Jonathan just graduated last Friday from the Marines’ boot camp in San Diego, CA. Jeff Leeper from the Quincy area was also at boot camp at the same time and was in Jonathan’s Platoon. We were at the MCRD (Marine Corps Recruitment Depot) on Thursday for family day and Friday for graduation. Jonathan was the highest shooter in his platoon with a score of 235 out of 250. The highest score in the company (511 recruits) was 237. Jonathan was also promoted to Private First Class (Pfc.) for being an Eagle Scout.

The January 20, 2006 issue of the Chevron, the MCRD’s newspaper, lists all 511 recruits from Golf Company that graduated with Jonathan and Leeper.

Congratulations and thank you to all that serve our country!

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(chicagotribune.com) Before an audience of schoolchildren from Aurora, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday made Illinois the only state in the nation to prohibit the sale or rental of violent or sexually explicit video games to minors.

Read Full Story: Chicago Tribune | Law bars violent game sales to children

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Congratulations to Daren Zehnle and the 6 other seminarians (read their biographies) from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois that were ordained as priests on Saturday.

Daren and I have known each other since high school with our involvement with TEC (Teens Encounter Christ). I got to know Daren really well when he and I were both candidates on a Koinonia in college. Erin got to know Daren in college while she lived at North Campus. In fact, Erin and I first got to know each other by going to Night Prayer which Daren lead. Daren was the alter server for our wedding and most recently as a Deacon, baptized Ella.

Daren is going to be a wonderful priest and hopefully through his example will bring many to Christ & the priesthood.

Visit Daren’s website at www.servantandsteward.org

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Salary.com, this past week, estimated that a stay at home mom’s salary would be $131,471 for executing all of her daily tasks, based upon a 100 hour work week.

Read Full Salrary.com Report: Dream Job: Stay-At-Home Mom

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If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in it’s place,
but have not love, I am a “housekeeper”-not a homemaker.
If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements,
but have not love, My children learn of cleanliness-not godliness.
Love leaves the dust, and goes in search of a child’s laugh.
Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.
Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.
Love is present through trials.
Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.
Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child,
then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.
Love is the key that opens salvation’s message to a child’s heart.
Before I became a mother, I took glory in my house of perfection.
Now I glory in God’s perfection of my child.
As a mother, there is MUCH I must teach my child,
But the greatest of these is LOVE.
(Author Unknown)

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Last weekend we flew to Michigan for Erin’s Uncle’s retirement party. Congratulations to Uncle Howard and a special thanks to Chip and Amy for letting us stay with them. We got a chance to see Erin’s family, many of whom we had not seen in a year and a half. I took a few pictures and uploaded them here. Katelyn had a fun time riding the shuttle bus, watching the planes at the airport and then flying in the plane. Both girls were good travelers.

I also got to try out my new GPS on the plane. In reading on Southwest’s website, I saw where a GPS is one of the acceptable electronic devices. I only had the laptop on for a short time, but the blue on the map shows where we traveled. Using my Holux GPS and Microsoft Streets and Trips 2005, I was able to track our location, altitude (32000 ft), and speed (500 MPH).

A few people have asked where I found my GPS. I bought it on eBay from gps4evyone for $55. If you do a search on eBay for: streets trips GPS, you can easily find the GPS listings. The Holux GPS and software usually go for $50-65. There are several auctions a day, so I just kept putting a max bid of $55.24 until I won one.

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For: Ella Grace Meats
Date: April 24, 2005
Time: 2:00 PM
Place: St. Peter Church – 25th and Maine (Google Maps)
RSVP: 221-0696
Please join us for a cake and punch reception following the Baptism

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We started the day early on Saturday and got a lot done! Erin and I woke up about 6:45. Erin and Ella went to several garage sales while I stayed home and storted through some boxes from the old house.

Once Erin and Ella got back, we woke up Katelyn and we all went to MugShots . Erin has been asking to go there for awhile, and we always forget about going. It’s a very nice Coffee Shop with free Wi-Fi Internet access. Erin got a Carmel Macchiato, I got a Mocha, and Katelyn drank milk. If you’re thinking about going, use the buy one, get one free coupon from their website.

Once we got back home, we cleaned out our cars then started cleaning the garage. I haven’t been able to park in the garage since last month when we brought of the last load of stuff from our old garage. It took most of the afternoon, but we can both park in the garage now.

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Erin got her hair cut yesterday by our neighbor, Ann Myers. When Ann was done cutting Erin’s hair, Erin asked Katelyn if she wanted her hair cut. She put the toy down that she was playing with and marched right over to the chair. She got a ribbon that says “First Haircut Award”.

I also uploaded pictures from the past week including a few from Matt’s wedding. Don’t worry… He didn’t actually wear that coat during the wedding.

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