August '08 | September '08 | October '08 | November '08 | December '08
Christmas for us means celebrating the birth of Jesus – and welcoming Him into our lives. To prepare for His coming more
fully into our lives, we attended the Vespers service in the chapel at Noroton Presbyterian Church – and enjoyed beautiful music in a
beautiful setting. 
We celebrated Emily's birthday by taking her and her two brothers out for a Chinese Dinner. We all enjoyed moo-shu pork, shrimp with almonds, and other treats. This year we decided to forego the chopsticks.
We have found very few places in our travels which are truly quiet and peaceful –far from crowds and noise. One of these was this month on a cross-country ski trail near Lake Louise in Banff National Park. We saw only four skiers in the two hours. It was just us - and the trees and the snow and the sky and mountains. We listened to the “sounds of silence” – our hearts pounding, blood rushing through our ears – and away off in the distance, a train whistle.
It has been 40 years since Marilyn left Alberta, and she has gone back there to spend Christmas with her family for
all but three of those years. Her family keeps getting larger – there are now 50 members - and this year we saw 42
of them, including two new babies – Finn and Zachary (on the left). We had our annual New Year’s Eve lunch with three of Marilyn’s University of Alberta classmates.
Then after New Year’s, we enjoyed a few days of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in Kananaskis with some friends.
Marilyn, Roseanne and Trish left the lodge at 11 am one morning, when the temperature was –30 Celius (–22 F), and
returned at 5 pm after having skied 20 kilometers (13 miles). In Alberta, as in Lake Wobegon, “the women are strong”.
Thank you to everyone who has helped Tanzin with her nurse’s training in Nalagarh, India. She is enjoying her studies – and recently gave polio drops to children in a remote village in Northern India.
Thank you too, to everyone who is helping the eleven Masai girls in Bissel, Kenya with their primary school education. More funds are needed for this project in 2009. You can help by purchasing one (or more) of Marilyn’s photos – these were shot in Kenya’s Samburu National Park last August, as were the two in our November Update. Please contact Marilyn at parkerma@juno.com if you’d like to purchase them or make a donation.
Nothing More Beautiful
Heavenly Father,
we come before you in praise and
thanksgiving, for You have called us
to be Your own.
You sent Your word to bring us truth,
and Your Spirit to make us holy.
Through them we come to know the
beauty that is You.
Draw us to a new encounter with
Jesus, Your Son. Deepen our love for
His church. Help us to embrace anew
the beauty of our faith in all of its richness.
Empower us to see that there is nothing
more beautiful than our relationship with You,
so that we may reflect to others Your image,
in which we have been created.
We pray that, rooted and grounded in Your love,
and through the healing power of the cross
of Your Son, we may be strengthen
for mission by Your Holy Spirit.
We make this prayer through Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
~from the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton~
Noroton Vespers
Pop-pop and Grandkids
Zachary
Skiers
