A Feeling of "Home"

With Christmas quickly approaching, I have been anticipating feelings of homesickness.  Some homesickness has been setting in, but I have been blessed in so many different ways to help those feelings stay at bay.  In just this past week, I have really felt a sense of home and belonging here in Belfast.

On Monday Doug, Elaine and most of the other volunteers came over for a wonderful morning.  We spent a few hours in the kitchen cooking stew, boil cakes and peppermint mints.  We then set up the Christmas tree in our living room and enjoyed lunch around it with Christmas tunes playing in the background.  It feels so good to have the tree up; it adds a warm feeling to our home and gives us a great place to put some of the gracious gifts sent to us from family at home!  On Monday night, I went to Girls' Brigade where we made Christmas centerpieces....another great decoration for our living room.

Christmas Tree

Centerpiece I made at GB

I started my day off on Tuesday by walking and delivering some potted plants and Christmas cards to members of the church.  It was great getting to meet with elderly members of the church in their homes and get to know them a little better.  After delivering plants, I met with our church's deaconess and had a nice lunch.  We spent about an hour and a half in conversation, just unwinding a bit amongst the busyness of the Christmas season in the church.  In the evening, I went to dinner at the home of a family of Karl's church and then went to the cinema with them.  This family is absolutely wonderful.  There are four girls, all around my age, and they are so much fun!  Spending time with them feels a bit like being with my family (as I am one of four girls in the family). 

Thursday was a very busy, but incredibly fun day.  The luncheon club that I help out with each week went out for a Christmas lunch.  Immediately following the Christmas lunch, I went to the church to help cater tea, tray bakes and sandwiches for a wedding.  The wedding was at four in the afternoon, so by the time I helped finishing with the catering and clean up, it was time for Boys' Brigade.  We had our Christmas outing with the boys and went to Ballymena to go karting.  Karting is quite a serious matter here...we changed into full driving jumpsuits complete with driving gloves and a helmet.  I had such a great time with the boys though.  When getting ready to go out on the last race, the boy in the kart in front of me turned back and gave me a big thumbs-up.  It was in that moment that I was overcome with a feeling of belonging. 

I guess what I am trying to get across in this post is how thankful I am for the blessings of a family and a feeling of home away from home.  The network of people that Karl and I have entered into is amazing!  Between the other YAV's and our friends at our churches and the 174 trust, we are amongst family.  It just goes to show that God is watching out for us, and He is sharing his love with us through the relationships and friendships that we have made.