Tim's blog

Let me introduce you to Yani.  She is half Lab and half Golden and a half sister to our first pup Tullagh.  She arrived a few hours ago so I wanted to show her off just a bit!  Kathy is holding Yani and standing next to our Irish Guide Dog trainer, Mairead.

Yani had not been in the house for more than 10 minutes before 3 little girls in the neighborhood were knocking on the door wanting to meet her.  Mairead told them she could come out to play a little bit tomorrow, but for the rest of today, she needed to get used to her new home and to rest.

Yani is one of 8 pups in her 'Y' litter.  All Guide Dog pups in the same litter get names starting with the same letter to make it easier for trainers to keep track of ages and relatives.  Yani has the same father as our first pup, but a Labrador Retriever mother.  This is the guide dog 'standard issue' breed as they have a wonderful mix of traits that make them ideal as assistance dogs for autistic kids or as guide dogs for non-sighted Irish pepole. 

Also, I wanted to let you know that Kathy's sister, Pam, is continuing to recover miraculously!  She was able to take 7 assisted steps yesterday!  Kathy is going to be posting a much more detailed update shortly, but in the mean time we want to thank so many for your notes, encouragement and prayers.

        After more than two years, we have finally visited Blarney Castle and, ahhem . . . kissed the Blarney Stone; or at least Kathy and Sarah have kissed the thing!  This past week 5 of us were on a little get together in a wonderful part of southern Ireland (near Cork city) by the name of Kinsale.  Kinsale is a well known holiday location for many Dubliners, tucked into the rolling hills on the SW coastline.  Blarney Castle is only about a 40 minute drive away from where we were staying so we took advantage of that and spent a couple of hours touring . . .  here's a pictures of the castle!

While we were there we saw a beautiful little bird with a bright orange breast - can anyone tell me what kind of bird this might be?  I have never seen one like it and am hoping someone can fill be in on the species!  

And here is a picture of the five us just outside the castle, by one of the many hedges . . . From L to R ae Stephanie, Sue, Kathy, Sarah and Tim (me). 

Rick & Mitchell Peace, good friends of ours from the states, arrived in Dublin for a quick one week visit on 10th April.  They were scheduled to fly back out the on Saturday the 17th so Rick could get back to his Chiropractic Office and Mitchell could get back to High School in Northern Kentucky.  Today is Monday the 19th and all flights out of Dublin remain grounded due to the volcanic eruption 950 miles Northwest, in Iceland.

This image is of Mitchell and Rick in our back garden last Sunday for our first BBQ of the year.  As of today, we have no idea how much longer flights will be cancelled - one report I just read indicates it could be Friday, or even later before airliners begin taking off again.  

It is in times like these that we are reminded how little control we actually have in life.  There is one that has power beyond our wildest imagination and a single volcano is a tiny reflection of that power.  Surely we should say and think 'if the Lord wills, we will do such and such and go here or there'!