I'm Somewhere North of Here...

Ah, Sunday. The perfect day for a nap. Especially after a week of no naps and lots of seeing Belfast and Nireland. Plus, it was rainy here and offically dark at 4:15. Awesome! Mom and Anne left this morning. Sad to see them go, but nice to be back to normal. I realize more and more how big of a routine person I am. Good thing it works out pretty well here to have one. Having Mom and Anne here to see what life is like was good. Now they will know the faces that go with the stories I tell.

On Friday we went to the North Coast, something I have been wanting to do since I got here. We ended up doing a silly tour, where the driver talks the wholllllllle day. At times annoying, but overall, very good. The Coast is amazing. The Glens of Antrim, all uh dozen or so of them, were lovely. The green and snow capped mountains, where georgous in the distance. We saw the Dunluce Castle and the site of the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge that will re-open in the spring. I can't wait to walk across the bridge, swinging in the wind off the Irish sea. The Giants Causeway was the highlight of the day, as the pictures above suggest. I have decided that no one should come to Nireland and not see it. It was formed by volcanic activity, where the lava settled on the surface and dried and cracked, forming hexagonal rocks. Stacks and Stacks of them. It is hard to really capture in words or picture. There is also a legend that goes along with it about Fin MacCool, a giant who lived there and was fighting with a Giant on Scotland's coast just across the water. He used the stones as stepping stones to cross to fight the Scottish Giant. Thus the name, Giant's Causeway. Amazing.

This morning was our Youth Service at Fortwilliam and Macrory. I was stressed about it, naturally, but it went very well. The kids read well and it was great to have them so involved in the service! Ice did the Chidlren Sermon, which next service will be one of my youth. We used the verse 1 Timothy 4:12, about not letting people look down on you for your youth, but being an example in your way of life, faith, spirit, etc. I think the message was portrayed well. We have another service in the spring. My goal next time is to have it last longer than 40 min! They said they are always short though. But I still felt bad. Overall, though, it was good. And we sang Shine, Jesus, Shine haha. Oh Presbytery retreats!

This week is Thanksgiving week. CRAZY! It was just Halloween! We will be having Thanksgiving dinner with Doug and his family on Saturday, and the point will be having one next Sunday! It will be many of the kids first Thanksgiving meals, which should be funny. Jonny is in charge of the night, so I am excited to see what it holds!

As always, there are lots more pictures on the link. Happy Turkey day! Think of me as the Tryptophan sets in on Thursday!