So Abbie and I had the pleasure of moving last Friday. We were thrust out of our quaint little home on Larkfield road, leaving the familiarity and safety of Sydenham behind us, and headed south for the mean streets of Belmont. Handshakes and shifty looks go out to Andrew Thomas McCann and James Peter MacPhee (or McMac Moving Mayham) for using their man muscles to capacity to help us wee girls lug all our stuff to the new place. It was touch and go for a minute there carrying the couch up the hill on James' back, but he pulled through. What a little trooper.
At first the thought of moving did not appeal to me in any way, Abbie almost cried when she first heard we had to go. But now that we're there I have to say that living less than a two minute walk to the church is the best thing ever. Plus the house is really nice. It's larger than the other one, has three bed rooms, and a gas range. The only problem is storage space. But really, I would live in filing cabinet with a family of staved gophers if it meant living so close to the church.
So here are pictures. The one with me in it is a picture of the dodgy alley right next to the Stormont Inn that we have to walk by to get home. Can you say, paramilitary activity boys and girls?

Dublin and a Haircut

Hiya

Last week was half term break so we decided to take a wee trip down south and visit Dublin. Not only was this my first venture to Dubs, but it was the first time I've been in Ireland proper. Sadly I did not get a stamp in my passport, because as everyone knows, the more stamps you have the better a person you are. Anyway, we got to the bus stop at 7:08am in order to get downtown and catch another bus at 8. This was our first mistake. It was way too early and we were all really cranky. I slept through a good portion of the 3 hr bus journey and when we arrived the weather was wet and miserable. It wasn't raining that hard really, but it was spitting all day and the sun never came out. That aside I love Dublin. The city has a great feel and an identity of its own that Belfast lacks. It was very trendy and felt a lot safer. I would very much like to take some more time there on a nicer day.

We saw the book of Kells, which was astounding. The detail and the intricacy is unbelievable. We went to Temple bar and St. Stevens Green and a few pubs. All in all it was a fun day.

And I got a haircut. Not in Dublin.

Tuesday night we went to the Duke Special concert. People back home probably haven't heard of him, but he's class. His actually name is Pete Wilson and he goes to CFC. I take care of his kids on a sunday - so we're pretty tight. He's got a very distinct sound and is a great performer. Check out his myspace at http://www.myspace.com/dukespecial

If anyone is interested check out Joey and James' myspace as well. They've got some pretty funny videos of us shaving Joey's head. Go to www.myspace.com/lpstanton and click on the links to them.

Happy Singles Awareness Day!!!

Hey everyone, I just noticed how long its been since I last posted anything. Just so you're not worrying, I am alive and well. We have a conference coming up this weekend which I'm doing catering for so I'll be pretty busy. And we're going dancing again on Friday. Since taking lessons we've learnt a bunch of moves that makes us look very impressive I must say. When I get home we all must go salsaing together.
Sorry this is so short but I have to go.
Love you all.

Salsa dancing and late nights

On friday night Abbie, Adam, James, Indya and myself went to our favorite spot, the Empire, and went Salsa dancing for the first time. The evening started out with a quick lesson (which I had to sit out because James wasn't quite ready to get on the dance floor without at least one drink in him). Then the floor was opened up to general dancing. It was so much fun. As you might expect there weren't enough guys to go around, but I did dance with both Adam and James (not to mention Abbie and INdya) which was great. But I have to say that my favorite partner of the night was a guy whoes name I never caught. Piret, a girl who comes to CFC who worked with me on Panto was there. She's a dance teacher and had a bunch of her dance teacher friends with her. I said hey, and we chatted a bit and I told her how much fun it was to watch her dance so well with her partner. That was all she had to hear and she went straight over to him and told him that I wanted a dance with him. He led me out onto the floor and I had the time of my life. Even though I had never done it before because he was such a good leader it seemed so effortless to actually dance well. We were spinning and moving all over the place. I was dissapointed when the song ended but I did grab him one more time right before we left. Any boys who are reading this take note: guys who can dance well and are strong leaders are very VERY sexy. And you have the pick of pretty much any girl in the room. Learn how to dance. You want to sweep a girl off her feet, I tell you that is a good way to do it. Now Piret is offering us interns free latin dance lessons. Our first one is on monday. I'm so stoked. I even bought a new jacket and skirt for the night, and if you'll refer to the pictures, yes those are heels I'm wearing. We didn't actually get any shots of us at the Empire, those are all of us at home afterwards. We stayed up until 4:30am that night eating and talking. It was so good.

You can run, you can hide, but you can't escape my love...

I know I've been remiss at updating this thing lately, and I extend my apologies to all my faithful readers. I could blame it on being busy but that would be a filthy lie. The real reason is that I've finally given in and have starting using myspace. Don't fear, I will still be updating old bloggy here, but the novelty of myspace (now that I've figured out how to use it) is still fresh and exciting.
If anyone is interested here is the address
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=109431421
And hey, if you have a myspace add me as a friend. So far I only have like 12 and they're all my friends here so it's a little pointless.

Okay, as for the happenings here over the past few weeks...
My camera has arrived. Woot Woot!!! It is so sexy. I'm still learning how to use it properly but the pictures it takes are absolutely amazing. Here are some pictures of Adam and I making some home-made sushi. (It's no 33b, but it was still pretty darn good.)




In church we've started a series on Nehemiah. We've gone through the first 3 chapters and looked at how God put a passion in his heart (to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem), then God impressed on him to take action, then how he actually had to step out and do the work. You know how in your life you hear a few sermons that will always stick with you? Well these are it for me. Ever since I've gotten here I've been challenged on what Christian’s role is in social action. Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom of God on earth, and for a very long time I thought that meant getting as many people as possible to say the sinners prayer and get 'saved', to see how many people you could sign up for the club. I've come to believe that he was talking about much more than that. I don't mean to downplay the importance of each individual making a personal commitment to Christ - that is the only path to salvation I believe, but I think the concept of the kingdom of heaven on earth has more to do with feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and standing up for the oppressed than I have realized in the past. As westerners even the least of us has been given so much, and I believe we will be held accountable to that. What will we do with the resources we have been given? What legacy we leave after we're gone? I've heard it said that the Clinton era of the US will be judged in history by what it did not do in Rwanda and what it did not do about the aids crisis in Africa. Do we as the body of Christ want to be judged by what we did not do in the time given to us? By what injustices we let stand? Or by how many people we let starve? I know we can't help everybody, but I believe that we all have the responsibility to do what we can to see God glorified in the earth.
These have been the thoughts that I've been wrestling with lately. Please post your comments and let me know what you think. And please pray for me that God would sort all these things out in my life and that I would be moved to action.

North Coast Retreat

Hi all,
I've just gotten back from our third retreat. We went up north to Whitpark Bay Youth hostel just up the road from Giants Causeway. It was a really good 2 days with just the Equip interns, then we moved on to Bushmills Youth Hostel to meet up with YWAM and Sword of the Spirit interns for the next few days. The retreat content itself was really good - I'll post more about that later. We ended up going to Giants Causeway twice in two days, and just in case you haven't had your fill of my Giants Causeway pictures yet, here are some more.
At one point Nathan, Peter, and James were standing at the end of the causeway and a huge wave came up over the edge and completely engulfed them. They all grabbed onto each other so none of them were ripped out to sea (thank goodness) but they were totally drenched.
It was a really good time.
Oh ya, interesting news, I bought a Canon Rebel XT DSLR camera. I'm so excited, but extra broke now. It's 8 mega pixels, comes with two lenses (including a wide angle and a macro), two tripods, and a bunch of other stuff. Ooh, the excitement. I wont get it for a few weeks still but when I do I am going to have so much fun!

Happy 2007

O' Lord the waves cry out your name
And the trees bow before you.
The animals sing your praise
And the flowers release your fragrance

O' God you are Lord of heaven and earth.
Your presence fills every inch of this land.
Like rain your presence seeps into the ground.

The stars speak of your holiness.
The clouds declare your gentle hand.
The storm rages with your jealousy,
And the lightening crashes with your power.

You are in all places.
You dwell among all nations.
None escape your gaze, and all are known to you.
If men fail to sing of your goodness and speak of your love,
The rest of creation would burst to try to describe your glory.

But never let it be that the privilege of men becomes the duty of rocks.
Let it never be that the painting can’t recognize the artist.
Let it never be that the bride turns her back on the groom.
God, stir in her heart and put a new song on her lips.
Renew her passion for him.
Let her reflect his light.

Lord you presence fills this land like water fills the sea.
Your breath blows through this place like the wind blows on the hilltop.
May your name be praise in every nation by every tongue.
O' God you are the Lord of heaven and earth.