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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

More wedding pictures

These are pictures mainly taken by Dad St.Hilaire and a few by me from that crazy weekend over a month ago!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

God Loves my Students =)

School began a few weeks ago. The year is off to a good start. I am really enjoying having one year of experience under my belt. Everyone told me the second year would be easier, and I think it is true. Of course there are new challenges, but I leave school each day with excitement for the next (but I do really enjoy the weekends!).

On Friday, I took my 6th grade homeroom to pray a decade of the Rosary in the church. We wanted to pray a whole Rosary, but were running short on time. I asked them if they would like to pray the whole Rosary in the classroom, or pray a decade in the church (walking to and from places takes a long time!). They all agreed that they would prefer to go to the church. I was pleased with their decision and told them that making a visit to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament was very pleasing to God. So we all headed over to the church and knelt down in front of the altar- all 30 of us! It was so beautiful. There were a few prishoners praying in the church at the same time, and I am sure it was good for them to see all of the pre-teens bring their hopes and prayers to Our Lord.

I think it is very inspiring to see young people stiving for holiness. It is good for me to pray with my students because sometimes being a teacher can be frustrating and trying on one's patience. Praying with them enables me to see them as children of God and reminds me how much Our Lord deeply loves each of them.

Right now, Andrew and I are in Bellingham visiting with Mom and Dad St.Hilaire, Lou and Jenna (our brother and sister), and our friends from the Newman Center. We wanted to "get away" this weekend because I will begin taking night classes on Monday. Needless to say, I will be very busy and tired until... April. I am anxious about having so many commitments, but I know this will be short-lived and Our Lord will give me the strength to do well in what he has called me to do.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Wedding pictures

Our friend and photographer, Casey Karbowski, put together this great slideshow of some of the pictures from our wedding and has kindly let us post it on our blog. He should be finished editing all of the pictures soon, so we'll let everyone know when those are available for viewing. For now, we hope you enjoy the show! Let us know what you think : )

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Caution: Scary beard pictures!

After our wedding, Andrew began growing his facial hair out. I think this was rooted in a couple days of laziness, but I told him that I really liked it (truly!) and I encouraged him to keep growing it out. He had not really tried growing his beard out before and he quickly began commenting on how itchy it was becoming.

So for the last four weeks he has endured this itchiness and irritation, all for his little wifey! =) Last Sunday, I gave him permission to shave it off. He was so thrilled, making me realize that he really was just doing it for me. We had a lot of fun taking some gross beard pictures! I always thought it would be so funny for a man to have just a patch of hair on the side of his chin... (Thank you Andrew for putting up with me!)

Before: doesn't he look good?!!





I think he looks like Wolverine from X-Men in this one.






And here begins the adventures of Patch-man!!!






Patch-man likes to delve into deep contemplation.

Patch-man, don't catch your patch on fire!

Patch-man and the Pope are tight.

Patch-man spends much time surfing on the web.

Patch-man, what is Dymphna saying to you?

Goodnight Patch-man! Sleep well! =)

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Settling in...

My parents were our first guests over for dinner.

Well, Andrew and I have been married now for four weeks! Time has flown. We have been filling our time with getting our house organized, having company over, and I have now started teaching as of last Wednesday.

I have been studying some cookbooks and experimenting in the kitchen. Ironically, we do not have a toaster. So we have been using the broiler to make toast. One of the first times I was attempting this, my hand touched the burning element. I felt the heat and quickly moved my hand, but it did not really hurt. Stunned, I just stood there looking at my hand. Andrew grabbed me and put my hand under water. My skin was all crusty and I thought it was food or something stuck to my hand. No, it turns out the crusty part was my fried skin! After this incident, some kind friends bought us a toaster : )

Battle wound

I hope cooking is usually awkward in the beginning of a marriage, because it has been for me! Our house is especially small (the kitchen/dining room/living room/computer are all in one big room) so when I cook Andrew is usually close by. I was nervous to make mistakes. In preparing for one breakfast, I burned the toast to a nice charcoal black, forgot to butter the poached egg tray so they would not come out unless they were scraped, and the cream of wheat was lumpy because I poured it into the boiling water too quickly. I felt so incapable. The good news is, on Saturday I attempted this same breakfast and everything went perfectly! So I guess I learn from my mistakes.

We have had such good company over the last few weeks. Our good friend, and one of my bridesmaids, Becky "Perky" Jordon, came over for some chicken over rice. We also had the company of Patrick Sherrard. He has been a lifeguard all summer and he had some good stories of saving drowning kids. My grandparents came over for the first time since my parents moved to Bremerton. It was great to show the. Tom, Carrie, and Clare Herring have also come over a couple of times for dinner, games, and watching the Republican Convention.

Perky!!

Andrew, me (with Dymphna), Amy, Aaron, grandpa, grandma, dad, mom, and Patrick

Andrew and Tom have gone out to some busy streets a couple of times with graphic abortion signs. Andrew told me that a police officer pulled over to talk to him once. Apparently, he got a call from someone and told Andrew that he had every right to be out there, but had he considered the children who were seeing these pictures? Andrew told him that this was rush-hour so the target crowd was adults coming home from work, but children are bound to see the pictures too. He told me that if he sees a car full of children he does not make of point of flashing the picture in that direction. I know that children are very sensitive, but it just shows how obvious it is that abortion is the killing of a human person. I will always remember a story I heard of a little boy who saw a picture of an aborted baby on the computer and he asked his father "who broke the baby?" Children get it. Although seeing these pictures can be traumatizing, I believe this points to the intrinsic evil of abortion. The pictures are bad because abortion is bad. I fully support my husband and I love him for his courage in standing up for the precious unborn of our country.

One of the biggest highlights of the last few weeks was this weekend. Mom and dad St.Hilaire came down to visit us. We had such a wonderful time with them! It was really neat to show them our home. I even cooked a meal for them and did not make any mistakes! I am really getting more comfortable cooking. I just need to learn a wider variety of recipes. On Saturday, we had both of our parents over for dinner. We are so blessed that our parents really get along well with each other. I told Andrew that we don't really need to talk when we are all together because they all have so much in common.

Action shot!

The dads talking.

Dinner with all of our parents.

Fun down at the fountain park near the ferries.

Andrew and me

Mom and Dad St.Hilaire

Our little daughter is settling in too. Her new favorite spot is on the corner of the couch. She perches there for hours. She is such an entertaining pet. I think Andrew is enjoying living with her. I see him sitting at the computer or in a chair with her just sitting contently on his lap... A man and his chicken =)


So now that we are settled in, if you are in the Bremerton area, give us a call!