Thoughts For Day 19!

My thoughts for the day (but, take rest in the knowledge of the fact that these are all random and disoriented and that this is not how I think normally…)

Thought #1. I am addicted, obsessed, fanatical about Carmex. No other lip balm works the way it does. I always have one in my purse, my pocket, my hand. I cannot, will not go to sleep unless I am 100% certain of the fact that it is on my nightstand, should I wake up in the middle of the night with dry lips. If I reach the conclusion that it is not where it should be before I sleep, I will get up out of bed and search every coat pocket and every cushion in every couch to find it. I am addicted.

I haven’t totally lost my mind-Stay with me here. Tonight during small group, I had a revelation about God and the relationship I have with Him. Why isn’t God my “Carmex”? Why am I not totally infatuated with Christ? Is He in my head and heart at all times? Can I sleep at night if I know He isn’t where He should be? Will I get up and look for Him everywhere if I reach the conclusion He isn’t beside me? Will I search the corners of the earth for Him if I know I don’t have Him near? Am I addicted to Christ?

I am ashamed to say, I am not addicted. I would like to be. That is my prayer for this year, but especially this semester. I want to be “obsessed” with God. There is a book called “Crazy Love” that I am hoping to get my hands on. We’re going to try to go through it as a small group this semester and I am excited beyond words to see where God leads.

(My small group is also going to take Salsa lessons on Tuesday nights…how cool is that?! 7 girls salsa-ing together…)

Thought #2. God has every person in this group here for a reason. We came to the conclusion that, had we not come to Ireland, none of us would’ve met-or at least become good friends. We all come from different backgrounds. We all have different aspirations (except for the uncanny fact that all 5 of the pre-med majors want to do something with the brain…). We all offer different perspectives. It’s wonderful.

And the lifestyle here? Incredible. For the few who are up at midnight finishing an art paper, there is Nutella and Digestives to snack on=) We’ll have 11:00 p.m. “praise and worship” sessions in our classroom where we simply sing and pray and whoever wants to come, can. Chapel is amazing and doesn’t happen near enough (the eleven o’clock hour on Tuesday and Thursday doesn’t come as quickly as it should). The locals that have lived around the “Y” will come in every Saturday night at 10:30 to play poker and make rock shandys (lime and lemon carbonated juice…it’s good.). Hopping the DART to Dublin to go to museums, parks, and cafes is so easy. The “Cliff Walk” to Bray and back is something everyone needs to do-It’s a 3 mile hike to the neighboring city. I’ve also put my lack of light-footedness to work when I ran it=) And running? Take your pick of where to run…right next to the ocean, on the cement blocks next to the railroad tracks, through town, the trail run to Bray, or along the harbor. And those places are just the “running” highlights. Try choosing one place to have your devotions…impossible. I am left in adoration and praise of God after every walk, run, or hike.

Thought #3. We heard an incredible speaker today, Jim Parson. He spoke on the Irish youth culture, the problem of drinking, the shaping of this generation from past generations, the accepted concept of “causal sex”, and the problems that have risen from that mindset. I’m still processing everything he said, so there will be more on that later, but for now, know it was an awesome class.

Thought #4. I am having the time of my life developing the gifts God has blessed me with. Photography has become a real hobby, but editing pictures has become a “stress reliever”. I don’t know why, but there’s something relaxing to me about changing the hues a bit to emphasize the mountains or clouds, or using highlights to color in oceans and fields. Another random pastime- Singing. I have had five different people on five different occasions tell me I can sing. I’ve had two people ask me if I was ever in choir. That has been such a great blessing to me. I love how encouraging these people are.

And the best is yet to come. I get to spend the next 4 years of my life becoming even better friends with these people, and that is an awesome thought. It’s not like we’re going our separate ways after 3 months. Instead, it’ll be 30 best friends storming the Taylor campus, singing Disney princess songs, eating Nutella, and stressing out about art papers.

Life is good. So very good indeed. Praise God!

The Most Amazing Day. Ever.

Ummmm-The most amazing day just occurred. Ever.

To start it off, we drove to a beach about an hour away and a) went swimming in the Atlantic Ocean (The waves in the Wave Pool at Splashdown are NO comparison), b) played soccer on the beach (My first time playing it-I think I'm the next Mia Hamm), c) learned and played rugby, d) had a cook-out on the beach, and then e) drove around the Dingle Peninsula. On our drive, I took at little over 200 pictures, putting my overall picture-taking at about 800 pictures in all.

Swimming was AWESOME! Originally, I wasn't going to swim, so I just rolled up my trouser legs, kept on my hoodie, and waded into the water in search of seashells. Then Ashley looked at me and said "It's now or never" (I also knew that Will would be very disappointed if I missed that opportunity). So, we charged the waves and swallowed SO much salt water. SO very much.

Salt water brings up another point-19 out of 29 people on this trip got very sick over the week-end and two girls had to stay in Greystones at the start of this trip to visit doctors and get better (Haha-They're all talking about "Swine Flu" concerns and I laugh. I've been exposed twice this summer-If I was going to die from it, I would already be dead!). I am one of the lucky 10 who haven't gotten sick yet...(and I've survived two sick roommates, both at home and here in the hotel, since we switch up roomies on our travels). However, all that water today washed away any traces of stuffiness.

Going back to the older post about Glendalough and death-There were about 17 of us who went on the 6 mile hike up and around the Wicklow mountains. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies and awesome sunshine. For the first 2.5 miles, we were literally hiking up rocks, grabbing where we could reach on the rocks, and making our own footholds. Then, when we reached the top where we had to go over the gap, we crossed at tiny bridge and began another climb up, but this time on a path that was two railroad-ties width. Whoever had the genius to put thousands of staples in them to create friction was brilliant-Those were life-saving. After we crossed the gap, it started raining and the wind was unbelievable. There were times when we had to literally stop, crouch down, and wrap ourselves around the railroad ties to hang on (the wind was that strong) to avoid being blown down the side of the cliff. However, it got really f-u-n when the person behind you grabbed YOUR backpack to keep THIER balance. Then, there was one "look-out" point where it was a wind tunnel, and all there was to keep you from falling off was a single rail. We had so much fun! Most of the second half of the hike was cliff on our left, and mountain-side on our right. It was dangerous, wet, cold, windy, and amazingly fun (I say dangerous because Taylor U did have a fatal accident on that same hike about 6 years ago).

I am having the time of my life here, and it still kind of seems like I'm in a dream. The whole group gets along (We have a cd called the "Brian Bus Jam Cabam!" which contains all the great Disney Princess songs-We ALL sing those on our bus rides home...). Our leaders are great, Brian (our bus driver) is great, Jen (our chaplain) is awesome, life is good.

Can't wait for my family to see home! It's incredible!

(For my siblings-The names Liam, Connor, and Kathryn are my kid's names-Don't steal them!)

I'm heading to bed now-We have to leave early tomorrow to drive the Ring of Kerry!

Love!

Erin Flathers (O'Flathery would be our Irish surname...We're from CO Galway, which is where the "Black Irish" are from. They're called "black" because of all the Spanish influence!)

In The West...!

Hey guys! This week is your lucky week-Must be the luck of the Irish. We do have some internet access if we stand on our heads and balance our computers on our toes in the hallway at 2:00 a.m.! Yeah!

To bring you up to speed, we’re staying in a hotel in Kilarney and we just, just, just got back from a 7 mile hike after a 1.5 hour boat ride (not including the manual labor part) through the “Gap of Dun Lough”. It was SO much fun! The hike wasn’t a true hike-it WAS on a paved road that cars went down…but there were still crazy dangerous situations that made memories! The boat ride, a historical one according to our bus driver (Brian King, our driver said he had never seen the water in the lake so high), was amazing. The waves were definitely coming into our boat and there were a few times we thought we were going to flip over. We safely made it across one of the lakes to a river (there were three boats containing all the FISPers), then had to go under a bridge against the rapids. At this point, we had to get out of our boats, roll up our pantlegs, take off our socks and shoes, wade across the water, and pull our boats under the bridge. It took about an hour after all was said and done. After that, we hiked some serious “Sound of Music” switchbacks up to a little church, where we had lunch. I am working on pictures right now, so give me a few days to give you proof of our adventure and survival!

I’m off for fish ‘n’ chips, some live music at the pub, then a movie at the cinema!

To Tide You Over Until...

...my return from the west coast.


As soon as we're home for longer than two minutes, I'll up-date the blog and send out some pictures. We have been GO, GO, GO (and it has been amazing!). I don't know where I left off, but I'll briefly go over our week-end. On Friday, our group traveled to Glendalough ("Land of two lakes") in the CO Wicklow mountains. After a tour of the monastery, about 19 of us went on a 6 mile hike up and around the mountains (more on that later-but as far as being killed by natural forces, I've never been so close to death!). It was fantastic. Then on Saturday, we spent the day in Dublin on a scavenger hunt. That was also...exciting. To say the very least.

Monday was Dublin for the Book of Kells.
Tuesday was Newgrange, Hill of Slain, and Mellifont Abbey.

Pictures are coming!