Living in the Moment...Living My Life

Well my wonderful little holiday (vacation) is over.  My parents have gone back home to Michigan, and I'm resuming my responsibilities as a GAPper in Dublin.  I've put my "GAPper hat" back on and am ready to conquer these next 3 and a half months here in Ireland. Yesterday I helped out with homeschooling and child-minding for a big family in community, and today I'm helping out at Spirit Radio with the pledge drive. 

We're on day 2 of fundraising for the station, and we're praying that God will provide money to help us stay on the air.  Spirit Radio is a great evangelistic tool we have started here in Ireland---we're currently broadcasting to 5 cities across the country!  That's huge!  If you'd like to find out more about the station, click here.  You can even listen online by clicking "Listen Live" (at the top of the page).  We depend mainly on our listeners for financial support, so these pledge drives really are critical to us.  You can donate to Spirit Radio if you wish---we are always looking for financial support!  If you're reading this from the outside Ireland, you can donate very easily (and securely) on the website via Paypal (Option 4 on this page:  http://www.spiritradio.ie/support/donate/), and if you're reading from Ireland, you can call in to the station this week at 1800 815 711 or donate online.  Any amount you can afford will greatly benefit us!  :)  Okay, enough on that.  Didn't really expect to give a plug for the pledge drive here but the Lord really put it on my heart to do so.

Before I completely abandon my "holiday/vacation mode", I have to tell you about one of the best days I've had in a while...the last day (Sunday 23rd April) with my parents here in Ireland.  It was all about living in the moment.  We didn't have a grand plan for the day...we just took it in bite size pieces.  It's not often that I do that...but I loved it.  Here's how the day went:

After a nice relaxed morning (I slept until 11:30!), I hopped on a bus and headed into town to meet my parents.  It was pouring (or "lashing" as they say here) rain when I got on the bus, but I really hoped it would calm down by the time I got into town.  Of course it continued to rain.  I got off the bus on O'Connell Street where I planned on meeting my parents, but because I was about 10 minutes early, I ran into the nearest Penneys (not to be confused with "JC Penneys" in the States...) to buy a cheap umbrella.  I found a small pink one for just 5 Euro.  Perfect!  :)  By the time I paid and went back outside it had stopped raining.  Oh, Ireland...how I love thee.  I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't use my new umbrella, but I figured I'd have plenty more opportunities.  I walked over to meet my parents and about 5 minutes after I got to our meeting spot, I saw them walking up the street.  As soon as they saw me they started waving their arms wildly and smiling at me.  My mom also started gesturing "I love you" as she got closer, and my dad started doing the same.  It was one of those moments that made me really happy they were in Ireland visiting me.  :)

My mom and me with my new pink umbrella!

My parents and I walked pretty aimlessly all around the city that day...in the on-and-off rain...and it was wonderful.  We didn't really have a set destination, other than the fact that we knew we'd eventually get hungry and need to stop somewhere for dinner.  We spent our time just walking up and down streets, crossing bridges, and stumbling into shops.  I met a nice Irish man named Sean in a charity shop we visited, and he was very friendly.  He heard my mom say something to me and he immediately detected our American accents.  He proceeded to ask where we were from, and then asked all kinds of questions about Michigan.  It was nice that he was so interested in our State.  Before he left he shook my hand and said, "It was nice to meet you.  My name is Sean, by the way.  Can't get any more Irish than that!"  I laughed and told him my name, to which he responded, "Oh, Rachel is a Biblical name, isn't it?"  I nodded yes, and then he said, "I'm not too familiar with the Good Book, but I do know that Rachel is a Biblical name."  I smiled at him and then said goodbye and made my way out of the shop.  Looking back on it now, I feel as though I should have shared a bit of Jesus with Sean.  He did kind of bring Him up.  *Oh Lord, please give me the boldness to share You more impulsively with others!*

This is at Madigans

About halfway through our afternoon we decided to stop for a coffee (Diet Coke for me) break in a pub.  We went to a place called Madigans and got drinks and an order of chips (fries) to share.  It was the perfect mid-afternoon snack!

My new gorgeous necklace!

Close-up

We walked in some other cool shops in the city and we happened to stumble into one very unique place called "The Ferocious Mingle Market".  Standing on the street and looking into the shop, it seemed to go on forever...just further and further back.  When we walked in there was a whole bunch of really cool antiques and some old books.  There was also a little coffee shop.  Further back there were a bunch of stalls set up with people selling all kinds of things...clothes, books, jewelry, lamps, little trinkets...all kinds of things.  Everything had kind of a funky, vintage-y feel to it...very quirky.  There was also a small stage where I assume they have live music from time to time.  I was looking in the jewelry stall with my mom and the lady there was very friendly.  She said that all the jewelry was currently half off because she was trying to bring in a new line of more jewelry soon.  I bought a really pretty necklace and it was only 10 Euro!  :)

When we had finished furociously mingling in "The Ferocious Mingle Market", we headed back out into the rain toward a pub to have dinner.  Even though it was wet and grey and cold, we enjoyed trying to squeeze under my tiny pink umbrella.  Truthfully, I don't think we really minded getting wet.  We enjoyed just having a nice relaxed pace to the day and not rushing anywhere.  Plus we were together.  Who cares about the rain?  :)  For dinner we went to The Brazen Head, which is Ireland's oldest pub.  I ordered Irish stew with lamb, and it was absolutely delicious.  I can't remember the last time I had lamb, but I really enjoyed it.  It was cooked and seasoned perfectly...yum!  My mom also had her very first Guinness in The Brazen Head.  She had never had Guinness before...what a perfect place to try it!  :)  We had a wonderful dinner together and got some great pictures in the pub.

The bar at The Brazen Head, Ireland's oldest pub

My parents and me at The Brazen Head

I said goodbye to my parents at the bus stop on Sunday (it was too much trouble for me to try and get to the airport to bid them goodbye there...), and then headed back home.  I didn't feel too sad about it then, but looking at all the great pictures from our visit makes me wish I could hug them both one more time.  I am so happy that they got the opportunity to come visit me here in Ireland and also for the opportunity I had to take some time off to be with them.  Thanks Peter & Ciara!  :)

I got the new Jason Mraz cd in the mail last week and I've been listening to it nonstop since then.  I love all the songs!  My current favorite is "Living in the Moment".  It just makes me so happy.  :)  I listened to it 3 times on the bus into Spirit Radio today.  Good stuff.  Here's the link to the song on YouTube if you'd like to have a listen:  "Living in the Moment".  I love the whistling at the beginning, and the lyrics are just really great.  I think we all need to learn a lesson from Jason about just living each moment of every day and not getting caught up in the small troubles of life.  I know I need that lesson!

"I will not waste my days making up all kinds of ways to worry about all the things that will not happen to me.  [...] I'm letting myself off the hook for things I've done.  I let my past go past and now I'm having more fun.  I'm letting go of the thoughts that do not make me strong." -Jason Mraz ("Living in the Moment")

First try with my new stamping nail art kit

Oh, one more thing...if you know me at all, you'll know that I love painting my nails.  I paint them every week and love doing cool designs on them.  I also love doing other people's nails and have gotten around to painting almost every girl/woman in Community's nails here!  Anyway, I got an awesome KONAD Stamping Nail Art kit a few days ago.  If you read that and said "What the heck is a KONAD Stamping Nail Art kit???"...I'll explain it as best as I can.  It's "nail art made easy".  Basically you get these round, thin metal plates with designs engraved into them.  You take a special nail polish and blob it onto the plate, then take a little metal scraper to scrape the excess nail polish off the plate.  The rest of the polish stays in the little grooves of the design.  Then you take this rubber stamper tool and press it onto the design, picking up the nail polish that is left in the grooves.  Then you stamp the design from the rubber stamper onto your nail.  Sound complicated?  It is.  I got so frustrated last night trying it out!  I kept smearing the nail polish all over the plate instead of neatly scraping it off.  Then when I did neatly scrape it off the plate, I only picked up half of the design with the rubber stamper.  Then it dried before I could stamp it onto my nail.  Sheesh!  Eventually after many many tries (and fails) and a long Skype call with my friend Jennifer from back home (she was encouraging me "You can do it, Rach!")...I got it to work!  I ended up using my own nail polish to stamp the design instead of the special nail polish that comes with the kit.  I think eventually I'll learn to get the special nail polish to work.  :)  The picture above is how my nails turned out.  Not bad for my first attempt!  I added some pink and white to distract you from the fact that the stamp didn't fully make it onto my nail.  :)

If you're in Ireland reading this and would like to have some cool designs stamped onto your nails, let me know!  I'd love the practice!  If you're back in the States, you'll have to wait till I get home in August.  By then I should have it down perfectly!  :)

God bless you all!  Have a great rest of the week!  Here's a funny picture I took in Dublin on Sunday...

How Great Thou Art

My parents are here!  Well...they're currently in Adare, Co. Limerick.  But they're in the same country as me!  :)  I am very blessed with the opportunity to turn off my "GAPper brain" for a little while and visit with my parents.  We had a nice couple of days in Dublin last weekend, and I spent the first part of this week touring some of the West of Ireland with them.  We got to do some pretty great stuff!  Here's a brief day-by-day summary and some pictures:

First day (Thurs 12th April) - My parents arrived in Dublin and we went to a couple of my favorite local towns, Dun Laoghaire (pronounced "Dun Leary") and Blackrock.  We walked around the park and seafront in Blackrock, and also spent a bit of time at the cool Starbucks (old Post Office) and I showed them the pretty church that I sang in a little while ago by the power of the Holy Spirit (see my post "The Little Things").  We had dinner in Dun Laoghaire and then spent the rest of the evening just enjoying eachother's company.  It was nice to just sit and chat with them!  :)

My mom and me on the bus to Blackrock

Second day (Fri 13th April) - I took my parents to Bray and we climbed up Bray Head (see my post "Up to the Cross").  We had absolutely gorgeous weather that day!  The sun was shining, and at one point we were actually sweating!  That's rare in Dublin.  :)  After the climb we had lunch on the seafront and spent the rest of the afternoon in Dublin City Centre.

My parents during our climb up Bray Head

Me at the top of Bray Head

Third day (Sat 14th April) - We got a "surprise" tour from John Byrne (my host mom's dad) in the morning, which was really nice.  We told him we were heading to the Dublin Zoo for the afternoon, and he offered to drive us and give us a tour and some history of Dublin.  It was very generous of him and my parents loved the tour.  :) I really enjoyed seeing all the animals at the zoo.  :)  It had been years since I'd visited a zoo!

My favorite picture --monkey love!

Isn't he gorgeous?

It looks like this elephant is smiling!

Fourth day (Sun 15th April) - We picked up our friends Timm & Cindy G. from Dublin Airport in the morning, headed into town for Mass, and then did the "Hop On Hop Off Dublin City Bus Tour" with our friends.  At around 3:30 we headed off in our rental car to Adare in Co. Limerick.  My parents had rented a house in Adare Manor, and it was really beautiful!  I had my own room and got to stay 3 nights there.  :)  We had dinner at the Blue Door Restaurant that night.

My mom, Cindy, and me at Adare Manor

The food here was AMAZING!

Fifth day (Mon 16th April) - We toured Bunratty Castle and Folk Centre in Co. Clare in the afternoon, and it was a lot of fun.  The castle was gorgeous!  I enjoyed exploring all the different rooms, and we even got to go down to the dungeon!  There were some stairs that led up to the roof, and we could see the beautiful green hills in the distance, and also the River Shannon, which is the longest river in Ireland.  After our tour we found out we could have dinner IN the castle...so we booked ourselves in and ate at the banquet in the castle.  So cool!!

This is Bunratty Castle

The view of the River Shannon

The coolest room in the castle!

Dinner in the castle was awesome!

Sixth day (Tues 17th April) - We toured the beautiful Killarney National Park in the pouring rain.  We really wanted to go, so we decided to brave out the rain and cold weather.  It was worth it!  The park was gorgeous---mountains, lots of cool mossy trees, a waterfall, and some pretty flowers.  We also got to see a gorgeous Franciscan Friary and a beautiful cathedral called St. Mary's after our walk in the National Park.

Me, Cindy, and my dad in Killarney National Park

Inside the Franciscan Friary, Co. Kerry

Franciscan Friary

Inside St. Mary's Cathedral

St. Mary's Cathedral

Seventh day (Wed 18th April) - We went to the Cliffs of Moher...and they were absolutely breathtaking!  I've never seen anything like them.  I learned that the cliffs are on the Atlantic Ocean and that they were formed 320 MILLION years ago!  Whoa.  So....cool little story---you can walk all along the cliffs (even though there are "EXTREME DANGER" signs...), and I got to one point with my parents that was just overwhelmingly beautiful.  I sat down on the rocks there and was taking some pictures, and all the sudden I was just so filled with God's presence.  It was amazing.  I felt the Lord fill my heart with song, so I just started singing, and the song "How Great Thou Art" came out.  My parents joined in...and it was such a wonderful moment---to just be sitting on the Cliffs of Moher, singing God's praises.

"Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the works Thy hands have made.  I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder...Thy power throughout the universe displayed.  Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee...'How great Thou art, how great Thou art'.  Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee...'How great Thou art, how great Thou art!'" 

The Cliffs of Moher

Me with O'Brien's Tower

Soaking in God's beautiful creation

The coastline of Lahinch, were we had lunch

We stopped in an adorable little town called Lahinch for lunch, and asked a local Irishman where we could find some really good fish and chips.  He pointed out a place called The Cornerstone...and it was the best fish and chips I think I've ever had.  Yum!!

After lunch we drove to Limerick to drop me off at the Bus Eireann station so I could get a bus back to Dublin.  My parents had planned on staying the last few days with just Timm and Cindy.

The ride back was pretty good.  The bus driver was nice and stopped about an hour into the drive to let us use the bathroom, so I really appreciated that.  I enjoyed just sitting and relaxing on the bus and looking at the pretty views out the windows.  At one point I looked out the left window and saw a beautiful rainbow!  I smiled and thought of the Jack Johnson song 'Rainbow'.  It says "I woke up this morning...a rainbow filled the sky.  That was God tellin' me everything's gonna be alright."  :)  We got a little further down the road and I looked out the right window and saw ANOTHER rainbow!  It was even brighter than the first one!  I just love rainbows.  I love all the gorgeous colors in the sky.  And I love the fact that they're only visible for a moment...so if you don't appreciate them quickly enough or snap a picture, you might miss it.  Here's the pictures I took of the rainbows, even though they looked MUCH better than these pictures do...

I was so blessed to have my parents come visit me in Ireland.  I had a wonderful time visiting with them and also with our friends Timm and Cindy from Florida.  It was great to be able to see some of the beautiful countryside with them and to take a break from my GAP responsibilities for a little while.  I'm looking forward to one more weekend with my parents this weekend, and then life is back to normal on Monday.  

I hope you all are doing well.  I am so thankful to be here on my GAP year in this beautiful country.  Thank you to all who have supported me and are continuing to lift me up in prayer.  I can't thank you enough!  This year has changed me and blessed me more than you know.  :)

Cáisc shona dhuit!

In Irish, "Cáisc shona dhuit" means Happy Easter!  Jesus has defeated death and has risen from the grave!    He has broken the chains of sin and set us free!  He is alive!  Alleluia!

Despite some feelings of homesickness, I have had a great Easter celebration here in Dublin.  I think being away from home during Easter was harder for me than being away during Christmas.  I think it was mostly because of the amazing Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil) masses that I left behind in Ann Arbor.  I've really grown to love this time of the year because my church back home, Christ the King, has some really exceptional Triduum masses.  Honestly, they blow my mind.  Plus there's the fact that my dad sings in the choir there, and I just love hearing them sing...and seeing my dad smile at me.  :)

My host brother Paul rows for Trinity College in Dublin, so we went to his Trinity Regatta on Holy Saturday to watch him row.  He's the 3rd guy from the left, under the "TA" in REGATTA.  :)

That's me, Alessa, and Ellen.
Alessa is a German student staying with my host family for two weeks.

It was fun to watch the races.  Trinity ended up winning two and losing two.  Not bad!

The weather was nice, too.  We brought a big blanket and a picnic lunch, so we all ate outside and enjoyed the sun between Paul's races.

 I went to an Easter Vigil mass in town ("downtown Dublin") that evening with a woman named Carole from Spirit Radio.  We went to a church on Clarendon Street called St. Teresa's and the church was gorgeous!  There was an EXCEPTIONAL choir...they sounded amazing!  They sang some really beautiful songs during mass, and afterwards they sang the Hallelujah Chorus!  The Vigil mass itself was alright...they only did 3 out of the 7 readings, but besides that it was good.  Here's a picture of the church that I found online.

  It was even more beautiful inside the church!  After mass when we stepped outside, I overheard someone say "So, you're from California, and you're from Michigan?"  and my ears perked up at the sound of "Michigan."  I interrupted and said "Wait, who's from Michigan?"  This girl looked at me and said, "I am", and I told her I was as well.  I introduced myself to her and we got talking about, well, American things...like how we thought it was strange that no one does Easter baskets and jelly beans for Easter morning.  You know...important stuff.  :)  It turns out that she's an Au pair in Dublin and she's from the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan.  I was telling her about my GAP program, and it turns out that both she and the Irish guy she was with know a couple of the families in the Community of Nazareth.  It's a small world!  Anyway, this girl Maria and I exchanged names and information, and we're most likely going to meet up sometime.  :)  I was so excited to make a friend!

I came home from town that evening at around 11pm, slept for about 2 hours, and then got up and watched my home church's Easter Vigil mass online. They streamed it on the internet for the first time, and despite the big time difference, I wanted to stay up all night to watch it.  I got to see my dad sing in the choir, and I saw my mom walk by during Communion.  It kind of felt like I was there and it kind of soothed my homesick heart.  :)  The mass started at 1:30am Irish time and didn't finish until about 5:30am, and then at about 6:15am, I went down to the beach with a bunch of people from Community to watch the sunrise.  It's apparently a little tradition they have...to watch the sunrise on Easter morning.  So even though I had been up all night, I went to watch the sunrise.  :)  I'm glad I did...I got some great pictures!

Some sweet silhouettes :)

Gorgeous sunrise!!

 Most of the younger kids (and a few older ones) got in the water too!  I couldn't believe it---it was pretty cold out!  There was hot chocolate for them afterwards...maybe that was their incentive?  Or maybe they're just crazy Irish people.  Yeah...we'll go with that.  :)

Some of my host family plus our German students

Me with Peter :)

That's all the kids in my host family, plus Marc & Alessa, our German students

When we came home we went back to bed for a couple of hours until around 10ish, and then we went to mass together at 11.  After mass we all helped prepare a big Easter lunch.  Yum!

When we finished our lunch, a bunch of us went for a walk up Killiney Hill.  We had a lot of fun and got some good pictures.  And we met a group of people from North Carolina!  Ahh...fellow Americans.  :)

As you can see, there are some really gorgeous views from Killiney Hill!  I love all the yellow flowers this time of year.  Just beautiful.  Oh and the mountains aren't too bad either.  ;)

Me, Ellen, Alessa, and Leanne

Me with Leanne and Ellen, my two host sisters

My super goofy host family...

Me with my little buddy, Leanne.

Being silly with the Germans :)

My host parents, Peter & Ciara, being cute.  :)

hahaha this picture cracks me up.  I couldn't get in that tree!

Alessa and me :)

On Easter Monday I colored Easter eggs with Leanne and Ciara, and then we all had a big lunch together.  Eggs, sausages, bacon, toast...the works.  It was scrumptious!  :)  

I am very thankful for a good host family and a great Easter weekend.  I thank the Lord every day for sending me here to Dublin to love and be loved by all these wonderful Irish people.