Chalk Cross and DM Sunday Mass Read-through

 

This pic was at the end of our Divine Mercy Mass read-through. I usually got the privilege of corralling Christo during our at-home Masses.

When the World Ended, aka the Start of the Panic

 Our view from the beginning

AZ March for Life

The afternoon after the first soccer game saw the older 4 and I heading downtown for the AZ March for Life. The kids' school had a good turn-out, and we saw a lot of our friends.

Christ the King Procession

Fr. Connealy and Fr. Cruz led a procession of our Lord around the streets of St. Joan of Arc. Really cool to see our Lord publicly venerated and exposed.

Saints Presentations at School

In 4th grade they do a play instead of individual presentations. MM's class did the Children of Fatima. Margaret was one of the girls in town.

Owen was St. Michael the Archangel.

Josephine was St. Zita. She got too nervous and barely got half her speech out, but she looked pretty.

Rosary Sunday

The three bigs and I made it downtown for the annual celebration. The girls sang with the schola and did a phenomenal job, as usual. (Although Dominic P. was the star of the show again.)

Christo's Baptism

Fr. Bolding did a private baptism at STA for us again. Sure appreciate him. Our carpool parents Arthur and Kerri were Christo's godparents.

Margaret's Confirmation and Communion

Amidst all this was Margaret's sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Communion! Mark and his family came into town since he is her godfather. Bobbins had a beautiful dress picked out and was planning the party for Sunday when someone decided it was time to come out early.

I was able to be there in Church with her. Her confirmation sponsor, Mrs. Dwyer, was great and helpful. Katie was at our house manning the fort and doing her best to keep everyone and everything going. The dress was left at the dry cleaner, which was closed on Sunday, so Katie had to make a last-minute run to JC Penney to get a new one. Margaret had a little fit over it all but got it together enough to pick out a good dress.

Fr. Steve confirmed her, and Fr. Bolding gave her her first Communion, which was special.

Since her mom wasn't there, I took Margaret over to the hospital to see Bobbins and Christo. She was the only member of the family to visit him in the NICU. All the nurses thought it was quite cute when Margaret came through the door in her dress. It actually was fairly special, and unique.

Margaret with her godparents at the end of the big day.

JoJo's First Confession

Bobbins took JoJo down to Church for her first Confession, then to ice cream after.

This is one of her reflections from school:

Tremendous St. Joseph Reflection from Esolen

Assumption Church & McFarland State Park

After the hike we had dinner at the Italian restaurant in Florence, per Zach's recommendation. The food was decent but the service wasn't. We all piled into Zach's apt. that night. He has a two bedroom, so there was room, but glad it was for one night. Zach didn't have much as far as food, but we made due with a tube of sweet rolls. Then we checked out Assumption Catholic Church, which sadly was closed, then went over to McFarland State Park. The latter was a nice surprise and quite enjoyable. McFarland was a Democrat I could at least stomach.

Mass with Fr. Keith

We had a nice Mass with Fr. Keith that evening.

Sacred Heart Enthronement

We had Fr. Bolding come over to enthrone the Sacred Heart of Jesus in our home as King of our family.



Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!



(Yes, that's Fisher wearing a mask. Not sure how he managed to sneak that in.)

Renewal of Vows

For our ten-year anniversary, Bobbins and I did a simple renewal of our vows in our kitchen, nothing really fancy. I had hoped to do another big trip, maybe to Europe, as we did for our 5th, but we didn't have the money. So just us, our kids, and a wedding cake similar to the one from ten years ago, from the same shop. You may have heard the story, but we never got to eat our actual wedding cake. Bobbins' parents took it home and ate it themselves.

V I D E O

[https://youtu.be/v0mtShj_j38]

Pic of GG

For one of her assignments at school, MM drew a picture of her great grandmother in Heaven and included Gaia & Julia for good measure.

All Souls Day

For All Souls Day this year, the girls' school took a field trip to St. Francis Cemetery to pray for our beloved dead. MM's and JoJo's classes both prayed over the grave of their Uncle Jack (and cousins Christo & Bear).