Will & Grace

No, not the TV sitcom, silly! The spiritual Will of God & His beautiful, infinite Grace that we so not deserveth. (Now I'm being silly...) Here's a little quote I received in an e-mail. I think it sums up now how much we trust in God & His will for us.

"The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you."

We know the bad stuff happens, and eventually will happen, but we hope that we will continue to trust in His ultimate plan for us. God bless!

(Oh, if you're wondering what the slideshow is, it's one of my favorite scenes that never gets old and always calms me down...sunsets. They're one of God's many artistic masterpieces.)

It's video time!

The weekend before last we went up to the Twin Cities to attend the wedding of Jason's cousin, Lisa, & her new groom, Ted. It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony, held in the exquisite chapel at the University of St. Thomas. It was great to see a couple in such love with God as with each other. The kids had a blast & we all danced the afternoon away. That's right, afternoon! The wedding was at 11am with festivities following. With 4 kids under 7, it was actually nice to have them worn out by 5 o'clock so we could drive back home to be in bed by 9. (Here's a picture Fr. Jeremy would like...we thought of him when we saw the sign & thought it would make a good backdrop.)

AJ's breakdancing moves...

Faith (and cousin Elena) doin' the hokey pokey

*Laney & Faith - "Chicken dance"

*(Well, that was supposed to be another video, but we are having technical difficulties. Man, those things take a long time to download! Maybe I'm doing something wrong...)

Killing time...

Not much new here...we're just trying to stay cool in the 90 degree weather with high humidity. Today wasn't quite as humid, just what I call "Arizona hot". It's dry heat (they say), but your skin still feels like it's going to start on fire when you're in the sun.

When we lived in Arizona for a few months during their "winter" season, I worked at a 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital. Even though it was fairly mild at that time of the year, there were still some days it got plenty hot. I had left a pen on the dashboard after work one night and when I went to get it the next day (after it had spent all day there) I realized there was something weird with it. The plastic had softened and my pen was now bent from the extreme heat. It looks as if it was made that way. It's kind of neat. I had never seen that happen before & I actually still have that pen.

Is there a point to this story? Not really. I just wanted to post something & I can't put up any pictures yet because something is fishy with my computer wanting to communicate with my new camera. So in order to get pictures on here, I need to download them onto the laptop, save them onto a thumbdrive and then transfer them over to this computer. I have no idea why this computer won't download the software, and Jason borrowed out all the thumbdrives, so until we get them back, you'll just have to imagine the kids.

Ian is now 19 weeks old and weighs 17 pounds and is 25 inches long. Faith is becoming quite expressive & is breaking out of her shell. Laney has 2 new teeth in the front and is doing really well at swimming underwater. AJ can't be busy enough. If he's not on a bike, he has to be swimming, fishing, playing with the neighbors or at Father Jeremy's, or asking what he can do so he's not so bored.

It's a bird, it's a plane...

No, it's a BAT! Mass as usual has it's high points and today I sensed a certain warmth and spirit within the congregation. Then, during the closing prayer, a bat entered the church from the sacristy & made it's little way around the front of the church flying around and freaking many of us out.

Father shared his previous bat experience with us & hurried his recessional down the aisle while the poor lector tried to make the week's announcements very short. Just about the time we were supposed to sing the closing hymn, the little bugger dropped below the hard deck and buzzed the legs of one unsuspecting pew of parishoners. It was like watching a cartoon as one by one they popped up a little and squealed.

As it barely cleared my head, I thought, "Hit it!" and much to everyone's relief, someone thought of it as well, and whose reflexes were much quicker than mine. With song book in hand, Mr. Hennen brought the flying mouse to it's demise.

Even with the threat of attack vanquished, we still left the church minus the recessional hymn. Nothing like a wild animal in the church to bring out some humor and bond the body of the congregation together.

Ten reasons why we love living in town...

1. Church is right across the street (makes daily Mass a snap).
2. One of the parks is across the street. (No need to buy a swing set!)
3. A.J. will be close to school...guess how far? Across the street!
4. Laney & Faith are 3 blocks from school.
5. We can walk up to the pool (and the stores, post office, restaurant, etc.)
6. 20 minutes to mow the lawn (compared to 3 hours)
7. Great neighbors (we had great ones before too, but now the kids have lots of little friends to keep them busy, as well as Father Jeremy to bug when he's home.)
8. Closer to relatives (makes rock-picking trips easier for Grandpa.)
9. Easier trip to Marshall (more shopping! ;))
10. And as a (God-willing) future deacon, did I mention that Church is right across the street?!

With all of that, and more, we really DO love our new house and living in town. It has freed up so much time for us...now that we're finally settling in...and we are getting our time to do the things that mean so much to us. Thanks to all that helped us get here & praise God for blessing us with this opportunity & making it happen!

They really ARE listening!

The sweet sound of a little one playing in the "toy room" and singing. Even better is when it's one of your favorite songs from church. Faith was belting out the refrain from "I am the Bread of Life" this morning & it just melted our hearts. I was glad Jason witnessed it before he was off to work. Definitely a joy of being at home all day!

Well said Father Thomas...

Today we liturgically celebrate the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Here are some parts of Father Thomas' homily, which thanks to his notes he passes out, makes it easy to remember as well as understand. (Fr. Thomas is originally from India so some words are difficult to make out, which I really find out when I follow along with his notes. He is visiting for the summer.)

"We refer to this event as the Lord's Supper, or the Last Supper, or Holy Communion, or the Eucharist. It is one of the most solemn and significant acts we do as Christians. That is true partly because of the way it ties us to Jesus and helps us experience the meaning of his death for us."
"...it represents participation with Jesus in what he went through. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks, a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? (1 Cor 10:16) Through Communion we identify with Jesus. We are identified with him in his death and his resurrection. When we identify with Jesus by faith, we die at the cross. Our old, sinful nature is put to death, and we receive new life here and now."

The celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship. May we all as Christians be drawn closer to each other and begin to dispel the sad divisions which separate us...in keeping with Christ's prayer for us "that they may all be one" (John 17:21) (Today's Missal, USCC)