Conclusion

Tomorrow is the last day of a year-long celebration in the Catholic church. The Year of the Priest. Beyond today and beyond tomorrow, please pray for our priests.

One Month Mark!

We've reached the one month mark. Mike leaves for the Seeing Eye in just one month! His class begins July 17th...

Kindergarten Grad!

I met a woman in the park shortly after we adopted Camille. We talked for a bit. She had older boys and a little girl from China. She was a great encouragement, sharing honestly of the struggles of adoption... many of which we were also going through. As we said goodbye she told me the kids would grow up all too fast. She looked at Camille, still so young, and then glanced over to her own boys...moving too fast toward adulthood; and said to me, "they'll grow up too fast... don't blink or you'll miss it" I thought for a while, watching them walk away... and as we waved goodbye she yelled again... "Don't Blink"

And here's what happened, in the blink of an eye...

Congratulations Camille! We love you and we're SO PROUD of all you accomplished this year!

Michael received his commitment letter yesterday. He signed it and we faxed back. Mike goes to the Seeing Eye in just 5 weeks! He is very excited. We're all pretty excited about it, actually. We know this will affect our whole family, hopefully in a very positive way.

More photos of Jon Paul

Nancy never ceases to amaze me! These photos were in my email this morning... I absolutely adore them! New photos of Jon Paul playing with his foster father, Mike! What a special guy Mike is... we love you, Mike!

You never know...

You never know what you'll find on the internet! Here's a terrific article about Jon Paul's foster home... recognize anyone in the photo? :)

ARTICLE

Signed up.

Camille is officially signed up for 6 weeks of summer camp! Yay! She'll be attending Friends Summer Camp again this year at the Friends School located just around the corner from where I work. The commute is a killer, but she had such a great time there last year and the price is hard to beat for the excellent program! We don't have much of choice, since Mike will be away at the Seeing Eye for a month this summer, she has to go somewhere while I'm at work! I was getting worried that we were going to be too late signing her up, but I got the confirmation email today... she's in.

New photos of Jon Paul

Jon Paul is 2 1/2 now. I can not believe how much he's grown, and how much he's starting to look like a little boy, rather than a baby...

I will never give up on my dream... little boy, you are my dream...

Kindergarten Class Trip!

Yesterday, Camille and her classmates went on a school trip to the Adventure Aquarium
Everyone had a terrific time!

Discovering the ocean creatures!

I Heart Faces - Yellow

A favorite photo for this week's I < 3 Faces contest... Yellow.

Rough-housing and Tender moments

Boys will be boys... and oh boy, what we have to look forward to!

Snuggles from Sarah...

Thank again, to Nancy for another batch of new photos... we are one day closer...

Be still

This week a family that I only know through blogging was 4 weeks away from going to China to bring home their 2 year old daughter McKenna when they got the news that she died. Please keep McKenna's family in your prayers tonight.

Seminarian

Friends of ours from church have a son who was a transitional deacon. He was ordained into the priesthood last weekend, by the Archbishop of Philadelphia. He attended St. Charles Borreomeo Seminary for many years. According to his parents, it was not an easy road (8 years of difficulty) but his ordination ceremony was beautiful and now he can go out in the world and do his work. We will certainly keep him, and all of the newly ordained priests, in our prayers.

I realize that Catholicism is not the only religion. It's not the only church, but I believe it is the one true church of Christ. Peter was, in fact, the first pope and all priests and bishops are ordained by someone who was ordained by someone... (you get where I am going with this) and can be traced back to the original 12 apostles. The Catholic church is the one holy apostolic church. (This is also the reason that priests are not allowed to be female or marry, but that's a different topic.)

So I think seminarians should be held in high regards. It's almost more difficult for a young man to be come a Catholic priest than about anything else these days and and as far as sacrafice whoa baby! You know what they have to sacrafice!

While I realize the word "seminarian" simply refers to a person who is enrolled in a theological college, I wish there were another word to distinguish men who are true seminarians (Catholics on their way to becoming priests) verses lay people who are taking religious classes to become Christian preachers. There's nothing wrong with it, it just makes me skin crawl when I hear a woman say, "I am a seminarian." Just an opinion.

Two Month mark

We've reached the two month mark. Mike goes to the Seeing Eye in 2 months! He is very excited.

Easter Photos

Nancy just sent some new photos of Jon Paul from Easter. Looks like the foster home had lots of visitors! Our guy is sure getting big!

And he likes to hang upside-down!

Family

A new family portrait, including Jon Paul. We hope to have you home soon, baby boy!

Making an impression (literally)

So yesterday was the big day to get hearing aids. The new audiologist, Dr. Kennedy, is very, very nice. After she filled Camille's ears with the molding material, she let Camille have the extra to play with. Camille was a real trooper... completely brave and steadfast throughout the whole process.

She chose purple hearing aids and pink earmolds with glitter. I imagine they will look quite fashionable :)

The Show

The show was great! Everyone did an excellent job and the kids put on a performance that would put most high school shows to shame! Unfortunately, as you can see, my camera wasn't working properly and my photos didn't turn out too well, but you can get a general idea.

The last May Crowning...

Our parish had their final May Crowning today. We watched with heavy hearts. The entire mass was pretty sad, even the music minister "lost it" during a song. We have one week left, then the Church closes.

The first communicants prepare for the crowning.

The priest gives a few words.

In such a beautiful time of year, it's difficult not to feel anger, sadness and frustration. This church is the cornerstone of our community. Next Sunday, we will celebrate our final mass as a parish. Then our parish closes, forever. Our priests have announced their new assignments. The nuns who live in the convent are forced to go to the newly merged parish... most seem unhappy. The community is torn. Many of our friends are moving to other parishes, as are we. It just isn't fair.

We've come a long way...

The photo below is from a fundraiser Mike and I attended in 1999. We had been dating for about a year (the fundraiser was at a Harley-Davidson shop... with that same theme)

Mike and I have known each other since 1997 and began dating in 1998. We got engaged in September of 2000 and married on this day in 2002.

We've seen our share of ups and downs. We've struggled through times together, that I wasn't always sure we'd get through, but we did. God gives us the gifts of Faith, Hope and Love... and the greatest is Love. Love has gotten us through many troubled times.

Happy 8th wedding anniversary, Michael. Let today be the day I love you the least... as my love grows more and more for you each day.

Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church. Pope John Paul II