The Magic Kingdom

Greetings to all. It's just a week till I come back to the states for about 4 weeks, and I am really looking forward to that.

This Saturday I went to Luxembourg - the Magic Kingdom - actually it is an Grand Duchy, but whose counting.... It was thoroughly enchanting - I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is coming in this direction. It has been around for 1500 years. The Celts had it, then the Romans, then the Spaniards, the French, and so forth. Each group developed fortifications among the hills and castles, and what not. All leading to lovely medieval fortifications spread throughout the hills.
I teamed up with a german girl from the parish where I go. She is also in the choir, so we know each other a bit. The first stop on the trip was an American cemetery and war memorial. It was pretty powerful to visit it with a german - there is a german cemetery nearby, but we didn't visit it. Apparently they decided that enough damage had been done to the landscape and they put their graves in a forest, among the trees. I also saw General Patton's grave - apparently we're related somehow, so I took a photo (not included here)
Classes are finishing up and we're getting info on exams. I'll have four exams the last three days of the exam period. I had to have some later because I'm going to be home for the Chapter. So those last days of January, make sure you send some prayers my way, I'll need them.
Speaking of chapter, a friend of mine, a redemptorist who is here studying theology just got back from his chapter. He hadn't expected anything major to happen, vis-a-vis his studies here, but instead, he will be going to Zimbabwe. Wow. He is one of a group of students (mainly theology) that I meet for coffee each day in the early afternoon. We meet at the international coffee house, it's a nice break from studying. In fact, I'm headed over there after I finish this entry.
So I look forward to seeing everyone VERY SOON. I arrive the afternoon of Dec 24. I don't exactly have a plan, but my brother has Christmas eve dinner, then I will probably go to Carondelet, then mass in the morning and to my sister's for family festivities. I just picked up a tax case that has to be filed before the end of the year, so I'll have to get that off after Christmas - I've prepared everything and the client is supposed to be getting all the proper signatures and then mailing it to Carondelet. They contacted me 2 weeks before the filing deadline.... Merry Christmas!!!

See you all soon.
Amy