This is my home.

The center building in all it's glory.

This is my home. Let me tell you a little about this 3 story home on Lawrence Hill. It's an interesting story so far. I hope your intrigued.

I began looking for listing of private accommodations in L'Derry in the middle of June and I saw this home posted. The pictures I saw first were of the interior and it seemed really nice. It was on the top of my interest list. Then the posting disappeared or I stopped looking for a while. I'm not sure. But I lost track of it.

A short time later I was looking to really figure out what I was doing for housing and I had finally found this again. This time I saw the exterior and loved it. I began emailing the property manager. Out of 5 listings I was inquiring about this property was the only one where the manager continued past my first barrage of questions and had interest. He was on top of his responses. It all looked great.

I'm here. I'm alive. I'm trusting my Faithful Lord.

Hi all. This isn't like most of my blog posts. It's maybe a little more gloomy. But to connect you all with where I am here goes...

Lessons I've learned so far in Northern Ireland:

1. Life with out socks is no longer an option for me.

2. I may give up coffee for tea because it just isn't the same... it's a dreadful thought to me though.

3. I need shoes will amazing grip because the hills are steep here and when ice comes I don't want to break my neck.

4. God is absolutely amazing and faithful and my source of strength.

I'm really sorry that there has been such a lack of communication. It is a huge adjustment being here. And it's been really really rough actually. Traveling without my own computer is incredibly tough! I didn't realize how connected to technology I am.

The first two days with I was with my friend Sam and they were great. I was able to see some friends and hang out along the beach the very first day.  Then things went a bit downhill. I moved into my new home and it was very dirty and cold. I can overcome the dirt. The people in the house are actually great and I'm going to have an interesting time with them. But soon my credit cards were put on hold so I had to sort that out. Plus I dropped my phone in Sam's car and didn't realize it until he'd left Derry. So I had no phone to call anyone including the bank. There is a local hotel that I could access the internet but it is £1 for 10mins and 10 mins is not much time to get A LOT sorted out. The internet in my flat was not working at all for my housemates either and until I am registered at school I can't get online there either. I felt sort of stranded. I feel sort of stranded still. But God is proving faithful and provides.

This is a hard adjustment. A lot more than I thought.

Yesterday was the first day of school for the orientation and I really sort of felt sick when I was meeting with the people in the program. I feel like I am really far advanced in comparision to the work the past few years students have produced. And I am the only student who has worked professionally. I have to remember though that coming into this I considered school to only be 30% of my reason in Northern Ireland. I'm hoping that the slight isolation I'm feeling with the program will disappear as I really begin classes. I'm praying for guidance on it all.

I know, I know, I know, God has placed me here for a reason, but I do find myself desiring to be in Coleraine and not Derry as Coleraine is where most of my friends are. But I need to live life where I am placed. I just feel like I am being really struck by opposition.

What has been amazing though is the community of Causeway Coast Vineyard. I was able to make it  church on Sunday and I saw many old friends and met many new ones. I really felt alive walking through Coleraine and into the church. As I was able to chat with people, immediately help was being offered to me in ways I couldn't have expected. There are also a few families from CCV who live in  Derry and last night was their weekly small group. I met with them and this group is immediately helping me feel settled. They are so eager to help in practical matters and spiritual.  It's amazing to me that community can feel so disconnected and then connected at the same time. 

God is whisphering truths to me everyday and is showing His spirit everywhere. But the struggle still abounds. This is a lot and it all sounds disjointed. I apologize. I don't know how to express my thoughts right now.

Please pray.

-Katie

It's time.

Today has been a day of remembering for our entire nation. September 11. A day that is forever imprinted into our minds. On that, I would never have imagined that I would be were I am. But here I am, my final day in the United States.

Ten years ago, I was beginning my third week of my Freshman year at Point Loma Nazarene University. It was a Tuesday morning and I had a 7:30am Old Testament history class. In you have ever been in a college dorm, any time before 8:00am means a nearly silent hall building as everyone is still asleep. This morning was different.  Girls were scurrying in slippers and pajamas into the lounges. There were people on phones all over the place. As I walked through the dorm, running a bit late for my class, I thought the scene was odd, but I kept going. Outside was more strange activity. There were cars with groups of people gathering around one radio to hear the news. But I was late and I kept going. I sat through OT History with some friends and then we went to breakfast. Partially through my meal, televisions were rolled into the room. That's when we saw the unbelievable. In real time I watched the second plane hit the towers. Was this really happening?

And now 10 years later, I am asking the same question. Is this really happening?

Tomorrow I board the plane to head overseas. Since August 4, 2010 when I de-boarded the plane in Phoenix that had left Northern Ireland, I have asked myself, "Can I go back?" and "When will I go back?" And it's here. It's really here. Tomorrow I go back to Northern Ireland

My stomach is full of butterflies. My mind is full of questions. My heart is full of anticipation. It sort of feels like 10 years ago, but so much better. What's better- the fear is replaced by peace.

Yes. This is really happening. My next post will be from Northern Ireland.

Be still and know

It's been a looong time since updated this blog... Okay not a terribly long time. Not months and months. But when details of life are changing so rapidly, it seems like it has been a very long time.

It's been highlighted in the last three weeks that I don't know the meaning of relax and I desperately need to learn that. Am I alone in this? Does anyone else not know how to relax? But I thought it had been justified since it was the final three weeks before departing Phoenix and there was a lot to accomplish.  But I think I was wrong. Very wrong.

Tuesday, I boarded a plane leaving Phoenix to head to Boston. I'll be in Boston until next Monday when then I'll get start the journey to Northern Ireland. But until then, the past two days have been a crash course (pun intented) of relaxation in Boston. Yes because I finally made it through maybe the toughest 3 weeks I've had yet in the areas of sleep, emotions, and stress and I'll I can do is crash. The sleep I haven't had in 2 months and especially 3 weeks is catching up to me big time.

But why so tired? Because I can't stop. I wanted to spend time with as many people as I possibly could before I left. Yet, while doing that, I still needed to pack & clean my apartment, move out, wrap up loose ends, finish up at work, pack suitcases (4x), make phone calls..... And I had a very hard time deciphering when to stop.

Now I sit on the couch in my brother and sister-in-laws home in Quincy, MA. I hear the cats crying in the bathroom to escape. It's raining. I'm in sweat pants and long sleeves enjoying the cool weather. It's 12:15 am and I should be asleep but I feel the need to reflect back on the time I've had.

Always have I been a go getter, and always will I be. It's in me. In fact, just a few days ago I was staying with my parents and it was a Saturday morning. I had been awake since 7am and it was then 10:30 when I stepped out of the house to clean out my car. As I walked back in, my mother called me into her bedroom where she was still in bed reading. "Do you know, that ever since the day you were born, you and I have had this fight?" "What fight Mom?" "The fight that you wake up and are AWAKE and ready to go. No easy, slow waking up. You just move straight into getting stuff done. I want to wake up slowly and you never let me." "Um. Sorry." Though I didn't know how to respond really, I knew it was and is true. I've always felt like I wanted to get the most out of my time. This can be a great thing and it can get me in over my head. Haha. I've been over my head way too many times to count.

In the past year, as I've prepared myself to move to Northern Ireland, I've had to ask myself, but more importantly ask God, "Am I in too deep? Is this too much?" But each time I have, I've been reassured by the peace of God. The peace of God is the absolute best feeling in the world.

Going to Northern Ireland means many, many changes for me, but it also means changes for others too possibly. I am seeing so many opportunities arise out of this calling for me to leave Phoenix to impact the life of others for Christ. In saying goodbye to a friend, I was finally able to share God's love to a friend who had for 3 years shut me down at the slightest mention about him. On my plane ride to Boston, I was able to pray the passenger seated next to me about a baby girl. If I look at this move to Northern Ireland as something that is about me. I am so sadly mistaken.

I've committed to making this blog a source to be very honest about my life. In total transparency, the last few weeks I've been very mistaken. I have run myself ragged because I wanted to get things done that were about me. I've spent time with God, but time that has been marked by exhaustion from doing other stuff.

As my mother said that we'd always had the same fight, tonight I hear God saying the same thing. We always have this struggle where I want to keep going but he wants me to be still. "Be still and know that I am God" Psalms 46:10.

If you read this blog, I pray that you, like I, can take the time to really stop and to relax in the presence of God so that we may hear his voice and be filled with his presence. Pray for me as I am 3 days from boarding the plane to Belfast and then I'm onto Derry.