Special Day

Our Family with Fr. Tarcy in front of Mary's House, February 2001

Our best Air Force tour ever was when we lived in Turkey. We traveled,meet amazing people, made lifelong friends,grew in our faith, and Mystical Rose was born there.
We meet an incredible servant of God when we traveled to Mary's house in Ephesus. His name was Fr. Tarcy Mathias, and the first time I talked to him I felt I was in the presence of a Saint. His joy for our Lord and Mother Mary was contagious. The life he was leading was one of pure sacrifice. We had the opportunity to meet him twice, and we kept in touch for the past ten years. He was one of the first people I called to ask for prayers when Mystical Rose was diagnosed with cancer.
Back in January of this year we received the card below, with a note that Fr. Tarcy is no longer with us. I got the chills, when I read the date of his death, September 14, 2010. The 1st anniversary of his death would be my due date with baby #5. Within a few days we found out I miscarried, so we decided to name the baby Tarcy. I pray I live to see the day Fr. Tarcy is canonized.

I did a Google search for his name and it turns out there is a website dedicated to his life, and many articles about him.

-Mallu

Pilgrimage

Our oldest two are on a month long Pilgrimage to Europe, ending with World Youth Day! We are so excited for them.
We are really proud of them for earning / saving the money for this trip on their own. We are also so thankful for family and friends who helped them with generous donations. Please keep them in prayer.

A map of their travels

Around the world in 10 Days--Part 5 Japan

oops. I got sidetracked by a cold and Thanksgiving so here is the last slide show!!

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Around the world in 10 Days--Part 4 South Korea

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Around the world in 10 Days--Part 3 Indonesia

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Around the world in 10 Days--Part 2 India

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Around the world in 10 Days--Part 1 prelude

Well some people might say I have a great job... I get to go and videotape the President of the United States. I must say I have to agree. The job isn't all glitz and glamor...sprinting with 40 lbs of equipment in a suit and tie,sweating through your suit twice, and working 17 hour days can make a guy forget how cool this job can be. This past week I was able to experience something that reminded me how great my job is. I was able to travel around the world on Air Force One!

Ten days took me to Ramstein Germany(for a 2 hour refuel stop), Mumbai and New Delhi India, Jakarta Indonesia, Seoul South Korea, Yokohama Japan, and finally Anchorage Alaska (for another 2 hour refuel stop)It was busy, hectic, sweaty, and tiring but now that I have had a little time to reflect on it it was quite an adventure.

Over the next few days I will be posting pictures of my adventure. Stay tuned people!!!!

--Crucian Dad

We are back!

We got back home safely on Sunday late evening, I must say prayers carried us home. The drive was great until we were an hour away form home, from that point, it took over 3hrs to get home. It was about a 13 hr drive! There was lots of ice and traffic. We were very blessed to have some good friends, who came out and dug us in; THANK YOU!

a homeschooling family of six does not travel light

The highways were crowded and there were large stretches of 2"-3" of ice

This is one of the major roads in our neighborhood... it was interesting controlling the van