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.  :)