What did you do last weekend?
We went to Dublin (as you do).
This involved a very early start on Saturday morning, as we set out to catch the very comfortable, and gratifyingly warm, express bus from Oxford to Gatwick. But first we needed to crunch our way along the path through Christ Church Meadow, almost deserted except for a few hardy joggers huffing past. The extraordinarily heavy frost, which we’ve come to expect each morning here, gave everything a beautiful dusting of white – the next best thing to having snow – and an ethereal fog filtered our view of Oxford’s “dreaming spires”. I couldn't help stopping every now and then to take photos of this exquisitely beautiful scene, and I've posted a couple of photos I took of Christ Church just a few days earlier, in the sunshine. Don't think it was warmer when the sun shone, though - there was still thick frost on the plants at 12 noon.
Our Australian friends, Mark and Anna, with their little ones, have recently moved to Howth, near Dublin, where Mark is the Youth Minister at the Presbyterian Church. It must have been an enormous upheaval for them, leaving a close-knit extended family and lots of friends in Australia, not to mention traveling across the world with four children under 5 – including a new baby daughter.
Anxious to see them once we arrived in Dublin in the early afternoon, we checked into our hotel and caught a cab out to their home. I don’t know who was more excited to see whom. Twins Adelaide and Declan met us at the door with huge grins, hugs and drawings they’d done for us, and we were glad to see Mark and Anna, and little Matilda, looking just as happy – and Josephine thriving.
We made the most of the weekend, sharing two meals together and attending Howth Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning. Having met the congregation (who were very friendly and made us very welcome) will make it easier for us to imagine Mark and Anna in their context, living at Howth among these people, and to pray for their continued smooth settling in.
This involved a very early start on Saturday morning, as we set out to catch the very comfortable, and gratifyingly warm, express bus from Oxford to Gatwick. But first we needed to crunch our way along the path through Christ Church Meadow, almost deserted except for a few hardy joggers huffing past. The extraordinarily heavy frost, which we’ve come to expect each morning here, gave everything a beautiful dusting of white – the next best thing to having snow – and an ethereal fog filtered our view of Oxford’s “dreaming spires”. I couldn't help stopping every now and then to take photos of this exquisitely beautiful scene, and I've posted a couple of photos I took of Christ Church just a few days earlier, in the sunshine. Don't think it was warmer when the sun shone, though - there was still thick frost on the plants at 12 noon.
Our Australian friends, Mark and Anna, with their little ones, have recently moved to Howth, near Dublin, where Mark is the Youth Minister at the Presbyterian Church. It must have been an enormous upheaval for them, leaving a close-knit extended family and lots of friends in Australia, not to mention traveling across the world with four children under 5 – including a new baby daughter.
Anxious to see them once we arrived in Dublin in the early afternoon, we checked into our hotel and caught a cab out to their home. I don’t know who was more excited to see whom. Twins Adelaide and Declan met us at the door with huge grins, hugs and drawings they’d done for us, and we were glad to see Mark and Anna, and little Matilda, looking just as happy – and Josephine thriving.
We made the most of the weekend, sharing two meals together and attending Howth Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning. Having met the congregation (who were very friendly and made us very welcome) will make it easier for us to imagine Mark and Anna in their context, living at Howth among these people, and to pray for their continued smooth settling in.
posted by Di at 1:30 PM
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