Our Recent Belgium Trip

This trip started as a beer festival trip to which we bookended two (approved) Marian apparition sites to make it a sort of pilgrimage.  We started with Our Lady of Beauraing.  We made it there just in time for confession.  I had a particular fondness for the priest who heard my confession and the beautiful words he said to me.  Then we looked around and saw the Shroud of Turin copy and a presentation on all the studies they have done to show why it is accepted as Jesus' burial cloth.  It was fascinating to me, but Hannah kept sitting down and looking upset.  I kept trying to get her interested and trying to engage her in what I was reading, but she was being weird.  Turns out her stomach was hurting because the "blood" was making her nauseated.  How did we raise one with such a weak stomach?

We stayed in Oudenard, Belgium which was close to Gent and Anvaing where two, count 'em two! beer festivals were going on the same day.  One was the tiniest thing I have ever driven so far to attend, and the other wasn't much bigger.  Both had a very limited food selection and a bunch of tables.  The tiniest one had a cool bouncy castle so the kids were happiest there.  The guys were more than happy with the beer selection, and so I suppose this leg of the trip was a success nonetheless.  I was a little bored at times, but what else would I be doing?  School prep?  Housework?  Finishing Isaac's quilt?  You pick.

This castle was in Anvaing and actually is someone's residence.  We thought it was a castle to look at and walked right through the open gates only to be met by a yippie dog and a lady who looked not too happy with us on her property.

On our way home, we first went to Tongerin for an antique flea market and lunch. (This was Judah's birthday.)  We almost haggled a kneeler for for our house, but the deal fell through when the guy added a hundred dollars to the price at the last minute.  We only came away with a very unique bellows for our fireplace.

Then we drove on to Banneaux.  We didn't get there at the right time for Mass, so we ended up having Mass at home late that evening after we finally got home with our live in priest.  He comes in handy to have around.  We walked around a bit, prayed, lit some candles, and filled a jug up of the healing water of Banneaux.