Our week of celebrating life started on Saturday with a service project at the Mary’s Shelter. All 5 of us, plus some students from JP the Great, worked last Saturday on cleaning up the backyard of the Mary’s Shelter’s main house. It was a great chance to work in the outdoors for such a worthy cause.

On Sunday, we celebrated HamBone’s 16th birthday and watched the playoff games (neither games being what we hoped they’d be). Regardless, we had Monday off … which meant a day of sleeping in a bit, Mass, and general family-togetherness to celebrate HamBone (we like to stretch-out birthdays if possible) as well as prepping for the final week of the 2nd-quarter of school.

The Patriot’s Center with Chris Stefanick getting us revved up!

Dh, HamBone and I all headed to school this morning to join up with 400+ students and faculty/staff to attend the annual March. Our buses rolled at 8:30 to head first to the Patriot’s Center (on George Mason’s Campus in Fairfax). There, with high school students from Paul VI (“right around the corner”), Richmond Diocese and as far away as Saginaw, Michigan and Chicago, IL, (more than 5000 marchers) we celebrated life …. using as the theme “Life is VERY great”. Bishop of Arlington, Paul Loverde, and 4 other bishops/archbishops, myriad priests and an amazing number of seminarians and deacons helped us to celebrate life. But, first we got to hear from emcee and “headliner” , Chris Stefanick (an AMAZING speaker from our days in Denver), a husband and father who entertained us and got us revved up for the rest of the day … as did Ike Ndolo and his musicians!

After Mass, we headed into the Nation’s Capital for the most amazing witness to life: the annual March! The sheer number of high schoolers and college students … middle- and old-age folks … as well as moms and dads pushing strollers. That amount of people filling the streets around the Mall, up to the Congressional Buildings and then to the Supreme Court … the SHEER numbers of folks flooding D.C. for this annual event should put ALL on notice that ALL ages want to fight for life … that ALL ages want to crush the Culture of Life, re-creating a respect for human life at ALL stages. we were blessed to meet-up with Kotch … and, unfortunately missed dear friends from Benedictine (yes, in KANSAS) who came to the March.

What an amazing day!

Here’s a picture of part of our group, lining up in front of the National Galley or Art before the 42nd annual March….

Some of our group getting ready to March for Life!

Prayers that this, the 42nd year since the institution of “legal” abortion, this year, would be our LAST!