Too Busy to write so heres....

BLAZE!

Thought you might like an update on him... photo wise that is. This is he - safely out of the way while the children harvested the Easter Tree.





And here he is entertaining himself with a leaf since we were so mean and would not let him tear the eggs off the Easter tree...

Look forward to a few pictorial essays this week as I will be too busy to actually write posts. We have been ill and when Mama ends up in bed for a day or two everyone knows the disaster that that wrecks upon a home, let alone let it happen as a HOLIDAY approaches. Like the tide, holidays wait upon no man - they come whether you are ready or not!

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HE IS RISEN

The tomb is empty and our hearts are full!

IGNORE Read more!

On Good Friday...

... Jesus descended to the dead. He is not to be found in the tabernacle of our churches... tonight during the Easter Vigil - He will rise again. Are you ready for Him to reign in your heart?


(Picture credit - Bethany Rose, 10 yrs)

IGNORE

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Where did Jesus pass Holy Thursday night ...

... after he was dragged from the garden to before the high priest? According to one priest, whom I heard speaking on EWTN, we should read psalm 88 to find this answer as Jesus was apparently dumped into a cistern to be kept under guard until morning:

Psalm 88

1 O LORD, the God who saves me,
day and night I cry out before you.

² May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

³ For my soul is full of trouble
and my life draws near the grave.

⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like a man without strength.

⁵ I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.

⁷ Your wrath lies heavily upon me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
Selah

⁸ You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;

⁹ my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, O LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.

¹⁰ Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?
Selah

¹¹ Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction ?

¹² Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

¹³ But I cry to you for help, O LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.

¹⁴ Why, O LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?

¹⁵ From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death;
I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.

¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.

¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.

¹⁸ You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
the darkness is my closest friend.

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Easter Vigil...

We made it to the Easter Vigil with all of the family save one - Amanda, who is in Ireland right now. Thankfully, despite the crowded conditions of our pew, only one child singed his bangs - just as I took the youngest to the bathroom. Luckily Miguel caught sight of the poof of Nathaniel's bangs and clapped his hand over his forehead in time to keep any serious damage from happening.

Otherwise, it was a very peaceful event, at least it was when Elsa and Emma were not "discussing" whose crayon was whose as they coloured pictures of the Divine Chaplet I had brought with me.

As we got home from Saint Michaels, a 90 minute drive for us, at about quarter of one (A.M.) the Easter Angles were a little tardy with putting out the gifts and chocolate bunnies. While I failed to get pictures of the table - I did get photos of some of the results of the sidewalk chalk they got. I will post them later - as a slide show on the side bar. Read more!

Better late than never... is my motto!

Remember our Easter tree last year? Well this year, with the sudden deep freeze that hit us - there were little flowers left and the zero temps (32 f) made it rather chilly for the angels who were bringing the tree back to life. The little ones still enjoyed devouring the chocolate eggs hanging from it, regardless how limp the flowers became or how lopesided the tree was.

But there were many beautiful moments caught on tape and I have finally taken the time to share some of them with you.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. And yes! I will try to change the poll soon!!

GOD Bless Read more!

Easter finale

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Whazsup with us???

It is almost Easter and our Lent, as usual, has been eventful and full of stress. However, as the temperature rises, the flowers begin to bloom, our dogwoods become laden with blossoms and the grass grows greener by the day it has struck me more than ever the wonder of Easter blending with spring.

It is so appropriate that as we throw off the shadows of winter and welcome the warming rays of the spring sun so too are we emerging from the long days of Lent and entering into the wondrous celebration of Easter.

Given the long bout of illness that our family has suffered from since mid December, it feels as though our family, as a whole, is emerging like a butterfly from its cocoon. As Easter draws closer we are gaining in strength and energy and I feel hopeful that when Easter Sunday dawns we will be almost, if not completely, healthy. All except my 20 year old son, who is continuing to take heart medication in slowly increasing doses. It is hoped that these meds will increase the strength of his heart until we can begin to reverse the process and begin to wean him off these meds leaving him with a fully functioning heart.

I would like to ask people to join their prayers with ours for the success of this treatment.

We, as a family have been working on many goals. Both my husband and I began a lifestyle change in regards to our diet and exercise. As a result my husband is only a few pounds short of his target weight and looking very buff. I am ten pounds closer to where I want to be and fitting into clothes I could not wear since the birth of my beautiful Elsa who turns two this month.

We really believe that this new year in the church is also going to coincide with big changes in our life. The past year with all the suffering, challenges and difficulties that we have faced have taught us much, made us stronger and also given us a humility that comes with self knowledge.

If things go as well as we are planing, and praying for, than I will soon be able to turn more of my attention to writing again, including the blog here as well as my movie and book review blog.
So stay tuned... and in the meantime, I pray that you and your families have a prayer filled, joyful and peaceful Holy Week and Easter.

GOD BLESS
Christi aka mum2twelve Read more!

Happy Easter to All of you!

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An explanation...

I don't beleive I explained the tradition of our Easter tree very well. Typically on Good Friday at three o'clock we plant our dead tree, usually in the front yard. And there it sits all weekend until the Easter Vigil, a symbol that reminds us all of Christ's death.

This tradition started shortly after Teddy's birth when I found myself with eight children and pregnant with the ninth and too tired to deal with five children, 8 and under, at the 3 o'clock stations of the Cross. Yet I wanted the day to be special for the children and not just be a holiday. It was Amanda, as I mentioned in the previous post, who told me about the tree. She found it in a book of Easter traditions, if I remember correctly. There were some prayers originally that we said as we prepared the tree. I need to see if I can find them again as I have a new crew that would appreciate them. So for many years while the older children went to the Stations of the Cross the younger ones and I planted our Easter Tree.

And yes - the tree above IS the resurrection of the tree below. And BTW, you can click on any of the photos on the blog and they will open up into a bigger picture.

(PS - if I have missed any glaring type os - please forgive me - I am running on about 3 hours of sleep!) Read more!

Better Late Than Never!

Each year, we plant a dead tree which comes to live Easter Sunday. This was a lovely tradition that my oldest daughter, Amanda, is responsible for. I greatly missed her the first year she was not here to see the tree come to life. Check for pictures of our Easter Tree on Easter Monday. I might have the pics up Easter Sunday, but that is doubtful! Read more!