We (my brother Laurence, wife Karen, daughter Kristen, and I) left Chicago Sunday evening at 6:30pm on a full flight to Ireland.  We arrived into Dublin airport at 7:30am to a bright, sunny day.  (The day before it had poured all day!)   We got our rent a car and off we went.   The driving here is on the right side of the car, so all the signs say "think left" because we are driving on the opposite side of the road.   We got to our hotel,a small, simple building, but near downtown Dublin.
   My brother and family went off to sight see.  I jumped into a cab to attend a meeting at Noon.  The meeting was with the staff for the Eucharistic Congress which will be held in Dublin next June 2012. They wanted to meet with me to discuss plans for the participation of the deaf community.   FR. GERARD TYRRELL is the national Catholic chaplain for the deaf in Ireland. He was at the meeting, too.   We met over lunch for almost two hours.  It was an excellent meeting(I don't always say that about meetings!!!!!). We discussed many different topics, and I felt that the people there had more understanding re: how deaf people will share in this wonderful event.  Afterwards, Fr. Gerard and I met to talk about some other deaf matters.
  He gave me a lift back, but I decided to walk the last mile to the hotel. It was a glorious, sunny day,THOUGH COOL!, in Dublin! (This does not happen often!!!!).   As I was walking near the hotel, I suddenly noticed a sign on a building that said DeafHear.ie   Of course I was curious, so I stopped in. This is the office of the organization that is like Chicago Hearing Society, but for Ireland!  Two deaf men sitting there looked at me, and I signed "good afternoon".  They almost fell out of their chairs.  They started to sign to me in Irish Sign-Language(very different). Luckily one of the Irish hearing staff were there, and so he interpreted. We had a wonderful conversation.  I could not believe it; a block from my hotel was this office!  As I left, I looked up to heaven and said, "okay, mom, you took care of me once again!"
  Back at the hotel, I found a message that the Holy Father appointed FR. ANDREW WYPYCH, our pastor, an auxiliary bishop. Wonderful, wonderful news!!!!!!!!!!
   That evening I met my family for dinner.  By now, 6pm, we were all quite exhausted, and the lights were out at 8pm!
   Today, we drive to Bonniconlon, Ballina for the 25th anniversary Mass of my cousin, FR. MICHAEL JORDAN.