The Sisterhood

There are only a few in this whole big wide world that make my soul swell and soar. After Andrew, it would be my sisters and my bossom friend Anna, and her sisters.

My parents say when we all come home the amount of screaming and laughing climbs to obnoxious degrees ;)

The Reunion:

Each sister if gifted with different talents and interest. I could say I'm close with every one of my sisters and love them all, and deeply appreciate the treasures they give to me through their lives.

Tricia: I love that I have a sister to share in the intimate bond of motherhood, as it came to her quickly with 3 under 3. Tricia gives me the gift of being a visible model of courage, strength, and a steadfast heart in accepting all that God asks of her. I gawk at her car and home as they are perfectly organized. Her hidden talents: mad good sewing skills.

Angela: Our sister relationship has grown so much closer now that we are older. 

Angela brings life, loud and loving, wherever she goes. 

I admire the great leaps and bounds she will go to for those she family members or even complete strangers. 

She will travel cross country to experience adventure and ends up in crazy places. I love living through her vicariously. 

Of the many talents Angela was given, she has a special gift of sensitivity. She is able to perceive the unspoken needs of others and her giant heart always responds with serving. 

Jana: Jane and I are of the same mold. Our hearts gravitate to the same things, like cooking and coffee and crafts and card making. 

I love when she's home, because no one else loves to discuss family meal menus and recipes like we do.

Jana's heart beats with an extra beat, she is a GIVER, two full years of mission work is a small proof of her nature. 

Anna: Being closest in age, we shared a bedroom, birthdays, and our childhood side by side. Little things like staying up giggling in bed to big life moments of First Communion, Confirmation, going to camp far away from home in Rhode Island , Going to Rome, Italy in high school...Anna and I did it all together. 

Anna's blog IS Anna: colorful, clever, and a good eye for all things girls love. She so beautifully and creatively uses her talents to provide for her family and witness to her faith. 

Anna has been making me laugh hard since I was two. Very few would know she can imitate and impersonate people like none other. 

Madeline was missing...But the fact she wasn't there speaks miles. Incredibly responsible, she stayed to sing in Notre Dame's choir for graduation. We really missed her....and her contagious laugh.


It is hard for us to be all together now that we are all over the US so a sister weekend in Nashville was a good solution. 

There was lots of good catch up time!

A stowaway...we pinched and squeezed all weekend long. He was too good to be true.

You know you are back home south when they serve fried catfish and biscuits and sweet tea! Happiness. 

 

All of my sisters share a crazy love for dancing...it runs deep,  there's always a rhythm and beat inside that is waiting to be let out.  

When we are all together, I'm home, thank God for siblings, I have 7 other sister soul mates. 

The Graduation

I remember laughing at the thought of Kindergarten 

graduation when I first heard about it. Go figure I would be 

in tears watching Nicholas last night. 

I looked into the crowd and all the parents were beaming and so proud of each of their own children. To Andrew and I's bemusement, Nicholas took on the role of class clown while performing on stage, not the serious child he his at home. He was in tears the night before when we asked him to sing us one of his songs. 

To be able to watch them grow and learn is such a gift I get to experience. The years do go by fast; I was just posting about his First Day and now he will be in First Grade. 

Godmother Aunt Hilary drove all the way from Kansas City to attend and brought him some loved baseball gear. We love her!!

After the ceremony we took the kids to Dairy Queen for ice cream which is a big treat in this household. 

It is surreal. His teacher made a slide show from highlights of the year with this poem at the end that I thought carries so much wisdom. 

If I had my child to raise over again.

I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less.

I'd do less correcting, and more connecting.

I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.

I would care to know less, and know to care more.

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.

I'd run through more fields, and gaze at more stars.

I'd do more hugging, and less tugging.

I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.

I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.

I'd teach less about the love of power,

And more about the power of love.

                            
Poem by Diana Loomans called If I had my child to raise over again.

By God's grace my I live that to my best ability, for that is my vocation. So happy to be your mom, so proud of my little boy, may God grant me many more years to have the privilege to raise you to God and watch you grow. 

Paleo: On A More Personal Note

ON A PERSONAL NOTE: 
This has opened a Pandora's box of self realizations for me. 

Andrew is amused I can think so much. But when you change a whole lifestyle....thoughts abound. 

Leave it to me to think too much....

1. How accustomed we are, especially as Americans, to be so privileged to have our pantries fully stocked, we can run to the store and food is ready and waiting. 

2. How often I take for granted opening a box of brownie mix or running to get a blizzard at DQ or on a busy day throw some chicken patties in my oven. 

3. In many poor countries I've been to, like Mexico, or all of South America, India, and China....the poor eat very simply. Rice and beans or mashed corn.  They don't eat go-gurts on a regular basis, nor can they afford grass fed organic beef and almond butter. 

I'm not saying: 
-  quick meals on a a bad or hard day is wrong, sometimes we have to access our realities and let other things take priority. 
- or feel guilty for buying healthy or guilty for eating a brownie

There are also appropriate and wonderful times to celebrate with good and delicious food if you can. 


4. But I can see how attached I am to convenience and indulging my every whim and fancy on what I feel like eating whenever I feel like eating it. 

5. It has made me take a second look at learning to be more simple in how I approach our eating habits. 

6. To be more grateful that I can put food on my table, no matter what it is. 

7. Sometimes fasting, even from good things, always gives more room for Jesus. I find so much comfort in cooking and creating, but when taken away, I find Him, for He always finds ways to get through to me.  

Like the prayer I said during lent, which I still find myself praying: 

"Father, train us in the ways of self-denial that we might awaken the hunger for Jesus that lies beneath the pleasures we seek." 


I've had to seek motivation....
Maybe I'm not motivated by loosing weight or having a better workout, but I do not have to "suffer" in vain...an end to abortion is always a good place to start. 

See how long this post is? Can you tell how much food must surround my day? 

Shoot, and it's only day 3!  

It has been such a good detachment process for me. Still learning....

Where We Are Right Now

Nicholas 

Favorite Past Time: Goodness that boy loves basketball, or playing the game Trouble with Christiana

Said Lately: Mom, mailbox is a compound word, so is basketball and applesauce.  (heck if I remember what compound words are...I do now, thanks son.)
                   When I grow up, I'm going to give away my toys when I become St. Nicholas. 


Big Steps: Starting to read music notes through piano lessons.

Christiana

Favorite Pastime: Cooking in the Kitchen, Writing me notes and coloring, playing Trouble with Nicholas, watering her plants for her garden.

Said Lately: Mom, I'm giving my dollars to the poor people. When asked what her name was at PreK day she told her teacher and classmates, "Pud". 

Big Steps: Learned how to read! She just finished her first three sets of Bob Books. Wanting to be just like her big brother may have played a big part in motivating her...along with getting a pink fishing pole if we read for 14 days in a row. 

Avila 

Coming very much into her own these days...oh what fun we are. 

Favorite Pastime: Dancing in living room to the Rio or Sound of Music soundtrack, stealing Trouble pieces and running away, turning on the water in the bathroom and watching it run, emptying out the entire contents of the cup and tupperware drawer.

Said Lately: Peas Mama Eat (Please Mama Eat)on the hour every hour
"I wuv you"
"Do Re Mi"

Big Steps: Matching our colors correctly, waking up happy, maintaining "stable" behavioral patterns for longer periods of time.

Good Vision

Last night, Andrew and I were invited to attend a fundraising banquet for a pregnancy center here in our town. We were both taken aback by the keynote speaker, Gail McWilliams. 

I assumed she was just another Christian speaker...

1. She was told she would never have children. 
2. She ends up getting pregnant, but starts loosing her eye sight. 
3. Pregnant with her 2nd child, her doctor says she had to choose between her baby and her eye sight. 
4. She choose her baby and went on to have 3 more children and lost her vision. 
5. She now talks all over the world about the value of life. 

 She was wonderful, a true life giving hero, one who has surrendered everything to her Lord.

THIS is her story 
But you should listen to her full SPEECH. SOOOO good! 

In the face of this week with Gosnell and Boston she was a such a breath of fresh air and hope. I love knowing their are people who are fighting the battle for life.  

As passionate Christian, she knows of that the "Harvest is ripe and the laborers few" ...if not you who? 

What a good reminder. 

Starting the Silence

It is no secret I love Lent.  I always have.

But before I go into Lent, let me just say I dutifully partook in Fat Tuesday festivities and ate this jolly doughnut and kept alive our family tradition. Anna, Tricia, Angela, Joe, Jana and Madeline....this one's for you :)

 

 

Avila got the memo it was Fat Tuesday and tried to shut herself in the fridge.



So it starts tomorrow. Whoot! Whoot!

In past years I've given up things like music, cheese and butter, potatoe chips, coffee, and taken lukewarm showers. They were all painfully hard on the will and body.

Over the past few weeks, it has been a running theme, and slowly, has grown into a tug in my heart: to let go of distractions, a desire to "see" and "hear" as Christ wants me to "see" and "hear".

I was reading a fascinating story about St. Scholastica and St. Benedict, sibling saints, in the back of the Magnificat this month. But this stood out to me:

"Faith that works wonders begins with a listening heart. It is no coincidence that the first word in the Rule of Saint Benedict is "Listen"!

So this year for Lent I get to go on a three day Ignatious SILENT retreat :) There is nothing so spiritually powerful. 

But for the other 40 days...

The Fast:
Fasting from the Internet. I am so excited for this. I wanted to choose something difficult, but not impossible. So gone are the pinterest images and ideas, blogs, browsing clothing, shoes, and shirts, facebook notifications and email messages.

If God speaks in the silence, then a fast from all the stimulation, noise, and constant feed will allow me to listen.

 

The Prayer: 
 Andrew and I, usually do something as a couple for Lent. This year, we are joing four other couples after Mass for brunch and bible study together. Since it's the year of faith, it is a good way for me to start reading the catechism and bible more through the study.

The Almsgiving:
I am helping lead a bible study with about 20 other Catholic women in our town. While it may look like another form of prayer, having to clean my house and devote an extra week night to this is not without its difficulties and mostly demands of giving time. I'm so lucky to have such great support from other Catholic women and excited do to Fr. Robert Barron's bible study called "Conversion". It's a six week study on biblical stories of Conversion, like Bartemaeus and the Women at the Well. What I've listened to so far is STELLAR!!

 

But all this...all this Lent is to refocus, take time out to center my life on Christ. In the end, that's all that matters :)

 

Until Easter....Happy Lent!

Ready

It's coming. The other day it climbed to mid 50 degrees and we walked outside without our coats on...

So the next day when it turned cold and windy again, I almost bought a plane ticked to Florida, planned a sister weekend for May, and called my mom about visiting the first week we get out of school.

Nine days into February, I find myself slightly ready for Spring.

I was smiling ear to ear looking at the stem shooting out in defiance of winter's death. It's funny, I can be surprised every time.

 

In the cold and dark, it's like two month fast from earth's beauties and pleasures. Winter does produce a gift of its own, after the absence, I can see and hear in joy what I once took for granted.


Just the common Cedar Waxwing, but when the earth has been silentand  lifeless for months, the chirping was startling to hear.

 I'm a total bird nerd taking pictures of them.  BUT, it was a sign that God always is faithful, makes the sun rise every morning and every year, without fail, flowers bloom, and birds come back, and the earth is warm again, even when it seems it never will.

 We got out our bicycles, walked around the block, swung on the swings, and played tag....and of course grilled out.

We are summer by nature here.

Signs of Life

It was Sunday Brunch, I got back from Mass and was starving from skipping breakfast. I dreamt up a glorious garden vegetable bacon Swiss omelet. Yes, I'm often lead by the baser appetites of all things food.

I came home and found three hungry baby birds peeping for their lunch.

I dove into the kitchen making everyone eggs and bacon while making Andrew and I omelets.  I ran and rushed and was octo-mom serving juice, handing out napkins and plates and forks and buttering toast....then juice spilled, Avila screamed, and the kids need salt and pepper, and my omelet is cold.

Gritting my teeth...I just wanted a hot breakfast, the thought of just one uninterrupted meal in peace brushed over me.

I laugh now, I can't believe those reactions went through my head. Did I forget that I am a mother of three?

Imaginations on Display
How I wish I heard what was going on here.

It was a piece of selfishness that hasn't died yet. I guess for each mother, there are those pieces that cause us to loose sight of the beauty and grace of the NOW. For some it's sickness, or a no nap day, or a stubborn child.

I can get so caught up in trying to solve the problem or avoid the issue that days or weeks could go by and I couldn't see past the end of my nose.

I could wake up and they are grown and out of the house and would I really care about a quiet meal? I'm sure it will be all too quiet then.

A friend mentioned to me over the weekend when we were talking about our weddings and said, "Someone gave me the best advice for my wedding day, 'Don't get so caught up in the details of your wedding that you don't remember what your husband's face looks like when you walk down the isle."

I think that's a good philosophy for life. I don't want to fret about things that do not matter, for I do not want to forget these faces and these wonderful times. 

I'm sure graces of getting to confession the day before and Mass that morning helped me to "see".

I needed to see things in a more supernatural perspective, to stop and take a bird's eye view.  I looked across the table into their little faces, and realized I was so lucky to be sitting there with them at breakfast. To have the presence of mind to ask them what they wanted to do that day and did they like big Sunday breakfasts, to BE with them, and enjoy them.

I thought about the story of Ann, loosing her 2 year old sister who got hit by a car and the grief their family experienced. We were praying for another Ann whose newlywed husband went into a coma and she is due with their first born in three weeks.

What if I were to loose one of them, I would embrace their screams and their smiles and nothing would matter. I don't know what God has in store for me, but I do have today.

Here we were as a whole family, healthy, and alive. They are 5 and 4 and 1, and perfectly little. Our family life is in its wonderful small beginnings. Days right now are simple and predictable.

I proceeded to thank God for my cold omelet, because that cold omelet meant I had healthy, screaming, clumsy children in my home....a home full of peace, but not quiet, and joy and LIFE.

Well I know what I'm doing...

In light of everything, I am reminded of my serious responsibility to be holy as God wants me to be holy and help my children desire Heaven more than anything the world has to offer (or not offer).

I realize it is not in my control, they will have free will and one day will decide for themselves to love God and be faithful Catholics or not, but I have the duty to show them truth, show them the beauty of God and living honestly and sincerly for Him. That I can and must do.

I  can pray and sacrifice for them now, because at the end of life, that is really all that matters, our love for God. My greatest hope and aspiration for them is to make it to Heaven. This effort on my part, is first and foremost, before God, what I will be held accountable for.

In the face of much moral relativism and lack of conviction, with God's grace, we go ahead with more vigour, more energy, more courage.

Part of this responsibility has concretely come in the form of doing this: Total Consecration To Mary. I've been thinking about doing this for years. Finally, our parish is doing it and handed out these books.
The reflections each day are rivoting. It is for Andrew and I, our children, and future children. I have tremendous peace placing them in her hands, as she will lead them to God.

And speaking of the little saints ;) here they are in the making...I think they succeed in giving little gifts of sacrifice and trial to their mother more so at the moment.



 I'll be a saint or a psycho...but a least they are cute ;)

That Parent and The Adjustment Bureau

We had Parent Orientation the other week. I was soooo the "First Time Parent" getting to the classroom early, gleefully looking around at everything in the classroom and wanting to sign up for every possible volunteer opportunity. While everyone other parent modestly signed up for one activity, I restrained myself to sign up for only three. Any questions? I had 63. I went so far as to suggest to the teacher that she video the kids for a day so we can see them in action. Wow...did I really suggest that? And the thing about it is...I knew I was "that parent" the whole time, I just couldn't help myself.

How Are We Adjusting?

Here at the Adjustment Bureau we have tried to correct certain issues such as this:

I was telling Nicholas to get ready for school the next day and Christiana welled up in tears and cried, "I don't want Nicholas to go to Kindewgawten."
and then sporadically throughout the day, " I miss Nicholas".

(I guess her paint sets have lost their luster.)

With this....

                                         Making and Eating Sweets....

 

 

 Wearing Nicholas' clothes (Nicholas kindly offered her his tshirt, shorts, socks and old shoes to wear and they were both so proud of the ensemble)

Bake Bread in your Underware - Highly Theraputic

So I promised these grand things, like going to the library, baking chocolate chips (cookies), and play dates and a whole host of other things. But surprisingly she is really good about entertaining herself and keeping content.

 

Avila's doesn't seem to mind Nicholas being gone, she busily resorts to her morning reads...

 

Fridge Raids...(I looked at this picture and then cleaned out my fridge...wow)



 

And Trying on Everyone's Shoes...

 

Oh the places those stubby hobbit feet wonder. I do bathe her every once in a while. 

 

Lately we have been able to sport this little sprout. 

In Other News....
We received a generous portion of onions from a local farmer and Andrew was giddy with excitement because we would be saving money. I love this man. He took the initiative to peel, chop and bag all 99 of them, watering our eye balls out and all....

Please note his glee...

Just a few more photos of her sprout, the fat that gathers over her knees, kankles, and a squatting position that makes me grit my teeth with her chub drooping over.

I could look at those legs all day...well I do really.


We are appreciating our adventures and exploring with new crafts and cooking projects. It has been so fun having these two girls at home! They are not without their squabbles and screams and there is more play food and dolls laying around than trains and tractors. And so our little life goes on...