The Not-So-Rocky Road to Dublin (Bay)

This was lunch today: bangers & mash with a Guinness chaser. My colleague from down the hall has accepted a call to a church on the north shore of Wisconsin and so we conference colleagues celebrated her ministry and wished her future blessings. We got together to eat at Dublin Bay, a local Irish restaurant.

What a treat it was to finally have a meal at this lovely restaurant, introduce our daughter Alanna to my colleagues who hadn't met her yet, AND enjoy some quality pub food to boot. Nice to know there's also a place in town that has Guinness on tap - you can bet your bonnie booty I'll be back.

It was a good feeling being in the restaurant with my area colleagues. The "new guy" feeling is definitely starting to wear thin, replaced with admiration and respect for the gifts and abilities my colleagues have in their respective calls. When we first moved here, I found myself missing my conference colleagues from Minnesota a lot: we had a great collegial atmosphere in that part of the state, and we worked hard to maintain it. I hope we can do the same here in Ames, as this work is hard enough without knowing someone's got your back.

Hey, at least we oughta get together once in a while for bangers & mash and a pint or two. I'm always good for that.