The North at Last - Day 4

July 13 - the Lord's Day - Day 4 :)

We took a few more photos of the B&B before setting off that morning.  

[The foyer table and our quaint door key]

"Had a lovely fry on Sunday morning before waking the girls up for pancakes, then we said goodbye to our charming hosts and started the long, long drive from Galway to Dublin to Belfast for church. 

"We arrived late, in time for the sermon.  What a joy to see Jenni and meet Sam; we drove over to Connor, Ballymena for lunch at Jenni's Dad's house.  Met all Sam's family, including grandmother and aunts/uncles, and more of Jenni's family and friends filtered in.  

[I'm not quite sure how we managed to get no pictures at all of the bride and groom-to-be or of Sarah and Logan that day!  But here were a couple of their friends who joined us all for the open-house.

Jenni's outgoing personality combined with her Northern Irish hospitality and the love of Christ have made her an amazing woman.  Throughout the entire week, when another bride might have been nervously absorbed in her own preparations, she was still the self-forgetting hostess and friend she has always been.  Sam has won a real gem for himself!]

"The goal was a cookout, but there was trouble getting the coal grill going.  They had started cooking hamburgers inside when Jenni's uncle Jerry finally took some dominion and doused the coal with lighter fluid! 

[John with Colin, one of the three best men, and Tim, who, along with his wife April are dear friends of Jenni's.]

"It was like coming home; we stayed until evening; Ruthie got a good nap on a floor bed upstairs while Gemma played in the garden, played with Sam's mum a while, and eventually made mischief.  Met April and Tim; Sarah and Logan also arrived late in the afternoon.  

[Gemma with Sam's lovely mum, Liz.  :)  When Derek and I had come to Northern Ireland in 2007, Jenni and her Dad welcomed us to this same home.  Driving up to the same little village and stepping through the same doorway, now with a family of my own, was a bit emotional for me!  Behind us was the same wee garden, the same ethereal view of the sky and wood . . . In reality, they had been renting this house out for the greater part of the seven intervening years.  It was vacant again now, however, at a good time to host Sam's family for the wedding week.]

[We attempted to get some photos of the splendor I remembered, but it was a bit difficult! from our moving car!]

"Then we got in the car again, much to Ruthie's dismay, to drive up to our holiday house in Castlerock--it's a palace!! Right on the coast, and so much better than the pictures."

[We took more photos of the rental later on, but on this day John got a good shot of the (quiet) train whizzing past the sweet rock garden off the kitchen.]

[And a couple of funny photos from the laundry room--the mini fridge stocked with alcoholic beverages next to a tongue-in-cheek sign prohibiting such, and the symbols on the washing machine which were all but Greek to me!]