Baptisms

Today we had three baptisms during the service.

This is Jazlynn, the youngest to be baptised.



Her older sisters Melissa and Rebecca were baptised also.



At the reception after the service, Jazlynn received her Faith Chest, and her sisters were given crosses as remembrances of this day.



The celebration had a Tinkerbell theme--cake, plates, napkins, everything!

Christmas Eve

A full moon was hanging over St. Stephen's on Christmas Eve.



Before the service, we held our annual Carol Sing.

The creche figures awaited the arrival of the infant Jesus.



Father Curtis gives a joyful sermon.



The Choir and Organist performed many beautiful anthems.

Back in our Sanctuary!

The new carpet is down and the pews are back in place!



The carpet's official color is "Rum Punch".

Snowy Sunday

Stay safe and warm and contemplate this wonderful Song of Mary that was part of the planned worship this morning:

The Song of Mary Magnificat

Luke 1:46-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Fr. Curtis

Parish Christmas Party

On Friday, December 7th, a festive group of parishioners gathered in the Undercroft for our annual Christmas Party and Potluck. Thanks to all who planned and set up for the event, brought delicious food, shared stories of Christmas Past, and added items to our Sox Box!

The First Sunday in Advent

At St. Stephen's, it's our tradition that the children help to light the Advent Wreath.

Nora

Nora, daughter of parishioners Wes and Katie Jones, has been on our prayer list for several months.

Her mother provided an update and a summary of her surgical challenges and progress, and gave permission to share it on our website, along with a post-Thanksgiving update.


November 9, 2007

Dear Friends at St Stephen's,

Thank you so much for all your prayers, cards and notes for my daughter, Nora, during her brain surgeries. It made all the difference. As you can see from the photographs, Nora has greatly improved from her brain surgeries starting August 20th,
Nora after surgery in August

compared with the photos of her competing at UNH for U Maine on November 3rd.

Nora competing in a UNH-U Maine Woodsman Competition on Nov. 3rd

Nora returned to college a couple of weeks late but has caught up with her school work. The University did suggest a reduced schedule due to missing two weeks and recovering from brain surgery. Nora is majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with the hopes of becoming a Speech Pathologist. Nora has always been an athlete. She received 12 varsity letters while at Merrimack Valley high school, running cross country, Winter track and Spring track. Shortly after the first surgery, the neurosurgeon found that Nora was paralyzed on her entire left side. He took her back into emergency surgery and with God's help made a change that allowed for the movement to return in her arm and hand then her left leg. Nora started talking then about competing in a "sprint" triathlon. Yesterday she emailed me that she had signed up for the Timberman Triathlon Sprint to be held August 16, 2008 right here in NH. It will be just shy of the 1 year anniversary of her brain surgery. (I think a "sprint" triathlon is a 5K run, 16 mile bike, and a 1/2 mile swim)

Nora does need one more surgery to repair a hole in her head. That work is scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I can't thank you enough for all your prayers for Nora. I thank God every day for Nora, for Nora's health and for all those that prayed for Nora.
May you all have a Happy Thanksgiving with your families.
Katie Jones

Update

There is another chapter to this one. The Friday night before Thanksgiving, Nora called from college, her head was leaking. I had her immediately call Dartmouth. The on-call neurosurgeon had her come right down from Maine to Hanover. They admitted her and put her on IV antibiotics. On Tuesday, she had surgery. Nora now has a titanium prosthetic, replacing part of her skull bone. We spent Thanksgiving by her bedside. Dartmouth had said she would have to come home on IV antibiotics for 6 weeks. This was going to be a trick because there are 3 weeks of classes and a week of Final exams left in the semester. Thankfully, the department of infections diseases decided the type of bacteria she had could be treated by pills. Nora came home Friday night. We had probably the nicest Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night, just the five of us. In typical Nora fashion, she returned to U Maine on Sunday - 36 stitches and all....

A picture of Nora has been included in a new Dartmouth presentation/brochure.



Thanks to Katie for sharing Nora's remarkable progress. Let's give thanks for the good news, and keep the Jones family in our prayers!