July 14, 2019

My Dear Parishioners,
   Are you ready for some fun and fellowship?  This weekend, July 13th & 14th, everyone is invited to the parish picnic and tour of the priest’s residence.  Food and drinks will be served in the Fischer Center, dine-in only, no carry-out please.  We want to make sure that we have enough food for everyone, and Bishop Kemme plus all priests of the diocese are invited too.  Bishop will celebrate our 11am Mass and join us for lunch.  What a blessing.  Please enjoy each other’s company and enjoy our food.  You are welcome to bring any dish to share if you would like, but if you can’t, it’s ok, for we will have steak, smoked chicken and potatoes for everyone.  Let us thank God for each other, those who practice faithful stewardship of their time, talent and treasure, and those who have helped us tirelessly with the renovation of the new house.
   Priest’s Residence: I wish I could tell you that everything inside and outside the house is perfectly finished.  We are blessed to have this house as a nice addition for our church; however, the house was built in 1937 and was vacant for a long time before we got possession of it.  Because of this, there were many problems inside and out with leaks and mold.  Upstairs: New sheetrock, paint, plumbing, electrical and remodeling all bathrooms with floor tile and one handicap accessible bedroom.  We re-sanded and stained all the wood floors.  The formal dining room is now the kitchen with a new door to the patio.  The kitchen has granite and quartz countertops, cabinets are re-sanded and painted, crown molding added, and of course new appliances.  The light fixtures in the kitchen area and the great room are original with LED bulbs.  To save money, I kept the original glass wall.  All the windows are new.  The stain glass window was originally in the kitchen and I moved it to the great room.  Downstairs: About 75% done with new framing, sheet rock, electrical, plumbing, paint, and new LED lights throughout the house.  All leaks fixed, including in the sun room.  Outside: It took a lot of concrete to pave the garage, driveway and around the house in the flower beds, which I did to keep water away from the house and for bugs and weed control.  To save money, I placed the old concrete pieces south of the house to keep water away from the house and to create a garden area.  I also moved all the extra dirt to the west and created a berm to keep the traffic noise down and pedestrians from crossing easily onto our property.  We washed, scraped, primed and painted the outside.  We planted about 200 bushes of golden privet hedge and forsythias, roses and fruit trees, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc.  My vegetables are coming along.  My favorite part of this house is the pond, where I can swim on hot summer days to save the church’s water for I need two to three showers a day.  Anyone want to join me?  Just kidding, the pond is for koi fish.  This is my first time raising koi.  I don’t have any fish in it yet, sorry.  FYI the pond is my personal hobby, so I personally paid for it. 
   Q.A.: Many people have asked me - which room is my bedroom.  Truthfully, it doesn’t matter to me which one, more likely the one near my fish pond and mounted buck.  Donations: Thanks everyone for your generous donations toward our building fund.  If you wish to donate money toward new items in the house such as furniture, beds, window blinds, washer & dryer, etc.…please let Sandy/office know.  Everything you donate will stay with the church forever.  I would take a used washer & dryer if it is still working.  Finally, I can’t wait to be with everyone and our Bishop for Holy Mass, to enjoy some great food and fellowship.  Love you all, Fr. Hien