Advent and Christmas 2003

Dear Family and Friends,

We have had a year filled with joy and sorrow. The greatest joy of the year has been our entrance into the Catholic Church. We, along with a dozen at our parish (and probably thousands throughout the world), received the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist for the first time at the vigil mass the night before Easter. This liturgical celebration was the culmination of several months of ongoing preparation. Since September 2002, we had been attending weekly classes, reading, praying, and reflecting. This preparation intensified during Lent. This season of penitence and reconciliation with the Lord begins with Ash Wednesday. The ashes imposed on this day confront us with our mortality and our need to have a right relationship with God.

The stark symbolic message of Ash Wednesday was made tangible two days later, when Alexa suffered a miscarriage. Our baby was approximately eight weeks old at the time of his death, and appeared healthy from ultrasounds taken just the week before. We have identified medical issues that may have contributed to the miscarriage, and we are working closely with doctors as we seek to have another baby.

We are grateful for the comfort we received from our family, friends, and our priest at the time of our loss. Our faith has also provided consolation. We know that our baby rejoices in the presence of God. Also, in becoming Catholic, we are beginning to learn how believers are called to suffer, that in suffering we somehow we draw closer to Christ and his suffering on the Cross. This theological perspective is one of the great gifts we have received from the Church.

Another gift is that of Jesus’ presence in the Blessed Sacrament. The photo at the top of this letter comes from the adoration chapel at our parish. Everyone is welcome to come and pray in our Lord’s presence at any time of the day or night, and we have committed to doing this one hour every Tuesday. As high-church Episcopalians, we already believed in transubstantiation (more or less) before we became Catholics. But what was a tolerated theological opinion in our former denomination is now extolled as the truth, and provides a great opportunity for spiritual growth.

In professional news, Alexa passed her nursing board exam in February, and is working as a RN at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul, in the same ward she worked in as a licensed practical nurse. Alexa enjoys her work, although her hours (3:00 – 11:30 p.m.) mean we do not see each other very much! Macalester College decided to reappoint Keith for another three years, and allowed him to take a sabbatical this year. He is visiting a lab at the University of Minnesota (only a 30-minute bus ride from home), and is in the process of publishing some of his research results. It has been refreshing to take a break from the busyness of teaching. However, seeing the mass of students getting “processed” through the general chemistry sequence at the University confirms Keith’s sense of vocation about teaching at a liberal arts college. We look forward to raising our children and continuing our careers (God willing) in the Twin Cities.

Summertime was largely filled with work and home improvement, particularly in the garden. (Alexa has quite a green thumb; Keith’s thumb is another color altogether.) We also explored more of the Upper Midwest: First, we stayed with friends from church at a lake north of Brainerd (home to Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox). Our friends, like many Minnesotans, love the outdoors, and we got to go fishing with them (captured in the photo below). We also got to visit a friend of Keith’s from elementary and high school who is now a math professor at Concordia College in Moorhead. We enjoyed spending time with her and her family both in Moorhead and its “twin city” of Fargo (located in the Red River Valley celebrated in song).

We also returned to Southern California in January and September. We love our new home, but we also miss our families and many friends in L.A., and we look forward to seeing you when we are back again at the start of this January.

Keith and Alexa Kuwata

1538 Selby Avenue

Saint Paul, MN 55104

(651) 917-9065

kuwata@macalester.edu