Its not just green fields...

It has been wonderful to be home this week and we have gotten the chance to spend a little bit of time with our local friends. I even convinced Dee to play Risk when our neighbor came over to play a couple of days ago... and can you believe it... she won! I think that we really needed this chance to catch our breath and finally unpack and clean our house. We ran into the city yesterday to run errands and I realized that I have not posted any pics of the city. The shot below shows a little glimpse into the busyness of the city. The next couple of weeks are going to be very busy and a lot of fun. It all begins on Friday when we have a group from the Univ. of Mobile coming. I'll keep updating the website...

Just for fun...

"You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your Grandfather was." --Irish Proverb
 
"Why should you never iron a four leaf clover? You don't want to press your luck." --Daryl Stout
 
"As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction." --Irish blessing
 
"In order to find his equal, an Irishman is forced to talk to God." --Stephen ~ in the movie Braveheart

What is said of very bad music "Aw, that's the tune the old cow died of."

What is said of one who overstays their welcome "If that man went to a wedding, he'd stay for the christening."

What is said of a talkative person "That man would talk the teeth out of a saw."
 
What is said of a person who paid too much for a cow "He bought every hair in her tail."
 
What is said of very wet weather "It's a fine day for young ducks."
 
"This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever."  Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

An Irish Moment......

Deedra went to the supermarket and when she went to buy the eggs she discovered that half dozen that she had chosen still had feathers on them. How fresh is that?

Visitors

Deedra and I finally recovered from our jetlag. Thankfully it only took a few days of waking up in the middle of the night to get back into our routine. Which was a good thing because we had a team of folks come over from California last week. Dee and I really enjoyed showing them our little corner of Ireland and our time with them was a lot of fun. They kept us laughing the whole time and were really an encouragement to us.


(from the left: Jim, Ruth, Randy, Carol, Nancy)

1000

Our little website hit a new milestone today... We had our 1,000th visitor. Our good friend, and former pastor, David Peoples pushed us over. Thanks man.

Beach pics

Well... I took a little time tonight (It was a cold wet day, all day) and posted some of the pics from our time in the USA. I tried to get most of our families on here... but there were so many of us (43 at the beach - I think)that I couldn't get pics of everyone.... It should give you a good idea of all the fun that we had (especially on the 3rd page).

Jetlagged...

I knew that I was going to have problems with jetlag when I took my seat on the 747 next to a three year old little boy. Don't get me wrong... I love kids... but I also knew that I was going to be dead tired if I didn't sleep on that flight back to Ireland. Well... I think that I slept a couple of hours that night but I was exhausted when we got home. The first night was rough... I didn't sleep well... and I ended up sleeping a lot of the next day... but last night was horrible. I went to bed around 1:30 (I just wasn't tired) and woke up at 4:30. When I say "woke up"... I really mean "woke up" I was ready to start my day... but I stayed in bed -tossing & turning and watching the sun come up around 5am only to finally give up and get up at 6am. It was a wonderful fresh & sunny morning and so I went for a drive. I was only out and about for an hour or so but it was enough time to enjoy a beautiful Irish sunrise that I rarely get to see during the summer months (remember the sun comes up around 5!).

6 AM

Surprise!!

My mom was totally surprised for her birthday... here's what happened.... Deedra and I flew into Boston on Thursday and were going to fly down (with Dena & TJ) on Friday. The only problem is that our first flight on Friday was delayed and caused all of us to be stranded in Charlotte overnight. We flew out the next day (the day of the surprise) but had to fly into Pensacola (rather than Mobile). Deedra's parents met us at the airport with a car and a lot of hugs and we had to drive as fast as we could to Grayton Beach. All I knew is that the beach was in FLA and that I needed to head down I10. We eventually stopped to look at a map... and for a quick Taco Bell trip... and made it to the beach on time. My mom was driving down with my dad, my sister Jodie, her husband Bill, and their kids. Jodie would call from time to time to get an update on the party preparations and did a great job of stalling my mom (i.e. a 45 min bathroom stop when they were only 15 min away from the beach). When they eventually made it to the beach house everyone was hiding away inside the dining room. My mom is really observant and noticed a large cooler sitting on the front porch of the house. She instantly thought back to a time when they were given a hotel key to a room that was occupied... and she began to think that the same thing had happened again. My dad and sister kept insisting that this was the right house... and my very cautious mom made her way into the house. She went through the living room and around the corner to the dining room where everyone yelled "surprise"! Deedra and I didn't get to see her reaction because we were still hiding in another room................. After a few moments of tears and hugs my sister Pris made my mom sit down and explained that this was all for her birthday... that we had rented three big beach houses... and that all (forty something) of us were going to be there together for seven nights. My dad then chimed in... He needed to make a public apology for all of the sneaky things that he had been doing over the past year. He then said that he wasn't the only one that has had to do some sneaky things... that was our queue. We jumped out of a side room and said, "Happy Birthday, Mom!"....... the tears really flowed then. It had been over a year since I had seen my mom & dad.......................... I think that it is a moment that I will always remember and cherish. Deedra's family just fit right in with my family... we had a week that was full of sun burn, sand dollars, sea food, puzzles, and laughter. It was amazing to have all these people that I love so much all in one place.