Our Leader and Friend

We wanted to take this week's post to honor a very special couple. Sean and Susan Mullarkey have been so kind to Katy and me even before we moved to Ireland. I remember our first Skype conversation with Sean and me thinking how cool his accent sounded. After nearly four years here, American accents sound weird to us, and Sean and Susan are STILL continually lifting us up and pushing us forward.

Now, it wouldn't require a special occasion to honor them as they deserve it daily. However, this was an incredible weekend as Sean was elected the National Leader of AGI. He and Susan will remain the lead pastors of St. Mark's Church. We are so excited to see where God will take AGI under Sean's leadership. It has been a dynamic movement under previous leaders, and God is now going to use the Mullarkey's to take us into this new season.

We are absolutely humbled to be working within AGI and with it's incredible churches. We are so blessed to have such a vibrant, life-giving movement that welcomes us in and launches us out. AGI is in very good hands with Sean during this next three year term. We can't wait to see what this journey holds!

Sean and Susan have been amazing pastors, constantly displaying character, integrity, and grace. They have also been close friends to myself and Katy. They have helped us avoid cultural faux pas. They have rejoiced with us in our successes. They have comforted us in our most difficult times. I can't even imagine what our first years in Ireland would have been like if it weren't for the Mullarkey family.

Congratulations and thank you Sean, Susan, John, Daniel, Rebekah, and Rachel. We love you guys.

Creative Space

I (Katy) asked Eden what the blog should be about today, and he said, “Bob the Builder.” Nailed it (pun definitely intended). That made me think of how much we love our son and his place in our lives and ministry. 

Eden has a different life than a lot of little toddlers. He definitely has the same struggles as most kids his age: he is presented with food he doesn't want to eat and gets strapped into a boring car seat a lot. 

What is unique to his life is that both of his parents spent a ton of time in meetings and in churches. We drag him to all kinds of (to him) boring places. He ends up getting lots of different babysitters and traveling a lot. He has probably spent more time in car seats and airplanes than most kids his age! He’s still little, but knows the airport routine very well. 

The tricky thing about our lives is that what we do is a 24/7 job. There is no opportunity to clock out for the day. We have to create that space ourselves. We might drive ourselves crazy with parent guilt if we let ourselves worry about each little thing. What we need to remember is that, even now, Eden has a unique purpose on this earth. Each day of his life is a new opportunity for him to learn and explore who God is. No matter what is going on, we should stop and listen to what he has to say.

I am now realizing that this blog has taken me an hour to write. I have stopped several times to read to Eden, sing Jesus Loves Me, and pretend to play the trumpet. Creating space is hard, but it is worth it. 

Ready? Let's Go!

Like a kid who is finally let loose into the play place at McDonald's, we are raring to go full-speed into 2016 (hopefully with less germs and static electricity). Here are some pretty amazing things that we are excited about this year:

• The team coming together - Daniel and Kelsey Collins and Rachel Reilly will be joining us later on this year. We are looking forward to getting to know them better and getting the chance to follow God's leading for us as a team in this next season.
• Planting at UCD. We are looking forward with so much hopefulness to see what God would have us do to serve the community at University College Dublin. We are praying for vision, grace, and the start to great relationships there. 
• Continuing relationship with Portia and the students at Carlow IT as they continue the Alpha group on campus.
• SFC Ireland continuing to blossom and take shape. 
• The most exciting for last...welcoming our new baby in June! Baby Edgmon (or Firetruck Edgmon, if Eden gets to call dibs on a name) is growing healthy and strong and we are so eager to see his or her little face. 

We love getting to share all of this with you guys on the team with us. Stay tuned for what's next with us and with student ministry over here.