May 31st Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! I can’t believe it is May 31^st! Where is the year going??

Today I have to bring Dani and Bri over to the church for nine. This was supposed to be their Confirmation retreat weekend, but the house where all the prior Confirmation classes went for the retreat was just sold. It is now a private residence and no longer owned by the church. This came as a big surprise to our minister, when he called two weeks ago to confirm their reservation.

Initially they attempted to find another venue, but then Dani suggested a sleep in at the church. Everyone was on board, but then they found out there was a wedding scheduled at the church this weekend (our minister wasn’t doing the service, so he didn’t know about it). With the rehearsal Friday and then the wedding at four o’clock today, the last thing the bride needed was a bunch of teenagers camping out at the church. So, the Confirmation class is having a meeting from nine to one instead of a weekend retreat.

The retreat was a time for them to work on their Confirmation Creeds and to bond with the other kids in their class. The Creeds will be printed in the bulletin next Sunday, and the minister also gives each participant a framed copy of their Creed. It’s sad Dani won’t be able to have the same experience as her brother and sister. I really think the weekend away helped them focus on what being a Christian and what being Confirmed really meant to them personally. I’m sure they’ll do fine with the five hours, but…

Sharon invited me to drive down to Avalon tomorrow with her and Nan, but unfortunately, I have to have Lys at the airport in Philly right smack in the middle of the day. I have to leave here at one so she can arrive an hour early for her four o’clock flight. She is going down to NC to stay with Tyler as he recuperates from minor surgery.

Even though the surgery is really no big deal, when I found out he was going to be there all by himself recovering, I kind of insisted Lys go down and play nurse. It didn’t take much to persuade her to go – just one, “He shouldn’t be by himself. Why don’t you go and stay with him?” and she mentioned it to Tyler’s parents. They were all over it. They felt bad that commitments at work were preventing them from being with him, so they were thrilled Lys wanted to go. They even bought her the plane ticket, which I thought was really sweet, and very generous, of them.

Okay, I have to go and figure something out for these girls for breakfast, so I should run. I hope you have a fabulous day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

It’s a mystery…

As you have probably come to realize, I am never quite satisfied by just visiting a historic site, I need to learn the history and the legends about the site. One such place was the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Legend has it, that when the chapel was built, there was no way for the nuns to get up to the choir loft. A conventional staircase would have taken up too much space in the chapel itself, so it wasn’t feasible, and therefore, if the sisters wanted to get up to the choir loft they would have to do so by using a ladder. For nine days, the sisters prayed to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters, to send someone to help them with their problem. On the ninth day, a stranger named Joad arrived at the chapel and began construction on the staircase. When it was completed, he left without saying goodbye or taking any payment for the work he had done.

Several mysteries surround the staircase other than the unknown and vanishing carpenter. First was the staircase appears to defy all laws of physics because it has no central support. Even though sources now debunk this by saying it does have a central support, I don’t think they are taking into consideration the railings were not added to the staircase until almost a decade after it had been built. (Picture what it looked like without all the black ironwork.)

Second, the wood used was not indigenous to the region. Although, it has been determined the wood is pine, since it cannot be tested, experts cannot confirm or deny this claim. The final mystery, is not really a mystery at all. The staircase was originally constructed without using any nails. Any carpenter worth a pound of salt can construct something without using nails.

 

The sisters believed the mysterious carpenter was St. Joseph who came to help them; and although there are many naysayers out there who want to disprove their claim, I think the nuns’ prayers were answered, even if it wasn’t St. Joseph himself.

I managed to get a whole lot of information down in the ten minutes because I was telling RV about this the other day.

Your Next Challenge is:

Either start or end your story with the following (random line from a random book off my bookshelf):

“She raced up the steps to the entrance of the church.”

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.