Not all those who wander are lost...

Greetings to all! Autumn has come in Northern Ireland. The weather is getting colder (yes colder than it already was to begin with) and the leaves are starting to change. We went to Belfast Castle today and the trees were just breathtaking with their changing leaves. While we were hiking up to the Castle that is just beneath Cave Hill in Belfast overlooking the sea, the leaves were ever so softly falling from the branches and it was just perfect. It was nice to do a bit of sightseeing today. We were celebrating one of my fellow YAV's birthdays and she likes to just walk around a lot, so Belfast Castle was just the place for us.

Things have been going well since I last wrote you. I unfortunately got the flu about a week ago and felt pretty miserable there for a while, but after talking to numerous N. Irelanders, the flu is a thing that all Americans catch while here. The climate is just so different here. It is really hard to go from living in the desert to living on an island. All of that to say that I am almost 100% now and hope that this will be my first and last time to have to get through the flu while I am here.

The newness of this place is quickly wearing off and we are all starting to realize the task at hand. While all of us know that this place will end up changing us much more than we will change it, we all I think hope to leave a little something behind in our travels. Weather it is the banana song that I have taught my kids at The Vine, or maybe a conversation with youth about change and peace...we all want to make a difference, give back to the difference Northern Ireland is going to be making on us. The stress of living here is very subtle, sometimes it creeps in and nothing seems to change. However, sometimes the stress gets to you in a crippling way. All of us YAV's this last couple of weeks have had something happen that just about sent us over the edge. This may sound funny, but it was a very good thing. It created a chance for us to look out for one another and this in turn strengthened our already strong bond with each other and the ones that we work with. My "breakdown" was getting so sick. Those of you who know me know that I usually get sick when I have pushed myself to hard. This is a hard thing to learn from. I keep telling myself that I will learn not to push it that hard again...then I find my next challenge down the road and I am in the same situation all over again. Old habits are hard to let go...aren't they?

I thank you all for your letters and e-mails, comments and words of encouragement. They mean more to me than you will ever know.

These past weeks I have found peace and grace in so many things. Like Nichole Nordeman says in her song called "grace"..."grace finds beauty in everything." That's just it there, to be able to see peace or grace you have to be willing to open your mind and your heart to the prospect of it being in everything. Peace has come this week in a group of kids singing, the leaves falling, the few sunny days we have had, and in feeling better after the flu. I find more and more that peace is something that not only N. Ireland is working for, but we all are working for. The questions still plagues me in my time here, what is peace? Is it attainable? What can I do to find peace? These are questions that I am taking from the community here and I am putting in my own life. I too, just like N. Ireland am looking for peace.

Peace be with all of you this day and all of the days to come.

Blessings and love-
Melissa