Luke and I have been back for several weeks now.  I to work and he is back to school.  We are working on a power point presentation to share with the churches.  I will be posting more pictures this weekend with some reflective thoughts.

Home

The WiFi was very unreliable the last few days and I was unable to post.  Luke and I arrived safely home last night.  I will be uploading the rest of our pictures and posting daily to catch everyone up.  Thanks for all the understanding and as always ALL the support.  The experience was AMAZING!

Riots

All is well.  For anyone watching the news...
There have been  some riots in the streets and the police force has visibly doubled since we first arrived in Madrid.  We have been no where near them at the time.  We are all safe thus far. We have had some teens ill with fever and some vomiting.  Luke was down for a day but is okay.  Several others have had some similar symptoms.  Please continue to pray for us as we make our way to the Papal site Saturday.  God Bless you all.

Quick update

Just a  quick "hello" and picture update.  We have been in Madrid for 2 days now.  Tonight Pope Benedict XVI arrived to probably between 1-2 million people.  We attended the main event.  He greeted us in several languages.  More to follow...

Re: Lack of time.

Sorry this post is later than I expected.  We are running form event to event in the hot, hot sun each day.  This make for late nights and straight to bed.  We had a slight reprieve tonight by going to early events.  Some of the teens are wiped!  We are now in Madrid and all is well. Last night we attended the Welcoming Mass to the Arch Bishop  of Madrid.  There had to be close to, if not over, 1 million people there.  The streets were packed!    The energy was AWESOME!  Loading picture and will post asap.  Love to you all.

Grotto in Lourdes, France

We spent 1 & 1/2 days in Lourdes, France. Amazing!! Both Luke and I were able to do the Bathes there. What an amazing experence. Mary is in the place where she appeared to St. Bernadette. We attended the English speaking mass there on Saturday morning. WOW! is all I can say.

Barcelona

2am here in Lourdes, France.  Only arrived at midnight.  These are pictures from the Basilica in Barcelona. We had Mass i the Crypt.
More comments to follow tomorrow.

Hancock Airport and Away

Luke waits to board airplane for the first time. Or, is he just bored? . Mark and Nana brought us and we arrived here at 12pm. We have said our goodbyes and our flight to JFK leaves at 2:37pm. He may be bored? Most of the group is here. I had my bag searched at security. One on the t-shirts I packed has glitter in the material and it set off the scanner. Word to the wise...pack that type of shirt in the checked bag. lol

Let's Go!

Thank you everyone!  We are soon on our way.  Thought we would leave you with a very colorful THANK YOU!  Hope to be Blogging soon from Spain!

Almost there!

Phew!  One more day of work and off we go!  Please continue to pray for all of us as we travel.  Also, please pray for Mark and Rachel.  They will be holding down the fort while we are gone.  Rachel will be very busy getting last minute things done for college.  Mark will be making sure she's getting ready as well as working.  Lots to do as always.

Luke and I spoke at St. Mary's 8am mass today just like we did at St. Anthony's last weekend.  We saw a lot of friendly faces and were given lots of well wishes.  Thank you.

We have been busy doing laundry for most of today and have starting to pack.   Almost done!  We are both getting excited to be air bound in 2 days (less than 48 hrs).

God Bless :)

1 Down...3 to Go

Work done for today. Now onto REST, PACK, WORK and GO!!

4 days!

Work, Rest, Pack, Work and GO!!  Things are coming together.  Luke and I are wrapping things up around the house for Mark and Rachel.  We have started putting things we are taking in one place.  Going to try to pack on Sunday.  That way there will not be as much for me to do Monday night after work.  Luke can pack during the day if need be.  We received a call from Bob Walters, the Director of Youth Ministry, and we will need to connect with him over the weekend for the shirts the Diocese provided for us.  We will post a pic of them as soon as we can.  They will be worn as we pilgrimage into the Papal site on Saturday Aug. 20th.
Updates soon :)

Followers

Thank you so much for following my Blog!!  I love to check to see if new people are "following"!  It's exciting to see others taking an interest!

1 Week and Packing

Wow!  It is hard to believe that Luke and I will be at in the air exactly 1 week from today!  We are getting excited to go!! I thought I would be very conservative in the packing?  Right??  The mom in me just can not seem to leave things behind.  Like the extra toothbrush for the teen that will leave theirs at home or the first aid kit (the director, Bob Walters does carry one) that I pray will not be needed.  Oh boy!  Good thing Luke is a light packer because he will have the room and extra weight left for me to put a few things in his bag.

12 Days

Yepper!  Only 12 days to go and each day I Praise God!! that we have so many people that have been supportive of this pilgrimage through fundraising, donations and above all prayers!!  Going to try and post a picture soon.  Keep looking for it :)

Down, Down, Down We Go!

We are still raising funds and the balance is decreasing. YEA!  I know most of the posting has been about the the fundraising.  This will soon change. PROMISE!  
We are 17 days away from heading to Barcelona with 30 others from around the Syracuse Diocese to start our World Youth Day pilgrimage.  This weekend an announcement should be listed in the St. Anthony's & St. Mary's bulletin regarding this blog.  WELCOME ALL NEW FOLLOWS TO MY BLOG

$$ and Cents

We are down to the wire!  Just about $2300 to go in the next 4 weeks.  YEP! Just over 4 weeks before we travel. YEA!!!!

Countdown!

Hooray!  We are now on countdown mode!
5 weeks and 6 days before we travel.  Have meeting tonight to the trip.  Should get complete itinerary!

Basket Raffle update

Praise God!!!  The Gift Basket Raffle at the St. Anthony's Festival was a GREAT SUCCESS!!!  Thank you everyone.

St. Anthony's Festival

Way to GO!!!
We had 15 Gift Baskets for our raffle.  We did very well!  Thank you to everyone that donated a basket and/or bought tickets.  CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!

At Last

At last!  We are almost there!  Fundraising the final payment!!!

Success

Fashion Show was a success!  Greta time had by all.  Thank you to all of you who helped make this fundraiser a  success and to all the ticket holders.

FASHION SHOW

Getting ready for the show!  This coming Sunday. May 22, 2011 @ 3pm
We have had rehearsal, cookie makers a baking. models are ready.
Set...Let's go!!

Soon!!

Titled "Soon!!"  for several reasons...
1- Fashion Show is soon.  Next Sunday to be exact.  We still have tickets available and practice for the models. This event is going to be so much fun :)
Sunday May 22, 2011 at 3pm

2- Wrapping up the flower orders. Yay! These HUGE, beautiful baskets are available for prepaid order.  We have 5 different choices.  WE have not idea the color selection, so it is always a surpise.  Pick yours up early.
Delivery date is May 28th.  Available 9am to 12pm for pick up.

3- We are still awaiting the arrival of Luke's passport.  Please pray we get it soon!!

4- The plane takes off August 9th and we will be on our way. Madrid here we come.  5 days of Holy sites, 6 days of World Youth Day events. Mass with the Holy Father (AWESOME!!) and a day to travel back.  We ask that you keep the entire group we are traveling with from the Syracuse Diocese in your prayers.  Please pray that young and old have open hearts and minds to the Blessings of God and the plan he has for each of our lives and safe travel.  Your continued prayers are greatly appreciated.

Passport Blues :(

The coordinator needs the information like name as it appears on the passport and DOB.  We haven't gotten Luke's passport yet.  The information is needed to purchase the tickets.  Please PRAY we get his soon!!  It was needed like three weeks ago.

UPDATE!!

HAVE 3 FULL TABLES SOLD FOR FASHION SHOW!!!!!  Yea!!  Tickets are going.  If you need them contact me.
This is going to be so much fun.  Thank you to Alice, Carla, Annamaria, Vivian, Connie, Denise, Angela and Tricia for being our models for that day.  Helen has been doing a great job making sure we are on schedule and to all my tickets seller!!!  Keep up those sales :)

Plants

Hooray!  Our Hanging Basket Sale in underway.  We have 5 varieties available. Luke, Rachel and I have sold several dozen already.  I love this fundraiser because our grower provides such amazing plants.  They come in Memorial Day weekend!  Let me know if you are interested.  This is one of our biggest yearly fundraisers for the  youth group :)

PS. Don't forget Fashion Show Tickets too!!

Fashion Show

For all of you fashionistas~
We are holding a Fashion Show on May 22 at 3pm @ St. Anthony's Church Hall.  This is a great time to have fun with your mom, daughter, sister or friend.  Tickets are available by contacting me.  Hope you can join the fun and come :)

Getting started

Okay...here we go.
This a new thing for me.  I have never blogged before.  I don't even follow any blogs yet.  Guess I'd better start. I am writing this blog to help keep up to date on any travels I do.  The current plan is to travel to Madrid, Spain this year for World Youth Day.  I have started this because I am hoping to post updates of the trip for others to follow.  We have been fundraising for this trip for a year now and are 1/2 way to our goal!  YEA!!
Three more fundraisers to go in the next 5 weeks. Phew!  
Thanks to all for supporting this endeavor.