I think I need a vacation

Tomorrow morning we leave for our sons Air Force graduation.

This has been the year!!

In March we flew to San Diego for our Marines graduation ceremony, in May our daughter graduated from college and into the real world, and tomorrow we leave for our Airman's graduation ceremonies.

San Antonio and 100 degree weather here we come ready or not.
I don't know how many more life changing events I can handle.

I think I need a vacation.

Sr. Mary

Our little Sister Mary has a new name. Sister Anne Therese - (pronounced te rez) - as in Saint Therese of Lisieux.
What a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.

Her parents made phone calls to announce her new name just as parents announce the arrival of a new child. it was so awesome to get the call :)

I can't wait to see pictures of her in her new habit and veil. She was so excited about her wedding dress when she was home in May. She has sewn the entire thing herself. with not a little seam ripping occurring. lol

and he is off...

Today our son Nick left for basic training. He has waited so long for this day. Today he left as a newly engaged man leaving a woman who understands his desire and need to do this as much as his family does. And we will miss him but in just 9 weeks we will see him graduate and in a few months he will be back planning their wedding.


Congratulations Nick
Be Safe
We Love You

love Ma (and Pa)

Baby Therapy

Sister Mary is home for her 5 day visit. It will be four years before she is back in Minnesota for a visit.

Sr. Mary is the youngest daughter of our good friends to me she is The Little Sister. In August her parents delivered her to St. Cecilia's in Nashville. She will be a Dominican teacher when she is through with her course work. She loves her new life as a postulant and it shows. Her mom told me she brought home the clothes she traveled in to Nashville 9 months ago. She will not be needing them again. Ever. She is staying. And it is no surprise, for as my daughter Brittany said more than once this weekend, she glows. Sister Mary has found her vocation and is loving it. Thank the Lord for vocations and young women like Sister Mary.

Sr. Mary's entire family came over for supper Friday evening. We were to have a bonfire but it was raining. Sister Mary who had been up since 4 AM lasted until about 10 and she was ready to head home. She usually gets about 7 hours of sleep and was getting up early in the morning to go to morning Mass. Saturday night Sister Mary, her parents and her sister Sarah came over for a bonfire this time we had time to visit. Sister really does glow with an inner peace as she is walking the path set out for her by our Lord. She freely shares her life and stories about her family the sisters, her St. Cecelia family. They stayed late it was after 11 PM before they headed home.

Her parents are having a struggle. As I watched them the past 3 days. Her mom talked to me letting me know her feelings. But her dad, he is so unusually quiet. My heart is breaking for them. They know this is right, they see the joy and peace in Sister Mary. This is their baby, their little girl. Living so far away in a way of life we only have glimpses of. She will take her first vows in late July and get her habit, her wedding dress. She said the dress was done before she left on her trip and she sewed it herself. (And spent some time ripping out stitches to make it right.) The veil is not yet complete. This summer she has classes at the convent one of the classes is learning about her vows.

Brittany came home this weekend just for Sr. Mary. Sr. Mary has kept Brittany and her husband in prayer from the time they were married, when they started to treat their infertility and she was one of the first to know they were pregnant. Oh how she prayed for these babies. But today at Mass I wondered if there was another reason for this impromtu visit home. As I watched Sr. Mary's dad walk into church I felt the need to offer the baby I was holding to him. So just as Mass started he looked back at little Michael in my arms and put his finger out for Michael to grab on. As much as I wanted to hold my grandson I leaned forward and asked him if he wanted to hold Michael. Sr. Mary's dad held that baby all through mass. I cried several times at Mass for him, for them. I really hate when I have no control over tears. I don't know what he thought after mass I know I looked like I had cried. But I got the biggest hug from him. He didn't say a word. I don't know if he was trying to comfort me because of the tears or if he was thanking me for the gift of holding that baby. But I am going with the latter.
We got pictures of the Little sister holding those 2 boys in church. The next time she sees them they will be about 5 and in school.

Tuesday Sr. Mary will leave to return to her home, to her family, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. And to close
the words Sr. Mary's friend Nikki wrote about saying goodbye to Sr. Mary again...

"you would think saying goodbye would start getting easier, but that definitely doesn't seem to be the case does it... thank You Jesus for such an incredible friend! I can see why You chose her to be Your Bride :) "though I cannot see your face, I will see you in the Eucharist" ♥

May 2nd

Today is my oldest daughter's 27th birthday. I was thinking of her first thing this morning when I heard the headline news Osama Bin Laden is dead. This news has overwhelmed the media today. On the internet there are many rejoicing. A military facebook friend asked for flags to be put as profile pictures. I was disturbed by what many people had written on their facebook pages.
this was the first one I could feel myself recoil as I read this it seems wrong:

Osama bin Laden was shot in the head.. by US military! We have the body..
USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA!!!!!! Oohrah We got him!!!!

Before I left for work I found a picture in my photos of white headstones from a small old National cemetery that our family stopped at years ago. I posted that as my profile picture. The thought of the number of deaths that have occurred since 9/11 here in the US and in the Mid East had me questioning the celebration of a mans death.

I fear for the safety of people around the world and for our military men and women.
I fear there will be an escalation to terrorist attacks.
I am saddened and afraid for all of us.

Dear Jesus be with us

The times they are a changin

Yesterday was a day of changes for our family.

Our Marine graduated from his combat training course and has moved on to his advanced school. He will be in Monterey California for about 18 months. I hope we can go visit him while he is there.

Our daughter has a job starting 2 weeks after her college graduation. The job will be demanding.... at least 2 weeks of every month will be on the road. Of course we do not know specifics at this time. She will be looking for a place to live in the Madison area. Hopefully with a a roommate and she knows of several others interviewing for jobs in the area.

My DH has a new title with increased responsibilities including a lager territory which means more time on the road.

With life comes changes.
I welcome these changes !

Time passing

It has been almost 3 weeks since my last post. Our birthdays are this coming week mine and DH's -we celebrate 2 days apart. I will be 48... I can't believe that. Where has time gone? Birthday's have never bothered me. A lot of people tell me they find it hard getting older. I guess I've always thought the alternative to a birthday is being dead - so birthday's are a good thing!!
DH is celebrating his 50th birthday - a 1/2 century old. That's almost dead right?
I found a card that tells him to avoid going toward the bright light -I laughed and bought it. I also found one that talked about bacon.... He'll get it ( the card and the part about bacon :) .

The kids came up with something special for their dad's 50th since none of them can be here to celebrate. They have been busy planning this for a few months since with Chris gone it has been hard to make sure he gets his part done. Of course the procrastinators are Nick who lives in our house and Brittany who came up with the idea and planned it.

Speaking of Chris have not heard from him since April 3rd. He has been in the field without liberty for the last 2 weeks. Hopefully he will have liberty and time to call us this weekend. He will have another field exercise similar to the crucible next week. It will be a 4 day exercise after which he will graduate and move on to his advance schooling. He will be stationed at the Presidio in Monterey, California for about a year and a half or 580 days they really gave him the time in days! He will be at the DLI - Defense language Institute. After 580 days at DLI he will have more schooling somewhere in Texas for another 3-5 months before he will be deploy-able. So we have about 2 years of knowing he will be safe state side and then all bets are off. Since the mid East languages have the longest schooling we believe that is what he is learning and he will be somewhere in Afghanistan after his schooling is complete.

And speaking of completing schooling Kelsey will graduate on May 15th and if all goes well we will move her into an apartment in Madison. She has been interviewing and things look promising for a job there. I feel emotional knowing both of my girls will be settling so far away from us but we knew when they went to school there this was a possibility. I also know she can stand on her own 2 feet since she has done such an awesome job of this over the past 5 years. During these years we have usually seen her 4-5 times a school year.

Nick is holding steady - he is waiting for the day he leaves for basic training and in the mean time keeps busy. He will be a semester short of graduation when he leaves for basic training.

Which brings me to Brittany and Ken.... I can't even imagine how busy their lives continue to be. Brittany works 2 weeks of day shifts and then a week of evenings. She works every 3rd weekend. Kens new job is going well. The boys continue to grow and are both over 14 pounds at just about 4 months. I can't wait to see them next weekend and again at Easter.

Just a quick pic of Chris with his nephews - notice the hair is the same!!

TSA and other events

Our son was home for his 10 day leave and left this morning for further training.

He has had some awesome experiences.

On our flight home from graduation the pilot announced that there was a special guest on board - a newly minted Marine - and asked the passengers to give him a hand. He said "Welcome to the family -Semper Fi". There was a lot of applause and several passengers thanked him for his service. Our son was was very embarrassed and said I haven't done anything yet.

Today at the airport he and several other young Marines were upgraded to first class -they did not ask for an upgrade. There was an airport official who was watching for these Marines and moving them to the front of the queue. Another official asked us if we knew we could get gate passes to go with him to his gate. We did not know this and with her telling us we were able to be with him for another hour before his flight. He called us during his layover to tell us that the pilot had acknowledged the Marines on his flight thanking them for their service. And in the airport waiting for their connecting flight an unknown benefactor bought lunch for about 30 Marines.

We hear so many negative things I want to remember these positives

A newly minted Marine

This was our Marine on family day He had On Base Liberty to be with us for about 5 hours. Chris is front and center.


This is Private Warren and Private Lodin both from Minnesota immediately after Graduation and leaving the Parade Deck!!

Time for a trip

We have been waiting since last April when Chris enlisted to go to San Diego for his graduation from Boot camp. That day is finally coming fast. A week from today we will be on our way. We will see him on Thursday for On Base liberty and he will leave base with us on Friday after graduation ceremonies.
This past week we saw a picture of his platoon Here is the most recent picture of my son.


At 2 AM on Tuesday (California time) he began the Crucible -a 54 hour test of all he has learned. He is going without much sleep and without much food (they get the equivalent of 2.5 meals). At 8 AM (California time) on Thursday he will hike back to base with his squad and the entire company to be pinned with the Eagle Globe and Anchor and he will be a MARINE !! I can't wait to give my son a hug <3.

As the world turns..

The past week has been blur. Filled with craziness. I have had indescribable emotions.
I worked last weekend (so I started the week tired) due to a schedule change I had 2 days off IN A ROW in the middle of the week. This NEVER happens. I decided to go see my grandsons. Oh, have they grown in the 4 weeks since I saw them last.


But before I left my husband and I started to talk about church, the diaconate and the need for us to come to terms with some things that are going on. With as crazy as the last year has been for us -this next year is looking to be as busy. So Todd will be looking to take a sabbatical from his church duties until things at work and home calm down. I really thought as our kids moved on after high school and college things would free us up to have more time for extra things rather then less time.
DH has always put God first, me second, the kids 3rd, his job 4th and the Diaconate last. There have been times (with need) this order has been out of step for a while but over the years he has managed to keep things in check. My job at the church? I have none. Of choice my role at church has been to support my husband. I was not ordained and I did not need to search for my role, many deacons wives search for their place in their husbands Deacon ministry. I have never needed to. I firmly see my role as one of love and support. This has always felt right for me. But it is hard to pull back. The only other time he has had to do this was the year our oldest son was dealing with cancer treatment.
So I went to our daughter's to see the grandbabies with my thoughts on many things. The drive allowed me to find a peace with the decision we have wrestled with - prayer and music helped!
And time with babies is always life nurturing and filled with blessing.
Arriving home I was met with some not totally unexpected news but news that reassured me that the past 2 days had been well worth my time for prayer, and that our plan is a good one. Now we need prayers that the Diocesan offices will see our need and grant the sabbatical.
I called in sick the day after I got home. My ears have been so plugged with occasional pain over the past 2 months and has gotten to the point that I went to the doctor. He does not think I have an ear infection but the amount of fluid behind my eardrum needs to be taken care of. So prednisone to help decrease the fluid and if this doesn't work I will likely need tubes to help equalize the pressure. The prednisone after 2 days seems to be helpng very little but I have 4 days left of the medicine... I really don't want tubes.

However I ended the week on a good note.
We celebrated my dad's 86th birthday on Friday evening.
My mom is recovering very well from her double knee surgery/
Saturday I was up early to go to the cities to meet with my brothers family to do the Cystic Fibrosis Climb for a Cure -IDS center 1028 steps, 50 stories. The team raised over 6000 dollars for CF. I have a niece and a nephew with CF -my niece has spent a lot of time in the hospital this past year and my nephew is hospitalized now and could not be at the climb. There is not much we can do for them but pray and support. And it felt good to be there to climb. I did not raise money this year other then what we donated ourselves. And my brother gave me the additional amount I needed to get a t-shirt. Funny guy ...I had donated on his goal and he handed off half of that for a t shirt. Next time I will do better. And I made it the entire way!!


I ended my week going to mass with my sister and her husband and then meeting up with another brother and sister-in-law for supper and then 7 out of nine of my sibs (and spouses) went to Church Basement Ladies A 2nd helping. It was a good time -we laughed we cried!! My sister Brenda laughed so hard we thought she laid an egg!!

Empty Nesters

The son that still lives in our basement is gone to Guard drill this weekend. So this is our first weekend as empty nesters. It is quiet. We had breakfast of eggs and pancakes made by my darlin. I finished a letter to our son the recruit and then we went to the hospital to see my Mom, who had a bilateral knee replacement surgery yesterday. We did a little shopping, a little hand holding, a little cleaning, a little baking and had a nice supper. We did the dishes and now it is time for a movie, a glass of wine and snuggling. All in all a very nice day.

Gilligans Island theme (Marine Recruit stye)

This was the first page of our latest letter from Chris

Jan 10, 2011
Dear Mom and Dad,
Listen to the Gilligan’s Island Theme then Read this. I take a lot of pride in my latest work so don’t hesitate to share it!


I _____come from a town in Minnesota
Where the folks are pretty chill
But here at MC___RD all we scream is kill, kill, kill
Kill in the morning and kill at noon and kill in the night as well

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it
But this place might be hell

“come here right now
Be there by then
You do what I tell you____”

This recruit can’t wait for Pendleton and starting up phase two __!
We’ll go on humps and sleep outside
We’ll rough it like it’s cool
But that’s all right cause that’s what
This recruit came here to do !

R & R

This is the first day I have had in months that did not have a schedule.

I put a bunch of Christmas cards in the mail this morning. I had about 3/4 of my letters done before my life went out of control but today I finished the majority of them. I have Christmas presents for co-workers that are still sitting in my closet waiting to be wrapped. I am so far behind with those!!

I am supposed to be working on weight loss I made it to the club twice since January 1st. I figure the way things have been going twice is doing good.

We received our 5th and 6th letters from our recruit this week. It is so good to hear from him. He sounds so up beat in his letters. And he is trying hard to keep us informed as much as he can. In one of his first letters he talked about applying and being accepted to being a Catholic Prayer Leader. He goes to classes weekly with a Chaplain and has been learning how to lead prayer for the Catholics in his platoon.

Then in one of his last letters he shared about a gift passed on to him from a recruit in another company that was in the 3rd phase of Boot Camp.
He wrote "Last Tuesday a ___ Co. recruit passed onto me something a 3rd phase recruit had given him before him...... and so on and so forth. It is a crucifix, a St. Christopher medal, 2 shields of strength with Romans 8:37 and 8:38 on them and a dog tag with Joshua 1:9 on it. It was pretty cool. On marine week I will pass it to a phase 1 recruit."

I find it amazing how his faith walk is being strengthened in this time. His love of Mass and Eucharist has always been strong. But I find at a time that things could be more difficult God is working to keep his faith alive and strong for himself and for others. God is so awesome. God is so Good.

We laugh as we read his letters lately food seems to occupy a lot of his time. In this same letter he wrote I still haven't gotten dessert but I've been tempted. Thus, I decree! Mother when you come hither to San Diego I beseech thee to make any and all bars you will bring (especially chocolate chip cookie bars) I can't wait for the sweets.

I had to read it twice to see if he had somehow been zapped to a different era. Who uses words like decree, beseech and hither today? My son in Boot Camp

He makes us laugh even as we miss him <3