So last week we had a treat, one of my husband Keith's relatives came to town. Barbara is his mother's cousin. Her grandfather, Jeremiah O'Neil was Keith's great-grandfather.

Barbara has been coming over to Ireland for the last 45 years and she's a wealth of information. She filled us in on where all the different relatives came from and even drove us out to Kenmare where Keith's greatgrandfather was born. That cottage is in ruins and overgrown, but I did get to snap a photo of him there.

                                                                      
We then stopped to see some relatives who still live in that area - and by chance got to meet 2 of Keith's cousins who were there visiting, and get this, they live in Cork!

We had a great time seeing that part of Ireland and actually got as far west as Kerry county. I can't wait to go exploring there in the spring, it was so beautiful. The mountain roads were more than a little scary though, very curvy and narrow, with random sheep jumping about and the speed limit was
100 km (that's 60mph)!

                                                                     Kinsale Bay

                                                                      Bantry Bay

                                                                      
                                                 ....and somewhere in the mountains.

This is going to be a busy and exciting week for us. The opening for our new church, "The Potter's House Cork" will be this weekend. Please pray for us and I'm sure I'll be writing about it soon!
                   

Updates

I realized that I hadn't written for a while, but that's because we've been BUSY!

                                                     
                                                                      We got a car!  

                                  
                         Keith preached in both of the churches in Dublin. 

                                                         
and we found a building where we can start services!!!

                                                                    

                                                                            
                                                So, we'll be opening November 3rd and 4th!

Uh-oh!

Right after we moved into our house we took a walk down to the nearby village of Douglas and we saw a long line of people on the sidewalk. It looked like someone must be giving something away. So we asked what the big deal was and we were told that KC's had re-opened. Apparently KC's is (and I quote) "the best chipper in all of Ireland!"

So, we finally went to check it out on a recent Friday night, to see if it lived up to its reputation.

                                                                          

 It totally does - I'm going to have to do a LOT more running! This place has their own web-site, and even a web-cam that shows you how long the line is outside the door! http://www.kcandco.ie/

 

http://www.thejournal.ie/flooding-ireland-cork-rain-502550-Jun2012/

Like many establishments in Douglas village, KC's was hit hard by the flooding back in June and had to close while remodeling. Everyone here is so glad they're back in business. We met people in line that night that said they only come to this part of the city for KC's.

So, if - when - you're coming to visit we'll probably be taking you there! :)
                                                                             

Oh yeah, the cabinets....

Someone just reminded me that I never did put up photos of my mother-in-laws kitchen...so here they are. We stripped the cabinets, sanded, primed and painted them, and put in a new floor (with help from CB - thanks!)

It was a lot of work, but we really had a sense of accomplishment when we saw the final product.
Please excuse the poor quality of the photos - I didn't remember to take any until the last minute.

Cork humor

I spotted this in front of a Cork flower shop the other day.....

Gotta love it :)

A trip to Dublin

So last week we got to make a trip to Dublin. Our friends Chris and Angela Sealy were hosting "the Strongman of Australia - Mark Woods" at their church in Blanchardstown and we wanted to see the show and go to the revival service. It was worth the trip!

Mark does a great show of feats of strength interwoven with his testimony. He really gets the audience involved, challenging them to try and do what he is doing. Here they were attempting to rip phone books in half.

Here he is lowering an axe to his forehead - and he's added weights to it!

and here was our favorite - he bent a steel rod, in his mouth! We got to take this piece home with us!



                                               
                                                             sorry for the blurry pic!

The best part of the evening came at the end when he spoke about the true answer for life that comes not from our own strength but from coming to Jesus - 4 precious people responded to the call and gave their lives to Christ!

The next day we got to do some amazing sight seeing. Chris and Angela drove us up into the mountains. It was so unbelievably gorgeous - my photos don't do it justice, but I'm going to share them anyways!

I'm so looking forward to getting a car and being able to explore more of this beautiful country!