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Spartans Win!! I graduated from MSU and now their basketball team is in the Final Four!! I'm excited because the Spartans have had a great record in the NCAA tournament in recent years (although we'll just forget that they lost in the championship game last year to North Carolina). We have relatives in New York who think only Big East teams are worth rooting for - but we love them anyway (the relatives, we mean). T shirts are being sent out - what size do you want? Love, Spartan fans of Michigan

The official start of spring makes us think about the outdoors and gardening. We just had a week of sunny 60 degree temperatures in mid-March! How nice to see the sun again! It probably won't be warm enough to plant until early May, but we do see our tulips and daffodils starting to come up. All this warmth and light makes us think about dragonflies again. Part of the reason they are a theme in our nursery is that there is a spiritual aspect to them. The dragonfly's wings are said to act a lot like water vapor after a rainstorm and diffuse light into the spectral colors of the rainbow. Angels are considered by many to be beings that radiate Sacred Light. So, it is such that when an angel is nearby but not readily apparent, a dragonfly will appear and diffuse the Sacred Light into brilliant color that all can see, becoming the physical evidence that an angel is near. Have you seen the movie Dragonfly yet? We told you that you would like it! The father is haunted by dragonfly symbols throughout the movie and finds his normally sensible physical world intersecting with the spiritual world. This eventually led him to find his child in a remote village at the base of a tall waterfall thanks to a magnificent rainbow. A dragonfly birthmark on the baby's ankle tells him this is the child born while his wife was dying. So the dragonfly and the rainbow guided him to where he needed to be. Until we all meet at this intersection ourselves, keep your eyes to the sky and your heart open wide! Love, Greg & Pat

Do you remember Boblo Island and the Boblo boats? An hour and a half cruise down the Detroit river to beautiful Boblo Island amusement park. It was a lot of fun and many generations of Detroiters remember Boblo with fondness. It finally closed in the 1990's and the boats were relegated to a dry dock somewhere. Well, my sisters and I worked on the boats during our high school years, so we have some special memories as well. I made this scrapbooking page when the boat I used to work on (the Ste. Claire) was docked in Windsor, Canada a few years ago. An investment group was raising funds to restore the boats, but I don't think it really got off the ground. I still love amusement parks! Do you like them? Have you ever been to Cedar Point? We look forward to the day we can share all this with our children! Love, Pat

Had a fantastic weekend! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to scrapbook and every once in a while I get to go to "crops" - events where you meet with friends and scrapbook all day long. I'm told it's sort of like the old fashioned quilting bees - a bunch of women getting work done and talking about anything that crosses their minds!! Well, I went to a hotel for an entire weekend of scrapbooking! This picture is actually from another time I went away with friends to a B & B in mid-Michigan because (you guessed it!) the scrapbooker forgot to take pictures!! Oh well, how many pages can you have of scrapping anyway? I am glad it scanned well, because I wanted to show you an example of my hobby. AND - I have a great scrapbook that I made just for YOU ... hope we get to meet soon. Love, Pat

Just got home from sunny Florida! I was very lucky to spend a week in sunshine and warmth, considering they had just had two weeks of very cold weather down south. I went for a five day veterinary conference for continuing education. Michigan has one too but ... hmmm ... Michigan in January or Florida in January - it's not too hard to do that math! I love to go to conferences like this to keep a sharper edge on my skills. It is so great to get home and put into use some of the things I learn for the benefit of the next dog or cat that I treat. Being able to help both people and pets means a lot to me - saving a pet from a debilitating disease is instant job satisfaction! I went with a few veterinary friends and we stayed in a condo near the conference. We had fun also - we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom on our last full day. It was fun but I am looking forward to the day I can take my children and see the smiles on their faces. I was a little sad at times in Animal Kingdom because it brings home all I want to see and do with our children and all the fun times that I want them to experience. So far, Greg hasn't come to Florida during the conference, but once we have our family, we hope to travel as a family even to events such as this (going to Disney World can't hurt!). I can promise you that no child on this earth will be more loved and cooed over than our child. Please know that there is plenty of room here for love. I hope you are having a good start to the new year! Love, Pat

Hi! We decided to continue our New Year's celebration by taking a quick trip to Frankenmuth, MI. Have you ever been there? If you live in Michigan, you've probably heard of it, if not, it's a picturesque little town in central Michigan that is a small piece of Bavarian Germany. It doesn't hurt that the town also houses Bronner's - the world's largest Christmas store. We love going there! We also love staying at the Bavarian Inn - a huge hotel up on a hill just past the covered bridge in the picture. In addition to LOTS of rooms, it has five pools and a family fun center full of games and even an indoor minature golf course. We really enjoy it and think it's a great place for kids as well. Did you do something special for New Year's? We hope and pray that you are well. If you want to talk, just pick up the phone - we'd love to hear from you! Love, Greg & Pat

New Year's Eve already! New Year's Day is a celebration of Mary as the Mother of God for Catholics and we celebrate the day by going to Mass on either New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. It's a good way to start the new year! In our family, we have an extra special tradition - we celebrate with a Mass at home. It's something that started with the parish Pat grew up in. Her mom belonged to a prayer group that met at the member's homes. They met for prayer and (of course!) a pot luck afterward! Occasionally, one of the parish priests would come and there would be a Mass. This eventually grew into a tradition of Mass on New Year's Eve at one of the member's homes. Unfortunately, the parish was one of the parish closings that hit the Detroit area in the late eighties. However, the tradition lives on because Pat's parents continue to host the Mass and our pastor, despite being retired, comes to help us celebrate. So, about thirty people meet, celebrate Mass and eat good food! It's great fun to see old neighbors, it's like coming home because everyone knows and loves you. Hope you have a special way of celebrating New Year's. Wishing you a safe, happy and blessed New Year! Love, Greg & Pat

We thought you might like to see our nursery! We chose purple for the walls - we are hoping for either a boy or girl, so blue and pink didn't work and we didn't want to do just green or yellow. So, purple it is with some accents of green and yellow! We chose a dragonfly theme, at first by accident because the fabric we bought for the curtains had dragonflies on it and then on purpose as we found different items with dragonflies. It was fun! Pat's mom made the curtains and a changing table pad and Pat made her first quilt ever when she made the baby quilt with leftover fabric (it started life as a toy bag but was too cute so it became a quilt)! Then we found a lamp at Art Van (by accident, on the sale table) when we were there for something else. Guess what? Purple, yellow and green with a dragonfly on the base! Then we found a string of dragonflies on a trip to Florida which we hung on the ceiling. Next were two wooden dragonflies that we hung on the wall (these aren't in the picture). Well, I guess you get the idea. The Raggedy Ann and Andy you see in the picture was made for Pat by her mom when she was a child. Pat was a lot rougher on them than they look - her mom spruced them up and made them new outfits as a present when Pat was in college. The dragonfly theme is even more appropriate as one of our favorite movies is called Dragonfly, with Kevin Costner. If you haven't seen it, rent it! His wife supposedly dies in a bus crash and he begins to be haunted by images of dragonflies. He begins to believe that she may be alive ... In many ways, it makes us think about our search for you. In the end, hopefully we will all find each other at the waterfall under the rainbow! Rent the movie and you'll know what we mean! That's all for now. Love, Greg & Pat

Hello! I love the Christmas season because I get to spend more time with family. My big sister Mary is here from California (she lives in L.A. and is a costume designer). We decided to go to a movie tonight and we had a great time. We saw "The Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock - it was a really good movie. Guys would tell you it's about football and girls would tell you it's about love and family, so take your pick. The picture is of my Mom's nativity set - it's a beautiful porcelain set that goes up on her mantle every year. I've told her I'm waiting to inherit it, but I'm just kidding!! I'm looking out the window and see a little snow has fallen. We didn't have a white Christmas (it rained), but it seems like some snow wants to fall now. Hoping and praying that you are enjoying the Christmas season. Love, Pat

Merry Christmas! Christmas day is finally here. We had a busy day! Went to church in the morning, opened presents to/from each other and Buffalo relatives, then headed to Pat's mom and dad's house for a Christmas feast. Mary Loretta and big sister Mary were already there and we all helped put the finishing touches on the tree. Of course, there was a little youngest child (me) and youngest grandchild (Mary Loretta) rivalry about just whose picture got put where on the tree, but we worked it out in mature fashion (she won)! We are praying that you have a blessed Christmas season with family. Love, Greg & Pat

Tonight was the Christ Child shower. I love this idea! It is the annual Christmas party for the larger Confraternity group but the gifts we bring are for the Christ Child! We bring layette items to donate to a pregnancy aid program run by the Council of Catholic Women. I just love the idea that we can honor Christ's birth by helping others. Hope you are doing well. Love, Pat

I went to our Christmas party for work tonight. I don't remember having so many Christmas events to go to in the past, but I have more coming up!! We had a great time. The party was at Sue's house and we had food catered from a local pizza place - no pizza in sight, however, just delicious ribs, chicken, pasta and salad!! And so many desserts! Whew!! This might be better than the church pot luck! Hope you are having fun with your own holiday plans. Love, Pat

Hello! I belong to a women's group at church called the Confraternity of Christian Women. It is a group of 100+ women that is also divided into smaller groups called circles of around 15 to 20 women. Our circle met tonight for our annual Christmas party and we all had a lot of fun! We adopt a "secret pal" who we send cards and prayers to throughout the year and at Christmas we exchange presents and get to find out the identity of our secret pal. My secret pal was Pat (same as my name!) and gave me warm winter gloves that I am using every day as it now has gotten quite cold. We all brought a dish to share - I love church pot lucks, all the food is so yummy! Hope you are doing well and preparing for the season. Love, Pat

Happy Thanksgiving! We have a lot to be thankful for and are grateful for the chance to stop and give thanks. We spent a great time at Pat's sister's house for Thanksgiving dinner and got to spend time with our niece Mary and nephew William. Can't believe William started high school this year. We ate dinner, suffered another Lions football loss (what else?) and, among other things, played balloon volleyball! Pat brought homemade rolls, having recently been taught by her Mom how to make her famous rolls. Everyone enjoyed them. Hope your Thanksgiving was a joyful and thankful time.

Finished our profile today and we are submitting it for activation. We are so excited!! Will we meet you soon?

We are working on getting our profile up and running today. We just had a great Halloween yesterday and enjoyed all the kids in their great costumes who came to our house. We are a "full-size" candy bar house - we have a reputation with the local kids to keep up : ).