Chance and De'Ann's Wedding

On July 15th we headed to New Mexico with Randall and Carley for the wedding of Chance and De'Ann. We flew into Roswell where Erik and Randall grew up and took a drive down memory lane. Carley commented that the town was far too obsessed with aliens, as there were even alien murals drawn on the Wal-Mart building.

From Roswell we went to the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso where Erik, Randall, Chance, and Curtis (Chance's dad) kept up the pre-wedding golf tradition. It is a beautiful place in the mountains owned by the Apache Indian Tribe. On Thursday we took in a couple of horse races at Ruidoso Downs & then made our way to Portales.

In Portales we met up with the Butler and Luce clans and had a family dinner at De'Ann's grandparents' ranch. The rehearsal party was a rodeo and when the sun set, the cowboys pulled up their trucks and turned on the headlights so that they could see the calves in the arena. It was awesome!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we are so blessed to have De'Ann in the family!

Christ our Hope

Mass with Pope Benedict XIV

April 17, 2008

Nationals Stadium

Washington, D.C.

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. On Thursday, April 17th, 2008 I had the great fortune to attend the Papal Mass at Nationals' Stadium. Each parish in our diocese was given a ticket allotment based on membership. St. Theresa's had 123 tickets and opted to distribute them through a lottery. The Belknap Family got one ticket and then we could decide who in the family would use the ticket. All names were submitted to the diocese so that background checks could be done.

The parish chartered a bus to take us downtown to RFK stadium to catch a shuttle to Nationals' stadium. We left Ashburn at 6:30am, pulled into RFK at 8:30 and were in the gates by 9:00. The Mass started at 10:00am. It was a gorgeous day with a glorious blue sky and a slight breeze. The atmosphere in the park was surreal. Each attendee received a "goodie" bag from the Diocese of Washington that had a program for the Mass, a small papal flag, and some publications featuring the Holy Father. There was an area where confessions were being heard as well as several musical groups that entertained the arriving crowds.

Around 9:30, the Pope emerged and took a spin around the field in his "pope mobile." There was an audible, collective gasp from the crowd as the first sections saw him. As he made his way around, that gasp was like a wave.

This is a video of the processional. Sorry for the shakiness as I was a little emotional. Even though I couldn't see the alter from my seat, it did not detract from the beauty of the Mass.

The Holy Father's message for the people of the United States has been one of "Christ our Hope." He spoke of the need for evangelizing and constant conversion to our Lord Jesus Christ in order to strengthen the world in "a time [when] we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society: signs of alienation, anger and polarization on the part of many of our contemporaries; increased violence; a weakening of the moral sense; a coarsening of social relations; and a growing forgetfulness of God." In his message of "Christ our Hope" he said that the U.S. has always been a place of hope for people of all faiths from around the world who came here for greater opportunity. And despite times in which not all shared in the freedoms of this country, there were those who with great hope fought to change that- "hope for the future, is very much a part of the American character. And the Christian virtue of hope — the hope poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, the hope which supernaturally purifies and corrects our aspirations by focusing them on the Lord and his saving plan — that hope has also marked, and continues to mark, the life of the Catholic community in this country."

Lord send out your spirit and renew the face of the Earth. Ps 104:30

Happy New Year!

The holiday season offered Erik and I a lot of quality family time! We left on the 22nd with Duffy in tow for Jacksonville to celebrate Christmas. Lauren and AJ hosted Christmas Eve dinner where Lauren's gumbo could give Paula Dean a run for her money. Carole gave Chase a box of percussion instruments so we all burned off a few calories as we were drafted into his never ending Christmas parade. It was a blast!

After our stay in Jacksonville, we traveled back to Virginia ahead of the family who arrived the next day so that we could all celebrate my Aunt Barbara's and her twin sister Kay's 70th birthday! I hope that I have half the energy of those two remarkable women when I reach 70! It was a blessing to have the families together for a happy occasion.

Randall, Amy, Carley, and Bailey came over for a pre-New Year's family dinner. We took turns playing the kids in Wii. I'm not sure who had more fun, we'll have to let the pictures be the evidence. Carley is a pro at bowling, and Bailey loves the baseball.

Enjoy the photos and come visit soon!

Erik's Basement Project Phase I

This year I took on the project of finishing the basement to give us a complete home. The project started at the end of the February and was approved by the county in late August. It took longer then I had hoped but as you can see from previous posts on this blog we have had some other fun distractions this year. All work was completed by myself including the electric/plumbing/drywall/paint. Randall laid the tile in the utility room and Chance was a great long distance consultant. In the end it was fun, but I don't think I will do it again, well at least not until Phase II gets approved by the boss.
Here are some before and after shots:
This was what I started with.

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This is the future workout room 3/10/07. Picture on the left is looking back to front. Picture on the right is looking front to back. The yellow paint in the picture covers the stains from the previous owners who had a dog kennel for their dog. Duffy was happy to see it removed.
    
This is the final work out room. Kim has already put in several miles on the treadmill and even Duffy has put on a few steps too.

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A full bath adds value too the house but also convenience too!! No more running upstairs during those Belknap billard games!!! Duffy didn't care for the bath tub as he hasn't quite made friends with water yet but he is learning.

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And finally the Laundry room. I don't know much about this room but Kim says it looks great. Notice the tile floor! Thanks Randall!


The work looks much better in person so feel free to come visit!!!! (Just don't point out the rough spots)

Trips to Tallahassee and Blacksburg

Oh, the anticipation and heartbreak that is game-day! In the last three weeks, Erik and I made two trips to see the 'Noles. One to Tallahassee for the Miami game, and one to Blacksburg for the Virginia Tech game. The high points were spending time with family and friends with some heart stopping football. The low points were turn overs and a quarterback with a concussion. There is nothing more to say, we are hoping for a late season rally against the other Florida school on Thanksgiving weekend.

Erik did ask me if I had the choice would I rather beat Tech or Florida. Of course I said, "Both!" He made me choose and I had to say, "Florida." So maybe we will see a victory in the swamp before this season is over. It could happen Chris Rix managed it afterall.

Check out my Slide Show!

Soccer Day

Today Kim and I spent sometime with the family enjoying some friendly soccer. Carley's team coached by her dad was defeated 5-2 but played very well. Carley had several shots on goal and appeared to have had a blast. We then trekked to the other side of the county to watch Bailey fine tune his skills. After all the soccer we rushed home to entertain the Simei family with Kim's good cooking and my Wii skills.