Certainty in Uncertainty

Kindra here =)

Our time here has been terrific! Bonding with all the fuzzy/muddy animals, learning more about composting and planting and why earthworms are the awesomest, and getting wonderful, hilarious times with our hosts have been making these 2 weeks a time worth remembering. We even got to weed out and prepare an entire area for planting and gardening, which is extremely rewarding, to turn something from a pile of weeds into an aesthetically pleasing opportunity for new life to flourish. We have also experienced gale winds now, and got to see/be sprayed by HUGE surf in the ocean city of Lehinge, about a 45 min walk from our place. (As a sidenote, we also learned during that time in Lehinge that things in rural Ireland really do close at 5. Or sometimes even before 5 when they say they close at 6. Not in Kansas/late night metropolis cities anymore.)

As part of the highlights, we have been learning about British culture-since our hosts are British-and it's so fun! They a catchy, quirky phrase for just about everything in life, from "gripper"-a person who grips onto you in conversation when you clearly have no desire to talk with them; a person who in impossible to extract yourself from conversation once entered in to said conversations; to "yok"- a thing, as in "what's the name of that yok?" or "that yok there"; or "bum"-an expression of displeasure, as in 'person drops something and would then say "oh bum!" It's been fun =)

Today, however, we received some *potentially* bad news from our hosts. As part of the WWOOFing arrangement, they have the right to ask that their workers leave at any point if their situation changes, it's not a good fit, etc., and WWOOFers have the same right to leave their hosts. While from our perspective this is an excellent side of WWOOFing, as there is no obligation on either party if it's not working out or things change, we never really thought it would affect (effect?)  us-we were wrong. Today we were asked to find another host for our last 2 weeks in Ireland-not from any fault of ours or not getting along, but simply because they cannot afford to have us at the present. The mechanic business that supports their family has come to a screeching halt since we have arrived, and to top it off the weather has been almost totally incapacitating us from doing any of the work they actually need us to do. (Incidentally, we learned from a local Irishman we hitchhiked with yesterday that this past year and continuing into this year is the wettest Ireland has ever seen.) If his business were to pick up and the weather to change/stop raining etc, we would be more than welcome to stay the full original planned time. They are NOT kicking us out, and emphasized that if we can't find another host that they won't throw us out and we can finish our time here....but that, financially, it would be appreciated if we could find somewhere else. Starting this weekend-ish.

Soooooooo, Austin and I had been talking about wanting to buy a car/van/something mobile to sleep in just as a convenience and potential cost saver as we go through Europe, and especially with these recent events we are now looking in earnest for a car. The fact that we have an excellent mechanic as a host who can inspect it for us before we buy is certainly a plus as well. 

As we have been spending time with Jesus lately, we have been feeling encouraged to be more independent in our travels, and to possibly step out of the box of ONLY WWOOFing; to try new things as we travel, and we are thinking that this may be just that opportunity. So we may get a Mitsubishi station wagon from town, and travel Ireland for a week before heading to Scotland and travel there for a week before our next WWOOFing stop there....who knows! =)

No matter what happens, however uncertain some things may be, we are absolutely certain in this: God is with us, and He is for us. So who can be against us? We know He will provide-He always has-and we know we can trust Him.

So we'll keep you posted, but for now we may be packing up and hitting the road in the next few days! I guess this is the part when everyone tells you that you have to be flexible when you're traveling, right?
; )