Lean with it, rock with it.

If there is one thing I've learned so far this year its that when you're doing God's work there are always surprises. Upon my return to Ireland I expected to have a week of training and then imediately restart the work of running retreats for students in Co. Lurgan, but God had other plans.

As soon as I got back here I saw that the weather was much much colder than I expected it to be, but I never expected that the snow would get so bad that we would get stranded in Co. Donegal for two whole weeks and would have to have a whole week of retreats cancelled because of the weather. Initially I was disappointed that thescheduled retreats weren't happening, but after thinking about it again I realized that it was a blessing because it gave our team the opportunity to give back to the community in Ballybofey/Stranorlar (where we were stranded). I wrote a while back about how Ballybofey is like our "home away from home" and its so true, every time we come back to there the families and entire church community welcomes us with open arms and is so incredibly generous to us time after time. So having the extra week there was actually great. We put on a retreat for some local students one day and a few of the guys on the team played music for their daily Mass. It was also nice to get to see the beautiful landscape of Ireland covered by the blankets of snow that are so familiar from my winters back home. It was almost a melding of my two worlds and so dang beautiful!

During our two weeks in Ballybofey we also were able to go bowling and I surprised even myself by getting the highest score. Another surprise was that our team made a last minute roadtrip down to Athenry where the parish NET team is stationed. There we were able to reunite as a massive one NET Ireland team to do a retreat in one of the schools there. It was nice to finally get back to the work of doing retreats, even though it was last minute. Life is exciting and you really do need to adapt yourself to any situation that is thrown at you. It really is a necessary and useful skill to be able to lean with it and rock with it. =D

Right now I am back in Donegatown, Co. Donegal and all the girls are staying with Tanya's family. Its been really neat to get to be a part of her family this week since I know her so well, it is fun to meet her family. It makes me miss my own family a bit, but I'm glad I have my team who has definitely become a sort of adopted family for this year. Last night Tanya even trusted me enough to let me cut her hair. I only cut her bangs (or fringe, since I am in Ireland) but it was still extremely frightening for everyone involved. The outcome was less than ideal, but nothing we couldn't fix. Lets just say that I can kiss my dreams of being a brilliant hair dresser goodbye. But Tanya said she still loves me and its a good thing that God foresaw this and made our hair to grow back when we cut it...

(Sidenote: I also cut my own fringe and it came out well.)

We finally have regular Irish weather again, with a bit of rain and clouds, but I don't mind it as long as we're able to do retreats. Tomorrow we are hopfully touring a castle so there will definitely be pictures to come.

Until next time, lots of love and prayers from Ireland!!

New Years Resolutions coming at you from the Dublin Airport.

I am writing to you right now from the Starbucks in the Dublin Airport, and since you're all so smart I know you know that means I am back in Ireland and ready to restart my adventures. I am really enjoying my triple shot hazelnut latte but I love you all so much that I'm taking a few minutes away from it to tell you about my new years resolutions...

So every year I try to make new years resolutions and they never quite stick, but this year I know it'll be different cause I made a whole variety of ones some that I know for sure I can keep.

• Don't lie to the dentist. Now everytime I go to the dentist they ask "do you floss??" and I sort of noncommitally shrug my shoulders and shake my head up-down-to the side and mutter "yes...sometimes...", so I decided that this false behavior needs to stop. I am going to start actually flossing. Thats one that I've been doing well with so far.
• Maintain a responsible(ish) bedtime. Now this one is the tough one for me since I am extreme night owl and due to the nature of my life right now I don't always get to determine what time I go to sleep. But after nights up until 4am during vacation, I know I can't last long if I continue like this, so in as much as I can control I will go to sleep at reasonable hours.
• Don't spit in public. I don't even do this now, but I needed at least one that I know for sure I can keep. Is that against the rules of new years resolutions?? Probably, oh well I can live with that.

• And last but not least... Write postcards. Not gonna say how often and not gonna say to whom but I feel like I really want to share my experience here in Ireland in and real and tangible way like a postcard. Sure, these blog posts are nice (they are, aren't they!) but nothing compares to getting real mail. So if you want to enter your address in the random postcard lottery, shoot me an email with your address. kelsie.grimes@gmail.com

And that about does it for my resolutions. To close off, I had a lovely visit back home filled with lots of laughs, friends, family, and of course food. (Hmm too bad "laughs" doesn't start with an "f". That would be good alliteration.) In any event I had a lovely and relaxing time at home but I'm ready to get started working in a few days again.
Today, after I leave the airport, I am making the long 4 hour bus trip up to Donegal Town to stay with Tanya & Tim from my team for a few days and our whole team will be back together for some more training on Monday. Then the following Monday we start off again in Armagh.

Please continue to pray for me & my team! We love prayers! Happy New Year to you all and I hope you have good success in making some resolutions whether silly or not.