3 o'clock Confessions...

CONFESSIONS: It is a little after three pm (EST) and we have only managed to pack four items. But in our defense - it is so humid that the tape machine is sticking, the paper is tearing when we write on it, the boxes are limp and not wanting to accept any kind of tape. So given that no matter how grateful I was/am feeling for blessings of other sorts - I was starting to grumble... quite a bit and finally decided for the sanity of everyone it was time to call it quits. This job is difficult enough but add 70 % humidity to a temp of 27 - you feel like it is 29 celcius (or 89 f). SO I am off to the air conditioned living room, where I can relax with a cup of tea and count my blessings while sitting on the couch.... like a lazy cat who feels like a queen! Read more!

Lord Have Mercy!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171646,00.html

Thousands are thought to have died in Asia as a result of a 7.6 earthquake!

Lord have mercy on their souls, as well as on the living as they now gather their dead and the injured. May God be with them as they try to put their lives back together after having them torn asunder in the blink of an eye! Read more!

This is how I feel right now – a bit like a lazy cat enthroned on the couch like a Queen. However, I am afraid I do not have that luxury today! When I am finished this post, I must away to my duties which today means… packing… again!

However, despite the drudgery of this task – I must try to do it with gratitude. There is always a reason to feel gratitude – if we try hard enough. Last night my two oldest boys narrowly missed being involved in a 40 car pile up because, instead of being on the road at that moment, they were here, at home, pacing and waiting for the Doctor’s office to call and confirm that Miguel’s asthma meds had been called into our pharmacy. Despite having called the office at 9 am, we had still not heard back by the appointed time of departure – 3 pm.

As patiently as any young adult with things to do and places to be, they asked me again; ‘When DO you think they will call???’

Finally we got the okay and they rumbled out of here, put puting down the drive in our rusted antiquated 1988 Blue Chevy ah – van? A discard from the army that has definitely seen better days, it is a mix between a delivery van and a box truck and really is quite funny looking. With no radio, no a/c and a leaking roof and a heavy diesel engine it was going to make for a long and tiring three hour drive to Belmont where they had plans to met up with some of Jonathan’s college friends and their sister to go see a movie and spend the weekend. Never the less, they were happy to have four wheels that were going to get them where they wanted to be.

They had only made it as far as the pharmacy, when we had to call them and tell them to turn around and come back as there was a 40 car pile up on the 85, causing the closure of six of its eight lanes. Four of which were the ones heading south… to Belmont.

Feeling pretty down in the mouth they turned around and came home. It is amazing, though, how sometimes the very irritation that kept us from leaving on time for a road trip also kept us out of harms way. I cannot help but think that is our guardian angels at work on those occaisions.

Later in the evening, after we had finished the indoor barbeque we had in honour of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, it was time for prayers. Following the Rosary, Miguel suggested that each of us think of just one thing, no matter how small, that we were grateful for today.

Here is what we were grateful for:

Miguel 18: For Gabriela cooking such nice burgers for our feast dinner.
Anna 12: That Noah made the special drink in the blender for me today.
Noah 10: For our lovely dinner tonight.
Gabriela 14: For finding what I needed to buy on eBay today. (a rosary for a friend)
Bethany 7: For praying the Rosary with my family and our nice dinner.
Teddy 8: For such a wonderful day.
Jonathan 20: That the house is nice and tidy.
Daddy: That our boys were not involved in the accident and might have been, had they left on time.
Mummy: For getting to go out for coffee with Daddy this morning, and for the rain that we so badly needed.

Okay, so Bethany and I cheated and said two things, but the truth is I was, and am, feeling very grateful for a lot of things. So – even though I do not want to go out to the humid and stuffy packing shed to pack – I will. And I will try to remember all that I am grateful for as I pack… and pack… and pack…. And I will try not to grumble – too much.

Credit: The picture of the adorable cat on the couch is from Sister Pat’s Franciscan Cards website

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Finished! Read more!

WE'RE FINISHED!

Tomorrow I will post a picture of the completed Rosary. It was begun on July 4th. It took us much longer than 59 days to cover each bead, but we did it! There were many nights we actually prayed the Rosary, but forgot to cover the corresponding bead, and in the beginning there were a number of nights we were so tired by the end of the day that we skipped our Rosary.

But we plugged on, and here we are - ready to plan our trip to the zoo. A little hitch though. A few children had indicated that they are missing their second oldest sister at Belmont college and have hinted that they would rather spend the gas money to go see her, than go to the zoo. I am sure that if I polled them all, the answer would be unanimous - visit Jenny.

So - I got on the phone, and asked her if she would like... to go to the Zoo? She would! So in two weeks, God willing, we will all meet at the Zoo and visit the monkey, zebras and lions together. What fun it will be. Already Hugo is teasing the kids that they need to wear name tags informing the keepers of the following:

"Please do not shoot me with a tranquilizer. I might look like a monkey BUT I am NOT!"

They are also wishing they could see their sister in Boston. Hmmm, maybe another goal for a Rosary Poster? Read more!

"Oh ye of little faith..."

"Last Friday we learned some news that simply devastated us. While not entirely stripped of all hope - our business's future did not look very optimistic. The bank did not completely slam the door in our face, but left it open by just a sliver.

I stared at that small sliver of hope and tried with all my might to see it expand into an actual positive outcome. But so many times in the past, the door has slowly swelled completely and irrevocably shut. When my husband first came home and told me the news my heart just fell with a thud into the bottom of my stomach. I went upstairs to my room, kicked the laundry basket and cried.

My two oldest sons tried hard to put a good spin on it. While I was grateful to them - I also felt irritated, after all I am the parent. Aren't I the one supposed to be providing direction? My husband was very quiet, but also tried to be optimistic and accepting of the situation.

I wrote a few close friends and begged for their prayers for us. It was such a struggle, the temptation to despair was so strong and pulling me down. But I was determined not to give in. I grabbed a hold of that sliver of hope and prayed, and prayed, and prayed. 'Mary - help me not to give up. Mary - pray for me that I have the strength and grace to accept the final answer, whatever it is.' I also implored the Infant of Prague to whom we have been building a devotion to, and were in the middle of a novena to.

Monday the bank called.... the answer was not good, but again - was not a complete no. There was still hope. It depended on the new manager.

tick tick tick....

Wednesday, today, I worked hard out in the packing shed, with shed being almost more accurate than packing to describe the building. If there is one thing we all agree about this business - it is that packing is the most disagreeable part of it. And the most disagreeable part of packing is trying to find the right sized box for the item you are selling. Rarely, we get in a number of like items that require the same sized box, and happily a size we just happen to have in abundance at that moment. But, as I said, that is rare.

This day - it seemed as though not one box matched one item we had to pack. My two daughters, 14 and 12, helped as much as possible while 4 of their brothers helped their dad and a friend work outside, trying to beat the rain as they moved heavy equipment and merchandise into already over stocked outbuildings.

My husband, while carrying an item that weighed about 30 plus pounds, stepped on a rusty nail and in the agony of that misstep, dropped that piece of equipment on the ankle of the other foot. He had to limp about the rest of the day, when not resting both feet. By 5:30, we had about 18 items packed, and I was still out in the shed going through paper work and feeding my grumbling tummy with chips and soda water.

As paper whirred out of the printer, I noticed a shadow hobble through the door as my husband stepped over the threshold. I turned around. My husband looked at me and said:
"The bank just called." I sucked in my breath silently.

"They said yes."

I fairly danced a jig, and I think if Hugo had not been feeling so crippled with his injuries, he would have too.

And tonight Jonathan, our 20 yr old son, was reading a sermon from St Alphonsus Liguori to me and one of the quotes St Alphonsus used was: "Oh ye of little faith, why did you doubt?"(Matthew 14: 31) and it spoke so loudly to me. I am not just grateful for the positive answer, but that for the first time in a long time, I did not completely give up, and give in to despair. I was so tempted to.

Thank You, Jesus, for prayers answered and Thank You, Mary, for prayers made." Read more!

We spent Sunday visiting our daughter Jenny at college this weekend. We had a really great time, and after church, we met the priest who had celebrated Mass. Each of the children had the opportunity to introduce themselves. Some of the youngest ones received big hugs – much to their delight.

When Noah, our ten year had his turn, he was treated to a little known fact about his namesake. Father told him that Noah was the greatest financier of the Old Testament. Apparently he was floating his stock while everyone else was in liquidation.

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It is better to be the child of God than king of the whole world. Saint Aloysius Gonzaga Read more!

The Blessings of praying as a family...

Back in June of this summer I began to ask Mary to pray for me that I would find an inspiring way to help us pray as a family regularly. Several years ago - something like 14, we had begun the practice of praying the Rosary nightly. It was not long before we felt the benefits in our family life. More peace, more order as well as a sense of well being simply because we were praying as a family, almost every night of the week.

Then about 18 months after we had begun this wonderful routine, we had our sixth baby, moved, and my husband's hours changed at work adding more hours to a day we had just lengthened with a 90 minute commute. In short, evening prayer fell apart as I coped with being a mother who felt as though she were single so rare was the time my husband now had to spend with us. And even then, his hours were spent trying to finish off the basement so that we could enjoy the views of the lake, as a family, while basking in front of the ancient wood stove that smoked down there diligently trying to heat the three stories above it. The 5 ft high windows, on either side, framed the lake and maple trees through their wide panes. The following summers, his spare hours were spent building and repairing outbuildings for the animals on our growing 5 acre hobby farm.

Meanwhile our prayer life remained in neutral and our wheels, as a family, began to spin. Then my husband discovered Opus Dei and I truly could feel the blessings of his time spent in prayer and learning with this very holy society. After many months of his weekly hours of recollection I found that I would notice a lessening of graces that seemed to flow from God through Hugo to me on the occasions he could not attend Opus Dei. I wonder sometimes what kind of graces our family could have obtained had I been less stubborn about the necessity of Hugo being present so we could pray the rosary as a family.

Months turned into years and we were transferred to the US. We sold our animals, and put our little house on the lake up for sale. Nortel paid for our belongings to be packed up and we were moved lock, stock and barrel to NC in January of 1997. A new beginning like that would have been an ideal time for us to start new habits such as praying daily again as a family. Instead, we discovered that once again hours at work were such that my husband could not even continue with Opus Dei, nor daily Mass. Or at least we convinced ourselves of this. We began a long journey into the dessert, but just were not aware yet that that was where we were. We did make an attempt to sponsor a weekly Rosary on Sundays at our house with some of the members of our new Parish. Yet, the will required to make prayer a part of our daily routine still eluded me. The years marched on solidly, children grew and more lovely babies joined our family, some in quick succession.

Our oldest children, now teens, joined a local youth group and while some of them began to pray the rosary daily, as a family, we remained in the dessert unaware of how badly we were thirsting for the graces that come from daily prayer.

God decided to jolt us awake from our slumber in June of 2002. My husband lost his job and I was pregnant with our eleventh child. Thus began our journey with Job, but without his saintly patience. We were more of the attitude of his neighbours and wife. What had we done to offend God? What terrible sin had we committed?

Terrible health problems ensued, attacking especially my husband. Despite great pain, poor health and lack of medical care, my husband pushed on working un-godly hours, building a business in hopes of keeping a roof over our heads and food on our plates, never mind diapers on the bottoms of our babes! Did I yet clue in to the need to start praying as a family? No - I succumbed to bouts of depression and fear. Marilla, of the Anne of Green Gables movie, puts it so well when Anne asks her "Have you never been in the depths of despair?" and she replies” No - to despair is to turn one’s back on God." Well - if that is so, than I gave my back to God as completely as one can, and indeed fell into the depths of despair. I have never felt more alone in my life, and could not wish that misery on my worst enemy.

Then to add to our sadness our eldest daughter went though an incredible crisis of faith and ultimately left the Church. Then this spring, when it was time to baptize our newest baby one of the siblings we asked to be a God parent told us that they did not think they could be a God parent as they too were having doubts about our faith. I was so crushed. Which brings me back to this June. I sat there on my bed in tears asking God, and Mary, what had we done wrong? We had taught both these children their faith so well, we had attended church faithfully… Both children had been so in love with their faith that they had both considered the possibility of a religious vocation. I was filled with fear - what of the other children? Would they too suffer in this way and stray from their faith - possibly never to return?

The answer came to me in one simple word.

Prayer.

I had failed my children by not praying for them daily. And I was continuing to fail them - daily. By not praying. I needed to pray for their faith, for their future vocations and for those who would be called to married life - I needed to pray for their future spouses. If only I had done this the past 12 years, perhaps some of this pain and suffering incurred by my beloved children could have been avoided.

Then and there, I determined not to fail them any more. So I began to pray for inspiration. I knew I was weak and would not pray daily alone. I needed to find a way to encourage all of us to pray, preferably the Rosary. I like praying the Rosary with the family as it is precise, easy to follow and something even the youngest child, who can lisp, can follow. Also - it is Mary's vocation to bring us to Christ and this is done so beautifully through the mediations of the Rosary.

Still – how to do this in a way that would inspire us and keep us on task. I suddenly thought of how we had first begun the habit of the daily family rosary when Gabriela was a baby, 14 years ago. I had drawn a huge rosary on some poster board and bought some flower stickers. For every night that we prayed, we applied on sticker on a bead. The reward for covering all the beads with flowers, or in other words, praying the Rosary as a family for 59 nights, was a trip to Madonna House which was nestled up in mountains of Ontario, in a little community called Combermere.

Each child also had his or her own rosary to fill during the same time that we filled the family rosary poster. If they felt they had prayed well, they were permitted a sticker for their rosary. Once their own rosary was complete they would be allowed to purchase a new rosary on our family trip to Madonna house. Eight to ten weeks later, we set off for Combermere – each of the four oldest chattering happily about what kind of Rosary they wanted, and of course, often punctuating this with “Are we almost there YET?”

Well – back in Canada we were only about three hours from Madonna House, but here in NC we were looking at a two day drive, one way. A lovely thought – but incredibly unrealistic. I could think of no other place similar to Madonna House that was close enough to spend only a day visiting. Then I thought of… the Zoo. Okay – it was not exactly a religious pilgrimage, but it would inspire the children and I knew we needed every ounce of inspiration we could get. I certainly needed it.

Not wanting to wait until I had time, and a car available, to buy poster board; I immediately tore a huge piece of white paper off a large roll that we have. I drew a large Rosary on it and on my first trip for groceries bought flower stickers. I was ready in a day or two, and after discussing it with my husband announced to the children our plans. I have posted a picture of our rosary poster so that you can see how we have been progressing.

Ideally we would be finished now, but we have missed the odd night and have actually forgotten several times to add our flowers to the beads on nights we have prayed. In less than two weeks we will have earned our trip to the Zoo. Mary has already provided the money for the gas – it arrived in a paper envelope the same week we started praying daily.

Best yet – I can actually feel the graces flowing once more. Life is still difficult and money often short. But the graces to bear these difficulties are there in greater abundance than ever before. And I feel so much better knowing Mary is praying with me daily for all of my children, their vocations and for their future spouses. Read more!

Our Rosary Poster

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This sister's love knows no bounds...

Thankfully Emma has responded to the antibiotic injections she received yesterday, and today the doctor was able to call in oral antibiotics, Nice pink gooey cherry flavoured liquid to be dispensed one and a half teaspoons at a time. Our pharmacist suggested following it up with a chaser - something chocolate maybe...

I strolled through the door laden with bags of groceries, with various chocolate treats hidden between the bananas and jugs of cranberry juice. Nonchalantly I announced to the room in general, I have Emma's yummy medicine. As I feared Emma crumpled to the floor, her happy dance at seeing me halting abruptly. A wail of dismay rose, "Nooooooooo! I don want yummy medatin. Noooooo!"

The others, sensing sheer disaster if we can not get her to take her pink goop - immediately all grouped around me. They began to clamour, one and all, “Oh Mummy! Can I have some of Emma’s medicine? Plleeeease?” They took turns chiming things like, “Oh it looks so yummy – Emma can I try it?” and “Oh look – it has YOUR name on it, Emma Louise!”

Emma was having none of it.

With screams of anger and fear she plugged her hands over her mouth. After her traumatic visit to the Doctors yesterday, complete with two very painful medical procedures as well as two injections, through which at times she cried to me, “Mummy, make them top! Make them top!” I understood perfectly. Still, just as I had to ignore her pitiful pleas yesterday, I had to ignore her cries now and hold her firmly in my arms and administer this foul medicine. Her Daddy heard her and came to help – his gentle and calm voice assuring her we needed to give her this stuff. The children all applauded her braveness as she swallowed mouthful after mouthful of what felt like a never ending dose.

She ignored this applause with an injured countenance, but cheered a little at the pretty smiley face stickers I had bought as a reward. Proudly bearing her badge of honour, she walked away to the living room sucking on her lolli pop thoughtfully. A moment later she returned to the kitchen where I was organizing the groceries, and cleaning of the fridge. With great regality and dignity she drew in a deep breath and announced:
“Tanny Paul tan have my medatin.”

Ah – the love of this sister knows no bounds! Read more!

Prayers please...

Please keep little Emma in your prayers. She is quite ill with a kidney infection. Thank you Jesus for antibiotics! Today she suffered greatly, and tomorrow may need more injections. Poor baby.

Blessings
mum2twelve Read more!

26th Sunday in ordinary time

Our Lord does not come down from Heaven every day to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely dearer to Him - the heaven of our souls, created in His Image, the living temples of the Adorable Trinity. St. Therese of Lisieux

Saint for the day: St Sergius (pope) Read more!

Emma, poor baby, is ill...

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Anna does not dissapoint!

Scroll down to the Mice, mice, mice everywhere post, and you will find the new cartoon to go with it. Thank you all for your patience! :-) Anna has been very busy helping us pack for the business while also keeping up with her school work, so I always appreciate it when she takes the time to draw something for my blog. Thanks Anna! Read more!

Ode to Shelia

Shelia has left, moved, died or been eaten. Whatever has happened - she is gone! The children have been speculating the past few days what happened to Shelia, Noah's "pet" spider. He and Teddy had been feeding her grasshoppers the past week, fattening her up it seems. Perhaps Shelia had an image problem and decided to move where the pickings were a little "more slim". At least the children got some awesome photos of her before she departed. A picture they say is worth a thousand words so here is our Ode to Shelia.

(Post script, in orginal posting, I got Shelia's name wrong but soon corrected!) Read more!

To give you some perspective, this is Shelia photographed with Noah, 10, as the backdrop! However, as Noah is further back, the spider looks slightly larger than she was. She was about the size of the large blue mark on Noah's old tee shirt.
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Comic update...

We have a mound of suitcases, diaper bags, wet laundry, dirty clothes, knap sacks and coolers to unpack, wash and put away. At some point during this task, Anna will get her comic drawn and I will post it. See you then!
Blessings
mum2twelve@yahoo.com Read more!

Highly trained pets...

We stayed at an amazing hotel on this business trip. It was set up as a complex with several units spread over a number of acres. I am sure I jogged off all the calories consumed during breakfast just by walking back to our room. None the less, it was a beautiful walk through palm grass bushes and under trees that we called "the jungle" that emerged into a small grassy plain.

It was at this point that we heard dogs barking, completly startling the children with me on this trek back from breakie. (I was NOT going to haul eight children to breakfast, on foot, up oodles of stairs so we did it in shifts - I told you I jogged all those calories off.)
I explained that this great hotel even allowed pets!
"Woah!", exclaimed Noah. He joked; "Hey, I could have brought Marzie (his chubby guinea pig) and let him run around here through the palm grass..."
I listened to him rattle on describing all the things Marzie would do, and finally said to him: "But if you let Marzie loose here - you would never see him again, he would run away!"
"Oh, I could only do this if he were a highly trained pet!"
To which Anna whispered to me as she once more grabbed Emma, almost three, and pulled her back onto the path; "I wish Emma was a highly trained pet!" I laughed as I sped up to catch up with this wild "pet" in hopes of getting her through the parking lot in one piece. "Yes! That would be great, wouldn't it?" I called back to Anna. Read more!

Mice, mice, mice everywhere!

We have been experiencing a mouse problem of epidemic proportions! So, sadly we have had to resort to... POISON!

Blegh! But - it's the mice - or us! We have been gradually losing turf to them. First it was the drawers so silverware was moved to the counter top, then under the sink we noticed mousie doo. Now we have to cover our plates in the cupboards. It's getting so we are almost afraid to eat without washing everything a second time!

Well, today I decided to check on the box of poison hidden in the back of the now empty silverware drawer. It was mid-day and because I was scheduled to go get groceries I had my contacts in so I could see to drive the ten blocks there. Good thing too. Because as I opened the drawer I disturbed a little grey demon - uh mouse, I mean. I don't know who was more startled, him or me. He certainly jumped the highest, which is what provoked my little scream of surprise. "A MOUSE!"
Emma, almost 3, and Tanny Paul, 5, came running. "Let me tee! let me tee!!!"
Said demon, err mouse, jumped again and I jumped too with another squeak! This startled my audience. If this creature could make mummy jump like that - then this was a monster indeed. Their eyes round, and hair almost on end they both proclaimed; "Ewww! I hate mite! Ewwww!! I cared of mite"

Nathaniel though, all boy, did ask to "Hee de mout" again. I told him; "Oh no, the mouse is gone. He went home!" I did not want him digging around in the drawers looking for it. I was worried he might get bitten, or worse, find the little box of nasty green poison. Teddy, almost nine, being "helpful" opened the bottom cupboard doors. "Oh! He is hiding behind the garbage bags - right there!"

"No, no he's NOT!" I firmly admonished him. "Get - scoot! All of you! The mouse is GONE!!"

Ten minutes later, having almost forgotten the mouse affair, I was settled at my desk trying to finish my grocery list, so I could eventually take those contacts out of my burning, tear streaming eyes. Emma suddenly appeared with a spray bottle of Tub and Tile bathroom cleanser in her little paw!

"Ewwww! I hate Mite! Let me tee the mite! I will kill with dis!" And she brandished her lethal bottle of all natural non-toxic cleanser!

Oh - I wish it was that easy! Just stalk through the house with a spray bottle in each hand calling the little mousies to me. Squirt! squirt! No more mice! Yes, that would be very nice indeed - wouldn't it?

PS - this coming Tuesday when we return from a business trip look for one of Anna's comics to be illustrating this story! She worked on one Saturday, but was unhappy with the proportions with one of his characters.

Saint Christopher pray for safety for us on the road! Read more!