Many Hats

Before beginning any official post per say. I should tell you all that my name is Deacon Joseph Kibbe. I was ordained for service in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, but I also serve in the Roman Catholic Church. I think it would be helpful to give a brief bio about the many different hats that I wear in my life. This should in the long run give everyone a better understanding of the different points of view that I may bring to the many subjects that I may talk about in the future.

Hat #1 - Husband - My wife and I were married November 1, 2008. Since I meet her she has of course been one of the major factors that has lead be along the path that my life has taken since then. I look back and reflect on the way that I would have made decisions before I met her and now, it's truly an amazing transformation of character. There is no question that the woman completes the man and this is certainly true for me.

Hat #2 - Father - Joanne and I have been blessed by God to have five very wonderful children. They are all very different and we of course love them dearly. We have four girls and one boy. It is the gift of children that truly turns a relationship between husband and wife, into a world of new sacrifices and the two become one flesh in and through Jesus Christ.

Hat #3 - Deacon - I was ordained on the 17th of June in 2012 in Raleigh, NC. The Ukrainian Church is one of the Eastern Rite churches of the Catholic Church. I am also very blessed to serve at the local Roman Catholic Church here in Rocky Mount. This is also the church that has the school where my two oldest daughters attend. It is here that I lead an adult Bible Study as well as one for the middle school.

Hat #4 - Small Business Owner - My mother and father started our family business in 1976. This has been my livelihood for over 20 years now. It is now my mother and I who run the day to day operations. Growing up in a family business was of course a large influence upon my life. I have never had to go very far to find out what a day of hard work means and continue to grow as a person from this daily experience. There is nothing like working with the public to make one understand how vastly different people are from one to the next and trying to figure out how to please and make them happy. I have found it is not very easy.

So these are the four major hats that I wear as I move through life. As you can imagine more then one of these are worn by me at the same time, if not all four. It will become clear as this blog moves forward that these four hats have formed me into the person that I am today and I pray will continue to do so in the future. One important lesson that I have learned, is that I can never stretch to far into one direction without one of the other hats fitting funny or getting out of place. It is the well balanced life that keeps us on the path that we should be walking, not stuck over in the ditch or lost in the woods.