Vadney Family Visit

Well today I had the grace and the gift of visiting the Vadney Family aka Dianne Dewane's Family! The afternoon began in visiting the Stickley Museum where Greg Vadney is it's first museum director. It is amazing to hear about all that is involved with creating, setting up, and running a museum. Here are three pictures from my visit. One of the museum timeline, one of Greg, and one of my (I am sitting on the Stickley chair similar to the one made for the Dalai Lama to sit in).
After doing the dinner shift at the food pantry Greg, Dianne, Katherine, and John came to the friary and got a tour of the Church, the Food Pantry, and the Health Clinic. Then we did a thorough search for someplace to yet dinner. After going to four restaurants we finally found one that was open, had pizza, and was kid friendly. All went will, everyone was fed and then we went to the Vadney Home to put the kids to bed. Here is a picture of the whole gang in the Vadney Home. And Lastly here is a picture of John and I wearing our Jamaican Shirts.

Last Day in Canada

After going to church twice I got to spend the rest of my last day in Canada with my blood cousins. The first three pictures are from the skyline in downtown Toronto. One = The CN Tower. Two = The Skydome. Three = Royal Bank Plaza (it is plated with gold).

Now for pictures of the Family!

A picture of the Cousins: Me, Rafik, Rami, Patrick, and Andre

A picture of the whole Gang: Rafik, Me, Taunt Paula, Patrick, Rami, Andre, and Uncle Adel

Rami and I

Hadi and I

Sunday Church Visits

On Sunday I woke up and found out that the night before when my Uncle Hadi and I came home from dinner with Taunt Sonia and her son Patrick, I actually left both the house and my car keys on the outside of the front door. On top of that I locked front door from the inside of the house and when my cousins came home early Sunday morning they found the keys in the door. After apologizing for my stupid mistake to my Uncle Adel I went to church at St. Bonaventure's for 8:30am Mass. This is the same Church that Reto had his Solemn Vows of Profession and it was founded and built in 1959 by the friars. Below are pictures of the outside of the church, the church sign, and inside of the church.
After Mass I then when to Grace Chapel to visit my cousin Amira and to worship with her. Interestingly Grace Chapel is currently worshiping in the basement of the Holiday Inn. This Baptist rooted congregation is a break off of another church that is Presbyterian rooted. My cousin is part of the music ministry from this community. Prior to Sunday I never knew she played the piano or the keyboard. Below are pictures of the outside of the church, the church logo, and inside of the church.Lastly here are two pictures of my cousin Amira: one of her playing the keyboard and one of the two of us. To be honest Amira is not my blood cousin but only cousin by name, I just wanted to clarify.

Bed

It is 12:42am and I just got in from Canada. I will post pictures from my adventures with the relatives tomorrow!

Reto's Solemn Profession of Vows

Today was the not only the celebration of the Assumption of Mary but it was also the Profession of Solemn Vows of Friar Reto Davatz. After waking up and checking out of the hotel I went to my Taunt (Arabic of Aunt) Paula's house for breakfast with my Uncle Adel and their two children Rami and Andre. Soon after breakfast I was off to St. Bonaventure Church for Reto's profession where my other Aunt - Taunt Sonia and her husband Uncle Ezzat. It was a wonderful celebration here are a couple pictures from the day.

Reto's Being Called ForthReto prostrating for the Litany of the Saints

Reto Professing his Solemn Vows in the hands of Fr. Justin Biase
with his witnesses Friar Brad Mulinski (Left) and Friar Peter Cowans (Right)

A close-up during the Profession

Reto Signing the Book

The Presentation of the Gifts: Reto's Mom is giving Reto's Dad (the Deacon) the Bread

Mr. Davatz preparing the wine

Uncle Ezzat, Me, and Taunt Sonia at the reception

My family with Reto

Congratulation Reto!!!!

Canada

Hello Everyone! I am currently in Toronto, Canada. Tomorrow on August 15, Friar Reto Davatz will be professing his Solemn Vows. So I drove up to Canada from Syracuse to support and celebrate with him. Also on this trip I will visit with my two aunts, one uncle, and my cousins. I can't wait to see them and to celebrate one of aunt's birthday on Sunday. Well I am going to cut this post short because I am using the hotel's common computer and there are people waiting. Until tomorrow...

Softball

Today was my first experience of watching the Poverello Team play softball. The Poverello Team is composed of a hodgepodge of religious, married, and single women who gather of Thursday Evening to play against other local teams. The Sisters are members of the Sisters of St. Francis, the same community as Blessed Marianne Cope. Below are some pictures for the game. PS: After the game we went to Twin Trees for pizza! It was delicious.

Sr. Cyril

(Teacher during the school year, pantry volunteer on Tuesdays, and pitcher by night)

Sr. Dolly

(Sister of many talents by day and third base by night)

Sr. JP

(Nurse by day and second base/pitcher by night)

Terry

(Head boss man at the pantry Thursday and Friday and Blessed Marianne Cope Museum tour guide by day and Dad and softball coach by night)

Nancy (Head boss lady at the pantry Monday-Wednesday by day and Mom, sewer, quilter, apple-guru, and sports fan by night) and Pat (Monday and Friday volunteer at the pantry by day and Italian cook and sports fan by night)

The Three Musketeers:

Srs. Dolly, JP and Cyril

The Whole Gang

(Nancy, Sr. Cyril, Pat, Me, Sr. JP, and Sr. Dolly - Minus Coach)

Serenity Prayer...

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Hello Everyone! Peace be with you! Lately I have been reflecting on the Serenity Prayer. At first it was a prayer that I did not like and it was difficult one to pray, but now I see it's beauty and it's underlining push for peace. I decided to do a Good Search about the Serenity Prayer and looked for information about the prayer and found out something interesting. First that the prayer was written by Reinhold Niebuhr an American Protestant theologian in 1943. Second - the interesting fact - that the prayer as we know it is actually an abbreviated form and the entire prayer reads as follows:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.
Amen.

May this addition to the Serenity Prayer give you more fruit for your thought and spiritual life!

Feast of St. Clare

Today is the Feast of St. Clare and it was a busy day at the pantry! Since we are in the middle of month - our "low" period - we are trying to build up a stock of sandwiches for the end of the month and when the child-feeding programs ends. Since the pantry's regular meat slicers were not here today yours truly became the meat slicer for the day. The first picture is of bologna before it is sliced. We have to cut the meat in half before we begin to cut the bologna using the slicer. The second picture is of the bologna on the slicer and lastly there is a picture of me cutting the meat.

But this was only the beginning of my time in the kitchen today. Myself, Sr. Therese (a Franciscan Sister originally from Egypt), and Linda (our friary cook) collaborated to make an Arabic/Egyptian meal. We made Molokhia with rice and roasted chicken. I made the Molokhia (a green leaf soup, chicken broth, and roasted garlic) and a red onion with red wine vinegar topping. Sr. Therese made the rice. Linda made the roasted chicken. The dinner was served with pita bread and mango and guava juice. Thankfully the friars and the sisters loved the meal. So cheers to St. Clare and may the food and the company always for good.

PS: Br. Jim Moore says "Blog this" and Br. Peter wishes to be "unblogged"

Rain, Rain, and more Rain

Peace be with you! Well after living in San Antonio and in Jamaica I prayed and prayed for rain. While on vacation in NJ and over the past two days in Syracuse those prayers have been answered; oh how I wish that I could funnel that rain to San Antonio or Jamaica. Maybe in the future this could be possible.

Like most things rain can be a blessing and a curse. It can be a blessing because it can grant farmers and their crops with abundant produce to feed countless people. Yet rain can also be a curse because it can be dangerous to drive with and devastating to the homeless and poor. Today I saw that curse or the inconvenience while serving dinner at the food pantry. Some of those we minister to came in drenched head to toe with rain. I wish I could have done something to help them. Hopefully a smile and a warm hello helped them to have a not so dreary day.

God Bless and Stay Dry!

Blessed Marianne Cope

Today is the 91st Death Anniversary of Mother Marianne Cope a member of the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse. In honor of the saint I new very little about I went to her Shrine for Mass today with Fr. Conrad. Here is a link to her website Blessed Marianne Cope Website. Blessed Marianne worked with those suffering from leprosy in Hawaii. A quote of hers that I like is “The charity of the good knows no creed and is confined to no one place." Here are some pictures from the Shrine where there is a wooden reliquary with here remains.

Day 1

Today is my father's birthday! He turns 68 and is still as loving, carefree, and funny (or trying to be) as ever. Unfortunately I was not able to make it down to New Jersey from Syracuse to see him but I called him and he knows that I am praying for him. Here is a picture with my dad and family from his birthday last year!Cheers to you Pops!

Julie and Julia...

Dear Family, Friends, Friars, and those who may find this interesting,

Peace be with you! As you can tell from looking at my "Older Posts" section I have not been so faithful to my blog. Well last night I went to see the movie Julie and Julia which I loved for three reasons. One is because it is about Julia Child and my mother loves Julia Child and so do I. Two is because I love cooking and eating. And three because Julie Powell has now inspired me to make a blog commitment... for those who know me well brace yourselves!

I promise to post on my blog each day for the next year! Yep, 365 days and 365 posts!

Here I go....