Our new landscaper (Molter Landscape) has been doing a fantastic job keeping our grounds in great shape in the midst of a drought and restrictions limiting watering to two days per week. In addition, they are also re-working our archaic irrigation system and locating and mapping all of the valves that have been covered and forgotten over the years. Once the areas immediately adjacent to the buildings are completed, we will move on to the parking areas which have turned into dust bowls recently. Hopefully the rainy season has finally arrived which will replenish our lake in front of the campus. As you may remember, we irrigate out of the lake and re-hydrate the lake by pumping from an aquifer. During extremely dry periods, we are unable to access water from the aquifer to the low water table.
As a reminder, re-sealing and re-striping of the parking lot will begin this coming Monday, the 27th of June. This project will require closing designated sections of the parking lot during the week. This past week, we finished replacing the broken parking stops which numbered over forty. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause however the end result will be a beautiful new parking lot with an enhanced traffic flow. Thanks again to John Dina for his efforts in coordinating the work in our parking lot.
This past Monday we began a full renovation of the kitchen in the Parish Life Center. After 14 years of constant use and abuse, this is a much overdue makeover. All of the equipment has been removed from the kitchen and work has begun to refinish the floor with a new epoxy based material which will wear much better than the current painted concrete in place. In addition, we will install new gypsum board walls and fiberglass panels in all of the wet areas of the kitchen. All of the kitchen equipment will be deep cleaned while not in use. All of the walls will then be re-painted. We will ultimately have a beautiful new kitchen that will be very safe for all.
This past Monday, we had a purse stolen from a vehicle that was parked in front of the church during daily Mass. The vehicle was unlocked and the purse was visible through the window. I will kindly ask that you please lock your vehicle while attending Mass and please do not leave valuables visible through your window. I personally met the same fate several years ago and learned my lesson the hard way. Although we don’t like to think that something like this would happen in our church parking lot, the sad fact is that when there is an opportunity, someone will certainly take advantage, regardless of where your vehicle is parked.
We have enlisted the help of Sam Kojiro to begin working on our website. As you know, we built a new site several months ago although the information is somewhat static. Sam will create a truly interactive site that will be fun to visit and informative. Sam will ultimately contact all of our ministries to obtain content that will populate the pages of our site as well as pictures which will be used to enhance the viewing experience. Thank you for your patience while we create a site that will be unlike any in the Diocese of Venice.
Triplet update: What a surprise I received this past week. On Friday, the 17th of June, I received a call from the NICU asking that we bring in another car seat because Ella would be joining her sister, Mia and coming home that afternoon. Ella is the smallest of the three and I was sure that this was a mistake. As it turns out, Ella made great strides and didn’t want to be left in the NICU without her sister. On Friday afternoon, we loaded up these tiny little girls and brought them home (see picture in bulletin.) Nathaniel had a bit of a setback with some digestional issues and will remain until this Saturday at the latest. To say that my world has been changed is a monumental understatement. Because the babies are still considered premature, they must eat every three hours which means that my wife and I wake up at 11 p.m., 2 a.m., 5 a.m., 8 a.m. and so on to make sure that they are taken care of. We are only one week in to this process and the volume of diapers and wipes that we have gone through is amazing. Sleep is something that I cherished and now there is very little to be had but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Shelley and I make a great team with the two girls however we question how this will all play out when big brother Nathaniel joins his sisters at home. My daughter Sydney is the self proclaimed proudest big sister in Southwest Florida now that she is able to get her hands on her little sisters. She is eagerly awaiting her little brother so that she can show them all that she knows. All three babies are very healthy and weighing in at 4 lbs. 5 oz., 4 lbs. 11 oz. and 4 lbs. 13oz. Thank you once again for all your prayers for the health and prosperity of our little ones.
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