Deposit is paid.

Well we got a phone call from the agents today to say the deposit is in. So we're just awaiting the survey which will be early next week and then we'll get the contracts. So it's getting closer and closer to the full sale of the house. In another matter, Alex is not well this week. He was up till 4am this morning throwing up and doubled over in pain. He has been sick since tues morning so we went to the doctors today and he had his bloods taken. So we're awaiting results but the doctor thinks it might be gall stones. So please do pray for him as he's in a lot of pain.

We just agreed with our buyer!!

Ok we've sale agreed....it's all mad. we're so excited and so grateful to God for being so faithful and again blowing our minds. He's gone ahead again and against the market trend and sells our house in a month after going on the market, when all the professionals said it would take at least 3mths to sell. Now we just need to wait for contracts but the buyer is putting the deposit down tomorrow. I can't believe it's all happening. It's exciting but strange all at the same time. Xo

More news....

Oh my goodness this is all happening so fast. We got the first offer yesterday at 12.45 the second offer today at 1pm. And at 4pm we got the final offer from the same guy. God is brilliant now we just really need to pray and seek him over this weekend about whether we accept or not. Please pray for us that we get a peace about the whole thing. It is still a good bit under the asking price but an answer to prayer all the same. Thank you Lord!!

Another day, another offer!!

Praise God within 24hrs we have another offer. We're getting there. Our God will supply all our needs!!! Keep praying.

The ball has started to roll.....

Well we have had an answer to prayer. That guy we asked you to pray about well he has come back today with an offer. Now he has given a cheeky offer but that starts the ball rolling. Praise God we were only praying this afternoon about it and 20mins later we get a call from our agents saying an offer has been put in. She said herself it was a crazy offer and that he was really under cutting us but it was a start. So please keep those prayers up. We just want a fair price but it's so cool as God answered our prayers today so He has again reminded that He has us in his hands and everything is in control.

House update

The viewer that we had who came for a second viewing has said that he MAY (please Lord!!) come back with an offer this week, so do pray. Also we had a couple that came to view it last saturday and have said that they might come back for a second viewing and they have a mortgage approved already. So keep praying people. Thanks for being in this with us. Xo

More news

This is Adeline one of the teens from Grace youth group and this is one the games we had. How many pegs can you get on a face!! Top score was 60 on one of the lads but our camera died. check out some pics on our flickr box over on the side.


Hey everyone lots happening. Please keep praying as apparently one viewer who has seen our house twice now is rumoured to be making an offer next week!!! This is not completely guaranteed but looks hopeful. Thanks for all your prayer but please keep them up.

Since the last time we blogged lots has happened. Through negotiations with a church here in Cork they are going to help us to support us finiacially to help us run our college group and train some leaders. Alex will be a guest speaker once a month which is an exciting new direction for him. I have been meeting with the college student girls and will be meeting them again tomorrow at UCC.

Things are going really well at Grace and we are shopping for bean bags, pillows, cushions, hot chocolates and a cows tongue etc as we look to study James 3 with the teens on Sunday morning.

We've been down here now for 2 1/2wks and it's been GREAT! Although there is a little part of us that is looking forward to getting back to our own place in Dublin and catching up with friends. Alex said he's looking forward to sleeping in a real bed as 2 1/2wks on an air matress in the attic has it's limit :) Thanks for all your support and encouragement keep letting us know how your all doing. Leave a comment or email us to tell us how you are.

Linda & Alex Xo

Update from the South

Well time is passing by quickly and we are now here over a week. So much has happened, we have great times getting to know the leaders and teens at Grace more and are looking forward to a fun night tomorrow night as we take the evening for the youth group there. We are having a Winter Olympics evening so it will involved frozen t-shirts, bowling with frozen chickens, water guns and night lights, which victims oh I mean volunteers will hold over their head and lots of games involving ice. Oh fun fun fun. It's been a great week for catching up with friends and tomorrow I (Linda) am heading to UCC to meet with 7 college students (all girls) to talk and dream about what we can do together as a group to encourage, grow and journey together. As we mentioned before there is such a hunger down here and I have been meeting up with a few college students individually but now this is the first time where they have gotten a group together from various churches and backgrounds that I'll meet and talk about how I can help them etc. So excited and of course a little nervous as I want to really share God with them more and help disciple so they can reach out to many around them. So please pray that God gives me the words tomorrow as I meet with these girls because without him at the centre of this it is empty.

In house news we found out today that another house in our estate has just gone up for sale. We were gutted when we heard this as this house is gorgeous and is so modern and has everything. So much more than ours. So after a lot of panic and Oh we are doomed!!! We realized that we are so human and like everyone in the Bible when at the first sign of opposition or hard ship we run, run, run. Thank goodness for reflection times and a word from God reminding us to have faith ;) Also a few things have come up and a little battle is looming so please pray for us at this time that we will remain focused and not take things as a personal attack. We don't want to put it on a blog but God knows the story. Drop an email if you want our prayer requests as we really need to send one soon anyway.

So here we are again realizing that he has it under control and we just can't see the bigger picture right now. So what we can see is what a blessing it is to be here sharing in the lives of so many from different churches and having the privilage of being part of their journey with God for this time. We have been really encouraged by particular people that we are trying to train and have really been blown away by their trust, love and faith in us (little do they know hehehe). Seriously though it's times like this when things are hard that you have to collect your golden nuggets and make those markers to remind you of ALL that God is doing. As he sure is working.

Starting to settle in.

We really enjoyed this week and are beginning to settle here in Cork. We had a good leaders meeting at Grace on thurs eve and we looked at their Spiritual gifts with them. Everyone involved seemed to enjoy the night and were made aware of the gifts that God has given them, something that will help Linda and i to taylor roles appropriate to their giftings for each of them.

We taught on Sunday morning and it went very well, we looked at faith and deeds in James 2 and the teens really engaged in the discussion and opened up to the challenge and application in an exciting way.

We also went bowling and for food with the leaders on sunday night and had a great laugh with them. Also got some watersking done on sat and saw Munster play on sat night which was great.We just need the house to sell so we can make our move permanent, so please keep praying as we feel it might be close now. We will keep you up to date as time goes bye, but for now take care and God bless.

Off to Cork again

Well we're heading to Cork tonight (wed 31st Oct). We'll be down there for two weeks and will be meeting with the leaders from Grace and starting our training with them and also will be meeting with some college students and some church leaders. We are looking forward to catching up with everyone again and to seeing where God continues to lead us.

More House News

Another buyer viewed the house today and afterwards told the estate agent that she liked the home and has the money to buy. She also viewed 2 other properties which fitted her needs and she wants to go away and make up her mind as to which one she wants. Please continue to pray that if this is the person to buy our house that things might move into place to make this a reality. God has been so faithful to us, providing a blessing of a 2 day conference called the Global Leaders Summit which has nourished us and blown our minds in terms of inspiration and ideas. THANKS FOR ALL THE PRAYERS AND SUPPORT. THANK YOU WE CAN REALLY FEEL IT.

Pray, pray, pray

We have just found out that people who came to view last sat are going to do their figures and get back about a 2nd viewing. The only problem is that they are looking at other properties. Please pray that this might be the buyer or that the buyer would come soon.

Just one of those weeks

Do you ever feel at times that someone is sticking pins in you. It's just been one of those weeks where it seems like everything is going wrong. We got back from Cork on Wednesday evening and the plan was to relax, re-focus and just spend some peaceful time reading and spending time with God. Right well that was the plan but instead since we've come back it's just been one stressful thing after another and no peacful times whatsoever. It just feels like a couple of digs keep coming every so often during each day we've been back. Please pray that we will just be able to have that time as we feel it's crucial for our work in Cork. We have a lot to plan and direct but we need God's insight and wisdon on a few decisions so we need that time out. On the good side we had another viewing this morning (sat) so that makes it 13different parties in 2wks that have viewed our property. We just need that one buyer, God has been so faithful in getting the people in. Let's see what happenes...................

Back in the big smoke!!

It is hard to get back, we are by the fire and already sick of Dublin traffic, and at a bit of a loose end, although we're looking forward to a time of study and reflection. We had a great week in Cork, playing capture the flag indoors last friday, meetings with people re:mission possibilities, lots of different church leaders and even a radio programme for youth possibility.

On wed we attended a day of seminars for people in leadership at Grace, very refreshing and solid, Nick parks from Drogheda, talked on the power of the Blood of Jesus and how it is often taken out of context. He also did a section on conflict resolution and forgivness in leadership and Tom the pastor at grace spoke on being culturally relevant in Ireland. We're still waiting for an answer to prayer re:the house, but know the Lord has it in his hands.

On reflection of our time in Cork it was exciting to see 12 leaders joining us as volunteers to help us at Grace with the youth there. They seemed passionate and ready to begin discipling and hanging out with the teens there. We have the privilage of training these leaders and look forward to that very much.

Will keep you updated as we go, thanks for continuing to support and encouraging us.

Another week goes by

Well another week has gone by here down in Cork and what a great week it has been. We have had great meetings with church leaders, youth leaders and college students and are slowly but surely getting the bigger picture of what is happening and what is not happening here in ministry in Cork. It has been an eye opener but with that has brought excitement as we wait and see what God does. Many more doors have opened and we are loving the networking part at the moment.

In other news our work for Grace is well under the way and this week confirmed 6 more leaders which we have taken on to train making the total to be 12 leaders that we will train up over the next while. We had our first Grace youth leaders meeting on thursday night and we were very encouraged by it. Not everyone could make it but you will see who was there in the photo below. There is a great sense of excitement and challenges ahead but we have a GREAT group to do it with. We also had youth group last night at Grace and had a great time of fun with the teens and we had two of the new youth leaders there as well. It is exciting times and God has been so gracious by going ahead of us the whole time.

We have a meeting with Lee Valley Church (Baptist church) next week to talk about the possibility of working for them in training leaders as well and building up a college group. We are also in the process of dreaming & recruiting for a college group to start here in Cork that will just be for anyone from any church. So if you haven't sensed is already we are quite excited as to what is unfolding before us but as always it is never that simple as we still wait for a buyer for the house. We have an open viewing in our house today again from 1-2 so hopefully/God willing we will get a buyer in time. We'll update you again soon & will see some of you back in Dublin next week. We get back on the 18th.



The new team at Grace youth group (we're missing 3 people that couldn't make it)

Settling In

It is hard not to get caught up in things here. On friday night I(alex) was at a rugby match and may even have been spotted wearing a Munster jersey(allegedly), there is a photo rumoured to be doing the rounds of me standing in a sea of red supporters not looking too out of place.

In other news things are progressing nicely in Grace, we got back to what we love to do on sunday morning when we spent time discipling a group of teens, looking at the first chapter of James, we came away buzzing, was so good. We also got to meet with some of the volunteer leaders which was great and we really felt that those meetings were beneficial.

This week we have a meeting with the Leaders of the church, we are meeting other leaders from around Cork to begin to get the big picture of all thats happening and we have youth group on Fri night, leaders meetings and just hanging out with teens.

Tomorrow and wed are our days off which is great, Andrew and I are going for some much needed wakeboarding time in the warm irish sea and on wed I am taking my beautiful wife for some dinner and a movie which should be nice.

Anyway just another quick update, will try to get more photos up soon in the meantime take care and God bless.

Arrived in Cork

Ok so we've been in Cork for one day now and we feel like already so much has happened. Officially even though we're not there apparently the sign has gone up on our house, so it's all in God's hands now. Please keep praying we can sell. Alex has been out working with my dad and will tomorrow as well which has been great as it brings in a bit of cash which is well needed at this stage. Today I met with Ciara from Grace and we chatted through a few things for meetings coming up this week so we're quite eager to get going there. I also got to hang out with my mum for a couple of hours of nice quality time (which is long overdue at this stage). I also got to visit the new SU bookshop (Christian bookstore) which has opened here in Cork and where they also have a coffee shop next door to it. I got to meet the people in charge of both and introduce myself and let them know what they're doing there. They are quite keen on meeting and chatting further about what's happening in Cork. Overall for one day there was great networking going on. And to confirm the move I found out today that 2 more churches want to meet with us as our names are coming up in conversation. God is opening so many doors and is allowing us to walk right in and meet so many. I can't help feeling this is the calm before the storm before the battle really begins. But thank God for this really encouraging time and a time where he is showing us so much and allowing us still to enjoy everything without getting too busy. Just wanted to let you know a little of what's happening.

The outlook for the next few days is as follows ~
Thursday ~ Alex working, Linda networking, Dinner with youth leader in Grace

Friday ~ Meeting with two youth leaders from Baptist church to talk about monthly leaders meetings

Saturday ~ Meeting with all the youth leaders from Grace to plan out from now till Christmas

Sunday ~ Church at Grace and small group with teens

We're hoping to meet with all the youth leaders from Grace indiviually as well over the next week so looking forward to that.

Answer to prayer

Oh my goodness God is mad. (In a good way).So we went to Alex's graduation today (Sun) and afterwards someone came up to ask us if we were going to the leadership conference and we said we didn't know as we were trying to work on funds etc and they said they had two tickets with our names on it. Isn't God amazing. His provision never ends. We really wanted to go but honestly had no money for it and the next day after we post it and ask people to pray we're told that there are two tickets for us. Thank you for your prayers those of you that prayer and THANK YOU GOD for your never ending love. Xo

Prayer Requests

Ok just wondering if you can be praying for us. A few things are going on, our house is officially going on the market on Wednesday when the sign goes up out front and the add goes in the paper on Thursday making it all real. So appreciate prayer for a buyer and a miracle in the current market. Also there is a leadership conference coming up in October that we would love to go to but at the moment can't afford. It's 75euro each!! I know it will be beneficial but at the moment we don't have all our funds coming in so we can't splash out. So if you could pray that if we're meant to go it will all work out and if not then that will be cool too. We know things will look up but need prayer for provision and patience. This is a growing time and we feel we're stepping out in faith and know that God will provide. So if you could just keep us in prayer over the next while we would really appreciate it. God is great and we are really feeling his hand over us. Thanks for your support.

What a week!!!

Just to write a short note to let you know how our week went. We have spent the last 7days straight working on our house. We have painted the entire house inside and outside, cleaned every area, polished, re-decorated and then to top it all of my dad (Linda) and my brother came up and in two long days put a huge decking area out our back and put in gravel and plants to set the tone. We have Sherry Fitz (estate agents) coming tomorrow to take photos so they can put out brochure together next week. This is making it so much more real, it's mad really. The plus side is we have a brilliant house to live in until it sells, if it sells, but it's all in God's hands and that is such a great re-assurance. So we'll keep you posted. We are so grateful for my dad and my brother for doing incredible work over the weekend and we have Paddy, Naomi, Lynda, Andy & Stan who all gave up their free Sunday afternoon to come down and help us with some final bits of cleaning. You guys are great!! Thank you again. I'll put up some photos over the next few days so you can see the transfomation that has taken place. Those of you that have seen & been in our place will understand the amazing transformation that has taken place for those that haven't seen or been check out the old pics verses the new ones. I'll end it here as we're wiped and I need to sleep.