Greetings from sunny Texas, y’all… okay, i can’t believe I use that word regularly now, but I am embracing my deep-down-inner-Texan. Boy howdy, that’s right, partner. Haha.
Well, we obviously haven’t written for a while and we are sorry for that. We are very busy.
We took a trip in August to Michigan. We were happy to see our family and it was the first time virtually everyone got to me our kids–Ben and Monica. The grandparents got to see their grandchildren for a couple days each. The driving went well and took us roughly 26 hours each way, including a stop to sleep.
Ben just started last week in the fourth grade. The boy just learned English last year and already is at the fourth grade level. I am proud of him. He is happy to be going to school and he has at least one neighborhood friend in his class. He also joined a Fall soccer team and has already played in a tournament. They finished third.
Monica is as healthy as they come and doing very well. She is so easy-going. She already has a couple teeth and has started eating solid foods. She is almost always smiling and she is developing a real funny personality.
Milissa made her lifetime promises last month to the Missionaries for the Gospel of Life, a lay ministry run by Priests For Life. CLICK HERE for an article to read up on what that entails. I am very proud of her.
My dear wife also suggested about six weeks ago that I apply for graduate school. After praying on it and considering it, I took her up on the challenge. I applied to and was accepted to John Paul the Great Catholic University out of San Diego, CA. Praise God!
I will be working on a Master of Arts in Biblical Theology. I will be taking the courses online. As of now, it should take me about three years to complete. The classes, which start at the end of September, are going to be very interesting to me and I look forward to learning more about Christ, His Church, and the Bible. Both Milissa and I are SO excited.
I am now a member of the first-ever class to study for this particular degree at this University. That makes it feel extra special. This University is growing and I am excited to be a part of history.
I remember I graduated from the University of Michigan early, completely my Bachelor’s in 3 1/2 years because I was tired of school and didn’t plan to ever go back. But then I thought about it…
Once I earn this degree, pretty much any position in the Church I could want will be open to me, I imagine. Y’all know how badly I want to serve the Church full-time. Well, now I will earn a Master’s and can do almost anything. For now, my plan would be to teach, maybe at a university-level. But what does God have in store? No idea. But I will follow Mary’s example of remaining open to God’s will. God bless!
So, our blog posts were waning once Monica was born, but add another child into the mix, and well…life happened, and blogs did not. We’ve wanted to post our updates for awhile now, and I am glad to finally have a few moments to catch you up.
As you can imagine, parenting an eleven-year-old is quite different than parenting a five-month-old. Ben is truly a joy, and we feel very blessed that God has sent him to live with us. It is so unbelievable, still. God could have sent Ben anywhere, but for some reason, He chose us to be his parents.
The adoption is moving along slowly. We are trusting that this is all being done in God’s time. Nearly three months into this process and we have still to accomplish really anything legally. Please pray that things begin to move along.
Ben received the sacrament of baptism on June 20, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. His Godparents are Chris and Angie Vaughan.
Ben also had his first American birthday, where he turned 11. He made out like a bandit, and we are so thankful to all of you who offered up prayers for Ben, sent a card, or were able to come to the party. He felt so special. 
Monica is doing great! She’s as healthy as ever. She is almost six months old now, and nearly 20 lbs.! She is such a happy baby, and her smile and laugh is contagious. I can’t wait for all of you to meet both her, and Ben.
Speaking of, we will be coming into Michigan soon. We will be with Kevin’s family Friday, August 7 – Tuesday, August 11; and then my family from Tuesday, August 11 – Sunday, August 16. Kevin is a groomsman in his college roommate’s wedding on the 15th. We hope that many of you will be around to vist!
At work, I took on the additional responsibility of being the Prayer Ministry Director. I am still able to work from home, and I can’t tell you what a blessing it’s been. My new position organizes all the prayer events pertaining to the Respect Life Ministry for the Diocese of Dallas. I find God really funny. When I took on the Prayer Ministry position, 40 Days for Life became a Prayer Ministry event. So, I will be the campaign director for the fall 2009 40 Days for Life-Dallas. We had our first meeting Friday, and nearly 20 people showed up, and almost all of them brand new to pro-life work. God is going to do something really special here, I just know it. I feel so honored to be a part of God’s work to stop the killing of His precious little ones.
Kevin is doing well at work. He’s always got an eye out for a possible youth ministry position. We are happy with where he is at, yet always open to where God might be calling him.
Monica just woke from her nap, and dinner is about done, so I need to be going. I’ll leave you with these links for recent pictures:
Filed under: May 2009
You read that right. Yes, Baby Monica has a new big brother. God has done a wonderful deed for our family. He has blessed us with a 10-year-old son, named Benedict, but he goes by Ben.
We learned of Ben only two Thursdays ago, April 23rd, when one of Milissa co-workers, Antoinette told us about him. Antonette had just learned of him that day herself from Fr Paul, of St William Catholic Church way out in Greenville, TX.
We have brought him into our home and become his foster parents. We intend to adopt Ben, and the entire process will take proably six months, through a private adoption.
After learning of him Thursday and offering to foster him and to adopt him, we met Ben and his original adoptive parents the next night. Then the day after that, Saturday afternoon they dropped him off to stay with us… forever.
Ben was adopted from Ethiopia by a local Catholic couple. They brought Ben and two other Ethiopian children home with them in January 2008. After ten months they where facing many unforseen challenges with adding three children to their family. After praying and asking God what His will was, they decided to send Ben to live with a Protestant couple in Colorado.
The Colorado family came close to finalizing their adoption efforts with Ben but a month short of adopting him, they sent him back to Dallas. The original Dallas couple had discerned they couldn’t reindroduce him to their family and were actively searching out a new home for Ben. They wished for a new family to adopt Ben, to keep him forever.
That’s where we come in. God had prepared our hearts and we decided we’d gladly take him.
Sure, this is challenging Milissa and I, but not entirely in the way you may think. Actually, he has made us better Christians, better people.
Ben enjoys being Catholic. He is anxious to be baptized and to receive his First Communion. He enjoys praying the Rosary each day and praying before he goes to bed. He has definitely challenged our faith, in a wonderful way.
We hope to get Ben baptized in the next week or two and to also let him receive Jesus for the first time with his First Communion. Every Mass we go to he asks to receive. They say patience is a virtue…
Ben desperately wishes to attend Mount Saint Michael’s, a private, Catholic school. We’re meeting this week with the principal to ask for financial aid as it’s his only hope to attend. Ben has had about 15 months to learn to speak, read and write a whole new language. He’s at about a fifth grade level, starting in the Fall. Please pray he gets his wish to attend Mount Saint Michael’s.
Ben also loves to play soccer, so we’ve found him a soccer league that should begin next weekend. He’s a great kid and we’re glad to have him.
We’ve told some of our family, all our friends down here, and a few close ones from Michigan. We’ve received a lot of support, but also a bit of dissent, as we expected. That’s okay. We trust this is the Lord’s will for Ben to live with us. How else would this have worked out?
I mean, Milissa and I have always wanted a large family, as you all know. We inquired into adoption here but were told we couldn’t apply yet. Then Our Blessed Mother Mary got involved and things began to happen. She came to visit us as the Our Lady of Guadalupe Missionary Image. The first place she visited was St William’s Church, Fr Paul’s Church. What’s St William the patron saint of? Adoption, of course!
Thank you to everyone for their concerns. To say we haven’t felt overwhelmed at times would be a lie, but that’s why God gave us faith. I literally have to take each day one at a time, as He asks us to do.
I suppose, that’s the best way to go about life–having to rely on God each and every day… which is entirely the reason God sent us Ben.
Filed under: April 2009
Filed under: April 2009
Filed under: April 2009
Filed under: March 2009
Greetings from sunny Texas. Baby Monica is doing very well. She is still gaining weight. Monica even rolled over a couple times now, even doing so more than two weeks ago. She sure is just perfect. Just keep her tummy full and a clean diaper on and she’s good to go. She will get hungry and will let you know, but that’s okay. Lately she’s realized she can resist shut eye when Mom and Dad say it’s time for bed, but we make it through.
I suppose our big news is that this last Saturdaywas the Bishop’s Dinner for the Catholic Pro-Life Committee, their biggest event of the year. Thousands of North Texas pro-lifers came to support the ministry. Milissa’s boss, Andrew Smith, received an award for civic action.
The keynote speaker this year was Gianna Jessen, a young woman who herself survived a late-term abortion! Her mother had paid to attempt to kill her by injecting a saline solution into the uterus to burn Gianna to death. Instead, Gianna refused to die and finally the nurse had to call an ambulence. She was born at seven months in utero, weighing just two pounds, and with, what she calls “the gift of celebral palsy.”
I (Kevin) just absolutely loved her talk. She spoke of how we ought to celebrate life. She had such an inspiring outlook on life; despite her suffering, she is full of joy and passion. She said she doesn’t let her disability define her, instead turning to Christ for her identity. She said she is “God’s Girl.” I personally loved the advice she had for teens in the audience, as both my tenth graders from my Confirmation class I am teaching were in attendance. And finally, she also spoke about how failed male leadership has meant the demise of our nation and how we need to be thankful for our good men.
Finally, Milissa has scheduled starting tomorrow, Thursday, April 2nd, the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to visit Dallas for ten days. About a year and a half ago, I had scheduled the Missionary Image to visit us in Ann Arbor, and we took her out to Planned Parenthood for over a week during the 40 Days For Life Campaign Milissa was running.
The Missionary Image stands six feet tall and four feet wide. On it is a painting of the image of Our Lady Guadalupe. The Missionary Image travels the country, as a small office in Vermont schedules her to be shipped by FedEx to various towns all over the nation. We get to have her in town for Holy Week!
In 1531 Mother Mary visited St Juan Diego in Mexico. Her portrait was left burned onto his tilma (potato sack). Now, over 450 years later, the image remains preserved on the tilma and is on display in
Mexico. It’s miraculous because the potato sack should have dissolved hundreds of years ago, but God has preserved it.
Before her visit, Aztecs were sacrificing their small children to their gods. SOUND FAMILIAR? This grieved Mother Mary so she came to visit. After her visit to Mexico, thousands of Aztecs and natives converted to Catholicism, giving up their child-sacrificing ways. This is why Our Lady of Guadalupe is the symbol for Catholic Mexicans, and many Hispanics. It is also why she is a patron saint of the pro-life movement. They ask that the Image visit abortion centers as much as possible, so Milissa will be carting her to all five in Dallas. She also will be taking her to various local Churches, even one three hours away holding a 40 Days For Life campagn as we speak. Well, God bless. you. For more information on Our Lady of Guadalupe visit http://www.ourladyofguadalupe.org/
Filed under: March 2009
Hello! This 2009 Honda Accord is being raffled off through my work, the Catholic Pro-Life Committee. Please consider purchasing a raffle ticket for only $20. You need not be present to win, but we’d love to have you come stay with us if you like. 
If you are interested in a chance to win a 2009 Honda Accord, a Carnival cruise or a Garmin 750 navigator, and if you have just $20 burning a hole in your pocket, please consider buying a raffle ticket to help a most worthy charity, the Catholic Pro-Life Committee:
Click here to purchase a raffle ticket!
This organization not only defends the right to life through education and civic action, but reaches out with love to offer pregnant women practical, spiritual and emotional support so they can thoughtfully plan an adoption or prepare for parenthood. Everybody deserves a chance to live!
The raffle will be held March 28, 2009 at the Bishop’s Pro-Life Dinner in Dallas. You have to be at least 18 to buy a ticket, but you don’t have to be present to win.
Forgive us for taking so long to write an update, but we’ve finally caught a moment where we can. This is Baby Monica!
So Jessie Anne, Mommy and Daddy’s friend from the Catholic Pro-Life Committee that Mommy works for, organized a huge crew to come move us out of our tiny apartment in the very Northwest corner of Dallas to a spacious apartment in Irving, a suburb on the westside of Dallas, just seven miles from Daddy’s work, where I get my own room!
About ten members of the Knights of Columbus from All Saints Catholic Church–the Church my Godfather, Chris Vaughan serves as their Young Adult Minister–came to move us. We also had a handful of other helpers, including a boy and girl from next door at our new place. One of the Knights paid them some cash and Mommy gave them Rosaries and chips, while Daddy cooked everyone burgers afterward.
Now that we’ve moved, my dad doesn’t have to spend $40-$80 in tolls each month just to commute to work. We also now live just minutes from the local Catholic Church, St Luke’s. Mommy and Daddy decided to start to attend there, instead of commuting to our old Parish, now about 25 minutes away. But Daddy will continue to teach Confirmation at the old one, where he is having a blast. In fact, this Wednesday he has been asked to give a talk to the entire Confirmation class, over 100 kids, about Community–how our Roman Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ Himself, has lasted 2,000 years, and He promised it will last till the world ends; how it’s universal–over one billion Catholics worldwide, all celebrating the same liturgy and faith; and how it is present, how there are many wonderful aspects of the faith these kids can take advantage of now–Eucharistic Adoration, Reconciliation, Catholic radio, Catholic TV–EWTN, their priests, deacons, nuns, brothers, etc. In short, my dad is going to try to excite these kids over their joining this Catholic Tradition as adult members of the Church by their Confirmation soon.
Alright, well check out some photos of me below, I am out of here. Love, Baby Monica
Filed under: February 2009
Would someone please explain to me, after seeing how beautiful and miraculous a newborn child is, how they can arbitrary decide they have had enough of them? When you look at a newborn, how can you NOT say you want more of them? Milissa and I will take as many as God will allow, 11 more hopefully, biologically or adopted.
Monica is just perfect. She is as innocent as anyone will ever be. So long as she has a full tummy and a clean diaper, she is happy. How come we can’t we all be like that?
Sure, finances, mortgage payments, car notes, insurance, medical expenses, all those things come… But wouldn’t it be nice to live so simply that those things don’t stress you? So simply that they don’t get in the way, as important as they are sometimes? That is our goal for our Kukla household; we are working toward that, by GOd’s help. In fact, we’re cutting out cable once we move, not paying for it, because we don’t need it. We have a daughter now, much more entertaining than TV, as Milissa put it today.
So you’re wanting to know how Monica and Milissa are doing? They are doing great. Milissa is gaining energy day by day, while Monica is growing quickly. Yes, we do get sleep at night. Monica wakes up once or twice a night to eat and to get her diaper changed. This perfect, because her stomach is only so big, so she needs to eat often. Yes, we are getting into a bit of a routine. Yes, the nursing is going very well.
Monica is such a blessing to us. I was thinking today some of the ways in which God has blessed us, even in ways I did not foresee. Besides entrusting to us a soul to raise and to love forever, God has also found it necessary to keep me accountable to another person. This is huge for me, because I need to be accountable, in how I spend my time, how I spend my money, and so forth.
What I didn’t foresee is how Monica serves as a conversation-starter. At Church we have met dozens of new folks because they all want to come marvel at our beautiful daughter. We also have been on the receiving end of unexpected generosity. The Knights of Columbus at a local Catholic Church we frequent for social events will join those from the Catholic Pro-Life Committee, as well as Monica’s Godparents, in helping us to move to our new apartment on Saturday, February 28th. With all that help, we ought to get everything moved in just a couple hours. Thanks be to God.
I can’t get over how Monica keeps her eyes open when she is awake now. Before, as you saw in previous pictures, she had her eyes closed so often. Now, we get to see her pretty eyes. In all her innocence, we are convinced Monica watches angels overhead.
Monica is cute and she makes funny noises. I like to watch her facial expressions, they crack me up. We are in awe of this precious, pretty child. We pray daily for her, asking the Lord’s will be done with her. Whether that be as a wife and mother, as a religious sister, as a missionary to a third world country, or whatever it is, we ask the Lord that she does what He wants her to do. Doing God’s will will bring her and us the most joy.
Our big news is that Milissa and I launched a new ministry in Dallas, called Rock For Life–Dallas. We will eventually throw pro-life, Christian rock concerts. The organization is targeted toward teens. We hope to draw them in with the music, then share the pro-life message, culture of life, and message of chastity with them. In the meantime, we will be giving the kids weekly activites to get involved, namely praying outside local abortion centers and counseling training to reach the women and to save babies.
We have some interest already and are excited to see where God takes it. Milissa is helping me and I plan to do this ministry for at leasty the next few years.
Okay, finally, here are pictures of Baby Monica, God bless:
