A France Encore

Mom and I leave this Wednesday (July 30) for France!!
We're going over for the taking of the habit ceremony in Fanjeaux. My best friend will be taking the habit in the Dominican order on August 4. It'll be so good to see her again!

While we're over there for that, Mom and I are going to take advantage to visit some of the other towns in France. We're hoping to make a day trip out to Avignon one day before the ceremony. I'd also like to see a bit of Toulouse and/or Carcassone while we're in the area. After the Dominican ceremony, we're going over to Lourdes (especially meaningful since it's the 150th anniversary of the apparitions). We'll be able to spend two or three days there. Then it'll be back to Fanjeaux to spend the weekend with Brittany. Sunday, the 10th, I think we'll be driving up to Tours and spending the night there. After that, we'll be on to Mont St-Michel, Chartres, and then Paris. We will fly home from Paris on Saturday, the 16th.

I'm not looking forward to the traveling part and I'm sure I'll miss home, but the trip itself should be well-worth the pains required. It'll be wonderful to be back in Europe one more time! I promise to take pictures. :)

Chloe: 3 Months, 3 Weeks

I Got My Hair Cut Today!

And this was the result. Whaddya think?

Before:



After:




(I don't know how obvious the difference is. I got more obvious, higher-up layers around my faces and took just a little off the ends in the back.)

Chloe Update

Two months, one week old (at the time of the pictures)...

Spring is Springing Creeping In

It's May 7 and it feels like Spring has been FOREVER in coming!! We dipped down to 35 degrees a couple of nights ago. It would seem that winter would rather hang around a little longer, much to most people's everyone's disgust. ;) I remember May mornings that were 70 degrees at dawn and 90 or so by 3 PM. Not that I'm anxious for those hot days. All I'm asking for is a little Spring weather... you know, the beautiful days, sunny and about 70 degrees, with stormy nights. THAT's Spring. :)

But I must be fair and admit that Spring is crawling in, slowly but surely. And that's nice! Nothing like a long winter to make one appreciate the sunshine!

Visit from His Excellency

His Excellency Bishop Williamson is in town this weekend for Confirmations. Yesterday evening, he came by the house for nearly an hour. It was a great visit and such a privilege! We were able to kiss his ring twice (arriving and departing) and got his episcopal blessing. In addition, we were honored to be able to sit around the kitchen table with him, just visiting. (He even wrote a poem for my mom, since she could not be there with us. :))

Wow.

May God bless this incredible man for all that he is doing!!

Florality

This Spring, we have flowers in the yard! Thanks to embedding bulbs in God's green earth last Fall, we have - with minimal effort - beautiful blooms... which delight the females of this household to no end. :)

The daffodils had a cheerful season, but are now - so soon :( - past their prime. The tulips are now at their glorious peak. The bleeding hearts are prolific. The irises show great promise by their rapid growth. And the tiger lilies shouldn't be long after that.

Yay!! :)
So, of course, to complete this tale, I will share some pictures.

A sprig of bleeding hearts
This tulip seemed to be looking out curiously from where it was rooted in the garden bed to the great, green world beyond.
(Isn't it amazing the way the sunlight from beyond the flower makes it look almost as though the flower is illuminated from within?)
And this pretty little tulip brought the phrase "the belle of the ball" to my mind, because it was the only pink tulip among a company of several purple tulips, which were gathered 'round it in such a way as to suggest that they were so many admiring suitors.
(Please see the following picture.)
The "beaux" of the "belle" fade into the background.
(Maybe you just would have had to have been there! :))

Laughing

I can't wait to see my favorite niece :) again - in just ten days! She's changing so quickly!

Too Cute Not to Share

Six-and-a-half weeks old... Going on six months. ;)

Just Over One Month Old

Thanks to Chloe's mommy for the picture! ;)