May Update

Hey everyone, this is just a quick post to update you all on what is happening with Jeanne, Isaac and myself.

Well, for starters, work is going absolutely insane at the shelter. Our nnual fundraising campaign is under way. The Gala dinner event went off without too many hitches at the end of April, and now we are selling raffle tickets for the most spectacular children's playhouses you have ever seen. Picture buying a ticket for a million dollar show home, and then scale that down to kid-size. Some of these playhouses were built for over $10K, and it really shows; if you want to see some pictures of them, check out www.atonementhome.com , I think there are pictures up by now.

In Isaac news, he is still cute, and still more trouble than Jeanne and I put together. We have some great Easter pictures to put up, and some even more recent ones as well. Isaac is now 20 months old!!!

Jeanne is still working her butt off as Administrative Assistant at the shelter, and then trying to keep Isaac and myself in clean clothes from day to day. I really need to be doing more at home to take some of the load off of Jeanne! (And I promise, I will be doing the laundry tonight AND putting Isaac to bed!!!)

This weekend we had the enormous pleasure of attending the ordination Mass of Fr. Greg Elder, who some might remember was my best man at the wedding. He was ordained at the cathedral in Prince Albert, SK. I cannot believe that he has actually made it through! For those of you who do not know how the process works, Greg has spent many years studying and preparing at the seminary, all leading up to this last Friday when he was ordained a priest. Bishop Moran is probably the coolest bishop I have ever met, he held both a commanding presence and a down-to-earth pastoral vibe all at the same time, if you can believe me!

Two points from that Mass really stood out for me; one was that Bishop Moran spent the majority of his homily addressing the community as a whole...he very appropriatly pointed out that a celebration such as this is time for all of us to reassess and discern how we are living out our own vocational call from God. He pointed out that through baptism, the whole Church is called to live out Christ's ministry in the world, and we cannot succeed unless everyone steps up to the challenge, not just those who are ordained to the priesthood.

The other point that really jumped out at me was that Bishop Moran was the first person to recieve a blessing from the newly ordained priests, and he got down on his knees on the sanctuary to recieve the blesing. I think that action spoke volumes about how we are all equal in baptism, and how the priests in PA are valued. Bravo to a fantastic liturgy!

The other great news is that we made some headway in finding employment in Saskatchewan. I feel like a used car salesman sometimes with the outlandish sales pitch that I throw to everone in our family when we come to visit, but we are really trying every possible avenue to find employment in Saskatoon or North Battleford. We got some more phone numbers this weekend, so we'll keep trying! The best thing that any of you can do for us is pray, pray pray! And if you happen to know of a tradesperson that is looking for an apprentice, or someone that is looking for a bright, energetic, MDiv graduate with administration experience, give us a call!!!

Well, that is all for now, there will be pictures up this week!

Peace be with all of you,

Will