Happy Christmas!

What we did on Christmas Eve:

Sang some Christmas carols...

Had a delightful cheese fondue...

And sat in front of the Christmas tree, just to say "HAPPY CHRISTMAS!"

It's that time again!

It's Christmas time in Ireland! (As it is in many areas of the world—though not all.) And what would Christmas be without some great, "ol'-timey" music, a real living fir tree with presents underneath, hot chocolate, and—rain. Well, that's no damper for us ;-) because Christmas is more than all of those things. Still, we love them. Our favorite CDs right now are Christmastime from City on a Hill, Rose of Bethlehem from Selah, and Christmas Favorites from Nat "King" Cole. Sadly, that nearly exhausts our holiday repertoire, so the playlist is growing repetitive.

Bringing home our new baby from Woodie's.

We spent a good bit of time this morning writing Christmas cards to family and friends, but we won't have the time or money to write a HUGE THANKYOU to every individual who got a card or scribbled on a napkin and sent it to us in Ireland with my parents! It was a great blessing to hold a physical keepsake from you, and it got us right in the Christmas spirit, it did. In fact, I might even say that was the day Christmas started for us.

The Christmas Tree in its natural habitat.

Not that everything is bells and lights and holiday cheer during this dark and rainy season. As long as the annual Swords Baptist Church Carol Sing is in the planning stages, there will be a little less cheer around here. Fortunately, there have been glimpses—I say glimpses—of the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is a bright one. I think that everyone is keenly anticipating this Sunday's festivities, and I have no doubts on the fact that it will be a beautiful and memorable time. There will of course be carol-singing, as well as special music from some talented youth, Josh Lamb and friends, an Amazing Ten Minute Christmas Play, written by your very own Ashleigh Dueck with Tim Burns, mince pies and punch served by cautious youth, and who knows what else! If last year is any indication of this year's expected turnout, then we will have eager partyfolk spilling out the back door for lack of adequate seating. Perhaps we will even violate a firecode regulation or two. All will be revealed in a matter of days…

Christmas card.

This picture is just for my mom, who is putting together a photographic Christmas card. So, it won't be here forever... maybe. Okay.

As the world turns.

Hi there! We've been busy milling about the country for the last week. I will take you through a little photo tour of our excursions later. For now, I just want to get caught up on what's been happening.

The Duecks Sr. left early Saturday morning after a healthy holiday with their favorite son and daughter-in-law. A grand old time was had by all, and we amassed between us 689 digital photographs and nearly 1,000 kilometers by car, not too mention the ground that was covered by train, bus and foot. Ash and I had a very big rest once it was all over, and she even came down with a cold. Right on time!

That night, no one was up to preparing a Bible study for the youth, so we ducked out and watched a movie instead. Madagascar. The only one who was not entirely enthusiastic about watching it was Paul, because he didn't like cartoons. He would have rather watched Family Guy. Someone mentioned that Family Guy is a cartoon as well. But it is a good one, he replied. Everyone enjoyed the film.

Sunday was quite a change of pace. The leaders of the Group Formerly Known as Older Impact (GFKOI has a nice ring to it)--that is, Eric & Donna, Liz, Tim and ourselves--skipped church and drove up to a beautiful little borrowed cottage on the a golf course on the ocean east of Drogheda. We spend the day in prayer and reflection as we searched for a clearer vision for the direction of GFKOI. Although much was discussed and written down, in the end, we managed to boil it all down to a simple Biblical passage.

This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

In other words, we want to focus on these five principles: love, growth, understanding, holiness, and worship. That's a lot of priniciple in just five simple words, but we hope it will help us to clarify our vision for the youth.

So, Sunday was a long day. After the retreat, we had a quick supper and then it was off to Christmas play practice! Ashleigh and Tim were "nominated" to write the script for this year's Christmas play. It has been a trying journey for them, and there are only 2 weeks left before the big day. Obviously I have been likewise nomitated for a role in the play, but it is a comparatively small one. At any rate, none of us was quite up to a lot of hard work that night, so we managed to have a bit of fun with it. However, by 9:30, it was very much time for bed.

So, as you can see, the world did not in fact stop turning when we took a bit of time off to entertain my parents.

People in Ireland.

Okay, what's new? Well, last week wasn't incredibly eventful. We did the usual thing: we met people for coffee, we prepared Bible studies, we cleaned up the house and overhauled the yard in anticipation for my parents' visit--oh, that's a very unusual thing!

Yes, the folks booked their transatlantic flight for the 13th of November, and so set in motion a complex series of events. Upon deep introspection, it was decided that our yard was a disaster zone and would require some serious rejuvenation if it were ever to meet approval from the parents. It never was much to begin with, but we could at least cut the grass, which was brushing at the knees, and maybe tackle the weeds and brambles that occupied our patio space. After everything was said and done, we wished that we had taken a "before" photo to complement the "after." The change was dramatic. We spent 2 hours chopping away at those thorny vines; blood was shed, hair was tangled, but it was worth the pain endured. My experience in the garden was good fodder for the Bible study. Can you guess what passage I used?

I suppose Sunday was a newsworthy day. It was decided that younger Impact must have a day of fun, as older Impact once had at Drewstown House. So we all went to the Dublin Zoo in Phoenix Park, directly from church, and had a big photographic treasure hunt competition! We divided up into 4 groups and were given a list of 17 photographs that we had to find, including a picture of Jordan & Ashleigh with Tim Horton, a picture of the longest toilet queue, a picture of your group acting like apes in front of an ape, a picture of your group with a zookeeper, a picture of someone doing a handstand in front of an animal, a picture of someone proposing to a stranger, and so forth, you get the idea. I think that everyone managed to acquire all the images, but they have yet to be judged and so I can't say who won! Perhaps in a couple of weeks.

Everything about this day was great, with the exception of Tim Horton's. You can imagine how excited Ash & I were to hear that Timmy had taken up residence in Phoenix Park, Dublin, for we hadn't had a sip of our favorite Canadian coffee since June. Sadly, this restaurant was nothing at all like the Real Thing. We didn't even bother spending a Euro at that location, for fear of severe disappointment. Fortunately, my parents brought us a dozen TimBits from the Winnipeg Airport! (Boo-yah! That's right, I said it.) This was Very Good.

Anyway, the next 10 days will be mostly visiting and touring the country with our parents, so don't expect too much news until then! I may not even put up pictures right now. In fact, I am adamant about not doing so. If you want to see pictures of people in Ireland, just go to Google Image Search and type in "People in Ireland" and you'll feel much better. Alright, until next time!

The Flaming Avenger

Well folks, here it is. This is the film we made for the Combined Impact night, 3 November. See if you figure out what the moral of the story is. (There is meant to be one.) Cheers!

Where's Wife?

For a bit of craic, head over to the official Swords Baptist Church website, click on the front page picture, and try to find Ashleigh.

If that's too hard, here are some hints:

Hint #1: She's wearing blue.
Hint #2: She's holding a balloon.
Hint #3: No more hints!

Apples and bananas.

I'm not going to write anything about dunking for apples today.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that, by now, you're probably thinking, "Do these crazy people ever do anything besides go on huge, beautiful trips and take lots of breath-taking pictures?!"

Speaking of breath-taking pictures...

The answer is yes. Yes, we do. We just haven't written much about it for a while. However, I think it is high time that we lead you into the wonderfully normal and ordinary (but not dull) life that is ours. Without further ado then...

We consume several cups of tea and coffee a day, above the recommended daily intake. A good number of these cups are consumed in fellowship with various teenagers, teammates, and friends. Excellent conversation is generally perpetuated in these circumstances, and we have gotten to know many people in the best way here. At times, we might even go to Eddie Rocket's (or "Empty Pockets," as the locals affectionately lambast it) and buy them a burger and a malt. Ash does this more often than I, because we've found that the young girls have a greater aptitude for conversation than the guys. That doesn't stop Tim and I from having some great times with them however! We've gotten the lads together for some casual football, which actually turned into a game of rounders with the girls, and most recently to play Lord of the Rings Risk, which Ian won.

Last week wasn't quite your average week in Swords. We set the 3rd of November as a night to get all the youth together, young and not-so-young, and have a big event. We even managed to coerce the older youth into helping plan and organize some of the night! The evening's bill included tasty snacks served on platters, games by Anna, Claire & David, music by Matt, Josh, Claire, Liz, Jordon and myself, an inspiring talk by Tim, and a seven minute homemade film by Tim, Paul, David, Ian and myself again.

Paul played the evil-doer naturally.

Preparing for the music and film caused me to work much overtime. Luckily, last week was midterm break for the youth, so they were at my disposal 24/7. Mwa ha ha ha! Just kidding; I was not very hard on them at all. Friday I got up at 7 A.M. and was busy until I went to bed at 11 P.M. Fortunately, we had a lot of fun. In the morning, we shot the footage for Friday night's film in downtown Swords; the reactions were priceless. Some people did not realize that we were acting at first, and others were worried that we would be caught on CCTV (public surveillance) and hauled in the by Gardaí (police)! In the afternoon, I sat down to edit the footage, and did not get up until 6 P.M.! That's cutting it close.

Matt, Jordon & I practise for Friday night.

I really want to share the film with you right now, because it seems to have been generally enjoyed by all, but you will have to wait a few more days, for technical reasons. Sorry! Keep checking for updates. We also have the DVD for TeenStreet 2006 to share with you soon! Neville has been working on this since August, and we are very excited to finally have the finished product. There is a long version (1 hour) and a short version (6 minutes); I think I'll post the short version.

Nathan gets the box. Everyone claps.

Anyway, this is all lead-up for last Friday's Impact. The event was hosted in Tim's house, and the number of attendees made his house look small (or, the size of Tim's house made the number of attendees look large...?). Well, either way, I think everyone had a lot of fun stuffing bananas in each others' faces, picking up cereal boxes with their teeth, and all that other stuff that we do at Impact. The film went over quite well, and Tim's talk about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector was right on—oh yes, there is a point to the film.

The point of the game was to stuff bananas in the other person's face. It worked.

On Sunday, Ash continued in her tradition of hosting a small group Bible study with four of the girls. They stayed for 3 hours, during which I was confined to the kitchen, which was a complete mess before I was done with it. I believe the study went so well that Lynsey forgot her brand-new brown/pink backpack at our place.

Tim's little room.

Then there was Monday. Monday was our much-needed day off—and what a day off! We slept in. We had porridge for breakfast. We made two huge pots of soup. And that's it.

We must ask that you remember to pray for these teens once in a while. The more we get to know them, the more we love them, and the more they let us see their complicated lives. There are the "church kids," who have got it all together, and are the pillars of the teenage community; they have struggles too, but it is harder for them because they're not meant to. There are the teens who come from Catholic or Church of Ireland homes, whose parents think that we are part of a cult that eats children; they've heard about God, but have never met Him. Then there are the teens who come from single-parent (or half-parent) homes, whose parents don't know or care where their kids have gone on a Friday night. They have got the greatest struggles to face; some are in potentially dangerous situations; others are in danger of making decisions that will only harm themselves. We lose a lot of sleep over these teens, but we know that it comes to a point where you can only ask God to protect them and hand the rest over to Him. I don't usually end a post this seriously that has begun so lightly, but I think it's the most important thing that we want everyone to remember! We're not just here because of an internship: God has led us here for a short time to be a part of these teens' lives. All we ask is that we will be of use to Him!

This is Conor and I going head-to-head.

Castle Time: Castlewellan Castle… castle.

It wasn’t too long after we started regular older youth meetings in September that we realized we needed more than just one Saturday a week to really get to know our teens. Part of the solution to this quandary was our Great Day of Fun at Drewstown House, but the second—and more elaborate—scheme involved an entire weekend away at a castle in Northern Ireland. The castle was Castlewellan Castle in the town of Castlewellan. We like to say castle.

The trip, as planned, went through many changes and upheavals before it came true, and cancellations was at one point considered. The youth were concerned that they wouldn’t get enough time to study that weekend (imagine!); they were sick, but then they got better, but then someone else got sick; or, they mightn’t be able to get time off work for 2.5 days. Well, in the end, six leaders went (that’s all of us: Tim, Liz, Eric, Donna, Ash & myself) and six youth. That’s a 1:1 leader-to-youth ratio: any youth worker’s dream. The official date of the older youth (currently in the process of re-branding...?) Super Weekend of Fun was Friday 13 to Sunday 15 October 2006.

There's the entire Castlewellan gang.

And what a super weekend it was. Ash & I traveled with Eric & Donna for the entire 165 minutes (shorter than your average full-length film but, nonetheless, a very long time in Ireland) and enjoyed an absorbing lesson on the history and politics of Northern Ireland, complete with a healthy, rousing debate and two different Irish perspectives (that of the first-generation English immigrant versus the tried-and-true, pure-bred—sorry Eric—southern, Catholic-raised Irishwoman). I do not at all mean to make this sound uninteresting or dry; it was not so.

At any rate, we eventually turned onto the castle grounds as the last rays of the sun disappeared ‘neath the horizon. We were cordially welcomed and shown to our rooms—pleasant enough, indeed—before we headed to our lounge for a light lunch of hot dogs and crisps, at which point the guys were thoroughly educated in the way of manners concerning women. We ate the last hot dogs.

That very night, at 22:45, we began a game of Mission Impossible, which pitted the boys against the girls in a race to deliver tokens to a designated spot whilst remaining undetected by the leaders. This was carried out in a wonderfully dark wood without torches. The boys had a very blitz-like strategy which won them 3 points, but the girls, who were far more cautious and clever, amassed a grande total of 0. Fair play to them! Next, it was the leaders’ turn to take on the youth. We played for 15 minutes before they got bored of patrolling the grounds, but we did manage to deliver 3 tokens in that time. We all gathered in the stone circle and began to think about going to bed—it was Saturday now. Wait a moment—where are Ashleigh and Liz? Alright girls! The gig is up! Time to come out! You don’t have to hide anymore!

Nearly half an hour and several grey hairs later, Ashleigh and Liz realized that, no, the youth were not trying to be tricky by impersonating the leaders and announcing that the game was over so that Ash & Liz would come out of the bushes and get caught—brilliant scheme—but no, that was not it. No, it was actually the leaders who had been looking for them since midnight. We all had a nervous chuckle about it.

The next morning, when we finally got around to inspecting the castle, we realized that it had many interesting and castley features such as rooms on the ground-and-a-halfth floor, many small and large stairways, doors that don’t close and doors that don’t open, a mounted moose head, and probably enough plaster to bridge the Irish sea. However, by far the “coolest” feature was this room:

Saturday was packed with activity and—you guessed it—fun. But I can’t go into detail on everything, though it would be fascinating, I’m sure! The meals were very, very good, especially considering that they were cooked up with 150 people in mind (there was another group staying at the castle as well). Tim led two excellent reflective Bible studies on discipleship and the story of Zacchaeus. While the oldest youth took a study break, the rest of us went for a leisurely stroll around the lake, which proved to be longer in circumference than we initially estimated. Along the way, we learned how to make a real raft.

The four of us climbed this tree stump.

Tim and I and the guys put together the zodiac and inflatable dingy which we had packed for just such an occasion as that afternoon presented us with, while Eric and the girls went horseback riding, English-style. No one fell off, but Claire had a lot of trouble with her stubborn old steed. They proceeded to the hedge-maze, which took Lynsey no time at all to conquer. However, as it turned out, the first was indeed last, for she had to sit there and wait over an hour before the last girls staggered in to the finish. While she waited, Paul and I were climbing neat-shaped trees on a little island we had chanced upon, but due to a stroke of ill luck, both of the branches Paul was holding on to broke within seconds of each other. It was a tense moment, but all turned out well, with the exception of Paul’s nerves.

Ian, Paul, and Tim.

What else did we accomplish that weekend? Very little, but we managed to scrounge up a bonfire Saturday evening. Also, at 3:00 in the middle of the night, the fire alarm went off and pretty much caused me to have an involuntary reaction. It was absolutely black as pitch, so Eric deduced there must have been a power-outtage; a fine way to inform us, I thought! But no, the lights worked fine. After some detective work by Eric, it was discovered that it had been a false alarm and, while all 130 of the kids sleeping in the castle were safely outside, ALL THE GIRLS HAD SLEPT RIGHT THROUGH THE ALARM. Paul had, in fact, woken up. But when he observed that no one else was getting up, he went right back to sleep.

The girls, who did not wake up.

On Sunday, we got the camera out and took pictures of people jumping down a grassy slope which was quite slippery. I couldn’t pick out the best one, so I made a collage. We also enjoyed the araboretum.

It was fun. Did I mention that?

Glen WHAT? (Liberally peppered with photos.)

One clear, sunny morning, we set out for another exploration. After much delay, we headed out a couple hours later than we intended, but nevertheless with a good outlook. Donna and Eric lent us their car again, and so we were off. We headed into the Wicklow Mountains, only an hour's drive from our home here (more or less—depends on the mad traffic and construction that you can run into driving the Dublin bypass). We were soon off the main road and onto narrow, bumpy roads that wound into wood and field. After a scenic detour (we got lost), we found ourselves at our intended starting point on the loop of Military Road at Glencree.



A bit of history for you: The Wicklow Mountains were used by Irish rebels when the British were establishing rule here. There were no roads through the mountains, and the rebels held onto freedom by living where the British couldn't get to them. That is when the British made a road winding in and through the mountains, peppered it with barracks, and were able to get to the rebels. Hence the name "Military Road."



Our starting point was at one such British barracks, and we wandered around them, but more enjoyed the stream we found down a little valley. Once again, we took a scenic turn and here is where we have been learning about another wonderful aspect of driving in Ireland. Though the signs may be next to non-existent, and rather cryptic when found, no matter how lost you get, you can't really go terribly far from where you want to be. You can go in circles though.



Back on track, the road took us through a landscape neither of us had ever experienced. We drove through the beautiful moorland called Sally Gap. It truly was beautiful. We were high up, and stretching out all around us was bog covered with heather and ferns. The autumn weather has brought the ferns to the end of life, but this has turned them into a burnt-orange colour that, when mixed with the greens and yellows of the moor, made a wonderful impression on the eye. We drove up and through, never getting tired of it and always marking something else we'd never seen before. Unfortunately, we had put our camera batteries in to charger the night before (smart, right?) and forgot them (wrong). Hence, no pictures of Sally Gap.

Another highlight from that day was stopping alongside the road to catch a glimpse of a random lake, and then deciding to hop out and go climb to it. This point became yet another place where Jordan "is going to live." (Jordan reminds me of his discovery here of a waterfall IN A FERN!)



As we drove along through this high moor, it dropped suddenly into the lush, green valley of Glenmacnass. A dramatic waterfall rushed down and into a river that snaked through the valley below. There were sheep. We do have pictures of this (we bought batteries), but they really don't do it justice!



We explored Glendalough in the afternoon, two lakes, upper and lower, surrounded by woods with old monastic buildings. St. Kevin is your man known for having lived here and built many of the buildings back in the day. It is something else to wander around ruins of old chapels and dwellings and wonder about the people who lived here. The woods added so much to the beauty of the place and we walked and walked and walked.





Eventually, we headed off to find a place to make camp in Glenmalure. Off the beaten track, this was a place our friends here have camped before and recommended. Not being a camping ground, but rather woods and fields, they told us to cross the fjord before setting up camp, and to make sure we weren't on some farmer's land. We found ourselves in a narrow valley, with a boggy wood on one hand and open fields and brush on the other. We found some high ground in the woods and set up camp, collected wood for our fire, and had it all sorted before night fell. The woods were so green and rich—no brush to hide things, so you could see through the tree trunks on and on. It felt light and inviting.



Having set up, we headed back into town to the local public house and had the best dinner ever! (Jordan has since had an even better dinner, but this does not malign the memory of Glenmalure.) It was an old, low, stone and wood building with creaking dark wood floors and a huge fire on the hearth. We sat close to the fire (it was chilly) and ate our delicious meal. Then we headed back to the woods, started the fire we had already prepared, and enjoyed the rest of the night by a warm fire. By chance we camped under a full moon, and the moment it rose over the high valley walls, there was the most luminescent moonlight flooding through the trees! (Papa—"I'm being followed by a moon-shadow…")

The next day we had a relaxed start—not late, relaxed. I was up at 7:30, scrounging for more wood, and we were both up at 8, cooking our eggs and porridge right in the fire. We took our time reading the Bible and praying together and, by the time we had packed up and left, it was 11, but we loved it.



That afternoon we hiked above Lough Tray, a very impressive lake. The mountains go steeply into the water and the lake itself is terribly dark, giving the impression of incredible depth. The lake, along with the land, cultivated gardens, woods, and huge house all make up one of the Guiness Estates. Can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to live in such a place!



The trail we hiked hooked us up with the Wicklow Way, a walking trail through the mountains. There are many such "ways" in Ireland and we'd love to get out on one of them. This took us along the ridge of the mountain and would you believe it—we walked on boardwalk on the top on the mountain because it was bog! We never knew bog could be on the top of a mountain!



Next we tackled the Sugar Loaf, another mountain that we've been able to catch sight of once in a while. It was a very steep climb up, but short so that we climbed up, chilled out and took pictures at the top, and came back down in an hour and a half!



It still took it out of us though and we set out in search of a coffee shop. In Enniskerries, we found "Poppies," a quaint café filled with homemade everything. Carrot and Parsnip soup and a latté made us very happy, and we set out for home feeling so relaxed and refreshed from our days out.



Goodbye for now! We miss you all.