Forty Years + 2

Tippecanoe Place, a positively extravigant mansion built by the Studebakers. This is all Indiana fieldstone. The name comes somewhat from this being the campground of the Miami Indian chief, Tippecanoe; and also from whence came the presidential campaign slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler too", who was friends with the Studebaker family. Thus, this is Tippecanoe. We had a positively wonderful lunch here and then toured the entire home. On the way to South Bend last Sunday, I asked Chris what South Bend was known for and how it got it's start. Now I know: for the Oliver chilled plows, which revolutionized farming back in the 19th century, and for the Studebaker carriages, wagons and cars, which were all made here, with the motivational slogan "always give more than you promise".

At the Oliver Inn, where we stayed, next door....this "pianist" played during our breakfasts.

And here is another butler who looked after our every need....

THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF OUR LIVES TOGETHER....IN SOUTH BEND, IN

This is the magnificent Oliver Inn B&B, one of the two mansions built by the Oliver family back in the 19th centurly. The other one was the museum that we toured today. Do you see the frost on the trees? It was positively beautiful this morning.

This was the beautiful table where we had a breakfast of some special kind of French toast, sausage and fruit. Really nice.

This was the view out the window from our dining room at the frost covered trees, toward the mansion next door, Tippicanoe, which is now a restaurant. Perhaps tomorrow we can see inside. It was closed today. It's huge.

Bunny prints in the frozen frost covered side walk outside the Inn.

The beautiful roses the kids gave us, next to our wedding unity candle (which is about 5 inches shorter than it was 40 years ago) on the mantle in our room at the B & B

Sacred Heart Basilica at Notre Dame University. I wanted to see it, but unfortunately a Mass was in progress inside, offered by the top dog of the University, Fr. Jenkins. It was being offered for the people of Haiti. We did step inside; it was full; It is totally awesome and beautiful, but I could not take any pictures at that point.

Here's a picture that I forgot to post on Saturday night, when Christopher's family came early....for our surprise party, which I had no clue about. The Tooth Fairy had a 2-fer at our house. Josiah and Dakota both lost teeth. Wasn't that time saving for the tooth fairy?

THE BIG "FOUR-O"; THE RUBY ANNIVERSARY

They did it. They all schnookered us! Had NO clue! Apparently the kids had this in the planning for a year or more. We're flabertasted. Everyone who has more than one child knows that it is difficult to get the family orchestrated to move at the same time in the same direction. Our six kids managed the impossible. And even more spectacularly, they all surprised us at Mass. We walked in, looking stupid, because Fr. Dave had seen us there the night before...and we were still clueless. He told me to look over at the other side of the gym (our church is under renovation)...and there was this sea of red waving at us.....
Apparently Fr. Dave was aware of this for a looooooong time. (Wait until I get him!) So, after Mass, we were invited up to renew our vows. (The last time we did that was at 30 yrs in Maui....but we were alone. This is so much more important because all of the people who are the most special people to us in the whole world were there....all except for Ashleigh, Ashley, Brndon and Dawson, gone on a Boy Scout "thing", and little Charolette, sickie today.....5 of the 20 grandkids. But they are in our hearts.) And I again have no clue what I was laughing about here...Chris seemed a bit more "controlled" than me....
Following Mass, the kids had made reservations at my favorite Mexican restaurant.
After dinner, we went to our home, where we were given directions to this wonderful B & B in South Bend, IN.
More to follow about that....cuz we're still here.....

GOD BLESS CHARLIE COMPANY...

About 20 extremely hardy soles gathered a-top a highway overpass in Indiana, to give a send off to the "best & the brightest" our Country has to offer...Charlie Company, Michigan National Guard was headed for Afganistan. They were on the above busses. All of their gear/vehicles are already gone to the war zone.

Here we were gathering and waiting for the buses. We got lots of honks from semi's passing under the bridge. They saw the flags. We luckily had a daughter of one of the troops texting one of our group, telling us their progress (they were following the busses). We got a 15 minute warning, 10 min....and then right over the hill!

The wind was brisk, and this was the sign that we hope they actually saw. We know that they saw all the waving flags, because they flashed their head lights at us and some waved.

When one person joined the group, he said, "We gotta be crazy"....I responded: "Yes....we are. But those guys on the buses are anything but crazy. They deserve us being here...."

The chill factor was way down in the single digits. It was so cold....

January 3, 2010: LAST MASS CELEBRATED AT ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH BEFORE RESTORATION

Yesterday was a bitter-sweet day for the parish family of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Waterloo, IN. Our last Mass there was celebrated by Fr. Dave. The restoration of our 90 year old church (130 yr. old parish community) has been long anticipated and longed for. The high altar is topped by the statue of our patron, St. Michael the Archangel.

After the last Mass, Fr. Dave processed out of the church carrying the Eucharist. The parishioners followed him outside, in silence (which is pretty good for our "gabby" parish).

Father stood outside in the bitter cold as the folks passed him and the Eucharist.

A very poignant moment for our church.

Next week we meet at a community center about 5 miles or so away from our beloeved church. We will probably be there for about 6 months to celebrate our Feast.

Now the work begins. We have to empty the church: the statues are going to live with Father (he'll really have a house full of old friends) (the statue of St. Michael atop the altar should be a challange to get down), the benches are to be taken apart and sent to Chicago to be refinished. And then some trailers will pull up outside the church and we'll begin putting the boxes and boxes of "stuff" (ie. music, books, etc.) in those for storage. Then the "destruction" of the inside begins. We are all eager for this....