Unfailing

There are some things that I've noticed as a wife and mother that are unfailing...at least in our house. 

- Nothing but water gets spilled on the floor until right after you've washed or shampooed it.  After that, juice, milk, bowls of food and anything else sticky or gooey that can go down will, but only after you have spent all morning cleaning it in the first place.  Or, someone decides that their shoes are "clean", even though it's been raining and the sidewalk is wet & muddy, and they decide to walk across the clean floors.

- Nobody likes their toys until they're put away and their rooms or toy room is clean.  Then everything is interesting again until it's a mess all over and at that point everyone is too tired to clean up again.

- An opened package of Oreos or Doritos will disappear in one night in our house (unless I hide them!)

- No matter how many clothes I fold, put away and hang up, when someone does their own, everything is in the drawer backwards & upside down and hung up in the opposite direction.  (At least they're putting their own stuff away, I guess!)

- "The sink is constantly full and the fridge and cupboards are filled with nothing to eat!"

- When you buy thicker toilet paper by accident, the kids are bound to have opportunities to use the plunger without asking for assistance, and that's not usually a good thing.

Now on with the true beauty of what unfailing is in our lives...that God's mercy, grace, goodness, and love for us is always and unconditionally UNFAILING.  No matter what we've done or haven't done, no matter how many times we screw up, He's there to pick us up and hold us in His loving embrace.  He shows us His love in ways that we may never understand, but all we have to do is remember why we celebrate this weekend and what true unfailing love did for us all and what it means for us as we go about our lives.  So, amidst all of the arguing in our world today, may we turn our hearts and minds toward what we are called to do in love for one another and sacrifice for the good of others in order to build up the example of what Christ's unfailing love did for us.  Have a great Holy Week & Blessed Easter!

Teen Talk Retreat

For the past 6 or so years, I have been blessed to be a part of a youth ministry that Father Jeremy started and calls "Teen Talk".  It's a night once a week where teenagers from 9th grade and up can come to talk about their week...their highs, their lows, and where God is in the middle and bring up any other things that come up.  It has changed a little over the years because of the fact that the kids grow up and move on and new ones come in, but the reason we're there is the same...to provide an environment where teens can talk about their lives and the wisdom and love of God is incorporated into that.  Many of them can get this at home, but not all do, but no matter where they are in their journey with God, they know that each week, they can experience it with their peers.

 

This year I was able to attend the 2nd annual retreat.  It was at the beautiful, serene, grace-filled retreat center of Broom Tree in Irene, SD.  Despite the cold & wet weather, we made the best of it all and it turned out to be an awesome weekend spiritually.

 

We did Morning Prayer each day in the chapel...a mile-long walk.  After getting muddy a few times and braving the wind and cold, we decided to drive them back and forth after it rained all day.  (I am glad I took this picture on the first day!  I missed a beautiful sunrise picture the next morning though!)

 

Since it rained all day, we had to move our "campfire" indoors.  Quite the ingenuity on Sister Maris Stella's part!  (Oh, yeah, there were 2 Handmaids and 2 postulants there to guide the weekend.)

 

I missed another opportunity to get a picture with everyone in it.  We had 14 teens, Father, Jeanne & myself, and the 4 Handmaids in attendance.  Missing from the picture are 3 that had to leave early for DYC (Diocesan Youth Council).

It was truly a gift from God that He called me to be on this retreat with this group.  It's certainly not an easy task for a SAHM of 5 (with one who is still nursing) to be away for 3-1/2 days, but He made it work so I could be a part of this wonderful experience that was so much more than I could ever explain in one blog post.  Praise Him & the Blessed Mother for answered prayers!

 



Holy Orders

That's what the Church calls the vocations of deacons, priests, and bishops and is one of the 7 Sacraments instituted by Christ.  This is how it's played a part in our lives recently.

Jason's 1st family baptism - Seth & Teresa's baby, Charles Leo

 

Father Jeremy, Bishop LeVoir, Father Craig & Deacon Jason

together at Confirmation Mass

 

One of Ian's birthday gifts...

now he can play "Father Ian"

 

Ian playing Mass with Jeanne Beanie & Noah

 

"Woman" - in Ian's world

The word brings up different responses to many.  Some find it empowering, while others find it degrading.  In cases that come to mind for me, the expression, "Woman!" addressed that she was either in trouble or being annoying.  I don't mind it, but I heard Jason tell the kids it was derogatory.  Here are 2 sitations in our family where being a woman was just cute.

Jason was holding Ian in his arms, looking into his eyes and talking with him.  I was sitting next to them.
Ian:  "I love you, Daddy!"
Jason:  "I love you, too, Buddy!  Can you tell Mommy we love her,too?" 
             Pauses.  Still looking at Ian, but talking to me:  "And that you're the most beautiful woman in the world."
Ian: (puzzled) "Dad...Why did you call me a woman?"

The next day, I overheard Ian and Faith playing "pretend".  I missed most of the conversation, but what I did hear was Ian saying,  "I want to be Barbie!"

After I heard that, I thought I better ask why he was excited to choose to be Barbie.  (In his defense, his choices were to be Barbie or the mean girl.  They were watching a movie about it earlier.)  Before you judge the movie, it has a good lesson on values and forgiveness...plus it's giving Ian something to play that relates to his sisters without him fighting with them.

Four-letter words

Since we've had kids, our use of certain four-letter words have pretty much disappeared from our vocabulary compared to our college years and early years of marriage.  I'm not saying anything bad about people who use those words, I've just found that if I slip out a word that I don't want to hear my kids say back to me, I usually only have myself to blame.  So, it's become more of a habit to just not use those words.  What I have found, though, is that I have some new things in life that have brought challenges and those just happen to be words with four letters.  So here are my "four-letter words":

-SNOW - when you have kids, it's a more welcomed event as opposed to them playing outside in the mud.  It's not so much a fun thing, though, when you have to shovel it when it's windy and 20 below zero. 

-APPT. - OK, I know that's not an actual word, but on my calendar, it's become a growing & constant entry.  When you have a family of 7 who needs to get in doctor, eye, dentist, and chiropractor appointments, it seems to consume a fair amount of time.  I am grateful that we have the opportunity and option to give our family proper health care.  Plus, now is probably the best time of year to do it all and have an excuse to get out and get some fresh air.

-WEAN - I think it gets harder with each one!  True to his beginning of entering into our lives, Noah continues to go about everything at his own pace regardless of the desires of anyone else.  He is certainly one answer to prayers about being patient.  Last night was his first night without Mommy at his beck and call.  I don't know who it was harder on yet, but let's just say that there wasn't much sleeping going on in our house last night!

-BUSY - I really don't know where the time goes but I think that I'm finally learning to manage it better, although it seems that it's ever-changing just as the seasons are.  Tapping into the kids' overabundance of energy to accomplish some things around the house has proven to be, at times, uplifting.  It's not always an easy task, but finally figuring out what drives each one certainly helps.

-LENT - A time of the year when I used to grumble at the "opportunity" to deprive myself of things considered enjoyable.  Now I'm trying to see it as a time to draw myself closer to our Lord and incorporate practices into our family life in an attempt to give zealously more direction towards a life centered around God.  A time to honestly take a deeper look inside at the dark places and open the door to allow the light of His constant love shine on them.

May your time before the celebration of Easter be a sacrificial and fruitful experience!

Birthday boy

Yesterday was Ian's 4th birthday.  We went to Mass where he got a handmade gift from Jeanne & I can't wait to show you the picture of him in it!  Then his godfather wanted to take him out for birthday pancakes, so we went to Perkins.  They made a bear-shaped pancake topped with chocolate chips, sprinkles & whipped cream.  He loaded on some syrup but all he ate was the whipped cream and some of my fruit dipped in his coffee, which he now calls "fruit coffee".  Father gave him a football and football jersey and he's been wearing it ever since.

He even helped make his cake...jello cake, which he again only ate the whipped topping off of.  He was so excited when he got to have 4 candles in his cake & got to blow them out by himself.  Happy birthday, Ian!!

A walk in the clouds

During Christmas break, (yes, I know that was a month ago!), we took the kids to the Children's Museum in Brookings, SD.  It was my first time there & I think I enjoyed looking at all of the fun stuff just as much as they did!  What a wonderful little museum.  Small enough that parents of small children don't have to worry too much that they will lose track of their kids, but large enough to keep us all busy for a good 4 hours.  Here they could farm, "work" in a grocery store, hide in little buildings and let their imaginations & energy run wild. 

 

Chef Ian prepares "lunch" for Noah & Daddy

 

 



 

Budding percussionist

 

 

I think they spent the most time here...climbing up to the sky on "the clouds"