The March Gang

It is a few days late, but “Merry Christmas”.  We enjoyed having Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw March here with us this week.  However we did miss the rest of our loved ones and friends.  We did get to do a Skype chat with Me-Me and Paw-Paw Slusher on Christmas morning which was good.  Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jimmy were there and we got to see them too.  Aunt Leisha got up to watch us open gifts, it was really early for her.  She was up at 4:00am on Christmas morning and we are glad she did.

I took Mom and Dad to the airport this morning very early. (4:30am)  So the kids said goodbye before we all went to bed.  Like I said we enjoyed spending the last 11 days with them.  The kids didn’t want to say goodbye but we are all doing better this morning.  Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw brought a Christmas present with them that has kept the kids entertained, a Wii.  Actually it has kept all of us entertained.  We are very grateful for all the gifts that were sent along with Mom and Dad.  Mee-Mee and Paw-Paw Slusher sent Kirsten a pot holder kit and we already have pot holders coming out our ears.  Kirsten and Peyton both sent numerous pot holders back to many of you as a thank you for your gifts.

The Sunday School Department did a wonderful job on their Christmas program.  I have to admit there were three kids in it that I was very proud of.  We have sent back a DVD of the program for those of you who want to watch it, which I know is all of you.   Sunday evening several of us from the Gilford church went to Dublin and had service with a group that has been having service in a rented dance studio.  It is a wonderful group of Filipino’s all who came out of UPC churches in the Philippines.  The served us authentic Filipino food afterwords and it was awesome!

We did a little sight seeing since Mom and Dad were here.  We went to Carrickfergus on Tuesday, which happened to be Mom and Aunt Diane’s B-Day.(My Mom’s twin sister)  Carrickfergus is a neat little village with a small castle.  We toured the castle and had a blast.  Afterward we went to a museum and then headed home.  The hours of sunlight you get here in the winter are very short.  The sun doesn’t rise completely until about 9:00 am and it starts setting at 3:30 pm.  So you get about 7 hours of sunlight, that is if it is shining. Friday we set out for Giants Causeway and drove along the coast taking in some beautiful sites.

We have added new pictures to our Flickr Site

Well, today was a good day in Ireland.  One; Maw Maw and Paw Paw March arrived safe, tired but happy to be here.   The other is the long awaited container arrived and so we are really going to have a wonderful Christmas.  We have a lot of food on there and a lot of things from home.  The kids have already gotten a few things off of it and are excited.  If I knew they would have been that excited about old toys and stuff I would have just made that Christmas and saved some money.

For those of you wondering Dalton “Red” March survived his first international flight and entrance into a foreign country. Him and Mom were speaking to each other when we found them so all was well.  Dad did say that it is a lot bigger than it looks on the map.  The funniest thing so far is everytime we have gone to get into the car he has followed me to the drivers side.  I can’t give him to hard of a time since I stil catch myself going to the wrong side once in a while.  He also wanted me to send a message out to Chuck Coomer. Dad said… “Chuck you wouldn’t like it much here.  So far I haven’t seen a tree big enough to tree a coon in.”   He also is trying to acclimate to the local dialect.  He said they all look like my next door neighbor until they speak then I just aint sure what they are saying.  Dad wanted me to let all of you who are helping cover all his livestock duties while he is gone “Thank you!”.  (Nathan Gordan, Elmer Gene Littrell, Craig, Larry and Gary Mathis)  Mom is excited to be here and has been requested to make us chicken and dumplings.  We know she hasn’t made any in awhile so we thought it would do her some good.  When she reads this she may want to throw them at me. (She overseen the making of the dumplings for the nine nights of CAOH)

This weekend is going to be fun.  We are having our church Christmas Banquet and Children’s Program.  Kirsten has a solo and is very excited about it. Peyton is helping with the puppets and Simeon is a Wise Man. We will be posting pictures and hopefully video.  We want to thank all of you back home for your support, prayers and love.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Well, the weekend has come and gone, but not without a few highlights.  Sunday we had a wonderful service and a few guest.  We have had for the past few weeks a Polish family who has been attending our services. Edward, Irena and, I won’t even try to spell it but roughly translated to English, Blueberry.  They are a precious family and seem very interested in our church.  Also this week we had another Polish guest.  His name is Bartosz and he works for a man in our church.  After service I handed Bartosz a Bible, which is something we do for all first time guest who doesn’t have one.  I will never forget the look on his face when I handed it to him.  He looked at me and said “For me?” and I said yes.  He said I have never had a Bible before.  He took it and just stared at it and rubbed his fingers across the gold imprint “Holy Bible.”

This got me to thinking of how blessed we are in America.  Really how many Bibles do I have laying around and on the book shelf?  A lot and yet there are some in this world who have never even seen one let alone held it in their hands. It makes me think of another story I was recently told by a friend of the McFarland family who was visiting from Zimbabwe.  Civil war has torn the continent of Africa apart for centuries and she helps in many of the facilities that have been set up to help those who have suffered from the atrocities of it.  She said when she goes into these places and ask what she can do to help them.  She has food and money available, but these people usually ask for “pages” of her Bible.  Yes, pages of her Bible.  They are lying there suffering from machete attacks so severe that they can’t even lay on there backs.  They have very little but bone left on their backs and they are asking for mere pages from the Bible.  Yeah I know it’s heart breaking and convicting all together.

Winter is here and it is cold.  So far it isn’t much different from winters back home except for the frost we get.  Ireland is a very wet country thus the reason it is so green. That and the “organic” fertilizer they spread out over everything.  We got up yesterday morning to the picture below. What you are looking at is frost and not an ice storm.  The side roads were very slick, but they had the main roads salted down good.

Well, before I sign off I want to give a shout out to all those back home who are working at Christmas At Our House this week.  Tara and I are missing being there and have been thinking of you all.

Well I finally got all the pictures organized and commented on a few.  We hope you enjoy them there are a lot so take your time.

Scotland Flickr Collection

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