The Day the Americans Crashed a Birthday Party

Our second day in N. Ireland was Sunday and we started the day with church. Saturday night we had all prepared to hear that the church service started at like 8am, but to our pleasant surprise the service actually started at 11am! The church was a wee church that seated maybe 75 people (actually I'm not very good with estimating, but it was small).
The service was short and sweet and was only an hour long. I was preparing myself for some long international church service that would last all day, but it wasn't!We sang a few songs, the children had a short message, then came the adult message and then it was over. We stayed and chatted with a few people that Chad knew from past years and then we headed back to Paul and Marina's for nap time and dinner (which they refer to as "tea" time).
Nap time was great and well needed as most of us were still catching up with the jet-lag. I'm the one all the way on the left. I felt so at home at Paul and Marina's house. It was like we were all family and their hospitality was so welcoming. Their house was a safe place where we could share our feelings, be our loud American selves and simply relax. This sense of radical hospitality is something I have never experienced to this extend before and has really left an impact on me. I also think being able to have a place where we could unwind and feel comfortable really made this trip what it was.
Sunday was also the day that we broke out the dutch blitz! Paul and Marina had a deck of their own from a visit to PA, but they didn't know how to play. A bunch of us played and we had to play in teams so more people could play. Thomas (Jordan and Keith's host brother for the week, and a guy who did a lot of things with us) was my partner. We lost every game, but it was a lot of fun anyway.
After eating dinner the real surprise came. We were told that one of the teachers (Deborah) was turning 30 and we were attending a surprise party for her. It's a surprise that Deborah became one of our good friends after we crashed her party. Our talking bus made it difficult to arrive at her house in a discrete way. After saying hello and introducing ourselves to everyone we squished into a small room to mingle with some of the other guests.
Then we were fed dinner again. I'm not talking small party foods here, I'm talking several "try everything on the table" courses of food. The food was great and we got to meet Deborah's family. I had a lovely chat with her mother.
It was a great Sunday and we all went to bed very exciting for the school week to begin!