A post from Moo

Ok so this is Mandy - come to tell you all a story haha. My blog won't upload this the way I want it so I'm hosting it here and will link it elsewhere that way. Enjoy!

So what's the story of The Ring?

Firstly if you've read OUR STORY you'll know that Simeon's proposal wasn't something out of the blue. We had discussed marriage before we'd even allowed ourselves to be considered a 'couple' haha. We like to open our minds to each other... wander among each others thoughts.. marvel and wonder at the way each other's mind works... SO.. as a result of this - Simeon talked to me about his thoughts about a ring before he created it. I know for some women this wouldn't work - they like the surprise element.. I can understand that and actually I didn't ever see the ring ITSELF until it was offered to me as a sign of Simeon's promise to be joined in 'Holy Matrimony' etc etc ;o) But I did KNOW he was making the ring and I knew (and LOVED) the reasons behind it.

Since early on in our relationship there's been a kind of enduring THEME of salvage, restoration, making beauty from ashes. It's something that's always captured both of us seperately so in our coming together it wove it's way out of our individual identities and into our identity as a 'couple'. There are so many little ways this expresses itself. Often Simeon's romantic gestures (we call them 'sneakins' haha) are a display of this - This desire that we both have to recognise the beauty in things others have disguarded.

In me it's often meant WANTING the uglier toys... the tattier books.. and I don't mean just settling for them, there is something within me that really geuinely LONGS for the broken things.. I like them BEST because there's such reward in SEEKING the not-so-obvious beauty I think.

This is a donkey I found at a carbootsale when I was a teenager.. he was muddy and sad sitting next to a load of much happier cleaner toys. I paid 10p for him. I made him my friend. I love him. DEARLY

One of the first (and most touching) gifts I ever received from Simeon was this necklace... you've probably seen me wear it because it's one of my favourite pieces of jewellery.

Along with this necklace came a letter (we were living hundreds of miles apart at the time) I shall allow you a sneaky peak at an excerpt but shhh don't tell everyone how romantic and beautiful Simeon is.. he's got a rep to protect you know ;oP

A few months later came a flower :o) that wouldn't need water, that wouldn't die, that was created out of random 'used goods'

I see SO clearly in all of this a beautiful picture of the way God redeems/choses the broken but I can only assume that HE placed this thing in us to show it for His glory because our desire to do it was before we really understood it of Him (much as I'd like to claim some superior holiness and pretend otherwise haha) It does help me to understand (on a WAY tinier scale) why God would seek out the broken and call them treasure though.

Of course this also mirrors (for me) the way that God has used Simeon to redeem my experience of love and marriage. That a man who'd saved himself entirely for his perfect bride - would shun the 'prettier', less 'damaged' women and choose a battered, little, divorced, weirdo who was 'used goods' (not MY words.. but that was said about me to Simeon in an attempt to point out the weirdness of his choice) Simeon didn't choose me because he wanted to be charitable, he wasn't making a sacrifice in his eyes because to him I was the thing he saw as TREASURE.. I was the beauty he most desired. Simeon sees in me a beauty beyond anything I can understand, deeper than anything I could believe if I didn't SEE it so glaringly in his eyes whenever he looks at me. I'm not saying for a moment that I don't think I 'deserve' Simeon.. and I'm not marrying him because I think he's the only man who'd ever want me or ANYTHING like that haha. Maybe it doesn't make sense to you but I know what I mean :oP

Ah it's all such overwhelming stuff eh? anyway back to the story (I just think the significance will be lost without the detail sorry haha)

So understanding that we have a theme of re-using stuff others had cast off and that we find the broken things beautiful. Combine that with the recent burden on our hearts this past year about justice, ethical trading, eco friendly lifestyles. Add on top of THAT the dislike we both have of the monstrous WEDDING INDUSTRY and the MILLIONS poured into feeding it every year while others can't even afford to EAT! aaaaand add to that the fact that we really don't have much money - and with all that in mind it would simply not have made sense for us to go and blow thousands on a traditional diamond ring.

disclaimer: many of my friends have traditional diamond rings.. they're beautiful and they suit who they are.. I'm NOT judging OR turning my nose up.. I'm just being true to ME

So Simeon embarked on learning the craft of ringmaking. He had in his shed some old salvaged piano keys from a thrown out Sunday School piano and decided that give our enduring affinity with all things TREE related.. Ebony was the PERFECT material from which to make an engagement ring.

I won't go into the details of HOW he made the ring (though he does intend to.. watch this space) but an interesting detail is that unlike most Brides-to-Be I actually have TWO engagement rings. While hand crafting the original Simeon noticed a weakness in the wood and guessing that it might break.. he created a backup (he could just have given me the backup but he liked the thinner style)

I have since 'injured' the thinner ring and switched to the thicker one but the plan for the ring was never that it last for life. I will wear this ring until the day that Simeon and I make our vows in front of the people we love and he replaces this ring with a WEDDING RING (a WHOLE other story haha) I will probably at this point switch the engagement ring onto a necklace.

So... there you have it. THAT is why this particular engagement ring is SO DEEPLY personal and appropriate for me :o) I wear with inexplicable pride and honour and the knowledge that I am marrying a man who really 'gets' me.

*happy*

xxx

μου [pronounced Moo] meaning (of God) "My own".

The story of God's introduction...

Way back in November 2008 The Stanford-Le-Hope '24-7prayer' boiler room community hosted a UK network day for the 24-7 community. I went along to support and to see what happens and so did some strange (but lovely) women who were referred to as 'Wild Geese'.

May 2009 arrived and with it the return of 2 of the 3 'Geese' to Stanford for a retreat week in which they were to take time out from their normal activities and very intentionally spend time with God. These 2 Women were Catie Raikes (of Aberystwyth) and Mandy Williams (of Gateshead).

At this time I was unable to work due to a loose piece of bone floating around inside my knee, so I had become more involved in the day to day life of the community of boilerroomers shaped around 217 Southend road.

During their retreat I spent a few hours making friends with and getting to know the 'Geese' and as with most connections made by 24-7 related people it was obvious that these friendships were not just for the week but would become a bigger part of the networks we were creating of people around the world focused on kingdom building.

We continued to talk via the Internet and discuss plans, dreams, and the things that really excite us. I was planning a 10 week driving adventure to the Balkans and back, and they were coming to the end of the 'Wild Goose' year. I should point out at this time that Mandy and I had spent more time talking than Catie and I, probably because Catie likes to build deep friendships with everyone, but Mandy's preference is to grow deep friendships with people one by one.

So... I went off to Europe adventuring, and Mandy Williams finished her wild goose year, finished her job and sadly had to move out of her marital home in the lead up to a divorce. We continued to talk and pray for each other and plan a visit on my return to England (Mandy had suggested that her friend Ali Wah would be excellent wife potential, which I've since learned is a massive compliment due to the HUGE love Mandy has for Ali). I had been discussing 4 retreats in a year to various places with James the Gense Gensberg, and considering that Mandy had retreat experience and we didn't, we had asked her and Gareth to host us for our first time.

October 2009 James the Gense and I traveled to the wild Northeast to spend a week with Mandy and Catie (staying at Ellie Clarke's house) praying together, asking ourselves hard questions and digging deeper into some of God's plans. This was an amazing time in which God met us in some astonishing and ordinary ways, and we were able to find some of the roots of some issues in our lives. During part of this time, God hijacked the conversation and began to deal with some underlying and deep rooted things in Mandy's life and he chose to do so through me. After a couple of days of intense listening to God and firmly putting the focus continually on him the retreat was over and we travelled back to the sunny south kidnapping Mandy and bringing her with us because she could and it seemed like a good idea.

Since moving from her marital home Mandy had been on a long journey of releasing and letting go of a man she had loved but who didn't love her and of trusting God to be everything she needs.

Then over the next couple of months we spoke often and our thoughts began to shift... Initially we both backed away from the idea of attraction and possibility of 'relationship' but God continually brought it back and suggested that we should at least look at it. So just before Christmas Mandy again visited as part of a tour of friends around the UK and she tentatively broached the subject of feelings, potential and possibility. I'd decided that it was far too soon to open such a conversation so I allowed Mandy to spell out her thoughts before deciding to share my thoughts, which were quite vague and very non-committal.

I should say that I had not had any previous girlfriends and that my view of this type of relationship is that they should be focused on the question 'whether to marry or not?'. I wasn't prepared to commit anything until I was sure that I could actually live out the commitment.

So for the next few months we talked every day, prayed lots, spoke to friends about it, and allowed God to lead us on a journey neither of us could have planned. We visited, asked questions about each other, evaluated and re-evaluated and gradually our friendship with possibility had become something else...

Around the same time Mandy had chosen to change her surname, because to her it seemed right not to hold onto the name given by her ex husband so that if he re-married there wouldn't be 2 women with his name. She had been called Mandy Moo as a nick name for many years and some people had even assumed it was her surname so she decided to change to Mandy Moo officially by deed poll. Interestingly straight after the change, a good friend (Enola Stevenson) discovered the meaning of the biblically pronounced moo (see the blog title) this was taken to mean that Mandy no longer took her name from her Dad or her husband, but was complete and whole in God's family.

During this time God had spoken to Mandy about moving away from the north east and she explored the option of joining a community in Romford led by her good friends Phil and Emma Togwell. The outcome of this was that She could choose between staying in the north east, moving to Romford, or moving to Stanford. Again having prayed and talked to many good friends about these options she decided to move to Stanford and was welcomed by the community here, and given a space to live for the 1st few months with the community leaders Robb and Sally as the best place from which to really integrate with the community.

Then after several months of praying lots, talking lots, and including friends in the journey we decided it was time to go official, so facebook was told and with that we had to begin using the titles 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'. We'd decided way back near the beginning of our discussions not to kiss and not to say 'I love you' because those things are very powerful and need redeeming from the casual world of low commitment dating. Somewhere along the journey of discussing EVERYTHING we talked again about these things and eventually made the decision to express ourselves with these things. It was so powerful to say for the first time with absolute certainty in it's truth 'Mandy, I love you' and to hear her say something similar knowing that it was definitely true.

I think it was probably around this time that we began to discuss time frames and thoughts about marriage, because for us to commit to each other openly in this way meant that we were deliberately heading toward marriage.

The last few months have been spent enjoying each other's company, learning how to understand and communicate better, adjusting and balancing life with another person in such a prominent position, and on my part making a ring.