MONSOON SEASON!

 

 A RAINBOW!

 

 



THEN A DOUBLE RAINBOW!! YES!! It is monsoon season! :):)

 

We are having a great monsoon season. We have matched our rain total of what we received last year for the total monsoon season and we still have the month of September to go yet. No one complains about the rain. We love it!

Friday night was our annual Family Fun Night held on our parking lot during a Friday night in August. It is a time to welcome new families to our school. Games are free and we grill out despite the rain. What is a little rain shower or two?

 

 

Here is all the fun kids and adults had at the games!

 

Taking a delicious popcorn break :):)



ANGRY BIRDS!!
A hit game. Even I gave a try at it; and I had a strike-all the pins down!!
 



 

 

 

The men always seem to do the grilling! They love to cook outdoors.

 

Before Family Fun Day we had our regular Friday schedule. Music is the Special Class this day. Here are some snapshots of music this day.

 



5th grader showing she knows how to draw a treble clef.

The musical scale!

Kindergarten learning rhythm with the sticks. This is fun!

Our Motherhouse website- fscc-calledtobe.org - features a song of the month. This month it is "On The Road to Human Being" by Kerry Patrick Clark. Just click under Franciscanized World and you will find it. Hope you enjoy the guitar accompaniment in it.

I started this blog out with pictures of the monsoon, here are some more:

The clouds are building during our noon recess.

The clouds are so fluffy against our pretty blue sky. Recess duty is great on a day like this.

Tuesday is our P.E. day and I teach P.E. this year along with our school nurse Ms. Dot who does the health side. We make a great team. We teach our 3 year olds through the 8th grade. I have no problem sleeping on Tuesday nights.

This past Tuesday we started out with kickball with our first class - Grs. 7th and 8th. Take a look at the monsoon clouds that moved us quickly into the cafeteria for international dance and healthy snacks.

 

You can see the rain coming down in a sheet!  We had to move quickly to the cafeteria. Switch gears-kickball to doing a Hawaiian dance, African dance and the Virginia Reel!  My 5th and 6th graders loved this and went home to teach their parents-who told them they knew it!! My students were so shocked to hear this!! Yes, an old time dance!!! Still popular!!

New Year - New Mission Too!

 

While some states are still enjoying summer, we in Arizona already have students in our Catholic School classrooms and those not in a Catholic School are getting ready for religious education classes that start Sunday, August 17th.

Sr. Joellen has joined me at Our Lady of the Mountains Convent. She is the new Director of Religious Education at St. Andrew's Parish.

She held her first parent meeting on Sunday, August 10 at St. Andrew's Parish.
Saturday, August 11th is her first meeting with all her teachers and classroom helpers.

Saturday Night, we decided to attend Mass at the Mission Church of St. Andrew's Parish located in Whetstone, about 20 minutes from Sierra Vista.
It is a very tiny, tiny church located in the desert.

 

 

The driveway to get to the church. Monsoon clouds are building and did it rain as we drove home in darkness with lightning to guide our way.

4 sided cross along side the parking lot. Notice the monsoon clouds that poured rain on us when we left Mass.

 A Very Small Church but Parishioners with a deep faith and welcoming spirit greeted us when we went through the doors.

Jesus and the Twelve Apostles

 The church is named  Good Shepherd and one can see signs of the parish name throughout the beautiful and prayerful church.

 

Now at All Saints Catholic School, where Sister Carol is the principal, the school bell rang out on Wednesday, August 6th with 101 students - an increase of 21 students!  The goal was to get 100 students for the year.

 A lot of recruitment was done by parents, students and Sister Carol.

Recruiting on a very hot Saturday afternoon with Smokey the Bear to help out.


Fr. Mike, our new pastor, blessed all the classrooms to begin the new school year.

Special blessing for the altar servers who made it all the way with Fr. Mike carrying those heavy candles and the pail of holy water.

A beautiful rainbow after a quick monsoon rain at our school one evening.

A beautiful sunset was enjoyed at our school and parish - Our Lady of the Mountains Church.

 

The school bell is ringing to begin a full week of school and religious education classes.

DOUBLE CELEBRATION FOR FATHER A !

Friday, June 27th was a very busy day at Our Lady of the Mountains Parish. Fr. Ariel Lustan celebrated his 20th anniversary as a priest and it was his farewell party from the parish and his school-All Saints Catholic. Nine of his years of ordination were spent in his homeland of the Philippines. The rest were spent in the Diocese of Tucson.

The celebration began with Mass. Altar servers, deacons and the Knights of Columbus were ready to begin the big celebration.

 

 

Fr. Ariel welcomed the Deacons from our parish and

vicariate who came to the celebration as well  priests from the vicariate.

 

After the 1st Reading was read the choir sang the response: You Are A Priest Forever-requested by Fr. Ariel.

 

 Fr. Bill from Tombstone gave the homily, recounting the journey of a seminarian to ordination.

At the offertory procession, the parish staff brought up the gifts. Special items brought up were the building plans for the parish rectory that Fr. Ariel spearheaded; and a certificate stating that the school mortgage 4 years ago was $420,000 and now in the 5th year of a 15 year mortgage is at $20,000!  The parishioners were shocked to hear this and broke into spontaneous applause!

 

 Fr. Mike, who will be the new pastor at Our Lady of the Mountains Parish, prayed a part in the Eucharistic Prayer.

 Fr. Greg Adolph, pastor at our neighboring parish at St. Andrew's in Sierra Vista, also shared in the Eucharistic Prayer.

The Consecration

 

 

 

 At the end of the Mass, Fr. Ariel thanked God the Father and his family for his vocation to the priesthood. He never thought he would make it this far.

 

 

 

After the Mass, all proceeded to the parish hall for a potluck dinner and short program thanking Fr. A for his four years of service to our parish.

 Deacon Bill, Parish Council President, gave words of thanks to Fr. Ariel.

 Deacon Reynaldo,  who assists with the Hispanic ministry gave thanks for Fr. A's involvement with the Hispanics in our parish.

Sister Carol, as principal, led her students in thanking Fr. A for his involvement with All Saints Catholic School.

 The students sang, "If We Hold On Together" as other students danced out the song.

Sr. Carol and students sang, "Welcome to the Family" that Fr. Ariel had requested the school choir to learn last year. It was a song sung in the Philippines for the Jubilee year of 2000!

Sr. Carol then read, "And on the 8th day God created a school pastor."

The faculty and students presented to Fr. A a book of their pictures and letters of appreciation to him.

 Time for a Group Hug!

We will all miss Fr. A. We pray for him as he goes on to St. Anthony of Padua's Parish and School in Casa Grande. May his gifts as a priest help them to grow in many ways especially in coming closer to Our Lord.