October 28
This morning we woke up in the good old US of A for the first time in nearly a month. We woke up before Rachel, still adjusting to California time. After running a bunch of laundry and getting the car washed, we drove to Cerritos to visit my old seminary classmate, Fr. Chris Woerz. We exchanged stories of travel in Europe, and then Chris gave us an update on this battle with infections on his feet related to diabetes. He was missing his rosary in the hospital, so I gave him one from Fatima. We said a few Hail Mary’s together, he gave us his blessing, and then we were off to the desert to see Joe.
A couple of hours later, taking the GPS’s directions on faith, we arrived in Palm Desert, checked into a motel, and waited for Joe to return from his work with AmeriCorps.
We met as his studio apartment in a gated community then drove out to his school to take some pictures. He works in a beautiful new school where he offers one-on-one help to elementary school children who are struggling academically.
Later we found a Red Robin for dinner. Good old American food: Chicken fajitas and hamburgers with a Sierra Nevada ale—it doesn’t get much better.
When we returned to the motel we received a call from Bev that Lana’s Mom had passed away. We called Lana to offer condolences and promised prayers. She told us that Michelle and Nicole had both given birth close to schedule to beautiful baby girls (We took the pictures below a few weeks later.) By 9:00 jet lag caught up with us, so we crashed.
Nicole with Kai
Michelle with Barbara and Erica