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Merry Christmas
It has been a very full year for the Ray family. Lots of loving, laughing, learning, crying, traveling...and some miracles.
As many know, my father had a stroke last spring and almost died. At 91 and 89 years old, my parents were still living in the home where I grew up. After the stroke we quickly sold their house and moved them into our home. We turned our dining room into a hospital room.
 | | Great Grandchild, Bella, napping with my Dad |
My son Jesse and his wife Anna took over their care. Our family gave them 24-hour hospice care in our home, never expecting him to see another Christmas.
To our amazement he began improving. Soon, the man who could hardly sit up in bed, was navigating the stairs with his cane and entertaining the grandkids. After my mom and dad celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary, they moved into Independence Village nearby. So, Dad will be with us this Christmas.
The year was also full of other good things. I finished the 250-page Catholic Scripture Study commentary on 1 & 2 Corinthians (studies on Genesis and Acts where my projects in previous years). Ignatius Press gave me a contract to write a book on Catholic pilgrimages to the Holy Land as we continue to love leading pilgrimages.
On our 34th wedding anniversary this year we learned that grandbaby #9 is on the way. We are excited about that too.
 Ten different countries felt the pounding of my running shoes this year, and a huge fitness goal was reached in November as my son and I each ran 1,000 miles in less than a year. We are going to do it again in 2011!! The benefits of exercise so great, we hope you will set your own goals for physical and spiritual health next year.
In the next year or two we hope to continue working on the Footprints of God video series. Pray that Ignatius Press comes up with the funding.
More than anything, Janet and I are full of joy at being Catholic - still hard to believe that God opened our blind eyes. We love being a family, teaching and sharing the Catholic faith, and leading people in the footprints of God.
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Pilgrimage to Egypt & Jordan
February 2-15, 2011
There are only a small number of spots left. This is going to be a very intimate pilgrimage--only 20 people are registered so far, most of them past Footprints of God Pilgrims.
There are so many amazing biblical and historical places in these two countries. We will experience so many of them.
In Egypt we will Cruise the Nile River, visit Cairo's museums and Pyramids, Coptic churches, and the house the Holy Family fled to.
The Red Sea, the spring of Moses, Mount Sinai, the 4th century Monastery of St. Catherine, and much more.
In Jordan we will see the Baptismal site of Jesus, have Mass at Mt. Nebo where Moses first saw the promised land. And of course the famous City of Petra carved out of the red rock.
This unique trip will be the first time Steve has taken a group to all of these places, and will be an event to remember!
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Wedding at Cana...well, almost
 You see, our friend from Israel, Amer Shehadeh, who all my former Holy Land pilgrims know well, had a beautiful daughter married recently. Janet and I went to the wedding in Nazareth...and it was only four miles from Cana.The wedding takes a whole week. Thousands of people are involved with extended families from both sides attending pre-wedding ceremonies and feasts. The family is much more involved than in typical American weddings. Families meet and agree when dating begins. They are involved in a week-long process when the engagement is agreed upon. No boy and girl buying a ring on their own! The engagement is a family affair! Then the week of the wedding -- oh my! First about a thousand members of the bride's family put on a feast. After 10:00 PM the main members of the bride's family arrive and are introduced. The celebration and introduction goes on well after midnight. Two days later the bride's family of almost 1,000 put on their feast and after 10:00 PM the groom and significant members of his family arrive to be introduced. The party and celebration goes on until well after midnight. The bride is hosted above the heads of the crowd in her chair and they dance frantically and joyfully as she tries to smile as she is jostled high above the dancing crowds.  The groom is then hoisted high above the dancing crowds on their shoulders. He sings and waves his arms around for a long time before the young men, accompanied by pulsing Arabic music, dancing men and singing girls - his is doused with water and lathered in shaving cream and is publicly shaved so he is ready to kiss his bride. Two days later the wedding takes place with the important members of the family gathered beforehand. The women stay inside advising and counseling the bride with hundreds of pictures taken. In the meantime, the fathers, the uncles, the grandfathers, the firstborn sons and men of the clan gather for the final council. "We are here to take the bride. Do you finally hand her over to our son?" The father of the bride responds, "Let it be so! The bride is veiled and the cars drive in a caravan to the church where the bride and groom become man and wife in a beautiful Mass rich with ancient significance and local tradition. Everyone shakes hands and the bride and groom take off on their honeymoon. But the family involvement doesn't end there. The family takes care of each other. Each family collects money for emergencies. If someone loses a job, a house, or has a medical expense the family can pull together $50,000 over night to take care of their own. And divorce is as rare as a two-headed camel.
When a man mistreats his wife or threatens to leave, the bride's family arrive and take the husband for a walk and when the walk is over he is warned that the next "walk" might not be as friendly. And all of this is why premarital sex, abortion, and divorce are almost unheard of in Nazareth.
So we joined the locals for a wedding near Cana of Galilee and we were whisked off to ancient biblical times as we lived the Bible in the Holy Land.
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For More Information
about Pilgrimages Call
Corporate Travel Service
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 www.InviteSteve.com
Dates in 2012 now being booked.
01/12/11 Speaking Tour In Asia 03/04/11 Columbus OH, Men's Conf. 03/07/11 Grapevine TX, St. Francis 03/11/11 Huntley IL, St. Mary's03/13/11 Sauk Centre, MN, Our Lady 03/20/11 Lawton, OK, Holy Family03/25/11 Chapin, SC, Our Lady--Lakes03/31/11 Port Huron, MI, Holy Trinity 04/01/11 Cincinnati, OH, Immaculate04/26/11 Detroit, MI, Legatus 05/12/11 Fort Worth, TX, Legatus 07/29/11 Steubenville, OH, University 08.01.11 Walsingham, ENG, NewDawn
08/13/11 London, ENG, Westminster |
A Grandpa decided that shopping for Christmas presents had become too difficult. He didn't know what new-fangled gadgets his grandchildren wanted, so he decided to send them each a $50 check in the mail a week before the family party.
In each of their Christmas cards he wrote: "Merry Christmas. I Love you. ~Grandpa" P.S. 'Buy your own present!'
The Christmas gathering came and went, and Grandpa was troubled by how distant the grandkids seemed. None of them thanked him for his card that he had mailed them the week before.
Then one day he was sorting out his study and under a pile of papers, he found a little pile of checks for his grandchildren. He had completely forgotten to put them in with the Christmas cards.
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Steve Ray, 2037 Hunters Creek Dr, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48198 www.CatholicConvert.com
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