I miss it. but thats not the end of the story

I miss it but...

I am determined not to miss out on life here in Calgary by dwelling on how much I miss Dublin. I know in my heart that I will go back so right now I am struggling to learn balance. I am struggling to LIVE here in Calgary, to invest in the people around me with out dwelling or worrying about Dublin. Its a struggle but one I am excited to see what God places in life here in Calgary. I am so blessed.

How can I not love that face and fall

But that's not the end of the story.

My life here is full, since coming home from Dublin I have seen God provide for me in every area I have had a need. I went from frantically panicking about having no job and bills to pay to having 3 jobs in a matter of a few weeks.

I desperately wanted a community to be apart of. I wanted it to be diverse, challenging and loving, a group who wasn't afraid to argue or be different. I can now happily say I am apart of a small group that is definitely all of these things and more than I would have dreamed for myself.

I wanted peace about life. I wanted to know that I am going down the right path and I can honestly say that although I have absolutely ZERO idea about what the future will look like I am at peace with where I am right now.

BUT

I miss it.

I miss the kids.

I miss the people at DCM

I miss the teens.

I miss the HARD times and the GOOD times.

I miss the city.

I miss my roommates.

I miss my church there.

I miss the laughs.

I just miss Dublin.

But I will keep looking at the Lord and thanking him for my incredibly blessed life.

Choose Life Kids

A secret about Snow

Alright I am about to share a secret with you all, and its a little scary for this self professed summer girl but I think that I am falling in love with snow. Mind you this love will only probably last until February but at least right now, snow is magical. There is something so peaceful about a fresh snowfall, all I want to do is sit in a warm room wrapped in blankets and by the light of candles and watch the snow fall. 

I stumbled across this poem today that I feel expresses my feelings about snow perfectly.

London Snow

BY ROBERT BRIDGES

When men were all asleep the snow came flying,

In large white flakes falling on the city brown,

Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,

      Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town;

Deadening, muffling, stifling its murmurs failing;

Lazily and incessantly floating down and down:

      Silently sifting and veiling road, roof and railing;

Hiding difference, making unevenness even,

Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing.

      All night it fell, and when full inches seven

It lay in the depth of its uncompacted lightness,

The clouds blew off from a high and frosty heaven;

      And all woke earlier for the unaccustomed brightness

Of the winter dawning, the strange unheavenly glare:

The eye marvelled—marvelled at the dazzling whiteness;

      The ear hearkened to the stillness of the solemn air;

No sound of wheel rumbling nor of foot falling,

And the busy morning cries came thin and spare.

      Then boys I heard, as they went to school, calling,

They gathered up the crystal manna to freeze

Their tongues with tasting, their hands with snowballing;

      Or rioted in a drift, plunging up to the knees;

Or peering up from under the white-mossed wonder,

‘O look at the trees!’ they cried, ‘O look at the trees!’

      With lessened load a few carts creak and blunder,

Following along the white deserted way,

A country company long dispersed asunder:

      When now already the sun, in pale display

Standing by Paul’s high dome, spread forth below

His sparkling beams, and awoke the stir of the day.

      For now doors open, and war is waged with the snow;

And trains of sombre men, past tale of number,

Tread long brown paths, as toward their toil they go:

      But even for them awhile no cares encumber

Their minds diverted; the daily word is unspoken,

The daily thoughts of labour and sorrow slumber

At the sight of the beauty that greets them, for the charm they have broken.

The Word

"The Word we study has to be the Word we pray. My personal experience of the relentless tenderness of God came not from exegeses, theologians and spiritual writers, but from sitting still in the presence of the living Word and beseeching Him to help me understand with my head and heart His written Word. Sheer scholarship alone cannot reveal to us the gospel of grace. We must never allow the authority of books, institutions or leaders to replace the authority of knowing Jesus Christ personally and directly . When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvicted and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited."

The Ragamuffin Gospel

Brennan Manning

HEATWAVE

If you haven't heard, Ireland is in the middle of a heat wave.

Beautiful day at the sea

It is the strangest experience I have ever been apart of, its not as hot as some places but its still just so hot. You cannot be inside because you will roast because no where has air conditioning and so you spend as much time as possible in the sun.

No complaints here, some of my best memories are being made in the sun these past two weeks.

We went to the sea

Swimming in a river

Had a huge water fight

Went on the slip and slide

and so much more!

Quick who is this?

Water fight in action

The sun drove us a little mad

Camps

Camp Set-Up

What can I say, its been a while since I blogged, yes I have been busy but I have also been avoiding this blog. You see, I am having one of the most amazing summers and I just don't know how to write about it.

I struggle with where to start, the campsite itself is beautiful and located in the famous Wicklow mountains, it has a forest to explore and adventure in. There is a field where we do the slip and slide, then there are the tents which are really more like houses that have the blood, sweat and tears of so many poured into them (a story for another time...).

Our "Bog" swing in the forest

Then there are the people, the leaders that I get to work with every week are incredible, they are so fully of life and love. They are inspiring to get to work alongside, the way that they just love the kids so unconditionally is really something so unique.

The beach during girls camp

Finally there are the kids and they are wonderful. Now I will be honest they do not always look like the "worlds" definition of charming and great, but they are. They are kids who can make you laugh for hours, they love fiercely and will teach you so much about courage and loyalty. They are really what makes everything work, camp is only wonderful because its a safe place for the kids to be for the week. Its a place where they get to meet and encounter God and its just so wonderful.


I have been so blessed this summer to be serving on the DCM camps, they are a place of safety, growth, love, encouragement, and so much more. It is an incredible experience and I can't wait to share more with you all.

We went the creative route during the sand-
castle competition... can you tell who this is?

Thank you for sticking with me even through my blogging lull.

Happiest place on Earth...

We love our accomadations for the weekend, our own rooms with showers, toilets
AND running water. What could be better!

Rock of Dunamaise

Last week I was extremely blessed to be taken away to a soul spa in the boring part of Ireland and let me tell you it has very quickly become my new favorite place.

sea the wonderland even had a magical
tree swing

A window in the ruins of a
old Abbey 

Grass paths through the garden
were like magic

Everyone thinks the most wonderful place
on earth is Disneyland, but really is Burtown
in Ireland

My new friend Gorgeous at the very
posh Durrow Castle

Castle Durrow

View from Rock of Dunamaise

New Must see places in Ireland.

A horse just for me!!!! Everyone please meet Chad, He's a
sweetheart with a bad rap as a bully.

There was even Liliacs on our soul spa weekend
away

Oh me, Oh my, A month has passed with no blogs....

Where do I even begin, it has been a whirlwind these past couple of weeks. Let me do a quick recap...

First we finished up the club season at the end of May and it was mayhem, seriously the last of my clubs was my most challenging. The kids just went crazy and honestly it took several days to process just all that happened. Thankfully after having fully discussed it as a group and with those wiser, we seem to have come to the conclusion that it was a compliment that the kids acted out in the ways they did that last week because it meant they were really going to miss us.

During the ends of clubs and up until now we have been madly rushing about trying to get ready for the camps that DCM is running this summer. I will be Jr. Teens camp, Sr. Girls, Jr. Girls, Family camp for the Markets area, and the Choose life camp. I am very excited for each of these camps but you cannot imagine all of the planning, training, physical labor, and stress that goes into doing camps for the summer.

End of Monday club Party

To say that we are all exhausted would be a understatement.

Especially since due to unfortunate circumstances I have been moving, rooms, beds, and couches for much of the past month due to some mold and plaster issues in my old room. Thankfully I have started to settle into a new room (and by settle I mean most of my clothes have made it in and I have slept there one or two times).



Thankfully my wonderful mentor is smarter than us all and planned a little weekend away in the country. Which was amazing, we didn't do as much "resting" as we thought we would but it was so much better. We laughed together, explored together, and just had a refreshing time, there was so much peace that accompanied our time away. It was a time for us to spend dedicated alone time with God as well as to foster better community amongst the interns that live in the building.

Off to the Ministry of Magic we go

Then because the Lord blessed me in ways you cannot imagine I was able to go on a once in a life time trip to London which was amazing beyond my wildest dreams. I cannot even begin to describe it in this blog or else you will be reading much much longer than you already have been.

However you are almost all caught up on life here in Dublin

The final bits are that everyone is now in a mad dash to make sure camp is ready to start a week from now. We spend yesterday spending some good quality time bonding as leaders of camp and today we spent doing some practical training for the low ropes coarse and zip line that we have down at camp.
It has been a busy but wonderful month full of so many blessings, times of laughter and exhaustion that cannot be expressed or captured in a blog. But I still want you readers to be apart of my life here because without your love and support I would not be here. So I cannot promise to blog more, but know that I am praying for you all and that I will try to get on here as much as possible.

Love you!

Ashley

Bective Abbey

A few weekends ago I was blessed with the opportunity to wander the countryside with a few wonderful ladies. We ended up at Bective Abbey for a chilly but perfectly Irish picnic with tea, cows, wind and laughter.

Also in case you were wondering, yes scenes of Braveheart were filmed here...

Liesel and Ashley

Roomy Alysia

Coolest Tree I have ever seen 

This is my new favorite place in Ireland.

Genesis to Revelation the Journey so far

I know long break, I have fallen behind in my blogging but I am working another post full of pictures to catch you up on whats been happening in my life here recently.

Today however I want to continue on with a topic that we started a while back about Who am I?

Several years ago I heard the Lord ask me how I could I knew who He was if I had never read it His word?

You see I hadn't really read my Bible properly before. I had read the verses the pastors asked us to read, or you know random chapters in the morning when I had quiet time. I had even read whole books at a time but my mind set was all wrong while I was reading.

I was reading because I thought that it was expected, or that I should or even just to say that I read the Bible. Some how I had disconnected God from His word in my mind. It wasn't that I didn't love God or have a deep faith, and I honestly have no clue how this happened but after God's prompting that I had never really read His word I knew that I had to go back to the beginning and get to know my God.

At the beginning I knew that reading the whole Bible would be a HUGE task however I felt prepared, whats a year out of my life (at the time I falsely believed that a year was a LONG time). So I started with a commitment in my mind that I would read each day and I would only read so long as I was paying attention. If when I came back the next day and didn't remember what I read the day before I would go back and reread it to make sure that I was really taking in as much as I could.

Since starting this journey its been probably four years and I will be honest and tell you I have not made it through the old testament yet, but I have a deeper knowledge of who God is then when I started. Through reading the Bible through at pace I am, I have gotten to know his character not just the Sunday school answers that He is loving, graceful, joyful, etc. but that He is complex and cant be summed up.

I wanted to share this because its a integral part of who I am, this journey to know my God has led me to get to know who I am because of him. I want to encourage anyone who actually reads this blog to read their Bible, it doesn't have to look like my journey but I want to challenge you Christians. How can you tell people about God when you don't know who He is, the Bible is the only concrete resource we have about him and if you haven't read it how can you tell others about Him.

Read your Bibles, in the long run you will not regret it. I promise it wont be easy, it will be boring sometimes, some days or weeks you will read the same passage and no remember or understand it however keep going. Get to know your God He is worth the time.

For those of you who are not Christians you have probably stopped reading by now but I want to encourage you to also read the Bible its a whole lot more interesting than you think. I also pray that you will get to know my God and how amazing he is.

Anyways have a great Monday

A peek inside...

I thought that I would give you a peek at what my week would look like if everything went according to the schedule that I received when I arrived at DCM.

Mondays

Outside of the mission

Prayer Meeting

Just ASK (homework club)- Primary and Secondary students come in during this time to work on their homework. This is a time when they can get help from the staff and volunteers that are around, as well there is some sort of meal provided for anyone who wants to partake.

Genesis- Is a christian club for children ages 3-6, during this time the kids will play games, do a craft, here a story, sing songs, etc.

Monday Club- This is also a Christian Club for primary aged students.

Tuesday

Just ASK

Wednesday

Just ASK- On wednesday this is a special day for homework club because we eat a larger meal in a more family like setting having everyone sit down and eat together. After eating together we play games for 30 minutes before the kids start their homework. 

Jr. Teens- Christian club for students aged 13-15.

Friday

Choose Life- is for 15+ year olds, this is also a Christian club

Sunday

We have recently started a Bible study for a few people who wanted one, we are looking more into the fruit of the spirit.

Also once a month there is a church service for the markets area (this is the area that I work in)

This is a very loose look at what my weeks look like, things are constantly moving around here. Life at DCM is never boring however, and truly at the end of every week I am excited to see what will happen the next week.

P.s. Just a heads up I still need to raise approximately $1500 so if you would like to help me reach this goal please contact me and I will give you more information. Thank you for all your praise and interest.

Unique

Identity

Who am I?

These are questions that people should be asking themselves? If you know me well you will know that Identity is a big deal to me. I want everyone around me to know who they are, where their strengths are, what areas do they struggle with things, to know their own worth and what God says about them. To know that they are loved, valued, and that they are not a mistake that they were created for purpose. 

Lately the question of Identity has been popping up in my head a lot, questions of what my identity is, and I have also felt a even more pressing desire help others to discover their own identities. 

I am reading a new book 'The me I want to be' by John Ortberg and its great please rush out and buy it. Even if you feel confident in your own identity, please read this book its beautiful and useful. 

I want to share one section from it, 

"As God helps you grow, you will change, but you will always be you.

An Acorn can grow into an oak tree, but it cannot become a rose bush.

It can be a health oak or it can be a stunted oak-- but it wont be a shrub.

You will always be you-- a growing, healthy you or a languishing you-- but

God did not create you to be anybody else. He pre-wired your temperament. 

He determined your natural gift and talents. He made you feel certain passions

and desires. He planned your body and mind. 

Your uniqueness is God-designed.

(page 15)

Something that I occasionally struggle with is that I want to be just like others, I want to be gentle like so and so, or I want boldness like that leader, or I want to be passionate about the homeless like so many others around me. The reality is that its not who I am, I can sure desire those things and sure I could change and develop aspects of those identities but who I am is not a mistake. I am meant to be who I am, I am meant to be passionate about Africa, I am meant to have a desire to fight for freedom from the lies the world tell us. I am wired, to be both shy and loud. God designed me to be me.

I am working on accepting all parts of my uniqueness and even better I am going to be actively looking for the God-designed uniqueness in my life. 

I am sharing all this with you because at one time I meant this blog to be a way for people to participate in my life. Well this is what I am doing with my life again, I am setting out on a quest to see what my identity in Christ is, to take all I know about who I am and reaffirm it. I am seeking to learn new things about my God and me, and I want people to join me. 

Promises

^1-7 “Get out of bed, Jerusalem!

    Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight.

    God’s bright glory has risen for you.

The whole earth is wrapped in darkness,

    all people sunk in deep darkness,

But God rises on you,

    his sunrise glory breaks over you.

Nations will come to your light,

    kings to your sunburst brightness.

Look up! Look around!

    Watch as they gather, watch as they approach you:

Your sons coming from great distances,

    your daughters carried by their nannies.

When you see them coming you’ll smile—big smiles!

    Your heart will swell and, yes, burst!

All those people returning by sea for the reunion,

    a rich harvest of exiles gathered in from the nations!

And then streams of camel caravans as far as the eye can see,

    young camels of nomads in Midian and Ephah,

Pouring in from the south from Sheba,

    loaded with gold and frankincense,

    preaching the praises of God.

And yes, a great roundup

    of flocks from the nomads in Kedar and Nebaioth,

Welcome gifts for worship at my altar

    as I bathe my glorious Temple in splendor

Isaiah 60 (Message translation)

Its been a busy month

St. Patrick's weekend the city was
lit up green.

I know you have all been eagerly awaiting photo's so here is a few from my first month in Dublin

We were just so excited to be standing in the cold cold rain for the parade

Beside a jail cell at Killmanen

Intern Road trip to Galway, go ahead look it up on a map...

A day to be tourists at Kilmannen Goal

Botanic Gardens in Belfast

Queens University in Belfast

Botanic Gardens