Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, January 2014 Visit

Happy New Year All!

This past weekend we went back to the Mitten to visit Hunky's sister who is a novice in the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.  It was great to see Sister Mary Andre and get a sneak peak into her life at the convent.  She spends her days in prayer and study with a dash of free time and group activities.  They are such a devout group of joy filled women - it is inspiring to see the sisters in their element.  It is always lovely, yet rare, to have the group of usual family members together.

There were so many beautiful crush scenes all over the convent.  They had kings traveling all over the place - we found them propped in window panes, under tables, and traveling through hallways.

The beautiful alter in the chapel - just breathtaking!

I married into a family of very intense board game players.  Here is a new one we are addicted to, called Hedbanz.  It is meant for a much younger crowd - but we have such a great time trying to ask rapid fire questions to determine whether we are bacon, a horse, or some other random object!

The weekend seemed to end as quickly as it started - it was so much fun to all be together for a brief moment.  Rachel, Nick, and Baby Joseph headed home after dinner to beat the coming snow.  It was nice to get in so many baby snuggles!

Hunky's sister, Bethany, and her fiancé, Mike came from Pittsburgh for the visit as well as to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.  It was great to see them, hear about wedding plans, and catch up as we do not get to see each other as often as we would like. We all had to leave pretty quickly on Sunday to beat the Polar Freeze.  Our normal 3.5 hour drive took nearly 5 hours --- which is such a looonnggg time to be in the car.  Mocha Bean and I were going stir crazy, enough to get out and bound around in the snow at the gas station. 

Visit weekends are always a whirlwind - leaving us feeling like we need a long nap to recover.  It's fabulous to get our Laura fix... I mean Sister Mary Andre fix.  We are still getting used to her new name. :)