Rainy Days and Coffee Shops...

The last couple of weeks have been spent trying to get into a routine of sorts while simultaneously breaking the monotony of staying at home to study/work.  We find that it rains here most days.  Sometimes it pours sideways, sometimes the sky spits at us or does nothing at all when it looks most ominous, and sometimes, when we think it is safe to venture out, it rains while the sun is shining and the sky looks blue.  Needless to say, we get rained on a lot!  On the contrary, we see the sun a lot more than we thought we would in this country, so we are equally blessed.

One of the things I love about our city is the number of coffee shops and cafes around.  I have always loved coffee shops, and when I step into one it just feels so warm, cozy, and welcoming.  One of our goals is to visit different coffee shops, but we have found one fairly close to home that we enjoy called Common Grounds.  It's a good place for me to work on Spanish translation and Casey to tackle his reading list.  They also have great mochaccinos.

Last week we did have a couple of warm, sunny days so Casey took me to the Botanic Gardens.  Flowers are with coffee shops on my list of favorites, so I was excited!

 They had a beautiful rose garden.

 Below is the palm house.  Not only was it warm and cozy in there, but they had all kinds of tropical plants I recognized.  There were art students doing sketches inside the palm house, so that was fun to watch.  I felt too imposing to take a picture.

We also went to the Ulster Museum where we learned more about Northern Ireland and the Troubles. 

Most importantly, in the last few weeks we've settled nicely into a church family here, which has been such a blessing!  In addition to Sunday mornings, we have been going Sunday nights and have enjoyed going to someone's home for a group study.  Autumn also enjoyed a ladies' Bible study this week at the church.  We have been so welcomed at this church and someone is always willing to give us a ride or help us out when we need it.  We look forward to building more relationships and becoming involved in ministry there.

Well, the forecast tomorrow is....rain...