Marriage Preparation Classes

Dear Familia,

The marriage prep classes have been going very well. We meet every Thursday and some saturdays with 7 other couples to talk about a range of topics to help us in our future married life. Last Thursday we were in charge of the snack. We brought a veggie tray and rice crispy treats from Smitten Kitchen. The class met this Saturday too to talk about the Meyers Briggs indicator test we took. Not surprisingly, Zane is a thinking introvert type and I am a feeling extrovert type. Hahaha.

Love,

Jem

Confirmation

horrible camera phone picture, but it works

Dear Familia,

Tonight Cassi, Kiki, and Abbi celebrated their Confirmation. Bishop Olmstead, head of the Phoenix diocese, presided over the lovely Mass in their honor. He gave a fabulous homily talking about 3 reasons what made Pope John Paul II, or any person for that matter, great. I will work my hardest to remember and incorporate these things into my daily life.

1. He was a good friend

2. He was a good family member

2. He was good at forgiving

Did you know that JPII was beatified (the first step to becoming a Saint) on the same day Osama Bin Laden was killed. That is mind blowing! How different could two people really be??

Paz,

Jem

Busy Weekend!

Kiki's "house" the clear winner of the night!

Kiki getting ready to take care of business.

Dear Familia,

What a whirlwind of a weekend! First up, right after work on Friday, I picked up the older three girls and we headed to church for the "In His Name" retreat before Confirmation this coming Tuesday. I gave a talk on John 3:30 (He must increase; I must decrease) which I think went well. Thanks Steven for all your help with that. It was also a retreat to shed some light on homelessness in America so we spent a bit of time constructing cardboard box "houses" that we slept in for the night. We had to leave the retreat early Saturday morning because we had Kiki's basketball tournament at noon. They lost by 3 in a fierce battle in the semi-finals. Alysha and I had to leave that early to meet up with Auntie Lucy to head to Miami for Sorrin's dance recital. Unfortunately Sorrin was in tears because she was so exhausted from a full day of dancing that I didn't get any cute pictures with her after the dance, but we had a lot of fun! Today we went to Church and then had practice for Confirmation. I also finally got to talk with my friend Brian who is currently in Afghanistan doing secret squirrel stuff. Him and I are probably getting married around the same time so we were both excited to chat about our big plans. It was a great weekend :)

Up this week? Full on MOH mode to tie up some loose ends for Alysha's big day!

Paz,

Jem

Wedding Questions

Dear Familia,

Since we've only been engaged 3 days, we still do not have a lot of the details ironed out. However, we do know that there is a 99% chance that it will be at All Saints Roman Catholic Parish in Mesa, Arizona in 2012 ;) What, not enough details for you?? Haha.

As some of you may know, I am currently waiting anxiously to hear back from Georgetown Law regarding my admission off their wait-list (and thus into the dual MPP/JD program with the public policy school). Their seat deposits are due today so I should find out in the next couple of weeks if I am in or not. Until then, it is hard to nail down the date which in turn makes it hard to nail down pretty much anything else. We have a list of 9 possible dates (compiled by my amazing fiance using my academic calendar) and I will let everyone know as soon as we choose one! Expect a wedding website to be up and running by June 1st.

Paz,

Jem