Today is known as Fat Tuesday and is the last day before we begin the season of Lent. Tomorrow is a special day. It is not only Valentine's Day. It is also Ash Wednesday! In honor of this special day, we will celebrate mass at 9 am and everyone will receive ashes on their foreheads. The ashes are made from burning blessed palm branches from the previous year's Palm Sunday. When we receive the ashes, one of two different phrases is said:

• "Repent, and believe in the Gospel"
• "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return".
  

Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent, a period lasting until the Triduum (the 3-day period beginning on Holy Thursday and including Good Friday and Holy Saturday). During Lent, Christians typically give up something as a sacrifice, but may also add something during this time period. You may be surprised to know that people can actually take a break from their Lenten sacrifices on Sunday, since it is the Lord's Day. I can assure you that this was news to me until a few years ago...my dad never let us have a break during Lent! :) For more information about ways that your family can celebrate this time period, please read the Parent's Corner article below. I will be giving up sweets, so it will definitely be a time of sacrifice!! Please join us for the mass tomorrow, if you can!

Have a great week!

Blessings,

Katie Dempsey

Principal

This Week:

• Tuesday, Feb. 13th - Fat Tuesday, Valentine Parties
• Wednesday, Feb. 14th - Ash Wednesday Mass at 9 am, Socks of Love are DUE, Statements go out in Wednesday Envelopes (Tuition is due on the 1st of the month)
• Thursday, Feb. 15th - Please return signed Communication Envelopes
• Friday, Feb. 16th - No All School Mass, Noon Dismissal (Extended Care is Available)

Next Week:

• Monday, Feb. 19th - No School in honor of Presidents' Day
  
• Friday, Feb. 23rd - Deadline for Current Families to Register before Spaces Open to New Families

1. Roller Skating with Principal Dempsey - We sold 40 spaces! The date will be announced in the coming weeks. We will either do one group of 40 or two separate days of 20 students.

2. Paintball with Mr. Farias and Mr. Anderson - 20 of these were sold and we have a few that were purchased for a student raffle. We will be doing the raffle in the spring. Students who are 10 or older and return a completed (and signed) permission slip will be entered into the raffle.

3. Fund-a-Need to support the replacement of our play structure - We raised $23,248 for our new play structure! With the $9500 we had raised previously, that puts our total at $32,748. If you know someone who still wants to donate, it's not too late. Our goal is $46,000. Remember, donations are 100% tax deductible! Here is the link for donations...grandparents?? :) https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/o5kPfZnwU-9YPZxE8gatew

4. Thanks to Sarah McKinney and the most hardworking crew of volunteers in the Puget Sound area, we exceeded our budget item for $50,000 (actual total to be announced next week) so that is great news!!!

• Crab Feed Committee
• Volunteers from the Auction (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)
• All who voted on the "Name Change" Survey Monkey
• All who donated socks for Socks of Love

A big thank you to all of you that came out to support the Auction/Crab Feed on Saturday. We hope that you had an enjoyable evening. The night was a financially successful one for Holy Rosary as we exceeded our fundraising goal of $50,000. The fund-a-need this year is going towards new playground equipment!

I also want to give a special thanks to the Auction committee: Gina Cole, Janet Lepore, Naomi Smith, Jamie Chaloner, Alyssa Illich, Ken Clifton, Leianna Perkins-Muse, Jillian Sibblies, Valerie Pettit, Shalma Wellington, Toni Gillespie, and Mark Brady. This group has been meeting since September working on: event planning, auction procurements, silent/live auction, food/drinks, ticket sales, and more. It requires many months of planning and it wouldn’t be possible without this committee.

Another big thanks to all of the volunteers that helped with auction prep before the event and to those that came to help set-up, work the event, and clean-up. Thanks for giving your time to make this event a success!

I LOVE it! (79%)

I'm okay with either (12%)

I do not like the change (9%)

Since 91% of our families either fully supported the change or were ok with it, we are pursuing the name change. Also, it is supported by our School Commission and, of course, Father Wagner. So, we have sent a letter to the Archdiocese of Seattle and it will be voted on and then that recommendation will be sent to the Archbishop for a final approval or denial. We will let you know when we here the final verdict. The new name would be Holy Rosary Bilingual Academy.

Thanks to Colleen Thomson for this wonderful article on Lent:

Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, sacrifice, and opportunity for spiritual renewal for the whole family. This year, consider making it a special time for your family to grow together in your love for Jesus and each other. Here are a few activities to enrich your Lenten journey in preparation for Easter:

--Choose one day each week during Lent to go screen-free as a family.

--Read the Bible together as a family each day; it can be just a paragraph or 3-5 verses, perhaps followed by discussion/reflection.

--Clean out closets or garage/storage space; give unused toys and clothes to a charitable organization, such as St. Vincent de Paul.

--Cook simple meatless meals together with your children.

--As a family, discuss giving up some food each week; give the savings to the Rice Bowl project, which feeds the hungry here and around the world.

--Memorize a new prayer together as a family, or pray the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary together daily or weekly (consider praying just one decade of the rosary daily with younger children).

--Set up an almsgiving box; put one item from your pantry each day into the box, then deliver the box to a food bank at the end of Lent.

--Give three compliments a day to your spouse, child, mother, father, sibling, or someone else.

--Turn off pop/secular music on your commute to/from school; consider having a silent commute, or listen to hymns or Christian contemporary music on YouTube, Pandora, Amazon Music, or satellite radio.

Think of Lent not just as "giving something up", but as a positive time, in which we take action and give to the Lord and one another, growing together as a family in our faith.

• Wednesday, Feb. 21st from 8 am - 5 pm
  
• Thursday, Feb. 22nd from 10 am - 7 pm
  
• Friday, Feb. 23rd from 9 am - 4 pm
  

Here is the link to sign up for a conference: http://signup.com/login/entry/786984356943534088

A Few Very Important Items:

1. In order to have a contract meeting, families must be up-to-date on their tuition/fees for the current school year.
2. Please make sure to be on time for your meeting, as they will be back to back all day.
   
3. Please note that all contracts need to go up from year to year (at a rate appropriate for each family's circumstances). The school's expenses (salaries, electricity, garbage, etc.) all go up, so our revenue has to increase, as well.

• Camp Hours are 7 am - 5:30 pm, Monday - Friday
• Mixture of Spanish and English language
• Camp runs June 25th - Aug 17th
• Cost is $200/week (you can pay on a weekly basis)
• A one time application fee of $25 will be charged when you sign up for camp
• Activities will include PE and Music time...and maybe a field trip or two!
• Ms. Hazel and Ms. Heidi will be running the camp
• 20 spaces are available (first come, first served)
• Families must be current on all tuition/fees in order to enroll in summer camp
• Contact Berenice or Hazel for more information

We are looking at the possibility of a camp for the older children, but do not have anything on that at this time. We will keep you in touch, if this changes.

Thanks to all who have already registered for next year!! Remember that spaces will open to new families on Feb. 26th...so lock your spot down today with your completed enrollment and registration fee!

REGISTRATION FEE

• $150 (1 student), $300 (2+ Students) on/before March 25th

• $200 (1 student), $400 (2+ Students) after March 26th

TUITION *DIVIDED IN 10 MONTHS (AUGUST – MAY)

Pre­K 3 & 4 Tuition = $7,000

KG through Grade 8

• 1 Student = $6,050

• 2 Students = $10,700

• 3+ Students = $13,750

Registration Process:

1. Pay registration fee
2. Complete enrollment (see instructions below)
3. Spaces are held for current families until Feb. 25th - after that, it opens to the outside community.

To complete our online re-enrollment process, you will access our ParentsWeb through your existing login. If you do not have a login, please follow the Instructions for Creating a ParentsWeb Login listed below.

To access ParentsWeb:

• Please go to https://logins2.renweb.com/logins/ParentsWeb-Login.aspx
• Type in your username and password. If you have forgotten your username or password, please click on the link provided. District code: HR-WA
• After logging in, click on the Family Information button in the left menu.
• Click on the Enrollment/Reenrollment button.

Our Online Enrollment system will open with a link to the enrollment packet for {StudentFirstName}. The online process should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Your information will be saved if you need to quit and come back later.

The Instructions and Enrollment Checklist page of the enrollment packet contains supplemental enrollment forms that also must be submitted. Further instructions on these forms are provided online.

If you have any questions about the process or need a paper packet, please contact me at 253-272-7012.

Sincerely,

Berenice Williams

Office Manager