Merry Christmas!

Many have already taken down their Christmas decorations or turned off their lights. We have just started celebrating (since Christmas Eve)! In the Catholic Church, we celebrate Advent in preparation for Christmas until the evening of Dec. 24. We then celebrate the Christmas Season for 8 straight days in a row! That's how big it is to us! Many keep their decorations up until Feb. 2 -- the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.

We hope that you all had a great Christmas. We did. Just being together, praying together, eating junk food together, trying out the new Christmas gifts . . . but most importantly, enjoying each other. We've said this many times -- we have so much more fun when all the Sisters are home from the schools. It's a good time!

We have certainly remembered all of you in our prayers of gratitude and love. God bless us, every one!

God's Beauty -- Have we opened our eyes and hearts to it?

Sr. Mary Jude renewed her vows for one year on Dec. 17. Congratulations!
May God continue to bless you with deeper intimacy and love!
May you be a bright witness of Jesus' Truth and Love and Joy!


Christmas Plays are among our favorite "jobs" of being involved in Catholic Schools!
What a delight . . .
Many times the students will have songs to sing and dance to, lines to memorize . . .
It's always one of our favorite things to watch during December.

2 Sisters were able to attend the ordination of a Benedictine Monk friend in Pecos, NM
this past week. Father, you're in our prayers!

On the way home from the ordination, we discovered the beautiful "Canadian River Canyon"
in New Mexico. What a surprise! Amazing how you live fairly close to some of these things
and do not even know that they are nearby.

This is alot like God and His Awesomeness! We have so many treasures nearby

(the Holy Scriptures, Adoration, the Holy Mass, His Love and Truth, and . . . so much more),
but we many times take them for granted or do not even know the depth of their beauty!

May we spend this Advent and Christmas asking God to draw us closer to Himself and
to open our eyes to His beauty that is so near to us!

Advent -- A Beautiful Time to Reflect

What a privilege it has been to be able to share some time with the beautiful married couples (pictured above) with their TOOLS groups! It has been a delight getting to know them better and helping them reflect on their vocations and being Centered on Christ!

We've had 2 Marriage Retreats this month! God is SO good!

Also above, we had a cookie decorating party yesterday. It's become a tradition for some local friends to bring their children to spend time with us decorating cookies for Christmas. What a blast that was! (The picture in the chapel was us praying before they went home.)

Families -- what an awesome time of year to have families here! May the Christ Child be born in our hearts in a new and powerful way this Advent and Christmas.

We're having a Christmas Novena of Masses said for all of you before Christmas. In this most powerful prayer (the Mass), we are asking for blessings and graces in an awesome and overabundant way! God bless you all!

Blessed Advent to All!

Dear Friends,


During this very important Advent Season, may we all take extra time and effort to reflect on God, on His Love for us, on what He's asking of us, how He wants us to grow and to make some changes for the better . . .

Come, Lord Jesus, Come! Come into our Hearts in a new and awesome way! Open our hearts to be open to You and your life-changing and healing love. Amen.

On another note, check out some of the pictures from our recent FUN Raiser - Click Here!

God bless you all!

"Harvest of Blessings" Gala & FUN Raiser 2011

The candles wrapped up on the tables were supposed to be a gift to everyone that attended. Please, if you want a candle, please come by for one soon if you're in the vicinity.

Another awesome "dessert table" by one of our local friends. She always makes it so special!

Original Drawing by Joshua Sorenson (donated to our auctions)! Awesome job!


Cotton-eyed Joe -- We like to try it. Some Sisters are still trying to learn it . . . .


We had our FUN Raiser last Saturday night. It was awesome!

We are SO grateful for the Harvest of Blessings bestowed upon us by God and so many people. How could we ever thank you all enough for your friendship, your prayers, your generosity, and your goodness to us! We love serving you and serving with you. We love being your sisters in so many ways. Continue to pray for us as we pray for all of you!

And, don't forget to thank God for all the blessings in your life! Wow. How much God LOVES us! Do we ever thank Him enough??? Thank you, God! Please continue to bless us! We especially ask you to bless us with a deeper love for You and a deeper longing to be united with You and Your people. Amen.

[btw, If anyone has good pictures from our fun raiser, please forward them to Sr. Mary Michael! Thank you!]

School Sisters "FUN Raiser" Around the Corner!

We have been working feverishly (is that a word?) to get ready for our Annual FUN Raiser. There's still a lot left to do, but it'll get done before the doors open Saturday night at 6:00 at the St. Thomas Gym (Amarillo, TX)!

See some of the hand-made crafts above that have been prepared by the Sisters in preparation for this night.

We also have some great Auction Items (we'll try to get the website updated).

If you haven't bought your ticket yet, we will be selling them at the door until we run out! Hope to see you there!!!

Receive Love - Be Love Retreat

A picture is worth a thousand words, so we'll spare you all the details! We had a great retreat this past weekend for some who are wanting to learn more about prayer, Religious Life, and what God might be calling them to!

We have been doing our "Come and See" retreats with the theme of Receive Love - Be Love because it's difficult to hear God's call in any direction if one does not first truly know how much God LOVES them! After we are able to receive God's awesome love, then we are more able to be love to others in our vocation.

Thank you for all those who were praying for us! God is love!