It's Christmas Time in the City

It's been a while since I've updated my blog, but I feel like Christmas is an appropriate time to do it.  :)  I was (and still am) so excited for Christmas this year.  I know I'm far away from my family and friends and that that should make me sad, but I really tried not to let it get to me.  I kept reminding myself...I'm supposed to be here! This is part of God's plan for my life.  He sent me here to spend the year serving His people in Ireland, and it was part of His plan that I spend Christmas here.  I just kept telling myself those things over and over and eventually I believed it.  I do believe that I am meant to be here in Ireland.  Yeah, it's hard being away from my family, but I'm not sad about it.  Being sad wouldn't help anything...it would just make me sad and possibly make those around me sad as well.  Instead, I'm overjoyed that I have new friends and family here that made Christmas very special for me this year.  :)  Plus there's the most important part of Christmas...celebrating Christ's birth!  As one of my favorite Christmas songs ("Light of the Stable" by Selah) says, "Hail, hail to the newborn King; let our voices sing Him our praises.  Hail, hail to the guiding light that brought us tonight to our Saviour."  

Yesterday, for Christmas Eve, we all got up and headed to Dun Laoghaire to go ice skating on the new skating rink.  Peter and Ciara paid a small fortune so we could all ice skate...and the ice was all watery and bumpy...but we had a load of fun anyway.  Once we got going it wasn't so bad.  :)  Here are some pictures from this adventure:

All of us (minus Peter) just outside the ice rink in Dun Laoghaire

(from left to right:  me, Leanne, Chrissy, Paul, Joe, Ellen, Stephen, Ciara)

Me with Leanne, the youngest of my Irish family

On the ice :)

Just after Joe took a good fall on the ice :)

Later in the afternoon, we got all dressed up and went to celebrate Christmas Eve "Mahony style" at Peter's parents' house.  We had a delicious meal, a sing-along, and a gift exchange.  Fun fun!  

All of us ready for Granny's

My first experience with a Christmas cracker :)

Our Christmas sing-along, courtesy of Andrew Mann (Peter's brother, and local artist)

We even got a visit from Santa (Paul)!  :)

When we came home from all that, the younger kids went to bed and all of us "older kids" stayed up and watched "It's a Wonderful Life," as it has been the Mahony family tradition for a couple years now.  I had never seen it (*GASP!*), but I really enjoyed it.  

This morning Leanne (the youngest) woke us all up at 8:00 to open Christmas presents.  I haven't gotten up that early on Christmas morning in a long time...and 8:00's not even that early!  We opened our stockings from Santa, had breakfast, then opened our presents from Peter and Ciara.  I got quite a few nice things...one of the highlights is a "onesie" (footie pajamas).  :)  Chrissy, Ellen, Leanne and I all got them!  

We went to Mass, then came back and got ready to celebrate Christmas with the Byrnes (Ciara's family).  There were 32 of us in the house!  We had some really nice Christmas food and a gift exchange, then spent the rest of the evening chatting and playing games.  I really enjoyed the food, and of course meeting and spending time with Ciara's family.  

The pretty tables I helped decorate

This would have been a nice picture but my lovely GAP director had to ruin it!  :)

Me and Peter, my GAP director and "host dad"

Some appetizers

I enjoyed a Skype call with my dad's side of the family this evening, and it was really nice to see all my cousins and aunts and uncles.  Thanks to all of you who I talked to---you made my evening!


As for an update on my GAP year, I've been doing really well.  Things at Spirit Radio are busy but going well, and the youth programme is going along very quickly...it's hard to believe we're already halfway through the term!  I'm on a bit of a break from everything right now for Christmas.  My dad and my brother Joel came to visit me last week for about 5 days, so I got to show them around and be their tour guide while they were here.  It felt kind of good to be the one showing people around for a change.  I also got to do some things I hadn't done yet, which was cool.  :)  Here are few pictures from their visit: 

Joel, me, and my dad on the way back from Johnnie Fox's Pub

A beautiful view of Killiney Beach!

Killiney Bay..so pretty

So I'm a little bit of a daddy's girl...

It was great having my dad and Joel here.  I got to show them my new place and all the places I go, and it was fun introducing them to all my new friends and family here.  By the end of the week, though, I was quite exhausted.  I wasn't allowing time for God each day, and it really threw me off balance.  I spent my day engrossed in the things I had planned for my dad and Joel...I had to constantly make sure we were taking the right bus, getting off at the right stop, walking the right direction, and getting to and from places at the right times.  I had to keep stepping back when I got too stressed and just letting go of some things so that I could really enjoy their company.  Another thing that was difficult during their visit was that I found out about the death of one of my good friends from high school and college.  My friend Lauren broke the news to me on Monday night that my friend Steve had committed suicide the previous Friday.  I was shocked when she told me...I couldn't say anything.  I almost didn't believe her.  After all, I had just seen Steve before I left to come here to Ireland.  He came to my bonfire fundraiser and I also hung out with him in downtown Plymouth a couple weeks before I left.  We've kept in touch pretty well since high school, and we saw eachother in college quite a bit as well.  Steve was one of the nicest, kind-hearted people I knew.  I couldn't (and still don't) understand why he felt he needed to take his life.  Finding out this news during my dad and Joel's visit was very troubling.  I didn't know quite how to handle my emotions...would I fake a smile and a cheery attitude and pretend everything was okay, even though I was crushed and confused on the inside?  Or would I just cry and grieve and pray for Steve and his family?  I settled for a combination of the two...but it was very difficult to find a good balance.  It still is.  I pray that God gives Steve the peace and joy that he was searching for, and I pray that his family is also filled with a deep sense of peace during this Christmas season.  Thankfully the Lord took this from my mind these last couple of days so that I could fully appreciate and celebrate the joy of Christmas.  I pray that as time goes on, the Lord would fill me with peace about Steve's death, even though I don't think I will ever fully understand it.

I thank God for His steadfast love during these past couple of weeks.  I thank Him that I was able to have a nice visit with my dad and Joel, and that I was able to joyfully celebrate His birth this weekend...even though I'm far away from my family and friends in the States.  I thank Him for the friendships I have developed here in Ireland...everyone I've met here has truly been a blessing to me.  :)  

Finally, a big thank you to all who are supporting me financially this year.  Some of you will be receiving a Christmas newsletter by "snail mail" if you haven't already.  It's basically a summary of what I have been doing during these last few months here.  I only sent this newsletter out to about half of my contacts list (ran out of time to finish!).  The rest of my supporters will be receiving a revised New Year's newsletter by "snail mail" soon.  God bless!

Living, Loving, Learning

Happy December, all!  Fa-la-la-la-la!  :)  There's only 16 days left until Christmas...it's hard to believe.  It's also hard to believe that I've been here in Dublin for over 3 months!


Since my last post, I've seen God's hand in a number of other ways.  I finished my 30-day devotional challenge that I was doing (called "Thirsty"), and I started another one (called "Hungry"...same author).  I found the first one, "Thirsty", at a Christian book shop here called Footprints.  They have a lower level that's all secondhand books, and I've found quite a few treasures there.  :)  Anyway, I picked up "Thirsty" thinking that it seemed like a pretty good devotional, and I liked the idea of doing a 30-day challenge.  I saw the "Hungry" one there as well, but because it was in the secondhand section, there was writing on a bunch of the pages.  At the time, I felt as though it would be weird to buy a devotional that someone else had used and written his/her private thoughts in....so I passed it up.  After all, I didn't even know if I liked the "Thirsty" one!  To make a long story short, I loved the "Thirsty" devotional.  It helped make my prayer times much more fruitful, and I expanded my knowledge of Scripture quite a bit.  Plus it allowed for a lot of reflection and journaling, which I love.  So about a week or so ago, on the 30th day of the "Thirsty" challenge, I felt a bit bummed that I didn't just buy the "Hungry" one, despite the writing on the pages.  I decided to go back to Footprints and see if the "Hungry" devotional was still there.  When I got to Footprints, I walked down the stairs to the lower level secondhand section, hoping not to have to search too hard to find what I was looking for.  There was also a tiny doubt in my mind that it might not even be there.  I got to the bottom of the stairs, and as soon as I looked out at the books, there it was.  "Hungry."  Seriously...it was right in front of me.  on the first shelf that I laid my eyes upon.  AND it was on clearance---70% off!  AND...ready for this?  NO WRITING ON ANY OF THE PAGES.  It was a brand new (but still secondhand) book!  I took a minute to praise God and thank Him for providing this devotional for me...and for restoring the pages...and then I went back upstairs to purchase my treasure.  Mission accomplished.  I was so excited I even told the store manager about my great find!  :)  I'm now on day 12 of the "Hungry" 30-day challenge, and I can't wait to see how the Lord works through this one.

This past weekend Chrissy and I held an overnight for a group of 13-15 year old girls.  These girls are from the group in the Nazareth youth program (NYPD) that I am responsible for (the Senior Group).  We had so much fun with them, and we actually got some sleep (though not very comfortably).  We did some worship in the beginning, followed by a short talk and activity about edification (building up/encouraging each other).  The girls seemed to enjoy the talk and the activity, so I was happy about that.  I think they actually learned more about edification too!  :)  After that we just had fun...I brought all my nail polish and did their nails, we had all kinds of sweets and junk food, and we watched a movie.  Despite all the talk we got beforehand about not getting any sleep that night, we got a fair amount of sleep and had a lot of fun with the girls.  Success!

I want to share how grateful I am for my pastoral leader, Elaine.  Not only is she a wonderful woman of the Lord, but she cares so much for me...even though she hasn't known me for very long.  She has graciously opened her house to me as a place to come if I need to get away from here for a little bit.  She lives right around the corner (literally...a 2 minute walk from my house), and she told me I could just come there and hang out without calling first, and I could even use her house to have my prayer times on occasion.  Monday was one of those days when I needed to get away for a little bit.  I had been feeling a bit overwhelmed with some things, so I took up Elaine's offer and came over to her house.  Although she had a friend over, she allowed me to come in and have my prayer time...and I had one of the most wonderful prayer times I've ever had.  I cried out to God, told Him everything that was burdening me, and then let Him fill me with peace and joy.  I went through quite a rollercoaster of emotions, but in the end I felt so much more peaceful and happy than when I came in.  I know that's evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit and the true peace that God brings.  Thanks Elaine for the use of your home and for opening your heart to me.

Overall I'm really enjoying my year here---I'm already 1/4 of the way into it!  I've been blessed by meeting so many great people here and learning more about them.  I'm learning more about community life (both the blessings AND the stress of it!) and what it's like to be a part of, essentially, a big family of believers who encourage and lead one another on in the journey of faith.  I'm also learning what it means to be dedicated in my own prayer life.  I know I need to give God a good amount of time every day to read His word, listen to His voice, and record (in my journal) His blessings and responses to my prayers, as well as my own life experiences and struggles.  This is a huge part of my life and makes such a difference in my day, my interactions with others, and most importantly, my relationship with God.  I think that actually getting myself to spend this quality time with God is where the discipline comes in, though.  I can so easily get distracted with other things...namely Facebook, email, or watching TV...and then of course, serving the people here in Ireland and working at the radio station.  With all these distractions and just the general busy-ness of life, my day--and my opportunities to spend quality time with God--can just slip away.  I have to make a conscious effort to not only pray throughout the day, but to make sure I get a good chunk of "God time" every day.  When I say I "have to"...it may sound like it's a negative thing...or something like a chore, but I hope you get what I'm trying to say.  I love spending time with God.  He is, afterall, the reason I'm living.  The joy of my heart.  The one I strive to be like.  :)  I'm very excited that Christmas is coming up--I love celebrating Christ's birth, and I'm looking forward to celebrating it in a new way here in Ireland with my new friends and family.  It'll be hard being away from my family in Michigan, but I know the Lord has me here for a reason and I have to rely on Him for joy and peace during this Christmas season.

I am praying for all of you--my family, friends, and supporters--that Christ will fill you with His love, joy, and peace this Advent as Christmas draws near.  Be expecting good things!  "For unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given.  He will reign upon the earth; He will reign in the heavens.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."  - Isaiah 9:6

Special Delivery

I am really excited to share with you all a pretty amazing story about what the Lord has just done in my life.


On Monday when Chrissy and I went to Dundrum Shopping Centre, we heard a pretty cool song playing in one of the shops.  We were both humming along and snapping our fingers to the music...even dancing a little bit.  It was one of those feel-good songs that just makes you happy...you know?  Peppy, light...just...happy.  Anyway, the only words we could pick up were "la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la, la-la"...we figured that'd be a little difficult to search for on YouTube, so I decided to see if one of the store workers knew the song.  The song ended before I got to ask one of the ladies, but I asked her anyway if she knew who sang the song that had been playing.  You know what she told me?  "Oh, I wasn't listening."  I was a bit disappointed but not really surprised.   I thought, "Oh well."  Chrissy and I left the shop and continued humming the "la-la-la-la" tune that was still stuck in our heads.


I got back to the Mahony's house and later Monday evening I tried searching for the song.  I thought maybe it'd be on the shop's website if they had a music playlist or something.  They didn't.  I gave up rather quickly because I didn't know any words besides "la-la-la-la".  I figured if I was meant to figure out who sang the song, I'd hear it again someday.


Last night, three nights after the whole song-incident, I was checking my email and saw that I had an email from NoiseTrade, a website where I frequently find new (and free!) music.  The email was letting me know that Matt Wertz, a favorite artist of mine, had uploaded some music on NoiseTrade.  I was excited to be getting some of his music for free, so I clicked the link in the email.  Immediately after I clicked the link, a song started to play.  Not just any song though...the "la-la-la-la" song!  I'm not kidding.  That peppy, catchy, happy tune started playing through my speakers and my eyes popped out and my jaw dropped.  I looked across the table at Chrissy, who had a similar reaction to the music.  She goes, "Where did that come from?"  I just started laughing and said, "I don't know!  It was just in my email!"  Chrissy didn't understand so I began to explain.  Except I didn't really understand it, let alone did I know how to explain it.  It was no coincidence.  It's like God special-delivered this song to my email inbox because He knew it made me happy and I wanted to hear it.  I was so delighted...not only because I now could listen to the song, but also because it's sung by one of my favorite artists and I didn't even know it!  Here's a link to the song, because I bet after all that you want to hear it.  :)  Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9df1ql8ImhQ.  Don't mind the misspelling of "Wertz" in the beginning of the video.  (and if that link doesn't work, copy and paste it into your browser)


 I hope all my friends and family back home had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration.  I did get a chance to celebrate here with a couple of different families, and it was really nice.  Chrissy and I made the mashed potatoes and all the rest of the food was delicious!

  

In addition to enjoying a tasty Thanksgiving meal and good fellowship with the Johnson and Ascough families, I also got to join in (via Skype) on my family's Thanksgiving celebration.  Most of my mom's side of the family was there, so I got to see my parents, my brother Joel, my aunt Julie and her two kids, Julie's boyfriend and his kids, my Uncle Mark, and my grandparents.  I took some pictures of my little cousins Julian and Nolan on Skype...they were being so silly!  It was great to see them.  :)

this is Julian

and this is Nolan

If I could only pinch their little cheeks on Skype....

Celebrating Thanksgiving in Ireland, seeing my family on Skype, and finding that "la-la-la-la" song specially delivered from the Lord to my email inbox made for an especially wonderful day.  "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."  :)

Now for a couple more pictures from my birthday celebration at Spirit Radio.  This week has been my birthday WEEK!  :)

The birthday cake that Anne brought in for me :)

Some of the wonderful Spirit Radio gang 

(Carole, Chrissy, Rob, Aine, Garvin, Anne, Jim, me, and David)

The Three Musketeers.  Love these guys!  

(David and Jim)

Okay now I'm really done.  I apologize for so many posts in one week!

Continued Birthday Blessings...and a Pretty City

I know I just updated, but I had to upload some more pictures!  :)  Chrissy and I had the day after my birthday "off-work", so we went on a little shopping adventure to Dundrum Shopping Centre, the largest shopping centre in Ireland!  

Here's me making a pretty typical "Chrissy face"...

...and here's Chrissy making a typical "Rachel face"...

Chrissy treated me to ice cream, new lip gloss, and a cute fushia-ish cardigan.  What a nice GAP roomie/friend/sister I have.  :)  Thanks Chrissy for making my birthday special and for extending it an extra day!

Our super yummy ice cream from Rainbows in Dundrum.

I loved the Dundrum Christmas decorations!

So pretty and so Christmas-y!

I thought the sky looked AWESOME on the way back from Dundrum!  

Had to document it.  :)

A beautiful birthday bracelet from Justine, a woman in community.  She invited Chrissy and I over for dinner after our shopping adventure.  We had a lovely time.  :)

Justine also made us strawberry daiquiris...my favorite!  They were delicious!

Me at Justine's with my wonderful ice cream cakes.  Mmm!

Here's a close-up of the mint chocolate ice cream cake.  Pretty huh?  

Not too pretty to eat though.  I had two slices.  :)

Today Chrissy and I were sent out to the Dublin City Centre for Rob, the CEO of Spirit Radio.  He asked us to post some fliers advertising the latest Spirit Radio Deal (10 trips to the gym for 10 Euro).  Needless to say, we got a little distracted by all the pretty lights in town...

Beautiful Dublin in November :)  Love this city.

Christmas time is here!

Gorgeous Grafton Street :)

Rob & Anne, if you're reading this, don't worry...we DID post some fliers!  :)

That's all for now.  Just a quick photo-update.  I hope you all are doing well wherever you are.  I love and miss all my family and friends and supporters back home!  I pray for you every day and constantly thank God for your support.  I have a super busy week ahead of me, so please continue praying for peace and strength for me.  Thanks!

Belfast, Bray, and Birthday Blessings

Oh my goodness, it's been far too long since my last update!  I do apologize for the delay.  Things have gotten so busy here, and Chrissy and I were in Belfast, Northern Ireland all last week helping out with a youth organisation called Youth Initiatives (YI).  They celebrated their 20th anniversary and had a big conference on Thursday with a bunch of youth workers from all over Northern Ireland.  Chrissy and I did a lot of prep work for that.  We printed name tags for everyone, photocopied handouts and brochures, and stuffed folders.  It was a lot of little tasks, but it felt good to be able to lighten the load for some of the YI staff.  The conference went very well and there was a show afterwards by a group called Crosslinks.  Crosslinks is, according to their website, "a cross-community, cross-cultural arts-based youth project that seeks to break down barriers and address misconceptions pertaining to race, faith, culture, and community."  They're a group of 14-18 year olds that meet once a week in Belfast and do music, dance, and drama workshops.  We saw their show once on Thursday night after the conference, and a second time on Friday night after the YI 20th anniversary dinner.  It was really nice to kick back and relax and see a good performance after a busy week.  Oh--I almost forgot!  In Belfast there's a place called Clements!  :)  It's a little coffee shop and cafe.  I was so excited to see it, I just had to get my picture taken by the sign!

Pretttyyyy cool.  :)

Last night Chrissy and I had dinner at the Fletcher family (from the Community of Nazareth)'s house.  We had a delicious meal, a wonnnderful ice cream cake (with a few candles for my birthday), and some seriously good hot chocolate made with the best Belgian chocolate.  Mmmm!  We also enjoyed getting to know the family a little bit better and laughing over a silly game of Munchkins.  Unfortunately I was a bit too tired from our trip to Belfast to fully participate.  It was still fun though.  Thanks Ciaran and Els for hosting us and for showing us the silly side of your family!  :)


I'm nearing the end of a 30-day devotional challenge called Thirsty.  I mentioned it a short while back...it's a really great book that I picked up at a Christian book store here, and it's been a great part of my personal prayer life for the past couple of weeks.  I really love the writing prompts...they've given me some really interesting things to write about in my journal.  One day it asked me to list some people who I knew that didn't know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and to then write down ways I could personally influence their lives.  This made me really think about the people I've come across or become friends with, or even people in my own family, and it challenged me to think of ways I could bring them closer to Christ...even if that meant just loving them.  The prayer prompt was asking God to reveal people to me who need to know His love and hear His message.  I prayed that God would help me to pray for those I don't know that need to know Him...that through my prayers they would come to a revelation of God and the plan He has for their life.    I'm on day 25 now, so I only have 5 days left.  I wish the challenge was longer than 30 days, because I've really enjoyed it.  I've had some sweet conversations with the Lord and He's revealed some great stuff to me.


Going backwards in time a little bit---last weekend (on Friday 11-11-11) we were invited to a wedding for Paddy & Michelle, a couple in the Community of Nazareth.  Their wedding was really nice and I loved the church we were in!  Here's a picture:

Holy Trinity Church in Ratoath, Ireland

Gorgeous, huh?

There's the bride and groom...Michelle and Paddy :)

I had a blast at the reception...I hadn't danced in a while, so I danced the whole time and loved it.  The party went on quite a long time...much longer than American weddings, for sure!  We left the place at about 1am when the live band ended their set, but the dj was just getting started as we walked out the door.  I couldn't believe it!  I'm glad I got to experience an Irish wedding.  :)

Chrissy and I had the Saturday after the wedding off, so we went out to do a little sight-seeing.  We went to a place called Bray Head and did a cliff walk.  Here are some pictures from our adventure (more on Facebook)...

Bray Head

A view from our cliff walk

We didn't quite make it to the top, but this was close enough...

What a pretty sky on the way back down!  :)

Okay...now back to present-time.  My 23rd birthday was today (November 20th), and although it was wonderful, it was a little sad.  Last night just after midnight, it struck me that it was my birthday and I wasn't home with all my friends and family.  I teared up a little bit, but Chrissy came to the rescue and read me my favorite childhood book, Lily Pig's Book of Colors (which of course I brought here with me!).  This cheered me up significantly...it's amazing what a silly story can do.  I think Chrissy's expert narrative skills did the trick.  :)  Anyway, today was really nice.  I got to help with music ministry at the community prayer meeting this afternoon, so that was fun.  Playing guitar and singing for worship is one of my favorite things to do, so I was really blessed with the opportunity to do it on my birthday.  After the prayer meeting a couple of girls (the only two near my age) took me out for ice cream at a place called "Bits & Pizzas".  I got a realllly yummy chocolate sundae:

Soooo good!

Leah, me, and Rachel at Bits & Pizzas :)  Thanks ladies for making my birthday special!

When I got home, Peter and Ciara had prepared a delicious dinner per my request.  I asked for chicken with pesto, and mashed potatoes.  They made just that and it was wonderful.  It was really nice to have everyone home for dinner as well.  

Leanne, me, Stephen, Joe, Paul, Ellen, Chrissy, and Ciara

We had to have one with Peter too!  Aren't we a good-looking family?

Some of them made me birthday cards, and I got a couple of gifts from Ellen and Peter & Ciara, so it was really nice.  During dessert time, they did the "Mahony family birthday tradition" of honouring, and they all went around the table and said something to honour me.  It was nice to hear such kind things.  :)

A scrumptious chocolate cake for dessert!  Thanks Ciara!

Thanks all for reading this awfully long post!  Some more thank-you's are in order:  Thanks for all the birthday blessings I received via Facebook or email, thank you to everyone here in Ireland who participated in making my birthday special, and thanks for the lovely Skype calls I had this evening with Jennifer & Sittie, my parents, brother, & grandparents, and my "sister" Ashley.  You all made my evening so special!

Coming up:

Day off "work" with Chrissy tomorrow (Mon)

Irish-American Thanksgiving Celebration with the Johnson and Ascough families (Thurs)

Irish-American Thanksgiving Celebration with the Mahonys (Sat)