Happy birthday, America!

At a time when we celebrate what it was that our country's founders fought for and desired to protect us from when they created the First Amendment, we are reminded that we must stand united to keep it.  Freedom cannot exist without morality and morality cannot exist without religion.  If we lose our rights to practice our religion, we are no longer free.  Here are some questions I found that make it simple. 

1. The Catholic Church teaches that human life is sacred and holy.  Does the Catholic Church have the right to practice and promote this belief:  Yes or No?

2. The Catholic Church teaches that at the moment of conception God endows each of us with an immortal and divine soul, creating a sacred and holy human life.  Does the Catholic Church have the right to practice and promote this belief:  Yes or No?

3. The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is immoral and wrong because it terminates a sacred and holy human life.  Does the Catholic Church have the right to practice and promote this belief:  Yes or No?

4. Does the federal government have the authority to mandate that the Catholic Church pay for an abortion:  Yes or No?

5. Does the federal government have the authority to prosecute or punish the Catholic Church for refusing to comply with a federal mandate that violates the principles and tenets of its faith:  Yes or No?

Whether you agree with abortion or not, we need to understand what's at stake if this chain of leaders continues to control our nation. "In God We Trust" & "God bless America" - He's been a part of our freedom & country's growth, let's not forget Him now when it's at stake.

Sup?!?

Have you been wondering, "Hey! Wassup Myhre family?  How come no postings??"  Well short of a list of excuses, Momma has just plain been busy. 

Although the Principal has the "summer's off", we should know better that it wouldn't keep him still.  Along with a slightly longer list of things to do as a newly ordained deacon, he's once again playing baseball for the local amateur baseball team.  No, he did not retire.  In fact, we decided that we could make it work for him to also coach and manage the team.  They are doing fairly well, and you can follow their progress on their website, www.ballcharts.com/minneotamudhens. 

And to not leave the kids out, he decided that being a co-coordinator for the Summer Recreation activities for the city would be "fun".  And it certainly has been, but it has also been go-go-go most of the time.  It wouldn't necessarily be that hard, but when you have a crabby toddler that needs a nap and a baby that doesn't like being hot, it makes games, practices and trips to the pool a little more complicated.  So, for me, keeping up with my busy family is becoming a task I'm trying to acclimate to.  For the most part I think I'm failing miserably.  I might get the hang of it by the end of July...

I was thinking that summer is a time that most look forward to for rest and time with the family to do fun things.  So far, we've had plenty to do, but not necessarily the rest we thought we'd get.  Maybe when we leave town for the weekend...

There's a song for this one...

Just when I need Him, the Lord speaks to me through His Word.  Today's gospel reading was precisely the one from which I named my blog.  I am hit with the revelation...I have lost my "saltiness".  I'm not exactly sure what's happened and I haven't asked Him yet what I should do to get it back, but I know that in my heart I am not fully joyful in all the things I should be, but I am delighting in the fact that God is good & when I need to hear from Him, He speaks to me loud and clear.  This song just popped into my head as I wrote that.

Night owl

I've always been, for the most part, a night owl.  It's been working fairly well for me anyways because Jason is an early bird and he is usually up when the kids start their day and he lets me sleep in later, especially when we have a baby and I am up several times a night.

Well, I've begun to think that this old owl may need to change her ways if I am going to get any alone time.  Now that we are officially in summer mode & our kids are getting older AND many of Jason's baseball games don't begin until 7:30pm, it seems that bedtime has gotten to be much later.  Not only that, they are starting to sleep in a little longer.  One day a couple of them actually slept until 8am!  So it got me thinking one morning at 5 when I couldn't shut my brain off enough to sleep, that this may very well be my future schedule if I am going to get in any productive "me time".  Unfortunately, my body is not as enthusiastic about it.  I still have a tendency to stay up way past the time that Jason usually dozes off on the couch which would be a time that would allow me enough sleep.  Also considering that Noah doesn't sleep through the night and Ian tends to find his way into our bed, I am finding myself much more tired than a few years ago.  Chalk it up to age or just the fact that we're quite outnumbered now & it seems that the need is constant.

As I consider the change to follow the "early to bed, early to rise" motto, I also think into the very near future as I think about curfews and whether one of us will be able to still keep up with the schedules of teenagers.  By the time I get used to getting to bed early, I'll have to think about staying up late again.

We did it!

You know it's been too long since your last posting when you realize they've changed the format of your blog since you've been on it last...

In any case, I am finally posting about our wonderful, whirlwind of a weekend 3 weeks ago.  We survived and what a grace-filled weekend it was!

Jason's ordination was a beautiful experience!  It reminded us so much of our wedding day, but this time it was more about God and our life with Him as our guide.  We were able to slow ourselves down and just take in all the day had to offer.  Here are a few pictures, as well as the link to the New Ulm Diocese website where there are more pictures. 

Laney's First Communion just added to the weekend.  She looked so pretty and really enjoyed having a day to celebrate her own accomplishment in receiving the Sacrament of Communion.  How wonderful to have 2 kids now able to partake in the "active" parts of the sacraments in the Church!

 As you can guess, we were quite exhausted after the weekend.  We started on Friday night and it was pretty much one thing after another until Sunday afternoon.  I ended up losing my voice by Saturday night and it didn't come back for about a week!  Maybe it was God's way of gracing me with the inability to raise my voice at anyone after ordination. 

 

Ian finally came to a crash landing at the end & settled down to get some well needed R & R.

Happy Anniversary!

Fourteen years ago I married my best friend in the very church we now live across the street from. In 3 days, we will take part in another important event that will hopefully bless our marriage and our relationship even more...his ordination to the permanent diaconate. Thank you to everyone who has been with us on our journey and for all of your thoughts & prayers. We are so blessed to have such amazing moments in our lives & I can say that most of mine include my spouse. Jason, thank you for making my life so much more interesting than what I could have ever imagined for myself and for loving me no matter what.

What's up??

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! It's been quite a month for us and amidst all the "regular" stuff that we have going on (and coming up) we've had some surprising bumps along the road.

To start off the news, on March 23rd, I got a call just as I was crawling into bed, from my brother who had just found out that our dad had passed away suddenly in his home. We attempted to get some sleep that night and headed right up to be with my family the next morning. It's been a difficult thing to experience and process but my faith in the promise of heaven and an eternal life free from suffering helps to comfort me. I think the hardest part is watching family go through the pain of loss and also the feelings of being overwhelmed with all of the things that need to be done when a parent passes away.

The funeral was very nice as well as the graveside service in which the North Dakota Honor Guard was there to provide a military service. I was honored to receive an American flag in Dad's honor of his service in Vietnam.

Here is the online obituary address: http://www.boulgerfuneralhome.com/obits/obit.php?id=3063
This is a picture I took of him and the kids at our last visit after Christmas. He was very happy.



So if that wasn't enough of an ordeal, not much more than a week later, I got a call that my grandpa on my mom's side had passed away. It was now Easter weekend and we were not sure when we would be heading back up to see family. His funeral ended up being only 13 days after my Dad's. Ironic enough the timing of their passings, not to mention that they both served in the military. So when Ian saw them unfolding the flag again, he asked us, "Where are the guns?" He remembered the 21-gun salute, but this time we were inside the church. (The guns happened to be right outside the door, so he got to hear them again.) Lastly, with all of those things being similar, they also shared a birthday. That date will be painful to come across this year.

Here's Grandpa's obituary: http://www.westfuneralhome.com/obituaries.aspx?turl=http://hosting-25016.tributes.com/show/earl-powers-93553976

Thank you so much to all of our friends and family that have been SO supportive, helpful and understanding during this time. Your kind thoughts and persistent prayers have made this month so much more bearable. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers as we work to move forward and take on responsibilities that require us to be strong. At times I know your prayers are helping me to keep "the father of lies" from getting a full grip on my nerves and convincing me that there's no way I can handle all of this and that is which to come for our family. I pray for the grace to persevere in prayer and look to our Good and Gracious God who strengthens me and keeps me hopeful in His promises of love and protection.

"My grace is all you need: for My power is strongest when you are weak." 2 Cor 12:9