As I write this, Jon is spending his first night in Ireland exploring our soon-to-be city of Cork. He’s there for a week-long house-hunting trip before he continues on to Turkey for business.  For months now this Ireland thing has seemed more like a dream, but having him there–actually physically THERE–is finally making this real for me.

Jon had a bit of an adventure getting to Cork yesterday. He left our house at about 4:00 AM to drive down to the airport. When he got to his friend Abe’s house to drop off his car, however, he realized that he’d forgotten his work laptop at home on the charging dock. Since he’ll be spending a full week in Turkey working at the end of this trip, it was crucial that he have that laptop. So, at 5:00 I got a panicked phone call from Jon to rush the laptop to the airport ASAP. I got the boys out of bed, loaded them into their carseats with lots of blankets, and drove south. Jon was already driving north to meet me, and our paths crossed in Northgate. I handed off the laptop, got a quick kiss, and he was off again. I’m happy to report that he made it to his plane with 20 minutes to spare!

His travel yesterday took him from Seattle to Atlanta, where he was able to grab a quick bite to eat before he boarded his next plane to Dublin. There is an airport in Cork, but because of the time constraints Jon had for his travel this time around, he had to choose an airport with more frequent flights. Once he got to Dublin, he then picked up his rental car (a snazzy little rig with a card and a push-button ignition instead of a key) and began to navigate his way to Cork–driving in a country he’s never been to, on the “wrong” side of the road, and sleep-deprived. He got to his hotel in Cork at about 4:00 AM our time this morning. His room wasn’t ready yet, so he sat in the lobby and almost fell asleep waiting to check in. Eventually he got to his room, though, and was able to get in a quick nap before heading out for dinner (Cork is 8 hours ahead of us, so our 9:00 AM is their 6:00 PM–dinner time!).

His first impressions of the country are encouraging. He said that it’s beautiful–once you’re a few miles out of the city you’re in beautiful green countryside. Complete with sheep. Bota will love it! His hotel in Cork is in the city center and there are beautiful promenades along the river lined with shops, pubs, and restaurants. He said the driving isn’t too difficult, but you just have to pay attention to what you’re doing and not drift into auto-pilot mode (or you’ll end up drifting into wrong-side-of-the-street-head-on-collision mode).

Jon was able to get a new SIM card for his iPhone already, so we can talk, e-mail and Face Time (which we already did this morning! Isn’t technology amazing?!). There’s a leasing agency across the street from his hotel, so first thing tomorrow he’s going to go over there and set up some viewing appointments. Ireland has a great housing website that we’ve been using to research houses from here. We already have a spreadsheet with 20 potential houses that meet our criteria, so he’s going to visit as many of them as he can while he’s there this week.

We’d appreciate prayers this week. Please pray for Jon to find the perfect house for our family–that it will meet whatever known or unknown needs that we have and that it will be in the perfect location for us to be a “light” in that neighborhood. Also pray that we’ll be able to find a place where our dog Bota can live with us–none of the listings have said if they allow pets. I’m just picturing Bota running through those pastures chasing fluffy little Irish sheep. I can’t wait 🙂