Apology and an update

I am sorry I haven't posted anything since Holy Saturday. Here's a quick update in words only because for some reason, I can't work with the photos on the laptop right now. Not sure what's going on there, but I will have to wait until my network administrator John can take a look at it this evening.

John: getting called in to work after hours a bit, but enjoying his work; at home: clearing out our garage We can park both vans in there again. (woo hoo!!!)

Judy: filled 30 bags during Lent with Katie, Patrick and John's help, working on 10 more in the Easter season. John's garage cleaning will be the biggest contributor there. :); co-directing 4 scenes (plus a little more) of Hamlet for the homeschool drama club; dealing with cold after cold in various family members since mid-March; working on getting the little ones truly healthy again; keeping my head above water--barely--with teaching, grading, turning in grades, for our homeschool; a couple of Japanese grocery-shopping successes to relate soon

Patrick: enjoying senior year; soccer season--playing mostly mid-field; prom coming up this weekend; finished his last scholarship application; waiting for Notre Dame to send him their financial aid offer; college decision d eadline is May 1

Katie: is 13!--photos of the party forthcoming; mother's help for a neighbor with a new baby and babysitting; soccer: first game was Saturday, they lost but she played well; playing Claudius in Hamlet; having fun with friends

Joseph: swim lessons continue; first soccer game was this weekend, he was playing forward when I saw him after giving the half-time treats to Katie's team and arranging with her coach to give out the after-game treats so I could see a little of Joseph's game before it ended and we hurried back to pick up Katie; playing Osric in Hamlet; honored to be chosen to serve Mass for Archbishop Broglio when he is at St. Jude's (the on-base chapel) for Confirmation in a few weeks

Matthew: has double pneumonia, if that's what they call it when it's in both lungs; it set off an asthma reaction--his first since November, and typical of his version of asthma that appears when he contracts another respiratory illness in the spring or fall; playing a guard in Hamlet; making up plays every day and begging others to be in them, today it is something about pirates--he made a flag for a prop a little earlier and is wearing a large white shirt, rolled up pants with a sword tucked into the belt, and a purple head scarf; Meghan is involved somehow, too.

Meghan: also has pneumonia, but only in one lung; we are grateful to God for the invention of antibiotics, which are resolving these health issues quickly; the pneumonia battle has only been a week for Meghan and 5 days for Matthew; both are much improved; enough to be working on a pirate play, anyway ;)

Tommy: UDallas production of P layboy of the Western World, in which he played one of the main characters: the father of Pegeen (the female character who gets engaged to the p layboy), went very well: awesome set, authentic, period top-hat for his costume; I'm hoping to post photos if we can have permission; classes are going well, he is especially enjoying Chinese history; wedding plans are progressing--hard to believe that is only three and a half months away now.

Tara: tired, but classes are going okay, Tommy tells us; in set-design class, they are working together on the design for someone's senior studio play, which sounds like a fun thing to do; I love that they share a passion for the arts.

Meghan is calling "Yunch-time. I hear it: bell. Yunch-time!!" I am needed in the kitchen.

I promise to write more regularly and get the photo problem fixed so I can add in some pictures.

Hope all is well in your parts of the world. :) Please comment and let us know.

UD fans

John brought Meghan a pink UD onesie, but she was sleeping when we took this photo. We'll have to post that one later.

Tommy at school

John brought home some photos of Tommy moving in at UD.

His dorm: Madonna Hall

Tommy's desk

closet space

They bunked the beds to get more space.

So, there you have it--a typical college dorm room.

Before leaving, John also took some nice photos of the campus:

chapel

See you in December, Tommy! Don't forget to call and email. :-) We miss you and we love you!!

He's ready to go

Yesterday, Tommy shipped his luggage to the airport via Kuro Neko (Black Cat), a package delivery service. They have a desk at Narita (Tokyo's international airport) where he will pick up the bags when he arrives there on Wednesday.



I hoped it wouldn't be so hard to let him go this time, and in some ways it isn't. He is so excited about starting college that the enthusiasm is contagious. And UD does a great job of getting kids enthused. He has received a letter from his orientation group leader and a new student newsletter. He has chosen his classes for the fall, found his roommate on Facebook, and opened a Facebook page himself, since most of UD seems to be there. The t-shirt from Constantin College arrived Thursday--just in time. It is nice to see him so happy to start school.

The orientation activities, Groundhog Days, last almost a week. He will not only have the chance to meet other students, move into his dorm room, and finalize his registration, but also to attend a play (it appears to be The Complete Works of Shakespeare: Abridged), a comedy show, a scavenger hunt, and daily Mass, see a minor league baseball game, and participate in a book and movie discussion group on the subject of whether virtue can be taught. That one got him upstairs looking for Plato on the bookshelf so he could pre-read Protagoras.


Whenever we say we'll miss him or mention how many days are left until he leaves, he says "Yeah," in a sad voice, but the look on his face, well, he looks like he does in the photo above. It's hard not to be happy for him when he is so happy.

And yet, I found myself in tears after Communion this morning. Something about the bittersweet moment when I looked down the row at all eight of us there together and knew that next Sunday, he won't be.

His bags are packed

Tommy's boxes on their way down the road last Friday. He'll see them again in Dallas on or about August 28th.

Home again, home again

We've finally caught our breath and are settling back into our home routine. So much has happened in the past month, it's hard to know where to start. But I guess I do know.

Tommy is home. That's the biggest news. We are happy to have him back with us. He has mixed feelings. While he's glad to be back home, he's not so glad about the way it happened. Living in community, especially a tiny community like REACH, has its challenges. Especially for an 18-year-old with a strong personality. Some of Tommy's strengths also turned out to be weaknesses within a tiny group. While it may help the community life aspect, it's unfortunate for the retreat ministry, I think. Tommy had much to contribute in that area. I'm still his mom after all and can't help feeling that way ;-) It's also unfortunate for Tommy. The next semester on REACH, with the travel and long series of retreats would have been an opportunity for real growth in spirituality and maturity. For whatever reason, it appears that his place is at home for a little while longer.

All that being said, It's nice to have our family together again, even if it is only for a short time. I am especially happy that Tommy will probably be home when the baby is born in June. His commitment before meant that he would miss the birth and we would have to delay the baptism a month in order to have him here for that. So I am grateful to God for that blessing in spite of the circumstances that have led to it. And I can't help feeling that He has a reason for it. We may not know what the reason is, but I am confident there is one.

When Tommy was in his last months at Reach, he called home several times to ask for prayer over the situation there. I prayed several novenas to the Infant of Prague. Never before have I received a "no" answer in prayer to the holy infant, but this time the answer was clearly "no." So much so, that I prayed several extra novenas (following the example of Abraham's persistence), asking again the same request: that Tommy be allowed to stay on Reach and do God's work there. For a short time, it seemed that the answer might be positive, but in my last novena, it was again, clearly "no." This probably sounds a bit far-fetched to some of you, but it has given me peace about the situation. For whatever reason, either the good of Reach, or the good of Tommy, or perhaps both, Tommy was not to stay. It's what God wants.

Several people have asked what Tommy's up to. He has applied for several paying jobs on base, and will start on Thursday volunteering a couple of days a week during the lunch hour as a receptionist/clerk at the base chapel. He's looking into some daytime babysitting jobs. He has also begun the process to become a Red Cross volunteer. This is needed before he can do any other volunteer work on base. He'd like to help out at the hospital, which means a bit more training before he can get started. Hopefully, by the end of January, he will be set to start volunteering officially.

Since he can't take any university classes without endangering his deferral at the University of Dallas, he's also begun reading his way through the books he hasn't read yet on the UD recommended reading list. Last week it was "Everyman." This week, it's "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." I think he's planning to talk with his Uncle Daniel about reading some other works together and discussing them in greater depth. This would be good for him. He has expressed a feeling of mental stagnation over the past semester and is looking forward to doing something a bit more challenging.

We've been talking about a practical math course. It's tax time and there are those annoying, but highly necessary, Financial Aid forms to be completed in the next few weeks. And scholarship applications are a full-time job in themselves, he is discovering.

Finally, he's counting the days until school starts in the fall and he can get back out on his own again. He is 18 after all. :-)

Please keep him (and all of us) in your prayers during this readjustment phase.

University of Dallas

It really comes as no surprise that UD made the list of "Joyfully Catholic" colleges in a new book published by the Cardinal Newman Society, according to this article I saw on Catholic Exchange.

All the same, this is very reassuring for parents of future students ;-) Go, Class of 2012!

And thanks be to God that there are faithfully Catholic colleges in the United States from which to choose.