Spring dropped in for a few days - flowers in full bloom, the sun shining and Dubliners out and about with smiles on their faces.

But then it disappeared. As I type this, the wind is howling and the rain is pelting down. All the petals on the tree in front of our house are being blown away – covering our lawn in a snow-like blanket.

So I need to post these phtos to remind myself of the sunshine!

On another bright note, Brooke’s parents have arrived – and baby number 3 is due to arrive any time now. Both of these events will require more blog updates (and photos to go with them) very soon, so stay tuned!

We celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day a couple of weeks ago, and it was great heading into Dublin for the big parade.

But I couldn’t help but wonder how Saint Patrick would want to be remembered. So I read some of his own words – a document known as the “Confessio of Saint Patrick.”

There are so many myths that it is easy to think that the man himself is nothing but a myth.

But Patrick was a real man. He lived in the 5th Century, and spent a lot of his life in Ireland – though not chasing snakes!

Patrick grew up in Roman Britain, on England’s North west coast – Ireland’s patron Saint was not Irish! He was a foreigner!

When Patrick was a teenager, he was captured by Irish raiders and carried off to Ireland as a slave. He was held captive for 6 years, probably being used as a shepherd and farm hand. He was lonely and miserable, but it was during this time that God stepped in and provided the salvation he needed.

Patrick himself described it as: “I did not know the true God… the Lord opened to me the sense of my unbelief… I recognised my failings, so I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God, and he looked down on my lowliness and had mercy on me”

After 6 years of captivity, Patrick managed to escape. He missed his home and family, and was desperate to get out of Ireland. So, after many hardships, he managed to get back to England.

He would have remained in England happily, but God had other plans – Patrick had vivid dreams of the Irish pleading with him to come back to Ireland and tell them about Christ.

So he returned to Ireland. This was a costly move. He was leaving home and family. He was leaving safety and comfort. And he was going back to the land of his torment, where he had been a lowly slave.

Why would he make such a sacrifice?

Patrick says it was “the love of Christ that brought me. His gift was that I would spend my life, if I were worthy of it, serving them in truth and with humility to the end.”

It was not because of anything in himself. He knew he was an ordinary sinner. It was because of the love of Christ.

Patrick wrote “I never had any other reason for returning to that nation from which I had earlier escaped, except the gospel and God’s promises.”

It was God’s love, as shown in the gospel of Jesus, which compelled Patrick to give his life to the Irish.

Look at 1 John 4:9-10 in the bible:

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Saint Patrick loved the Irish people because he understood God’s love for the Irish people.

Patrick sacrificed his life for the Irish people – all the safety and comfort of staying at home in England. And he did it because he understood God’s great sacrifice for sinners.

What was Patrick’s vision for Ireland? How would he want St Patrick’s Day to be remembered?

By big parades? By dressing in green and wearing funny hats? By drinking too much Guinness and waking up with a hangover?

Saint Patrick would want people to hear the message he preached – and to believe in it and turn to Jesus, friend of sinners.

One of the great privileges of living in Ireland is that Europe is on our door step.

We recently celebrated our 10^th Wedding Anniversary – and thanks to ridiculously cheap RyanAir flights (less than AU$100 for both of us return!), we decided to head to Paris to celebrate .

We flew there on the Saturday morning, and flew home on the Sunday afternoon – so it really was a very short visit. Rather than trying to see and do everything, we relaxed and soaked up the atmosphere while getting just a taste of all that this amazing city has to offer. Thanks to an amazing Grosvenor family who have taken us under their wings, we were able to leave the boys in Dublin for a sleep over – so it really was a relaxing time!

My sister has been to Paris a few times, so she gave us lots of helpful tips. One of her bits of advice was a warning. She told us that when we visit the Basilique du Sacre Coeur – an amazing Roman Catholic Basilica perched on the top of Paris’ highest point – we needed to watch out for the common scam many of the tourists fall into. As you climb the hill, you are approached by people who tell you that there is a tradition of wearing a small bracelet made of braided strings. Before you know it, the person is braiding string around your wrist. After they have finished, they demand payment for your new bracelet. The bracelet is tight enough that you can’t slide it off, so you feel obliged to pay them for it. It’s quite a profitable scam. There are dozens of them doing it, and they are quite aggressive when it comes to demanding payment.

I was very glad Bec “snatched us from the fire” and helped us avoid the scam. Watching others falling for it around me, I couldn’t stay silent. A guy next to me was approached and as the scammer reached out with the strings, I said “He’s going to ask you to pay for that once he’s finished”. The scammer was not too happy with my warning – shouting abuse at me!

It’s funny, that given such a small matter with such small consequences (a euro or two at most), I felt so obliged to speak up and save this stranger from being scammed.

YET when it comes to much more serious matters – when people’s very souls and eternity are at stake, I am often apathetic or frightened to speak up and warn them.

In the bible, Jude tells us to be merciful and “snatch others from the fire”, and James says “whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death.”

Pray for us – that we would show the same urgency and boldness in sharing the good news of Jesus with people here in Ireland.

P.S. There are some more of our Paris photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brookedave/sets/72157629131285091/

I had been hoping for a White Christmas, but it wasn’t to be. In fact, the only snow we have had this winter has been a couple of hours of very light snow on the 16^th December – which is when this photo was taken from our bedroom window.

Despite the record breaking (and deadly) cold temperatures experienced in most of Europe this winter, Ireland has had an unusually mild winter. There’s only been a handful of frosty nights, and most days have reached around 7°C or warmer – definitely not bone chilling stuff. Christmas day was particularly warm, reaching 13°C (compare that with Irish temperatures as low as MINUS 17°C on Christmas Day 2010!) It’s looking unlikely that we’ll be getting any more of the white stuff this year, but I haven’t given up hope – apparently Dublin has had more White Easters than White Christmases since weather records began!

We have had quite a few people come visit us in Dublin lately. The first were the Cooks – fellow Shire Hobbits who have journeyed to the other side of the world and currently live less than an hour’s flight away in Manchester. It was a low key weekend, relaxing together as both families enjoyed a reminder of home through each other’s company. We look forward to returning the favour and visiting the Cooks in the UK later in the year (and I’m hoping we can sneak a visit to Anfield in to watch Liverpool play – hopefully as reigning Carling Cup and FA Cup holders!)

We’ve also had visits from a couple of other close friends – Ang and Jane. One of the cool things about having people come to stay is being able to show off Ireland and its beauty. This also helps make the place feel more like our home, as we play tourist guides and share our (newly acquired) local knowledge. Our number one “must see” is Glendalough, which involves a drive through the beautiful Wicklow Mountains to a monastic site dating back to the 6^th Century – it’s stunning. While I’m sure both Ang and Jane were happy for us to share our home and our local knowledge with them, I think they both would have been happy if we’d kept our colds to ourselves! As a family, we have had a pretty bad run of colds over winter. It feels like we have been caught in a cycle of one cold after another since November! None of them were too serious, but all of them were annoying! We’re hoping this means we will have built up a bit of immunity to Northern Hemisphere colds and will have a better winter next year!

Last (but not least!), we had my little sister come visit. Bec timed it well, arriving in time for Christmas and thus saving us from feeling too lonely. Some of the highlights of Bec’s visit were:

• Going to the Carols by Candlelight service at Grosvenor Baptist Church
• Eating a Christmas feast (including Goose!) with some friends (fellow Aussies)
• Driving over to the West Coast of Ireland and seeing the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher (even though we nearly got blown into the Atlantic)
• A relaxing walk along the pier at Dun Laoghaire

It really was a blessing having Bec with us – the boys loved having their Aunty come stay (even if Jai was a bit sick and grumpy at times) and we didn’t want to let her go. We walked up to the bus stop together, and waved goodbye – then spent the next few days moping around the house feeling very sad and sorry for ourselves. I sent a message to our parents saying “Sorry, cancel your visits – the goodbyes are far too hard!” but they have ignored me (thankfully – we can’t wait to see them). So expect the first week of June to be a very solemn one in our house, with both Brooke’s parents and my Mum ending their visits at the start of June! Having a month old baby by then, and preparing to move on from Grosvenor Baptist (and probably Dublin) will provide us with some fairly big distractions!

Even with hard goodbyes, we thank God for visitors.

Five of the things we love here in Dublin are…

1. The People. We have made some great friends and have been blessed by the people God has put in our lives – both Irish natives and people from all over this planet now living in Dublin (from England, Brazil, Switzerland, China, South Africa, Romania, Poland, Nigeria and even Australia!)

2. Autumn. And I mean a real autumn where the leaves actually do turn brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red. We are even looking forward to winter – especially if it snows. Snow isn’t really a regular occurrence in Dublin, but the last two years have seen this change with record-breaking cold snaps. We may be among the only people in Ireland hoping this year will be the third cold winter in a row!

3. The Parks. There are two beautiful parks right near our house (Marlay Park and St Enda’s Park), plus there is the enormous Phoenix Park, which is home to a massive population of deer as well as Dublin’s zoo. Most of the parks have a sense of history that you just don’t get in Australia.

4. The Mountains. We are just a short drive from the Wicklow Mountains that lie to the south of Dublin – and they are beautiful. It’s nice that you can see the countryside from virtually anywhere in Dublin – even the city centre. The boys love seeing the sheep, cows, horses and even the odd deer.

5. The Pubs. Our favourite so far is The Merry Ploughboy – lots of character, good food (love the seafood chowder), both Guinness and Bulmers on tap and quite family-friendly too. It’s great to sit by the open fire, drinking a pint and eating some yummy hot food.

There’s a whole bunch of other things we love too – but this is the fast five that came to mind.

God is good. All of the time.

Five of the things we miss are…

1. Family and friends. Jai turned one on Sunday. It was a good day – skype calls to Australia, lunch with some of our new Irish friends and family, and the boys loved playing with all the new toys that arrived in the post. But it reminded us that our Aussie family and friends couldn’t be here.

2. A real summer. Ireland has had only one day over 25 degrees this summer, and it was BEFORE we got here! This article declares it to be Ireland’s worst summer in 50 years! The weather hasn’t been aweful – lots of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors, but it would be nice to have a proper hot day every now and then. We certainly didn’t bring the weather with us!

3. Beef. Ireland is more “oink oink” than “moo moo” – and the quality of the pork sausages has won us over somewhat. But it would be nice if we didn’t have to go hunting to find beef sausages!

4. Thai food. I think the Thai food in Australia is the best in the world (and I’ve been to Thailand!) – Thai migrants, fresh/quality produce and OK prices. We’ve found somewhere nearby that is edible, but it’s just not the same. The Pad Thai tasted more like Pad See Ew, and it cost alot more than in Oz.

5. Aussie TV. I won’t argue that Aussie TV is the best in the world! It’s rubbish. But it is the rubbish we are used to! We hardly got to watch any of le Tour de France (and Cadel’s awesome victory) – and it’s just not the same when forced to watch it at a decent hour! Brooke is also mourning the fact that Packed to the Rafters is back on and we will miss it!

I would have added coffee to this list, but the combination of an aeropress at home and good beans delivered from the UK has meant we can have a good coffee at home now.

When we arrived in Dublin, we were shown generous hospitality by our amazing friend who let us stay in her place (in the fancy schmancy ”Dublin 4″ area, no less!). But it was still nice to find a place we can call home.

Besides the need for it to be south of the river Liffey (Church is on the south side), we had no specific location in mind. This meant I (Dave) spent a bit of time trekking all over town trying to find the right house – a great help in getting a feel for Dublin and piecing together where everything is.

We found a place that looked good after a few days of looking, and signed a 12 month lease the next day – which was back on the 1st of July. So let me now show you our Irish home.

Firstly, here is its location and proximity to the city and Church. It’s inside the ring road, and near lots of great parks (the best of which is Marlay Park, which is Dublin’s second largest and is absolutely perfect for wasting a Saturday afternoon with the boys – and it’s only 5 minutes away!). I have timed how long it takes to get to church: 10 minutes drive or 18 minutes bike ride (for me – Cadel Evans may do it slightly faster!). There are regular buses into the city too.

Now, let me show you what the house looks like. Here is the outside (with our new car in the driveway – a Kia Carens which has 7 seats so is perfect for when visitors come from Australia). All the houses in our street look virtually identical, and all the streets in our estate have virtually identical names – Llewellyn Lawn, Llewellyn Way, Lewellyn Grove… you get the idea. Very confusing!

Here is our lounge room. The place came furnished, but it was pretty sparse so we had to do a few trips to Ikea and Argos to buy some more furniture. And yes, that is a fireplace. We’re looking forward to sitting in front of it with a hot chocolate when winter comes.

Here’s the kitchen and dining room. Irish kitchens often double up as laundries too, with the washing machine being under the bench along with a small fridge and freezer.

And now upstairs. Our bedroom is at the front of the house, which looks out onto a large green across the road. We have set up an office in the corner of our room, which saves having to go into the church when preparing Bible studies and talks – though we’re still waiting for all our books to arrive by sea freight.

The boys share a room, so we’re very happy with the size of it- second bedrooms are often quite small in Dublin.

The third room is tiny, only just fitting the double bed and small wardobe in – but it should get good use as family and friends come to visit us. We’ve already got two confirmed arrivals and can’t wait to hang out and show off Dublin to them!

We’ve been told the bathroom is “very Australian”, with Irish bathrooms often having no tiles on the walls (or even the floors), so we did well there too.

And finally, the backyard. It was empty when we arrived, but we have since put in a small shed for the bikes, a picnic table, compost bin, herb and vegie patch and a few other plants. The latest addition, though not pictured here, is a small chicken coop with two chooks. No eggs yet, but the plan is that they will give us a regular supply of fresh eggs. If they don’t start laying soon, I’ll have to show them an axe and remind them that they could serve another purpose if they don’t want to supply us with eggs! The big green tank holds oil for the central heating, and the the little room next to it is not an outdoor dunny – it holds the boiler for the heating.

We are very mindful of God’s provision in all of this – the house-hunting went so smoothly and we are already feeling at home. We are thankful to those who are giving generously and praying regularly. Please continue to pray – that we would use this house for God’s glory, growing in our love for him as a family and opening our doors to others so we can use hospitality as a way of furthering his kingdom.

Love lots,

Brooke, Dave & the boys

When we first started this blog, it was with a particular purpose in mind… to keep family and friends abreast of what we’ve been up to in Ireland. There has been a long wait to actually get to Ireland, which meant a long wait for this blog to fulfil its purpose – but that time has now come! For those living under a rock, let me update you… we are now living and ministering in Dublin, Ireland.

While we’re doing some updating, I should also dedicate some blog space to Jai. Again, if you live under a rock and only know what’s happening in our lives via this blog, you will have noticed that one of my previous posts mentioned that Brooke was pregnant again.

I can happily report that the pregnancy was a normal 9 month duration (not 20 months!), and so Jai Daniel Wilson was born on 21st August 2010 and is now 11 months old.

He is very different to Cadel in lots of ways – their hair styles couldn’t be more different for one, with Jai having thin, straight blonde hair while Cadel’s has turned into a mop of dark, thick, crazy curls. They also have very different personalities – yet they love each other lots and enjoy sharing a laugh already. It’s a joy watching the two of them play (but also a countdown to see which one will make the other cry!)

I will post again with some photos of our new home and some Irish musings, but let me first give a bit more time to Jai by way of some photos of him:

I’ve been doing lots of teaching at a school in an area with a large Muslim population lately. Living and growing up in the very mono-cultural Sutherland Shire has meant I have spent very little time with Muslim people, so it has been great getting to know some of the students and gaining insight into their worldview.

As I teach, I’m also able to observe the students (alright, listen in on coversations!). One thing that has struck me is how little difference wearing the hijab (Islamic head scarf) makes. These girls are constantly reaching for their mirrors and make-up compacts. They still judge each other as either beautiful or ugly based on looks. They are just like any other teenage girl. Their moddest headdress does not give them a moddest heart.

Right now we are a week into Ramadan – the holy month in which Muslims fast during daylight hours – and I can’t believe how often the Muslim students talk about food. They are always salivating over the great feast waiting for them when the sun goes down that night!

Why do I write this? Not to bash Islam.

But to share my observation that religion has no ability to change the heart. Rules have no power to curb desires. Outward actions never create lasting change within us.

This is true of Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism or any other religion you can think of. And whenever Christianity becomes a mere moral code, or a prescribed set of rituals – then it is true of Christianity too. Religion doesn’t change the heart.

And the human heart is an ugly, sin-stained, corrupt thing. It needs to be changed.

Actually, it needs to be ripped out and replaced with a new, clean, obedient heart. Long before Jesus’ birth, the prophet Ezekiel looked forward to his coming.  He longed for a time when God would deal with our sinful hearts (and the punishment we deserve) and give us his Spirit.

Christ alone offers this radical heart surgery – so stop taking the do-it-yourself approach!

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)