Tides Family Services Community

Beth, Casey & Tides Family Services staff debrief their latest
visits/activities with their kids.

Community House for Casey, Beth & Br. Michael across the street from
St. Rafael's High School. The community also includes other Brothers, Lasallians, Alum LVs & others that join and support the community for various functions (prayer, meals, etc.) throughout the week.

Front (lr)Casey Wilson, Joe Beaudette, Beth Fineran
Back (l-r) bra. Michael Reese, bra. Tom Carney

The debriefing continues! Loaded up with some afternoon caffeine,
Beth is ready to hit the streets for the night home visits.

Catching Up...

Here are some pictures of a few things that have been going on in my neck of the woods...

Br. Michael, Sandra, and I going to a reception at Mt. St. Ursula








Recently, Br. Ed and I took 7 senior citizens to Cape Cod, MA. Many of them had not been on a vacation in years. We saw lighthouses, beaches, seals, museums, JFK memorial, and many other sights. It was wonderful!





And of course there are the kids! They are just great. I get to see both ends of the spectrum with the seniors in the morning and the youngsters in the afternoon. What a blessing!










All work and no play? Luckily, I've had time for both. Here's a shot of Elisa and I from the US OPEN, Championship Match!! Woohoo...go Federer!

HAPPY FRIDAY!! WOOHOO!

just a few pics to update you up on the Yakilife...

so years ago, Yakima, WA had the choice between a four year university and the stata fair... I bet you can't guess what their choice was.... (hint... this pic isvfrom their choice...)


(JP's first Elephant Ear....)
the other three people are Jeff (a teacher @ LaSalle) his girlfriend, and Kelsey (one of the PACE teachers)


Anyone eat TreeTop Apple Sauce? We got to taste test some new sauces!!! (It pays to be living in the largest apple producing area in the country!

This is an Albino Burmese Python from Br. Jack's classroom... JP looks SO pumped...


But you have to say I do have some pretty sweet snake handling skills :)






Anyone have big plans for the weekend of Oct 14th?? Anyone wanna fly to Yakima and be my date to Homecoming??? ;) haha... you can dress like an old time movie star :)

Anyway....

all my love from Yakima!

Have an amazing weekend! HAVE A BLAST!

God Bless!
*Annie

LASALLIAN VOLUNTEER ADVISORY BOARD MEETING - CAMDEN, NJ

US!
The group gathering before dinner

San Miguel Community (L-R) Br. William, Janitzia, Jahmese, Br. Joseph

Lasallian Volunteer Advisory Board Meeting

Sara & Paul and Br. Fritz joined the board and LV staff for dinner

Janitzia & Jahmese also joined us with their community...Look at those smiles!

The 06-07 LV Advisory Board
(L-R front: Jim, Br. Jonathan Cord, Br. Larry Goyette, Mike Culligan, Br. Ed,
Kelly LaFlamme & baby Luke)
(L-R back: Alisa, Seth, Karin McClelland-Anderer & Dave)

Tim is dancing on the Boardwalk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7224CO7WmIY

Mollie's Claw!!!

This is Mollie and a bunch of the Saturday School kids. They just had to know what on earth happened to her hand...so she told them.

An up close shot at "the claw." Those are metal spring like doo hobbies that are red there, they attach to wires that go straight to Mollie's finger nails or some doctor super glued wire latches. She has to wear it all the time for now. She was going to let me take a photo of the wound and developing scar too but the camera battery died before we got that far. It might be better that way. It's a little gross looking yet.

Hope you enjoyed the super medical terms I used for description purposes.

Working hard, or hardly working?

These pictures are all of 8th grade students. And trust me, they are all working pretty hard in this set. At the time I took these shots, they were angry with me because I was forcing them to write an "academic reflection" based on two famous paintings. And I quote Navin: "Ouuuu Ms. Waaagner!!! Euch!" (last picture, furtherst right.)

Banned Books Week

September 23-30, 2006 is Banned Books Week, supported by the American Library Association (ALA: http://www.ala.org/). I have challenged my students to the following competition:

*Read any one banned book by 9/30
*Score 85% or higher on quiz
*Print Internet proof that your book is in fact banned
*Write one paragraph telling what you learned from this banned book

Anyone who accomplishes this gets 1 dozen homemade cookies. So far the kids seem excited about it. I assume this is because someone somewhere says they can't (hence the banning) which makes them feel they can and should, and there is a desireable reward involved (our kids love cookies). So, try something to expose your students to banned books.

By the way, this is the Bulletin Board some of the kids made with me.

Totino Grace Visit

For those of you who aren't familiar with some of our Lasallian Highschools, Totino Grace is one of them. It is located outside of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Here you can see some photos from the visit between the TG Varsity Soccer Team and my homeroom at lunch time. This is also the homeroom that Joel bases out of! The last picture is of Andrew Blake (current TG staff member and LV Alum) meeting Joel.

Arrrr!

Ahoy, me maties! I just wanted to share with everyone that September 19th is international talk like a pirate day. This may not be a big deal to some of you, but I am super excited because when I am finished LVing it here in Browning, I plan to live on a boat and sail the Seven Seas. So if you share this interest with me, check out this awesome website (www.talklikeapirate.com) to find out you pirate name, learn some pirate songs, and so much more...

Skylarking Maggie

LVs in Browning, MT....Which one is Charlie, Christina & Katie????

OAKTOWN!!!

Hey Fellow Super Awesome Lasallain Volunteers!

Here are some pictures from our CAP back in August. There were some very cute kittens that the Brothers at Mont La Salle purchased to kill off the mice in farm. Justine fell in love with one of these kittens and brought it to the social where we learned that Chris Swain (Former LV in Camden) is afraid of tiny sweet innocent kittens and turns into a girl when they jump on his lap. Haha!

So what else have we been up to? Well we went out in SF for Katie Jann's Birthday which was quite an adventure. Let's just say the SFPD asked if we were ok and one of our community members left part of our night on the Bay Bridge and if your lucky we'll tell you the story at Midyear. Last Sunday Justine and I went to the Matisyahu concert in Berkeley. He's an hassidic rabbi reggae rapper (Justine helped me spell all that). It was awesome. He comes from Brooklyn so I suggest all you in the NYC area go and see him. Other than that not too much. We might go camping in Yosemite for Columbus Day Weekend but for now its just workin at LEO. Well take care and have fun!

a lil Yak-I-luv

Hello from the Yakster!

This week has absolutely FLOWN by...

but I thought I'd load a few pics :)

A typical Yakima sunset

Brother Jack is a volunteer fire fighter and he invited us to check out a practice burn... the fire was absolutely beautiful.. and HOT of course!! :)

JP, Br. Jack, and me while touring the fire house last Saturday. (Hot hats eh??)

JP and me hugging trees on in "The Grove of the Patriarchs" on Mt. Rainier

JP looking at a waterfall on our hike up Rainier

K friends!

More pics to come this weekend!

Much love to you all!

God Bless!
*Annie

A lil' Agnes in your life...

I have four groups that I teach, and it is very possible, that one entire group is a class full of this Agnes child....

Earth Teach Me to Remember

Earth Teach Me to Remember

Earth teach me stillness
as the grasses are stilled with light.

Earth teach me suffering
as old stones suffer with memory.

Earth teach me humility
as blossoms are humble with beginning.

Earth teach me caring
as the mother who secures her young.

Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands along.

Earth teach me limitation
as the ant which crawls on the ground.

Earth teach me freedom
as the eagle which soars in the sky.

Earth teach me resignation
as the leaves which die in the fall.

Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the sprint.

Earth teach me to forget myself
as melted snow forgets its life.

Earth teach me to remember kindness
as dry fields weep in the rain.

Ute, North America

LV STAFF - That Summer Look

Hello from JIM...ALISA...DAVE...SETH!

Please keep us in your prayers this weekend.

We begin meeting with the LV Advisory & Fund-Raising Board

Thursday night in Camden and end on Saturday night.

Please pray for good discussions and successful planning.

We begin our visits next week....looking forward to seeing you soon!

Mullet

Alright, I did have a mullet before I became an LV. I think it was one of my better looks - plus it matched my Stuckey's gear. Big changes ahead, though. I should have cornrows by Oct.

Hate the player, not the game

Labor Day (yea so I'm a little behind...)

I know Sandra already posted about Labor Day at the A-frame, but I had to add a bit!!! Wanted to say thanks to all that were there... it was one of those things where you don't realize how much you need a vacation until you're on it... What can I say, hiking, nature, reading, sleeping, journaling, learning to play the accordian (thanks Martin), six hours of Monopoly, breaking the hammock...... It was wonderful. I'm adding in a few more pics, but give props to Daniel on these, he took them all! I just love the one above...



Yea, that's supposed to say "LVs"...you can kinda see it...right? Hey, we tried....











Now if Sara and Paul aren't just the cutest things.....












This was from an early morning hike..... this is not a bad way to start the day...

A look back in time...

Gil as a 1st year LV...

The vote: Lots of facial hair or not so much

(Gil, you're handsome either way, but let's get some people speaking up around here...)

If we could turn back time...

Martin: Year one as an LV........

Now for a vote: Long hair or Short hair?

(Eventhough, admittedly, we all adore him either way! We're shooting for interactive here!)

Finale..

"It isn't easy, it doesn't count if it's easy, it's the hardest thing. Forgiveness. Maybe it's where love and justice finally meet."
-Tony Kushner, Angels in America (referred in morning prayer by Shannon, Lorretto volunteer)