Family History

Mom and Dad Z came out to visit for Emilie's First Communion. During their trip to Belgium Eddie took them on a couple of local trips. Let's start with a little back ground first. Dad Z's Mother was born in Halluin, France and emigrated to America in 1929. Her home town is about an hours drive from our house. Last Friday Mom, Dad and Eddie drove over there. We stopped into the Mairie (Mayor's building) to request information about our family heritage. After talking, in French mind you (Eddie's not like Liz and able to do this so well), to the people in the office we were on our way to collecting the info we desired. We were told to return later that afternoon to pick up the documents. So we visited the local church and then following that ate lunch. We then went to the local cemetery to see who we could find. After searching for a while Eddie asked a cemetery worker if he could help in finding relatives. After searching through the cemetery registry we found Grammy's Aunts and Uncles. Then we drove to the neighboring town Menen, in Belgium (and across the street), to see if we could request vital records from there too. Unfortunately they were closed. Jump ahead to 3:30 and we stop back at the Mairie and the gentleman had copied birth/marriage/death records for Grammy, Great and Great-great Grandparents. Awesome. Then we headed home. After reading through the documents we were able to determine which house my Grandmother was born in and where her Grandparents lived.

Skip ahead to Monday and we headed back to Halluin, France. We found both homes and took some pictures to show Gram (she hasn't returned since '29). Following that we drove to a town in NW Belgium that is a family name, Moerkerke. We stopped in to view the Kasteel van Moerkerke and the local church. We were able to view a portion of the inside of the castle. They didn't allow us to stake claim on it, being that there haven't been Moerkerke's residing there in centuries. Besides I'm sure that the back taxes would bankrupt us. But hey, not many families have a castle in their heritage. Then it was off to Brugge. We walked around the streets of Brugge, ate lunch at a street-side cafe and took a canal boat ride. Brugge is called the "Venice of the North" due to its many canals and river that go through the town. It was a beautiful end to a great adventure. To be able to share a moment of family history with Mom and Dad was incredible. Everything from the interaction with the Mairie's office to trying to translate the documents brought Dad and Eddie closer to understanding our family story. Gram, Meme and Grandpa Moerkerke your stories of the old country are that much more real for us now that we have walked where you have walked. Thanks for the great stories.

First Communion Celebration

Today was a very special day for Emilie. She received her first communion sacrament at church today. She has been attending CCD (Sunday School) regularly for the past year in preparation for this event. Three weeks ago she had her first reconciliation with Father Dave from our parish. We had a practice ceremony yesterday so that the 18 children could go through what they were expected to do this morning. We all arrived at the church at 8 am so that we could take a couple of family pictures marking the occasion. After that the first communicants were taken to the sacristy to prepare for their entrance. With a very crowded church, full of relatives who have traveled many miles to Belgium for this occasion, the mass began. Each child entered the church carrying a lit candle to signify their Baptismal promise. After hearing the Baptismal Rite they extinguished their candles and mass began. Emilie was chosen to be one of four children to present the gifts to Father Dave during the offertory. After the consecration of the Eucharist and wine the children lined up to receive their first communion. Emilie was a bit nervous but collected herself and did a fantastic job. She really liked the Precious Blood the most. After the mass the congregation had purchased celebratory cakes with each child's name on them. Along with that they received a blessed crucifix and prayer card. Since it was Emilie's big day she got to pick where we went for lunch. We went to her favorite Greek restaurant so that she could have "feta chaud" (hot feta cheese with olive oil and bread). At the completion of lunch we headed home for some relaxation and dinner. Emilie was a beautiful little lady today and should be proud of this step in her religious education.