And I'm Off Again!

Well folks you heard it here first . . . well maybe not for many of you, but regardless it's true I'm setting off on another globe trotting adventure! Destination for this excursion: Ireland! And of course since I don't do ANYTHING halfway, I'm not just going for a couple weeks for a vacation (that's way too simple!) . . . nope instead I'm taking the big plunge and moving there for a year! For those of you who honestly don't know what going on and are wondering what on earth this crazy lady is talking about, I'll break it down for you. I was offered a job as a live-in nanny for a family who lives in Ireland. After giving it a lot of thought and prayer I decided to take them up on their offer, and voila! I'm off!

I have heard many proclaim how quickly this summer passed for them and the same was true for me! Writing this blogpost has been on my list of things to do since July! Unfortunately life kept getting away from me and now I find myself mere days away from leaving and only now find the opportunity to fill you all in on my latest plans. So the official plan is that I'm leaving September 14 (yes as in 4 days from now!) and have a 3 day layover in London before finally arriving in Dublin on the 18. As part of my work visa I have a 2 day orientation to living and working in Ireland so won't actually be meeting my Irish family and moving into my new home until September 21. I won't actually be living in Dublin but will be located in a little seaside village just north of Dublin called Malahide Village.

I'm very excited to embark on this latest adventure and most of all to meet my new family. I will be living in the house with the mom Gillian, dad Simon, and two girls Maya (3 years old) and Ruby (1 and a half years old). I have had a lot of correspondence with the family and am really excited about meeting them as they seem really great. I will be taking care of the girls while the parents are at work during the day Monday through Thursday but will have every Friday through Sunday to myself. I'm really excited to spend my long weekends exploring Ireland and also visiting other parts of Europe.

My plan is definitely to keep this blog going while I'm away so I can keep you all up to date on the happenings in my life. I would also love to have those of you who feel so inclined to partner with me in prayer! This is a huge scary step in my life and it means a great deal to me to know I can count on people to remember me in prayer! My biggest prayer items at this point are for safe and uneventful travel (definitely!) but also for peace and opportunities as I settle into life in Ireland. You can pray that I make good relationships with my Irish family and do so quickly and also make friends in Ireland (preferably quickly!). Another huge point for me is that I really want to connect with a great church in Ireland and would appreciate prayer on that front. I know God has a great place for me over there, but I ask for prayer that I would find it quickly and that God would make it clear to me when I've found it. It is definitely hard to be leaving all the good friends and the great church I have here, but I feel as though God has new opportunities for me in Ireland and that there are good things just waiting for me over there. That's about it for now, but I will let you know how things are going and I'm sure make many of you jealous with my yearlong Europe adventure!