Wow, so as my title suggests I have now been away from Canada for a whole month! Not quite sure how that happened since in some ways it feels like I've been here forever and in others it feels like I was just in Canada, but whatever . . . time is a funny funny thing! So yes Friday was my 1 month mark of leaving Canada and tomorrow is my 1 month mark for arriving in Ireland (for those who are wondering how that works, remember I spent some time in London in between!). It's definitely crazy how much has happened in the past month, and also crazy how often I forget where I am and what I'm doing! Last night I was spending some time with God and was reading Jeremiah 29:11 and praying about that and I got this sudden revelation about how amazing God's plans are! I spend so much of my time complaining to God about his plans aren't matching up with mine and according to my timeline, but shocker . . . God actually does know what He's doing! I kind of realized where I am and what I'm doing and thought about how if my life had followed my plans I wouldn't be having this opportunity right now. According to my plans I would be married possibly with kids on the way by now so would not be in Ireland with the chance to visit all these places in Europe that I dreamed of seeing but never knew if I would have the opportunity to! So it was pretty exciting last night to realize that while getting married is still a dream I hold dear to my heart and would love to see come true sooner rather than later, it really is a good thing that I have trusted God (though complained a lot!) and let Him lead and guide my life to bring me here!
So where am I again??? What am I doing??? Well if you can't answer those questions shame on you! I'm in Ireland nannying for a FANTASTIC family and spending my spare time (which I actually get a lot of!) exploring Europe! And I am very excited to announce that this weekend I am going on my first exploration weekend! I am staying in Ireland for this one, but heading over to the west coast to visit Galway and some of the AMAZING sites there are to see there. I am going to make sure my memory card for my camera is empty (since I'm sure I'll fill it!) and that BOTH batteries are charged, because from what I've read (since of course I've done my research . . . I'm in Europe, but I'm still Leah!) I will have some fantastic photo opportunities, so prepare yourselves to sift through my many photos and relive my experience with me! In addition to going away this weekend I have been spending a lot of time over the past couple weeks doing research and planning my trips for the next few months. I'll keep them under my hat for now, but rest assured there are MANY adventures on the horizon for me to write about and post pictures of!
Hmmm . . . what else to say for now though since I haven't actually gone on those adventures yet??? Well my weekend was relatively uneventful . . . I had 2 very disappointing market experiences. I love our Langford Market back home . . . it's pretty sweet! And I've heard so much about European markets that I've been wanting to check them out and have looked into whether there are markets in Dublin and I haven't been able to find anything! But last weekend when I was rushing somewhere else so didn't have time to stop and check it out, I saw a sign advertising a market in this park that runs every Friday so I thought sweet, I'll check it out next Friday! Of course when I made the trek all the way into the city specifically for this market I discovered that it was a LUNCH market . . . meaning the stalls were all food stalls selling lunch to the businessmen in the area! It was fine I got me some lunch and a DELICIOUS cupcake, but I was sorely disappointed! I still had hope though because I had seen signs earlier in the week for a Malahide Market on Saturday, so I rearranged my plans to take a day tour on Saturday and went to the Malahide Market instead. All I really have to say is that I stayed about 5 minutes . . . it was that bad! It so small and was selling all commercial goods really, not homemade goodies and crafts like I was hoping! So that was disappointing and I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon at Starbucks with a hazelnut hot chocolate and a whoopie pie (DELICIOUS!). Sunday I went to church then spent the day in Dublin City again, then just chilled at home in Malahide and went to bed early.
There's really not much else to tell at this point . . . things are still going well with the family. They are so nice and thoughtful and very sweet to me. Last weekend we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving here in Ireland (Ireland doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving . . . it is strictly a North American thing!). Gillian made a delicious roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings for a Thanksgiving dinner and her parents and Simon's dad and Simon and Gillian's friend Fiona all joined us for dinner! I got home from church around 5 and the girls were both decked out in Canada T-shirts and everyone wished me a Happy Thanksgiving! Gillian also gave me a very sweet card and we just had a great time together . . . it was a very nice Thanksgiving! So yes, that's life with the family! The girls and I get along really well. They are both well settled having me around now and are delightful (if at times exasperating!) to spend time with! So yes, I will be sure to update after my adventure next weekend and post some pics . . . I'm SO super excited about it and hopefully you are just as excited to hear about it! Take care everyone!
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