June Families of Faith 

                       During COVID-19

Our family of 5 joined OLOG when it opened in 1952. I moved away to get married to Gwen in February,1964 and moved back to the parish in December. 2000.
We have always been a close knit family and during these very trying times we have worked to continue this closeness. Our bi-weekly lunch dates with our son and daughter have turned into virtual dates with our youngest son in Toronto joining us.
Our family has been there for us picking up groceries. bringing us meals, drive by visits and virtual phone calls from the grandchildren and great grandchildren.
We are most grateful to God that our daughter and son-in-law who tested positive for Covid19 have now been fully cleared.
Our faith in God, our daily prayers, novenas and TV masses has helped us through this experience.
We sincerely wish God’s blessing and good health to all in the family of parishes!

We are the Samrah family (Randy, Sarah, Evan, Aidan and Kaitlyn). At the beginning of the pandemic, we really didn’t know what to think as there was so much uncertainty. Would we be going back to school and work (my husband and I are both teachers) after the 2 week timeline suggested? We looked at it as being an “extended March break” and just really enjoyed the down time we had together. Both Evan and Aidan are active in sports, so it was a nice break to not have to rush around and be on such a schedule. We could actually eat dinner together and not feel rushed! However, as the timeline kept getting pushed back, more questions started to come up. The kids were worried about school and not seeing their friends. Aidan was supposed to make his first communion. How are we going to teach our students using this new online platform? The biggest comfort during this time is knowing that we are all together, staying safe and healthy. It really puts things into perspective about what our family needs and requires to be happy. We definitely miss our daily routines from before and being around people. We miss going to the hockey rink and getting ready for the baseball season, but we are also enjoying this extra time we get to spend together as a family. Just like any family, we have good and bad days, but at the end of it all, we are very blessed to have each other and be a part of a great community. One of the highlights was when the staff at St. Rose school did the car “fly by”. Our kids were so excited to see their teachers and staff but also other families that were out that day. It was such an overwhelming feeling of joy for everyone! Another highlight has been the driveway concerts Randy and Evan have been putting on for our neighbourhood. Evan plays the drums and is very excited that he gets to “gig” with his dad. We are trying to look for the positives in our day to day activities and look back at each day and say, “We would not be able to do this if we didn’t have this time together now.” We are also very thankful to the North Central Windsor Catholic Family of Parishes. The support being offered, activities for the kids, Sunday school videos… it’s been great to stay connected. Christine Coyle has been in contact with families and it’s been amazing that the sense of our church community has not been lost. Aidan even received a phone call from his First Communion teachers just wanting to check in and see how everyone was doing! He was really happy to hear from them. Overall, we will continue to try and remain positive, enjoy the little things and be thankful for the time we have together.

Hi everyone! We are one of the Mouawad families from Most Precious Blood! Peter and Lisa, Brittany, Stephanie and her husband Alex, and Caitlyn! We miss going to church on Sunday morning, volunteering and spending time with our friends from church! During quarantine, we have been spending time out of our comfort zone, learning new things such as experimenting with baking, painting, landscaping, and finding new games to play as a family! Now that the warmer weather has arrived, we have been spending time together in the pool. Life has slowed down a lot. We miss going to work, and we especially miss all of our little ones at the daycare! We hope everyone is staying safe! We are keeping everyone in our prayers and can’t wait to see you all when it is safe!!

The Covid pandemic has forced Roseanna and I, like so many others, to physically isolate ourselves from other family members, our friends and neighbours, and very importantly, our faith community. We miss attending Mass and celebrating the Eucharist so very much, but are fortunate in this technological age to be able to participate in daily and Sunday liturgy through live-streaming on the Internet.Roseanna and I are so very fortunate to have a close connection to one another. She is my best friend. The past 10 weeks of “quarantine” have brought us even closer than we have been since my husband Jacques’ death 7 years ago, and we thank God for this blessing each and every day. He has helped us maneuver through our day to day challenges and we are confident that our faith in him will be even stronger when the threat of the Covid lessens than it has been in the past. We fill our days making welfare checks on our network of friends, and are very happy when we get the opportunity to speak with fellow Prayer Warriors from the Prayer Tree because they so brighten our days. The two of us are busy minding our five furry feline friends ( try to say that quickly), as well as reading and crocheting, researching genealogy and studying driving manuals, and now that the weather has greatly improved, walking, working in the garden planting flowers and generally soaking up the sun. Oh, and we have been doing some de-cluttering around the house as well. My father used to say that all we really need in this life
is the love of God, a roof over our heads, clothes on our back and food on our tables; things we frequently take for granted, and which so many people do not have, and this pandemic crisis has surely pointed this out to us. It is very clear that the material things we once thought were so important really aren’t, and it is much more important to be able to freely live out our faith and be able to enjoy good health and good relationships, as well as all of the beauty in nature---clear skies to see the moon and stars, clean water to drink and enjoy, and fresh air to breathe. When the immediate threat of the Covid pandemic has lifted we will rejoice in the knowledge that Christ did not abandon us in this time of greatest need, He did not “safe distance” Himself from us, and has not now, nor ever will, isolate Himself from us. We are so much more fortunate than we will ever know.