It's Friday and our last day of ministry.  I've managed to journal every night and will post more details about the trip when I get home, so they won't be thoughts "from Ireland."

Going home is bittersweet.  I will miss this country and the genuinely warm people.  I haven't met a single cranky clerk or rude salesperson, despite my inability to calculate correct payment for ANYTHING.  They are gracious and even honest when taking the amount from the palm of my hand.  The team members have become so precious to me.  Someone I thought would drive me insane, well, I'm encouraging my son to ask her out. 

I will, however, be happy to leave behind the Holiday Bible Club.  It's a very intense 2 hours every day, with sometimes upward of 60 kids at one time, varying in age from 4 to 12, in the same room.  They are much like any children from underpriviledged neighborhoods - tough outer shells when with their buddies, fairly soft centers when you corner them alone.  The evenings with the youth are pretty much the same.  During a heartbreaking testimony, some were laughing and mocking.

And I am sure not sad to be leaving behind

• The teeny, tiny shower, which I did eventually master
• Stiff clothes from line-drying
• Hard water that tastes like soap when you drink it
• The European keyboard for the computer
• The rain and cold in frickin' July
• The expense - a bottle of water is €2 which is about $3.50; gas is approximately $5.50 a gallon (after you convert liters to gallons, then Euros to Dollars)
• The very late-setting sun - how does anyone get used to saying, "What a gorgeous sunset!" at 10:00 pm?
• Craft time

Forty-five minutes until the kickoff of the last day of HBC.  Thirty minutes of registration and sign-in, then an hour of the meeting itself.  Then, a furious packing up of all that is in this part of the Youth Center, dinner (tea), youth meeting and then back to the hosts' homes to pack up for good.  Tomorrow in Dublin all day, then home Sunday, which will be a 30-hour day for us.

Thanks for all your prayers and support.  Please keep us there for just a couple more days.

• For the hearts of the people in Ireland - children and adults - to be prepared to hear the Gospel. May they  accept the unconditional love of our Lord, Christ Jesus.
• For my husband and daughter, who will be spending 17 days together without me to intervene.  May their relationship begin to heal in my absence.
• For my friend, Beth, who has not only taken on the jobs of two more people, but who has also lost the friends who held these jobs until last week's lay-offs. For her husband, Kevin, who is also struggling in his job.  And for their precious daughter, Monica, who is watching her parents' worlds shake at the moment.  May they stay strong in their faith to see how God redeems these tears.
• For Angie, who broker her ankles in a fall last week and has to "stay put" for six weeks.
• For Heather, who has taken on tremendous responsibility in her new job with M-Power Ministries.  May God continue to use her to reach the broken souls in Avondale.
• For Rhonda, my student, who is being tutored by a sub until I get back.  May her heart still know mine when I return!
  
• For my sister, Gail, who is going through a painful divorce and her two daughters, Cori and Robin, who are being used as pawns.  May they also remember to Whom they belong and find comfort in Him who hears them.
• For Keith, my soon-to-be ex-brother-in-law.  May he realize the harm he's doing to his children by fighting for custody out of spite.
  
• For my "virtual" girlfriends, whom I love as though I have known you in person all my life.  You are as dear to me as any sorority sister could ever be (you are my sisterhood, which I didn't have in college but need more now than I did then!).