A week in Nassau - Happy Anniversary to US!

Well it seems like its been awhile since I last posted, but that's because we haven't been here. Last week we were in Nassau for pretty much the whole week with no internet. The 3rd week of each month the Archbishop has a "Pastoral Day", when clergy from Nassau and all the family islands come together for a day of prayer, teaching, and fellowship. We missed last month's meeting because it was the week of 1st communion and we wanted to do rehearsals and get in a final class in preparation for First Penance and First Communion.

This trip was also important for us because, when we first arrived for this assignment the Archbishop said we should do a review after six months, and if all is well, do an annual review thereafter - well its been six months. So we had called his secretary and asked if, while we were on Nassau for Pastoral Day, we might get some time to do the review with the Archbishop.

Another reason we wanted to take the whole week though, was that the week before was our Wedding Anniversary. So we made a plan that, rather than staying at St. Joseph's parish, we would get a nice room at one of the resort hotels on Cable Beach. An entire week with uninterrupted water, water pressure, electricity, and a full tub for a bath if we wanted - all just an elevator ride from the beach - sounds great, and it was.

Once we checked in we called the Archbishop's secretary and we were told we could meet with him Wed at 11. This was a bit confusing since Pastoral Day is Wed. It was then we were told that Pastoral Day was cancelled this month . It seems they announced its cancellation at the last Pastoral Day meeting (the one we skipped), and a fax was sent Monday (the day we flew). So, we had a meeting on Wed, but the rest of the week to ourselves.

The week was great, despite the isolated thunderstorms (think monsoons). We did get to go to the beach, shop, eat wonderful meals, and meet the Archbishop. Our meeting began right on time at 11 and I was surprised when I looked at my watch and saw it was close to 1 when we broke. Bottom line, we're doing just fine, we need to get a better handle on CCD for the next year with greater parental involvement, but he's not sending us home and we don't want to go so Andros has us for the long haul.

Over the course of the week there were a few adventures for us, but by far the one we'll remember for awhile is our scuba diving lesson. Yes folks, Ginni had the air tanks on her back, lead weights in her vest and she spent an hour at the bottom of the hotel pool learning the tricks of scuba diving (oh yeah, so did I). We need to try this once more before we head out to the reef and try to feed the sharks, but it was a hoot and we live in scuba diving heaven so who knows, we might just start doing this on a more regualar basis. Actually, when we were leaving the Archbishop he told us that one of our parishioners is a certified instructor who taught him! Not only is he a parishioner, he's on our Parish C0uncil!

With the trip to Nassau over, and CCD on vacation, we have time to ourselves for the first time since we arrived. I spent most of this week getting caught up on past due financial reports that I am supposed to send the Archdiocese, but haven't. It's been hot, hot, hot, and humid, humid, humid, so Ginni is spending her time reading in front of the air conditioner in the bedroom while the mosquitos are flocking around every door and window in the place just waiting for us to dare step outside.

Enough for now. I hope you are all well. We plan to return to MA for vacation July 13 - 31. We'll spend time in MA where I will get to baptize my nephews new twin boys (at the same church I was baptized in if you can believe it), then on to Long Island to see our 2 sons down there and connect with our oldest son who will be home from Singapore, then back to MA. We look forward to making connections with as many old friends as we can.

See you in church