When you mention the word ‘holiday’, not everyone immediately starts picturing lounging by the pool or sea, cocktail in one hand, good book in the other. There are, of course, numerous types of vacation that are not largely concerned with or based around, at the top of up the tan and getting just as much Vitamin D in the technique as possible.

In fact, some people enjoy spending as little time as they are in a position on any form of land at all, preferring instead to take his or her hard-earned breaks in the form of adventures on the water. And a number of holidaymaker destinations are geared precisely in the direction of these aquatic tastes.

The surface of the list is the increasingly popular kayaking holiday. In a number of destinations, this can be something of a catch-all pursuit as possible enjoyed by tourists persuaded by some casual research and committed enthusiasts the same.

For those that are, the rewards and benefits are numerous. Ocean kayaking in Europe can bring about the discovery of some of the most gorgeous and enchanting views in the world. A water trek through the St. Anna Archipelago in Sweden, for example, is a fascinating journey and a chance to experience the landscape and wildlife of this nearly all enchanting region, set versus a remarkable backdrop of islands and rocks ranging from the actual barely there, to the thick and ominous.

Elsewhere in Europe, a trip around Dubrovnik and also the Elafiti Islands will live extended in the memory, while people that have a more sizeable budget would certainly do well to head to Thailand, where a succession of enticing lagoons, each one more breathtaking than the previous, lie in wait for you to dazzle and amaze.

Those who prefer a sturdier form of water transport and feel a lot more at home in a boat along with commanding a sail, than with an oar and a kayak, would certainly also find plenty for you to tempt them in the Scandinavian region.

A sailing holiday in Sweden offers an extra dynamic that is challenging to both find and match up anywhere else in the world. Not only does it boast an intriguing and varied coastline, the large lakes also produce an ideal environment for cruising by pleasure boat. The particular locks will carry an individual into the lake system and thru the country via the Göta Canal – just be wary of the unexpected and often substantial winds!

Even more top destinations for a cruising holiday include the Gulf associated with Fethiye (Fethiye Körfezi) in Turkey and an search for the Aegean Islands onboard a conventional Greek wooden boat. For really luxury, splash out on any stay in a crewed gulet boat in Croatia, complete with en-suite cabins, because you journey around the Dalmatian Islands.

Otherwise, stay at home and command your own personal vessel as you navigate the actual Norfolk Broads on board either a rented cruiser motorbike or a traditional sailing vessel.

You can also prepare yourself for your next water excursion by learning the actual ropes and riggings with cruising lessons in Menorca. A number of spots, such as the aforementioned Turkey along with Sweden, have areas that are perfect for beginners to hone his or her skills. Then, once you are positive about your own abilities, head to Greece and take yourself and your crew on a tour in the surrounding islands.

The popularity of adventure holidays has grown significantly over the years as people search for a feasible alternative to the tried and tested sun’s rays, sea and sand procedure for choosing a destination. A holiday on water guarantees a different expertise each and every time you go, all of which are equally rewarding and unique, writes tagza.com.

Some pretty German dolls are on view at the German-American Cultural Center, found in the guts of Gretna’s Nationwide Register Important District, at 519 Huey P. Long Ave. So as to boost this display, the Friends of GACC invites the general public to go to a meeting on Saturday at 7 p.m, when guest speaker Suzette Kinchen will talk about German doll making.

The program Sat. night will include a second guest speaker, artist Mary Ann DeBois Blanc of Metairie, who has her primitive art displayed at the center.

Blanc will talk about the circa 1724-26 original Louisiana German coast settlements of Karlstein, Augsburg, Mariental and Hoffen. Karlstein is often known as the Waterford location in the Stream Parishes.

There will be talks with the guest speakers and refreshments. There is no charge.

The GACC translates the unique German immigrant contribution to Louisiana’s history through exhibits, lectures, programs and other tutorial activities.

The cultural center museum is open Wednesday thru Sat. from ten a.m. To three p.m. At a cost of $3 for adults, and $2 for seniors and children over twelve. Call 504.363.4202 for more in-depth information.

Salem Lutheran Church welcomed three guests from its sister church body in Siberia at a dinner in Schmid Hall.

Guests included Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church Bishop Vsevolod Lytkin, the Rev. Dmitri Dotsenko and Natasha Sheludiakova, church musician of the Novosibirsk church.

The group was accompanied by the Rev. Daniel S. Johnson, preacher of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Marshalltown, Iowa, and president of the Siberian Lutheran Mission Society.

Lytkin, who is self-taught in English, gave a PowerPoint display about the work of the Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church, by territory the largest Lutheran church body globally spanning from the Far East to Moscow.

Before the 1917 revolution, Lutherans comprised ten percent of the Russian empire, but after the Bolshevik revolution and the purges of Joseph Stalin, all of the Lutheran preachers were either arrested or shot.

All churches were closed, most razed and some replaced by statues of Lenin. Some parishioners were sent to concentration camps and jails in Siberia.

After the fall of the USSR, Lutheran Christianity restarted. The governing body rebuilt one church building, St. Mary’s in Tomsk, five years back. The original building had been wiped out, replaced by a ferris wheel.

The Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church fights poverty in Russia, helping pauperised children and offering a substitute for the high alcoholism rate following seventy years of Communist oppression.It also established a cemetery in Yurga commemorating thousands who passed on in that labor camp.

Some Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod preachers have taught in various locations in Siberia in summer conventions, including the Rev. Larry Beane, preacher of Salem Lutheran in Gretna.

The Rev. Peter Mary Rookey, a Catholic clergyman in the Servite order in Illinois, lately returned to the West Bank to attend the 25th anniversary celebration of the establishment of Mary’s Helpers, a devotional group in Marrero with members across the area.

Known simply as Dad Rookey, he’s been written about worldwide his many pilgrimages to Medjugorje, the last in 2005 at the age of 90.

On the brink of the celebration, Rookey took some time to break bread with some Gretna proponents in a local bistro. With gentle humor and keen intelligence, the 95 years old shared some of his personal stories with the group.

When asked about his gift, he said “It is God’s work, not mine He does all of the healing, I just pray”, writes tagza.

A Calif.-based luxury cruise company now offers new tours to help travelers explore the wealthy Christian history of Europe, providing occasions to make a pilgrimage, attend mass, make a contribution to charitable works and witness the relics and design of spiritual sites.

Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises will start Christian Heritage Tours to the Mediterranean, Western Europe and the North Cape from April to December as part of its imminent Western european Season, the posh cruise company expounded in an announcement Fri..

If scheduled by Feb. 28, the comprehensive cruises begin at $1,360 per head in double occupancy with air add-ons from more than ninety airports in the U. S. A sale ending Sat. (Feb. Eleven) offers up to $800 per stateroom in shore excursion credits on select EU voyages.

Crystal Cruises, a Japanese luxury cruise company, is famous for its two medium-sized, top-end ships, Crystal Symphony and Crystal Tranquillity, which each hold about one thousand guests. These ships will take travelers to key destinations in Europe, including the Croatian town of Dubrovnik, Barcelona, Leknes town in the Norwegian archipelago of Lofoten, the south Italian town of Sorrento, the town of La Coruna in Spain, and Southampton and London in the U.K.

The Dubrovnik tour encompasses a pilgrimage into Bosnia in Medjugorje, where reported visions of the Virgin Mary have made Medjugorje’s Apparition Hill a top sacred site for Catholic pilgrims. The Barcelona tour has private mass with Crystal’s onboard priest at Gaudi’s infamous Sagrada Familia, a large Catholic church.

In Norway, it takes travelers to see the 18th century, wooden Russian-style Flakstad Church. The La Coruna tour includes the UNESCO World Heritage town of Santiago de Compostela, seen from the rooftop of the biggest Romanesque church in Spain. The London tour features the carved, covered choir stalls of the about 1,000-year-old Winchester Cathedral, once the seat of Anglo-Saxon and Norman royal power.

The cruise to Sorrento, Italy, involves a “voluntourism excursion,” which gives an opportunity to travelers to assist the 400-year-old charity brotherhood of Pio Monte della Misericordia, the church famous for its art works, including Caravaggio’s The 7 Works of Mercy.

“This program growth builds upon our incredibly popular Jewish heritage tours offered around the world,” John Stoll, VP of land and port operations, claimed. “Religious-related shore expeditions are only one more way our guests can experience the unique history and culture of a destination, and perhaps even hook up with their own personal ancestry, as well “, writes tagza.

How will the city of tomorrow adapt and reuse the city of today? I do not think we ask that question broadly enough, and our day-to-day, property-specific incrementalism can certainly overshoot the greatest lessons from history. A hometown here’s an example transported me from Seattle to Croatia for inspiration about why we need to think beyond limited geographies, time frames and lifetimes once we discuss urban redevelopment options.

Recently, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Seattle-based Preservation Green Lab made urbanist media headlines (including Emily Badger’s Atlantic Cities story) which has a report stating the environmental important things about green retrofits of historic buildings, as compared to new, state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction. A local church restored as townhouses joined the list of intriguing Seattle adaptive reuse projects usual for national trends.

Almost simultaneously, Seattle Times columnist Nicole Brodeur described a protest-free goodbye to a neighborhood icon in my Seattle neighborhood. A 112-year-old repair garage and offices (demolished last Friday) will quickly become the nostalgically named Pike Station, composed of new townhouses, complete with a courtyard and intermixed retail.

The purported upshot of the local story, that the building had a good life and the new me is commendable, is clear in the headline: “Sometimes it’s OK permit an old landmark go.”
How did our predecessors handle these complaints in simpler times, when reuse was obviously a practical necessity? What can we study on those stories? As our surroundings evolve, are we able to create incentives and inspiration for transformational locations where are sustainable in form, function and awareness of the past?

When considering these questions, there is certainly one place that needs a hard look: Split, Croatia. Amid the existing town center and ruins of the retirement palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, adaptive reuse is obvious. Split is a place which began as something else entirely from what it is today, yet endures in the new clothing of another age, more juxtaposition than reinvention. I had been lucky enough to first visit Split in 1968, within the old Yugoslavia, and to return more often than not in the years that followed. Today, in case you planning to come in Split you are able to stay in Split hotel.

It’s not a stretch to convey that its impressionable story explains my legal operate in urban redevelopment. There, the survival and reuse of historic elements tell a valuable tale of sustainability.

Right after 300 A.D., on the webpage of Split’s town center, workers completed Diocletian’s Palace. Diocletian was the very first Roman Emperor to voluntarily abdicate, and retire nowadays in this sense; he viewed the palace like a purposeful respite from power in his home region, possibly for medical reasons.

After Diocletian’s death, the palace was a refuge for exiled imperial family. Then, after destruction of the nearby Roman city of Salona by the Avars and Slavs at the start of the 7th century, the palace was a shelter for fleeing citizens, later a medieval town, a Renaissance regional center, and finally a major city, with core aspects of the palace still prominent today.

How was this scene created? Essentially, the palace, which spanned almost 10 acres, contained enough aspects of classical urbanity-including the gridded crossroads of a military camp (the standard castrum and its standard roads, the decumanus and cardo), along with several ceremonial spaces and religious structures-that when repopulated following the destruction of Salona, it became easily adaptable as to what we now consider urban uses.

This unintentional convertibility shows a unique evolution over time. A mausoleum was a cathedral, the cardo became the winding medieval street that is still today, the crossing of the decumanus and cardo at the peristyle (a classical courtyard beneath the Emperor’s apartments) became a baptistry, public square and historic urban center, and the Emperor’s apartments became the structural framework of an residential area.

Due to this fascinating progression, Split has drawn visitors for centuries. The Scottish architect Robert Adam profiled its unrivaled preservation of Roman architecture in 1764, through collected drawings, viewable here, often known as inspiration for the Georgian architectural tradition of elements of London, Bath and Bristol.

Within the last century, many excavations and publications by local and American teams have admirably documented the palace’s background and transformation (including the often cited work of Jerko and Tomas Marasovic). In a very 1970 book, the Marasovic brothers advocated a universal message while continuing investigation, discovery and restoration to “ensuring…renewed function from the context of a modern urban community.”

The confluence of past and provide discussed here is not often mentioned within the American dialogue. This is a missed opportunity. I think that visiting Diocletian’s Palace and reflecting on how the old can blend (and, the truth is, be adapted to suit) the modern provides incomparable perspective.

This will add value to today’s discussion of familiar building restoration approaches, and even already innovative, largely replacement-style redevelopment of areas like a former military base, an airport (e.g. the previous Stapleton Airport in Denver), or perhaps institutional campus. The scale of adaptation in Split confirms how humans could be at home and enriched by large-scale incorporation of history.

In other cities, some historic urban cores survive, there are many examples, from Istanbul to Venice to Jerusalem. Old towns, often within formerly defensive walls, become functional, large-scale artifacts, some evolved cities and some tourist meccas. In contrast to Split, these were always, first and foremost, cities or towns.

Continue, we should design and regulate in a way that the inadvertence described here becomes more purposeful, enabling sustainable reuse on a broader scale. Examples include zoning and building code provisions that anticipate land assembly instead of property-by-property approaches that allow for convertible uses in buildings, a substantial mixture of old and new materials, and the outright recognition that both private and public spaces can realize new uses as time passes.

Lenders, often the true drivers of development, should view the benefits of such reactivated places. Indeed, some states and cities have policies encouraging the idea of adaptive reuse.

Throughout history, cities have fulfilled central cultural, economic and religious roles as both centers of settlement and qualitative measures of human habitat. To reinvent them (or juxtapose the very best of the past), we need to know where were and where we are going, at greater building scale, writes tagza.com.

In 2011, the total number of Holy Communions distributed during Mass in Medjugorje went above 2,000,000 for the first time. The number of concelebrations by priests was similarly record-high in passing 40,000, also for the first time.

Monks were concerned in two Medjugorje records in 2011 : Never before did so many of them come – and never before did they disburse so many Holy Communions to parishioners and travellers

2,027,900 Holy Communions would be adequate if all the inhabitants of Houston, Texas, were to receive the Body of Christ one time each. Yet the number doesn’t result from Houston, but from Medjugorje where more than 2,000,000 distributed Holy Communions in one year was registred for the first time in 2011.

The number climbed from 1,571,800, a rise of 29 % compared to 2010 which was itself a record year. 1,378,600 Holy Communions were distributed in Medjugorje in 2009, according to parish statistical data.

A record number of clergymen distributed the more than two million Holy Communions. 41,094 concelebrations of Mass were registred in Medjugorje in 2011, up from 38,227 the year before. The figures are not descriptive of the actual number of visiting clergymen, as most concelebrate more than one Mass during their stay in Medjugorje.

The existing Medjugorje boom in Italy accounts for some of the progress, though not all of it. 8,171 Italian concelebrations happened in 2011, up from 7,270 the year before and 4,718 in 2009.

Also, you must visit Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Medjugorje is one of the hamlets of the Western Herzegovina municipality of Citluk in the previous Yugoslavia. The name Medjugorje is Slavic and means “area between two moutains”. This true story takes place in the Bijakovici section of Medjugorje. On the afternoon of June 24, 1981, 2 girls, Ivanka Ivankovic, age fifteen, and Mirjana Dragicevic, age sixteen, were returning home from a walk. Looking toward the hill called Crnica, Ivanka saw a bright silhouette of a girl. She said to Mirjana, “It is the Gospa!” ( Our Woman ).

On June 25, the two girls returned to the hill with four others. Their names are, Vicka Ivankovic, age sixteen, Ivan Dragivevic, age sixteen, Maria Pavlovic, age sixteen and Jakov Colo, age ten. A figure in white was calling them to come up the hill. The kids were somehow transported in some puzzling way to a gorgeous Lady who calls herself, the Queen of Peace. The Woman gives messages to the seers for the whole world. To date, the Queen of Peace has left thousands of messages. Initially, the messages were almost everyday. Now, for the past one or two years, they come on the 25th of each month.

The visionaries describe Our Lady as pretty beyond words ; glowing with holiness. Her talks with the kids have taken the type of motherly sensitiveness and love, and she took the role of both mum and catechist in advising and directing their lives. She greets them with, “Praised be Jesus, my dear children.” At the end of the apparition she is saying, “Go in peace, my dear children.” She appears to the 6 visionaries as a 3 dimensional real image and always appears amid brilliant flashes of light. Her appearances usually occur about 6:40 pm each day. In Medjugorje, thousands of people come daily at this time to take part in the event with prayer, song, the rosary and the Mass, which is frequently concelebrated by 30 or even more priests. The whole evening service lasts about 3 hours. And this has been happening daily since 1981! – as reported tagza.com

3 of the visionaries, Mirjana, Ivanka, and Jakov have all 10 systems and no longer see Our Lady daily. Marija, Vicka, and Ivan have nine techniques.

The third secret will be a lasting sign, casually appearing on Apparition Hill, where the six idealists experienced their first apparition. The sign will be permanent, indestructible, and gorgeous, something which has never before been on the earth, and people who don’t trust in God may not be in a position to say it is of human origin.

A webcam has been placed in Medjugorje to show this area of Apparition Hill around the clock to viewers on the internet, and part of the reason behind this endeavour is to allow people to see the permanent sign as soon as it would appear. During the day, once can see travellers climbing and descending Apparition Hill. When there’s a nighttime apparition at the place where a statue of Mary now stands, one can see the torches of travellers as they negotiate the rocky trails.

The following interviews are selected and evolved from Medjugorje.com. In their own words, some of the Medjugorje idealists explain what they can about the third secret :
Ivan

Martin Glaze, in the interviews for his Medjugorje documentary, “The Lasting Sign,” asked Ivan the following question :

Martin Glaze : “So many people have heard about the prophecy of a sign that will occur allegedly here in Medjugorje which will confirm that these apparitions have, in reality been taking place with you and your pals and the Holy Mother Any concepts of what this sign might be?”

Ivan : “We know the sign and when it will be and what it is going to be. It’ll be on the place of the apparitions, where Our Lady appeared for the 1st time, and all the rest is a secret.”
Mirjana

Question : “Mirjana, what, if anything, are you permitted to tell us about the 10 Secrets?”

Mirjana : “The first 2 techniques come as advance warnings for the entire world and as evidence that the Blessed Mum is here in Medjugorje.”

Question : “And the third secret?”

Mirjana : “The third secret will be a detectable sign at Medjugorje permanent, indestructible, and beautiful.”

Marija

Question : “For clarification purposes, the great sign for all non-believers, will it take place on Apparition Mountain behind us or where will it take place?”

Marija : “Our Lady told us that She is going to leave the sign on the Hill of the Apparitions.

Question : “Is there anything you can let us know about the sign the Blessed Mum has promised to leave us?”

Marija : “It will be a visible sign for all of the unbelievers to see. But , for the ones that already believe, they don’t need a sign.”

Question : “You and the other idealists have pointed to the fact that there will be advanced signs [signs preceding the great sign] in numerous places in the world to alert the world . When will these advanced signs begin?”

Marija : “There are signs in numerous places in the world now. Many individuals see luminary signs. Many experience private healings, both physical and spiritual, and also psychological. Many have personal signs. Folk have come here from all over the world . Often they have or have had astonishing signs in their lives.”

Question : “Will all people on earth trust in God, in the Blessed Mother when the permanent sign occurs?”

Marija : “The Sanctified Mother has announced that those who are still alive when the permanent sign comes will witness many conversions among the people because of the sign, but She also says blessed are those who don’t see but who believe.”

Question : “Mirjana let me know that there will still be some unbelievers even if the permanent sign comes.”

Marija : “The Sanctified Mother has said there’ll always be Judases.”

Question : “Vicka told me that there is great urgency in the Blessed Mother’s call to immediate conversion. She revealed that for people that only marginally believe, who choose to hang about for the great sign to believe, it will be too late. Did you know why it will be too late for them?”

Marija : “This is a time of great grace and mercy. Now may be the time to listen to these messages and to change our lives. Those who do will never be able to thank God enough.”

Jakov

Question : “Do you know when the permanent sign is coming, Jakov?”

Jakov : “Yes. When the permanent sign comes, folk will come here from all parts of the world in even larger numbers. Plenty more will believe.”

Question : “Will all folk believe thanks to the permanent sign, Jakov?”

Jakov : “The Sanctified Mother announced that there will continue to be some who will not believe even after the permanent sign comes.”

Question : “Do you know what the permanent sign is, Jakov?”

Jakov : “Yes.”

Question : “Can you tell us anything about it?”

Jakov : “It will be something that has never been on the earth before.”

Question : “Jakov, why will some still not believe?”

Jakov : “They will not put themselves in a position to be converted”, writes tagza.com.

Thirty years ago, Friendly Planet Travel, a leading tour operator containing helped thousands experience high-quality, affordable vacation packages to exotic places worldwide, began its enterprise as a group pilgrimage operator. In the past, the company has gained considerable experience arranging pilgrimages to intriguing spiritual and religious locations. Today, Friendly Planet Travel has expanded beyond their previous itineraries, and is announcing 14 new Catholic pilgrimage programs designed to exceed the traditional pilgrimage experience. In addition, these kind of new travel programs supply lower pricing that will location these important spiritual escapades within reach of many more vacationers.

“We take pride in offering the best services at quality prices, and this policy applies to our brand-new pilgrimage program as well,” says Peggy Goldman, President of Friendly Planet Travel. “Travelers experiencing our pilgrimages will look at the most sacred Catholic holy web sites and Marian shrines in the world. Plus, our programs will travel off of the beaten path and to the picturesque towns along the countryside, exposing travelers to the national, artistic, and historical attractions within these regions. Outstanding exchange rates and land price ranges have allowed us to supply superior accommodations, itineraries, and providers at a price among the lowest in the market without compromising on high quality. This is what differentiates our packages from others.”

All new pilgrimages consist of hand-picked, first-class and centrally located accommodations for excellent shopping and dining options; English-speaking guides; entrance charges; many meals; and an accompanying tour chaplain. In addition, these packages include multiple masses throughout ancient cathedrals and chapels, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Santiago p Compostela in Spain, and St. James Church in Medjugorje.

Friendly Planet Travel has eliminated as much one-night stays as possible and constrained groups to 25 vacationers, making for a spacious and also relaxed touring environment. For instance, all travelers will benefit from the window seat, as Friendly Planet Travel’s pilgrimages tour breathtaking web sites of Biblical significance, such as the Sea of Galilee, the 14 Stations of the Cross, Vatican City, and the Sistine Chapel.

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In addition to the 14 published pilgrimages, Friendly Planet Travel offers small and big groups expert customized journey services and personalized elements, providing limitless opportunities for unmatched spiritual and national experiences for all involved. Whether it’s one of Friendly Planet Travel’s designed itineraries, or one that has been completely manufactured by and for a particular group, the assistance and pricing will be outstanding.

To learn about any of Friendly Planet Travel’s pilgrimage specials, departure dates, and also full itineraries, please visit the pilgrimage web site on the company’s website. For more regarding Friendly Planet Travel, please visit Friendly Planet’s website; Friendly Globe Travel’s blog; or contact Jackie Zima-Evans from 610-228-2138 (office), 215-534-2973 (mobile), or write to Jackie@GregoryFCA.com.

ABOUT FRIENDLY PLANET TRAVEL
Friendly Planet Travel makes high-quality exotic travel affordable for everyone. Since 1981, Friendly Planet Travel has been arranging all-inclusive, escorted discount vacation packages and cruises to the most exciting destinations in the world at the smallest possible prices. Each year, Friendly Planet Travel offers more when compared with 30 different group travel packages to Asia, the Middle Eastern, Africa, Europe, and To the south America-at discounts of hundreds of dollars away from similar vacations. With no hidden charges, add-ons, or surprises, Friendly Planet Travel vacations consist of convenient flights and plane tickets; carefully selected, first-class and exceptional hotels; knowledgeable, English-speaking guides; many meals; planned itineraries; as well as happen to be and memories that serve you for a lifetime.

Friendly Planet Travel offers its extensive, cost-effective travel services to private teams, including universities, religious corporations, alumni associations, and families. Groups who wish to travel together can count on Friendly Planet Travel’s three decades of experience to operate their group travel program professionally and always at the very best possible prices, writes tagza.com.

“Between Heaven and Earth : Tiny Sculptures of Our Lady” will run Wed., Feb. 1, thru Sun., April 15, on the seventh floor of Roesch Library. Hours are 8:30 a.m. To 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Fri. and Sat. and Sun. by appointment by calling 937-229-4214.

Trauth will be available for an artist’s reception in the gallery seven p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the general public.

“There exists a definite contrast between Trauth’s sculptures and her 2 dimensional art,” announced the Rev. Johann Roten, S.M, Marian Library director of analysis and special projects. “The paintings are of strongly figurative nature conveying the tranquil sweetness of kids and nature. Her sculptures show a marked expressionist disposition.

“Reminiscent of some of the famous German artists of the mid-twentieth century,eg Kaethe Kollwitz, her small sculptures illustrate how much homo sapiens find themselves torn between heaven and earth, between the dynamism of the spirit and the gravity of worldly realities.”

The exhibit features 10 tiny sculptures and 15 acrylics and watercolors, many featuring children and the landscape around Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Mary reportedly appeared to children in 1981.

Born in Cincinnati, Trauth graduated from Edgecliff Varsity with a qualification in fine humanities with a concentration in sculpting. She worked as an illustrator for Gibson Greetings Cards Inc, Shillito’s dep store and the Cincinnati Post and Cincinnati Enquirer newspapers.

University of Dayton’s Marian Library / World Marian Research Institute is a worldwide recognised center for the discipline of Mary, the mum of Jesus, and holds the world’s biggest collection of published materials and artifacts devoted to her. The collection includes more than 100,000 books and pamphlets in more than 50 languages, and a vast collection of nearly 3,000 Nativity sets and Marian art from around the world, writes tagza.com.

An Activities specialist features launched an event planning organization for those who wish to celebrate in vogue.

Thirty Eleven Seventy can provide extravagantly themed parties with regard to anniversaries, 1st birthdays, retirements and marriage ceremonies, tapping a growing trend amongst wealthy folks for lavish celebrations using family and friends.

The business is the invention of Joanna Daley, president and leader of Roselle Activities, an established identify in corporate and business events.

Today she is turning her experience of working with glowing blue chip consumers to handling events for individuals.

“It’s a natural growth and development of our intend to businesses, nevertheless until now all of us did not take on private commission rates because this did not fit with Roselle’s corporate and business profile,” the girl said. “However, we have been getting a lot of enquiries that it is now time for you to act.”

Daley is making a substantial investment in the brand new company, that is named after her dob.

The new organization will be supported by the 14-strong team at Roselle’s The capital of scotland and Aberdeen workplaces who have done events internationally, with latest projects in Barcelona, Dubai, Dubrovnik, Miami, New York, as well as Sun City.

George Bernard Shaw has been enchanted with this beautiful metropolis, about that she said “those who seek paradise in the world should arrive at Dubrovnik and see Dubrovnik”, along with, famously, talking about it as “the pearl of the Adriatic”. Dubrovnik truly is a spectacular city having its amazing Aged Town, that became a UNESCO World Heritage internet site in 1979.

But whatever we among others say, our words usually do not give the law to this stunning place. Thus come quickly and see it with your own eyes!

As mentioned, that old town and its many places (including the well-preserved metropolis walls coupled which you can stroll) is the major sight involving Dubrovnik. If you are browsing in the summer, usually do not miss the world-renowned Dubrovnik Summer Festivity, with tunes, theatre as well as dance activities. The edition of town on Lovrijenac Tower system is enchanting.

Daley credits high of her concentrate on advice obtained during four years of business coaching from advisor Fergus King involving Shirlaws as reported tagza.com.

Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow’s first experience of delivering aid was to drive a Land Rover bursting with food, clothing and medication from the Highlands of Scotland down to Bosnia. At the time he used to be a salmon farmer : he had taken just a week’s holiday to do it. When he got back, his family shed was bulging with aid that had poured in from pals and friends of friends. He give up his job, sold his home, and learned to drive related vans. Now, about 20 years later, his charity Mary’s Meals feeds 500k kids every day.

But that’s not the beginning of the tale. At least, not how Magnus tells it. The real beginning was 10 years back when he was 14, and he went on a pilgrimage to a tiny town called Medjugorje.

I meet Magnus for tea near London Victoria. He’s tall and in a suit ; his hair is greying a bit at the sides. He is saying he finds it hard to describe the effect that first trip had on him. “It was something in my heart an experience of God’s grace,” he is saying. Later on he describes it as “something God appears to do for many folks there : [he] gives them a cognizance of his love for them”.

It had been a madcap adventure : 10 of his family and friends, all kids, turned up at Medjugorje without anywhere to stay. They had read an article about 6 children having visions of the Virgin Mary and thought if it was possibly true they should visit. They flew in to Dubrovnik and drove there in two hire autos (harder than it sounds, since their map failed to have Medjugorje on it).

After evening Mass a friar, Fr Slavko Barbarous, came over to them and introduced them to his sister, who they ended up staying with for the week and who had kids their age. It was, Magnus says, an “amazing mixture of the supernatural and the mundane” one minute they’d be chatting to Bosnian youngsters about Italian soccer and the next “we’d all be talking about the undeniable fact that one of them was going out with one of the visionaries”.

At the time the six purported visionaries were young kids, too. They invited Magnus’s group into the room where they were having apparitions of the Virgin Mary every evening. Magnus knows two of them still.

What struck him, though, was not the visionaries themselves they were “very nice, very standard people” but the religion of the villagers and the way that they answered to what the six children were pronouncing.

“By the time I came home,” he is saying, “I had the assumption that Our Woman really was appearing in Medjugorje and she was appearing with a message for the entire world.”

He says that he would have liked to try, “in whatever way I could, to retort to her invitation to put God back at the centre”.

About ten years later Magnus was in a bar with his bro Fergus. They were talking about a news item they had seen about refugees near Medjugorje during the Bosnian war. And that’s when they thought about driving help there themselves.

Magnus has a tendency to play down his role in all this. Once the donations came pouring in, he asserts, “it was tougher to stop than it had been to start”. Giving up his place and job was no enormous sacrifice, he insists . He’d been a salmon farmer for 6 years and was “looking to do something else anyway”.

After 20 minutes or so of chatting Magnus, though really mild-mannered, talks at a phenomenal pace we don’t forget to pour the tea. Over the next 10 years, he explains, his charity Scottish International Relief brought aid to Bosnia, built care houses in Romania and worked in Liberia and elsewhere.

His stories pour out and are examples of the most moving I’ve ever heard. He talks about 11-year-old Romanian orphans so neglected they could not walk correctly. The kids, all HIV positive, had been deserted in surgeries and no one had lifted them out of their cots long enough for them to learn. The doctors, he is saying, “couldn’t see any worth in those youngsters at all and they were dying, numbers of them, every week”.

Magnus recalls an exchange with one doctor who said : “I do not know why you’re building these [care] homes for these kids.” Pointing to one girl, Juliana, he revealed : “She’ll be dead before you even finish building them.” Now, Magnus claims, “Juliana’s a young woman, and a few summers ago I returned for the weddings of 3 of those girls. It’s been a miracle to me because we thought we were building an infirmary where they could have a serious death so truly it has been a superb thing that every one of them are still alive.”

Magnus has masses of these stories, and is used to informing them, I believe. He gives talks in colleges and to fundraising groups. He asserts at 1 time : “I’m sure there’s only a little of all this stuff you want, because there’s plenty of it.” as reported tagza.com.