A quick one.

I don't have much time to write because I am supposed to be working, but I was writing an e-mail to Mom and Dad and I explained things I've been doing and things that I will be doing so to fill you all in also I just pasted it below. Sorry, I will try to write more when I have time.

"I loved Sarah's photo's of your visit to Peter's baptism. I am doing very well. This past weekend was Corpus Christi, it was very beautiful! We started off with Mass and a procession at our house, then afterwards we went to Santander, the closest big city, to the Mass and Eucharistic procession there. It was very beautiful. The Monstrance was very large and beautiful on top of the big I don't know what we call it but elevated above everything else, going through the city. Tons of people were lined up on the streets and knelt as He went by, it was beautiful as if for once in time, He was seen as He really is, the King of kings! We followed Him the entire time, praying and singing as we walked closely behind.

Now we are heading out tomorrow to the vows ceremony which is on the 2nd of July. It is near the Sisters house in Valencia. After the vows ceremony, we have the Summer camps here in Spain which I will be going to and then right after that there is the entrance into the novitiate in Priego, Spain. I think 7 candidates will be entering this year. So I will not be able to write for awhile. But when I get back to Zurita and we get back into normal schedule, I'll be sure to write and tell you all about everything."

Testing out our new camera

So when Peter was about a week old our camera disappeared. I have NO idea where it went so we had to buy another one. It's a cannon and about the same quality as our last one...so far so good. Enjoy! (and I would LOVE to see more post from everyone! Especially those who have not posted yet!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOSV7MTsRUg

A great weekend . . .

We had a WONDERFUL time this past week starting with Mom's visit. She helped out so much with the kids and we had a ton of fun cooking and visiting. My baby shower was also planned for that week so mom got to enjoy that as well. :) Here is a picture of Gianna nursing her baby at the shower. She really wanted my nursing cover so I gave it to her while mom set her up with her baby. She loved it!







Little Peter is quite a bit
different than Gianna when she was this age. When mom came last time Gianna cried and cried . . . all the time! Peter is quite content being held and loved by us. I think he's going to be a pretty serious little boy. :) Gianna loves smothering him in kisses and tries to console him when he does cry, she's going to be a BIG help when she's a little older, she's very motherly.


So mom had NO idea that Robert and Elise were coming on Thursday. When they showed up I quickly asked mom to come down stairs to help me with the laundry. Of course she said yes right away and we went down there. Then Bobby started to walk down the stairs. (now Gianna can't do this on her own) and mom looked and started to say "wow" as if Gianna was doing it then she saw it was Bobby and was so surprised! It was fun to surprise her! It was so great to see Robert Elise and the kids, we had so much fun! Bobby was very good to Gianna, playing and including her in everything. And of course, Joyce is as cute as a button!














The good times just kept getting better! Pat and Anne showed up Friday shortly before dinner to stay with us for the weekend. What a blast we had!















They are now called Grandma Anne and Grandpa Pat. They are the kids' third set of grandparents! Friday night dad's plane was scheduled to get in at 1 am (4 am his time!) so Cyril, Robert and Pat went and watched the X-men movie at the theater and picked up Dad afterward. When I woke up in the morning Dad and Bobby were already playing outside with the croquet set so Gianna quickly joined them! It was so wonderful to see Dad and to see the grandbabies really enjoying his company.















Of course Gianna is not in this picture because she threw a fit! We spent all morning taking turns showering with our one bathroom and getting ready for the baptism. I do not have that many pictures of it all because my camera disappeared and most of the pictures are on Anna's camera. However, we did get a few with Mom's camera. Now for the big event!














I will be sure to post some of the actual baptism when I get them. :) Take a peek at the BEAUTIFUL gown that Mom made and the hat the Mary made for Peter:














The baptism was absolutely beautiful. Peter is now the closest soul to Christ! Not a stain or blemish can be found. :) There is no greater feeling as a parent than getting your little one baptized. We threw a BBQ lunch here afterward and really enjoyed ourselves. It was a little cold outside so Cyril, Dad, Robert and Pat went and got some whiskey and an axe to chop firewood. The rest of the evening we enjoyed the fire and yummy smore's. On Sunday we went to 9 am mass, took naps and relaxed the rest of the day. Robert and Elise took us all to Black Angus for dinner without the little kiddos. It was such a treat! We then went to a bar to play pool and after it closed we went bowling. It's been so long since we have all gotten to hang out like that, I enjoyed every minute. On Monday Mom left with Robert and Elise as they headed home to San Jose. I was so sad they left that I was practically in tears all day! (Adding to that the lack of sleep - it was not a good combination!) But Dad, Gianna, Peter and I went to the zoo as Cyril went back to work. After we got home Dad took Gianna for a two hour walk. :) It was so nice to enjoy some quiet time and Gianna really took to "bampa" that day. Dad left later that evening on a red eye back to Virginia.

All in all is was a wonderful week. It was entirely too short, but aren't all of our visits? I have comfort in knowing that our separation here on earth is only temporary and God willing we will all spend eternity together. Thank goodness for things like the telephone and this blog...it would be unbearable without them! I love you all so much!

"All the wealth in the world cannot be compared with the happiness of living together happily united." - Blessed Margaret

Hello from Spain!

HI, 

Sorry its been awhile. I arrived into Madrid, Spain on the 13th, hung out with the sisters there for the day well I actually slept for most of the time at their house, then caught my flight up to Santander in the evening, when I arrived I found out that we were going to start Spiritual excercises that night after Mass. So we started after Mass and that was my first week here in Spain. It was very good, even though I particularly don´t like being in silence for a week, it was very good for me. 

Now we have started our regular Summer schedule. I have been working in our garden, mostly weeding and sewing habits for all the candidates who will enter this Summer, on July 16th. Beside that, I´ve just been living our life of community, praying and cleaning our house together, visiting with other sisters from other communities who came up for spiritual excercises. I will be sure to take pictures to show eveyone all the improvements done to our house since last year. 

I loved the picture of Mom and Dad and the grandchildren. Thanks Mom.

I love you all and will hopefully write again soon. 

More pictures . . .

Happenings in Florida...

Hello all! So glad Mary came up with this brillant idea of a family blog, love it! So now to update everyone on the goings-on at the Stong's. On an eariler post Mary mentioned that she came and visited us for Memorial Day weekend, we were so blessed and excited to have her, if only she could've stayed longer. But the time we had was well spent, we went bowling, played at the beach all day and had a delicious bbq steak for dinner there as well, played games and drank wine all weekend. We hope to see you again soon, Mary!

Just this week, Addy has been sitting up all by herself!!!!! We are so excited that our little girl is getting so big and she thinks it's pretty cool too :) We still put padding around her when we're not sitting next to her, she's still a bit wobbly.

Also, a couple weeks ago Brian was given an award for getting in the top 10% of all the Naval Aviator Students for the ground school portion of Primary training. The families were invited to attend a casual award ceremony where we got to meet the CO(commanding officer) of Training Wing 5. Yay, hubby! I am so proud of you!

The Casita Girls

"The Girls"

back: Me, Andrea

middle: Shelby, Rachel H., Our Lady, and Rachel N.

front: Helen and Marina

So, here in Jacksonville, I live in what we call The Casita, which means "little house" in spanish. I live here now with 5 other Candidates and one lay member of the Home who asked to live with us for a time for the sake of working at the school and living the schedule with us, she is the one in the yellow shirt, Andrea.

Here at the parish everyone calls us "The Girls", it's kinda comical around here.

We took the picture the other night, one of the Candidates missed it because she went home to visit family but for the semester, there were eight of us. Right now I am in charge of planning and cooking all the meals, it's sometimes a challenging job but I like it.