Last week I wrote about some of the things that made our move to Dublin difficult. But there was so much during the process that was amazing. I want to share a few of those stories. I will likely miss a few…and hopefully, someone will remind me. If that happens we’ll add them in another post….
Tag: 5YearsInDublin
Neither Here Nor There
Transitions suck.
When Liz and I attended the pastors sabbath retreat in 2010, one of the key topics was transitions.
Learning how transitions work, what to expect in he midst of them, and hopefully, how to live well in that in-between state.
Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? (5 years post 13)
Liz and I felt that if we were going to Ireland, two groups of people needed to be in agreement. I wrote yesterday about what that process looked like with our daughters. Today I wanted to share about a second group that was involved in this process with us.
Our Amazing Daughters (5 Years Post 12)
Through the rest of February Liz and I talked and prayed and began to sense more and more that Ireland was in our future….and sooner rather than later. At the same time we knew that there were two group of people we needed to have in agreement with whatever decision we reached.
Ireland…Again (5 Years Post 11)
Okay…quick recap…It was February 2011. Ireland was not happening. It seemed like everything was against us buying a house, and now we were dealing with a high-risk pregnancy. I contacted a few people and asked them to pray that we would have a clear understanding of what God was trying to say in the midst of this. Because something was clearly going on.
And Baby Make 6 (5 Years Post 10)
July 2017 marks the 5 year anniversary of our move to Dublin. Over the next few months I’m writing a few posts to share about that journey. You can keep up with all posts in this series here. The months of January and February 2011 were challenging. As we shared, Ireland was off the table, and house hunting…
House Hunting (5 Years Post 9)
House Hunting in Trumansburg Round 1
By January 2011, Ireland was off the table, so we began looking for a house in Trumansburg. We had decided about a year earlier that we were going to sell our home and move to Trumansburg.
Settling Back into Life in Ithaca (5 Years Post 8)
Leaving Ireland was hard, but before heading back to the States, we had a week’s vacation left. Because of cheaper than expected flights, we had enough in the budget to stay a few days in London and a few days in Paris. We both figured, we’d never have the whole family together in Europe again. And although we were wrong on that point, it was a good way to wrap up the trip. Because once we got back to Ithaca, life was about to kick into high gear.
Maybe This is Why We Don’t Hike More (5 years post 7)
In a recent post I mentioned a road trip we took around Ireland. Our first destination was Croagh Patrick.
The story is that St. Patrick completed forty days of fasting and penance here during a Lenten period.
12 Noon :: I was not familiar at all with Croagh Patrick, so I didn’t understand why Liz was as stressed as she was about our relatively late departure from Ballybay. It was only a 3.5 hour drive.
Digging Myself Out of a Hole (5 years post 6)
Earlier this week I wrote about my family’s immediate response to my “I think we are supposed to move to Ireland,” moment. The kids were angry and Liz was crying.
The kids I understood. There is no way we wanted to talk with them about it at that point. But they picked up that something was going on quickly.
And all three of them would have been in high school or middle school, so moving to another country was not anywhere on their agendas.
An Old Girlfriend (5 years post 5)
In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that while we were in Ireland, Liz’s dad had problems with his eyes. After a several days of trying to get care up in Co. Monaghan, one of the doctors referred him to the Mater Hospital in Dublin. So, over the next week Liz and I drove down the M1 into Dublin to take her dad to the Mater.
The Question (5 years post 4)
When we first talked about Ireland, the purpose was so that Liz could go over with her dad and her family. About 6 months before the trip, we decided that this would also serve as a sabbatical for me. As I prayed about the focus (sabbatical wise) of our 6 weeks in Ireland, it came down to one simple question:
What am I supposed to do with the next 20 years of my life?
Travel Days (5 years post 3)
I mentioned in the last post that rather than flying directly to Ireland, we flew to London via Iceland. There was a small Iceland airline offering incredible deals on their new Newark to London route. So we saved a lot of money on the flight. The problem was this airline only had a few planes, so when our flight was delayed out of Newark, and we missed out connecting flight, there was not going to be another plane available for 8 hours. Horrible way to start a trip right? Actually, it was one of the highlights!
How Ireland Popped On Our Radar (5 years post 2)
While this summer marks 5 years, since we arrived in Dublin, it is also the 7 year anniversary of our first trip here as a family. With that trip playing such an important part on the life of our family, I wanted to explain a bit about how it came about.
There were actually a few things that came together to bring this trip about.
So Why Did We Move Here? (5 years post 1)
This July marks the five year anniversary of our move to Dublin. I wanted to do a series of posts this summer about our journey; how it came about, what the process and the past 5 years have been like. Stuff like that.
Next week we’ll share some news about the next step we are taking with church planting here in Dublin.