Way overdue ....

Got to love the time of year of Christmas where everything gets put on the back burner and relaxation and easting takes place :) So we realize that this is way overdue. An update!! so what's been happening over the last month, a lot actually. Hmm where to begin. Well Christmas went really well despite that major ice that we got in Cork turning our estate into an ice skating rink for ages. But we had fun all the same, was so good just to hang out at my (Linda's) parents house for a good few days, sitting by the fire and eating and just relaxing, perfect. Then on New Years Eve thanks to my parents we got to go away for 2nts and stay in a hotel. It was so nice to be away from everything and just hang out the two of us and bump, realizing this will be the last new year's eve on our own. Strange to think about the many changes ahead. Another blessing on New Years Eve was being able to get a scan from our friend Peta, what a legend that girl is. She has been so super supportive since I got pregnant and has listened to my many questions and rambling and then to top it off gave us our best scan to date. We got to see our little one's face in great detail and saw him/her drink fluid, pull faces, move legs and arms. It really was incredible and what a way to go into the new year armed with more pics of our baby :)

So 2010 so far has been eventful enough. We both started back into the new year with reduced hours in work and many questions about our future financially and direction wise. But as always God calmed us down and kept reminding us to be patient and and to trust him. Funny how many times that has been easier said than done but so glad that he is so patient with us always getting a wobbly at the next hurdle. So long story short as both our jobs are down in hours we were wondering what to do. So we talked to people about if they knew of any jobs going anywhere, only to discover that it's next to impossible to find anything given the current climate. Fair enough we knew that but still wanted to ask especially as we knew God had some plan. So this week Alex was told there may be jobs in Cork but there was a recruitment agency that he would have to drop his CV into as they were organizing if people got the interviews or not. So within 5mins of his CV going in he gets a phone call, this is Tuesday. WEdnesday morning he has a 50min phone interview and Thursday afternoon he has an 1hr 1/2 interview and then Friday he has a job!!! Isn't that mad, I knew he would do well but we were also praying that if he wasn't to get the job then he wouldn't :) So he starts Monday morning for 3wks training. this is just the short version of the story as there were many events that had to work out in between him applying and getting the job. Even with giving notice to the Haven, Padraig was ok with it and even said that things were so quiet anyway that there were going to have to review having paid staff. So thank God for his hand over us as with little bambino on the way we were under pressure to cover our bills as is. But now the pressure is off. While it is def not Alex's dream job for the rest of his life we're just going to take it a day at a time and keep our eyes and ears open to the next step. We are excited about a possible opening in the near future ministry wise but we're going to be patient just wait to see what happens.

In regards to bambino he/she gets bigger everyday and the moves, kicks and punches gets stronger everyday. So mad to feel so much movement everyday. We're constantly reminded of how blessed when we feel those movements. I had a glucose tolerance test a week ago, it was necessary as my dad has diabetes and my grandfather had it too. They wanted to keep an eye on it as because of the family history it meant were chances of getting gestational diabetes was high. So this was the 2nd test I had and it came back positive. I have to say I got a bit of a fright but thank goodness at the moment they have caught it early and the baby is fine and hasn't been affected. So I've been on a strict diet over the last week of certain foods and portions I can eat to see if it can be controlled by a diet alone or if I will need insulin. I have to go back on Monday to see what they see and I have been recording my blood levels 7 times a day so that's been fun, sticking a little needle in that many times a day every day :) But I just want to be sure that the baby is ok and that all goes well. It's certainly not ideal but thank God it was caught early and that things may be ok. It certainly hasn't been the easiest pregnancy so far but it will all be worth it in the end. Not long to go now. Just 8wks left and they have told me that I will not be allowed to go over the due date as a result of having this. So please if you can pray that I go naturally and that the diet works, I really don't want to have to be induced :( but they will have to if I don't go before or on the day. So no pressure at all hehe. Ok well before I totally bore you to death I better end this as I think I have put more than enough on here for you to read.

Hope this finds you well.

Will write soon.

Linda Xo

A growing bambino

So thought it was time an update was written about our little one growing. It has been so mad to think that 6mths have gone by already. It seems such a blur due to being so sick and always something happening but the last week has been so much more enjoyable.

It is amazing and weird to feel the movements getting stronger and more frequent. I'm not sure if you ever get used to feeling that kind of movement, it really is a miracle when you try to get your mind around what is happening. This little person is growing away inside of me and we're just counting down the time till we meet him/her face to face. It can be overwhelming but also very exciting. We bought a cot a few weeks ago and it was so cool to come back one day to see it assembled in the room that is being transformed into a nursery. I have Alex to thank for that, he did a great job. We both get a giggle and a smile to our face when we pass by and see this small cot in the room and realize this will be for our child. A different chapter indeed :)

Alex has been amazing, he has been working so hard and is off to Dublin again this weekend to Dj for money to cover the bills. As I type now he is in Waterford dj-ing at a Christmas party. I'm so proud of him and look forward to him being back and enjoying some time off at Christmas. He really is something else though.

Thank goodness as well work wise it has picked up again a bit so that has been nice to be back to more hours this week. So hopefully that will keep going. Well it's almost half twelve at night and my eyes are beginning to close, I should really get to bed. But just wanted to drop a quick line. Xo

Slow but Steady

God has been doing some small but significant things over the past two months. In Ministry terms we are seeing some real growth in Lee Valley church where I(alex) speak and we attend. I have been preaching through Jesus teaching on the Kingdom of God. This has produced some great responses. The first of note is that the Church has responded to a challenge of how we could reach out to our community in Ballincollig and we have begun to prayer walk the area. Everyone was encouraged as God put the same things on all our hearts as we prayed. When we discussed it later it was unreal to see that He definately has a plan for the people of that area. People are sharing the Gospel and have a heart to disciple more and more.

We are really enjoying some close friends of ours continuing to grow in their new found walk with Jesus. We are discipling them once a week and it has been a real blessing to see them and even their language change. Phrases like, "we were lucky, now translate, we are blessed". this is so refreshing and exciting for Linda and I.

After much prayer and many attempts, God has finally moved the heart of a new volunteer for our monday night outreach to the guys on the streets of Cork. That ministry is called the Mustard seed and both Dave(His outreach) and I are very excited to disciple and enjoy the company of this new volunteer. His name is Ant and we would love you to pray for Him.

We have something possibly in the pipeline for the New Year which would be a real blessing to us and give us further support in what God would have us do here in Cork, but we are in the praying phase of this to see if this is something of Jesus and if it would be a fit for us also. We would love your prayers on this as well.

Finally just to say that Linda is an incredible mum already, she is waking up every half an hour at night, still feeling sick most days and is 6 months pregnant already(where does time go), but she never complains and has a great attitude, I am so proud of her, I could not do it I assure you. So both Mum and baby are really fit and well and we are so excited to begin this new chapter in the coming months.

All the best for now, will update soon, thanks for your prayers, support, love and thoughts, we are learning to trust Jesus with more and more of our stuff and thats never easy but never boring. Lots of love Alex and Linda

Massai ~ an answer to prayer

Well once again God has blown us away with his answer to prayer. We were talking to Elizabeth (in Kenya) and she was telling us the update on the Massai and the drought in Kenya. It is devastating at the moment and there are cows lying dead along the side of the road as the Massai are trying to get them to some grass. So much so they are illegally going into the National Park in Nairobi to feed on what little grass they can find. They are willing to risk their lives with the wild animals in there if it means that they will get food for the cows and goats.

So Elizabeth was also telling us about how many of the women were not able to make it to the Bible studies due to being so weak and thin from starving. It is very harsh for them at the moment and for so many others in the country. So I really felt God was putting it on my heart to raise some money so we can feed the Massai. So I sent out some info and a plea to people and within 36hrs all the money had been raised. It was unbelievable, I couldn't believe how responsive people were, it was so encouraging. So enough money was raised to feed 56 families for a month. To make matters even better there was a small team staying with Elizabeth and Robbie and they also saw the need and went shopping for supplies for two weeks for the families. Yesterday Elizabeth went shopping for the women and will go again today to buy more so all the families will be feed. It was so encouraging to hear how excited they were that on the 29Oct they would be receiving enough food for their family for a month. That is unheard of for them, to be guaranteed food for a total of a month and half by the two donations. Praise God for his plans eh, he doesn't just answer prayer he does it in style. I've attached some photos which Elizabeth sent through today. So cool to see so many faces we recognize, it brings a tear to the eye. We so wish we were out there. There will be more to follow.

Linda xo

Top news!!

Hey everyone,

You've probably heard already but if you haven't we thought we had better post it online. So we're pregnant!!! I'm 14wks at this stage and have to say that we're excited but also a little nervous. I've had constant nausea and sickness for almost 2mths now and I have to say that his definitely isn't one of the highlights. Could do with major prayer at this stage as I'm extremely housebound and feel like a hermit. This is hard as I love to get out and meet with people but I haven't seen that many for almost 2mths now, so that's already an adjustment. It is teaching me a lot about how our lives will change though :) Ok over to Alex for the rest of the update.

Things are really starting to gel as regards outreach and ministry opportunities. The youth group at Lee Valley is going from strength to strength and we have just mixed the group with one from douglas which has been a good move for all.

We are continuing to prayer walk the community around the Haven as we seek God's plan for how we might bless the people of Cork City. There are many needs here and many options, such as a food bank, or a serve the city option, but these are just ideas and we must wait on the Lord for His leading.

Sadly one of the young people we know from our homeless street ministry took an overdose by accident this week and He died, we were very upset at this as he was a great guy and had real potential, we will miss Him deeply.

Lots happening, great to see our dear friends growing in their faith as they continue discovering who Jesus is and what His Kingdom is all about.

My back seems to be getting a bit better, but it is hard to see Linda so sick and not being able to do anything about it. Other than that things are going great, we are both excited to see what will happen next and very excited about the arrival of our little bundle.

Excited

Why? Cause God is faithful even though we are not. Recently we felt God telling us not to go looking for ministry, that He would bring people into our path instead. The result is the Lord is giving us very exciting ideas about new ministry opportunities for us here in Cork. Linda and I have for a long time been disatisified with the status quo. The culmination of this is a holy discontent with doing the same old thing, so here's to new things.

Also it has been a joy to see the Lord drawing great friends of ours to himself recently. Their hunger for something more has been an insparation to us and yet more confirmation of what God has been saying about Church. It is great to see new believers encountering God and seeing Him moving in their lives is refreshing for an old timer like me.

The youth group at Lee Valley is going from strength to strength with a paring with another group coming in the Autumn, things are looking promising here.

Finally we are blessed to see one of our own, stan following in our footsteps by getting a youthwork job in Raheny. May he go onto greater things than us. Please continue to pray for us for strength as this is a time of sowing and reaping, exciting but tiring. Praise to the one who justifies us. here is to being in His hands.

Back from Kenya

So we have had an amazing time with the Living God in Kenya in seeing His creation. We saw Hippos, were chased by Rhinos and saw many Lions and even saw some at night hunt and eat cows and a dog.

We encountered Him in stillness and waiting and through His people, the Massai ladies who always educate us in the ways of Jesus. It was humbling to see grown women cry after they got a bar of soap and a small tub of vaseline, because God had heard their prayer for the little things.

We managed to get the well finished and signed off to the Massai widows, now they will be able to sell the water from it and grow crops such as potato and spinach so they can live on it and sell it.

I (Alex) got to teach through the book of Malachi, to a group of Pastors from different churches, which was a challenge and a huge blessing. I really grew through this trip, in patience, trust and faith in God and look forward to when we go back again. Alex

Yes so as Alex mentioned above we had an amazing time as always in Kenya :) We prayed about whether or not to take out a team and kept getting the answer that we were to just go without a team this time round. So we set off with Andrew (my brother) and his fiance Amy. The idea was to check up on how everything was going ie.the well, the women, the church and see what we could do in the future as future projects and see if we could set up stuff for teams to go out annually. We also wanted to network a bit more and meet more contacts and this would be more realistic to achieve without a team to have to watch over and organize. I have to say we really missed not having a team with us on this adventure but could totally see where God had his hand on everything and why we were to go on our own this time.

It was so nice to see the women again and see that they were all doing well. When we walked into Wilson airport and saw Charity it brought a smile to all our faces. And to hear all these Massai women calling our names, what a privilege to be able to walk into this place and feel like we were at home with them. We got to hang out with Charity, Nancy, Ann, Alice, Gladis and many more women. But how lovely to hang out with the ol faithfuls who have not forgotten us but have become our friends. We got to sit with many of them and hear their stories as we tried to take notes and account of their stories so we can share them with people in the future. As well as visiting with the Massai we got to hang out with people at church and also with Vera (we brought her the 1st yr we went to Kenya) and it was incredible to hear how she was doing as she is working at the Imani orhpanage for a few months. It really was a blessing to learn and listen to all these people who are doing incredible work out there in Kenya. We also got to meet quite a few people who are starting new churches and new ministries with Calvary Chapel churches in Kenya, so who knows where that will lead in the future.

We are already very excited and are dreaming about future plans and projects to bring teams on an annual basis so that they can part of it. So bring on the next trip :)

Right now we've been home for a week now and have been enjoying getting back into a routine with work and seeing friends and family. It's amazing how a trip to Kenya just makes you so grateful for the abundance of riches you have with our home, friends, family and lives here. We are so grateful for everyday that we have and the amount of stuff we have in that day in comparison to the Massai in Kenya. May God continue to meet their every needs. Linda Xo