First Christmas without David

A bittersweet day was Christmas 2009.
We always gathered as a family on Christmas and have not missed since 1973 when David joined our family just one week before Christmas (Dec 19). In November 2009, of course, he joined the Transapline Redemptorist community at Papa Stronsay Island, Scotland. (See the seperate blog davepapastronsay.blogspot.com for communications and news from him).
I an email, he told us he is more at peace now than ever before. We are thrilled and pleased that he has heeded God's calling and is a peace, but at the same time we are sad we were not able to share this most Holy Day with him in person.
Theresa, Bob, and Eileen did gather, however. Bob Sang in the choir at the 10:30 PM Christmas Eve mass. Theresa had practiced with the choir all along but that morning, Eileen had a series of seizures and Theresa decided to stay home with Eileen. On Christmas morning, Eileen was feeling good again. We picked up Eileen's roommate Paulette and attended Christmas day mass at 10 AM. After dropping Paulette at the apartment, we decided to stop at Sophia's House of Pancakes for brunch. Then we went to our house and exchanged gifts.



We decided the time was ripe to upgrade our TV, so Santa brought us a new Hi Def TV for the family room. Bob modified the Entertainment center to hold the new TV, so Santa just left a photo from the box to remind Bob of the new toy. We also negotiated a free upgrade to HD for the Dish satellite system (with a new two year agreement, of course). Bob built a set of shelves for above the bookcases to hold all our movies.



Bob was browsing Amazon and started reading about the new Canon SX20IS cmaera that has replaced his current S3IS. Theresa agreed that it was worth upgrading now so Bob can get used to the new camera prior to the Pilgrimage in May. Theresa mentioned that she'd kind of like to have a nice small camera to have with her, so Bob . . . er Santa found a nice Canon (what else) on Amazon for her. By Christmas morning, Theresa had forgotten about the whole thing so was pleasantly surprised by the Hot Pink camera + Pink Carrying case. Both are great cameras and we may set a new record for snapshots on the next pilgrimage!



Theresa has been working for weeks to connect a zillion of the yarn daisies Eileen has made into an Afghan. She chose the daisies colored to complement Eileen's sofa. We also bought a number of the calendars from the Redemptorists. Here, Theresa shows Eileen photos of some of the places at her her brother's new home in Scotland.



After we finished exchanging gifts, we drove to Greensburg to celebrate with Bob's sister Carol, her husband Denny and Denny's three daughters (Sonya, Anne, and Barbara) and their families. The food was fabulous as was the company.



Here, Eileen hams it up with Sonya while Barb displays a caricature of her children done by her son. Much Euchre was played (which was neat since we got the opportunity to get to know some of Carol & Denny's nieces and nephews).
At the end of the day, we drove home, pleasantly stuffed and recalling a wonderful day of celebration and of family.
While we missed David, we know he is at peace and had many opportunities to celebrate Christmas with his brothers.

Eileen Wins Third At State SpecialO Bowling

Eileen has been involved in Special Olympics for quite some time. For a while, she did swimming, but more recently, she has been interested in bowling. She loves to bowl and goes to our local bowling alley regularly to roll a few lines. She has been bowling Special O for the past 4 years and loves it. She has her own ball and shoes and is quite the "pro!"
Last Saturday (Dec 5) she bowled in the State Special Olympics at Woodland Bowl near 96th & Keystone. She started very well and gradually her scores dropped off. At the end of the day, she finished third and received a bronze medal, which she proudly wore to church on Sunday.
The photos here were shot by Theresa on her cell phone with available light, so some are a little blurry.

Nov 3 - Shrine of St Therese, Darien IL

We stopped by the Shrine of St Therese on the way to take David to O'Hare airport. Located only 10 miles south of the airport, it was a convenient stop. We arrived minutes before the 11:30 mass in the chapel, where there is an immense wood carving depicting events in the life of St Therese. Opposite our seats in the chapel was a stained glass window depicting the "Dark Night of the Soul" as described by St John Vianney. In the shrine is a reliquary donated by the Carmelite Sister of Indianapolis. While there, Theresa recalled inscribing a prayer request during our visit many years back to "bring our son back to the church." Since we were taking him to O'Hare to catch a flight to Scotland where he will join the Redemptorists Monastery, I'd say the prayers were answered. David is likely to return to the US for seminary in Denton NE (just outside of Lincoln). We said tearful goodbyes to David at the airport and drove home.

Nov 1 - Feast of All Saints - Holy Rosary

On the Feast of All Saints, we drove to Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis, where Dave is a member. Following mass, they had a send off dinner for him attended by about 75 people.
The Traditional Latin Mass was sung by Fr Magiera and was absolutely beautiful.

Navy Shooting Team Reunion

We just returned from a great week in Louisville where Dave and Sue Fiehtner produced a fabulous annual get together. Thursday we visited the Louisville Slugger factory and learned how baseball bats are made, had a great lunch at the Gault House Hotel, visited the Frazer Museum where the history of warfare is traced (lots of guns!), and finally a walk on a coral reef in New Albany Indiana. If you didn't know, Louisville owes much of its existence to the Falls of the Ohio formed by an ancient coral reef! Louisville was a portage site for many years since that section of river was virtually impassible!
On Friday we visited the Patton Museum at Ft Knox, drove past the Gold Depository, ate lunch at a fine old restaurant in Bardstown (where we had Kentucky Brown - turkey, ham, bacon, and cheese on top of toast points with tomato on top). Walt Walter asked me is I wanted his piece of coconut cream pie! He didn't have to ask twice! Then, on to Maker's Mark distillery where we had a fabulous tour by a very "alive" young woman who obviously loved her job. After the tasting, Bob won a golf shirt for answering the trivia question (how many years minimum must bourbon be in the barrel? Ans: 2).
Then a quick stop at My Old Kentucky Home State Park for some pics with Steven Foster's statue and a bit of a walk about. Saw a school that may be where Theresa's brother Steve went to High School.
Saturday, we just goofed around and played computer until we had to get out of the room. Then we went to the "Ready Room" to shoot the bull with other attendees. Then a very nice dinner, a little "speechifying" and back to Indy.
It was a great week but its great to be home!

October at Lake of the Ozarks

Theresa and I made our annual trek to my sister Barbara's (and her husband Dave's) house in central Missouri. They are close to Climax Springs on the southern shore of the lake. Their house is on a beautiful protected cove but with a fine view of the main body of the Lake at about the 45 mile marker. We arrived Thursday afternoon (10/4) and cooked a fine mess of frog legs. The Siefkers grew up on frog leg and consider it a fine delicacy! My oldest sister Carol and her hubby, Denny Doerflinger, were returning from a fun trip through the Rockies on four different trains. They had been at the Lake several days when we arrived and departed Friday morning.

We also departed Friday for our nephew's funeral in Kansas City. Doug Feldman was Theresa's brother Steve and his wife Judy's youngest son who was killed in a tragic traffic accident in Las Vegas. Doug had lived there a couple of years and was, he told his dad, as happy as he'd ever been. He had a wonderful girlfriend with whom he was prepared to spend the rest of his days and was about to buy a house. Anyway, the funeral Mass was in KC. We stayed with Doug's brother's Father and Mother in law who live nearby. They treated us like royalty! It was great to see all of Theresa's siblings although the circumstances were not ideal.

On Monday, we drove our son David to MCI to catch his flight back to Indy and headed back to the Lake (about a 3 hours drive). We had a wonderful time the rest of the week, golf on Tuesday, a trip to the outlet mall plus dinner and conversation with the Stanleys (next door neighbors at the Lake) on Wed, and rain on Thursday (we stayed in and played dominoes).
Friday morning,we headed home with a brief stop in St Louis to have lunch with a dear friend. We met her near her office and were shocked when we blinked and an hour had gone by and she had to go back to work!

Home again for a while - soon off to Louisville for a reunion of Navy Competitive Shooters Assoc.

Back Home Again in Indiana

Just back from a great trip.
First stop was Steubenville, OH to Franciscan University Summer Conferences.
This is our tenth year of Applied Biblical Studies and Defending the Faith conferences.
A fabulous opportunity to learn from some of the top Catholic apologists in the world in an extremely spiritual environment.
Then we spent a few days in Washington DC. Highlights of the trip were a visit to the Capitol Building, Arlington Cemetery, and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on the campus of Catholic University. On the way south, we stopped at the US Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, VA (very impressive)!
Finally, we spent a little more than a week in Richmond where we celebrated Theresa's Mom's (Margaret) 93rd birthday! A little golf, some great times, good food, great company. Got to see Theresa's sisters Mary and Dottie as well and some of the nieces and nephews!
Back home now. On Thursday we head to Oldenburg to visit Theresa's two aunts in the convent.
An afternoon of golf plus dinner at Brau Haus with my sister Carol and husband Denny.
BTW: I post photos on my FaceBook page and on www.tripadviser.com for many of the places we visit.