Rain, Wind, and Mass

So on Sunday Margaret and Mary were shocked that we had not had any bad weather. They seriously went on and on about how lucky we are... and then this week happened. I knew when they were talking about it that they would probably jinx us. They did.

For about a week now it has been off and on raining, windy, cold, but ALWAYS overcast. Jared and I decided on Thursday to get out of the house despite the weather, so we took a short bike ride to the gas station down the street to get a few groceries when the sky was looking clear. On the way back a major storm hit. It almost blew us off of our bikes. The rain hitting my face felt like tiny pieces of glass because the wind was so powerful. The day after that, and then the day after that, the wind continued. We ventured outside one more time to feel the wind, and it basically held us up when we leaned into it. We had 72mph winds! But, it was lucky that we stepped outside because the sky to the North West had turned completely orange, and the sky to the South East had a giant rainbow in it. Stunning. The cool thing was that I had just read in Genesis about the covenant that God made with the rainbow. It just reminded me of how good He is to us.

You can probably guess that since the weather was so terrible we haven't done much. We are actually sitting in our bed right now listening to the rain fall. This weekend we did get out a little bit when we spent the weekend in Ennis with Pat and Katherine. We went to the pub one evening and listened to some traditional Irish music with the banjo and wood flute and two different types of percussion. It was really wonderful. We ate at a place called "Hillbilly's" that serves fried chicken (!!!) on Saturday night so that was a really wonderful thing as well. The entire weekend we enjoyed their hospitality and Katherine's cooking when we weren't out eating McDonald's or fried chicken.

On Saturday night (before the chicken) I went to Mass with Katherine. It was a really great cultural experience for me. I felt a little strange not knowing the routine of things. The kneeling, the interactive readings, etc. but it was really great just to be in a church with people, regardless of how their service is, who worship the same Jesus that I do! My favorite part of the service was probably the singing. My least favorite part was probably communion because everyone goes to the front and the priest places the bread in the mouths of the people. I was just about the only person that didn't take communion, so that was strange. It wasn't that I didn't want to take communion, I just didn't want some man I don't know placing it in my mouth for me. I stood up, saw that he was placing the bread in the mouths of the people, and then sat back down. ahahah... Everyone in the church knows the words to every hymn that is sung and it was all without any accompaniment and it was just great for me to take part in worshiping God through music again. Plus, the church was full, and the melody was so loud that it reached my heart. There I was in this church full of strangers, in a completely different culture, separated by the labels on our separate religions, but worshiping the same God for the same purpose. He sent his son to die. Awesome.

Jared and I are about to go play some games by the fireplace, and then fall asleep and have another lazy week in Ireland. Chelsea comes on Tuesday, which I am utterly excited about. Once she gets here the speed of things should pick up because we have lots of plans. We bought three plane tickets to Barcelona, Spain from Dublin, so we will be spending 5 days there (Feb 27th until March 3rd). As excited I am about leaving this part of Ireland and moving on to our next destination, I am starting to feel kind of sad that I am going to have to leave this beautiful place and the kind people we have come to know.