first wedding photos!

I am so excited I can hardly stand it! Here is a "sneek peek" of some of the photos from Rachel and Christopher's wedding.

To see more of Stacey's amazing work, visit her website.
(She is available for work worldwide!)

uncle wannabe

Quote of the day:
Lukie (age 6): Do you think she's pregnant yet?
AJ (his 16 year-old brother) What?!?
Lukie: Well, she's been married a whole day!

joy!

Now, it's your job to get one another to Heaven."

As I heard our pastor instruct my daughter and her new husband Saturday afternoon, I was overcome with joy and awe. Marriage is a sacrament; with its grace my little girl and her love will be on their path to Heaven. (And now it's my son-in-law's job; am I off the hook?)

Bittersweet, yet joyful. The wedding was extraordinary. We were blessed with beautiful weather, a moving ceremony, and a party that rocked! I can't wait to share photos. For now I'm including this lovely photo from our photographer's website. I haven't seen the photos yet but I was so impressed with Stacey's professionalism and "eye" that I'm sure I'll have much to share.

Join me in praying for the new Mr. and Mrs. Christopher LaPointe!

let's get moving, girls!

I've been invited by several friends to join in this challenge. Check it out and let's get moving!

laborers for the harvest

Please pray also for our newly ordained priests! While the Big Man and I attended Rachel's graduation on Saturday, we sent a contingent of family members (namely AJ, Joey and Lauren) to the Ordination of our friend Clint McDonell. Fr. Clint spent his internship as a seminarian at our parish, and we quickly adopted him into our family. (We love to do that! Our Lukie says that our family is like a black hole in outer space -- if you get close enough to us, we'll suck you right in!)

Fr. Clint is an awesome young man. He is brilliant, kind and holy, and an amazing tenor to boot! We are so proud to know him, and so honored to call him "friend." His priesthood is such a gift to our church.

Read more about him here.

and the fire fell...

Pentecost was especially poignant this year. Our family attended Mass at Detroit's Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, witnesses of the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Our dear friend Catherine (CT) was confirmed, taking the name Cecelia. As I stood at her side, honored to serve as her sponsor, I prayed that the Holy Spirit would truly transform us. As the Cardinal began the words of the consecration, asking the Holy Spirit to change our meager gifts of simple bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus, I had a realization. If the Holy Spirit is so powerful that these humble fruits of the earth can be changed into God Himself, how much more can He do with us? We are, after all, made in the very likeness of God. Imagine what He can do with us! Imagine how awesome we can become when we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us!

Here are a few photos from this special occasion. Please keep the newly confirmed, and all who call on the Spirit, in your prayers!


CT and I at the foot of the altar.


With Cardinal Maida.

graduation day

Twenty-two years ago to this very day, on May 10, 1986, a young girl received her bachelor's degree from the University of Detroit. She was nervous, excited, unsure about the future, glad "it" was over, glad "it" was about to begin. She was planning a wedding, a wedding which would happen about a month after the birth of her first child. Yes, it had been a busy year, a year filled with good and bad choices and their consequences. And as she waited anxiously on the floor of Calihan Hall to receive the piece of paper that said she had indeed "done it", her baby leapt within her womb, and she wondered what the future would hold for them.

Today, May 10, 2008, a young girl received her degree from the University of Detroit. Not much has changed in the last 22 years, save the fact that it is now U of D Mercy because of a recent merger with the school down the road. The young girl is nervous, excited, unsure about the future, glad "it" is over, glad "it" is about to begin. She, too, is planning a wedding, but this one is only two weeks away, and there is not yet a child on the way. She, too, waits anxiously to receive that important paper, not remembering the last time she was on the floor of Calihan Hall. Of course she doesn't remember: she was just a baby waiting to be born then. But of course her mother remembers. Of course I do.

I remember so many things. The shame, the confusion, the excitement, the pride. I was seven months pregnant that day I graduated, and it had indeed been a difficult road. But we had traveled it, Rachel and I, and we made it together. Some said it was a journey we should have abandoned.

"I would have had an abortion." I heard that more than once, and I felt a pain that seared my soul. I had made a bad decision once, and by the grace of God I was committed to making better ones now. I sought God's will, God's grace, God's strength, and I was not denied. I graduated that day, my daughter beneath my heart, and I looked ahead to a future filled with God's love. Again, I was not denied.

So twenty-two years have passed, and my daughter graduated today from her mother's alma mater; her "nurturing mother." She is setting out, as I was, to do God's will, to marry the man she loves, to take chances, to make dreams come true, to prove people wrong.

Our God is so great, so good, so gracious. Today I praise Him for the gift of unplanned blessings, for the beauty of goodness that comes when we seek His will. I thank Him for the awesome gift I carried that day as I received my diploma and started a new life. I thank Him for Rachel, my beautiful daughter.

Join me in congratulating Rachel Catherine, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Magna Cum Laude.

tossin' and turnin'

Inspired by my friend Kate, I decided to post what's been keeping the sandman on the fly 'round here these days.

1. A year from now I could be a grandmother.

2. A year from now I could be pregnant.

3. My sixteen-year-old son has a girlfriend. 'Nuff said.

4. Who else didn't get their invitation to Rachel's wedding????

5. What have I done lately to offend my (husband, daughter, son, mother, father, friend, neighbor, second cousin, music minister, mail carrier, chiropractor, bank teller, hair dresser, parish school principal, grocery store clerk, insert-your-name-here)??? All of these relationships are currently in need of repair.

6. It's B-O-O-G-E-R, isn't it, Kate?

I like Kate's list better.

because I can...

I'm posting this picture. Admit it, you love it. It made your day, didn't it?