Easter Vigil

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Icy Beach

I haven't had the chance to take many pictures in the past month, the few I did were of Christmas decorations we put up at the hospital. But I finally got the chance to take some today in Kenosha. Even though the snow has mostly melted there are these buildups of ice along the water's edge. I thought it was pretty neat looking.

I'm Far Too Entertained By This

Smokers

I really dislike smoking so for me the bans on smoking in restaurants are a plus. But then the conservative part of me is conflicted because of the freedom to decide whether or not there is smoking in your establishment. So I'm sort of a strange person to talk about smoking about. Smoking in restaurants isn't allowed in Kenosha County unless you have a seperate room for it - which I really like. If you want to smoke you can, but those of us who don't like smoking don't have to breathe it. The imaginary smoking/non-smoking line in restaurants was always a joke anyway.

There was a recent failed push to ban smoking almost everywhere in Kenosha, but I believe that failed and has been put aside at the moment. There are some places where I expect smoking like bars - I thought it was stupid to ban smoking in bars.

Anyway I was at this store today where they sell gifts and cigars. I saw this poster, and although I have some mixed views on smoking I thought it was clever.
I took this on my new cellphone.

Whoa

This weekend at our parish we had a visiting priest who was doing a mission on NFP for the parish, Fr. Daniel McCaffrey from NFP Outreach.

Father Daniel McCaffrey was ordained in 1958. A year later he departed for the Muslim country of Pakistan where he served for over eight years as a missionary. Father holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicam) in Rome. In 1968, during the Vietnam Conflict Father joined the United States Army Chaplain Corps. During more than twenty years of active duty he served in Vietnam, Korea, Germany and Honduras, as well as numerous army installations throughout the United States.

During his ministry he has worked in the Apostolate of Marriage Enrichment establishing successful Natural Family Planning programs on the diocesan and parish levels. Father is a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

He also did each of the masses over the weekend. The homily he did... wow. First of all an average mass lasts, what about 50 minutes? Maybe a little more? His homily lasted for about 50 minutes. My Dad had gone to the earlier mass of the day, and I went to the one after CCD, so I knew to expect an exceptionally long homily. And I knew he was at the parish to preach about NFP. I wasn't all that thrilled, I was not that excited to hear a 45+ homily on NFP, that sort of thing just doesn't appeal to me. And usually I'm distracted 5 minutes into a homily. Not today though. I was absolutely engaged on everything he had to talk about for the whole 50 minutes.

He covered All Saints Day and All Souls Day, the culture of death, the media and the culture of death, the failure of priests to teach and preach, and our failure as the laity by contracepting ourselves away. I can't ever remember ever hearing anything like it before from the pulpit, and I suppose I won't again anytime soon.

I really can't do his talk any justice by writing about it, but if you ever hear that he is speaking near you go see him. It will be worth it.

Immaculee

We had a chance to see Immaculee Ilibagiza speak in Kenosha Saturday night. She has a very powerful story and it was very moving. We had missed out on seeing her earlier this year in Chicago, but I'm glad we were able to see her speak last night. I bought her second book (I already own the first one) which she signed for me.

I believe she also mentioned that she is going to have another book coming out about Our Lady of Kibeho. During the question/answer period someone asked her if there is going to be a movie made about her life, and indeed there is going to be sometime in the future.







Here's an overview of her story if you've never heard of her.

Immaculée Ilibagiza

Immaculée Ilibagiza is a living example of faith put into action. Immaculée's life was transformed dramatically during the 1994 Rwandan genocide where she and seven other women spent 91 days huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor's house. Immaculée entered the bathroom a vibrant, 115-pound university student with a loving family - she emerged weighing just 65 pounds to find her entire family had been brutally murdered (with the exception of one brother who had been studying out of the country).

Immaculée credits her salvage mostly to prayer and to a set of rosary beads given to her by her devout Catholic father prior to going into hiding. Anger and resentment about her situation were literally eating her alive and destroying her faith, but rather than succumbing to the rage that she felt, Immaculée instead turned to prayer. She began to pray the rosary as a way of drowning out the negativity that was building up inside her. Immaculée found solace and peace in prayer and began to pray from the time she opened her eyes in the morning to the time she closed her eyes at night. Through prayer, she eventually found it possible, and in fact imperative, to forgive her tormentors and her family's murderers.

Immaculée's strength in her faith empowered her to stare down a man armed with a machete threatening to kill her during her escape. She also later came face to face with the killer of her mother and her brother and said the unthinkable, "I forgive you." Immaculée knew, while in hiding, that she would have to overcome immeasurable odds without her family and with her country destroyed. Fortunately, Immaculée utilized her time in that tiny bathroom to teach herself English with only The Bible and a dictionary; once freed she was able to secure a job with the United Nations.

In 1998, Immaculée immigrated to the United States where she continued her work with the UN. During this time she shared her story with co-workers and friends, who were so impacted they insisted she write it down in book form. Three days after finishing her manuscript she met best selling author, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, who, within minutes of meeting her, offered to publish her book. Dyer is quoted as saying, "There is something much more than charisma at work here - Immaculée not only writes and speaks about unconditional love and forgiveness, but she radiates it wherever she goes."

Immaculée's first book, Left to Tell; Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust (Hay House) was released in March of 2006. Left to Tell quickly became a New York Times Best Seller. To date it has been translated into fifteen languages worldwide. Immaculée's story has also been made into a documentary titled "The Diary of Immaculée." She has appeared in numerous media including 60 Minutes, CNN, EWTN, The Aljazeera Network, The New York Times, USA Today, Newsday, and many other domestic and international outlets. She was recently featured in Michael Collopy's "Architects of Peace" project, which has honored legendary people like Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, and the Dalai Lama.

Immaculée has received honorary doctoral degrees from The University of Notre Dame, Saint John's University, Seton Hall, The University of St. Thomas, and Siena College. She has been recognized and honored with numerous humanitarian awards including: The Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace 2007; a finalist as one of Belifnet.com's "Most Inspiring People of the Year 2006," and a recipient of the American Legacy's Women of Strength & Courage Award. Left to Tell has received a Christopher Award "affirming the highest values of human spirit," and been chosen as Outreach Magazine's selection for "Best Outreach Testimony/Biography Resource of 2007." Left to Tell has been adopted into the curriculum of dozens of high schools and universities, including Villanova University, which selected it for the 2007-2008 "One Book Program," making Left to Tell mandatory reading for 6,000 students. in 2008, Immaculée was awarded the America’s Freedom Award.

Immaculée recently hosted a documentary titled "Ready to Forgive, An African Story of Grace," a project sponsored by The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. The film focuses on the Acholi people of Northern Uganda and their desire to forgive their tormentors. “Ready to Forgive” has been broadcasted on NBC and the Hallmark Channel.

Immaculée recently signed a contract with MPower Pictures to produce a major motion picture about her story.

Today Immaculée is regarded as one of world's leading speakers on peace, faith, and forgiveness. She has shared her universal message with world dignitaries, school children, multinational corporations, churches, and at many conferences. Immaculée works hard to spread her message and to raise money for her Left to Tell Charitable Fund which directly benefits the children orphaned by the genocide.

I Am

an American.

The Little Things in Life

I've been sort of crabby the past few days because I just can't stand listening to the election anymore. Maybe its just because my guy isn't acting like he wants to be the guy anymore. But, I'm really not making a political post here.

I saw this little guy in the grass this afternoon, what a cutie. I probably scared him half to death taking these pictures, but I left him in peace after a minute or two.

This is how he was when I first saw him.


Then like this after he hopped to a new spot.


Then he was ready for his closeup, too bad it ended up a little out of focus.

How Exciting

Gas under $3, woohoo.

Life Chain

The weather didn't hold for our Life Chain today, but I think we had a good showing even still.

Pelican

I was taking pictures around my church again this evening after mass. I was mostly focusing on the stained glass windows. I always look at the one obviously behind the altar, and the ones in the middle along the side of the church because thats usually about where we sit. But since I was taking pictures I went and looked at the ones along the side in the back. On one side was an image of the Lamb of God. On the other was the pelican. It was only a few months ago that I learned that the pelican is another symbol for Jesus. I had never read that before, but earlier this summer I took pictures of some pelicans at the zoo and when I came home and did some reading about them I was surprised to learn of its symbolism.

Legend has it that, in times of famine, a mother pelican will pluck her own breast and feed her young with her blood, resulting in her death. The pelican is thus an apt symbol for the crucifixion of Christ, which he suffered willingly for the sake of the church.

Source

Micki at Holy Cards for Your Inspiration shared this holy card earlier this year.

Photos from my Church

Took these of our Church last week.









Detail of the Good Shepherd stained glass window.

Finally Getting a Day Off

I haven't been to Kenosha in the past few weeks because one of my coworkers went home to Albania, so I have had to help cover her shifts. Actually come to think of it I haven't even had a day off in a couple weeks. I was supposed to have Sunday off, but one of my other coworkers got sick so I had to cover her shift on Saturday (I was already supposed to work Saturday, but I had to work longer hours) and then I had to pick up her shift for Sunday. I'm really looking forward to this weekend now and just being able to relax, maybe go out and take some photos around town. I haven't had much to take pictures of the last few weeks, just the bread I made last night and thats not that exciting.

My Mom did take a picture last week that I thought was adorable. I guess this is a katydid. To me its a leaf bug, but I showed it to one of my friends who studies insects and she was pretty sure thats what it is. I have never seen one before, which surprised her, so I think its a pretty awesome shot.

Recognizing All Our Vets

Kenosha's new Civil War Museum opened up a few months ago, although after the fire they had during construction the timeline was thrown off and it is still not yet complete. One exhibit that I was especially looking forward to is a room dedicated to the veterans of all wars and it opened recently. Honestly, although the Civil War Museum is interesting a museum about the Civil War in Kenosha involves some effort to appreciate. The museum is not dedicated as much to battles but instead the social impact the war had on the midwest. It is an important aspect of the war, and I'm sure it had a huge impact on the area and many aspects of society, it doesn't have quite the same impact as a museum in the south or at a famous battlefield would have. Social history isn't quite as sexy as battle history.

Anyway, back to the new room that opened, it is dedicated to the veterans of all American wars, and has artifacts from each. I found it to be moving, and the impact is much more easily appreciated. As I was standing there a family came through and looked around and a young man commented to the rest of the family that they 'have to bring Grandpa here to see this'. Although I appreciate the impact the civil war had on the midwest and the country, I think a museum dedicated to all wars would have been much more meaningful to the community, and certainly the civil war would be a part of that. It was proposed to the mayor prior to the building of the museum, although I do appreciate that the room is included in the museum.

I wish the exhibit was larger, it is very powerful, although it does not photograph as well.


The room is actually very dark as you can see in the other photos, this one I used the flash for just to get an overview of the room. The central part of the exhibit consists of soldiers from different eras around the campfire in discussion.

Each wall section has the name of an American War, and then the alcove behind it has artifacts from that conflict inside.





World War I





World War II



Vietnam



"Gulf Wars"



As I mentioned before the Civil War Museum is still under construction, including the main exhibit, which I walked through earlier this year. As part of the opening ceremonies in March and again in June the main exhibit was opened to the public. I blogged about it here in March. I'm a little less enthusiastic about it now than I was then because I haven't seen that it will be much more than what I saw in the early stages then. It looks like they have really been working on it though and it looks very interesting. This is the one area of the museum that will require an admission fee, the rest is open to the public.



I hope the museum will be a success, I just think I would have preferred something with a wider scope. But kudos to the city and to those who planned the museum to include an area that recognizes all our veterans.