First snow fall

Saturday morning, November 29, when we came out of Lauds it was snowing. It snowed off and on all day and part of the night and even some on Sunday. No snow accumulated on the roads but it did accumulate on the grass and the trees. So I guess we can say that winter has begun. It's a beautiful time of the year, especially if you can stay inside and look out the window.

Snow on the ground Sunday morning, November 30

Advent also began this weekend so that means the feast of Christmas is soon approaching. Advent is a beautiful time of the year in the Church but unfortunately this whole season has been so commercialized that probably many do not even think about what we are preparing to celebrate.

About two or three weeks ago we had a man from Houston, Texas come to Conception for a visit and for some days of quiet and rest. I found out his last name was Reichert. He and his wife are from Germany but presently he is working for a German-American Company in Houston, Texas so they live there most of the year at the present time. He spoke very good English so I had a couple of good visits with him. He is from a part of Germany that is not far from where my ancestors came from. He heard about Conception on the internet and just decided to call and see if he could come up for a few days. Little did he realize he would run into another Reichert up here.


Picture of Markus Reichert (from Germany) and Father Kenneth. (He visited here shortly after I had my nose operated on for a skin cancer.)

The students returned last evening. They will be here now until December 18, when Christmas vacation begins.

I was surprised on Saturday to have some very good friends come for an overnight visit. Benjamin and Alicia Darnell who now live in Dayton, Ohio, were back in Missouri for Thanksgiving and decided to stop by here to visit on their way back to Ohio. They left Sunday afternoon to drive back. It's a long trip from here but it was sure good to see them. Some of you will remember that I presided at their wedding in Springfield, Missouri in May, 2007.

Benjamin and Alicia Darnell