2007

January- Our family grew by three sheep and a baby on the way. Raechel turned 10 and Joseph turned 5.
February- Thomas turned 3.
March- An emergency trip to Tulsa turned into a nice, although expensive and somewhat stressful, visit.
April- I received a perfect check-up from Karen, my midwife. I finally cleaned out the van after our road trip.
May- Of three lambs born from our two ewes, only one survived.
June- We celebrated our first year living in the U.P.
July- Chuck was out of town for Independence Day, Hope's birthday, and our anniversary. It was not a good month.
August- I did very little this month other than count down the days until September and pray that the guys would hurry and finish our roof.
September- Finally, our little Mary Mae was born and Chuck spent almost the whole month at home.
October- Daniel turned 8 and I was on my "babymoon".
November- We had our first snow of the year, and I celebrated my 31st birthday.
December- It was a beautiful Advent and Christmas.

May God grant each of us His peace and blessings in the new year!

What did I just say?

Here are a few things I actually said to one or more of the children today....

"Why is there tape on the baby's forehead?"

"Who got spaghetti on the top of the fridge?"

"Don't put your nose in the baby's mouth!"

"If you guys let me do my exercise, we can all have a brownie when I'm done!"

Memories of Christmas Past

2000: 2001:

2003:

2004:

2005:

Merry Christmas, 2007!

May the Christ Child be welcomed into your hearts and homes this holy day, and may He bless you and your loved ones with His peace and joy!

Merry Christmas from our family!

Christmas Eve!

Today you will know the Lord is coming; and in the morning you will see His glory. (Invitatory Antiphon for Dec. 24, Liturgy of the Hours)

We have kept a good advent vigil, and now it is Christmas Eve! The waiting is almost over, and it is time to prepare for the celebration! We cut our tree yesterday and left it to dry until we could decorate it today. This is what it looked like before we got started. The children made the snowflakes in the background last weekend.

First we put the angel on top. We bought this angel from the dollar store for our first Christmas together, in 1995. She has held up amazingly well all these years!

Each year we get a new family ornament. This year's ornament came as a "thank you" from one of the charities we've supported. It depicts the Holy Family.

We received this ornament as a gift last year; a precious reminder that our daughter is still a part of our family, and her memory is included in our celebrations! She would have been almost 18 months old this Christmas.

All the ornaments from years past are hung. The lights are there, too, although we will not light the tree until after vigil Mass tonight. This year the tree is not as "bottom heavy" as it usually is, now that the older kids can reach up higher! I already miss the days when all the ornaments ended up hung at toddler height!

This is actually the first good picture I've gotten of all the children since Mary was born!

I pray that all of you will have a safe and peaceful Christmas! God bless!

Surprise! Daddy's Home!

One of our Christmas surprises came a few days early.

Chuck's plane came in the middle of the night Friday night/Saturday morning. So, in all honesty, we told the children that he would be home on Saturday. Naturally they assumed we meant Saturday afternoon or evening, and thankfully they didn't ask! Chuck made it home safe and sound (despite missing one plane and being re-routed to Dallas)!

Saturday morning I got up as usual, and shortly all the children were up. I told them it was time for morning prayers, and just as we're getting settled around the wood-stove, in walks Daddy! There was just a moment of stunned silence, then poor Robert burst into tears and all the children started bouncing and talking excitedly! (I was reminded so much of the book Little Women when the girls' father came home and surprised them, and little dignified Amy tripped and wept at his feet.) It was probably the best surprise of the year for them!

So, my prayer of thanksgiving is that we are all together as we should be, and getting ready to celebrate the birth of Christ and the beginning of a new year dedicated to His service. And welcome home again, Sweetie!

Random Pictures

I thought I'd share a few pictures from this week. First we have a snowman wearing Raechel's hat and scarf. Robert took the second picture; he thought Mary looked like a mermaid!

Finally, when I went to bed on Wednesday night this is what I found. I suppose this is what they call the "family bed". Where do I sleep? See that wee bitty empty space to the left of Mary? Yep, that's it. :-)

A Quick Update

The beginning of this week flew by, didn't it? It looks as if Chuck will be flying home on Saturday, although that's never official until he has the flight confirmed. It could be earlier; I refuse to think it might be later. That's cutting it close enough! But, once he is here he should be getting a nice long break! Well, as much of a break as he can get when he's got me, the children, and a list of household repairs and chores to catch up on!

Oh, and by the way children, looking around in my room and in the closet won't do you a bit of good. Your Christmas presents are not hidden there!

God bless!

Gaudete!

Rejoice in the Lord always; I say again: Rejoice! The Lord is close at hand!

Three candles are lit this week. The pink of the third Advent candle reminds us of the joy we feel at preparing to welcome our Savior into our hearts and homes as we celebrate His Incarnation and birth!

With our morning and evening prayer, we are now singing three verses of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!" which the children consider quite a treat.

Yes, I am getting just a bit excited. By the end of this week we should be welcoming Chuck home for a long (and much needed) holiday. We will be cleaning and decluttering our home this week, to make room for decorating next weekend. But soon the work of preparation will be over and the time to celebrate will be upon us! Rejoice! Gaudete! Come, Lord Jesus!

The secret to good blogging....

... is simply to put the occasional gratuitous cutsie baby picture for your visitors to enjoy.

God bless!

Immaculate Mary

Peace to all on this beautiful feast of Our Blessed Mother! What a wonderful weekend it is, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Second Sunday of Advent!

I would like to share this link to a beautiful homily on the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Fox's blog is one of my favorites!

I felt that God really spoke to me at Mass this evening. Yesterday was a difficult day; the little boys were uncooperative, we were running late for church, and I was feeling seriously burned out. Today was better. Thankfully it is rare for us to have two bad days in a row! The first reading, from Isaiah (see here), filled me with a sense of peace and hope. Naturally, that makes me realize our little daughter is up there praying for us!

Mothering is so overwhelming at times. Yesterday I felt like I don't have what it takes to do a good job. Then this passage, from this Sunday's second reading, got me to thinking: "Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (from Romans, chapter 15) Today our Lord gave me encouragement in the Scripture and in the Mass; He reminded me that His grace is sufficient, and I need to have endurance. He also assures me that the end result will be peace in our family as a result of us "thinking in harmony" and glorifying God with one voice.

So whether or not I "have what it takes" I will continue to try to do what He asks me to do. And I'll let Him handle the rest!

We have been (mostly) enjoying some beautiful winter weather. It has snowed almost every day for over a week, and the piles are growing! I'm getting reacquainted with the fine art of driving Bertha on snowy roads and maneuvering her between snow banks in and out of the driveway. Very fortunately for me, our neighbor has a cute little Japanese truck with a plow, and he's been very reliable for helping clear the area in front of the garage where the county's big plows can't go. And all he gets in return is the occasional homemade dessert! But, as he says, "That's what neighbors are for." It is wonderful living in a small town!

God bless!