The count down has begun...

All Hallows Eve may be just around the corner and Trunk or Treat, festivities planned by our parish might be in the throes of being organized, but my eight year old has her eyes set on a much bigger and more important date.

"72 days to Christmas!" She announced to me enthusiastically from her bathroom stall in Cracker Barrel where we had made our final food stop for the day as we drove back from Ohio.

"Aha", I replied and called back, "So, how many days to Advent?"

She didn't know and to be honest, neither did I. Well by my quick calculations I think it is about 53 days. The first Sunday in Advent will fall on the 26th of November. Danielle is obviously thinking along the same track as me as she has announced this blog on her website this week. I think I will mosy on over later today and check it out a little further. After all I have one child determined to keep my toes! I need to be ready!

Today it is 71 days to Christmas!

Read more!

And its off again...

We are heading to Maryland to see our oldest child. Only for a few hours but well worth the drive! Then we head to Ohio - should be a pretty drive if we are not too tired to enjoy it after driving all night tonight. After picking up merchandise in Ohio and enjoying a coffee at Tim Hortens, we head home.

Until then cheerio and prayers are most welcome! Read more!

Soul of Christ ...

Anima Christi
(Soul of Christ)

Soul of Christ, be my santification;
Body of Christ, be my salvation;
Blood of Christ, fill my veins;
Water of Christ's side, wash out all my stains;
Passion of Christ, my comfort be,
O good Jesus, listen to me.

In Your wounds I fain would hide,
Ne'er to be parted from your side.
Guard me should the foe assail me;
Call me when my life shall fail me;
Bid me come to You above,
With your Saints to sing your love,
World without end.
Amen

(Cardinal Newman's Translation)

Read more!

Elsa...

Your little snub nose was completely predictable but your fiery dislike of nap time was not.
The tiny wispy curls on the nape of your neck, highlighted with burnished gold hinted at the delightful auburn red curls that now adorn your head.
But I could not determine if your eyes would be deep brown, or twinkly blue. Still, I am un-sure what colour they will be; as bright and dark as they are.
That you would be a tease was not apparent in your angelic expression in the precious ,and all too short, newborn weeks.
Never would have I guessed, as impatient as you were to walk, that you would still insist on being taxied about, only content to view everyday activities from a lofty vantage. Who would have thought the only way to persuade you to view life from your own precious height would be to sit down myself.
Could we have known how gentle you would be with a kitten when you are so fiercely determined to have your own way. Or that you would be patient enough to clasp your hands all through Grace and not eat until we have finished reciting our prayers of thanks?
Can it be, that it has been 17 months already since your birth? So many changes as you rapidly grow in mind, character and strength. So many more to anticipate as we continue to share in God’s glory that is exposed, as only it can be, through the growth and development of a new life.

Thank you God for the wondrous blessing of life that You have allowed us to share in. Over and over and over… Read more!

As promised...

...only I decided to take pity on you and dressed in long pants, rather than subject you to back of my chubby knees! I feel as though I have cheated because one always looks slimmer in black. I have to say that I am sure that I am bigger than I appear in this picture.

I'll be back next month, and will use the same outfit in hopes that we can see a difference.
At the very least I will post as to whether the pants (still maternity ones) are any looser!

Read more!

Ooohpa Mummy!

Ever had the perfect picture and just as the camera snaps, your subject sneezes or moves, or better yet someone cuts in on you? Well, at our double birthday this week I was snapping pictures of people being silly in the birthday hats I had bought and suddenly - there was Elsa walking towards me in a hat! The hat was just right. The expression perfect. I gasped and snapped the picture.

But when I reviewed it, there was no hat and that 'just right' expression was gone. But the picture actually was perfect - in fact, much better than what I had planned on. It captures just what being a mummy is all about.

Being there, just when you are needed.

Read more!

Read more!

Why do we no longer respect historical landmarks...

I have no words to share my sorrow with to see the destruction of a beautiful church such as the one being destroyed in NYC. The least I can do is share the link to the the website decicated to saving this work of art and piece of Irish history.

Go HERE to help save a piece of history!


Go directly to the history of this church ... here.

Here are some more personal photos of this church taken by a friend of a church, who was actually married in it. Lor's photos

Read more!

Crafts all afternoon....

Busy Beavers!

Cutting paper rather than your dress, even "axadently", is much more preferable!

Putting final touches on....

...this awesome car!

Voila!
The end result of a happy and quiet afternoon that allowed one tired mummy
to take a much needed rest!

Read more!

"Mummy", my son grumbled as he pushed the mop across the kitchen floor. He lifted the mop and looked at how dirty it was on the bottom.

"Emmm," I replied from the stove.

"Nobody washed the floor yesterday... oh wait, that was me!" Read more!

Taking Applications!

My six year old red headed Tanny Paul appears to be quite the ladies's man these days. He is very helpful to the women at all of the dinners at the church. Often pulling chairs, that once folder are taller than himself, to the portable chair rack and offering to help wash the tables. Of course, the ladies are quite tickled by this gentlemanly behaviour. When we were living in the Raleigh area, Tanny Paul actually had a 'girl friend'. One of my closest friends, a very beautiful strawberry blond mum of seven, would often come by to visit and she had a special spot in her heart for Nathaniel. She began to call him her "boy friend." It was special for Nathaniel, there being no aunts or uncles to come and visit, no near by God parents to impart that feeling of being extra special to someone outside the family.

Obviously Nathaniel has been missing his girl friend, Dorry, as yesterday he came and sat down beside me and laid his head on my shoulder. A deep sigh issued from him and he said;
"Mummy, I need a new dirl fweind, when can I det a new dirl fweid."

Having been resting my eyes - they now popped open. He needed a what, a new what? Girl friend? There has been a lot of talk lately about girlfriends, boyfriends and engagements here in our house lately but six years old, well is just entirely too young to be thinking of girlfriends.

I straightened up and looked at my son's round blue eyes.

"Did you say girl friend Nathaniel?" I asked.

He nodded "Yeah, I need a new dirl fweind. When can I det one?"

"Oh, well Nathaniel," I began by taking a deep breath. "You are MUCH too young to be thinking about girlfriends..."

"Oh Mummy!!" he interrupted me. I mean a dirlfwiend like Dorry!"

"Oh!" I said.

Dorry! You had best drop by soon - your boyfriend is looking for a replacement.

Applications can be picked up at the door! Read more!

A Challenge...

I remember a time when I was slim and pretty. My husband would claim I am still pretty but even he has to pause at... slim. Of late I have been coming across photos, after the fourth baby - still slim. After the 6th baby - still fairly slim. After the 8th baby - well, a bit less slim. But then came baby nine and a steady loss of weight when she hit five months. I was elated.

Then came the big FOUR O, followed by babies eleven and twelve! Oh, but there was no more melting of baby fat as I had always experienced in the past. Usually, at just about 5 months of age the baby's appetite would increase to such a point that no matter what number or type of calories passed my lips - the baby fat just fell off. No such luck after 40. That ugly ten letter word, metabolism, is to blame I am certain.

But now... my second daughter is getting married. MARRIED! So, I am looking at bridal gowns and these clearly 27 year old women modeling mother of the bride dresses.... Now short of plastic surgery I can never look that young again and I can probably never get that slim again but I can get a little slimmer!

So dear readers - I am issuing a challenge - to myself. I have no idea of my weight - we don't even own a scale but I do know my dress size and, blush, am too vain to announce it here. So I am challenging myself to drop two sizes (at least) by this coming June.

FOUL! You cry - what challenge is this? If you do not even publish the dress size? Well - I will be adding a photo in a day or two of moi! On my bike! (From the back - again just too vain, I'm sorry to say! Be patient, the Lord is not done with me yet!)

And YOU, dear readers, will get to judge how I am doing as I will post once a month a picture of me - on the bike, in the same shorts and tee and you can decide if you think I am actually dropping in size. I will choose a tee that is somewhat form fitting so that you can see and cheer me on as I battle the war of the bulge! If I meet my goal, I will post a picture of myself with the flower girl in our wedding gear - face forward.

So cheer me on - bycycle laps, crunches and leg lifts here we come! You know - this just might be fun!

(Picture to follow in a day or two, after I recover from a ruptured cyst.) Read more!

It is with grateful hearts...

Roll the camera forward in time by about 8 years to Jenny's tenth summer.

Speed forward 5 years to May of 2006.....

...that we announce the engagement of Jennifer Alicia to John Francis who intend to wed this coming June at Belmont Abbey.

(My apologies to John, when I edited the picture of him alone with Elsa, I wrote the wrong middle name on it. Blush!!!)

Read more!

A picture is worth a thousand words...

...and if that is the case than over the next few days I will be posting hundreds of thousands of words. While I love to write, times are a bit rough in this household and I need to really put my hand to the plow for a little while and so I will try to use the camera as the window to our busy life instead of the pen. (Or the key board, to be more exact!)

Some exciting news will shortly be posted, but first we have been trying to contact close friends nad familly members before posting this announcement. Look for it soon! (Shhh - those of you who already know, no HINTS in the comments section!)

Please pray for our family as we tough out this month. The Lord is, in some ways strangely silent, as we pray and contemplate our financial future and try to grapple with changes we have made and are still making. Yet He has not abandoned us... He is keeping us just barely above water and, in doing so, truely pulling our eyes towards Him. Much like the Chosen people as they followed the pillar of fire through the dessert to the Promised Land. So are we trying to follow Him, but unsure of where He is leading us, we feel full of trepidation - not even sure we will recognize our promised land when we get there. So please do pray for us! Read more!

A lot of little help!

A lot of little help can really slow you down. And in this household of many - there is always a lot of help being offered. You can not even do as distasteful a job as cleaning the litter box without a lot of little hands offering to dust up the litter, hold open the trash bag, and a few eager to actually scoop the litter and not always with the scoop.

Making your bed becomes a challenge with so many little bodies helping to smooth the cover, only the wrinkle it all over again when they can not help but to roll across it, giggling, to get to the wrinkles on the other side.

And as you can see from the post below - baking is NEVER a solitary job in this home. While the saying goes; too many cooks spoil the broth, I think in this case - it just sweetens the pot. Read more!

A little taste of Baking Day in our home!

Hmmmm, what do we need next?

So.... is Mummy looking?

Whilst Emma is thinking "Wow - Baking is MESSY - look at my hands... Elsa continues to sample the brown sugar!

Too much of a good thing!

One the day's finished products!

YUM!

Read more!

Can you believe...

...we were all once this flexible?

Read more!

Read more!

Is this your first?

When you are a young lady growing up in a large family it begins to become tiring that in this society almost every young girl with a child in her arms is assumed to be a single mother. Even as young as 12 can make you suspect, especially if you are tall and look as if you could be in your early teens as my oldest soon learned.

Aimee would often assist me while out getting groceries by either pushing the cart, or more often by holding the current baby. After all, cuddling a little love bug is infinitely nicer than pushing a cold metal cart that is slowly growing heavier and harder to push. She was only 12 when Noah, the 7th baby, was born. Still, she was tall for her, age possibly as tall as I am ( all of 5' 3") and sometimes she would be dawdling behind me as she carried Noah. She would feel embarrased when she could see older women trying to catch a glimpse of her ring finger on her left hand and then sometimes tut tuting. Others would be forward enough to ask; "So is this your first...."

Finally one day, tired and angry with people assuming such a thing of her when the next fellow shopper, someone Aimee described as actually quite a tiny and sweet dottering old lady came up to her and peered at her through heavy lenses and smiling asked her - "Is this your first, Dear?" Aimee dead panned her with:
"No, its my sixth...."
and she waited while this registered. As the poor old woman gasped and grabbed at her chest, Aimee relented and sweetly smiled - "Sibling, my sixth sibling." Read more!

Where are all the children?

“Where are all the children?”

Two weeks ago this was the first sentence out of my husband’s mouth once he had checked on Elsa, whom I had stayed home with. She was fighting a virus and had been just too tired and cranky to take to Mass. I stared at him.
“I mean where are all the children in the Church? Where are they?” He went on to share how sad he had felt throughout the Mass as he had glanced repeatedly about the church. Here and there was a child, sometimes two or three in family. But for the most part - there were few to none there.

This line repeated itself over and over in my head over the next few days. “Where are all the children?“ We were new in the area and had attended two different churches in the vicinity and my husband was right - the children were few and far between. There did not seem much hope of matching all, if any, of our children, up with friends in the same age bracket as themselves. This greatly saddened both my husband and I. But what saddened us even more was wondering about the future of the Catholic church. With the average American family repopulating the country at about .89 children* per family, it seemed as though these statistics were also invading the Catholic church. And if this is true - what does the future hold for our Church?

But then as I pondered this, I wondered if maybe it was just the area we had moved to. It is, after all, an area earmarked with high unemployment with many employers having moved lock, stock and barrel overseas. Perhaps most of the families, with children, had left the area. This would be true across the general public and certainly the Catholic church would not be exempt.

Over the week I thought back to the larger parishes we had attended in the city where we had been living for the past 9 years. Had there not always been cry rooms filled with toddlers, young mums and dads taking turns with a teething enfant in the foyer? I thought about this but then it dawned on me that the difference was not so much in the number of the children, but rather in the number of families. Being in a city, each parish had a larger population to draw from than a small country parish would, and this greater number of families had only lent the appearance of more children because, if my memory served me correctly, while there were lots of families with children - most of them still only had one or two children, a few here and there with three. So naturally if you reduced the number of families, as is the case in our smaller country parish, you are able to see the reality of the situation. Children have become rare. Large families possibly even more rare.

The realization of this really cut me to the heart, and I thought of the selfishness of this situation. While there are indeed legitimate reasons for limiting the size of ones family - can it be that the majority of the Catholic population actually meets one or more of these serious reasons for choosing to say no to life?** I have called this selfish because the decision to limit the size of one’s family doesn’t only affect the family that has made this decision.

It affects the whole Church, it lessens the Community of Saints, giving us less Saints in heaven to pray for us all. It lessens the number of vocations so that we have fewer and fewer religious and Priests to nurture the growth of the church. And individually within each parish it means there are less young faces for the elderly to gaze upon, less cheeks for them to pinch, and less opportunities for the young to learn of being of service to others. And for large families like ours, less peers for our children to make friends with.

Who, each Sunday, is missing from the Eucharistic table who should have been there celebrating with our Catholic family, but were never given the opportunity to even join the Community of Saints because they were not even conceived. Not conceived, but thought of and longed for by Jesus and our Heavenly Father.


* American Census Bureau Stats of 2004

** for just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children,” but we are cautioned that it is every couple’s “duty to make certain that their desire [to postpone or avoid pregnancy] is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2368)


Read more!