Prayers, Please

I've been remiss for not posting this prayer request before. We have a friend in Ohio whose little girl is very, very sick. Kelsey has been at Children's Hospital in Columbus for a week and a half. They did try sending her home, only for her to have to be brought back by ambulance! Please pray that they figure out what is wrong so they can help her. At the last update she was stable, but there is still no diagnosis. She has received her First Sacraments (Reconciliation, Communion, and Confirmation) as well as the Anointing of the Sick. Her mom says this has helped, but I can only imagine the stress this is for them. Keep Kelsey and her family in your prayers!

And another prayer request, this one for us. We are expecting our seventh child! If all goes well, Baby is due in September. God must have decided it was a good idea to bless us again, and I am very happy about it. I don't want anybody to worry, but prayers for a healthy pregnancy and birth would be most welcome!

We'll be leaving later today to bring Chuck home. Daddy coming home always puts everybody in a celebratory mood. If I don't post anything for a while again, you will know we are busy being a family.

God bless!

Many Parts, One Body

I was really struck by the second reading for today's Mass. Particularly the following passage:

"the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable"

When threatened, we naturally protect the most vulnerable parts of our body. St. Paul seems to be telling us that in a similar way, God has designed the Body of Christ so that the weakest members should be offered the most protection.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. Since this decision, there have been more than 47,317,840 surgical abortions peformed in the United States. Figure courtesy of Priests for Life. The Guttmacher Institute, which works closely with Planned Parenthood (now there's a misnomer) reports statistics that appear to be similar if not exactly the same. That number is so big it threatens to become meaningless. To break it down, that would be an average of more than 1,391,701 abortions a year-more than 158 an hour.

The tragedy of innocent life lost is terrible enough to consider, but we also must keep in mind the mothers, fathers, and families of these babies. I once heard it said that a woman chooses an abortion the same way a trapped fox chooses to chew off her foot. As a matter of fact, women who have had abortions will often say they thought they had no choice. Ministries to post-abortive women are increasing, and programs like Raechel's Vineyard and Silent No More are reaching out to offer healing for mothers (and fathers!) who lost their babies to abortion.

It is time for us, as a people, to consider the state of affairs when pregnant women so often feel their only recourse is to destroy their unborn child. We have to be brutally honest with ourselves and ask how we have participated in what John Paul the Great named the culture of death. Surely the innocent blood of these little ones cries out for vengeance.

May God bless and protect all the weakest members of His Body, and may He grant us His mercy.

Kids Say...

The older children would like to learn to knit, so we picked up some knitting needles and yarn at the thrift store this afternoon. Robert asked, "Did you find any left-handed ones?" Poor child! As a south-paw he's so used to things being more difficult!



Tonight I was trying to explain to Daniel what is meant by an "examination of conscience". I said, "we take a quiet minute to think about our actions and try to see them as God sees them." He thought about that for a second. He said, "Kinda like this one time we were driving in the van and I was looking out the window and thinking about things and I thought about a room full of people and they were all doing flips and I almost really could see them all doing flips, kinda like that." Ummmm... Yeah. Just like that.


And, finally, here is a picture of our kitties that Raechel took. She was really proud of this picture, so I promised to put it up.



God bless!

Quiet Days

The kids and I have been taking care of business at home; spending time with the sheep and generally enjoying these beautiful winter days. I've been pouring over gardening catalogs, chicken catalogs, and the new Lehman's catalog. My Encyclopedia of Country Living is getting a good workout, too! There are too many ideas in my head, and they are constantly buzzing around in there. I compare chicken breeds while cooking dinner and plan the garden while fetching fire wood. Last night I actually dreamed about planning a quilt. I probably came up with a fantastic design, only to forget it when the alarm went off!

Now, as I type, Thomas is dozing off in my lap and it is time to start getting ready for evening. I am so very thankful for these cold, quiet days.

God bless!

Made it home...

Visibility was terrible, and the roads were pretty slick in some areas, but we made it home okay. Actually, the drive was without incident until we were just about five miles from home and had to slow down behind a logger truck laboring up a hill. Losing momentum lead to a loss of traction, and I admit I was a little worried for a minute. But, I never lost control and here we are, thank God and St. Christopher!

Now that we are back home and settled in (with no plans to go anywhere for a while) I am glad we are getting some snow. I could do without the wind (15-20mph from the west) but it sure is pretty to watch.

God bless!

Vacation is over...

Chuck's time off has come to an end, and we have to take him back to the airport today. I am so thankful for these 3 weeks, and only wish it could have been longer!

It is really windy and cold today. Please pray for safe travel for Chuck, and for us to make it home after dropping him off!

God bless!

Introducing our Sheep!

Our sheep are home! Introducing, from left to right: our ram, Pops, and the two ewes, Cocoa and Sugar. They seem to be settling in pretty well, and they survived their first night in their new home without getting eaten by wolves! Yeah! I guess we are officially on our way toward homesteading. It is pretty thrilling for this city gal.



When retrieving the above picture from my digital camera I came across the following masterpiece of photography. I call it "When You Give a Kid a Camera".




This may look somewhat familiar to those who participate at the Home n' Stead forum. We haven't been able to identify the owner of this particularly adorable (and thankfully clean) nose, but I have my suspicions. I also suspect Mommy needs to be more careful with her camera!


God bless!

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Five years ago, Raechel came very close to getting a baby brother for her birthday. We were still more than a week from his due date, but he was considerate enough to come just a bit early. He was the first of our babies to be "caught" by his daddy; this despite the fact that he was the last of ours (so far, God willing) to be born at a hospital. That just goes to show there are still a few OB's out there that understand they should have a supporting role in the delivery room. Today, please offer prayers for Jo-Jo; that God will bless him with health in the coming year, and that his Guardian Angel will be quick enough to keep him safe and sound!

On the birthday menu today is pizza, breadsticks, salad, and a chocolate chip cookie cake. My sourdough is really getting a work-out the last few days! Everybody agreed that Raechel's cake was yummy. Well, okay... the words they actually used were "different" and "interesting", but I know they meant yummy! My mistake was using the sourdough as a base, rather than as a levening. I'm glad I get another chance to try another cake today.

God bless!

Happy Birthday, Raechel!

We are celebrating Raechel's 10th birthday today. Double-digits! For her birthday breakfast I made apple fritters (fried sourdough bread with diced apple and cinnamon, glazed with a small amount of honey). She requested chicken and mashed potatoes for her birthday dinner, and for dessert a chocolate cake with vanilla icing. I just love celebrating birthdays! Please take a minute to say a prayer for her continued health and growth in the coming year. I'll wait...

We are five days into the new year, and I haven't royally messed up any of my resolutions so far. I consider that quite the accomplishment. Ha! My friend Gwen asked about my plan for breaking my sugar addiction. My plan is rock-solid and brilliant in simplicity! I'm going to (this is good).... STOP EATING IT! Seriously, my first step has been to accept that I do, indeed, have a serious problem with sugar; that I am, in fact, a glutton when it comes to junk food, and that gluttony is a spiritual problem as well as a physical one. At one point, I was eating some kind of junk food pretty much all day, and the only liquid to pass my lips would be soda. That is way beyond a "craving" and into the realm of full-blown addiction. Step one has been to banish denial. The rest really is as simple as maintaining an awareness of what I am feeding my body. To give myself a jump start, I intend to do one or two master cleanses this year. I will also fast once a week in reparation. That is deceptively easy to say, but I fully expect it will be difficult to do. Which is why I am relying on my ultimate weapon- prayer.

So, after all that you're probably wondering what kind of chocolate cake I will be making. I plan on using the sourdough starter as a base, and honey for sweetener. I will try to pay attention to how I make it, and share the recipe if it is worth sharing.

God bless!

My Resolutions

For the last two days I've seriously considered whether or not I should post my resolutions for this year. I have finally decided to go ahead and do it. I think doing so will give some accountability, but mostly I'm pretty sure there is no way I can keep track of a piece of paper for a whole year. I have developed a practice of dividing my resolutions into categories (spiritual, physical, and practical) and limiting myself to one or two within each category. So, for my self-motivation, and your amusement, here are my resolutions for 2007:

Spiritual- to pray the 15 Prayers of St. Bridget every night. The 15 Prayers are very beautiful meditations on the Passion of Jesus that carry special promises. It is one of those things I've been "meaning to do" for a long time now.

Physical- to renounce my addiction to sugar. This has been an off-again, on-again battle for me ever since my eyes were first opened to the damage this substance has done to me, and will do to the children. Now I have a plan, and I have confidence that I can accomplish this goal.

Practical- to make a quilt for our bed; to establish our homestead, raise most of our own produce next summer, and find at least two ways to supplement our income from the homestead. Making a quilt isn't exactly earth-shattering, but it is something that my perfectionism prevented me from accomplishing last year.

May we all resolve to serve God better, and may He bless even our smallest efforts!

God bless!

Happy New Year

For all our family and friends I wish a peaceful New Year filled with hope and joy! Our new year began with the Divine Mercy Chaplet prayed as a family. Then we tucked in overly-tired little ones and collapsed ourselves. The traditional New Year's party, Catholic family syle!

We also observe the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on this day. I dedicate our family members and the coming year to Mary Immaculate. May she intercede for all of us and see us safely to heaven.

Tomorrow the work of keeping those new year's resolutions will begin; today we rest and enjoy the holiday.

God bless!