mark + ange guinn

So we finally secured our townhouse.  It actually happened last Tuesday, but it’s taken me until today to finally post about it!  It’s called a 3 bedroom townhouse, though it’s a bit more like a 2 bedroom townhouse with a big closet with a bed in it.  The 3rd bedroom is SO small!  (Kara, this makes me think of you every time I walk into it!)  We found out today that we’re being given a piano for free that’s being delivered tomorrow.  I’m so excited to have a piano in our house.  I didn’t think it would be possible, but God has provided us with yet another gift.  He continues to blow us away.

So here are some pictures of our new place.  There is a lot of yellow paired with some yellow leather furniture.  It may take some creativity to make the space match our personality, but I think we can come up with something.  The bones of the place are wonderful!  Here goes…

our lovely house number

from the outside

living room/patio/garden

the dining table

the wee fridge/freezer

We’re going to be moving into our new home tomorrow.  Let the nesting begin!

This week has turned out to be a rather busy one.  Wednesday Mark and I decided to head to Ikea in Belfast as we wanted to get some things for our new place (which we’ve still not moved into but do have keys for) and I needed to get some fabric for my class.  We took the bus from our bus station to Belfast’s Europa Bus Station, then hopped off and walked a few blocks to where you catch the city buses.  It was a lovely day and we had a good bit of fun being in the city, even if the bus did take about 2.5 times longer than being in a car.  And it wasn’t cheap.  We packed a bit of lunch and ate while we were waiting for the city bus.

catching the bus

We had a fun first trip to Ikea.  Mark didn’t realize there were 2 floors to experience, so that made for a bit of a shock.  But all in all, it was a good time.  Thanks, Ikea.

Yesterday we went back to Belfast, this time with Campbell and Kristy.  They kept telling us about St. George’s Market and what a fun place it is.  So they took us.  It was a great experience, I have to admit.  There were lots of vendors selling fun food and all kinds of crafts.  I bought some linen woven by Herman and his wife.  Can’t wait to come up with something great to make out of it!

kristy, campbell & mark in front of st. george

cheese, olives and other goodies

herman the linen-maker

That’s all for this post.  I’ll do my best to keep them coming!

God has been so good to us so far.  I don’t want to make it sound like it’s been all roses – we’ve had struggles and everything hasn’t been easy, but MAN He’s taken care of us.  He’s been extravagantly kind.  For example:

• Traveling with a guitar is a real pain.  If you check it, there’s a good chance it will be damaged or handled badly.  If you try to carry it on, you get dirty looks from attendants and security folks, and you have no guarantee they’ll let it on the plane (if not, they’ll just gate-check it).  We decided to try to carry our guitar on, and it went amazingly smooth.  They even told us that there probably wouldn’t be room on the flight from Chicago to Dublin and they were right – but the flight attendant was not only polite, but she allowed me to put my guitar in the captain’s garment closet!  It sounds like a small thing, but it’s not small in the midst of the stress of travel.
• We asked God to lead us to the right place to live.  The first day we went out looking for apartments we found 4 places that would have worked.  The one we chose is so great – $360/month under budget and three bedrooms instead of two, plus a BEAUTIFUL location.  We can easily sleep 3 guests – 5 if we rearrange a bit and someone sleeps on the couch.
• We asked God for the right car.  After a lot of looking on the internet, Campbell took us around and the first car we looked at was the one.  We looked at some others but nothing was even close.  The salesman was really helpful, the car is great for us, and once again it was significant under what we budgeted.
• We then went to get an insurance quote and were shocked that it was going to more than the car (because we’re Americans).  A couple days later, we stumbled on to a little publicized fact: you can go to AAA and get an International Drivers Permit for $15.  This isn’t anything special – just a translation of the state license – but it makes a big deal with insurance companies…like a 70% off type of difference.
• He’s led us to several things we can do to meet people outside of the church in really natural ways.

A lot of these things don’t sound like a big deal.  I don’t think that God miraculously revamped the UK insurance system on our behalf.  The miracle is that people as foolish and weak as we are can figure this stuff out! The miracle is just this strange sense of God’s favor and favor with those with who He brings us into contact.

There is so much power in seeing God’s work in things that could be explained away, and being thankful. So we just want to publicly say it: Thank you, Lord!  You are SO good to us!

Mark and Ange

We’ve wanted to post a good number of times in the last week.  Yeah, we’ve been here a whole week!  Anyway, we’ve had the hang-up of not having the internet readily available.  Campbell and Kristy have it at their house, but it’s been down since a day or two before we arrived.  But we’re up and running again and are glad to finally get to pass on a word to you all.  Or you both, however you want to put it.

I especially love seeing pictures on blogs I follow, so I’ll give you a few right now.

we finally made it!

my favorite boy outside the dublin airport

We’ve been plenty busy since we got here.  Last Thursday, we walked down to town (down is bad, up is worse!) and visited a few estate agents about open apartments.  We went to look at 1 apartment, 1 house and 2 townhouses.  When we walked in the last place, Mark and I knew that was where we wanted to live.  It’s a lovely townhouse right by Strathern Manor, an old manor house that is used for something.  Very informative, I know.  We won’t get to move in until early next week, but when we do, you’ll get more details and some pictures.  We also went to a bank and learned just how difficult it is to get a bank account on a missionary visa.  (We finally got the account started today.)  We met lots of people, went to a Dublin Gospel Choir concert and a Youth Day service at the Catholic church.  Yesterday we went shopping for a car and found one straight off that was an answer to prayer.  It won’t be ready for us to pick up until early next week either, but we’ve got one coming.  It will be nice to have our own transportation.  Unfortunately, the estimate for car insurance for the year is higher than the price of the car!  Maybe it will be different when we come to buying it.  We shall see.

Before my favorite bit of news of the week…another picture break.

the beautiful welcome to newcastle

our only sunny day

the lovely view of the town from the street in front of campbell’s house

So last night, the four of us went to the GLEE SINGERS practice!  Kristy told us about the community theater a while ago and Mark and I weren’t sure about whether or not we could handle going.  But last night, we did, and we had quite a bit of fun.  The rehearsal was 2 1/2 hours long, which was about 1 1/2 hours too long.  And the whole time, we worked on 1 song.  But we did get to meet lots of people – particularly quirky and lovely ones – and that meets the biggest requirement of how we spend our time right now.  So there we are.  There’s a Cabaret Dinner thing in November, then preparation for the Pirates of Penzance.  We’ll see how long we make it, but for now we’re having fun.

Thanks to all of you who have emailed already.  This morning was the first one I’ve woken up wanting to be at home.  I’m not going anywhere but I do miss you all a lot.  So thanks for remembering us!

We arrived safely in Northern Ireland.  We’re enjoying hanging out with Campbell and Kristy and trying to figure out how to get a bank account, cell phone, etc.  More later!

Mark

In about nine hours we’ll board the plane that will take us to Chicago and then on to Dublin.  In less than 24 hours we will have landed in Dublin, taken a bus up to Newry, been picked up by our friend Campbell and shuttled on to our destination.  We will probably be thinking about things like apartment listings, cell phones, and used vehicles.

It’s a strange thing to know that a momentous life change is so emminant.  We couldn’t be happier.

Mark and Ange

Tonight is the last night we’ll sleep in Indianapolis for a long time.  Tomorrow we move out of our cozy room at the Woodruff House and drive to Kokomo to spend a few days with Ange’s parents.  This is so exciting…

Well…exciting and sad…

Exciting, sad, and fun…

Ok, exciting, sad, fun, and bittersweet…

Exciting, sad, … well you get the idea.