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....

'Twas the Day After Christmas, and All Through the House.....

Not a creature was stirring.....much less PaPa and GaGa. On December 26, the VanderHorst siblings gathered at our home and had a wonderful dinner, gift exchange and plenty of time to catch up on the happenings, as the kids played, played, and played some more....
Here's some of the candid pics I caught people in....entered here in no particular order. (You already know that I am not good at getting pics put here in a specific order.) Gathering around all the goodies to catch up on "stuff".

The "missing tooth grin" from Charlie....I managed to catch him as he shot through the living room playing with his buds.

Dawson is testing out Josiah 's etch-a-sketch. Ya know....those toys have been around forever. They keep re-appearing every year in a new form. Good old Ohio Arts. And the kids love them.

Siah and Charlie stop for a pose....eaually toothless....

Lincoln & Charlie are engrossed in Josiah's hot wheels.....a hot item this year.

Here is our "polish princess", Jozie. Her Aunt Charolette used to have that title, but I think that Jozie has definitely taken over the title.

Susan & Christopher....of course Chris has to have his usual football shirt on....he has many. This picture was taken before he went outside with Dean to shoot a gun; and he got a kick-back from the gun or something like that.....tore his finger open. Stephanie had to do a few stitches to sew him up....fun day for him.

Jake and Kristen, his girl friend. See one, see them both....She is a sweetie, too.

The youngest of the VanderHorst grandchildren....Kennedy, or otherwise known as "Danger Danger". Don't let her cute looks fool you.....she is a wild child and will be balancing a-top a stairway railing if you don't watch her!

Chris & Susan's youngest, Dakota, shows her beautiful smile and she and her cousins were having a great old time....

Aunt Michelle and Madison smile as Madison shows this cute little angel she received from Michelle.

And again, our "polish princess" who dressed herself that morning, posing in front of my Christmas village.

This is the most wonderful picture of Santa and our second youngest, Charolette. Isn't it a beautiful picture? Really a wonderful moment.

And finally, just 3 days before Christmas, Josiah turned 6...He was just beside himself with excitement. He even got to blow out his candles 3 times!

What a week.....

Breakfast w/ Santa in Ashley, IN

This was how they announced the arrival of the guest of honor at the Breakfast with Santa at the firehouse in Ashley. They drove through town at 8 am and announced over their loud speaker: "ho ho ho, Come to the firehouse to have breakfast with Santa!" Chris thinks that he woke up a few kids.....and even saw one running down the street to get to the fire station before the firetruck. This was such a nice success. The firemen were happy....as were all of the kiddies.

Miss Jozelynn

Isn't this the most beautiful picture??? I just love it....so I thought that I would share it. Dean took Jozie to Chuckie Cheeze today. (A place that I would avoid like the plague!) But, I guess they were the first ones there and it was not chaotic.

Thank you Yvonne ....

I have resumed posting now ONLY because my computer wise little girl,Yvonne, was able to help me find the "error of my ways" with pictures. Inadvertantly the Html editing was clicked and it gave me giberish....but now things are resolved and here are some cool family pics. Here's Josiah posing with his newly lost tooth. Funny thing was that Charlie, his cousin had the same tooth loose and lost his the next day....

Here's a cute picture that was taken at Charolette's "Santa's Open House" last week. Litte Reagan just got so tired with all of her friends all day long that she crawled up on Santa's lap and snuggled down for a "winter's nap".

help!!! I'm getting frustrated!

This may be the end of this blog....cuz it's frustrating me. I have some cool pics to post, (like Josiah's first tooth lost, Josiah in a combine, and Santa!) but it's not letting me. They are only going on as giberish. I've tried every which way to Sunday....and no luck. If anybody has any ideas, please let me know. The alternative is to ditch this one and start another one....hate to do that, though....