Busy? Us? Nahhhhh!!

Where to begin - Deakin turns 26 today. He is traveling from Iraq to the U.S. as we speak. His deployment was cut short because he is fighting for primary custody of his son, 20-month-old Brenton. Brenton's mother tried to extinguish her life the early part of March. Our new dil, Nicole, was granted custody while the mother was in the hospital and then again the day after she was released. Brenton is doing well even with all the visitations and overnight stays with his mother. However, their custody hearing is scheduled for April 1st and hopefully things will basically stay the same. Deakin will be home - not being deployed again - so the judge should(?) give him primary with the mother getting visitations. It's sad but I'm so proud of him & Nicole for stepping up when Brenton needed them the most. One thing that the mother should remember: children are to be cherished and raised as children of God - they are NOT your possessions to be sought and controlled!

We are crazy busy with our last 16-week class for the Lay Ministry formation - it is on Catholic Social Teaching and very interesting. However, it includes 24 hour internship - direct service in charity and/or justice. So we've gotten involved in Circles (through the local CAP). It's an awesome program and I'll add some links here the next time I think of it. We will be involved a lot longer than 24 hours; however, I think it will be worth it. We also need to discern if we will continue with the formation for the next year.
In a couple of weeks, my dh and I will be flying east - to visit our youngest daughter and her family. Their new little guy is just over a month old but growing and thriving very well. She is still on leave from her job (probably another 4 weeks or so as she got 10 weeks leave) and we hope to just enjoy her and the baby and our other 3 grandchildren who live in the same area. More when we return.

Work is great but wow! very very busy. Lots going on here including dark $$ issues again; however, I'm not focusing on that - just on doing my job the best I can and thinking a little more "outside the box" to help the Libraries get through the latest round of budget cuts. Keep us all in your prayers.
Ken is doing well - no major illnesses this winter and we're changing our eating habits for the best. We've started on a simple calorie counting regime and it seems to be working for us both. Ken has lost 6.5 lbs in the past 2-3 weeks and I've dropped an additional 4 (I have been on weight watchers until recently and had lost nearly 20 lbs in about 11 months). Slowly but surely - we'll get these extra lbs off and stay at a healthy weight.  Counting calories is much easier than weight watchers because the calories are listed on everything you buy (we also have a great app called "My Fitness Pal" that is helping us immensely).

Until next time, enjoy Lent & Easter, count your blessings every single day, and remember that God loves AND so do Ken & I!! God bless....