Texas and Birthday Season

So much has happened since we last posted that I don't know where to start. I guess I will just try to sum it up.

About halfway through the summer, the parish in Texas of which Duquesa's brother, Fr. Clay, is the Associate Pastor, flew me down there to see if I would be their Director of Youth Ministry. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a HUGE parish, over 6,000 registered families, so their youth programs take quite a bit of facilitation. Very long story made short, we prayed and thought about it a ton, and we felt this was where we were being called as a family. We made the big move from Minnesota to Texas in the middle of August, and life has been jam packed with unpacking, babies, and new job stuff ever since.



Oh, and we also found out that Duquesa is pregnant with baby #4 and due May 7, 2010! (If only I had a dollar for every time I have heard, "You have your hands full" since we have moved down here, I think all the diapers would be paid for :))



I really love the work, as I am able to utilize my education and passion for the Church while knowing that all of the day-to-day difficulties are not merely endured for the sake of filling some rich guy's pockets or to climb the corporate ladder. Rather, all of the hard work is much more directly focused on the ultimate human end: our eternal relationship with God. I dig it.



Early November hosts the birthdays of both Elliot (Nov 2) and Siena (Nov 16, today!), so we have been in party mode and loving it. So for those of you curious, Jerome is 3, Elliot is 2, Siena 1, and new baby en route.




The parish community has been very welcoming and generous with us, especially the Schoppe family, our host neighbors. Dean and Joan have seven wonderful children: Shelly, Austin, Troy, Aaron, Abigail, Simon, and little Benjamin. Jerome and Elliot have a blast playing with all of them, but mostly Abby (5), Simon (2), and Benjamin (1). We live a good ways out from San Antonio in a beautiful rural area in the Texas Hill country, so the kids have plenty of room to roam and explore.



Let's see. Other highlights include the weather (marvelous this time of year), being close to the Hunt family (lots of visits from Honey), and revisiting San Antonio's River Walk with Duquesa where we first started dating by holding hands on September 14, 2002. Of course, we miss all of our wonderful family and friends in Minnesota and Italy, and we look forward to reconnecting with y'all! ;)



Check out the beautiful view from the backyard! I wish I had one of those panoramic cameras so I could get the whole view on here. It really is breathtaking, especially in the evening when the sunset paints the hills in gold and orange.





Elliot had a wonderful birthday, and one of his favorite presents was a balloon that got bopped around the house for probably 3 hours straight until it popped. :)
Oh, and I can't forget to mention Halloween and all the fun the kids had dressing up. You can see below how exhausted they were after running around and collecting candy with the Schoppes.









Beautiful Duquesa and Siena!