Thanksgiving celebration

Hello Everyone!!! These two weeks have been full of blessings and experiences! We had more amazing retreats, stayed with some class Irish families and even skated on some ice. In addition, all of NET got together for a lovely Thanksgiving celebration last weekend. 

During our stay in Trim, we got to see the Castle where Braveheart was filmed. It was quite a surreal experience to realize we got to be at the set of a major blockbuster! We also got to have a couple retreats at a very ritzy hotel, it was probably one of the nicest retreat venues ever (thus far).  We stayed with some beautiful families and it was all around great craic.

One of the experiences we had while in Dublin was that of ice skating! In a shopping center decked out in Christmas lights they had a little skating rink to top off the Winter Wonderland experience. I, Mary, had never been ice skating in my life so it was definitely an experience to be had. With the help of the sisterhood and a plastic penguin meant to help balance on the ice, I managed to make it around the rink with maybe only 3 or 4 falls.

Ice skating was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. Not having any control over where my feet are taking me, was quite a difficult thing to get used to; I wasn’t even able to stand on my own without help on that ice.  I was grateful for the help of my team to help me get across the ice. It made me think a lot about life in retrospect. Sometimes life is really difficult and we just can’t stand on our own, much less make it anywhere or move on with our lives. Sometimes we literally have to lean on others and rely on their support to make it through those difficult times.

 

In many ways that is what we do here on NET. We not only help thousands of young people across the ice of their own lives but we help each other as a team through the rough spots. We push each other to reach our potential and we never let go. We surround each other with love so we can see how much fun it is to glide through the spots where, just seconds earlier, it seemed as if we could not even stand. I realized this especially when all of the NET teams came together for an epic Thanksgiving dinner. All the teams contributed a dish or two, or three, and all our gifts put together equaled a tremendous feast with more than plenty of food for all of NET and more.

 

It just goes to show that when you give all that you have and all that you are, others are more than willing to do the same, and all our gifts put together can have a tremendous impact on the world. So, this Thanksgiving, let us be grateful for all the gifts that we’ve received and  let us not be afraid to lean on others (and maybe even a penguin) to get across the icy parts of life.

God Bless! Always remember to Stay Classy.

- Road Team Jesus