Hiking the Neighborhood!

Warm weather has returned and it is time to hit the trails again. First hike was to Brown Canyone Ranch. The ranch was built in the 1800s and is now owned by Cochise County. Has lots of great hiking trails. We met a couple coming down with a large garbage bag of trash. Many people take time to collect the trash left behind in the mountains.

The Trail

We hiked behind the large blimp that is parked by our school's grounds. I got a better close up view of it. It is unmanned and when sent up can see 190 miles in all directions. It was commissioned to detect low flying planes from Mexico carrying drugs.

2nd hike was to Our Lady of the Sierras, a few miles from our school in Hereford. This large cross, statue of Mary and the 14 Stations, (Way of the Cross) survived the Monument Fire this summer. It burned the home of the creator of this shrine, the chapel and everything around it. God spared the large cross and the statue of Mary and the Stations. The chapel is being rebuilt. It is built into the mountain side. The cross can be seen on Highway 92 below. It is also on the internet if you wish to check the history of this shrine.

Before the fire, Mass was celebrated in the chapel and the rosary was prayed daily here also.  A small house was built below the Shrine for visiting priests to stay there on retreat. The only thing asked of the priest was to say daily Mass in the chapel. The priest house also burned in the fire.

Road to the Shrine

View from part way up to the shrine

Station of the Cross

Trees still burnt & dead from the summer's fire

View from the halfway up the Shrine.

Not touched by the fire.

Our Lady of the Sierras

As we drove and walked through the mountains we saw the burnt trees and blackened rocks. We are waiting to see if Mother Nature brings these trees back to life.

Waterfall by the cross

12th Station-Jesus dies on the cross.

Sitting to take a much needed water break.

Outside the Chapel of Our Lady of the Sierras

Palo verde branches inside chapel-waiting to be used.

Inside the chapel that is being rebuilt.

Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Tidbits from All Saints Catholic School:

• A 3rd grade girl came late to school. Highly unusual for her as she lives on the dirt, rocky road right behind school. She was walking to school when there was a rattle snake curled up in the middle of the road. She turned around and asked her mom to drive her to school. To me this was an excused tardy.
• Driving to school and a large coyote crosses the road into a field
• Leaving our house and three roadrunners are running on the street

I just love seeing all the wildlife in great Arizona!!

One Day of Darkness Down and 39 More To Go!

Busy week of activities before the peacefulness of Lent begins.

• Sunday there was an appreciation breakfast for Deacon Jim who served the parish for many years. School parents and parishioners pitched in at 6:00am to begin cracking eggs, frying bacon, sausage and all the behind the scenes jobs that take place before a delicious breakfast is served after the first two Masses.

• Monday we went to Kartchner Caverns on the way to Tucson to take Sr. Mariadele to the airport. No cameras were allowed in this horizontal, humid cavern. This is a  must to see if visiting Arizona. It is a newly discovered cave that was opened to the public around 1999. It was an excellent hour tour of straws, stalactites, stalagamites and much more of God's beauty.
• Tuesday was Mardi Gras at All Saints Catholic School-beads were passed out to students and parents as they arrived. A party was held from 2-3:00pm. Karioke was done by willing students from Kindergarten to 7th grade. While students picked out songs others were in line for make your own sundaes and they could even have seconds.

Even the teachers got into the Mardi Gras spirit-even the most reserved.

Ash Wednesday, the students were in their church clothes and finalizing what they were going to do for Lent. Each family has a Rice Bowl and each classroom has a bank to put money in to help pay off the school mortgage. These will be brought up in the offertory at each school Mass during Lent.

For personal penance some students told me the following: I am not eating at all on Fridays, no meat and no cereal, no texting, no chips and pop and so on.

Ashes were blest and distributed at all of the three Masses.

For a Penance for the whole parish Father Ariel announced that he will be keeping the brown curtain closed on the beautiful glass windows behind the altar that look out onto the mountains and wildlife. The darkness created by the brown curtain will be a true reminder it is Lent. What a joy it will be on Holy Saturday Night to see the curtains opened and to watch the sun go down and the sun rise on Easter Sunday morning.
The closed curtain will be a true penance for me who loves the outdoors, the mountains and seeing the deer, horses, dogs etc that appear through the beautiful glass windows. The windows open you to the beauty of God's love for nature.
 One day of darkness down and 39 more to go. I sure hope he opens the curtains on Sundays since Sundays aren't considered days of Lent or in the 40 day countdown!

WELCOME SISTER KAY!

Last week we welcomed a 3rd Sister to our Franciscan home-Sister Kay. She is teaching Math to the 7th graders, helping out in the school office & at the parish office. Also, she is willing to fill in where needed. She has already subbed as  my secretary and for the 1st/2nd grade teacher, (only 45 minutes).

Sr. Kay went to her first parish event on Saturday night-Mardi Gras Dinner put on by the ladies of the parish.

Father Ariel joined our table. We almost all came in classic "black" for the festive affair.

Valentine's Day was celebrated with reds and pinks. The Student Council sponsored a contest. The class with the most red and pink won a large box of chocolates. It was a tie between Grades 5 & 6 with Grades 3 & 4.

I joined in with the "Red Party" . It is my favorite color.

The insurance inspector from the Diocese of Tucson came for his annual inspection. His first question was-"Do you check for scorpions on the playground?"  I said no I don't-should I? He said, yes, some schools have the scorpions especially in the sand.  I told him I keep a look out for snakes but not scorpions but I will for now on.

Besides being Valentine's Day we also celebrated the 100th Birthday of the State of Arizona-one of the younger states in the continental U.S.  My 1st/2nd grade teacher made an AZ cake for the party.

We also had a surprise on Valentine's Day and AZ's 100th Birthday-hail. Around 1:00pm the sun was shining and the wind was fiercely blowing and the hail came down for about 8 minutes.  A new sight!

Muffins For Mom & Donuts For Dad

Catholic Schools Week is about the busiest week of any Catholic School-it surely was for All Saints Catholic School. Here is the week in review:
Sun.,29th-9:30am Mass attended by faculty, parents & students with an open house for all,including parishioiners, at the school
Mon.,30th-"Hats Off to Catholic Schools" -students got to wear a hat of their choice today and also a Pep Rally-each class made up their own cheer about our school. Sr. Carol also attended a meeting with parents at Fort Huachuca to do some recruiting. One family of four children signed up for next year.

Tues., 1st-Muffins for Mom-Students started the morning in the cafeteria with their mom/grandma enjoying muffins. The newspaper came too and gave us front page coverage. YEAH!!!
Open house again for prospective new parents and also the parents of our students were asked to come and take part in their Art class that day. Mrs.Herig planned "Yarn Bombing"-google it and you will find it is the wrapping of yarn around things you see outside in the design you choose. Parents and students had lots of fun as you can see from the pictures.

Wed., 2nd-Donuts for Dad-another great start to the morning. Dismissal at 12:45pm because of the Benefit Concert put on by the Morales Brothers of Texas. One played classical guitar and the other a pianist. They did two performances for us: 2pm at our school and 6pm at St. Andrew's Catholic Church, also in Sierra Vista where some of our students come from. They were outstanding!! Our school choir also sang at both concers.

Donuts For Dad

Singing at St. Andrew's

Singing at Our Lady of the Mountains

Thurs., 3rd-Career Day! We heard from the Chimney Sweeps, Sherriff with K-9 Dog, Fire Dept.,  a vet with her dog and the manager of Texas Roadhouse Restaurant.

Chimney Sweeps-a married couple from our parish.

The Vet letting PreSchool listen to the heart beat of Penna, the dog.

Sherriff from Cochise County with his $20,000 drug sniffing dog.

Fry's Fire Dept. from down the road from our school.

Texas Roadhouse Manager explaining how they must weigh every steak they have twice a day-that day they had over 600 steaks they had to weigh. Steaks lose weight the longer they are in the fridge. If you say 6 oz you better have a full 6 oz steak.

Blessing of throats by Father Ariel

Fri.,4th- a closing Mass preceded by benediction for First Friday and also the blessing of throats-two Catholic traditions in one Mass.

Sat.,5th-6am-1pm garage sale to raise money for the plane tickets of the four of us going to Camp Franciscan-2 girls, a mom and me. We made over $1,000!!!!!
Now-can you name this item that was in the garage sale-didn't sell because no one knew what it was. What is your guess?

Sun.,6th-Super Bowl Party at a parishioner's house!
The busy week was now over! Now the doldrums of winter may come-with snow maybe as they told me February is our coldest month.

P.S. I stopped at Dillards to check out the sales when a young lady came up to me and said, "Are you a Sister?" I said yes. She replied, " I have never seen a Sister before." She just stared at me in awe. She asked where I worked. So I explained what I did and where. She said, " I have just never seen a Sister in Sierra Vista and I have been here all my life." I explained how we are the first Sisters in Sierra Vista and that we just arrived in July. She then said, "Thank you for who you are and all that you do. "