Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Merry Christmas and a Christmas Mystery for You


Skating on Lake Koshkonong on Christmas Day
Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! Christmas is such a special feast that it has an "octave"--its celebration is extended for eight days. So in my book, it's still Christmas today!

Junior Priests' Get-Together
I spent the days before Christmas in Northern Indiana at a gathering of "Junior Priests"--priests who have been ordained five years or less. Many of us have known each other since we first joined the seminary, so it's nice to have time to talk, play, and pray, just us.

Christmas Mass with... a lot of priests!!! - photo by Father Brett Taira

Concelebrating Christmas Mass - photo by Father Brett Taira
Now I am in Wisconsin with 120+ other priests for the next week or so. It sure is interesting to have more priests than people for mass!
Our White Wisconsin Christmas
I love white Christmases, and Wisconsin is the right place to be for them--yesterday we woke up to a carpet of snow covering the ground.

Skating on perfect ice on Christmas Day - photo by Deacon Jared Loehr

An even better surprise for me was discovering that the nearby lake was frozen solid and the ice was perfect for skating.

Telling the Story of Theodore and the Christmas Mystery
I wrote a little story about a boy named Theodore, and I thought you might enjoy it. It's called "Theodore and the Christmas Mystery". I recorded it and put it on Youtube. It's about 19 minutes long.

May God bless you, have a blessed Christmas!
Father Kevin
www.cblstones.com 
My Amazon Wishlist is here.
Gofundme for Handicap Van for my little brother John Paul is here.
Gofundme for a car for Father Kevin is here.


Saturday, December 8, 2018

wheels for John Paul

John Paul and me

Dear Friends,

The words in Mass yesterday from Isaiah chapter 29 hit me: 

On that day the deaf shall hear
    the words of a book;
And out of gloom and darkness,
    the eyes of the blind shall see.

Perhaps you know that my little brother John Paul is blind and partially deaf. At one point, I thought he was entirely deaf, until a little adventure we had together that I write about here







I found out from taking him ice skating, something which we still try to do every time I’m home for a visit. He loves it, and I love taking him. 

A while back our family tried to get a better mobility van to carry John Paul around in his wheelchair through a sort of online contest, which we did not win. 

Now, instead of a contest, my mom and dad have put together a Gofundme campaign to help the family get John Paul a new van.

Why do we need a new van? The old one worked when John Paul was younger, but now that he’s almost six feet tall, it’s quite a chore just to get him inside without hitting his head on the car door. It's a 25 year old van with all sorts of issues, and besides that my parents are getting older and they need something that is easier to move him in and out of. 

The Gofundme campaign is live at https://www.gofundme.com/wheels-for-john-paul. I ask you to prayerfully consider supporting this campaign for John Paul, my little brother. And feel free to pass this message on to anyone you think would be interested.

May God bless you, and have a blessed Advent!
Father Kevin