Hope and Light

                                                                 Meet Father Patrick.

                                                                      Meet Fr.Andy.

Both of these men are newly ordained Catholic priests.  We are blessed to share our Wedding Anniversary with what will now be Fr.Patrick's Priestly Ordination Anniversary.  We all entered our vocation on the same date, and that is spectacular. Fr.Andy is, unfortunately, not from our diocese, but was ordained in his diocese in Texas just a week prior to his good friend's and now brother priest, Fr.Patrick.

You see, these men bring us hope.  They are the faces of the future of our Catholic Faith. These young men have answered God's call with a "yes" and they are spreading the love of Jesus to whomever they meet.  These newly ordained men shine with a light that can only come from God. 

We were blessed to have them for dinner last night.  The kids, as you can imagine, loved having them here.  We love having these vibrant young men in our home to show our kids what their vocation looks like.  It entails a life of prayer and seriousness, but joy and fun is equally important.

In our diocese vocations are hurting.  They are hurting for several reasons, but hurting nonetheless.  Will you join us in praying for vocations?  Our diocese needs more men like these.

Growing up Together

Digital pics were just beginning so we opted for the "real deal".  So here's a picture of our "real deal" pic.

Who are these teenager-looking kids playing dress-up?  Do they have any idea what they are getting themselves into?  Any clue how God will work in their lives to challenge them, to shape and mold them?  Do they realize that those vows mean something?  That when they say, "For better or worse, in sickness or health, etc..." that "better" and "worse" will happen, that "sickness" and "health" will happen? 

One of the priests who walked along beside us during our "marriage prep" course said something that I will never forget.  He said he thought it was fitting that two people in love are really a little bit out of their minds.  Who, in their right mind, would agree to those vows?  Who would honestly say that they want to spend their entire lives with one another.  I also remember, at the ripe old age of 19, thinking that this priest must not really know what he was talking about.  Of course we knew what we were getting into.  Ha! 

We could never have known that after 12 years of marriage we would love each other more deeply than ever.  We could never have known that we would be blessed with 6 little souls, 5 of which we have the privilege of raising to know and love God.  If God had shown us the trials that would be set before us, would we have accepted?  Would we have known that the graces that we have been given would indeed be sufficient?

On June 3, 2000 we were two young kids madly in love.  12 years later we are still madly in love and sometimes think we are still kids. 

Blog Blahs

Do you ever sit down to write out a blog post that has been stewing in your brain all day and then you write it, and well, it's just, blah!? 

For the past week I've had a sick baby.  A very sick baby, actually.  We've visited the doctor's office and the ER.  I've sat up at night worrying, and held and comforted and held some more.

Throughout the past week I thought up several posts.  Posts about tolerance levels of bringing sick kids in public, posts about my love for the sound of owls in my window, posts about medical issues, food, husbands who are obsessed interested in wine making, seminarians who are being ordained, house sales, you name it, I thought about posting it.  Maybe it's time for a political post, maybe I need to talk more about my faith on the blog.  Lots of thinking and plotting and mlogging (that's mind-logging, think it'll catch on? Yeah, me neither).

The end result is that I'm tired.  I am physically exhausted from taking care of Little Miss Trouble Maker (I don't have to spell out who was sick, do I?) I'm mentally exhausted from trying to figure out what in the world was wrong with my girl.

The good news is this.  She's better and you don't have to listen to me ramble about whatever it was I was going to ramble about, or did you already do that?  Hmmm.....

Always Learning

This being a mom thing sure has taught me a few lessons.  Humility being at the top of the list of course.  I like the word humility much better than embarrassment.  It just has a better ring to it.

For instance, tonight at karate, a little girl about 4 years old was playing with  my girls.  She was there last night too.  I think her dad is a single father, and she looks like my children would if Brett were to dress them every day (and I'm no fashionista if that tells you anything).  I'm ashamed to say I was just thinking to myself,"poor girl, her hair is ratty, she hasn't been bathed, and I'm pretty sure she was wearing that same outfit the day before."  My eye was then caught by my 3-year-old whose pigtails were crooked, who had chocolate on her shirt, and who was for a fact wearing the same outfit she wore the day before.  Oops.

To continue with the 3-year-old: I had the two littlest ones at a store desperately hunting for something I deemed acceptable for my two oldest girls to wear (more on this later) this summer and I heard a song over the speaker.  I will admit to cringing at the words and wondering to myself if this is what people really listened to.  Just then I hear from my sweet red-head who has no problems with projection, "Hey mom, 'It's just you and me BABY!'" (which were the words in the song) And of course softer so no one could hear, "We have that just you and me baby book out home (she says "out" for "at" and we haven't had the guts to correct her yet). 

As we were exiting the store with a handful of items (some of which are going back because my girls have opinions. What?!) we walked passed the swimsuits.  Veronica took one look at the life-sized model and said, "Woa!"

It's good for me, this humility stuff. In fact, I'm humbled daily by experiences in my own home. 

Like this one:

 A big sister and little sister making toast in the morning. It doesn't look like my kitchen fairy came the night before.  Probably was getting into the wine.  :-)

And this one:

 My fiery red head who wants to help all the time.  With butter-knife in hand she's helping me cut olives for tacos.

And this one:

Her very existence is humbling!

Summer Plans

We unofficially started our summer schedule today.  "Unofficially" because the kids' karate school doesn't start their summer schedule until next week, so we will alter our schedule a bit this week.  And when I say schedule, I basically mean plan, because we're not really into schedules around here.  I'm going for a bit more consistency, but I can't imagine having a rigid schedule in the summer. 

Our garden is going to dictate a lot of what we do this summer.  Our tentative plan is to spend about an hour outside tending to our various plants, right away in the morning before the sun gets too hot.  We have a 30' X 40' vegetable garden which has been started entirely by seed.  I just bought 100' of "soaker hose" and I'm longing for the irrigation system that our friend in Texas made for our garden in Texas which was burnt to a crisp by the Texas sun because I didn't utilize said system.  Drat.

All ready to work out in the garden.  

All right, so garden work, check.

Next is schooling.  I know, I know, what a horrible thing to make kids do during the summer.  I love, love, LOVE spending time with my kids.  However, like most moms notice, when there is an overabundance of free, unstructured time, kids get into trouble.  I'm absolutely in favor for unstructured time for kids.  I find that unfortunately most kids don't have any of this time.  I feel that because we've made it a point to let our kids "be kids" on a regular basis they don't need the whole summer to run wild.  So, school is going to consist of three days a week and probably 1-2 hours a day.  We'll hit the basics, keep skills fresh, and enjoy the coolness of our lower level school room in the hottest hours of the day while the littlest ones nap (it brings peace just thinking about it). 

Brain power, check.

Visitors and visiting!  Our first excursion will be to see our dear friends in MN.  The dads are going to survive hold down the fort, while the moms are going to the MN Catholic Homeschool Conference. 

We're scaling back a little bit with our annual trip to SD.  We're still going, but now that we have animals and veggies to tend we can't be gone for so long.  We'll be visiting family in SD for about 10-14 days (I think).  We look forward to our summer trip and love being from a place where so many go for vacation.  We never run out of activities for the kids.  The date of the trip has been determined by Gianna's beautiful Godmother who will be getting married!!!!  Gianna is beyond excited about being a flower-girl for her wedding.

Aren't those baby thighs delicious?  I've waited so long for those.

Visitors this summer will include Gianna's Godfather, and some friends from Texas who have since moved to California and have two beautiful daughters we have yet to meet.  

We have plenty of house projects to do now that the weather is warm and the man of the house will be around more often.  The big projects are landscaping and painting the house.  A deck would be nice and feels like a necessity, but it might not happen this summer. 

The biggest change around here will be, now don't laugh, the diminishing of screen time.  Okay, so it's true that we don't get any tv service so how much screen time could we possibly have?  The kids don't really watch movies that often so that's not the problem.  It's the adults and this stinkin' computer screen.  So, the plan is, during children's waking hours, the computer is off (my phone is plugged into the wall and inaccessible to use as a computer).  The blogs can wait, the researching of whatever can wait, my kids however, can not.  It seems that with a little bit of water and this sunshine we've had lately they are sprouting.  Poor Aidan informed me today that he needs new shoes, again.  His feet are officially bigger than mine.  Nobody prepared me for this part of motherhood.  I'm guessing my first baby will be looking me square in the eyes in the next year.  I refuse to miss this summer. 

Have I mentioned lately that he's almost a black belt? 

Work Ethic

The transition to the country this past year hasn't always been easy.  For instance, there is the battle against the ticks, gnats, and mosquitoes.  We have more "projects" than we know what to do with, and I've found my organization skills lacking when we find ourselves in town, during mealtime, with no other option than (gross) fast filler food.

One aspect of country life that I didn't expect is the amount of work it takes just to keep our house and the surrounding property in working order.  Here is where the slaves kids come in handy.  Whether it's feeding the cats, taking care of the litter boxes (yes, our outdoor cats use litter boxes, I do not want them using my flower beds as a bathroom), hauling wood in for a fire, or the most recent, digging a trench so we can burn our "burn pile" (how's that for being technical?).  The "burn pile" area will then magically transform into our garden, and voila, vegetables.  Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I've been so surprised at how hard these kids can work.  They have learned to stick with jobs until they are finished.  They have learned that working can be fun.  They have learned not to whine when asked to do something, well, okay maybe not.  They can't be perfect.  Not yet.  

Daddy's Girl

My kids love to hear stories about how Emma, when she was a baby/toddler did not like her daddy.  I think they enjoy these stories because Emma loves every one and they can't imagine her not liking him.  "Daddy" to her was a foreigner.  Brett was on faculty at Texas Tech and finishing his Doctorate.  He would leave before the kids woke up and get home long after they had been asleep.  It wasn't fun, but it was our life at that time. 

Enter Felicity.  Brett was at Felicity's bedside from day one.  While I was recovering in another hospital and praying that I would at least get to meet my sweet baby girl, Brett was holding vigil.  Does she know this?  Probably not, but then how would you explain her deep love for her father?  She simply tolerates me during the day and looks forward to the moment Brett walks in the door.  This "I don't want mommy, I just want daddy phase" takes a little pride swallowing.  I mean, really? But, I'm, I'm, I'm "mommy"! Everyone loves "mommy!"  Harumph!

Yes, my baby is eating a molasses cookie for breakfast, and yes, they both are in their pajamas.

Daddy is the best! (How do you like the tissue paper flower in the background.  Leftover Cinco de Mayo decoration.

Daddy thinks he's going to work today?  I don't think so!