Greetings from Pat Carter!

Dear Friends,

I am actually fulfilling one of my New Year's Resolutions by getting this newsletter out before the Feast of Epiphany! Since I missed a year or two, there is some catching up to do.

The year for me has been full. We just celebrated my mother's 97th Birthday! She is mostly in a wheelchair these days and can do little for herself any more. She even needs help eating. But she does have a great appetite! And her mind is still very sharp and enjoys playing cards.

Josh just turned 22 and seems to have found a company that offers a variety of opportunities for him. He had been working with concrete contractors which he enjoys, but it is seasonal work. His back has also been bothering him which indicates to him that perhaps he needs to look at something a bit less strenuous.

I continue to work with the Adorers of the Blood of Christ part-time and my own graphic design business. Both are doing well.

What is taking up a good bit of my time right now is being President of the Board of the Bridges Foundation which is the program for the Ignatian Retreat in Daily Life. It is good work. I am also mentoring two new prayer guides in the program.

My CLC involvement is focused on my own community, Discipleship, as well as attending the regional meetings here in St. Louis. I also participated in a Retreat Day that a group of us gave to some folks in Oklahoma City who are interested in developing CLC there. More info on this day can be found at the link to the left. I am also on the North American Region Committee which is coordinating a gathering in Montreal next October with the US, English-speaking Canadian and French-speaking Canadian National CLCs.

In between all that I am trying to stay connected with Universe Story events which always provide a wonderful sense of connection to God and all of creation. One project was co-editing with Lois and Kuruvila Zachariah Reflections on Water: an Adaptation of the 18th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises with a Focus on Water. A link to our web site, www.storygroups.org is on the left. You can download the Reflections from there.

After my parish of 30 years, Immaculate Conception/St. Henry, was closed last year, I joined St. Cronan's Parish not too far from my home. It is a progressive parish and is designated as the social justice parish for the archdiocese. I am enjoying the liturgies, music, community and overall spirit of the parish very much. It is both nurturing and challenging.

Since the closing of Immaculate Conception/St. Henry I have retired from music ministry and my poor guitar is feeling somewhat abandoned. I have recently gotten a Native American Flute which I am enjoying immensely.

A highlight of 2006 was participating in a Lambing Weekend at Heifer Ranch near Little Rock Arkansas. A link on the left takes you to a description of the experience along with a slide show.

I managed to be in Seattle during the July storms. Josh managed with no electricity for 5 days. I also had a damaged chimney, but since it was a non-functioning one, I had it taken down rather than repair it. I still have two others on the house. A picture on the right shows the piles of mulch that came from destroyed and damaged trees in Tower Grove Park.

On the left is a link to a slide show of some of my pictures from trip to Seattle. I went up for the Ignatian Spirituality Institute, to visit with friends, sightsee, relax, and attend a Communications Committee meeting for CLC.

The Park was badly hit in the ice storm in November also. This time we didn't have any power outages and I was home and took lots of pictures of the beautiful, but dangerous ice. A link to a slide show of some of them is on the left.

My older dog, Unk, (the middle one in the picture on the left above) has developed degenerative neuropathy and is having problems with his hind legs. It doesn't cause him any pain, but he has lost some control in his legs. The biggest consequence so far is that he has trouble climbing the stairs to the second floor, so I my aerobic exercise everyday is carrying him up the stairs. BJ (the one on the right) is doing well. The dog on the left is Samantha, Josh's dog. She's delightful except that she doesn't like sharing the spotlight with my dogs. But at this point we are coexisting well with separate schedules.

The other photos above are (from left to right): taken at the Butterfly House, taken at Missouri Botanical Garden with a Chihuly sculpture in the fountain, and taken at a Pier in Seattle this summer.

Please download the 2007 Calendar using the link at the right. And enjoy!

May all of you have a New Year filled with Blessings!

Peace and love,

Pat Carter

Josh and Mom celebrating birthdays.

Reflections on Water at
www.storygroups.org

Seattle Trip

Ice Storm