Great Lakes Tour, Day 8

I've spent a few nights in convents and monasteries in my life. I can't really describe it other than to say there is a greater feeling of peace there - God is nearer somehow. The sleep is sometimes short but it is always more restful than at home. Knowing that, I was grateful for the peaceful sleep, despite its limited duration, when my eyes popped open at 4:30 AM and refused to close again. Giving my morning thanks for our reunited family, I contemplated what to do next...then I remembered the book in the living room that listed the monks' prayer times. From their website:

A Day in the Life

Many people ask us, “What is an average day in the monastery like?” Here is a brief description of an average day.
The day here begins at 3:10 a.m. with the wake-up bell.  After a small cup of coffee, the brothers quietly make their way to the chapel for Vigils, the longest office of the day.  Over the course of an hour, we chant fourteen Psalms and listen to two long readings, one from the Scriptures and a second from the Church Fathers.  We join the angels, who never sleep, in watching for the coming of Jesus Christ in glory to save those who eagerly are waiting for Him.
This communal prayer is followed by a period of private prayer called lectio divina, .  This is a traditional prayerful meditation on God’s Word, particular the Holy Scriptures.  At 6:00 a.m., we return to the chapel for the office of ‘Lauds’, our morning praise of God.  This is followed directly by the celebration of Holy Mass, with traditional Gregorian chant.  We sing most of the offices in English and most of the Mass in Latin.
After Mass, there is a short period for personal matters and breakfast.  We also prepare breakfast for our B&B guests at this time.  At 8:15 a.m., we gather in a room called the Chapter Room, where the Prior reads a ‘chapter’ from the Rule of Saint Benedict and gives a short commentary applying its sixth-century text to our contemporary situation.  We then have a few moments to discuss together our work for the day.

I suppose God may have planned for me to be there for Vigils but, choosing to wake up slowly (I wouldn't make a good monk...or angel), I showered and had plenty of time to settle in for Lauds instead.

I took this on my way out, after the sun had risen. Heading into the church at 5:45 AM, the city still dark, it was a beautiful, welcoming sight...doors open to all passing by...come in and share some time giving glory to God!

The sung Liturgy of the Hours is beautiful to begin your day. I usually kneel or sit and just close my eyes (sometimes because I can't find my way through the breviary but usually because it's so peaceful to just be and listen to the voices). Mass was immediately after and, as much as I would have liked to be a monk for the day, motherhood called. Back to the apartment to cook up the eggs, bacon, hash browns, juice and other yummies that our good hosts had supplied and enjoy our first family breakfast in a week!

Fueled up physically and spiritually...I needed the second for the drive through Northern Chicago!...we headed to our next destination - Marytown!

Marytown is the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe and it's located, not in Marytown (confusing, I know) but in Libertyville, about an hour north of Chicago. We arrived with lots of time to explore, adore and settle in before Mass. It was an extra blessing to finally have DH along for the experience!

As we explored, we spoke to the staff and realized, not only was it the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (always an extra grace to attend Mass on a Marian feast!) but also the 69th Anniversary of the founding of Marytown!

This is from the bulletin...not sure why it's sideways.

Just before Mass, #1 also leaned over and said, "you know who Our Lady of Sorrows is patroness of, right?" Of course! Slovakia!!! I love when God yells really loudly, "IT IS GOOD THAT YOU ARE HERE!!!" Ahh, we are blessed.

The grounds were beautiful, as was the day, so we took a long walk through the rosary garden.

In their defense, the sun was blinding!

The outside of the chapel

The inside of the complex was equally informative and beautiful. Of course we had to hit the gift shop first, and were greeted by the Saint himself!

Heading back up the hall, the secretary pointed us downstairs to the Holocaust display. Parts of it were off limits to the littlest but there were things for everyone to see and experience.

In the entry were huge cases filled with nun dolls

I can't imagine there was any order missed!

I can't imagine there were this many orders!

The exhibit was full of good information but, truly, the pictures and art were so moving.

The exhibit was a very good preparation for getting our minds in the right place to head upstairs and Adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament as we took our turns for confession. What a great blessing to have your soul cleansed before Mass! I am so grateful when that happens. The Adoration went well too but then, it was pretty cool...the monstrance is FIVE feet tall!

Mass was also a new experience. The chapel is built so the ambo and the presider's chair are at the middle break of the chapel (in the picture above, the break is right around where the photographer was standing). After the Liturgy of the Word, the priest and servers process the rest of the way up the aisle to the altar. The separation yet connection was a wonderful visual. 

Mass over, we headed out to our final destination...Wisconsin, our friends and their beautiful family :0)

You're tired of reading and I'm tired of writing so I'll just close this out with some pictures from our visit. Every visit is so short yet so full of goodness. I always come away grateful to God for this family. They anchor us, even from far away, in a way only others who share our journey can. How blessed we are to know them! How blessed we are to have returned from an amazing trip full of new experiences and sights. We are truly blessed.

Sunrise in the back yard of our rental house

The kids love Wisconsin for many reasons...open land being a big one!

I have no idea what he's doing or why she needs such a big stick

He should be a preschool teacher. Seriously.

Godpapa and Godson (after he crawled out from hiding behind the desk. Ahhh 3-year-olds. So. Cute.)

I also love this family because dh (and me too!) can get his baby fix :0)

We went to dinner after Mass at a lovely little place nearby - we got our own room ;0) The boys were thrilled to have the "boy table"

So they could play rock,paper,scissors and do other boy things. Lol.

This little dude loves his brother and has the best expressions

See?

The girls also had a wonderful time, as did the big people. Can't wait for next time!

Great Lakes Tour, Day 7

After #1s science course and breakfast, we said "goodbye" to Green Bay (and its horrid jug handles!)

Would a traffic light be so bad?

and headed due south along Lake Michigan to our 4th and final Great Lake of the trip! Before we reached our Chicago nest, dear daughter had her first meeting of "Baltimore Catechism 3" (also online) so we had to make a stop.

If you're a Mr. Men fan, you may know this episode. Our kids have more than a passing attraction to the show (on their mother's side) so it became the running gag of the day...substituting the word "backgammon" with the word "Sheboygan". It is a fabulous word. It was repeated many, many times.

You see, the travel agent (moi) had decided the WiFi spots were too unpredictable and decided to choose a nice, solid library in which we would plead transience and need. The people of Sheboygan were warm and beyond welcoming. The Mead Public Library was a fantastic find!

They set up #1 and her laptop in a nice little study room where she could interact with her class and not bother anyone else.

We headed one floor up

to a really amazing children's section...lots of fun things to do and see

They even had the complete collection of the Berenstain Bears! (although this was before we found them)

When we had played for almost an hour, we headed down to the magazine section, just outside the private study area, to hang out and read while we waited for class to finish. #3 even found "Model Railroader" magazine :0)

Finished with class, we continued south until, finally we reached the "city of big shoulders," "city that works," or, as most people know it, "the windy city" (although maybe they don't really know why it has that name). It was a most exciting time because we were stopping first to see our home for the night (we had stayed with the monks prior but this was a new apartment) and then it was off to meet daddy. 

The Monastery of the Holy Cross in South Chicago is staffed by the Benedictines and, to our delight, they run a bed and breakfast. Fr. Edward greeted us warmly and took us on a wonderful tour of what would serve to be our lodging for the evening. He noted that this is the only US b&b that is in a monastery and, actually, it's the only b&b he knows of that is actually in a church!

Through the gate is the door up to our apartment which are the tiny windows in the middle. The big windows on the bottom are the sacristy and the big windows on top are part of the church dome.

Up one flight and you choose your door...ours was to the left.

Our hosts live on the right.

This greets you on the way up to the apartment :0)

The stairs from above

The hall that leads to the living room and bedrooms

Living room

Bathroom...you know my love of quotes on the wall ;0)

Three bedrooms in all...lots of space

Close-up of the hallway again with Our Beautiful Lady and bolts...they were there to secure the baldacchino above the altar! Is that the coolest thing? On the opposite side of that wall, that very one, is this

The dark wooden canopy over the altar is the baldacchino! That is our shared wall!

The cutest thing of all was when our two little altar servers went from the bedrooms to the bathroom, they bowed every time they got to Our Lady, knowing the altar was just on the other side.

It was a marvelous place and we couldn't wait to show it to DH but first we had to go find him! We headed out to the University of Illinois-Chicago, home of a dear friend who is a professor there. He attends the conference with DH and, since he doesn't make the trips to Pittsburgh any more, it's a blessing that we get to see him as we're passing through. As usual he made us feel so welcome and took us on our yearly tour of the President's level in his building. The day was beautiful - perfect to city-view.

I never get over the flatness of the Midwest

That would be as close as we got to #4 but Lake Michigan is in sight!

Back at the office, an impromptu lesson comparing money from different countries, including a 100,000,000 bill (or more, I forget...I also forget what country. Oops, I was enjoying being back in the same room with DH after a week!)

The nearly happy group. There's always one. Lol. Until next time, Dr. Gib.

We delightedly took DH back to our faith-filled apartment and we caught up over Chinese and just enjoyed being a whole family again. We went to bed a bit later than we should have...especially since my inner-Benedictine began calling around 4:30 the next morning. Oh well, there are worse things.

We are blessed.