Belair (this is a long one)

Now, this is the story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the [au pair] of a place called Bel Air

For those of you who understand the reference and are laughing right now, good on ya! For those of you who haven't a clue what that was about, hang tight. I'll try to make sense of it by the time I reach the end of this post. While this post is actually about some really serious stuff, I couldn't help but start off with something light and if you read this to the end, you'll understand why :)

I haven't blogged in a while and here's why. I was asked to leave the family I was staying with. Yes, basically I was fired. There's no easy or nice way to say it. In the end the result is the same. I'm no longer with the family I flew over here to be with. In fact, I've been out of their house for almost a week and a half now. I couldn't bear telling anyone right away because I was just trying to understand it myself and trying to collect my thoughts and feelings. On one hand, it's a long story, and on the other hand, it's not. I'll give you the watered-down shortened version here and if you have questions or want to know more, you are welcome to email me.

I arrived at the family's house and the first couple of days were great. Shortly after my arrival, the dad in the family began making inappropriate jokes and comments to me. At first I tried to let it go because he said he was only joking and that he wasn't serious. However, the subject matter of his jokes began to make me increasingly uncomfortable. I had a very civil and peaceful conversation with him about it, letting him know that I was offended by the comments and I requested that they not continue. He agreed to stop the crass jokes, and I thought all was well.

After my shift ended that day, I went to hang out with some of my friends from church. I returned home to a letter under my door that basically said that the family wanted to joke however they felt like joking and that they thought I should leave if I was offended by their jokes. In the end, the letter left me with a choice to basically tolerate the jokes and stay, or leave willingly. I was heartbroken. I cried and prayed almost the entire night. I decided that the best thing to do was to sit down and have a conversation with both parents the next morning. I showered and went downstairs to talk with them and I was met with an unexpected message. The dad in the family told me that they changed their minds, the decision was no longer mine and I had to leave. No room for discussion. He got my bags out of the attic and put them outside my door. I was shocked and confused to say the least. I was also told that I was not to watch the children that day. I spent the day with the pastor and a friend, trying to collect myself and figure out what to do. Later that day, I went back by the house to grab all my stuff and I left.

A couple from the church graciously took me in for a week. They literally met me in church that Sunday, and moved me into their house Wednesday evening. If there was ever a picture of the body of Christ taking care of one another, it was Anna and Tyrone taking me in. The amount of love and support I received from everyone at Calvary Waterford blew me away. People that for the most part, knew nothing about me other than that I was a sister in Christ, took care of me as if I was family. I can't even explain how great my new church family has been. If it weren't for them, I would be home right now. Had I not met them, I would have jumped on the first plane home. I had nowhere to go and the church rallied together to take care of me.

During me week at Anna and Tyrone's, I began madly searching for another au pair position. I felt called to Waterford and I was determined to stay here. The church prayed for me daily, as did a number of people back home. God came through and answered my prayers in ways I literally could not have even dreamed of! I got a job 5 days after I was asked to leave. Yes, it felt like 5 years to me, but it was only 5 days! God is good! I have not started yet, but I will be moving in and starting on Monday. I am currently staying with the pastor and his wife, as Anna and Tyrone needed their guest room back (and they had already been extremely generous in letting me stay a whole week!!)

Now how the heck does the Fresh Prince of Belair tie into all of this? (for those of you who missed the reference earlier, that was the lyrics to the beginning of the theme song from the show...check it out on youtube) I found a family in the Waterford area, Tramore to be exact, and I went to meet with them to see if they liked me and vice versa. I had no idea what God was getting me into. To say He blessed me and surprised me and shocked me doesn't even begin to cover it. I arrived at their house and found myself staring at a gorgeous, huge, mansion named Belair. Naturally, the Fresh Prince them song popped into my head. Why wouldn't it? Haha. The family is just as incredible as the house. I have a view of the beach from my room and it's just a few minute walk down the hill. I spent close to 3 hours at their house and I feel like we will be a good fit for each other. This family has 3 kids. 1yr, 3yrs, and 5yrs old. 2 girls and 1 boy.

How did I hold it all together during all of this? I didn't. God held it together for me. Never in my life have I had to depend on God for absolutely everything. I've always had a place to live, food on the table, and money in the bank. This time, I had nothing. I was homeless, and jobless in a foreign country. My only option was to trust God. It has been the hardest week and a half of my life, but I have grown so much. God reminded me that He is in control of absolutely everything. He knew that I'd lose that job. He also knew that He was orchestrating a perfect network of friends to take care of me during this in-between period.

I want to leave you with two things. One is a list of some incredible things that God did in my life in the period of one week or less. The other is a chapter from Psalms that helped me through this rough time.

In 7 days or less:
-God brought me more than a dozen amazing friends
-I went from being asked to leave one job to being hired at another (much better one!)
-God used strangers (now my friends) to show me his love and provision
-I went from homeless, to not
-God forced me to trust him more than I ever have before, and He showed me that He is taking care of me, much better than I could ever take care of myself
-During one of the hardest weeks in my life, my best friend was having the best week of hers. God used this to brighten my day and remind me how precious close friends are. And even though we're all at different points in life, we can still encourage each other and be there for one another.
-I saw the body of Christ take care of a sister they barely knew as if they'd known her forever
-I learned what trusting the Lord really means.

God used these verses to keep me going:

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
May we shout for joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.
Now this I know:
The LORD gives victory to his anointed.
He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary
with the victorious power of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.
LORD, give victory to the king!
Answer us when we call!
[Psalm Chapter 20, NIV]

Thank you to all of you who joined me in prayer during this time, it means the world to me.

Praying for direction

I've been struggling with whether or not to put up a new blog post, but I have decided to write a short one in hopes that additional people praying for me will bring comfort and direction. I'm struggling with some tough stuff right now and I would love for you to join me in praying for God's direction. I've been incredibly blessed with friends here in Waterford and they have become a wonderful support system for me during this time. It's so nice to have them here so I don't have to go face my challenges alone. God has been providing for my needs in ways I could not imagine and I look forward to seeing how he will continue to do so. But for now I just ask that you pray with me as I wait for God to reveal more of His will to me. Thank you.

Great first weekend!

In addition to spending the day in the city yesterday, I was invited to dinner with some people from a church that I connected with. We had a great time last night and we all spent the entire day together after church. The people from the church are fantastic and I'm so thankful to have found them! I feel like I've known them all forever. They took me to Tramore today, the same little seaside town that had the circus. We went on a really long walk, sat and talked, and then finished the day with some dinner. They told me they are going to kidnap me every night once my work day is done (which will be 4pm). It feels great to know that they already want to hang out with me! Here's a photo of 2 of the girls I'm getting to know. This is us at the beach...also my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean!

Alana, Dee, and Me!

Downtown Waterford City

Today I went downtown Waterford. I was pretty nervous at first because:

1. I was alone in a foreign country

2. I had no cell phone to call and I wasn't sure where pay phones were

3. I didn't even know exactly what I was going to do

4. I had to figure out the buses to get back home

But, it turned out to be a great day! I started the day off at the tourism office and went on a walking tour of the city. The tour was about an hour and our guide was fantastic. (Thank you Buechler family for the Rick Steve's book...this tour was in there and it was just as great as Rick said it would be!) I took LOTS of pictures and I'm still trying to decide what to do with them. I think I'm going to get a Flickr account so that I can upload a lot of photos at once and I will put the link for it on here whenever I add new photos. One of the stops on the walking tour was a glass shop that was started by some former Waterford Crystal employees. The make only glass (no crystal...which has lead in it which distinguishes it from the glass---see, I'm still learning even though I graduated!) They had this amazing piece that has been created for New York. President Obama will be presenting it to the State for the 10 year remembrance ceremony for 9/11 next month. The president hasn't even seen it yet and I have...how cool is that? It's a tower shape and has engravings on it of firefighters hands reaching down to help people. It's wonderful. We also saw a handful of gorgeous cathedrals on the tour.

At the end of the walking tour I wandered over to the House of Waterford Crystal---a place that I didn't know existed 4 months ago. But alas, I am educated in the realm of fine crystal. I have always liked my kitty's name (her name is Crystal for those of you who don't know), but now I think it's even cooler that she's named after something so awesome. The tour took us through the entire factory, from moulds and blowing, to cutting and polishing. While I thoroughly enjoyed the "how it's made" portion of the tour, I think my favorite part was the massive showroom at the end. It's the biggest showcase of Waterford Crystal in one room in the world. Which seems fitting since this is it's home city. So many pretty sparkly things that I will never be able to afford...but it was so fun to look! There were actually some things that are reasonably priced, I was quite surprised. I'll be paying another visit or two to browse and decide which piece to bring home :) They have some cute little Christmas ornaments that wouldn't totally break the bank.

After gawking at lots of sparkly things, I walked a few blocks down the road (Jennifer told me where to go) to a fish & chips place for some lunch. It is called Dooly's (mom, it's pronounced just like your relatives "dooley") The fish was fantastic but the chips (fries) weren't my favorite.

Next in my day came the trek home. I walked the 4 or 5 blocks back to the bus stop and was 10 minutes early for my bus. I was feeling pretty proud of myself at this point and so I sat down and waited. And waited. And waited...and FINALLY after 35 minutes, my bus came. Or so I thought. I asked the driver if he went to Williamstown Road (my stop) and he said no, but the bus coming in 10 minutes does. Well ten more minutes wasn't so bad after I waited for 35. So I sat down to wait some more. Right about the time that the ten minutes was up, I heard screaming and honking and guess what is coming down the road? A gay pride parade. Yes, all this waiting and my bus (wherever it is behind the backup) is delayed even more because of some ridiculous gay pride parade. The parade ended and I eventually got on my bus over an hour after it was originally supposed to come. Jennifer told me later that buses rarely follow the schedule here. Often times they are super early, other times they are obscenely late. Good to know. I made it home just fine after I got on the bus. And here I am typing this blog. It was gorgeous out all day and a storm has just moved in. Pouring rain and thunder...I love thunder!

Anyway, I'll be working on editing my photos and hopefully have them up very soon! I'll share a few here for now, but the rest will come later.

Holding some unfinished pieces that the master cutter is working on.

Outside of the factory

Inside a Cathedral (I don't remember which one)

The Clock Tower down town. It's right on the waterfront.

Busy Day!

I had a very busy day today! But before I tell you about my day, let me introduce two of my new friends. Freyja (pronounced Fray-yuh) will be 3 years next weekend and she is a compact ball of energy. She has adorable tight red curls and the cutest little laugh/squeal. Scarlett is her younger sister and she is just over 5 months old. She's got fine red fuzz on her head and she is one of the happiest babies I've ever met.

This morning, Freyja and I were dropped off at the park with her buggy (stroller) and some snacks. We played there for about an hour and ate our snacks. We started walking home just in time because about half way home it began to rain on us. The park is only a ten minute walk away so I think we will be visiting quite a bit (weather permitting!).

Shortly after we got home, Wyatt (dad), Freyja, and I went to Run Amuck. It's very similar to Chuck-E-Cheese, just without the games and pizza. I ran around in the play area and went down the giant slide at least a dozen times with Freyja. This girl is going to keep me in shape! We played there for about 2 hours and then came back home, where we played in the backyard and on the trampoline for another hour or so. I swear Freyja never gets tired.

While Freyja may not get tired, Scarlett sure does. Being only a baby, she sleeps most of the day. When I first arrived on Monday, she wouldn't even let me hold her for 5 minutes without crying. Today she let me hold her for quite a while and she even let me rock her to sleep for nap time! We've made a lot of progress in only 4 days.

Oh, and last night Jennifer (mom), Freyja, and I went to a cute little circus. It was in a big tent right on the Irish Coast. There was actually some pretty impressive acrobats and Freyja had a great time. I was also introduced to bangers and mash last night for dinner. It's basically sausage and mashed potatoes served with sauteed onions on top of both. It was very good!

3+2=1

3 flights plus 2 amazing sunrises made for one long travel day...but I'm here! I arrived in Waterford yesterday around lunch time here (it was about 4am for all of you back in WA). I ate lunch and immediately began jumping on the trampoline, playing in a play house, and blowing bubbles. I was pretty tired yesterday, but I slept a lot last night and I felt much better today. I had my first shopping experience today and the weirdest thing I saw at the grocery store was bacon flavored crisps.

It was sunny yesterday and again today, I'm told that isn't common around here so I guess I've been lucky so far. Tomorrow night we'll be going to the circus so that should be fun!

I tried Indian food last night for the first time (mom, tell Kelsey I already tried new food!) and I really liked it! I'll have to try to find some when I come home. I also found chips and salsa at the grocery store but I have yet to try them. Maybe I'll open them up tomorrow to see if they're any good, haha. I did receive some bad news, though. Mexican restaurants are nowhere to be found in Ireland. I bet you can guess what I'll be wanting when I get home!

Here's the sunrise I saw over Mt. Rainier on my way out of WA.