Ginni's gone home

Well hello again.
Christmas was super with Fr. Miseal and I leading a Christmas Eve service at the Navy base, then at 10PM we particpated in an hour of carols before midnight Mass from 11-12ish at St. John's. The next day we were up and out to get to Cargill Creek by 9 for our 3rd service, followed by a communion call to Anna.

Fr. Miseal and Mike were talking about language and Mike told him the word 'wicked' is used by Bostonians as an adverb or adjective meaning 'very good'. When Mike commented in the car that he had been to Church six times in 72 hours Fr. M said, "Mike is having a wicked-holy vacation", cracked me up!

Yesterday we took the van to the airport to have it filled with diesel fuel. The only diesel on this part of Andros is sold by Johnnie, out of the back of his van. He has fuel drums and a garden hose and sucks the hose to siphon the fuel into our tank. Mike had heard about this and came along. Using his phone is taped the whole event and should be posting that once he gets home - if he does I'll try to copy it into the blog for you all to see. Johnnie really is an entepreneur from the word go and this little side line helps him out, and us, so we are glad he offers it.

Per the title of this blog entry you know that Ginni has left with Mike to head back home for a bit of nursing. Our inability to sell our home leaves us with a mortgage, insurance, and taxes that our rental income falls short of covering when you add our need to buy healthcare insurance in a foriegn country. The plan is for Gin to return home to work one week a month. She plans on flying back every other month and work the last week of one month and the first week of another. We will see how this goes, hopefully hospice will have work for her on a per dium status otherwise she'll try to pick up hours with the VNA doing non-hospice related nursing for home bound patients. SO - at 7AM Fr. M and I dropped her and Mike at the airport and we both stood on the tarmack waving our hankerchiefs in the air as the plane taxied down the runway and then took off. Must have been a sight from inside the plane.

Tonight, Fr. M and I will lead services at the Navy base, then tomorrow the regular routine at St.Johns and Christ the King. At 4PM he has a flight to Nassau and then Monday on to Boston. Being Columbian he does not miss the weather in New England and seems to have enjoyed his time with us. He's said that if we ever need to get home, and he is out of school, he'd welcome the chance to come back so I guess he liked it. It's clear to me he is a great homilist, despite his difficulties with English as his 2nd language. Last week we told everyone he'd be here all week long and that this week we'd arrive early for confessions. So far 3 people have dropped by or asked to meet with him, we'll see how many take advantage of his presence this weekend.

One side note before signing off. You all know my wife has a heart as big as all outdoors. Our alcoholic friend Herbie has discovered this as well and has been stopping by daily for a free sandwich. A recent development has caused me to take him aside for a 'chat' and he hasn't dropped by since. Ginni was on the way out the door and Herbie stopped her and asked if she would help him carry some things to the top of the hill, where he's living in an abandoned bus, using our church van. She said OK, and he said he'd meet her at the end of our driveway. When she met him he was carrying two cases of beer (Guinness no less). Well she dropped him off but when I heard about it I kinda lost it. Now we're not only feeding him because he has no money - but when he gets money, and buys beer with it, we are helping him get it home. Soooo - when he stopped by around time for our Christmas dinner he and I had a talk and he now understands we are not his beer truck (among other things). It will be interesting to see how this relationship evolves after this encounter.

Enough for now, keep us in your prayers
FT