Up & Down the Road

The Fray Concert

Last Tuesday, Paschal, Cara and I boarded a train for Castlebar to see.....The Fray!! The concert was great and the company even better! We boarded our train and left to a town where none of us had evern been. We had no clue where our hostel was, let alone the concert. But we made it aside from hiking all over town (the hostel man said that the hostel was near the concert venue...lie!) and making our way through coffee houses, stores and pubs. Just remember, 'I heart The Fray!' Picture that on a T-Shirt. We all decided that is we had thought of the idea sooner, we would all be wearing matching Tees.....

Threes Company

This past week, we welcomed into our house 3 visitors from the states. Tim & Michelle from VA and my good friend Cara from OH (but she is living in Italy till December). The house is already full with 7 people living in it plus the neighbor who spends about 5 nights of the week here, not to mention the occasional drop-in of guests. So Mark & Brenda's house is always full. And I love it! Most people would probably freak out at the idea of having 10+ people in the house on any given night. It takes a lot of patience and energy to have this many people in one room at a time. But the laughter you hear around the house or the cheeky insults that fly are priceless. It makes you think about how we as humans are designed to be in each others company, in relationships. God created us this way. He is intertwined into a relationship with us. I guess for me being a people person, I value time spent with other people. I like to converse, laugh and share stories, do life together. Whether your a people person or not, we should all cling to at least one relationship because doing life alone is well, lonely. You don't have to go and have your house full of people all the time but you can treasure true time with someone spent over a cup of coffee, or a 4 am chat (that's good for the soul) or a long distance phone call. Take a risk and invite someone into your life. You may have just found the best friendship ever.

A Scandalous Freedom

One of the books that we are reading as interns is A Scandalous Freedom by Steve Brown. This is an incredible book that I recommend to all who are desiring to be free. Here are some nuggets from the book that are great thoughts

*The church should be a place where we can say anything and know we won't be kicked out, where we can confess our sins knowing others will help us, where we can disagree and still be friends. It ought to be one place in the world where we don't have to wear masks. pg 113

*We hear a lot of talk in the church about the importance of our witness to the world. Our witness is important-but God does not call us to witness about our goodness or that we have it all together. We are to witness regarding the freedom and joy we found in Christ. pg 113

*The only people who get better are people who know that, if they never get better, God will love them anyway. The corollary principle is this: God will not only love you if you don't get better; he will teach you that getting better isn't the issue. His love is the issue. pg 69

*We do not break God's laws; we simply get broken by them. pg 14

*If Jesus said we we're free, we ought to accept his declaration at face value and run with it. It ought to help us define ourselves. pg 7

The 3 Swiss Misses

Switzerland Adventures

As part of our intern experience in Ireland, we haven been given the opportunity to travel a bit of Europe. Erika and I along with Brenda decided to head off to Switzerland and into the Alps. Wow! The Alps are absolutely gorgeous and the company was incredible! I loved the time that I was able to spend with Brenda and Erika. Together we explored the Alpine Mountains and countryside, ate cheese fondue and drank wine, rode trains, planes and automobiles, slept in the city and an Alpine village, walked through museums and cathedrals. We spent our time around Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Our journey began by arriving in Geneva and taking a train to the Alpine village of Leysin. We spent 2 days there walking the countryside, village and taking a cable car to the top of a mountain for a spectacular view. We could see the lake, the villages in the valley and Mount Blanc (famous mountain there). In Leysin we also ate fondue. Yes, the cheese was from Switzerland and the wine we had was from the region. On Wednesday we hopped a train back towards Geneva stopping in Aigle and Lausanne. In Aigle, we visited a Medieval Castle that is now a wine distillery and museum. We also enjoyed a Swiss pastry and tea room cafe.In Luasanne, we explored the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Next we went to see the Olympic Museum. All the torches from each of the Olympic Games were there and countless memorabilia of both the summer and winter Olympics. That evening we traveled to Geneva and spent Thursday exploring that city. We went to the 'Old Town' with the St. Pierre Cathedral. It was complete with John Calvin's chair from which he preached many sermons to his congregation. At the top of the cathedral is an incredible view of the city. There was a really clear view of the Jet d'Eau, a fountain that shoots water 463 feet into the air. The trip was memorable and I could not have asked for better friends to travel with! Thanks girls for the memories and good craic!

Random Highlights:

*Le Moo Moo! Le Moo!! (a boy talking and petting a wooden cow)

*Jump Pictures (numerous, hilarious attempts to get 1 good one)

*Cheese and more cheese

*Chocolate, Swiss Chocolate

*Jean-Philippe

*Every cow has a cowbell. (they kept Brenda awake at night)

*Good conversations and inventions of sentences

*I got zapped by an electric fence

*Swollen feet

*Flooded bathrooms (oops my bad!)

Happy Birthday Marky-Mark!! Woot Woot!

For he's a jolly good fellow,

for he's a jolly good fellow,

for he's a jolly good fellow!

That nobody can deny!



True Story!

Happy Birthday Man!

breakable...

Things I have broken, scratched, damaged or lost since I have arrived in Ireland. Buy the way, I have been here for 1 full month now and here are the disasters created by yours truly. Here they are in no particular order:
*put a knick in the counter top
*broke Brenda's favorite mug (that one sucked!)
*scratch in the wall
*knocked a bottle of soy sauce out of the fridge, shattered the bottle
*somone else cracked the guiness glass but i was standing next to him
*broke a crate for groceries
*pulled knob of a wardrobe (it was already WAY lose)
*lost Mark's shlitter (hurling ball)
*chipped a few plates

It's amazing they still let me stay! As my dad would say, "Grace isn't your middle name" or our family slogan, "Smooth one Smoothie".

Happy 18th Birthday Martin!!!

hazelnuts, hotdogs and Heros

Paschal's first fire roasted hot dog.






Perhaps one of my favorite moments spent in Ireland is centered around one moment in time. Paschal, a friend, came to spend the day with us out at the Ray's house. He arrived Tuesday night and then stayed through Wednesday evening. I have known Paschal for quite a while now and I value him. He is some good craic. We definitely enjoy each other's company and the laughs that come. Tuesday night we cracked open some wild hazelnuts. Some were delicious and others were bitter. The next day we spent the day roasting hot dogs in the fireplace, eating the hazelnuts (it was now like a game, what will you get bitter or sweet) and watching the NBC series Heros Season 1. Now this may seem simple or rather silly but the time spent together as a community is irreplaceable. We all were trying to guess what would happen next in the show and becoming involved with the action while sharing feelings about the series. Hot dog roasting was special because it was Paschal's first hot dog cooked over a fire. And the hazelnuts, well they opened a door in talking about our families and lives. I guess I believe time spent with people should be valued and not taken for granted. People are incredible. We all have stories. We all like different things. We all have ideas that we want heard. We all want to connect with something or someone. We all seek for relationships. We were created this way. Take time to really enjoy people. Value them and treasure them, no matter how absurd or joyous.

the true joy of being gullible...

Here is a good story. So Jon (intern) decided to thumb a lift (hitch hike) home from town after a night of camping. So early the next morning on the way home Mark drops him off in town and he starts his journey alone. He sticks his thumb out and the first man picks him up. He climbs in the car with this older gentleman. They begin to make small talk but as soon as the man hears his American accent, he pulls over and tell Jon to get out. Jon leaves the car and starts the process again. The next car to pick him up is a young man in his late twenties/early thirties. They start to talk and this man begins to ask questions like: name, why are you here, do you have a girlfriend etc. This man takes him to the end of our road and as Jon gets out of the car, this man asks for his phone number. Jon now recognizing that this man is hitting on him replies that he doesn't know his number and shuffles out of the car in order to conceal his butt. He doesn't want this guy looking at it. (Jon is a modest, straight man and embarrassed at this). As he starts down our road towards home, a nice elderly lady picks him up and gives him a lift. Poor Jon, 3 cars and only1 sane person. So this epic journey is retold to me during our team meeting and as Jon is confessing about the gay man making a move on him, I begin to sympathize with him as I have had lesbians check me out before. (Very awkward, pray it never happens!) Then that night at dinner we retell the story to Fra and then..........

BOOM!!!! Mark, Jon and all the others crack up laughing because it is one huge made up story and I believed it ALL DAY LONG! Yeah they enjoyed the fact that they threw a line out and as Mark says, "I bit it, hook, line and sinker". I was mildly disappointed when I found out the story wasn't true. The only truth in the tale was that Jon did hitch hike however, it was uneventful. But we had a good laugh at the tall tale and my gullibleness. Yeah I do what I can to entertain others. I always have been on the gullible side and frankly it is a good thing. I am secure enough in myself to allow myself to laugh at me when I believe dumb things. It is great to be able to laugh at yourself and even better when you can get others to laugh out loud. And that is the true joy of being gullible.