I Am the New Year

I am the new year. I am an unspoiled page in your book of time. I am your next chance at the art of living. I am your opportunity to practice what you have learned about life during the last twelve months.

All that you sought and didn't find is hidden in me, waiting for you to search it but with more determination. All the good that you tried for and didn't achieve is mine to grant when you have fewer conflicting desires. All that you dreamed but didn't dare to do, all that you hoped but did not will, all the faith that you claimed but did not have-these slumber lightly, waiting to be awakened by the touch of a strong purpose.

I am your opportunity to renew your allegiance to Him who said, "Behold, I make all things new."

--Unknown

Sledding; Looking forward, and back

We decided it was the perfect day to go sledding; steady snow fall, temperatures hovering right around freezing, and almost no wind. We hiked back to our "sledding hill", and had a great time, for the most part. This isn't the greatest picture, but it was the best out of the digital ones I took today.




There are only two days left of 2006 now. I am personally a firm believer in New Year's resolutions. I am all too aware of how much I need to improve myself, and I think that from a psychological point of view habits are easier to start and/or break at the beginning of another year. I've been thinking a lot about what my 2007 resolutions will be, and in the meantime I am also thinking back over 2006. It was such an amazing year for us. We've come to the conclusion that it was far too good to be bad, but almost too bad to be good. In reality, even our sufferings should be counted as blessings, but how hard it sometimes is to feel that way! However, I believe that this year has brought us another year closer to our goals as a family, and closer to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother. That is certainly something to be grateful for, as well as something to strive for in the coming year.

God bless!

Merry Christmas

All of our family and friends are in our prayers every day, but I especially pray for grace to pour down on you all during this holy Christmas season.

Today is the feast of St. John the Beloved, and it is also the second day of Christmas. As the pastor at one of our former parishes used to say, "Don't you dare throw out the tree the day after Christmas like the pagans do!" A single holiday weekend can't possibly be adequate to contemplate the mystery of the Word made Flesh. And so I offer the following prayer.

Today, in my own private way, I want to join in the message that the angels sang: 'Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to people of goodwill'. I am happy that you, Christ, were born for me and for all humankind. I'd like my life to reflect your peace and your goodwill. I'd love to be fully aware of the meaning of the mystery of your birth on earth. You are the true light that enlightens all. All that comes into the world has light through you. Every living thing has life through you, the Light that shines in the dark; the Light which the powers of darkness cannot overcome. You came to your people, who did not accept you. But to those who did accept you, you gave them power to become children of God. I am one of those children. I accepted you in baptism. I need your help to remain one of your faithful followers and to relish all the days of my life the full meaning of this tremendous phrase: 'The Word became flesh and lived among us'. Amen.

God bless!

All Is Well

I haven't been at the computer much the last few days. Chuck is home for the holidays, we picked him up Sunday, and being with the family is so much more satisfying. It makes me really long to have him home with us all the time, and hopefully we will be inspired to work harder and pray more to make that happen soon.

I've been looking forward all month to the first White Christmas that I've seen since I was a kid. I'm starting to wonder if that will happen. There is very little snow on the ground- a few dirty mounds formed by shovel or plow, but lots of bare patches of grass (still green!) showing through. Today is supposed to get up to 45, and there is very little snow in the forecast for the next week. I suppose it is fortunate to have a mild winter our first year here.

God bless you all!

A Busy Week

We have had such a fun and busy time this week. The big news is that we are now the proud owners of three Icelandic sheep! We had them delivered to our friends' place until we can get some fence installed. They are beautiful sheep, and I'll be sure to share pictures and introductions once they are here. (In the meantime, here is a LINK to some info on this breed if you are curious.)

But the best news is that we will be picking Chuck up at the airport and bringing him home for the holidays. He deserves a vacation after working so hard for so long! We are praying for safe flight and good driving weather. It is fortunate that this winter has been extremely mild. There is hardly any snow on the ground right now, and the temperatures have been cold but not extreme, and certainly not the below-zero temperatures I had expected to have this time of year. I am thankful for that.

Tomorrow is Gaudete Sunday. A day to "rejoice" because Our Lord's coming draws near and, indeed, He is already among us. I have been fighting feelings of sadness the last week or so. I am sorry that rather than celebrating our daughter's first Christmas, we are celebrating our first Christmas without her. Chuck's grandpa passed away this year, too, and I do wish we could be with Grandma. Life is so strange; so much pain and grief and beauty and joy. This is indeed a "valley of tears" and yet this season gives us the opportunity to become like little children and see the world with eyes full of wonder and hope. I am especially praying for everyone who is suffering with the loss of a loved one this season; I pray that God will fill the emptiness and heal the pain. And may He fill our hearts with joy.

God bless!

Time Flies

If time flies when you're having fun, we must be having a wonderful time! I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post.

The sad thing is, I can't exactly account for what we've done with the last few days. School lessons, mealtimes (and cleaning up afterwards), playing in the snow, moving firewood from one place to another... Somehow these few activities just about fill up our day. I simply have to get more organized, and this is a never-ending battle. Am I gonna be a FlyBaby or a crybaby? At least I can say that we are constantly improving, little by little.

I pray that we all have a blessed second week of Advent. Come, Lord Jesus! God bless!

Good Saint Anthony

"Good Saint Anthony, rally round; something's lost that must be found."

Our homestead is named in honor of St. Anthony of Padua, a man from a wealthy background who gave up family and a comfortable life in favor of becoming a Franciscan priest and missionary. He is known as "the Miracle Worker", and popular belief says that he was graced with visits from the Christ Child. I am blessed to feel his presence in our lives.

Since we are constantly losing things, I found myself praying to St. Anthony quite often. I am not always praying to find whatever-it-is so much as praying that my frustration would be calmed and I wouldn't do or say anything I'd regret. Usually it works, although I never did recover an anniversary band that disappeared off the kitchen counter back in Alabama. That's okay, Brother Anthony; I don't hold it against you!

So St. Anthony and I were already friendly when, back in April, a solicitation from a Catholic organization placed his medal and a novena prayer in our mail box. At the time we were praying and hoping to be able to move over the summer. Chuck's situation at work was on the verge of unbearable, and his stress affected us all. We were, in a word, miserable. I began the novena that very day and wore the medal throughout, praying that St. Anthony would help us find our way. We felt that we were truly lost.

A few days after the novena ended, a way for us to move to the UP was opened. As certain arrangments fell into place we decided we would move in mid-June. I thought that Tuesday would be the best day; we would be able to attend Mass and rest on Sunday, pick up the U-Haul and pack on Monday, and leave early Tuesday. That schedule would also get us to Michigan before the next weekend, and our first Sunday there would be Father's Day. Without consulting a calendar I presented this plan to Chuck, and he agreed that it seemed perfect. Imagine how we felt to discover that the move date we had selected- the Tuesday in the middle of June- was the feast day of St. Anthony! We were (and still are!) very grateful that God sent us this bit of confirmation.

For my birthday this November (the big three-oh) Chuck bought me a St. Anthony relic locket from the Cukierski Family Apostolate. Inside this locket is a very small piece of grey felt that has been touched to the first-class relics of St. Anthony. One Sunday, I noticed that the locket had come open, and the relic was missing! Oh, I was so sad that I had lost it, and really dreading having to tell Chuck it was gone. The children and I looked everywhere in the house, but I didn't really hope to find it. Still, I said a prayer to St. Anthony, hoping that it had dropped in a place where it would rest safely. Later in the afternoon the kids and I were sweeping out the garage. Daniel was using the dustpan and a little broom when he cried out "There it is!" And surely enough, he had found my little tiny relic (which is now secured in the locket with a bit of thread). That isn't exactly miraculous, I know. But it still makes me believe that St. Anthony is with us in a special way.

St. Anthony, pray for us!

God bless!

My New Obsession

I am beginning to understand why folks in the north are obsessed with the weather. This is true despite the fact that the weather forecast is pretty monotonous. A chance of snow showers. A slight chance of snow showers. Snow showers likely. Snow flurries today turning to good-luck-finding-the-mailbox by midnight. You get the idea. So if it starts to seem that all I talk about is the snow, you will just have to try to understand that I can’t help it. This is all new to me.

We had a really good day today. After a morning of working around the house and doing lessons, we spent a good deal of the afternoon outside. Our driveway was plowed this morning, but we still had some clearing to do. After shoveling for about 15 minutes I had to take off my coat and hat. The sun was beating down (for a while, at least) and it was almost 20 degrees; much too “warm” for full winter attire.

When I put the kids to bed just about an hour ago the sky was cloudy, but not so much that we couldn’t see the full moon rising from the east-facing upstairs window. Just now I thought that I would step outside, but when I flipped on the porch light (I’m in the habit of always turning on the light to take a look before I step out- in the country you never know what creature might be on your doorstep!) snow was coming down hard and thick. Already it has become difficult to distinguish where we shoveled and where we didn’t. It is just as amazing to me as it is beautiful.

God bless!

Happy New Year!

No, this greeting isn't premature; today is the first day of a new church year. This is my favorite time to make resolutions of a spiritual nature. Mine for this year is to really commit to praying a family rosary every night. This is something we've tried to do for about four years now, but we haven't been consistent. I would never send the kids to bed without dinner, or without their bedime routine. Skipping bedtime prayers should be just as unthinkable, and many promises are attached to the faithful recitation of the family rosary.

We have been getting a lot of snow here, but it is a gentle snow. I hope this gives some reassurance to our family in Tulsa. They were hit by a pretty serious ice/snow storm this week. I have never seen such a nice, light, and fluffy snow. It is like goose down falling from the sky. I would guess we have about 8 inches, but that is just a guess. I may already be picking up the Yooper tendancy toward exaggeration of the snow.

I also want to take a chance to wish my little neice and god-daughter a Happy Birthday tomorrow! We love you and will be keeping you in our hearts on your special day!

God bless!

Last-Minute Advent

I hate shopping, and neither am I a crafty person, so I can’t really say I go “all out” for the Christmas season. I do, however, love the simple traditions of Advent. This Christmas in our first home will be a very special one, and I am looking forward to waiting and preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ with the children. Advent truly is as meaningful and fun as Christmas; what a pity more people don’t take time to experience it.

That does not mean, however, that I have carefully prepared for the season of Advent. Oh, no. Those of you who knew me as a child (precious, wasn’t I!) will probably not be surprised by the following statement. I am a terrible procrastinator. Actually, I like to think I work well under last-minute pressure.

The box of decorations has been sitting on a shelf in the garage since the move. I first remembered the Sunday before Thanksgiving that Advent would be starting soon and I needed to check and see if I had any candles. I remembered again last Sunday and even went so far as to move the box from the shelf to the floor of the garage. But since I didn’t have a knife handy, I couldn’t cut the tape. And so I forgot about it until today.

Naturally, when I opened the box today (by just ripping the tape off, of course) I discovered (gasp!) we have no advent candles. I felt a little like I did back in 7th grade when there were two days until the science fair- the one that was worth 25% of the semester grade- and I still hadn’t even told Mom I needed a large sheet of posterboard and five seedlings at various stages of development. That slightly sick “better figure something out” feeling is the pressure I work oh-so-well under.

I’m hoping that the church office will be selling candles. Or if not, just maybe I can find the proper candles at one of the three shopping places in town. However I’m pretty sure that by Sunday afternoon I will be at the computer putting in an emergency order for candles. Perhaps I better order several years’ worth. With any luck, given the reliability of the mail system this time of year, I might get my candles before the Feast of the Presentation. In the meantime, I could do what we did three years ago (the lack of Advent candles is definitely a trend) and make “candles” out of construction paper. We could, that is, if we had any construction paper. I've been meaning to stock up on that, too.

And don’t even get me started on why we have no nativity set…

You can tell (hopefully!) that I am seeing the humor in this. I am so glad I can laugh about these little things. Nothing has to be perfect except my sincere intentions and faithful perseverance. What we are lacking in advent candles and Christmas statuary, I hope we will make up for by presenting our hearts as a warm resting place for Joseph, Mary, and the Infant Jesus. May the Prince of Peace reign in all our hearts as we prepare to celebrate His birth!

God bless!