Wednesday after training in the morning and lunch we all drove into Belfast to do a little exploring. I say after lunch, but lunch was so late that by the time we left the house it was 4:30 so we were dealing with lots of traffic downtown that slowed us down. We finally found a place to park and set the guys loose in groups of 3 or 4, instructing them to all meet back at the vans by 7. Our family and Jesse went walking (through the rain, which doesn't seem to bother the people who live here at all!) to find either an authentic coffee house/tea room or a pub with Guinness. We found the pub and had a delicious dinner there, complete with appetizer and Guinness! (I must note, this was of course without any of the students with us. Just a private meal.) Definitely fed our souls and our bellies!
Yesterday the guys got to sleep in instead of training in the morning since they would be playing a game later in the day. Everyone had a leisurely breakfast and Scott Jones, who has been here before with JBU as a chaperone and is an excellent cook, made brunch for everyone. A few guys held a team chapel right before we left for Dublin. It's the first time they've done something like that, and it was completely student initiated. One of the players shared his testimony and a song he had written telling his story, then we all sang and prayed together. The guys leading this are wanting the team to learn a few songs well that they can sing on a regular basis before their games. It's a sweet new element this year, and is developing the spiritual depth of the team already.
I love John Marshall and Isabella getting to see the guys who openly love the Lord. They are able to see their faith be real, not just see faith belonging to John and me or people at our church. They love and respect the guys, and I love what great role models they are for the kids, both for JM and the man he will want to be as he grows and for Isabella and the kind of man she will respect and want to marry. I just hope the guys aren't getting too sick of the kids' child-like behavior!
John Marshall and Isabella enjoyed playing music with/for a few of the guys. JM spent a long time drumming while Cameron Cole played the guitar. Cam is so sweet and tolerant of both of them - he always says he'd love to when they ask him to do things with them. Isabella played her song "Oh, Be Joyful!" for Darwin. It's a song she's written that changes every time she plays it, but has a generally similar sound consistently. The guys are so sweet to give their undivided attention!
She's singing in this one.
We left for Dublin around 1pm with John at the wheel again. He's doing so well, but it's stressful for me to see! It just always looks like we're doing it wrong, driving in the left lane. I'd ride in the back but I've been getting car-sick when I have so I've stayed in the front and chosen stress over nausea!
Along the way through the countryside we stopped at what used to be an ancient monastery. It's now an amazingly peaceful cemetery. There are a few structures still standing that date back to the 10th century - 3 huge celtic crosses and a huge tower. The weather was amazing - it was the first day with no rain!
We found some kitties hiding in the hedges along the cemetery.
This one was especially skittish, but John was able to get her to come and finally lie down while he scratched her behind the ears. He's got a way with cats, you know!
This is the house where the kitties seemed to live. It's right at the edge of the cemetery and has a beautiful garden.
The countryside right next to the cemetery
Once we got to Dublin we met one of the coaches of the Shamrock Rovers reserve team at a big hotel in the city. We were able to follow him to their training ground where the game would be played. Their training fields were in a beautiful location, high up and looking down over the city.
The experience for both teams was a really positive one, with all playing hard and getting to mingle and chat afterwards over sandwiches and tea. JBU scored first early in the game, but the Rovers tied it up and then scored again to beat us 2-1. I think they did fairly well, considering they've only had 4 practices since last spring's season, and this was the first game they've played together with the new recruits. The kids enjoyed making friends with a few of the Irish kids watching the game. JM had a chance to chat for a long time with a boy and compare Ireland and America, both boys asking each other their favorite thing about their own country.
JM very much wanted to go beyond the fence they had been sitting on. This is his "Please, Mama?" face. Hard to resist, but I prevailed. He had to be satisfied with climbing up and sliding down the hill.
After the game we mingled with the team over tea and sandwiches.
The sandwiches weren't quite enough, so we stopped at a HUGE "petrol" station.
It was around 11pm, so the kids' play area was completely deserted. JM and Isabella were ecstatic!
The kids both fell asleep in the vans among the team. Thankfully Isabella slept in until 10 this morning, but JM woke up around 8:30 this morning. He's struggled the past 2 days with exhaustion, but it's so hard to get them to bed on time because we're doing so much, the sun stays up until 10, and our body clocks aren't quite in sync with the time here. Here's hoping for another morning of sleeping in tomorrow!
Today the boys trained this morning and then had the rest of the day off. Unfortunately, the rain had to make up today for what it didn't do yesterday. I watched for little moments when the rain let up to send the children outside to run - didn't happen often! The guys braved the rain for the sake of getting out and about. Some took bikes into town just 10 minutes down the road, some decided to take the bus in, and a few others chose to stay at Lakeside and watch Cars 2 with the kids. It was funny to see college guys getting excited about Mater! Since the kids didn't get much outside time today John took them this evening to a beautiful garden just down the road to run around. It had stopped raining by around 6:30 or 7 but was still quite wet. Things don't seem to dry out around here!
Right now the children are going to sleep while the team is having FFF - Forced Family Fun :)
They've been playing Mafia, which is hilarious to watch with 25 animated guys, and will be watching a movie later. It's 10pm now, but certainly doesn't feel that way to me! Again, body clock is completely off! Tomorrow they play another game here in Belfast. John's hoping to see some improvements as they're working out the kinks with their rhythm as a team. For pictures and an article on last night's game go to the Rovers' website. If you look closely at picture 11 you can see JM in the background. He's wearing a navy shirt and jeans.
Still hoping to cover our first two days tomorrow. Keep checking!
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