YIPPEE! What a great day in Ireland

As many of you know, we have been praying for a job for both Ross and I since arriving in Ireland. With the terrible economy here, it has been quite challenging to find work. Ross has been searching for a job that would be low stress, related to education, and something that would not require so much from him that it would keep him from excelling in his studies. Today we finally heard back from Trinity college on a note taking position that he applied for in September. It entails sitting in on Trinity courses and typing the notes from the lectures for deaf students who are unable to take their own notes. The job pays *great* and is offering Ross the perfect amount of hours that will allow him to make enough (together with his stipend) to completely cover our monthly bills, while at the same time not taking too many hours away in his week from working on his school work and dissertation. It is the perfect job! The woman that was previously employed had a baby and will not be returning. Ross was offered the job today and he starts tomorrow. Plus, it is no problem that he will be gone for 3 weeks at Christmas. It will start right back up when he returns in January!!! Also, he applied to teach an Ethics course for adults in an evening adult program. The director said that if 10 people sign up, that the course is his. Please be praying that that works out.

For those of you that don't know, I (Suz) have been volunteering at Rathgar Junior School, a private primary school. I have been there for four weeks now and it has been the perfect thing to do during this time that I am not eligible to work. I am applying for a working visa when I come home for Christmas so that when I return in January I will be eligible to work. The school I have been volunteering at has been fabulous to me! They have been so thankful to have me there, as I have been thankful to be able to spend time with kids while building relationships with teachers and the "headmistress" (aka principal). Today, a day that I don't normally volunteer, the principal called me to ask if I would substitute for a special needs assistant. (Even though I am not technically supposed to be "working", they are paying me!) The headmistress asked if when I come back in January if I could substitute for a teacher who will be gone for a week. I was so excited! In order to do this, I need to have my work visa processed in 3 weeks while I am home for Christmas. Please join us in praying that the paperwork is quickly processed by January 9th.

Anyways, it was all together an *AMAZING NEWS DAY* for the Inmans. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us. The Lord is so good and responded in abundance to your prayers.

Hiking in Glendalough

A few weeks ago, our friends Katie and Aaron took us to hike in the Wicklow Mountains. Within the beautiful hills, filled with fall leaves and green hills, there was a monastery and cemetery. This amazing monastery began in the 600's when a hermit priest, St. Kevin, secluded himself in these mountains. Later, he brought a group of monks here to Glendalough to begin this monastery. It was absolutely breathtaking! Enjoy the pictures.

The gorgeous curvy road on the drive to Glendalough

The chapel/graveyard apart of the monastery

A view of the monastery

One of many AMAZING celtic crosses in the cemetery

A patch of forest along our hike... the trees were so thick together!

Sitting on a log :) I know it's exciting!

A view of the hills during our hike

Far left: Rebecca a friend of Katie's visiting from Germany; Far Right: Katie and Aaron

One of my favorite pictures ever! It was so magical!

The view of the valley driving home... notice the specks of white in the grass... you guessed it! Sheep

The Northern Irish Coast

What an AMAZING weekend we just had in Northern Ireland. We went to a conference with our church at another Vineyard church called Causeway Coast Vineyard. We were both so encouraged and challenged! We left knowing that our lives would never be the same. At the end of the conference our friends Katie and Aaron took us to two famous sites on the coastline: Giant's Causeway (huge stones in the shape of octagons protruding from the coastline) and a rope bridge (the bridge went from the mainland to a small island). It was insane how windy it was! We have never been in such intense wind before. At one point Ross' entire body was leaning at a 45 degree angle and the wind was holding him up! The island was covered with grassy knolls that were bouncy! We felt like little kids running and jumping on the bouncy grass. With the wind, we were picked up as we jumped! It was one of the most exhilarating and freeing experiences playing on a grassy hill surrounded by the crazy ocean waves. The northern coast is absolutely beautiful, although the weather is definitely more extreme than Dublin. Enjoy the pics!

Giant's Causeway

The Coastline

A view of the island from a distance

A wee little path we walked on to get to the bridge (and yes they actually use "wee" in the North!)

The bridge from a distance

The bridge

The bouncy hill

Bouncy... bouncy... bouncy

New Hopes for Working

A lot has happened in the past fews weeks in regards to my (Suzanne) prospects of working.  Basically, because I have a stamp on my passport that only allows me a visitors status, I have been ineligible to work.  Upon discovering this I was very discouraged.  Thankfully, I found out about a Working Holiday Authorization that I can apply for at Christmas time while I am at home in the States.  This authorization will give me permission to work for a 12 month period of time.  Finding this option was an incredible blessing!  At a time when I was getting very discouraged, this was incredible news.  Ross and I will be flying home December 16 to go directly to the San Francisco Irish Consulate.  Please join us in praying that the authorization will take less than four weeks to process.  Also, pray that between now and when we leave for Christmas that I will be able to connect to a school to work at upon my return.  We are so excited to be coming home for Christmas especially with the ability to come back to Ireland mid-January with permission to work!  The Lord is good!

The Ole Abbey

Today after church we were kidnapped by some of our new friends and taken to explore a bit of the beauty of the Irish countryside. They took us to the largest castle in Ireland (where some scenes from Braveheart were filmed) as well as an old monastery that was built in 1120AD. It was absolutely breathtaking! We have learned that the Irish countryside is littered with historical ruins like castles, ancient graveyards, and monasteries. This was our first true taste of the rolling green hills and historical character of Ireland. It was just what we needed after a long and uneventful week (as I, Ross, was sick all week). Here are a few pictures of the monastery.

Success at the Garda!

With the grace of God we were successful going the Garda a few days ago. It took weeks to gather all the proper documentation, but what a relief it was to know that after all the hard work, we found favor with the Garda. Although it was an exhausting all day affair, it went surprisingly smooth. What this means is that I (Suzanne) have permission now to remain in the country for a year, until Sept. 30, 2010. With the type of Garda card that I have, I am currently not allowed to work, so we are going to have to be very creative in order for me to get a job and the Lord is going to have to work a miracle. If you could, please pray that the Lord opens an avenue of work for me. There are two ways in which this could happen. I could become a student, which would allow me to work 20 hours a week. Or, I need to find an employer that will sponsor me for a work permit. Currently, I am seriously considering taking a course through an adult program for working with Special Needs students. This would give me the training I need to become a Special Needs Assistant, and provide me with a beneficial certificate to have coming back into the states. I am also currently in the difficult process of applying to their Teaching Council, something I have to do in order to show that my teaching qualifications are equivalent to those here, and thus be eligible to teach or substitute. If the Teaching Council approves my application, then they could be the ones to sponsor me in attaining my work permit. It is quite the process... so please pray that we will patiently rely upon the Lord as He provides an open door in His timing. Your prayers are deeply coveted. We are confident that the Lord brought us here for His good purposes and will not leave us without the provision to stay. It is our hope that through the course of this time here, that our confidence in the Lord grows and truly sustains us with a deep shalom.

Our Celebratory Dinner Upon Receiving our Garda Cards

We're all moved in!

It has been so long since our last posting and much has occurred over the past two weeks. To our excitement, we have moved into our place over here. We have spent long days making it a comfortable place to call home. We have enjoyed painting the walls and scavenging the city for the best deals for all of our home essentials. Our flat came with a kitchen table, a couch, and a bed. It has been like getting married all over again as we chose our dishes, towels, bedding... Every time we go to do something we find one more thing we need to buy. We went to hang a cabinet in the bathroom and realized we needed a drill and screwdriver. We were doing our laundry and in the middle of it had to go and buy two clothes drying racks (many people choose to hang their clothes here rather than dry them). It has been quite adventurous carting all of our purchases back home on public transportation. One Sunday at church, a man came up to us and said that he had spotted us walking down O'Connell Street (the absolute busiest street for pedestrians) with huge bags in each of our hands. It was all of our bulky bedding and pillows. I am sure it was quite entertaining for him to watch us weave in and out of the crazy crowds. Gotta love it!

Although our place is quite tight, we are absolutely loving it. For all you planning to come and stay with us... expect a teenie tiny bathroom and an aero mattress on the ground... but for the lucky few who stayed with us in our last place in La Mirada it is a step in the right direction. At least now you will have more than just a curtain between yourself and us snuggled in bed :)

The entry way into our flat

Our TINY bathroom

The hallway between our bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen

Our livingroom

Our free pantry so generously given to us by a man in the church

Our Kitchen

Gotta love shoes! Looking at this now sheds light as to why our luggage was soooo expensive!

Our bed... obviously :)

Ross' Beloved Bookshelves: Now empty but soon to be filled up!

Random Videos of My Beloved Wife! Part 2

Suzy summing up the beginning of our day into the city centre.

Random Videos of My Beloved Wife! Part 1

Suzanne's First Attempt at An Irish Accent! Super cute, I know.

More to come...

Slowly, But Surely!

The past few days we have been bustling around trying to accomplish some of the things that we have previously taken for granted in the states. Yippee! After several trips to the bank, we were finally able to open a "current account", or a checking account for Ross. This doesn't seem like a huge deal, but it is considering that you can't do anything else here without one. That night we celebrate our small victory with delicious American style hamburgers from a restaurant called "Gourmet Burger". Each day we try to hold on to the little successes so that we don't get discouraged with how S...L...O...W things are here.

For the past three days we have enjoyed looking at different flats (apartments) to let (rent) in the various districts of Dublin. The city of Dublin is comprised of 13 different postal districts, each with a different feel and culture. We have been familiarizing ourselves with the area to decide where we want to call home. While walking miles and miles to get to one flat viewing, we stumbled upon the most adorable little district (6 to be precise) called Ranelagh (RON-A-LAH). We quickly decided that this was the area for us. Whenever we talk about it, the word "charming" seems to suit it perfectly. Here are some pics.

On our way to the next flat viewing for the day we were ecstatic to discover that the flat was right on the corner of the street we fell in love with. Here is an aerial view of our new place (the green arrow is our complex):

View Larger Map

We were offered a one bedroom flat to let for 650Euro, an absolute steal for the area! It is in a period house with five other units. Ours is on the garden level which basically means it is submerged in the ground (our windows are right above the grass line). It is super cozy, meaning tiny... but a place we feel we can make homey. The location is incredible, as it is within a 30 second walk to the LUAS station, a train that goes directly to Trinity College, and yet it is still a part of a quite neighborhood. It is right across the street from an upscale market and a tasty Italian market called Best of Italy with fresh meat, gelato, fruit, and veggies that are reasonably priced. Directly down the street is a gothic style church, whose spires always inspire Ross with one glance. Right after viewing this flat we knew we had to jump on it immediately. With tons of students looking for housing at the moment, cute places to live for cheap are gone in a flash.

Another blessing we have been graced with is the Dublin Vineyard Church. We had been in previous contact with a member from the church, Katie, before we left the states. Since every Vineyard church is very unique, we were unsure that we would find Dublin Vineyard to be a good fit, but we went this past Sunday and were pleasantly surprised. Here is where we meet on Sunday.

It reminded us very much of our beloved church back home. Katie invited us to her small group last night. We felt so welcome by the couples there and were overjoyed at how similar it was to the small group we had attended in La Mirada. The Lord is so good! We have been here only a week, and already we feel connected through the church.

A few things that you can be praying for...

We are going to the GARDA station soon to inquire about extending my (Suzanne) holiday visa for a year. Please pray that they will grant us this request. Once we have successfully done this, I will have a year to find a job, which will allow me to apply for a work visa.

Also, I (Suzanne) have been asking the Lord to reveal to me what my place is here in Dublin. I know that supporting Ross in his work at Trinity is a huge role I will be playing here, but I also truly desire to find my place here and how the Lord wants to use me. I desire to find a job where my gifts are being utilized and where I feel that I am ministering to others. At church on Sunday I met a lady who worked for the YMCA. She told me about a few job vacancies they had. I have contacted the HR person, but have not yet heard back. One area of the YMCA that I would love to work in is their STEP program. It is helping young adults (18-25), who have not finished their schooling and are homeless, get back on their feet, get temporary housing and work. I would help mentor/tutor them. This sounds really interesting to me. I would also love to nanny for a family. Please pray that I meet someone that knows a great family that lives within walking distance to our flat.

Although we are truly enjoying this wonderful city, we do miss you all tons! Keep in touch with us. We love hearing from you!

Cheers!

Our First Trip Into The Dublin City Centre

Suz and I just got back from our first trip into the Dublin City Centre where Trinity College Dublin is located along with the famous Grafton Street and the Temple Bar district. We had a blast with our new friends Katie and Sara. They pointed us to the various shops (including to Suzanne's excitement H&M, TK Max (yeah, that's right, not TJ Max but TK Max) as well as various products like MAC and Bobbie Brown makeup (Oh yes, this is truly exciting!). Katie and Sara also helped us set up our cell phones on a pay-as-you-go plan with O2 (well, Suzanne's works and mine doesn't. We have to go back down to O2 to get my SIM card reactivated). It turns out that if you (supposing you are in the states) call us here in Dublin, we can talk for free. So feel free to email me or Suzanne and we will send you our new phone numbers so we can chat.

Dublin is such a charming little city. For starters, Suz and I began our trip with a bus ride into the heart of Dublin, the city centre. The very first thing we noticed

was that the majority of homes and apartments have different colored doors (pink, yellow, blue, green). If you don't believe me, just google image "dublin

doors" and you'll see the variety of photos. But to save you some time, here they are:

We also noticed that most of the buildings on the way to the city centre were red brick. The city centre is filled with stone buildings (the kind that are dirty a

nd filled with ivy) dating back to the 1500's (Trinity College having been founded in 1592). For those of you who know me (Ross) well, I was in heaven. Here are some pics of my school.

The city is very lively and, as we expected, the people are young and fashionable. At one point during our trip, I sincerely felt as though I was no longer in a foreign country as the city feels very safe, warm, and welcoming. We are very excited to get acquainted with such a beautiful and historic place. We can honestly say that we are beginning to feel very blessed to be here. Here are some more pics of Dublin and Trinity College.

Until next time, we love you all and miss all of you dearly.