Kelly Brakenhoff's Blog

Every good pilgrimage ends with the journey home. No surprise, ours required a little extra patience. Our group left Cuatro Ci��negas before sunrise on Sunday morning for the long drive back to Monterrey. The bus was quiet at first, some still sleepy, some waiting for the caffeine to kick in, and many of us were still processing the past few days.

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By the time Saturday arrived, it felt like we had been in Cuatro Ci��negas much longer than a few days. No complaints from me. I love those trips where one moment leads naturally into the next. We began at dawn with Fr. Brandenburg leading a small group hiking up a rocky ridge near the Tierra Maria vineyard. The trail involved a fair amount of bouldering over large rocks and a steep ascent.

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One of the things I was most looking forward to on this trip was walking the Camino de San Jos��. The pilgrimage follows a series of stations across the desert, each one reflecting on a different moment in the life of St. Joseph. Our group had spent several mornings walking stretches of the route, stopping along the way to read reflections from a guidebook written by Fr. Daniel Brandenburg called The Way of St. Joseph.

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By the time we were divided into work teams, Dave was sent outside with the painting crew and I joined a few others inside a small stucco house belonging to a young mother I���ll call Carmen. She���s eighteen and lives there with her younger brother, her three-year-old daughter Rosa, and another baby girl due any day

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After twenty-eight hours of travel, reroutes, missed flights, a cheap hotel, and maybe four hours of sleep, we finally arrived in Monterrey, Mexico. I would love to say we stepped off the plane refreshed and ready for our mission trip. That would be a lie.

The post Mission Trip to Cuatro Ci��negas: Arriving When the Mission Has Already Started appeared first on Emerald Prairie Press.

The trip was supposed to be simple.
A quick flight from Lincoln to Chicago, then on to Monterrey, Mexico to begin a weekend mission trip. Our church friends were already heading south. Warm sun, desert hikes, and a few days of service were waiting for us. Instead, the day became a masterclass in missed connections.

The post Mission Trip to Cuatro Ci��negas: Stuck in Terminal B appeared first on Emerald Prairie Press.

The trip was supposed to be simple.
A quick flight from Lincoln to Chicago, then on to Monterrey, Mexico to begin a weekend mission trip. Our church friends were already heading south. Warm sun, desert hikes, and a few days of service were waiting for us. Instead, the day became a masterclass in missed connections.

The post Mission Trip to Cuatro Ci��negas: Guardian Angels in Terminal B appeared first on Emerald Prairie Press.

If you live in Illinois in the winter and someone offers you a trip to sunny Arizona, you say yes. Immediately. No questions asked.

That���s exactly what recently divorced Rosi Laruee thought she was doing ��� heading to Tucson Valley to ���help��� her parents after her dad���s knee surgery. Fresh air. Sunshine. A little reset on life.

The post February Book Club: Dying to Go by Marcy Blesey appeared first on Emerald Prairie Press.

Even though I write and read a lot of cozy mysteries where the villains are more ���small-town scandal��� than world-domination evil, my personal TV and reading tastes sometimes wander into darker territory.

The post March Book Club: First Night by Ember Scott appeared first on Emerald Prairie Press.

Friends, I feel like the last mystery reader on Earth who hasn't picked up��The Thursday Murder Club��until now. With the movie out (yes, it is a Netflix production) and every publisher using it as the comparison title for anything remotely cozy, quirky, or British, I figured it was finally time to see what all the fuss was about.

The post December Book Club: Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman appeared first on Emerald Prairie Press.