Celebrating St. Pat's Jamaican Style

We had a wonderful time celebrating the High Holy Day here in the Bend. We had 2 men from the POP branch in Jamaica staying with us. Dan and they were at meetings all day starting on Thursday. They mentioned to me that they had special connections with the Irish. Locksley is an amazing musician! He accompanies groups to Lourdes as their music minister. After hours he hangs out with the musicians that accompany groups from Ireland and they jam together. He loves Irish music. Saturday night when they got home we gathered in our living room and the fun began. Locksley played and Noel sang and we had a "hooley"(Gaelic for awesome time!). We sang old Irish favorites and some rocking Reggae. Noel treated us to some Jamaican dancing and we all jumped up to join the fun. We rocked until 2:00 a.m.--in Jamaica they dance and sing all night so that was an early ending for our guests! They sang us some of their favorite praise and worship songs as well. Our hearts were lifted very high last night. Music is such a wonderful gift. Sheila had guests over for an Irish movie and snacks. They all joined us as well and a couple of them called their friends. Around midnight two young men from Africa joined in the fun. Music drew us together and gave us great joy!