Parish Picnic Weekend

My weekend was pretty busy...overall it was fun though!
~ Friday wasn't too bad. Ruth & I went to get a pop-up tent that we were able to borrow. Low and behold Mr. A (my high school science teacher) was the one who we borrowed it from. We stayed and talked with him for a while.

~ Saturday was a meeting for St. Vincent DePaul Society at 11 and then choir practice at 1:45. Our choir sang for a wedding at 2:30 -- one of the choir members' daughter was the one who got married and she wanted the choir to sing. Mass was at 5:30 and then XLT at 7. Kassi ended up coming to Mass with her parents, sister (Italia) and brother (Robby). Here mom told her to stay and see what XLT was like so Ruth and I offered to sit with her.

Today was the busiest! I ended up arriving at Queen of Peace around 6:30 to help with the 500 balloons we had to blow up. Chip inflated them on the helium tank and Ruth and I tied ribbons to the ends. After that we had choir practice at 9:45 because we sang at the10:30 Mass. After Mass (at noon) the picnic started. The line was sooo long but I ended up getting food and then setting up for the cake walk.
The cake walk was a blast and went quite well =]
I stayed after to help with clean up duty too.







Aaron and his kids


Esther and Mike

WPF Fun

I went to WPF (World Pulse Festival) with Kate, Bethany, and Tom. Tom, Bethany, and I ended up going to Katie and Kate's house this morning where we met up with Kate. The 4 of us went to McDonald's for breakfast (I saw Esther's husband there) and then headed to WPF. It was tons of fun! Oh ya and I saw Luke Bruner at one of the tables under a tent while we were there. He was giving out information on 40 days for life.

WPF


Bethany and me


Goofy picture of us


Kate and Bethany


Bethany and me

Feast of the Assumption

The Feast of the Assumption (Catholic): August 15th

The Feast of the Assumption is an important day in the Catholic religion. It is the principal feast of the Blessed Virgin, the mother of Jesus Christ. This feast commemorates two events - the departure of Mary from this life and the assumption of her body into heaven.

The Church's official doctrine of the Assumption says that at the end of her life on earth Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven.

Some mistakenly believe Mary "ascended" into heaven, which is incorrect. It was Jesus Christ who ascended into heaven, by his own power. But Mary was assumed or taken up into heaven by God.

Pope Pius Xll, in 1950, defined that Mary "after the completion of her earthly life...was assumed body and soul into the glory of Heaven." Her body wasn't allowed to corrupt nor was it allowed to remain in a tomb. Though there are claims by some cities about possessing her temporary tomb.

In the early Christian centuries relics of saints and those who gave their lives for the faith were jealously guarded and highly prized. Many cities claim the mortal remains of saints, both famous and little-known. But there are no records of Mary's bodily remains being venerated anywhere.

The holiday is celebrated annually on the 15th of August.

My Lord God...

At Church on Sunday Terry Coonan (Tink), who was the seminarian for the summer at St. Pius, talked about his time at St. Pius and told us a prayer, by Thomas Merton, that his high school religion teacher used to pray before the start of class each day. I really felt I was there to hear it and I'm glad I did.

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

VBS Pictures

I survived VBS this week (It took place July 28-August 1st)! The theme was PowerLab and being a crew leader was pretty fun =] I was in charge of 7 children:
Amber, Georgia, Niko, Eddie, Elizabeth, Alex, and Emma.





Mrs. Portolese as Professor Fizz


Father Dan


Mrs. Fitzmaurice, Laurie, and Tom


Tom teaching a group of kids about the Saint of the Day (which was the Blessed Mother)


He told the children to feel their heartbeat and how fast their hearts were beating. Then he told them to run in place and feel their heartbeat afterwards and that's how much the Blessed Mother loves each of us!






Snack time for my group ("test tube treats" as it was called)


Time for some dancing

Teaching a few kids the moves to new dances during check-in time




More dance time

Mike Portolese


Mrs. Pierce


Sandy, Father Dan, Laurie holding Aidan, and me

VBS Videos

Amazing Grace (1)


Amazing Grace (2)


At the Name of Jesus (1)


At the Name of Jesus (2)


The Power (1)


The Power (2)


There's Power in the Blood (1)


There's Power in the Blood (2)


Performance for the Parents (1)


Performance for the Parents (2)


Performance for the Parents (3)


Performance for the Parents (4)


Mrs. Portolese