Francis is 7️⃣ 🥳

Francis is 7!!

It’s hard to believe that he was 3 months old when we moved here… and now he’s 7 years old!

It has been such a joy to watch him grow up here!

He is such a gift! Fun-loving, smart, inquisitive! He loves to draw and he’s really good at it! He loves his walks home from school every day, alone with his two second grade buddies. He constantly has dirt under his finger nails. He’s obsessed with Cedric Diggery and thinks he loves all things Harry Potter, yet he’s still scared of movies 1 & 2.  He’s really good at math and has just learned to read in English and German. He loves science and is already asking what experiments we’ll do in our homeschool. He knows that Jack looks just like him and he loves it. He’s Ellie constant companion and best friend, whether he admits it or not. He shares a bunk bed with Isaac and will start sharing a room just with him this summer… it’s fun to see the brothers together! And Francis and Clare are a great combination as well, as their saintly names imply. We all just love our Buddy, Bubba, Brian Francis Kissinger II! ❤️

Leaky Cauldron Magic Coffeeshop 🪄

We visited the Leaky Cauldron while in Krakow 🪄

Butter beer 🍺 

Lent ✝️ & Easter 🐣 2022

I love the Lenten and Easter Seasons at the Kartause!

The kids had a great Lent! Fr. Nick taught “Saturday school” for Ellie, Francis and their friends — as their final project they helped lead the Stations of the Cross, with their own reflections. Isaac drew about one million picture of Jesus during Lent. He’s always asking me which apostle had red hair. After telling him a hundred times that the Bible doesn’t say, so I don’t know… I started telling him it was Peter :)

On Holy Thursday we kept the tradition of washing each other’s feet, but the kids decided to dress as Jesus and the apostles. Ellie was Jesus, Francis was Peter, and Isaac was John. Then we had our first (miniature) Seder meal.  Then we were off to mass.  It was a great way to spend our 10 year wedding anniversary. 

After Mass on Easter we had an Easter egg hunt with the Ukrainian refugees living here at the Kartause. There are 50 women and children currently living here. Running around and looking for eggs was definitely a fun activity they all enjoyed!

Holy Week in Poland 🇵🇱

For our last vacation living in Europe we decided to go to…Poland!! 

Our first few days there we stayed in our good friend’s hometown. It’s an hour from the Ukraine border. 

For Palm Sunday we went to mass at a beautiful Franciscan monastery on a mountain. It is on the border of oil avd avd Ukraine. From the parking lot (on the Polish side) you look out over Ukraine. It’s so surreal thinking about the war happening just a few hours away. 

https://pilgriming.eu/kalwaria-paclawska/

We got Polish palm branches before the mass. We had to stand outside during mass because the church was so full!

Stork nests:



Castle in Lancut (our friend’s hometown):



Then we spent two days in Krakow as a family. 





























Divine Mercy convent and shrine:









We got home Wednesday night so we could spend the Triduum, and our 10 year anniversary, in Gaming!

It was a great final trip :)