There is so much happening...

The joy:

We had a new baby granddaughter on Friday around 2 PM, courtesy of Maria and Joey. Gabriella is beautiful, don't you think?

The sorrow:

Later that day (rather Sat. at 4:30 in the morning) we turned off the interstate into a mass of water. Our county was flooding & it still rained 4 more hours. The town and the roads were closed, we had water in our new addition. The pond and lake were overflowing the dams...we had our own waterfalls. We also had a large lake instead of trees. Some poor people lost everything, and the farmers sure lost their crop.

This is one of the fields:

This is our woods along the road:

And this is our road:

Family, Family, Family....

Day 2: This trip is more about visiting, not sightseeing, so it was a day of meeting in a coffeehouse with a new cousin (well new to us). She is delightful, beautiful, a musician and singer. In fact she travels all over the world singing. We had fun; she speaks a little English, I understand a very little Lithuanian (more facial expressions) & we depended on Pete's translation skills. I think he only turned to translate for me & said it in Lithuanian, twice. This is a big improvement.

Best news; she said we will meet about 40 more members of the Dambrauskas Family, Sat. at the wedding. He is beside himself with joy. He said he may end up with more family than me....I don't think so.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Vilkaviskis. So leaving Vilnius I had to do 2 things; see the Vilnius Madonna and sit at my favorite corner.

I did both. The Vilnius Black Madonna, the Mother of Compassion, takes my breath away. I still can not get over that I saw the original once in my life, let alone twice! She is widely renowned for her healing power and a symbol of harmony. I need all in my life at his moment.

There is a corner in the old town, that I just love. I was standing on the cobblestone last visit & a strange sense of having been there before washed over me. This time, I had. Pete & I had a drink and the rye bread & cheese snack that I love & can not get in Chicago. Well good-bye Vilnius, till we meet again.

mb