Christina Gross – Best Mother-In-Law Ever

Featured ~ Steve Swope ~ Leave a comment

My dear loving mother-in-law pictured with my wife to be in 1956 and at her 50th wedding anniversary. She left this world on Sunday for eternal life with God as she was destined to be from birth. No man has had a sweeter and more loving mother-in-law than me. Christina was cheerful, supportive, kind, and loving during the 49 years we knew each other.

She was fun, kind, but a killer at Pinochle and would not let you slip anything past her. I will miss her greatly as will her husband Ben, her six living children and her grand and great-grand children.

Christina was a woman of faith and I know that she is in the arms of God, ready to intercede for us. God bless you Christina. Your husband, children, grand and great grand children will miss you. Speaking for Elizabeth, Kim, Maricela, and me as in-laws, we will miss you as much as we miss a mother. You were that for us and we are grateful. Rest In peace dear mother.

Adult Faith Formation – The Catholic Letters

~ Steve Swope ~ Leave a comment

For a long time I posted the presentations that I used in Faith Formation classes. Then, for some unknown reason, I stopped posting them. Well of course for 2020 there weren’t any classes so I am off the hook for that year. What happened in 2019 is just a mystery!

I have started posting those presentations again beginning with the first two from the current class on the Catholic Letters in the Bible. They will be available on the Adult Faith Formation page of this website!

I plan to keep them up to date in the future!

EF 4 Tornado in My Hometown of Newnan

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Last Friday at around 12:30am an EF 4 tornado ripped through my hometown of Newnan, Georgia. Emergency responders, electric crews, charities and citizen volunteers have spent a week struggling to begin to clean up our town.

With over 1,500 homes significantly damaged or destroyed, we have an acute homeless problem. Newnan High School is damaged, perhaps beyond any hope of repair. Charities are working to keep up with the need for food, water, and other necessities.

A lot of work is being done to address the short term needs but those soon will transition to medium and longer term needs stretching into 2022 and 2023. We are in for a long recovery.

A New Day

~ Steve Swope ~ 7 Comments

For a lot of people, the year 2020 was awful. We were hardly into it when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. For me personally, it started off really bad. On January 13th, my father passed away, which for me like so many other people was a time of sadness, hurt and pain. Shortly thereafter, I had an minor outpatient procedure but ended up in hospital with an internal bleed. Then came the pandemic – shelter in place, wear a mask, don’t touch anyone, shortages of things like toilet paper, rubbing alcohol and even beans!

To be honest, I struggled through the year. I didn’t see my daughter and her husband for more than 30 minutes during the year and my grandchildren for only 10 days. Playing the banjo lost its appeal – and there are no sad banjo songs! We saw social events cancelled, charitable fundraisers moved to virtual, and then volunteering during the early voting and day-of voting in the Georgia general election and Senate run-offs was an exercise in restraint as people from both political sides tried to goad us into a wrongful comment or reaction.

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