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