization. It's just daunting to think that slaves had to carry these supplies up the hill! Again, the colors, the clouds were astonishing. We began heading down the hill towards the museum in the late afternoon, having been amazed by all that we had seen. It was lovely in that it wasn't built over with shrines, but it was also quite depressing, almost haunted.
We headed off to Ein Gedi, where we walked down and I walked in the Dead Sea! It was just a hoot.
Everything was covered with salt, even the rocks, and people were just having a blast floating around. One of the neat things about the Dead Sea is that the salinity is so strong that people can float really easily. We kept seeing people bobbing up and down.
It was beautiful and really warm!
I think I was just excited to be a little nerdy and enjoy the area. I didn't get to see the Qumran settlement, because the opening hours were a little strange, but I thought happy, nerdy thoughts about it. The drive home was absolutely gorgeous, and we saw the most exquisite sunset. Make sure to check flickr for the rest of the photos.
We arrived back into Jerusalem in time for an AMAZING dinner with Lizzi at this delicious dinner. While we were craving a cheeseburger (no mixing meat and dairy when eating kosher!) the meal was fantastic. Aaron had a delicious pasta, I had an amazing torte, and we all shared some fantastic chocolates for desert. They had a mint lemonade that was absolutely exquisite, and I really miss the super-fresh and incredibly healthy feeling of eating all those kosher meals. I left dinner full without feeling gorged, and just grateful for another 3 hours of conversation with Lizzi. We stayed the night at Deborah's, quite grateful for the amazing hospitality. Her bed was comfortable and we slept fantastically well.

Monday: Gardens and Planes
Monday morning Lizzi had class again. We met for coffee quickly before heading off to see the last few sites that we wanted to see before leaving Israel. These included the Garden Tomb and the Garden of Gethsemane.
We arrived at the Garden Tomb early on, just as it was opening. Thank goodness it was open this time! The light was just growing, and it illuminated the garden in a remarkable way. The light filtered through the foliage, and the place really seemed to be "thin" spiritually. This meaning that it felt like God was smiling in a special way in this place, that the line between the natural and supernatural was particularly thin here. I couldn't help but begin singing that old hymn... "I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses..." We began walking around the garden, coming to the place of the skull, also known as Golgotha.
Now. Here is the fantastic story of this place.
The Garden Tomb is right near the Damascus Gate and is believed to be the site of the tomb of Joseph of Arimithea, meaning that it was the tomb where Jesus was buried and not found.
About 150 years ago, this site was discovered, and ever since, it has been believed to be the actual location of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Skull Hill has been known as such for thousands of years. It's truly remarkable to walk towards the hillside, where it would have been a public execution site, just outside the city gates (as the NT claims) known as Golgotha. Here is a picture of just how spooky this place is.
There is really a skull in the rock! Not manufactured, just there. As you walk through the garden, you learn that the archaeologist who found this place thought that there would have to be a few other indicators in order to be the actual location, including evidence that this was a wealthy man's garden, and a tomb carved from solid rock. Both of these existed. There was a large winepress, evidence of the owner's wealth, as well as a large cistern for water. They later found the tomb, preserved by a minor rockslide which covered the opening. Here is the ridiculously spooky fact of the tomb. There were no bones, and there was a peculiar, uneven, seemingly rushed hole carved in one section of the tomb, as if they had to make it bigger for whomever it was needed for. Okay, so this really wealthy guy wants to build a tomb, carve it out of solid rock for himself, maybe his family. And he builds it the wrong size? Sounds kinda wrong to me. Further, the descriptions of the NT have other qualifiers that are all fulfilled by this place.
I think for me the clincher was the Jesus Graffiti in the tomb. A 4th century cross was painted on the inside. Obviously some early Christians thought this place was important. If you want to learn more, check the Garden Tomb Website. I was blown away by this place, and really felt the Spirit in a special way.
Finally, we went to the Garden of Gethsemane, but were not allowed inside because of the peculiar lunch break hours. We met a Franciscan brother from Orange County, though! We drove to the top of the Mount of Olives and really just enjoyed driving around. It was a beautiful day and our drive back to Tel Aviv was lovely.
We were sad to leave Israel and our friends, but glad to be getting away from the overly touristy vibe of many of the places.

Our flight home had all the potential of being miserable. We were stuck in a FULL flight, in a back seat, with broken video screens. Being British Airways, there was still that extra 6 inches, and the food was great, but God is even better than British Airways. I was randomly selected to fill out a survey regarding the quality of our flight. When the head steward arrived, he asked me to fill it out, and I replied, "I'd be very glad to, but you may not want me to, because our screens aren't working and I don't think that any of us are looking forward to 5 hours without any entertainment. But your staff have been incredible and really helpful!" He promptly ushered us into Business Class.
Business Class was ridiculous. They were beds for seats, with pillows and blankets and movies and just really delightful seating. It was incredible. It was the first time I can ever remember that we got off the plane feeling more rested than we had when we got on the plane. Way to go British Airways!
We had a brief delay in London, waiting for our flight to Dublin, but when we got home, we were glad to be there. An amazing, wonderful trip, but it's always good to be home.

Katherine

2008-04-23T01:50:00.000-07:00

Monday, my friend Katherine (who I cherish), suffered from a hemorrhage of an AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation). She collapsed and her husband Jay found her and whisked her off to UCLA, where she spent almost 12 hours in brain surgery. Her 6 month old baby, James, was taken care of by family. She has come out of the dark, scary part of the woods, but she's not out yet, so please keep her in your prayers. This has been occupying my mind and heart for the last few days.
Here is the update from last night/this morning.

EVEN BETTER UPDATE!
(as of 9:15 p.m.) Katherine has not only raised her hand but has wiggled all ten toes on command!!!! This is a huge advancement, especially for it to happen so soon after surgery. They are still keeping her in a drug-induced coma for the next 36 - 48 hours to let her body rest and heal, but we are all very encouraged by this latest development. The Lord is at work...keep raising our dear Kat up in prayer!!!!
------
Another similar update from Thomas:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A nurse just informed Jay that Katherine raised her hand and made a "V" sign. According to this same nurse, that means that she is NOT completely paralyzed as the doctors thought might happen. At this point Dr. Gonzales is saying that the important thing is for Katherine's body to remove the blood from affected tissue areas, such as her brain stem.

It's been encouraging to see how many people have shown up at the hospital, and encouraging to see everyone here on Facebook. Prayer is flooding in from around the world and is making a difference. Thank you, and keep it coming!

The words of Jesus that Jay's father has been praying with all of us can be found in Mark 5: "Little girl, I say to you, arise."

Blessings to each of you and to Jay, Katherine, and James,

Thomas

Bless you Lauren for your updates from the 'front lines'
If you need to contact someone at the hospital Lauren is the current point person for friends and family:
laurenmcbrayer@gmail.com
310-733-9313

Lauren McBrayer Miller wrote
at 7:59pm
UPDATE: There has been a bit of good news. The doctors did an arterial angiogram (a type of dye test) a few hours ago that showed that the AVM has been entirely removed and that there is no further bleeding -- in other words, the surgery was a complete success as far as that goes. We still do not know (and still won't know for a few days) whether and to the extent Katherine has suffered any permanent damage. The risks that she has are still very high. Obviously, it is still a very long road ahead and we need everyone to absolutely start a bonfire of prayer. But at the hospital, we all feel the Lord at work and are encouraged by this news.

Right now, Jay and the Arnolds have everything they need, so there is no need to bring anything to the hospital. I'll be in touch in the next few days with plans for meal delivery for the family, but for now, I think Jay would appreciate just your prayers more than anything - no need to send/bring anything to the hospital at this point.

Still no news...

2008-04-12T05:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone...

There is still no news on the PhD application, we're all sitting here on baited breath, waiting for the notification letters to arrive. But all is well.
Final draft of my paper for publication has been submitted and all is going according to plan, there. You can find a copy of the paper on my theological blog site (see link below) and it will be there probably until I find out when the publication is released (for copyright reasons I may have to remove it).
Yay!
Also, in other news, we're trying to figure out solutions for our cat next year in case we cannot bring him over, so if you have any ideas, let us know.
Lastly, our love to you all! :)
Katie & Aaron

Day 3-4: Shabbos and the Reordering of Time

2008-03-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Before I begin describing Shabbos, I thought I’d take a moment to discuss the issue of cats. Apparently they used to have a rat problem in Jerusalem, so they brought in cats to solve it. Now they have a cat problem. I am not joking when I say that there are probably 2-3 stray cats for every square block in Jerusalem. And while I know that they are dirty, mangy, rat disposals, every time I saw one, my heart still went soft and gooey and I remembered my little munchkin back in Los Angeles. And some of these cats are really very cute. Some are mangy and ugly, but they’re really few and far between. I can understand, however, how they would represent something else for those who live in the city. That being said... Sabbath! :)
If you haven’t already noticed, I use both the word Sabbath and Shabbos to describe the unique period of time between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday. I also could use the word Shabbes. They all mean the same thing and are transliterations of the Hebrew for the word. I tend to use Shabbos because it reminds me of the very distinctive break from the rest of the week that I’ve come to experience with my Jewish friends. To me, Sabbath is still very Christian, and doesn’t yet have that sacredness drawn around it.
After sitting in the middle of the Old City drinking freshly pressed juice on Friday afternoon, we walked back towards Jaffa Gate. We stopped for a bit of coffee at a little cafe and watched the sun go down. Then we went our merry way for a long trek through the new city to the house where we would celebrate Friday night dinner. Up and down many hills, it was a long walk, but here’s the peculiar thing. The town had literally almost stopped. We probably saw about 3 cars driving by in the half hour we were walking. And everyone was walking somewhere. Some people were dressed up. We saw many of those with the Eastern European hats. There were big black brimmed hats and the round fuzzy ones. Some women had their heads covered, some didn’t. The variety of celebrants was incredible, but the feeling in the city was the same. There was a peace and stillness that descended across the city at the same time that darkness descended. Very peculiar, and completely out of whack with life in Los Angeles. There is somewhat of a similar feeling here in Dublin on Sunday morning, but in general life normally picks up after noon.
When we arrived at Aaron & Glenda Amit’s house, Aaron, the scholar, was sitting quietly with his kids and some books. We were warned that this was most unusual. When I heard that they had 5 boys, I was not surprised! Our friends in Oregon, the Thompsons, have 5 boys, and it’s always a live-action adventure... so Aaron and I were ready. The graciousness of our hosts was outstanding. Glenda had broken her foot or sprained her ankle the day before, but still had enough food for the 15 or so people joining us for dinner. And apparently this is a weekly preparation for her! I mean, in general, most of the people I know don’t have two people over to their homes very often, must less doubling in size every Friday night! The house smelled amazing, and the kids were quite friendly. Aaron Amit is a Talmud scholar. He also is beginning a new project looking at Paul in relationship to the Talmud. I was so excited to talk to him I could hardly bear it! I know that I’m very nerdy, but I just get so excited to talk to Jewish scholars. And the criticisms of Christian theologians are so valid! I love it. It’s absolutely brilliant. And connecting personally with someone like that means that when it comes time for me to study the Talmud for PhD or other projects, I will have an actual mentor who will help me exegete the text authentically, outside the context of the Christian faith. Alright, alright, I know that I can never leave my Christianity at the door, but to be taught by someone who stands in the Rabbinical tradition rather than the Christian gives me a new way to read the text and helps me stay faithful to the communities rather than reading Jesus into everything. I love Jesus, but academically, I love the challenge of learning from different perspectives. So anyhow, Aaron & I sparked up a fascinating conversation about the New Testament, Paul, and Talmud. It was brilliant.
We chatted while we waited for the other guests to arrive. They began trickling in: a young woman adventuring in Jerusalem for the year and her mother from America, our friends Deborah and Josh, and Gabe - visiting on his “birthright” trip. For those who don’t know, there are various organizations in the world which believe that it is the “birthright” of every Jewish person to see Israel. Thus, they foot the bill for people to adventure in Israel as long as they have never been. So Gabe was in the Holy Land for his first time. Each of these people had a story to tell, and I was so blessed to sit among them. I began to really remember the connection I had with Jesus and hanging out with the so-called outcasts. Because the “different” people are the ones with the most powerful stories. How sad it is that to the Christian church the Jewish community has at times become “outsiders!” The cultural memory of the people at this table is remarkable. Even Glenda, from Brazil, has been so thoroughly integrated into the community that her cultural memory is influenced and informed by the Jewish people and history. I envy that kind of cultural memory. I envy that people can tell stories about 200 years ago and still feel psychologically connected to it. This happens in Ireland, too. They talk about the Potato Famine and battles and Cromwell as if it were yesterday. I just don’t have cultural memory as a Southern Californian. I think I’ve been trying to find it in the church, but it’s hard to connect to a cultural memory when people fear the word “Tradition” and are always trying to move to more “contemporary” things. I think that this may be why I have veered so far away from contemporary services and held so tightly to the high liturgy that the Presbyterian church does have. Because somewhere in that liturgy and practice, there is a cultural memory to be had! I just have such a hard time uncovering it!
So instead, I discover bits of the ancient Christian memory by placing myself in the Rabbinical tradition. By remembering Shabbos and learning about those things that were part of the world of Jesus. We blessed the cup, washed our hands, and blessed the bread, then tucked in to a mighty feast of fantastic flavor and variety. Bless Glenda! The prayers were all in Hebrew, and I had a blast remembering how to read it. Some words were sung, and Lizzi’s voice rang out so beautifully over the table. The meal went literally for hours. Over dinner conversation topics ranged across the board. We talked about the abuse that various people have suffered at the hands of evangelical Christians, and even looked at the definition of Evangelical. We talked about prayer, and I was astonished to learn that Judaism, for all its rich heritage of prayer, at times envies the Protestant ability to spontaneously pray and pray intercessorily without any fixed prayers. While I’m busy envying their liturgy! I guess we all have things to learn from one another, right? But here’s an example. I had a date(the fruit) for the first time. And I said in my head, something along the lines of “God, way to go! That’s a good fruit you made!” But while I was thinking this, Glenda asks, “Doesn’t the Christian Church have a prayer for the first time you try a new fruit?” Stumped, I replied, “No, I don’t think so.” Apparently, there is a Jewish liturgical prayer that blesses God for the experience of trying a new fruit for the first time. Prayers have been developed for thousands of years reflecting humankind’s experiences with God and nature. I love the connection between the reality of the planet and the reality of God’s goodness and existence. It tempers the rampant gnosticism of today. There is so much more I could say about the conversations we had that night, but suffice it to say that I was ridiculously blessed. I felt loved, honored, and welcomed to a table that could then *become* part of my cultural memory. These amazing 15 people invited me to share that memory with them in a way that was significant, personal, and intentional. Incredible. With that, I’ll move onwards.
Exhausted, we trekked home, bumping into Benj and Emma, who were excited to learn that I was living in Ireland and interested to hear about our Bethlehem experiences. Benj works with Encounter, a group that is aiming towards peacebuilding in the territories. He mentioned something that we were unaware of, that the Palestinians are paid (at near poverty level) in dollars. Thus, when the US dollar tanked, their wages dropped below poverty level. So the financial difficulty with America, tied with the support of Israel creates a sort of tension between desiring the tourist dollar and needing to stand against it. Apparently before the Intifadas, the only way people could express their defiance was by throwing rocks -- after all, there are a lot of them in Israel. So we, on our walk, became a way for these children to express the anger, hostility and defiance that their parents were feeling. Because they don’t understand the nuance, they reflect the feelings bubbling just under the surface. After promising to meet up the next day so that Benj could hear about my experience in Belfast, we finally arrived back to Lizzi’s in order to fall blissfully and completely asleep.
It had been our intention to attend shul with Lizzi, Abe, Rebecca, and Josh, but we opted for the Shabbos rest of sleep instead. We woke up at 11am, praise the Lord! and got ready to head over to Abe and Rebecca’s to eat the meal we had prepared the day before. Upon arriving, we blessed the cup and waited for little Odelia (Oh-dell-ee-ya) at three weeks old, to finish her lunch with mom, Rebecca. Conversation again flowed, and it was good to be among friends. This was just the beautiful reality of the day. Everything happens at a different pace. So lunch took awhile to get eaten (about 4 hours, really) and we just had some amazing conversations. We talked a bit about school and life and the conversation that day was really more catching up among friends. It was exciting to hear about the joys of parenthood and to chat about the Ecumenical program here in Ireland. After lunch, we took a walk in their neighborhood, which is on the hills overlooking the valley of Jerusalem. We’re really hoping that they’re able to make it up to Dublin sometime this summer, as we’d love to share it with them.
Around 5pm, we got ready to leave, and had a discussion about the politics about building walls. It does seem peculiar that the wall in Israel has been turned into a tool of aggressive warfare rather than a tool of national self-defense. After all, aren’t walls supposed to be built on your own territory to keep people in and safe and keep intruders out? Why then would you build it on someone else’s territory and install a checkpoint, complete with some serious military backup, unless you were making claims about that territory in the first place? Hmmmmm. Something to think about. Well, here are a few photos.
In the one on the left, look at the top, and you’ll see the great grey scar wounding the countryside. In the right side picture, you can see the Dome of the Rock and the wall of the Old City which is pretty much older than everything "historical" in the US and many in Europe!

We moved onwards to our friend Amitai’s house. I had only ever super-nerded with Ami before this trip, him helping me with interpretation of numbers in Daniel, and I helping him with interpretations of genealogies in the New Testament. So our knowledge of each other was purely cerebral, until agreeing to meet for Havdalah, the ceremony in which you say goodbye to Shabbos and drink wine, smell spices, and light a candle to preserve the feeling of Shabbos through the next week until it comes again. There is a beautiful sadness to this ceremony, because after 24 hours of peaceful Shabbos, I didn’t want to go back to normal. I can’t wait for the eternity, mainly because I imagine it will be something very much like Shabbos. Conversation, food, peace, and camaraderie all infused with the very real presence of God and prayers and praise to God. Afterwards we went to dinner (dairy again!) and had another lovely three hour meal of conversation, discussing Messiah, exclusivity and inclusivity in traditions, and after Benj’s arrival, we discussed the power of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Benj’s interest in the conflict and peace process mostly had to do with his fascination with Irish folk music, but also stemmed from his work in Palestine, and the comments by people that perhaps Northern Ireland might be a model for Israel-Palestine.
And here’s my two cents on the whole thing, in case you were interested. First, it won’t be solved overnight. Northern Ireland took about 75 years to accomplish just speaking to the other side without killing each other. The peace process is going, but funding also doesn’t tend to follow up past 5 years, and reconciliation is a much longer process. Also, until both sides are willing to recognize first their own history and mistakes, and second the humanity and inherent dignity in the other people group, nothing is really going to move forward. I also do not believe that a two state solution will work. The city, the countryside, everything is so multi-national. I agree with a friend of mine who explained that it’s already culturally and economically interdependent and somewhat globalized. To attempt to separate that interdependence would probably cause more harm than good at this point. I also, however, believe that the government needs to start recognizing Palestinians as citizens (either of Palestine or Israel, I don’t care), because by keeping them politically “other” in the way they have, they have created the perfect environment in which Palestinians can grow terrorists. If you have no government or social or political processes to be invested in, then tribal connections and ethnic affinity and the violent political activity often fostered can be the only outlet for a political voice. So I think that there are errors on both sides, that it’s going to take at least another twenty-five years to sort out and it will take a revolutionary peacemaker to come in and build bridges between the people groups. So there. :)
I’ll tell you all about the Dead Sea and Masada next installment. That night, we finished up our evening by packing up at Lizzi’s and heading to Deborah’s empty apartment with the soft, delicious bed of delightful softness and loveliness. We slept incredibly well.

Shamrocker Tour February 15-17

2008-03-08T04:31:00.000-08:00

Shamrocker Tours is a smaller organization that runs budget tours around Ireland and is part of a larger corporation that runs budget tours all around Europe. We received an excellent rate for our last-minute adventure on the 3-day “Southern Rocker.” The only drawback to this tour? Early mornings. We had to arrive at Kinlay House Hostel around 8:00am on Friday, February 15. Upon arrival to the hostel, we went into the breakfast room where we finished our coffee and pastry from Queen of Tarts (a local bakery that is to-die-for good). We also looked at the many young people who looked to be joining us on our tour. We signed in around 8:15 with our tour guide Seán.
Now, I must give a bit of background before I continue. When we first arrived, occasionally, we would hear people say “Americans!” with a tone of love, exasperation, and mild condescension all in one. It was never rude or hostile, always affectionate, but we always wondered what exactly had let these people to know that we were American. As we were standing in the lobby of Kinlay House Hostel, after having checked in, we hear something that all of a sudden made that expression crystal clear. We hear in a high-pitched voice, full of youth and enthusiasm, “Oh my gosh! This is going to be the best tour EVER!” And Aaron & I, having lived in Dublin for the last six months and mellowed out considerably, looked at each other and said, “Americans!” These two lovely ladies were part of the affectionately named “Team Wisconsin.” 30 young people (18-23ish, with a couple exceptions), part of a three month study-abroad program in London, had ventured off to Dublin for a tour about the island. We also had two Australians, named Richard and Annaliese. We had a Canadian, named Gale, who is currently teaching at Lancaster in the UK. We also had “Team Ireland” consisting of Seán, the tour guide, John the tour guide in training, and Paul the bus driver. Aaron and I found our niche outside of “Team Wisconsin.”
We left between 8:30 and 9:00am, and started driving out of the city. We were on the road for a little while, heading towards Locke’s Distillery, one of the oldest in Ireland. It’s situated on a river, and still makes pretty potent stuff. We had an opportunity to taste un-distilled whiskey, something I will never try again. It was so alcoholic that it evaporated almost before swallowing. During the ride, we introduced ourselves to the rest of the people on the bus. It was a little peculiar becoming part of a group that had already established its social dynamics and cliques. There were a few people who became dubbed the “Pussycat Dolls” mainly because they were a little high-maintenance. It also was interesting seeing social dynamics in action. Because they had already established their circles, those of us on the outside were predominantly left to our own devices.
After the distillery, we headed to Clonmacnoise, an ancient abbey at the predominant travel crossroads of ancient Ireland. At this point, the mountain ridge forming the primary west-east route and the Shannon River, forming the primary north-south route meet. It has four high crosses, and is an exquisite place to visit. The remains of the monastery are incredible, and the vistas are incredible.
Since we had a long drive, we continued onward, stopping at a Fairy Circle. In Ireland, lore and myth are often as important as history. Bureaucratic plans have been put entirely on hold by the belief that a tree or circular mound are inhabited by the Tuatha de Dannan (the fairy rulers of primordial Ireland). These stories are real to many people, and so have power to affect their reality. I wish sometimes that as Christians, our stories held the same power. We also stopped at a Portal Domen, or standing stones that are burial sites for ancient Irish. They also have many myths and legends attached to them.
We arrived in Doolin early in the evening, and had a chance to check in to our B & B. Our host, Maeve, was a remarkably kind woman who was motherly and an icon of hospitality. She actually took orders for breakfast and our room was quite comfortable. We took a brief nap, and headed off to the pub for our evening of Irish pub entertainment. When we arrived, we had a bite to eat, and got to know some of the various others on the tour. Guinness was abundant, and there were some lessons transferred to some of the younger, less experienced drinkers -- one of them being: Do not drink with party-hearty Australians who are intent on getting you as plastered as possible. We also had a chance to get to know the tour guides better and some random other visitors from various places around the globe. Around 9:30, the music began. It was a true Irish session, meaning various people in the pub started up with the musicians as they desired, and there were even some girls dancing. Geraldine, the female vocalist, was exquisite in a very non-American-Idol way. Her voice created a hush in the very loud and boisterous pub. It was a mesmerizing experience that I can’t wait to repeat. We stayed out late, forgetting how early we had to wake up
The next morning, getting out of bed in time for breakfast was difficult, but Maeve had our interests at heart, and presented us with a french press of incredible coffee immediately upon sitting down to breakfast. We were picked up by the bus after breakfast, and thank goodness Seán had saved us seats in the front -- I can get quite carsick! Saturday was to be a very driving intensive day, as we had a lot to see! We started out at the Cliffs of Moher, which are an incredibly stark seascape. They are lovely and beautiful, and reminded me a bit of some of the cliffs on the big island in Hawaii. But they had a unique beauty all their own.
The fog was only out to the sea, so our view was unimpeded. From the Cliffs, we headed back towards the Shannon and ferried our way across. We headed for the town of Dingle. Dingle is best known for its dolphin, Fungi. It’s a sleepy little beach town, with a lovely vibe of quiet. We headed up the hill to the church of St. James, where we found incredible stained glass window art. The colors were beautiful, vivid, and extraordinarily put together. Then we had lunch and headed back on the bus for our voyage around the Dingle Peninsula.
The Dingle Peninsula is a miniature version of the well-known Ring of Kerry. We saw stone beehive huts, amazing coastline, and a few beaches (some of the Wisconsonites were even daring enough to jump in!) We again, heard stories and histories. The Potato Famine was so much more powerful to this little island than ever could be imagined. Their history is full of examples of oppression and domination. We wound our way around the peninsula
and headed back towards Dingle for a bathroom break before heading out to Killarney. Killarney was our stop for the night, and Aaron and Gale and I got checked into our B & B. Then Aaron & I took another nap before meeting the entire group for dinner at a little restaurant in downtown Killarney. Richard and some of the Wisconsonites had pre-partied a little, so they were already quite toasty. Following, we went to hear Pa. This was a fantastically funny storyteller complete with Irish humor. It wouldn’t be for everyone, because Irish humor is notoriously dry and doesn’t always have all its cards on the table, but I literally laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair. Half the time I was laughing because Pa was so funny, but the other half I was laughing because he kept cracking himself up! About 3 hours later, the group decided they wanted to hit the major party scene in Killarney, the Grand Hotel. I must admit, my party days are over, because immediately after entering this place, the “untz-untz” of the music and the crowds squishing us in together gave me agoraphobia. So we turned around and left. We had a moderately early evening and woke up the next morning refreshed and ready for our breakfast.
We met the group at the bus, and waited while the Aussie Richard overslept by a great deal. As we were waiting, stories flew round about all the festivities the night before, and I must admit, I was glad to be married and out of that scene. We finally got on the road, and headed towards Cork and the famous Blarney stone. I must admit, by the time of arrival, Aaron & I were so exhausted and unwilling to fight Team Wisconsin for the opportunity to kiss said stone that we had lunch and meandered around Blarney Woolen Mills instead, with a firm vow to one another that we would do it some other time, probably when my mom comes to visit in May. As we were running late, there really was only 1 hour to walk to the castle (20 min each way) which would have left us with 20 minutes scrambling to get in. Not our idea of a restful vacation.
After lunch, we were heading back to Dublin, and hurrying, too, because some of Team Wisconsin had a ridiculously early flight. We also had to drop off some of T.W. at the Guinness Plant. So our stop at the Hill of Cashel was cut quite short. Basically a pit stop with opportunity for pictures. We finished off our tour at the Mitchelstown Caves, unfortunately there were no pictures allowed! :( But they were phenomenal and beautiful, and we learned a bit about how these gorgeous caves were made through water pressure. A girl from T.W. sang in the caves, and it was lovely. I didn't sing because I wanted to give someone else the chance. :) Driving back into Dublin we hit traffic, but Paul the bus driver got us in on time. Afterwards, we had a long evening at a local pub, and the weekend ended well.
It seemed as though we were really just doing a discovery trip for all the things we’d like to see when next we rent a car and drive around the island.

Day 2: O Little Town of Bethlehem and Day 3/part one: Preparing for Shabbos

2008-03-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

We decided to sleep in, in order to give our poor, nearly sick bodies a chance to catch up and feel better. We didn’t have much planned for this Thursday, as we just wanted to meander a bit through Bethlehem, a Palestinian territory. Around 11:30 we were up and fed and on our way in a taxi to the Checkpoint. The taxi driver talked about his experience with the Checkpoint. No Israeli citizens are allowed in the territories any longer. It’s a matter of national security that has torn families and friends apart. Our taxi driver had numerous friends who had to keep their distance or apply for special permits in order to visit the Holy City. We drove through the new developments of expensive housing orchestrated by various Israeli companies and citizens. It seems strange that a few years ago, these areas were all inhabited by Palestinians. The wall is clearly on Palestinian territory, and it causes one to wonder whether they’ve built the wall to secure the people within its walls or to make a political statement to those without. We arrived at the Checkpoint and began our contested journey through the Palestinian territory of Bethlehem.
The wall streaks across the Israeli countryside like an enormous grey scar. There are some drawings, and I was reminded of the wall in Belfast. The murals have not had time to emerge in the same scale, but given time, I’m sure they will. The French artists who make a point of arranging large-scale photographs of people “from the other side” making silly and goofy faces had managed to already decorate this wall. Going through the Checkpoint was an exercise in understanding the power of the USA passport. They barely glanced at us just seeing the fronts of our passports. We walked through these bleak, concrete structures, in which Israeli soldiers stood with automatic weapons at the ready. Emerging from the other side, it looked the same geographically, but it was evident immediately that this was an entirely different world. The Palestinians live in poverty literally 1 mile away from wealthy Israelis. The desperation of the citizens is evident. There were probably 20 taxi drivers who immediately clamored around us, hoping to get our business. They were pushing for an “all day tour” rate, when we just wanted to get to the heart of the town. We wound up having to walk away in order to secure a ride to the Church of the Nativity. The poor taxi driver who had to support us told us his own tale of sorrow. Apparently, times have been tough financially for the people of Bethlehem. The wall has led to financial hardship as tourism has decreased. The taxi driver told us that at noon, we were his first fare. Our fare equalled out to about $4. This was probably all that he would be able to bring home to his family. He continued to insist that he would wait for us. We arrived at the Tourism Office after driving through bomb-devastated and poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
At the Tourism Office, we were given maps and encouraged to see various things. We crossed the street and entered the Church of the Nativity, established by Constantine’s mother as a monument to the place where Jesus had been born. This became a theme. Churches and monuments built on sacred spaces. I think I’m more of a pagan than I let on, because a large part of me desires for sacred spaces to be left intact, as they were when they became holy. This is why the Western Wall was so incredible. It stands exactly as it did 2000 years ago. The Church of the Nativity was exquisite, however, and we managed to secure a tour guide. He showed us the various places believed to be the place of Jesus’ birth and his laying in the manger. There was a sense of holiness to the place, but whether that was from the thousands of years of pilgrimage or because it actually *was* the place of Jesus’ birth was unintelligible. The floor has a mosaic thousands of years old, and the grottoes were lovely and filled with icons.

Another strange characteristic to holy sites in the Holy Land is that they are normally inhabited by at least three denominations. The Church of the Nativity had three sections, one each for Roman Catholic, Armenian, and Greek Orthodox. Upon emerging, as we were paying our tour guide, we were surrounded by small children, with hopeless eyes. They kept begging for money, and upon receiving all we had to spare, continued following us as we began our walk down the hill to the Shepherd’s Field.

I normally have a pretty good sense of direction. Thus, when we decided to walk to the Shepherd’s Field, approximately 1.5 miles away, none of us were concerned. The map was quite clear. We followed the road into a residential neighborhood. As we were walking, we reached a fork in the road. Both forks led down to a road heading down the road. We met a few kids (maybe 8-12) who introduced themselves and seemed very friendly. As we walked down the right fork, they asked for money. We had already given it away to other children and told them so and kept walking. We realized that we had taken the wrong fork, so turned around and began walking the other way. At this point we began to notice that rocks were falling around us. We began to walk faster. This part is hard for me to write. Because I’m filled with compassion for these poor kids who don’t have safe places to be and people mentoring them to be better. They have pain and suffering and people teaching them acts of violence as defiance to unjust rule. But I was rather scared. I went to Jerusalem with the solemn belief that God would take care of us, and that if it was my time, then so be it. But this experience was worse. The rocks started coming faster, and at least they were skipping the stones along the ground, but we became more and more glad that they didn’t have any all-star pitchers in the group. We continued walking, and the rocks kept coming, Occasionally we would turn around to see if they had stopped. They began yelling epithets at us which were awful... “**** you, **** your mother” it was horrific. I have no idea who taught them these words, much less in English! I got hit in the leg, by a rather large rock, and Aaron got hit in the neck by a smaller one. Aaron turned around, as they were running up behind us and somehow diffused the situation by asking simply, “Why are you so angry?” This seemed to tone the situation down, and we kept walking quickly away as the kids dissipated. But we were still pretty frightened, shocked, and I was having to temper my anger. We survived, and God is good, but I must admit, I never have experienced such hate and anger turned into violence towards strangers.
At the bottom of the hill, we found the municipal offices of Shepherd’s Field, but still hadn’t found the holy site itself. We wandered for about another 30 minutes, with me having an absolute terror attack as a bus full of young kids drove by (I’ve never been scared of kids before!), until a cab driver took pity on us and took us the 100 yards in the other direction that we had somehow missed. He didn’t even charge us.
Shepherd’s Field is holy. There is no other way to describe it. They say that this is the place where multitudes of angels came down to announce the arrival of the Messiah to the shepherds. There are, again, two different sites, one for the Roman Catholic Church and one for the Greek Orthodox. We were at the Roman Catholic site. And there was a peace and holiness there that is simply from God. There were butterflies fluttering about, and I felt the presence remaining of a multitude of heavenly host. I felt as though the holiness, peace, and purity of the place washed the hatred, fear and anger out of my heart. It was a very good place.

By this time, we were exhausted, and needed to eat. We found a nearby restaurant and ate, then called our friendly cab driver to take us back to the Checkpoint. At the Checkpoint, we were harassed by various salespeople who wouldn’t leave us alone. At this point, I just kept walking. We went through the Checkpoint, watching various Palestinian people harassed for their papers. I understand the need for security, especially considering all that has erupted in the last few days, but it was still out of the ordinary.
We hopped on the Palestinian bus which would take us to Damascus Gate in the Old City. On our way back, we were stopped by the military, and everyone’s passports and papers were checked, again by a young woman in the military carrying a handgun and automatic weapon. Upon arrival at Damascus Gate, I was grateful to be back in some semblance of normalcy. Our plan was to venture through the Arab Shuk (marketplace) to pick up veggies and such for Shabbos.
Our first stop in the shuk was at the oil stand. I had forgotten how wonderful pure essential oils were! I procured a number of them, and we began walking down the market. 2 lbs of strawberries for $3! What a treat. The spice merchants had literally mountains of loose spices and seasonings, and the pastry merchants had goods dripping with sugar and nuts. There were also a number of Americana merchants, selling all the latest clothes, gadgets, and various must-haves of western culture. The shuk was remarkably wonderful after our rough afternoon in Bethlehem, until I received the lovely gift of a dropped garbage box. This time, I know it was simply an accident, as I heard a shout behind me to watch out. Luckily, it was just dust and paper waste, but it fell all along my head, shoulder, and arm. A day full of experiences in which my American identity meant good things (with Checkpoint control), bad things (with being stoned), and completely non-important things (the trash coulda hit anyone).
We happened upon the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, another location where three different churches inhabit the holy sites. In this Church, there are I think 3 crucifixion locations and at least two empty tombs. It was getting dark, so Aaron and I decided that we would just poke our noses in and then we should get back to get some food. We left through Jaffa Gate, taking a taxi back to Lizzi’s and then allowing me to get cleaned up. While we were there, Deborah (our second host) stopped by and we had a chat about conflict areas. She had grown up in the UK during the “Troubles” so understood my comparison of Bethlehem to Belfast. We then went to Te’enim, which is an incredible dairy restaurant with a gorgeous view of the Old City. We had a lovely, relaxing dinner, and tried to recover from our very eventful day. It took some time to make sense of some of it, but it was good to have some time to decompress. One thing that I loved about being with Lizzi, in Jerusalem, was the time we took to savor our dinners. Our evenings were always filled with amazing food, delicious coffee, tea, and dessert and phenomenal conversation. And they normally lasted about two or three hours.
We went home, and prepared for bed. Aaron & I stayed up a little longer, trying to fathom what had happened that afternoon. We went to bed.
I’m going to include part of Day 3 here, because Shabbos is very special and I want it all to be together. Friday morning, Lizzi and I woke up early, in order to go over to Abe and Rebecca’s to make the food for Saturday lunch. It was so exciting to meet little Odelia (the newest member of the Friedman family!) who is all of 3 weeks old. She was beautiful. While there, I learned how to cook in a kosher kitchen. For all you non-kosher people, I do not recommend even trying. Even though I practiced kashrut last year for Lent, and felt as though I understood it all, getting through it without mixing any pots and pans was a challenge. Especially because a great deal of what I prepared was what is known as Parve. This means that it is neither meat nor dairy. Which means it can be cooked in either pot, but it needed to be cooked in meat pans for this meal, because the meal was to be meat. Then, there were a few parve pans, but we had to make sure that we didn’t mix the utensils for the meat with the parve, or the pan would turn meat. The idea of cross-contamination gains a whole new meaning. Not to mention the fact that the pots had recently been rearranged, so it was a continual asking adventure to determine what each pot exactly was. THANK GOODNESS Abe was there to provide direction while giving little Odelia her bottle. We finished around 11:30 and headed back to the house to pick Aaron up. At this point, because we didn’t want Aaron to be near a 3-week old with nasty cooties, we had scheduled a doctor’s appointment just to make sure he didn’t need antibiotics. We wound up at the doctor’s, and he checked us both out for good measure, and behold! We were both fine, but he prescribed the following: lots of rest and fluids, lemon tea with honey, and an expectorant and cough suppressant with codeine. Now here is the miracle. Lizzi had gone shopping for baked goods and other such things while we were doing this, and I managed to use my broken, limited Hebrew to chat with the Pharmacist in his broken and limited English! But we did it! Phenomenal. Then we met Lizzi at the natural goods store and found our tea. She also had brought me a messy goodie of chocolate happiness. What a treat! We went our way back to her house to drop off our various things, and headed back to the old city for our pilgrimage down the Via Dolorosa.
Every Friday afternoon, at 3:00pm, the Franciscan monks in Jerusalem lead a pilgrimage from Lion’s Gate (directly opposite the Garden of Gethsemane) down to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This walk is to illustrate the walk that Christ took with his cross. It represents the stations of the Cross as understood in the Catholic tradition. At 3:00pm, as we were standing in the courtyard of an Arab school, waiting for our walk to begin, I had a truly ecumenical moment. I, a Presbyterian pastor-in-training, was standing next to my good friend Lizzi, a Conservative rabbi-in-training, and we were listening to the prayers of the Franciscan monks in five different languages, when all of a sudden the call to prayer began for the Muslims of the city. As we were walking down, there were hundreds of people walking with us. I think the most memorable were the 80-year-old grannies who reminded me of my Grandma Lucille. They had more energy than most of us, knew all the Latin by heart, and had no compunction about charging over anyone in the way. There were at least a couple times when Aaron & I were nearly bowled over by these lovely little ladies.

As we walked along the path, I noticed a few things. First, the concept of personal space is very different in Middle Eastern culture. People bump into one another without a thought. Also, the reverence that I had expected during a religious pilgrimage/service simply was not there. Arab music blasted from the shops, various youths used the opportunity to charge up and down through the crowd with heavy packages, yelling or whistling. Part of me was horrified, although that may have been partly due to our previous day’s experience. I just wondered what would happen if I decided to blare Brittany Spears or Eminem during their call to prayer. Probably nothing good. But because I was trying to imagine Jesus’ walk, I tried to ignore it. In reality, the most I got out of the Via Dolorosa was “Wow, that’s quite a trek, and a lot of it uphill! That must have been a literal and horrible pain!” When we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we meandered with the crowd and saw the various places of Jesus’ death and tomb, although as I’ve said, they’re all contested. The Church is filled with gold, silver, icons, and various treasures. It didn’t remind me of churches I’m familiar with, as the wealth seemed almost gratuitous. I can understand the desire to give all good things to Christ, but this seemed over the top. We bumped into numerous US tourists, one of whom took a picture of us on the Catholic site of the crucifixion.

And at the end of it, I didn’t feel that much different than I had after watching Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ for the second time. Humbled, reminded of Jesus’ sacrifice, a little sad that he had pain, but in general, non-plussed. We went to get coffee and juice and I picked up a Byzantine cross pendant for my collection, then the sun went down and Shabbos began. Praise the Lord for Shabbos.

Oops!

2008-03-06T04:13:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I hadn't yet blogged from our Valentine's Day excursion into the West of Ireland before blogging our way through Jerusalem. I really AM behind! So I'll be doing installments of these, too, and uploading pictures as well, as I am able. The West was lovely, and our Shamrocker Tour was a blast. I'll try to get there quickly!
Love!

Jerusalem Day 1: Arrival in the Holy Land

2008-03-05T04:45:00.000-08:00

We left Dublin Tuesday night, flying from Dublin to London-Heathrow, then proceeding to Tel Aviv. The staff on British Airways is exquisite, and the seats offer a good 6 inches more legroom than we’ve ever experienced on any other international flight. We were moved to bulkhead just before take-off from Heathrow, for an enormous expansion in our legroom. Each seat also has its own little multi-media center in miniature screens for each seat. Aaron spent most of his time sleeping, as he was still recovering from his cold. I tried to watch a movie, but wound up dozing off myself. We arrived in Tel Aviv around 6am, getting a rental phone and our rental car complete with GPS.
We drove through the lovely Israel countryside for about 40 miles to Jerusalem. The mountainsides and vistas are lovely, with green grass cover and lovely, rocky hillsides that break up the horizon. It took us about an hour to arrive at my friend Lizzi’s house, where we were lovingly hosted. We named our GPS George, and he had a few issues at times navigating various tunnels and streets, but overall, he got us there in one piece with relatively little confusion. We were able to spend a bit of time catching up before Lizzi had to leave for class, at which point we slept wonderfully until the early afternoon. Lizzi showed me some lovely prayers in Hebrew, in preparation for the Western Wall, and loaned me her book of Psalms. We showered, cleaned up and departed for the Old City.
Jerusalem is a city unlike any I’ve ever visited before. Everything seems to be made out of the same pale, rose and sand-colored stone (we found out later that it’s a building condition in the city, much like requirements in Santa Barbara regarding roofing and southwest style and design). It’s also seems to be a mountain in a valley surrounded by mountains. I can easily see how the ancient Israelites found it to be holy and sacred. The Temple Mount sits in the middle of this exquisite valley surrounded by lovely hills. So our calves and glutes had the time of their lives walking up and down the hillsides. We parked near the King David Hotel and walked our way up towards the Old City.
We stopped for lunch at a small cafe in a relatively new shopping strip just near Jaffa Gate. We ate Kosher for most of our meals, meaning no mixing of meat and dairy. So the lunch we ate was dairy, and vegetarian. The menu was also exclusively in Hebrew! Thank goodness for Lizzi being around to translate for us. My Biblical Hebrew just didn’t cover things like cheese sandwiches or omelettes. Our view of the new city was gorgeous, and the weather was superb. Afterwards, we headed through Jaffa Gate and into the Old City.
The Old City is a remarkable place. The streets are narrow and shops line both sides. It is reminiscent of the Arabian marketplace at Renaissance Faire, but the streets are much, much narrower. They offered goods for all faiths. Hookahs, menorahs, and crucifixes all lined the streets along with fabrics and various tourist goods like suitcases. We walked through David Street, perusing the mass quantities of various spiritual goodies that would have required hunting and searching religious bookstores in the states. It was a religious cornucopia for the eyes! We turned left into the Jewish Quarter and headed for the Western Wall.
The Western Wall is an experience that I find myself having a difficult time trying to describe (but of course, being a writer, I’m going to try!). This is the only remaining Wall from the Second Temple in the first century that was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD.
Because of the Islamic spiritual sites on top of the Mount, the Jews have been unable to build a third temple, although some are still hoping to do so in the future. You enter through security, because the space is contested.
On the far side, there is an enclosed walkway to Temple Mount for the Muslims who worship at either the Dome on the Rock or Al-Aqsa Mosque.A Close up and a long view of the site
The praying area is divided between men and women in respect for the ultra-Orthodox Jews who still separate according to gender in worship. Walking down the stairs, there are signs discussing appropriate signs of respect for the wall, many of which include head-coverings for men, appropriate reverence, etc. There is a courtyard before entering what is considered the sacred space with various faucets and basins for those who desire to wash before entering. The place is blanketed with a peaceful yet uneasy stillness.

The prayers provide the peace, but the random man screaming angrily and escorted out by the military bearing automatic weapons creates unease. The military are everywhere, all fully armed, but to a local, I guess this is just business as usual. We separated in the courtyard, with the intention to pray on our own, have our own special moment intimately with God, and return when finished.
I took out the Hebrew Psalm-book and moved slowly towards the women’s side of the wall. I had also brought a notebook and pen, in order to write my prayer to add to all those stuck in the wall. There is definitely a sense in this place that God is listening and paying attention to prayer. After composing my prayer, I folded it up, and walked slowly towards the front. There is a delicate balance almost like a choreographed dance in which people move towards the wall and back from it. A few bat-mitzvah portraits were being taken at the wall as well, which seemed almost sacrilegious to me, but I guess that it is significant to different people in different ways. As I got closer, praying Psalms 15, 16, and 24, I began to feel a tightness in my chest and a fluttering in my stomach. I could feel the presence of God, and I could recognize the reality of God to those people around me. I found myself nearing tears as I approached, and could almost feel the pain of those weeping. There is no coincidence that this place is also called the Wailing Wall. Women were rocking back and forth, davening (praying), and sometimes even pushing their faces and bodies into the wall. As I moved forward, confusing some women by being the obviously European Christian with a cross and yet praying in Hebrew, I lost all sense of externality and just became wrapped up in the moment. God was listening, he heard my prayer. When I finally touched the wall, there were no sparks, just the quiet reassurance that God loves, God lives, God is. I put my prayer in with the rest. And I prayed. I blessed God and said my prayer and moved back, like many women, not turning my back to this sacred space, but allowing the moment to continue until I was outside the thick of the spiritual reality. Leaving, I felt overwhelmed. When we met up about five minutes later in the courtyard, it felt as though eons had passed, even though it had been only twenty minutes or so. We took an “Intersem Reunion” picture to commemorate the wonderful year Lizzi and I had shared since our first inter-faith encounter with each other at Intersem in 2007.

Then we walked up through the Jewish quarter. We saw the 6 foot tall solid gold menorah that is part of the instruments being created to reassemble the temple and continued walking through the Old City back towards Jaffa Gate. A lovely afternoon was ending as we walked through Jaffa Gate and headed towards Ben Yehuda street to see the new development in the city.
Ben Yehuda is named for the man who literally brought Hebrew back to life. He became the predominant figure in establishing a modern Hebrew language, creating new words in order to accommodate the changes in the world since Biblical Times. His street is a shopping district now, similar to Third Street Promenade or Telegraph or Grafton Street. There we encountered a vegetarian movement, as well as the new messianic movement (more to be described later!). We meandered our way through the streets, enjoying the company and the life around us.
We found our way to dinner in another dairy/vegetarian restaurant, which had phenomenal food. One thing I must admit is that Israel knows how to do whole, complete, filling and enriching food. Fresh and wholesome vegetables, fruit, and grains, our meals there were always excellent. We lingered over dinner and coffee and dessert for hours before finally walking back to the car around 10 o’clock. We arrived back to Lizzi’s and fell into our beds with abandon.

Sorry!

2008-01-23T04:03:00.001-08:00

Hey friends and family...
Sorry it's taken so long to get a chance to update everyone. It's been hectic over the holidays, as Aaron and I tore through Los Angeles like a whirlwind and spent time over in St. Louis with his family for Christmas and New Years.
It's quieted down a bit now, so here I am, back on the blog, and will hopefully answer all questions!
We arrived back in Dublin on the 3rd of January, after a ridiculous experience at Chicago O'Hare airport. Frozen water pipes, refueling, safety sensors going mad. I think we spent over 12 hours in that plane by the time we got home.
Then, it was straight to work for me. I had an essay due. 5-6000 words (or 20 pages for those not in the know) on a topic involving our course "Authority, Tradition, and Experience." I chose to write on the topic of the Left Behind series. It was an adventure, I must admit. Having read the books (a dicey thing for a Presbyterian seminarian to admit), I wanted to investigate the issues involved from the theological tradition of the authors and how it affects ecumenical dialogue. At first, this seemed like an easy task. Unfortunately, the more I read from the tradition of the authors, the more difficult it became to interact with the material ethically. Some of the comments made about other believers and other faiths are hostile at best. I've posted the paper on my theological reflections site, for those who want to learn about what I've found. It's long, and intense, but hopefully accessible for the non-theological reader.

So it was a difficult paper to write with the intention of honoring the authors of the series. But I did it, and I'm incredibly happy with what I've put together. Writing, however, took large amounts of coffee and time in the GSU Reading Room here on Trinity's campus. it's my new favorite place, I must admit. I show up, and start going, and it's like the most focused wonderful place to study. I'll probably wind up here a great deal if I do my PhD here.

That is some other news. After a number of meetings back in Los Angeles, and a meeting with Andrew, the director of ISE, it looks like I will be seriously considering completing a PhD here in Ecumenics. The timing and funding right now are the big questions and issues. We're not sure whether or not to return to Los Angeles to complete the M.Div first or whether to just push through. It depends on what Yahoo! says and how grant money and essays for my masters' pan out. I have a few grants I'm going to look into, but the reality is that it will cost approximately €40,000 for just the tuition to complete the degree. Aaron can cover the rent and daily expenses, and I'll probably be able to work a bit to cover travel back and forth from the states, but we will need help. So, if you know of anyone eager to support a PhD student or to contribute to the cause with information about other grants or scholarships that I would qualify for, please let me know. PLEASE!

The PhD will be dealing most likely with North American Evangelicalism and looking at a systematic theology that interacts more closely with Judaism. It is specifically not Messianic Judaism or Supercessionist or Marcionite Evangelicalism, but specifically understanding ways that Christianity and Judaism intersect and overlap and looking at those theological, ethical, and other ramifications. Answering questions like "How can North American Evangelicalism reclaim a tradition of lament and mourning? Can the Jewish tradition of Kaddish or interpretation of Psalms of lament help us?" or "While kosher laws don't apply to us, how do we incorporate the idea that what we put into our bodies is important to God?" or "How do we read Hebrews and understand our New Covenant with God in light of God's previous covenants with Israel?" So, super-nerdy, but really, really exciting!

Anyhow... As I'm working on another essay on the "Identity of Christianity" these questions keep coming to mind. I love that God is challenging me mentally and spiritually all at the same time.

Aaron is currently back in the states in San Jose training for the new program that Yahoo! will be working with. They apparently are having a rather big overhaul on their systems and so Aaron had to go back to get all sorted for training. After a nightmarish experience (again in O'Hare) of delays and an enormous layover due to delays and other such things, he arrived Monday and will be there through Saturday. So if any of you Northern Californians are bored and want to visit... let me know!

Our cat is fine, but we miss him. Thanks for all the prayers. He's off medication and while still a rambunctious little rascal, he's been spending his evenings with his friend Duchess, which seems to have calmed him down somewhat, and given my mother a much needed break. He's no longer lonely at night and that seems to be doing well by him.

Classes this quarter are incredibly interesting. If last quarter was the term of intense theology and philosophy, this quarter is very practical. I'm taking a number of classes, but it doesn't seem too overwhelming. Classes are mostly on Mon-Tues, so I have Wed-Fri to spend in the GSU Reading Room. Here's the list of classes:
Ethics of Globalization - This is all about globalization and the ethical ramifications of it. Living in global society, dealing with global economy, and understanding the politics of power as it shifts from nation-state to "other."
An Ecumenics of Loss and Reconciliation: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Violence, Loss and the Way of Transformation - A seminar dealing with issues of loss and healing in the context of post-conflict situations, including church response, memorials, and psycological implications.
Ethics, Theology, and Social Theory: Christian Ethics Between the Local and the Global
- I'll be presenting in this class on the issue of how ought Christians interpret texts and apply them ethically using Hays' text Moral Vision in the New Testament. Looking at issues of hermeneutics and the differences between ethics and Christian ethics.
Islam and Islamic-Christian Dialogue - basically what it says. A history of the faith and people of Islam and a way forward for dialogue and interaction.

So those are the classes, and the rest is writing papers.

We are still active in Dublin Vineyard. It's a good church, and we really are enjoying a smaller atmosphere, even though our "small" group is about 35 people :) We'll be joining the spinoff group that will be forming as an Alpha class. I'll probably be a discussion group leader for that. They've asked me to lead worship in the small group, but I'm resting and trying not to overcommit. So I've said no for now. If we stay longer, I might reconsider, but for now, I'm content to be involved as a participant. The pastor, Sean, and his wife Debbie, are both wonderful people, and our small group leaders Mark and Christine are as well. They support women in ministry and encourage spiritual gifts! Awesome.

There have been some issues with getting photos uploaded, so I'll just tell you that Belfast was beautiful, as was Grafton Street at Christmas. We are really looking forward to the spring, as we are headed to Jerusalem for our anniversary this year (although we'll be going a month early.) It's cheaper for us to go to Jerusalem than it was to goto Philadelphia from Los Angeles, if you can believe it. It will also be an amazing trip, because for a portion of the trip we'll be staying with some friends from the University of Judaism and experiencing all of the sites and things with the locals. I'm so excited I could burst!

We're also really looking forward to those of you planning to visit. Check out travelzoo and aerlingus for good fares! Flying on strange days always helps, too. :) As long as you give us a couple weeks' notice, we'd love to have any of you stay on our sleeper couch! I hear it's quite comfortable.

Well, that's it for now, but know that you are all loved. We'll try to update again soon!

Katie & Aaron

Sorry for the Slacking!

2007-11-18T10:54:00.001-08:00

Hi friends and family,

Thanks to all of you for looking so regularly. I know I haven't posted in ages. It's been a crazy past month. Lots of social events through school, not to mention the fact that I've been sick for a great deal of it.

We went to visit Newgrange and the Hill of Tara a few weeks back. It was incredible. Again, I say that the age of things here is always enough to blow me away. The Hill of Tara is the legendary site of the kings of Ireland. Resting on the top of the highest hill is something known as the Lia Fail, or the stone of destiny. Rumor has it that whomever touches the stone will be the next ruler of Ireland... I'm guessing I'm not queen yet!
Newgrange is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites, and is 1000 years older than the pyramids in Egypt! It's a stone mound that has a cruciform chamber which held bones and basically the purpose is unknown other than its amazing use of light at the Winter Solstice. That was really a wonderful day (on the last Monday of October - a bank holiday here).

The following week was full of class and work and other such stuff. We had a few people over for Halloween, which was nice, and then the next week hosted the Musical Pub Crawl for a few people. It was just as much fun the 2nd time, except people kept talking really loud! I kept wondering... why spend 10eu just to talk in a pub? You can do that for free!

The following week was week 2 of the Judaism/Jewish-Christian Dialogue class. It was pretty much the weekend of the Holocaust. Ridiculously intense. And providing decades of existential guilt for the role (or should I say absence) of the church during the Holocaust. It was brilliant, and beautiful, but painful as well.

The last week has mostly been spent at home, with antibiotics for me and Aaron taking really good care of me. He just yesterday found himself with a scratchy throat, ACK! So we've spent a quiet weekend at home. It's been getting colder...40-50 degrees, and starting to be a bit cloudier. The weather is still lovely, though. I wish that my Southern California lungs would adjust a bit better to cold and moist.

One exception to the week at home was a play/satire/one-man-comedy show I went to go see. My friend Abie from ISE is the star, and his play is called "Jesus, the Guantanamo Years." The basic premise is that Jesus comes back to the US but is imprisoned in Guantanamo because he's a Middle Easterner with no passport and no fear of martyrdom. It's quite insightful and poignant. It's also quite critical of American religious rhetoric in the War in Iraq and the War on Terror.

This week is Thanksgiving back home! Sadly, no Thanksgiving here, but we'll be celebrating at the ISE on Thursday evening with a turkey and potluck dinner for those interested. It should be a hoot! We'll miss being home for it, however. The second week in December will be the trip to Belfast for Peacebuilding and other stuff. It should be a blast.

All that to say, we're doing fine, we'll be back in the states from the 14th-ish of December through the 1st-ish of January. We'll be in Los Angeles through the 25th, and St. Louis for the rest.
Love to you all...
Katie & Aaron

North & South

2007-10-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

Two Sundays ago we ventured north of Dublin on an adventure with the ISE to Howth. Earlier that week, I was able to see the replicas of the High Crosses in the Museum of Natural History. It astonishes me that 200-year old replicas are on display! It makes you wonder about how short American History really is, when you see something 200 years old, that is simply a replica of something 1000 years old!

Howth is a quiet town on a peninsula about 15 minutes above Dublin. It is southeast of Malahide, and the peninsula juts out into the Irish Sea. It’s a beautiful town and a beautiful peninsulaThe purpose of the journey was the Howth Cliff Walk. We started out arriving in Howth around 1:30, had some breakfast, then about 20 of the students from both programs at ISE (peace studies and ecumenics) began up the hill for our lovely walk. The only other Ecumenics student was the lovely American gentleman, Aaron – a different one, although Aaron went cliff-walking, too.

First, a brief cast of characters: The Americans in Ecumenics: Carrah – recently from Kansas City, MO, with a background from both Union Theological Seminary and the University of Arizona. Kelly – recently from San Diego, although originally from the Bay Area – SDSU in religious studies. Aaron – from New York, Swarthmore and Union education. The others I will get to some other time. These are the 3 I spend a great deal of time with and you may hear about quite regularly.

So, Aaron & I joined the other Aaron for the lovely cliff-walk. It is astonishing how lovely and peculiar the cliffs are. As you walk along the side of the peninsula, looking down, there are small coves, which look as though they come straight out of some pirate or boat movie. Exquisite rock formations, lovely beyond belief. The colors were vibrant, and the heather was still blooming in places, leaving hints of lavender color in the midst of fields of green and gold. We walked towards the lighthouse on the tip of the peninsula, and eventually sat down to gaze across the water towards Dublin City. It was a spectacular moment, as the light danced along the water, pixelating, but pulsating simultaneously. There were hues of orange and green and blue that I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced before. The ability to convey in words the ultimate beauty and serenity in that moment escapes me. We later ventured into an old pub then to the Farmer’s Market, in which we listened to a very large, beet-red-faced man holler about the virtues of pomegranates. I learned how to open them, which was new and exciting! Later, we joined Aaron for dinner and a pint at Porterhouse, a local micro-brewery (yes, there are people other than Guinness who make beer here. But don’t tell my brother! :) ).

This last Saturday we did a day tour to Wicklow & Glendalough (pronounced glen-da-lock) which was fantastic. We rode on a bus with about 14 people, and the tour guide was this lovely older retired gentleman named Ed. He took us through this incredible countryside through the blanket bogs of Wicklow. We saw various strategic military sites, as well as driving by the Glencree Reconciliation Center (I'd like to get there someday!). We stopped at the Wilde manor (of Oscar Wilde's father William) which is now owned by someone who wishes to hide, but were able to see the glacial lake right along the mountain. I think the house being covered by trees actually made the lake more magnificent. The peat colors the water so that it looks dark and menacing, but when the sun shines on it against the backdrop of these incredible mountains, it has a unique texture and light. We saw other glacial lakes, some even from cliff-jumping positions. We stopped in a town called Larragh (lah-rah) for carvery lunch and then headed to Glendalough. Did you know that one of the oldest crosses in Western Europe and the oldest celtic cross in existence is there? It was an almost mystical experience hugging a cross over 1000 years old in a monastery over 1000 years old, in a valley filled with 2 lakes that were 9000 years old. We hugged the cross, because it's the tradition in order to receive a wish, but I think my wish was fulfilled in that I felt 1000 years of history and community seep into my skin.

There are some crazy stories about the monk who founded Glendalough, but I'll leave those for another time. We drove back an entirely different route and saw a man-made lake (aka reservoir) that displaced hundreds of Irish families, but it feeds into Dublin's water system, so it must be alright :) We have plans to continue expanding our journeys outwards from Dublin. Next we're planning on the Hill of Tara and Newgrange. We'll keep you all very posted. Pictures from our weekend journeys should be up on flickr by this weekend.
If you've lost the link, it's at the bottom of the page or http://www.flickr.com/photos/katie_sturm

It's also been really fascinating to meet with world-wide theologians in the field of ecumenics and talk with them about what they're doing. October 5, we met with the reference group for the World Council of Church's Decade to Overcome Violence and talked with them about what that kind of a decade looks like. It was absolutely amazing. I feel as if I'm in my element here, although, I'm not quite as nerdy as some of the other students here - which is astonishing! It's been a wonderful experience, meeting people from across the world, all interested in peacebuilding. I really feel honored. This week we have Don Schriver from N.Y. joining us after tea with Mary McAleese, the Irish president.

Last week we started seminars here in ISE, and the 3 Seminars I am participating are run by profs who want to provide opportunities for students to feel out the waters of research and group paper projects.
1) American Evangelicalism, The Religious Right, and Politics – This seminar is run by Bill McSweeney, and is a fascinating opportunity to look at Evangelicalism from an intellectual, phenomenological basis. We also are studying the role of the evangelicals in current politics and comparisons to Western Europe. It’s fascinating being in a class looking at American Evangelicals as the *only* American Evangelical! But the self-reflection and study are good.
2) Sources of Ecumenism – In this class, we are looking at various starting places for ecumenism. This last week we looked at something called the “Kairos Document,” A paper put together by many church leaders in South Africa theologically condemning Apartheid. The basic premise is that “now is the time and place for the church to take an ethical stand.” I’m enjoying finally being in a place where ethics are equally important to doctrine. Don’t worry, I still love my Jesus, but I love that there is a mission dei as well as a theology. Our actions flow from our behaviour. Fabulous!
3) Theology of Fundamentalism – the actual title of this course is Towards Theological Engagement of Modern Religious Anti-Modernism. The basic working idea is that while fundamentalism is being studied as a phenomenon, few if any have actually researched the phenomenon theologically. It’s absolutely fascinating.
Needless to say, I have a lot to keep me busy, I am not working a day job for the first time in my adult life, and it's blissful.

Aaron, on the other hand, is keeping quite busy. Working, as well as brainstorming a project with two friends to put his brilliant brain and experience to use!

Vineyard is a good fit for us. It’s not home, but then again, we’re spoiled with a great small group in L.A.! Home groups here meet once a week, and it is our goal to try it next week.

I am also leading the social events committee here at ISE (is anyone really *that* surprised?) and trying to keep clear boundaries. Pray about that! :)

Otherwise, you are sorely loved and missed!

K & A

Lazy Saturdays

2007-10-06T03:23:00.001-07:00

I'm very grateful for lazy Saturdays, as the last two weeks have been quite busy.
I finally finished all of my business at the Garda (the Irish Immigration bureau) and I have re-thought my views on immigration. I spent 10 hours (the first time it was 6 hours) waiting for a stamp that says that I'm here legally. It was a pain, but I did it.
Aaron's been taking the train to work, and has posted a number of pictures on our flickr site (Yahoo photos moved to flickr. No, I'm not trying to confuse you.) The link for that is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katie_sturm
All of the photos from yahoo are in transit, but for now, enjoy the 48 photos that Aaron took :)
They include his work, the train, and a little bit of our neighborhood.
We went out with friends of Aaron's from work last Friday night and had a wonderful time. They were a little crazy, but they were wonderful people. The whole vibe here is very different. No one buys just an individual drink, but everyone buys rounds, and they all take turns. No one worries about the money aspect of it, they just figure it will come back around. Now I can't say that this is true for everyone, but for the people we've been spending time with, it's true.
I have been spending a great deal of time on campus finishing registration, paperwork for the Garda, and beginning classes. This quarter, I will be taking "Authority, Tradition, and Experience," World Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue," "Judaism and Jewish Christian Dialogue," and "Northern Ireland: Conflict and the Politics of Peace." I may also participate in one or two research seminars which are dealing with current issues that professors are working on. The two available this quarter are "Religion and Modern Anti-Modernism" which is a theological exploration into religious fundamentalism (all religions). And "Politics of Religion in the US" which looks at the role of the Religious Right and the influence of the church on US politics. They both sound very interesting, and it might be helpful to have a chance to work with professors on research for the mentoring opportunity. The way that classes work here is very different from the way things happen in the States with post-graduate theological education. At Fuller, for example, you take classes and there is a basic formula for the amount of work completed. Based on "x" number of units, you spend "x" hours in class (usually 4). That number is doubled for the amount of time supposedly spent on homework (2x or 8). Then, there are on average 3-5 different evaluation opportunities. Usually a midterm and final, and then approximately 20 pages of writing, often divided up into a number of smaller projects.
Here, it's almost all research and writing and discussion and seminar. We only have 1 lecture per week for each subject. This lasts between 1.5 to 2 hours. Then, for "core" courses ("Authority, Tradition and Experience and World Christianity), there is a 1 hour seminar for discussion. Each student is required to have read the requested readings, and 2-3 students actually present material on it. Then, there are four 20page papers, one in each of the core courses and one in an elective. There are no "required" books to buy. They hand out 5-10 page bibliographies of "Recommended Reading" in various aspects of the course. Then, you are expected to make your own choices and read a great deal to orient yourself with the material. Andrew mentioned that when Trinity offers you a place to "read" for a degree, they are not kidding.
It's a great deal more reading/writing intensive and very self-motivated.
BUT! For being a little lazy about self-motivation back home, I love it here. I'm actually having a hard time choosing which books *not* to read. The library here has over 35,000 titles in the fields primarily of ecumenical theology, peace and conflict studies, and reconciliation studies. It is like a feast for my eyes and mind!
It's amazing how many of these books just look like fun to read!
For example, I'm looking through a number of books in a study room, when I turn my head and see a book called Kairos Project. Since I remember from my Greek that kairos (according to Louw and Nida) means: a favorable opportunity or occasion in view of propitious circumstances.
So, I pick it up, and start glancing through the table of contents. It's about apartheid in South Africa, and lo and behold, there's an article from Dr. Mouw (president of Fuller) in there! So I start reading the article. Mind you...it has nothing to do with any of the coursework, it just was fascinating.
The entire library is like this.
So I'm guessing I will be fine. :)
The people in my school are fantastic, and I hope to tell more about them later, but for now, I'm going to finish up this post and leave it with you.
Blessings. K & A

2007-10-06T03:18:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 16, 2007

It's a windy day today. I'm not sure when it started howling, but it was already going strong when I woke up at 8:30am. It's been an interesting phenomenon. First it blows in what seems to be storm clouds. 15 minutes later it's bright blue. The clouds literally are RACING across the sky. I can't remember the last time I saw clouds move that fast. It certainly doesn't happen much in Los Angeles.
We got our first rain today. Complete with a few cracks of thunder. Up till today we hadn't had a drop of rain since we got here. The evenings are mostly cool, but barely sweater weather. The locals are all ecstatic, as they had to suffer through about 45 days of rain before we got here. It lasted about 5 minutes before stopping. Maybe it will happen again!
We're very cosily settling into our new home. It already feels like home. Although we are directly over the most crowded square of Temple Bar, with the doors and windows closed tight, we hear almost nothing. We've been watching a little tv, and organizing. Everything is all sorted and put away and in the right spot for us. We had to re-organize the kitchen a bit (but isn't that always the case? Kitchens are peculiarly personal) and learning how to fit all of the suitcases and various other things stashed away was an adventure.
Our one wardrobe is all the storage space that we have. No lie. 2 rungs of hanging poles and about 7 shelves. But we made do. Thank goodness we decided not to ship anything! We'd really be in a pickle then!
We did laundry and learned why there is an iron. The washer/dryer combo unit does *not* dry in the same way that big ol' tumble dryers back home do. It pretty much heats things up, and spins em around, but they're either damp or dreadfully wrinkled upon removal. Blech. So I have had to re-learn to iron. I had thought that buying mostly wrinkle-free clothes was good enough, but alas! No. And we are using the clothes drying rack for the things that are still damp.
Still no internet access. It's becoming rather trying, actually. Both Aaron & I feel as if something was amputated. But it's supposed to get worked out rather quickly. The landlord is supposed to contact us in the next couple days with the name of the provider that can provide us with service.
We've had a few bumps, but hey! We're doing well.
Aaron's computer took a nose dive on Friday, and we're hoping that it was a one-time only deal. We're going in tomorrow morning to meet with Yahoo, so maybe they'll take a look at it. Who knows, they may even be able to help us cut through some bureaucratic red tape to get the internet access thing taken care of.
I still have another 10 days or so before I register, so I'm pretty much just hanging out. I still need to get a windbreaker/jacket of some sort. My pea coat is alright for super cold times, but the combination of wind/wet probably will cause me to need something a little dryer.
Some things I miss from back home:
Ranch Dressing - I tried doing the Irish "malt vinegar" on fries thing, but it's not the same. We went to Hard Rock Cafe the other day and I had a salad with ranch, and boyo did it taste good! Because no single store in this city (that we've seen so far) sells ranch dressing, we're convinced that they order the Hidden Valley Ranch dried packages (you know the little powder ones?) and make it in the restaurant.
Garlic - it's definitely a gourmet/specialty item here. I miss the whole Californian - I'll take 5 heads for $1. I know, I was spoiled.
Our kitten - although I guess he's a cat now. It's so funny how your heart gets so quickly attached.
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (the blue box) - Don't get me wrong, the stuff here is fabulous. Fresh cheese, yummy goodness. But every now and then you just get a craving for that ridiculously fake cheese flavor.
3-M removable hanging hooks. Haven't been able to find em, can't hang anything without them. There are 3 screws in the wall in our apartment. And they are all different sizes.
Workouts at the gym - Although the last few really prepared me for the flights of stairs Aaron & I do every day. It's 2 stories up, no elevator. Stairs only, people! Wowie! I swear the glutes and quads and calves are not getting a breather. That combined with walking between 2 and 5 miles a day... i guess I'm not really missing out on the cardio, but I still miss the gym.
Blockbuster Video/Netflix - Have found a few here, but they're all in suburbia. Guess they figure that those of us in City Centre have enough to do and don't need movie rentals. We did find the nearby movie theater, though, and are so excited because all the blockbuster movies that we wanted to see haven't been released yet here! Woohoo!
Costco - I miss having all that access to copious quantities of things. Trust me, I wouldn't be able to use it at this point...we don't have anywhere to put it! But just seeing rows of paper towels.
Charmin Ultra (less is more!) - There's a lot of scenting and coloring going on here in the TP industry. I can only quote Legally Blonde on this one... "All those opposed to chafing say 'aye'!"
Freezer space - I have a feeling that I'll be buying things like meat and frozen veggies/fruits on a daily or 'as-needed' basis. Think mini/bar fridge with the little tiny freezer up top that has a little plastic cover. Yup. That's it. That's the freezer space. Have yet to see if an ice cream container will fit.
Target-type stores - The closest thing we've found is Arnott's Bargain Basement. I don't really want it for anything other than things like cheap hangers and silverware. It took us days to find anything even remotely low-priced. I'm sure there's something like that somewhere around here, but it sure isn't popping out of the woodwork to the naked eye!
But really, the thing we miss most is our friends and family. We have each other -- good thing we like us! - but we do miss all of you. We hope you're doing well, and that maybe you'll send us a note or email to let us know how you're doing and what's going on back home.
So that's our update for this lovely Sunday afternoon.
We're still looking for a church home, so if you think of it and feel inclined, drop a prayer on that note.
Hugs and love - k & a

Thursday, September 13, 2007

We started moving into our new home today!!!
We're definitely praising God for getting us into this place, as it's beautiful! 1 large bedroom in the back of the building (so that it doesn't get street noise), a full bathroom (although no tub, just a shower), full kitchen with new appliances, a dining room set and a balcony overlooking Temple Bar. It also has a full-size sleeper-sofa, so the invitation to visit is extended to all of you. :) It's definitely quite a change from our current situation -- although the upstairs neighbors have left the "uuntz" from previous nights in exchange for elephants falling down stairs and stomping on trampolines. We are so ready for a QUIET night!!!
Our next big hurdle is finding our own internet access. I can't even tell you what a fiasco that is turning out to be. Nothing like the states in terms of competing kinds and companies. It's pretty bizarre, actually. In our area, it is exclusively based on a phone line, but the phone line has to be established by the government telecom company, but that can take up to 3 months! Wowie!
But of course, you can't even start applying for the line until you have an address.
There seems to be a lot of running around in circles in the bureaucracy here. It's almost impossible to get an address without an active bank account and PPS number (think SSN). BUT, you can't get a PPS number without a Garda card (like a driver's licence, but impossible to get) which you can't get without an address. Not to mention the fact that after running around in circles all day, you still have to wait in these ridiculous lines. BUT if you don't get the PPS number to your current address, then you have to wait for a utility bill, which only come every 2 months...that's IF you manage to get it switched over without the bank account or the pps number.
I feel like my brain has been shaken, not stirred.
In other news, I sadly did not make the singing group, but found out after the audition that there was only 1 spot open, and there was a waiting list before auditions! So I'm really not offended. Plus... if I really want to sing, I can always hit up the karaoke joints or go on the musical pub crawl again and sing Irish folk music :)
But we're happy otherwise. Life suits us here. We're enjoying the culture, the walking, the pace of life, and pretty much everything. We're looking forward to this weekend as it is Dublin Culture Night on Friday and you can learn more about that here:
http://www.culturenight.ie
Sadly, for those of you who know how much we were looking forward to some rainy, gloomy weather, we've brought the sun with us. Not a drop of rain since we've arrived. It's been sunny but delightful - not too hot, thank goodness! Supposedly we're supposed to have rain soon... I'm not too worried. After all, there's still autumn and winter! :)
We've included our "snail mail" address. Feel free to send postcards or letters.
As soon as we've figured out what would constitute a good care package, we'll try to let you know. Unfortunately, "internet access for free in a box" probably won't work to well, huh? As of right now, the only thing I miss occasionally is ranch dressing (they serve fries - aka "chips" - with EVERYthing here) but don't worry about sending that. I probably shouldn't be eating french fries anyway.
We're very much looking forward to enjoying settling in and getting used to our new lives. Aaron meets with Yahoo Dublin HR on Monday and I register in 2 weeks.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Hi friends and family,
We've found a home and posted the rest of the pictures from our days here:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/javagirl58

Sunday we woke up to church bells from both Christ Church Cathedral and Saint Patrick's Cathedral. It was haunting and lovely. We then decided to head off to see a few things at the Museum. The Museum at Collins Barracks focuses on history and fine arts. Up till the 70's or so, it was the oldest military barracks still in use by the military.
This is where we saw the Viking replica ship and the High Cross Replica exhibit. I really, truly, fully intend now to go see the High Crosses... The fact that they have an exhibit at the History museum about the 200 year old REPLICAS of these Crosses that have been around for a millennium or so points to their importance. They are also BEAUTIFUL. Most High Crosses have a circle around the center point of the cross. The circle doesn't just support the arms of the cross, but also represents the sun - a symbol of new life and growth for the ancient Celts.
You can read more about the exhibit here:
http://www.museum.ie/exhibitionsandcollections/details.asp?id=183&subsection=collections&site_id=1
We avoided the exhibit on Soldiers and War because I was a little burnt out after Kilmainham Gaol. We're really at this point looking forward to some weekend day trips out to the outlying Counties to explore the ridiculously beautiful creation that God has made here.
Now that we've found a home, that should be easier.
I also audition tonight for a singing group at Trinity.
We'll be having a very mellow next few days until we get the keys to our new place.
We miss you all very much and send our love and greetings. :)
K & A

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Why I'm up at 6:07am
We have upstairs neighbors. They have been moderately loud all week, but tonight... SUNDAY night, they decided to have a raging party at 5:00am. Woke both me and Aaron up at 5:00am.
We're both exhausted and I have an Ipod plugged into my heard, trying to keep the "uuntz uuntz" of their trance out of my head. The lights in the hallway going on and off, thumps, yelling, etc. I went up to see if they could quiet down and I got a twitch on the volume switch.
I don't even know who to call for noise disturbances here! ARGH!
Not to mention the fact that when I went upstairs, I'm quite convinced that at least 1 of them was on more serious substances than simple "beer." That and the leering and drooling and falling down the stairs and over things in their attempts to come over to apologize.
If they were truly sorry, perhaps they could be quiet at 5am.

Oh well. Even more reason to pray for an apartment. Might I add, even at my worst, and in the worst neighborhoods, there was always quiet after 2am with the knowledge that people might be sleeping. True, for "normal" people as I've become 2 is pretty late, but STILL. 5 freaking am? That's like, hey, wake up for work with a beer and some substances that more than likely are illegal!

Oh well, sorry for the crankfest... I'm tired!

Saturday, September 08, 2007

It has definitely been an interesting few days. What with internet going wonky, we literally have been UNABLE to look for apartments. Which means that Aaron and I (heavens forbid) have been forced to truly let go and enjoy ourselves. So we've had a fantastic last couple days after being denied on the apartment we desired.
Yesterday, we spent toodling around the city on an open air bus (see photos from yesterday's post). We mainly wanted to get a sense for the city so that we could decide what we wanted to do. When we were here in March, we already saw Guinness, Book of Kells, and Jamesons (the 3 that all the taxi drivers recommended) so we didn't need (or want) to repeat them. So we had a blast figuring out what we wanted to do today.
We've also been eating a lot of Italian food... strange, the best food we've found here isn't "pub grub" but pasta and chicken and yummy Italian. Oh well!
So we wandered yesterday and all last night. It was fantastic! We finally feel like we're getting a sense of "home" and comfort in knowing where things are.
And last night, we had a phenomenal time. If anyone comes to visit, this is the one "non-negotiable" activity on everyone's roster. The Musical Pub Crawl. As we explained to another couple from the States (Washington, D.C.) at the bus stop today, it's so much more music and so little crawl. You start out at a pub called Oliver St. John Gogarty's at 7:00pm to buy your ticket. Then you wait around a bit until 7:30 or so, and the musicians meet you down in the cobblestone streets outside. They introduce themselves, and these are the real deal... Larry & Joe are world-playing, phenomenally talented musicians. And they come home to Ireland occasionally to do these pub crawls and play with other Irish musicians.
The evening really consists of about 50% music and 50% history lesson, explaining the context, tradition and history of Irish traditional music and the ways in which it developed. and is still developing. You start at one pub, stay for about an hour, then move onto the next and stay there for an hour, and then about 10pm you're done.
So our favorite song was actually a Scottish folk song called Caledonia.
You can hear it on You-Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMpSg78s684
Later in the night, they had something called the "Noble Call" which is apparently a part of every musical "session" (they're not performances at the real ones, because they should be open to anyone who happens by). And the Noble Call is a chance for anyone who is there to "say a song" that comes from their heart. The only catch is that it has to be from where you came from and you have to know all the words.
And so I said a song.
It was a truly amazing experience, sitting upstairs in a room in Dublin, having had an evening of incredible music and humour and fun... and to just let a song pour forth was awesome.
And if you're wondering, I sang Etta James' At Last because it means something to me and Aaron and it reminds me of good times back home, including Karaoke, my wedding, and good times with people I love.
I could have chosen others, but I let the crowd choose (they were mostly American).
What an awesome night.

Today... Heads up... some morbidity and deep thoughts here. So feel free to skim or skip to the bottom... I won't be offended, promise.
We woke up to some pounding... demolition team next door. And viewed a studio apartment that was quite cute. It was already let out, but the owner/manager has one opening up in another area that we love. So we're keeping our hopes up.
Then, we walked back home, and hopped back on the hop-on bus and went to a place called Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced "jail").
This was a serious historical place.
I'm not even sure that I can explain the history in a way that would remotely do it justice. Suffice it to say, that it held political prisoners throughout all of Ireland's tumultuous rebellions, it was the site of a number of executions both public and private, and you can almost feel the history seeping through the stones. This place puts Alcatraz to shame, people.
We stood in the courtyard where 14 men had been shot through the heart for "high treason." For wanting a republic and freedom from British rule. (for the introspective reflection see the other blog.)
It was over 200 years old, and there were times that when walking through, you could almost feel the souls that had passed through.
After that, we saw a movie... and walked home.
We've crossed the "Ha'Penny Bridge" (pronounced hape-knee) about 20 times in the last two days. I'll have more pictures soon. It's called the "Ha'Penny" because it used to be a pedestrian toll bridge, where the toll was... you guessed it, a half penny.
Going to call about another apartment tomorrow. And if we can figure out when it is, we are going to try to goto church at ChristChurch Cathedral, one of the oldest churches in Europe!
Hugs and love, friends!

Friday, September 07, 2007

This is the Wellington Monument. It's also the 2nd tallest obelisk in the world. The 1st tallest obelisk is the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. (that's in the States ;) ) This tower is located in the scenic Phoenix Park, which is immensely larger than Central Park in New York, some ridiculous number of acres and with pretty flowers. I'll have to get pictures of the flowers next time, though, cuz that bus sure drives fast!
This is the door that we enter to get into our studio apartment. Right above a coffee shop.
A beautiful old church...turned into "Lighting World." Seriously, no joke.
This is the soaring front of St. Patrick's cathedral. This foundation was laid in the 400's!!! That's seriously old, folks.

The tour started here, at St. Andrews Church -- now known as the Dublin Tourist Offices. This next one is of Christ church and traffic. Christ Church's foundations were laid in 1035ad! Wow. that's a long time ago. Almost 1000 years!

Man. This town in OLD. It's awesome though. Hopefully more pictures tomorrow.
But just note... they drive on the "other" side of the street here. :)
hugs and love.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Just as an FYI. Katie will be posting some more introspective-type spiritual journey stuff here:
http://graceforward.blogspot.com
This is less update and more reflection... But for those of you interested, it's there.
blessings

Hopefully we'll find a home soon! We're eating well, and having a ball. More updates as they come. Here are a couple of photos of St. Patrick's cathedral, which is around the corner from the apartment where we are staying.

Well, another 5-6 miles today and we saw two apartments that we could live with, and one that we fell in love with! My feet will never be the same after all this walking, but I now understand why Irish food is so hearty! I swear I get hungry after every 2 miles. :)
#1: This was the 1br that I had been drooling over online. It was very pretty, but I must admit that the layout was a trifle strange. First, the shower was a closet in the bedroom. I'm really not kidding you. In the bedroom, in the wall, there was a shower door where the closets would be in an apartment in the States. The toilet was in a closet by the front door. It was spacious and clean, but the whole shower thing was a little weird. So we decided... well, as long as we're here, why don't we look at the studio? So we did.
#2: This is the studio that we absolutely fell in love with. All new kitchen, beautiful, comfortable furniture, very spacious, and the bed is lofted up above the living area. The bathroom in this place was a little more "normal." Shower in the bathroom, with a curtain, a door, and the toilet and sink separate. Just the right size... The only downer is that it looks like both of these are now "Let Agreed" which means the agents have now taken the apartment off the market following the viewing. Ack!
#3: This is the other 1br with a lofted bedroom. It had a great bathroom as well, and the rent is well within what we can afford. It didn't sing out "home" to us the way the studio did, though.

Posted by Katie at 11:12 AM

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

We walked 6 miles today looking for an apartment. My trainers would be so stinking proud!
Well, here's the update on the 3 we saw today.
#1: Located in a very quiet, "older" neighborhood known as Rathgar. It was moderately spacious, but the kitchen had a mini-fridge and a stove older than I am. The bathroom was neon-teal, the laundry was in the garden, and the shower stall was about 5'11", which is about 2" shorter than Aaron. So, sadly, it was a no.
#2: Located in a quiet area of Rathmines (the student area, very bustling). Literally the size of a large shoebox. I think the 1br was the size of a queen size bed. There wasn't even any room to walk around the bed. No closet. Again, super old kitchen. The bathroom was the size of a shower stall. As if to prove its point, there was no curtain for the showerhead, just a drain in the floor next to the toilet and sink. I felt as though the toilet was in the shower. But then again, as my friend Ria pointed out "You could save so much time in the morning! You can do your buzness and get showered all at the same time!" So although it was a great location, it was just far too little for our needs.
#3: Located in another quiet area of Rathmines (but the other side of the main drag). This one actually wasn't bad. It had decent space and relatively newer appliances. It also had
closet space and a decent sized bathroom. It didn't sing "home" to either of us, however. We're waiting on the one I've been drooling over for the last 2 weeks.
We go to see that one at 1pm tomorrow. So if you're an early riser, be praying for us!
We know that there is a perfect home for us!
hugs and love y'all!

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Hey friends. Well, it's 5am here, and I'm already awake after having gone to bed at 8:30pm last night! So here's how the story goes. :)
The weekend was a little crazy, packing and sorting and arranging and last-minute-seeing everyone under the sun. It was good, but at the same time emotionally draining. After all, while we have confidence that our friends aren't going anywhere, it's still hard to say farewell for a year. Hope for Christmas sustains us, though, so we're hanging in there.
Aaron & I have been in and out of shock - is this really happening? Oh. My. Gosh. yeah, it's really happening. - and just trying to prepare. After all, this is the first time that we've ever just up and moved to a place where we didn't know anyone. Well, as a couple. I've done it once or twice, but it's different when there's two of you!
So Monday arrived. My dad made a lovely bruch, and my mom came over. It was the first time in a long time that I can remember having such a low-stress, good whole family time. Fabulous food, conversation and company. What more can you ask for?
When my mom left, I almost lost it. We both had the cracky voices, but we put her in the car and somehow went back into the house to stand in complete shock realizing that this was it. No turning back now.
So we got into the S.U.V. and headed to LAX. We were trying to arrive at least 3 hours before the flight and 30 minutes before the ticket counter opened, in the hopes that we would be early in the line and thus able to request the precious emergency exit seats. On a trans-atlantic flight, those extra inches are solid gold. Sadly, when we arrived, the line was already ridiculously long, so we prayed, and stood there. We made a few friends in the line. One gentleman and his wife were waiting in line and you could almost smell the newlywed on them. He was off to Scotland for a week and she was staying home, but couldn't bear the thought of being away from him for a second more than she had to. It was very sweet. Then, we met a guy from Dublin, name of Joe, who got a kick out of the fact that I was a graduate student at Trinity and that Aaron worked for Yahoo!. When we arrived at the front of the line, we presented our massive quantities of luggage (although it was only 2 pieces per person, they were stinking heavy pieces - I think the lightest was 40lbs) and they didn't charge us the extra charges we had been expecting. WooHoo! That was super-duper event number one. Next, we asked on the offchance that there were emergency exit seats, and lo & behold! Yes, there were.
So we were very set.
We waited (or queued as they say here) in yet another long line to dump our luggage at the x-ray machine. Then we headed to security. Another ridiculous line. Oh, and by the way - they didn't make me do the baggie thing. You know, the whole 3-1-1 thing. 3oz, 1qt, 1 bag or something like that? You know, the task where you spend time moving all of your beauty products into small enough containers and hoping that they all squish into the bag? Yeah. didn't do that. But they did make you throw out water!
So we cleared security. It was now 3:30. We had begun the process at 1pm.
Sheesh. I now understand the whole "please arrive at the airport 2 hours before your flight" thing. When we got through security, of course there was water for sale :)
There really weren't very many food options, however, and the only one near our gate only took cash - American cash - which, of course, I had already exchanged for Euro because I assumed that everywhere in the terminals accepted plastic.
Just a quick side note - wow. the Euro is ridiculous. I got 20euro for 32 dollars. Yeouch.
So now we waited. Aaron caught up on Harry Potter book 6, and I caught up on my reading. Laurie R. King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Fun stuff.
We boarded, and got ready to go.
Our flight was relatively uneventful. The legroom was blissful. We did have a few problems with the people behind us. Mid nap, I'm trying to push my seat back, and I keep getting kicked. Finally, I just get shoved violently into an upright position. So I turn around and ask in my most patient and sweet coffee-shop customer service voice... "Is the seat hitting your legs?" Knowing full well that it's not, but gosh that was irritating. She says with pure venom in her voice "I'm just really claustrophobic back here." Now, even though the seat-belt light is off, and she could have sat on the aisle instead of her husband, I figure she's just having a bad day, so I try to shrug it off. So I say, "Well, next time, please just ask me to move my seat up. I am normally pretty reasonable about that." She managed to look embarassed, Aaron & I switched (since he was still reading). And I passed out.
I think Aaron & I only slept and read. No movie, some passable food, and in general, just rest. Eventually Aaron tried to sleep upright, until 6 hours later I told him "she's gotten 6 hrs of uninterrupted, claustrophobia-free time. You're entitled to a little space, and she can get up and move around if she has to. Either that or next time she can request these seats." So he moved back and we both went back to sleep. Here is a shout out to the recommendation from Rick! Melatonin rocks our world. :)
We arrived in one piece, as did all of our luggage, but we got a few stares from people. I guess they were thinking that we were crazy Americans with all this stuff. Which I guess we are, but at least one entire suitcase is things that I wanted to have for a home. Not necessarily the fancy expensive stuff, but my little hanging cross collection, and a few framed photos that remind me of those I love. That and the down pillows, bath sheets, and aspirin (did you know that aspirin is a prescription here?)
Customs was a breeze. We got a delightful lady who accepted our paperwork, took pictures of us for the Garda, and gave us each 30days to register. Yippee! We're officially beginning our residency here!
We arrived at our apartment, met our neighbor, and took a nap.
Then, I did some apartment hunting -- oh, by the way, if you've been hearing the apartment search struggle, a similar apartment in the same building as before, with the same awesome stuff is up for rent. Thursday afternoon we're viewing. Pray! -- and we decided to go eat.
Italian food here is awesome. I just can't explain it. Maybe it's all the Italians who cook it. :)
Fabulous dinner with gelato for dessert.
Then capped off with some grocery shopping at a store called Spar which resembles a fancy 7-11. Hopefully we'll find a real food store soon, but for now, Spar will do.
We finished our big evening out with a pint at a pub across the street. Pubs here are like Starbucks at home. There's at least one every corner, sometimes more. I was thinking about it the other day and realized that since our inception as a country, Americans were prone to Starbucks more than pubs. Combine the puritanical drive of many of our forefathers with the dumping of all the tea in the harbor, and what do you have left except coffee, really? Milk? Juice?
I will update all later on the quality of Irish lattes... promise :)
All that being said, it's 5:38am, and I'm awake, partly because my time-clock is off, and partly because I was so stinking tired last night that I went to bed super-early.
We are somewhat lucky, because someone has left an unlocked wifi broadcast open. Yay for me not having to pay for internet! :)
Here's my theological thought for the day.

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life^[h] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. (Matthew 16:24-27)

I wouldn't say that we've denied ourselves at this point, but we've definitely felt a huge sense of loss. Moving out of our home into someone else's (no matter how wonderful) and putting almost all of our belongings aside is hard. Especially for two people raised to be faithful consumers. To arrive here in Ireland with 2 large suitcases, a carryon, and a backpack each is a little daunting. We're simplifying, which is amazing and awesome and freakishly strange for our mentality. But we have each other, and we have Jesus. I always loved this passage because it comes right after Peter's confession and Jesus' rebuke of him. I love Peter because he only ever removes one foot from his mouth in order to insert the other one. And I can relate to that. Peter needed to trust that perhaps his own understanding of Messiah was not the same as what Jesus described, and that maybe he didn't have all the answers. After all, we all know that fishermen were the absolute authorities on scripture at the time, right? :)
But I am no better than Peter unless I trust that while I may not understand everything that Jesus says, that it is true. And we have left our life behind, following what seems to be God's miraculous will in all of this. To be honest, Jesus couldn't have been more clear that this is where we're supposed to be. So while, I must admit that Dublin is not a "cross" for us (I mean, seriously folks), we'll bear the burden of being halfway around the world and pray that the whole thing transforms us and helps us to do the good works that God has planned for us to do.
So we will be living out Philippians 2:12-16.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, "children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation." Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
Peace and blessings, friends :)
Katie & Aaron

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Hey friends,
I'm guessing if you are reading this, then you probably read my email.
Well, I already gave you the brief heads up, and I might write more in the next 2 days depending on how crazy life gets, but YOU FOUND US!
Hugs, y'all!