It's time for some fun! After a few days of meetings during our annual July Community Days, we enjoyed an afternoon and evening of festivities and fun. The theme for this year's Familien Fest was "summer social," a takeoff on the "real" summer social we had for the public on July 14. The outside games were cancelled because of rain, but we had great indoor activities, such as ping pong, bean toss, simulation baseball and bowling, and many other games of skill.

What a grand celebration for the 140th anniversary of our monastery! Our Summer Social brought a few thousand visitors to the monastery grounds for a day of fun, food, and festivities. Some families and friends of the sisters traveled from as far as New York, California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and about a dozen other states to attend the social and spend a few days at the monastery. Hundreds of volunteers helped with the social — making or contributing items to be sold or raffled, preparing and setting up, and running the booths and activities. We are grateful for the generosity of all the people who contributed to the success of the social. The proceeds will be used for the care of our senior sisters.