Week nine done and dusted

Last week marked the 9th weekend of The Press being open and running! Each week I'm learning something new: how to make soup from scratch, how buckets of rain keep customers away, how one conversation with one person can make my entire weekend! This is such a unique situation that I find myself in. Most people that endeavor on something like this have the huge pressure of making a reasonable amount of profit very early on while I have the privilege of just needing to cover costs. This simple fact has let me breathe in the midst of this project. Moments with one person can equal a win for the week because this is more a ministry than a business.
Yet if I'm honest, I still feel completely out of my depth on so many levels. Marketing is presenting itself as the big, ugly, monster right now and I want to turn and run the other way. Instead I'm trying to simply stand. Stand and think. Stand and look. Then hopefully if I can stand for a few more moments, I can move forward with the information I need in hand to take this dream a bit further. But I will say that I also could use some extra doses of concentrated prayer time alone with my Father and also from each person who reads this. Pray that God continues to give me His vision for The Press; that He sends the ones He's searching for and that I act in obedience straight away.
And for those of you who live near by or can make it out, this weekend we are having another live acoustic set by a guy named Dylan Ruane (sounds quite memorable heh?). He used to come along to Lava a few years back and is pretty excited with the opportunity to have his own set at The Press. So come and give him a bit of support. I think it's going to a be a great night out! The 'other night out' if I'm honest because we're affordable and can be repeated! I'm also going to attach pictures from facebook here from the Official Opening. We had a great night with loads of American cookies up for grabs and the fantastic Andy Young kept us entertained with his musical talents. Hope you enjoy them! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=131512&id=618891244&l=47517ecaa8

When dreaming becomes reality!!!

So it's official! The Press Coffee Shop in Dungannon, NI has opened. The first weekend was fantastic and full of moments where I tried to keep from squealing because I was so excited that my dream was finally a reality. It's been about 9 months since Jason and Michelle Scott approached me with the idea of running a coffee shop at the church. In so many ways I can hardly believe it's happened and in other ways it seems so natural and the right progression for my personal life as well as where our church is at.

These first few months will be more about finding our feet than being the best coffee shop in town, although I wouldn't mind if we did both. The coffee shop has such a unique feel. We have a wall of artwork that is dedicated to the Dalit's of India (check out OM India if you're curious, you will not regret it). We also have artists within the church who are displaying their pieces in the coffee shop. We've added signage, plants, lamps...all those little things that make it feel a bit more lived in and not so display roomish. We have a very simple menu, are open Fridays from 10-4pm and Saturdays 12-9pm at the moment. And when the night comes the atmosphere completely changes. It's amazing!

This coffee shop is such a labor of love and parallels my walk with God this last year. It raised in me a lot of doubts. Doubts in my ability, doubts that God really wanted this cafe around, just doubts in general. But I feel is has awakened my soul. I love it and I feel that the love I have for this particular adventure is filtering through other areas of my life. It still amazes me that I have this opportunity.

I am just foolish enough to believe that God can use me, someone with some experience but not a lot to do something as special as run this coffee shop. To love on people in this kind of place. Hopefully show them a little bit of the unconditional love and acceptance Christ has extended to me. I just feel really privileged. Thanks Abba...it's yours.

We're opening this Friday 4th September 10am!!!

Hello to all of you amazing followers, now you will officially have something to follow. This Friday the 4th of September 2009 The Press Coffee Shop will be opening it's doors to the public!!! I'm so excited and terrified at the same time! This is an absolute dream come true but I think there's a good amount of trepidation when your dream becomes a reality. Will this actually work? Will people come and like it? Will I be able to cope? And so the list of questions goes, most of which involve me searching my heart and finding that God has promised me some pretty amazing things. That when I'm weak He is strong. So I feel weak and underqualified but He's not and He's with me. He knows every need I have and anticipates with and for me the unforseen challenges that lie ahead. So this whole business of trust becomes a very personal path of day in and day out moments. But I am hopeful that God will create this space. That He will be what draws people in and makes them feel welcome. My prayer is that He uses my hands and my feet to do His work. Another promise, His grace is sufficient for me. I am human as any of you who know me well can attest to. Therefore I make mistakes, hurt people's feelings, lack common sense and generally act as humans do. So this promise of grace is one I rely heavily on each day. Grace from God that I can continue to serve Him to the end. Grace that I can show people His love and grace. Grace with those who I care for and sometimes don't show it. All of this to say that The Press is His deal, I just happened to catch wind of it when He whispered and now I'm part of His deal.

I hope all of you who can come, do. Stop in, have a chat with me and the other amazing volunteers who I hope to highlight as time goes and see what's going on at The Press.

Also, a huge thank you to the following people:

My hubby, for putting up with all of my self-doubts and not believing any of them and for simply loving me.

My Mom, for taking me to every coffee shop in Nampa, Idaho and creating a love of people in me.

My Dad, for being so supportive of me all these years and the ones to come.

The Carpenter Clan, for listening to me rant on and on about this coffee shop for the last year and a half.

Lynda, for always being so excited as I shared my dreams.

The Chud Clan, for dreaming with me and believing in me.

My friends, your support, ideas, and prayers have carried me farther than I knew they could.

Michelle, great minds think alike and this is your dream come true as much as it is mine.

Ciaran, you are the official cafe man!

Ian, partnering with EA is an awesome privilege, here's to the future!

Steven, the logo is just what I was hoping for and now you'll always have a visual representation of your handiwork.

Paul, for putting up with all of my pickiness.

Sharon, for late night chats about coffee shops, dreams and for even later nights setting the place up.

Colin H, our quick chats gave me a lot to think about and vision to move forward when I was standing still.

And last but not least,

Vineyard Church Dungannon, over the last 5 years you have grown me up, challenged me, walked me through the valleys and mountains tops, and most of all have shown me what happens when we partner with what God is already doing. Thank you.

Coming this September!!!

It's been ages since I last posted so I'll give you all a brief update of the status of The Press. Things have been moving right along and we have been given a green light to open The Press in September 2009!! At the moment I'm working on a checklist of what needs to be done, bought and sorted before we leave for the states this summer to visit our families. The list is consisting of fun things like buying teapots and then not so fun things like buying bins. But it's all part of what will be needed to make this thing a success. I feel nervous at times by the size of this challenge but at the same time thrilled to have such an incredible opportunity and chance. Thank you Jason and Michelle for giving me this chance! I hope I do it well and that it will bring people closer to Jesus.
We have some logos being worked on so once I have that finalized I'll post it and you can weigh in with your opinions. As far as the other bits and pieces go they will hopefully just fall into place with the help of my to-do list that keeps getting updated.
For those of you who are following the progress of The Press I have a favor to ask of you. Would you please keep me in your prayers? I really would like to see God's stamp all over this place and want to make it accessible for as many people as possible but at times I do get overwhelmed thinking of all the logistics. So I could really use some committed volunteers to help out on a regular basis. Also pray that our location would not present itself as too much of a challenge to overcome in getting people in the doors. (Our building is located at the top of a hill and is quite a workout to get up). Pray that we pick the right hours for opening that will meet the needs of the most vulnerable people. Pray that we can anticipate what God is doing and work alongside of Him. Basically just pray! Thanks and I will keep you updated if there's any important news from now until then.

Cockroaches and coffee...

Tonight I finished up my food safety handling course with our last teaching session and the exam. During the teaching we watched a dvd that made everyones stomachs turn. It was about pest control and cockroaches made multiple appearances throughout the dvd. Needless to say it was disgusting and made me thankful that our space is new and shiny:) Hopefully cockroach free forever. But I'm relieved that the class is done because night time is not a good time for me to pretend to be alert. So now I press forward with the costings and pricings aka hitting my head against a brick wall because I'm not good with numbers!

School anyone???

Tonight I had my first free business course that's offered through Invest NI for those interested in starting up a business. It was fun being there amidst people from all walks of life. I was encouraged to see quite a few foreign nationals there as well, it shows just how diverse Dungannon really has become. But if I'm honest it was a little boring, or maybe I was just tired. Either way it was still good and I was able to get loads of good tips and info that will help in the prepping process. At the end of the class I went up to ask the instructor a question and found out that she actually attends a church where they are doing something similar to what we want to do at the Vineyard with The Press. Coincidence? I don't think so. I hope that I can gain some valuable tools from this woman. Thank you Lord for this opportunity!

Where the food ideas will be born...

Onto the next person who will be making part of The Press a reality. Michelle Scott is one of my good friends here in Dungannon and Michelle will be my go to person for food ideas. If you have ever had the privilege of encountering a meal made by Michelle you will understand why I'm asking her for advice. She loves to cook and entertain , plus I trust her instincts -- she's always fed me well so this was right up her alley! Michelle and her husband Jason are the pastors of the Vineyard Church here in Dungannon and we are very happy to call them not only pastors but friends. They have done an incredibe job leading the church into a place of serving our community and we hope The Press will continue that education process. It was this couple who initially approached me with the idea of the coffee shop to see if I was interested so all I can say is thank you for thinking of me. I hope it is all you could dream of!

Michelle and I met up last Friday, the 5th of February to discuss the menu and we decided that less is more. So we will be keeping things on the sweet and simple side as we begin with the possibility of increasing as we go. We will be serving coffee and tea, scones, chocolate chip cookies, hopefully some good old fashioned traybakes and some light options for food like soups and toasties. Now these are our inital thoughts but that can change at any given moment if we realize it won't work or will be too hard to produce. But it's fun to think up yummy lite bites and treats. If you have some amazing recipes that you would like to donate to The Press please just let me know and we will look at them for the future.

Going backwards...

Now that I have started this blog I decided I needed to go back just a bit to fill you all in on the many people who are helping to make this happen.

I'll start with my husband, Bryan. Bryan and I have been married for close to 7 years now and he is my best friend! Throughout the years I have gone on and on about coffee shops and how someday I would love to run one. So when this opportunity came up Bryan immediately pushed me forward through many of my doubts and fears to a place of thinking that this actually could work. He's believed in me from day one and has walked me through many similar conversations that included all of the reasons why I couldn't do this. But in the end his logic, support and love allowed me to see the endless possibilities. Bryan also has a huge heart for The Press tying into what he does on a weekly basis which is work with youth by investing into their lives, pointing them in the right direction and simply being the amazing consistent person that he is. I don't know how he does what he does except for God given vision and strength. Bryan will also partner with me in running the coffee shop as we get it off the ground. He will be the man in charge of cultivating the musical atmosphere as well because his taste in music is far better and far bigger than mine. So I'm indebted to him for thousands of reasons and this will just be one more! Thank you babe for all that you are, do and say! You amaze me!

The journey begins....

So awhile back our church had a space that they converted into what we call The Storehouse. The Storehouse is a community oriented place that longs to serve the community of Dungannon with practical aid in homes, family life, etc. When the Storehouse was being refurbished our leaders Jason and Michelle Scott decided that some of the space should be set up as a cafe environment. So now the Storehouse has this amazing space basically ready to be used as a coffee shop. That is where I come into the picture. I have been asked and given the unique privilege of getting the coffee shop up and running, eventually opening it up to the general public. My husband Bryan has basically been giving me great advice about pursuing my dreams when they are right in front of me so I have a whole wagon load of thanks to throw his direction. I can truly say I would not even be attempting this process were it not for him. I also have a lot of trustworthy, uplifting friends to thank so thank you all. And to my family, thanks for encouraging me always.
When the idea of the coffee shop started to become a reality I immediately wanted to start a blog about it. So hence, this blog has began! I'm so excited to share this journey with anyone who is interested but I think am selfishly doing it so that I can chronicle this part of my life and capture the moments that I experience during this process.
So far the range of emotions I have felt regarding the coffee shop also lovingly known as 'The Press' are as follows: pure and unadulterated fear, indecisiveness, frustration, negativity, hope, apathy and the feeling of being extremely alive. I'm anticipating the many adventures that The Press will present me with. But I think many of them will be a growth experiment for me. Am I ready to tackle my dream? Am I ready to commit to this project and not hold anything back? Am I ready to dream bigger than I ever thought possible because the options seem endless with the directions this place could extend to? Well, I don't have any answers right now but I'm moving forward and for me that's a good place to start. So come along and join this journey. I really hope you do!