Say a prayer for Lisa and Nick

Many of you are aware that Lisa and Nick have had a seies of problems with their house recently. I think its starting to get to Lisa a bit. Here is the scene I encountered when I drove up their driveway the other day. Lisa was flustered when I pointed out what she had done. John Paul was was totally unfazed. What a great kid.

Seven days until Kathy gets married!

Seven days from today, Kathy Kloska will become Kathy Downey. This is such an appropriate name change since she already often smells April fresh. In honor of her wedding, I thought I would post this picture of her from the time she traveled to Ghana, West Africa with me and my group from Holy Cross College. Can you find Kathy in this picture?

Xavier Kauffman speaks about Johnny

Did he appear to Xavier Kauffman?

A quote from Bridget Kauffman's e-mail (used with permission)

"We still miss Johnny - not that that will change, we will always fondly remember him- but just so you know the sadness has not faded. We are hoping to go visit your parents in a month or so- just for an afternoon and say hello. Please keep me posted on how they are doing and how Theresa is doing along with the rest of your beautiful family. I know this is random, but Xavier said something interesting Sunday. We were driving through town this past Sunday and the sun was straming through the clouds as never before in my memory. It was so beautiful, and Michael and I were commmenting on this to each other when Xavier piped up. He said, "I see Johnny." - as if he was just casually joining in our conversation. I said, "What do you mean, like you see God's glory in the streams of light and that is where Johnny is?" He said, "No, I see johnny's smiling face where the sun is." Mike said "Johnny who?" Xavier while still staring up at the sun said, "Johnny who played with me." I said, "What does he look like." Xavier said, "It is brown Johnny." I said, "What color hair does he have." Xavier said, "Brown hair, but he has no hair." He looked back up and said nonchalantly that he did not see him anymore. Mike and I just looked at each other. Mares, the thing is, if it was Mikey talking, I might second guess him, but Xavier does not make up stories like that, and his face the whole time was just speaking plainly as if it was a fact we were all witnessing. It does give us peace in joy in seeing Johnny in heaven. Xavier made me think of all that we are missing by not having our hearts fully open to God. Xavier loves so much that I really think he sees far more than we do (all children probably do) as far as the spiritual world."

Newly discovered photos of Johnny

That devilish smile!

It turns out that Mary and Johnny's Polish friends took a few pictures of him while he was visiting last year. Through the courtesy of Mary, I'll be posting some great pictures of Johnny for the next several days. Thanks! If you want to save a picture to your computer, I suggest clicking on it first (this enlarges it) and then right click and hit "Save Picture as".

Happy Birthday Dad!

Thanks for everything Dad.

Keep smiling! Though the sky is gray in this picture,

your radiant dome/smile brightens our lives.

Quick, somebody get me some sunglasses.

Happy Birthday U.S.A.

Are you patriotic? This is the flag that countless people have died defending. Question for reflection: What have you done recently to help preserve the integrity of our country, to keep this flag worth defending? I know I haven't done enough. We are in the midst of a culture war. The only thing necessary for evil to prevail in the world is for good people to do nothing. Will our children be able to be proud of this flag?

Happy Birthday B.J.!

Well, I don't really have any pictures of you except this one. I'll never forget the drive home from Elcona when you were born. Dad had a buzzer on his car that went off when he exceeded a preset speed. It was buzzing the whole way home! Hope you had a great birthday.