Easter Vigil Baptisms

On Holy Saturday, Isaac, his mom, sister and brother were baptized into the Catholic faith.

Here are pictures of the special, blessed event.

Here is Isaac being baptised.

Phil is lighting the baptismal candle from the Easter candle.

Isaac is blowing out his candle. They wore the white towels for the rest of the Mass.

I guess I should see if they need baptismal shawls made.

Here is our Pastor, Fr. Pat with Isaac, Tori, Mom Esther and Brandon.

We had to get a picture with the Baptismal sponsors, Judy was sponsor for Tori and Esther, and Ted, who is also Brandon's Big Brother, was his sponsor, and of course, Phil and Isaac. It was a joyous occasion for all. Welcome to the St. Michael the Archangel Family.

H3

My Escape was leaking transmission fluid so I took it in to get it fixed. They said it wouldn't be ready for a couple of days. Since I needed a car, I went across to Avis and rented the $21/day special. He asked me what kind of car I wanted. I told him it didn't matter, just the $21 special. So, he suggested that I take the Hummer 3 for a night and see how I liked it. So, here I am in my rental Hummer 3.

As you can see, the top is pretty low, but the windows are wide.

It was a nice smooth ride, however it has some blind spots in the front and sides. It also felt like the top was right on top of your head. Now I know how the soldiers feel when they are riding in their humvees.

Here I am on my way to Q-FAC meeting - had to have room for all my stuff :-).

Be back soon

Good morning from beautiful, sunny Sandy, Oregon. I went to the beach, drove a hummer, sewed to my hearts content and have pictures to prove it. However, our computer had a little glitch, I fixed it, and now cannot download my pictures from my camera. But, we are going to Eugene for a quilt show that I am doing a Home of the Brave demonstration on, then to the beach for clamming, so may not be able to do it until next week. To be continued........

A lesson learned

Our Maya is going to be three in July. I have decided to make her a flirty skirt for now in hopes of getting it in the mail so she will receive it in time. I looked over the pattern, cut it out and put it together. Looking at this first picture, it is little - I mean little!! I couldn't figure out how Maya would fit into it - it was 12' around at the waste. No way will this fit her, even as petite as she is.

So, after looking at the pattern again - and after complaining to Phil that they goofed - I reread the pattern, cut it out and put it together. Ta Da --- Here it is again - minus the elastic that I will have Sabine put in after she measures Maya's waist. I had cut one of everything instead of TWO of everything.

Here is the picture of both skirts. The left one will have straps put on it and it will be a sundress for her dolly. The other will fit her nicely and I will send it with a little top to match.
I can't wait to see Maya in her little outfit when it gets to the Philippines. She is gonna look really cute. And the lesson learned - READ THE PATTERN TWICE, CUT ONCE. I thought I had learned it before when I did that, but evidently I hadn't. Well, it made a cute story and will be fun to see the results on Maya and her dolly.

Wonderful News!!

We heard from our German son, Mirko, last night and I wanted to share a couple of pictures of them with you. Mirko is working for the German government and they are located in the Philippines for a three year tour. They are leaving for a two week Easter holiday and wanted to touch base with us before they left. They also have some wonderful news - they are adding to their family at the end of September. Sabine is doing well although her pregnancy is different from when she had Maya. Maybe a boy????? We will all pray for a healthy baby - girl or boy. So, here is a picture of Maya experiencing a ride on a horse with dad, Mirko.Two beautiful women, Sabine and silly Maya smiling for Dad. Maya is 2 1/2 years old and quite the joy in the eyes of her parents.

Two Special Quilts

I received a baby shower invitation saying that our nephew and his wife are having a baby boy in July. So, out comes shades of red, blue, green, yellow, and purple material to go along with car fabric to do a "Four on the Floor" baby quilt. I added a scrappy border, will quilt and bind it and -- ta da - a quilt is born. I also will find a book about cars to go along with it so that Cillian will have a fun book to look at while sharing his quilt with his mom or dad or even Pipi and Mimi.

This quilt is called "Mountain Get-away", and is the raffle quilt for the Sandy Historical Society's 11th Annual Quilt Show. We finished it by the end of February and it has been hanging in the local banks to have people purchase advance tickets. Notice the elk in the upper right hand corner - that is the block that I did. It was kind of plain until the antlers were added - now it is a regal elk overlooking our northwest. The blocks were machine appliqued and the quilting is wonderfully done by a local quilt shop owner. It was fun to do and a special person will take it home at the end of July during the Fly-In, Cruise-In Breakfast where the lucky ticket will be drawn.

I DID IT!!!

I like to sing. When I was in high school, I was in the SMA Choral. We did the musicals, concerts and sounded like angels in the IHM Motherhouse Chapel. Once out of school, I didn't join any choirs because I felt like I could just sing among the parishioners. So, when we moved to Oregon, after one year of being a member of Christ the King Church, I joined the choir, sang at the Grotto and was going to begin cantoring. Then we moved parishes.

We have a cantor, Vivian, and an electric piano pianist, Andrea, who do the music at our new parish, St. Michaels. As their is no choir, I told them if they wanted me to fill in for the cantor when she is not available, I would be happy to. So, Vivian said that she was going to be out of town at the end of March and would I fill in. I immediately said "yes".

I then asked if I could practice with Andrea, the pianist, maybe a few times before this weekend. That was when they told me that THEY BOTH WERE GOING TO BE GONE!!! Yikes!!!! So, not only would I be the cantor, I would be everything - cantor singing acapella!!!!

Last night and today were the days. I was really nervous last night, but only knew a couple of people at church and Fr. Kraull was grateful for my involvement. I also wouldn't let Phil sit where I could see him. Didn't want any distractions. I did fine until the "Holy, Holy, Holy". Somehow the music was nearly the same as another song and so we sang one verse of it instead of what I was supposed to lead them to sing. AARGH!!!! But I got through it and had many people come up to me and thank me for leading the songs.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I then had to go to St. John of the Woods in Welches and do Mass there as well. Wonderful little church, in the woods with great acoustics. Only about 20 people and I didn't know anyone so that was good. Noticed that they were singing songs I didn't know, so we changed that fast.

Then this morning, I went back for 9:30 Mass at St. Michaels and did it all over again. Only knew one person there and she sat in the choir loft so that was ok. Oh yes, I did all the songs correctly the last two Masses and am now done. Whew!!!

I did enjoy it and was glad that I only did one big goof and my voice didn't crack at all this morning. Vivian is going to be gone again in May but so am I so they will have to wing it themselves!! But I will look forward to serving in that capacity again in the future. Thank you God for getting me through it - it was great!!!