Kathy left yesterday afternoon on a route from Dublin, to London.  Then from London to Bangkok and anytime now she should be landing in Chiang Mia, Thailand!  What a trip, but if you know anything about Kathy, you know that she would do anything to help with grand babies, and that's exactly what her mission to Thailand is all about.

Andrew & Sarah (our oldest son and his incredible wife) have been in Thailand for triple conferences, and now for the birth of child number three, (our 5th grand child).  Medical care is very good in Chiang Mia, in the Northern part of the country (see map below) as well as cheap compared to US or Irish costs, so it made good sense for them to 'deliver' there.  

Kathy will be doing all she can with Abby and Joseph while Andrew and Sarah prepare for the birth of the newest 'little Laughlin'.  We don't know if this one is a boy or a girl yet but we are praying he or she will arrive soon.  The due date is around February 8th, more or less, and Kathy can stay until the 17th, so we hope this will all work out to be good timing . . .  will keep you updated.

Andrew will collect (pick up) Kathy once she lands in Chiang Mai and wisk her off to the borrowed house they are all staying in for the next month or 6 weeks.  It is amazing how God provided a place for them to stay as long as they needed it, where Andrew can get good work done and has an excellent internet connection - perfect for SKYPE conversations as well as video feeds!  Thanks for praying for all of them over the next couple of weeks!

For the past 10 days or so, our water supply has been turned off from around 7:30 PM until about 7 or 8:00 AM!  Why in the world would water be a problem in an area that gets as much rain as Ireland?

The answer seems to be infastructure.  Many water pipes in the city are very old and, under normal circumstances work just fine.  The coldest winter in decades, however, seems to have had a widespread effect and caused hundreds or even thousands of small leaks.  The compound effect is that water is dissapearing without the usual geysers when a water main bursts. 

How do you find water leaks in a system when there are no obvious signs?  The unusual cold will likely cost Ireland million of euros that they can't afford.  So, for the time being there is no water at night in many neighborhoods like ours.  'No Water' is a bit of an exaggeration, however, since the only place in most houses that gets water directly from the city water supply is the cold water in the kitchen sink!

In most Irish homes, water coming in from the city supply is pumped to a storage tank in the attic.  When a toiiet is flushed, or a shower is turned on or a sink faucet is used (other than the kitchen) the water is coming via gravity feed from the tank in the attic!  So, the good part is that when the water is turned off, toilets can still flush and bathroom sinks still work until the storage tank empties.  In our case that usually lasts until the water is turned on again in the morning.  We just can't take showers, for the most part, until after the water is back on!

Talk to you soon, God has been very good to us already in 2010!

23 Oldcourt Farm, Firhouse, Dublin 24 will be our new address on 1 February.  Between Scholar's Pub and The Bread Shop will be our new 'semi-detached' (duplex) home in just over 2 weeks.  I thought I would give you a couple of photos this week so you have some idea of what the new house looks like from the outside; and a view of the street it is on.

Notice the front gardens (yards) for all the houses on the street; this makes it easier to get to know the neighbors!  We will be inviting our good friends and current next door neighbors in to our new place on a regular basis as well as new neighbors we don't yet know!  Take a look at the pics to get some what of an idea as to where we will be soon.  

    We will be living on the right side of this two family house, as you look at this photo.

This gives a bit of what the street looks like with our house being on the extreme right side here.

We  are looking forward to having a bit more room in the main part of the house, even though the bedrooms are a little smaller.  The house will make it much easier to have larger groups of people over for a meal, tea or other gatherings.  It is also closer to the Community Centre where Ballycullen Community Church meets on Sundays.

The snow has mostly melted now and we are getting back to a more normal schedule!  The final picture below are of the Dublin Mountains, immediately behind our current, and new home - still snow on them!