There are moments when we suddenly discover that Ireland has got beneath our skin more than we realised. One of them happenedlast week, at dinner. It was when I noticed that for the last few bites my fork had had both potato and salad leaves on it, and further, that I didn’t mind in the slightest. This never would have been tolerated when we arrived in Ireland. If by some strange chance someone had stopped me even the same afternoon and asked me if I would ever eat potatoes and salad leaves together, I would have respectfully told them that even after crossing the ocean, there are some lines that remain uncrossed and will continue to remain uncrossed. But no one stopped, and no one asked. If they had, I may have thought about my dinner differently. As it was, it all happened without a second thought – no, nevermind the second, for it is certain that there was no thought at all. I put those things together on my fork and ate them and enjoyed the experience because it looked right. It seemed good. It was the thing to do. And by this natural reflex, it was done – long before my mind could remind my hands and taste buds that I am actually from America, the land of the free and the home of Ranch Dressing. Which is another thing… I actually can’t remember the last time I had Ranch Dressing on anything.
Category: family (Page 4 of 40)
This week our family is taking a holiday (vacation) in Kerry, the county to the west of us. It’s wonderful to have the time together!
Our family is right in the middle of birthday season, where all three of our children have their special days evenly spread out over the space of four weeks. Right now we’re two birthdays in, with David and Rebekah both celebrating recently, and Daniel’s day coming soon.
Another video! This time it’s our kids telling you why Youghal is the best place to live:
The sun may not shine all that often in Youghal compared to most places in the world, but when it does it’s one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen. A couple of days ago we finished making a pergola, so that when the sun does come out, we’ll have a nice place in the garden (yard in American English) to sit and catch it. Here’s what we ended up with:
Every night last week Seth and Daniel were part of the cast for the Youghal Musical Society’s production of “A Trip Down Broadway”, which wasn’t really a musical, but included tons of songs from musicals. Daniel’s favourite piece to be involved in was a song from Matilda and Seth thoroughly enjoyed playing Bert from Mary Poppins. We were wrecked (very tired, in American English) after all of it, but we definitely enjoyed it and made some new friends as well. We’re looking forward to next year, but also glad to have our evenings back!
Today marks 12 years that we have been married! Here’s a poem for Jessica:
The warmth of the fire
Is nothing compared
To her smile,
The light
Of each day that we’ve shared
The most beautiful palace
Is empty and cold
If her smile
So bright
Isn’t there to behold
When the treasures of London,
The artwork of Rome
Meet her smile
They blush
And yet I call it home!
The turn of her lips is
My constant delight
Her smile
The reason
I thank God for sight
This Tuesday was a big day for our family: Seth and Jessica both got Irish citizenship!
We went up to Dublin as a family to attend an official ceremony where the citizenship was given. The ceremony included roughly 700 people from all corners of the world, and while we were there we met an Evangelical Christian from India and an Easter Spiritualist author from Virginia. We also heard the Garda (police) band play some wonderful Irish music, but they caught everyone off guard when they opened the ceremony by playing YMCA! On the way back to Youghal, it felt different to look out the window and realise that the rolling green hills all around are homeland to us now!
Easter camp went very well, in spite of the fact that what was a small cold at the beginning got bad enough to rob Seth of his voice half way through. It’s hard to lead singing with no voice, so someone else had to take over that job, but God was merciful and brought enough sound back for him to lead a morning Bible study/prayer meeting on the last day. The trend seems to be in the right direction since then, which is good news, because Seth will be preaching our Easter service tomorrow! We’re excited that Jessica’s parents have just arrived in Ireland, so they will be spending the week with us and celebrating our Saviour’s resurrection with us as well!
We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in what has become our usual way: With a church walk in the woods, and the Youghal parade! The day is a national holiday in Ireland, so most people are off work and all the schools are out. Plus this year we had the added benefit of a clear day and some company from that bright yellow ball in the sky, who only seems to make rare visits to Ireland, but evidently wanted to see the festivities. Here’s a photo from the church walk:
Seth and Daniel also got to participate in the parade, with the Youghal Musical Society, promoting the upcoming show. And it turned out that we won the prize for having the ‘best float’!
(Seth is dressed like that because he was being Bert from Mary Poppins)
