Weekend Update

We had Special Olympics practice on our schedule for Saturday morning, but Mother Nature had other plans. When I looked out the front door on my way down the stairs, I saw a winter wonderland. We had an overnight snowstorm. For Belgium anyway! We had about an inch of snow and it was still heavily falling. I checked online and there were travel cautions posted, icy and slick conditions. I decided that SO, excellent as it is, is not worth driving 20 min in bad weather. So after breakfast and coffee the girls and I climbed into my big bed and watched a movie on the laptop, all cozy and snug!

I did some housework and took a long walk, molly ran of course, she can't stand to miss a day! Charlotte had No problem missing a day!

Danny walked home around 4:15 ish. I had gone out in the car and just missed him I guess, he didn't care. We had made a sign and baked a tart from the frozen store for him, so he felt welcome.

He had a blast on the trip, they won all their games, and the coach , since he was on the A team, 8th grade, and not getting a lot of playing time, had him play on the B team as well. He played a lot this way, and on the B team scored 12 points. He really enjoyed that, didn't look at it as a demotion or anything, so that was good. He liked the family he was with, for dinner they had....wait for it, all together now...Spaghetti Bolognese!! Hilarious that this is the ubiquitous European dish. They also gave him a bag of Haribo gummy bears, which are manufactured in Bonn ( the BO in the name). They even send the kids on their way with a sack lunch for the bus ride home, nice,huh?!

We had a nice dinner of the leftover bisquick pie, blueberry tart and ice cream. Played some UNO in our toasty kitchen :)

All in bed by 10:15. Ready for Sunday!  We decide to check out Saint Anthonys in Kraainem, a suburb of Brussels about 17 min away. The parish is run by IrishFranciscans, and Father Brendan did not disappoint. His thick brogue was fabulous and his slightly disorganized homily was moving all the same. It was the children's mass, filled with faith formation classes and parents, a lovely choir and all readings,etc. done by the kids. Our friend Barbara from bible study was sitting right behind us, which was nice. To know someone felt wonderful, a tiny flutter from Saint Pat's.

Mass takeaway : Father Brendan " there is only today, so don't look back and feel guilty, don't look forward and say I'll do it then, love more today, help more today, smile more TODAY!" You get the idea! Great right?! Now I need it to sink in.. Barbara and her son gave us the skinny on how since they changed suppliers the donuts in the coffee and donuts leave a lot to be desired...they said they just stop at Lonbois, right on our corner. We're in! So we grab treats and curl up against the rain again. The rest of the day is spent doing homework, Danny does his and I do my bible study work, reading,skyping Aunt susan and other fun activities. A very nice weekend, we just all miss Jerry.