Pictures Pictures Pictures

Elsa rarely left her own private swimming hole - the top step....

Enjoying the sprinklers!

Such pretty water

How does this work?

AHA! Like this!

Read more!

We are BACK...

.... and all in one piece too. We were back by 7 pm, something we have not accomplished on a trip in forever, if ever. Usually we roll in well after dark, haul little logs of sleep out of the van while waking older children who sleepily grab whatever bedding they can reach and crash on top of their beds.
We grabbed a video rental (I guess I should say DVD rental, I will soon be dating myself with that expression if I am not careful) from the local movie rental store (got around the DVD/Video choice there) and instead of crashing on our beds - we sprawled around the living room over two couches and the floor and watched a fun movie. Then we carted at least one sleeping log to bed and chased all the others to theirs. Amazing - we were in bed by 10'ish! Great end to lovely mini-vacation.

On the sad side of life, my daughter Amanda, had to put her little puppy down yesterday. He had hydrocephalus and was deteriorating quickly. We are all so sad. Doogal was adorable.

Well, I have put off the inevitable long enough. Watched a movie, slept away the night, read some emails, written a post and now I must organize the cleaning of the van, the unpacking and putting away and hopefully discovering which back pack the camera was packed in and then I can play on the 'puter some more, and post some pictures of the fun we had in the pool.

Until then...

Read more!

OUT SMARTED

This was overheard by one of our many many bookshelves that are crammed with... books! AS Ann knelt in front of this particular shelf, she was engaged in a contest with Elsa, whom I htink began it.

Anna: "I love you more."

Elsa: "I LOVE you MORE!"

Anna: "Nope, I love you more!"

Elsa: "Uh, I love YOU MORE!"

Anna: (murmuring a bit into the shelf as she dug more deeply) "I Love you more!"

Elsa: "Me too!!!"

So... I think Elsa won - or at least she had the final word! Read more!

On the way to...

...Georgia and a short business trip that will be mixed with pleasure. Here is where we will stay with the kids. Pray for good weather for us please. I am hoping for some wind down time and possibly maybe a little writing might get done while away. I have been hoping to jump start my review blog again and have a handful of books and movies I want to review for my readers.

While asking for prayers may I ask for prayers for one of my daughters who is currently in hospital and in addition to not being well, is also dealing with the stress of her little puppy being seriously ill and might possibly have a brain tumour. Please keep them in your prayers.

If I can post a little from our hotel - I will. Hopefully with some real pics of us enjoying the place - not the hotels standard pictures. I actually know where my camera is AND where my batteries are too!! Until then GOD BLESS.







Read more!

DATE NIGHT

Tonight will be date night for Hugo and I and we hope to go to a movie. In a busy life surrounded by children with all of their energy and business it is so important to set time aside for yourselves as a couple.

A time away from the noise and the chaos. This is not always possible when faced with a strained budget and no built in baby sitters so when our oldest was about 9 what we used to do was to brew a pot of coffee, grab a treat and go out to the car and lock the doors. The children were left with explicit directions to not knock on the car windows unless it was really important. Usually they stayed glued to the tv screen enjoying this infrequent opportunity to watch a movie so near to bed time, so it was rare that we were interrupted in our 30 - 40 minutes alone while we chatted, sipped hot coffee and munched on home made cookies or a delicious brownie. All in precious silence and no i n t e r r u p t i o n s .

We are very blessed to currently have built in sitters and so our options are now more varied, though still dependent on our budget. But what are some things you and your spouse do to spend time alone. Tuck the little ones in bed early and plan an at home movie night with freshly popped popcorn? Go to a drive in? Dine out? How often do you do this? We strive for once a week but more often it is only about once a month hat we actually make it out on an official date. Still it would be lovely for some ideas for us all to share as how to seek this quiet time we all need to keep our marriages young and fresh.


Read more!

Prayer...

When to pray? How to pray? Why pray? Where to pray? How long to pray? The questions around prayer are endless. And here are some of Peter Kreeft's thoughts on prayer:

"How to do it is less important than just doing it. Less-than-perfect prayer is infinitely better than no prayer; more perfect prayer is only finitely better than less perfect prayer."

"And you probably won't decide to do it, only wish to do it, unless you see prayer for what it is: a matter of life or death, your lifeline to God, to life itself."

"... Similarly, no program, method, book, teacher, or technique will ever succeed in getting us to start doing anything unless there is first of all that simple, absolute choice to do it. "Just say yes."

"The major obstacle in most of our lives to just saying yes to prayer, the most popular and powerful excuse we give for not praying, or not praying more, or not praying regularly, is that we have no time.

The only effective answer to that excuse, I find, is a kind of murder. You have to kill something, you have to say no to something else, in order to make time to pray."

"What time of day is best? The most popular time—bedtime—is usually the worst possible time, for two reasons. First, it tends not to be prime time but garbage time, when you're the least alert and awake. Do you really want to put God in the worst apartment in your building?"

To read more CLICK HERE.


Please ignore the
Read more!

still recouperating...

It is a very slow process, but I am mending, even if very slowly. But, in the meantime, would you all please keep little Gracie in your prayers. To catch up on what has been happening to Gracie you can click here. God Bless and thank you for your prayers for Gracie. Gracie made it through most of July off the ventilator, but a crisis yesterday has forced her back on - hopefully only for a day or two.



IGNORE THE Read more!

my apologies

I have been too ill to post. A sinus infection coupled with an abscessed tooth, topped off with a head cold has robbed me of all energy. I hope to be back soon.

Until then God Bless...





Ignore the
Read more!

Nature through the eyes of my children....

Early morning from 2006

I do not know which child took this photo, I do remember them all taking turns for a few weeks capturing sunsets and sunrises. I will share more of them over the next few weeks.
When we had a little online store to sell products we had designed, we used this photo as the basis for a post card and greeting card.

Please ignore
Read more!

one.. two... three...

After enjoying a movie all about counting, 3 year Elsa pranced proudly in front of me and sang:

"Ten, Nine, Eleven, eight nine eleven. There, I counted to five!!!" she announced with great pride and glee.

Perhaps we need to watch the movie again?




Please ignore Read more!

ENVOY's

...First Annual Conference was this weekend and Hugo and I are honoured to have attended it. Let me introduce you to the speakers, and their websites, that we became acquainted with through Envoy. In most cases we were able to chat, sometimes briefly, and other times extensively, with the speakers whom you will see show cased in this post.

Keynote speaker of the weekend was Dr. PETER KREEFT. To meet Dr Kreeft click here. Be sure to listen to at least one of his talks. You will be amazed, absorbed and uplifted. I LOVE listening to Dr. Kreeft, a most humble, but incredibly intelligent man.

Oh my, whom to introduce you to next? I guess it would be easiest to just go through them in the order of when they talked. First was Hector Molina who spoke of the New Evangelization and reminded us all, that the principle calling of the church is to evangelize. Currently Hector is the founding Director of the new Archdiocesan of the New Evangelization in the archdiocese of Saint Louise. Be sure to explore his site well as it is filled with hidden treasures.

Thankfully Hector's talk on the call to evangelize was followed by Dr. Thigpen, editor of the Catholic Answer, recently hired to teach at Southern Catholic and author of Star of the Sea website. Dr. Paul Thigpen carefully guided us through a practical list of just how one can evangelize. It does not, thankfully, necessarily mean gathering up a group of enthusiastic Catholics and then marching through a neighbourhood; patiently & persistently knocking on doors. Rather there are some very practical steps we use to evangelize, some of which are:
Answer a question.
Ask a question.
Recommend a book.
Share a meaningful experience with God.
Offer to pray.
These are just some of the practical means to evangelize that Dr. Thigpen shared with us.

Hugo and I enjoyed meeting Dr Thigpen and chatting with him personally. He is a most humble and intelligent speaker. His journey to the Catholic faith is a fascinating read.

If my memory serves me correctly, Dr Thigpen was followed by Tom Peterson who not only was delightful to listen to, but most interesting to chat with. Both Hugo and I both were able to talk to him and his lovely wife after dinner. It was then we learned that there was a Spanish version of his website. He is currently using the media to reach out to fallen away Catholics and his website commercials can be seen during half time of football games and such shows as Sex in the City. (No, there will no links to this!) They have had incredible results with these commercials, but sadly I am not good remembering numbers and did not think to write them down. My bad!

Then we were educated by Serrin Foster, current president of Feminists for Life. She brought us back in time and introduced us not only to the original feminists, but also their strong prolife/anti abortion message. Unfortunately, Seerin was struggling with laryngitis and so she could not quite speak her complete alloted time. However in chatting with her later, I learned that Senator Dole is the chief sponsor of a bill that will help facilitate colleges and university students to provide much needed support to the unwed mother to stay in school. Serrin shared that over and over the most common listed reason for an abortion was the fear of not being able to finish school and so end up in a life of poverty for themself and their child. (Please note I am not saying I think there is a 'good' reason to have an abortion, but if this is the chief reason given, and we can help eliminate this reason - I'm all for that.)

Following a lovely three course dinner, of which the chocolate dessert was my highlight, we all gathered once more in the auditorium to hear the keynote speaker of Friday evening who was Teresa Tomeo. This was an incredible delight for me as I typically drink my first cup of tea with Teresa while I work on my computer. Only, as I am never in time to catch the introduction of her show on Ave Maria, I did not realize that I was about to get to see and listen to, in person, my favourite morning companion. Once she opened her mouth and her lovely resonant voice filled the auditorium, I recognized her immediately and leaned forward with delight. I recognized names she mentioned in her talk as well as some of the details of her life story. Her aim was to educate us as to the harmful effect the media has on us and our children. And this does not just mean TV, but also the videos and more importantly the video and PC games we allow our children to engage in. This has been a source of conflict in my heart the past months and her talk helped my resolve to change things in our home. Yet, as Hugo pointed out, we need to make sure we replace these forms of media with something else, hopefully something not only fruitful to our family life but also enjoyable - such as reading aloud together. If not - we will easily succumb to bad habits we are striving to replace. I will update you later as to what choices we make in this area. One of the things we might engage in, as a couple, is a study of Theresa's book, Noise, for which I have discovered she has a study guide to.

At the end of the first evening, we mingled in the lobby chatting with the different speakers as well as the many guests, but I made a bee line to where Teresa was and bought her book Noise which she signed for me. Then Hugo and I headed home, exhausted but feeling well fed spiritually and hyped to return in the morning to hear a full day of more speakers.

Saturday morning we arrived too late to attend Mass or even to partake of the breakfast that was laid out for the participants. Following breakfast we were treated to a light history of Belmont Abbey by Ken Davison the VP of College Relations at Belmont. While there is no synopsis of this most interesting history of this beautiful and peaceful Monastery on their website, there is a link to several publications about their history.

Following Ken was the dynamic speaker, Jim Burnham, who gave a great talk about how he almost lost his Catholic faith in College. From that experience rose his vocation - that of providing the means for others to be better equipped when they leave home and face those ponderous questions that most of us do not know the answer to. As Jim said, typically we know what we believe but do we know why we believe it. I realized then and there that this was a gaping hole in my education and so that of my children's. I left that night with an armful of thin booklets that are easy to read and also have study guides to go with them. I found the prices very reasonable. To check out Jim's materials click here. I purchased the Beginning Apologetics.

Chris Aubert took the stage immediately after and shared with us the man's perspective on abortion and the need to make it known just what is happening inside a woman's body when a new life has been sparked within. He shared his horror and dismay when he attended a sonogram of his wife's first pregnancy. Then and there he realized this actually was a real living baby and not a viable mass of tissue; the lie he bought into when he participated in two earlier abortions with previous girl friends. Chris truly brings home the ignorance surrounding today's holacaust.

The rest of the day was filled with Dr Kreeft and was entirely delightful. After each of his talks we had an question & answer period which was as fun, as it was informative. Again I urge you to check out his website and enjoy any one of his many talks listed there.

Both Friday and Saturday evenings were capped with panel discussions that were thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. Thankfully the whole of the convention was recorded and will soon be available on DVD. I will update as soon as they are available. I am looking forward to listening to many of these talks once more, as they were all jam packed and I simply could not retain everything.

Sunday morning was begun in the same manner as Saturdays' with Mass and a breakfast provided. Sadly we were unable to arrive until 11 am when Dr Kreeft gave his last talk and so we missed Gail Buckly who is the founder of Catholic Scripture Study International. I can tell you though, that we have participated in one of this organization's bible studies and I highly recommend them.

We were sad to bid everyone goodbye at lunchtime Sunday, but we left feeling spiritually filled, and ready to try and make some changes that we have been feeling drawn towards for the last month or two. There is nothing like being on the same page when facing such a challenge and after a weekend spent with ENVOY, we feel ready. Thank you to Patrick Madrid and Ken Davison who orchestrated the event, and we all owe a debt to Belmont Abbey for opening their doors to such a great movement. I am praying for the continued success of this program and for their goals. Please keep them in your prayers too and make plans to attend the conference next year. In fact you might want to consider contacting ENVOY and ask to be updated when the dates are confirmed for next year's conference. You don't want to miss it. I know I plan to be there and I hope to see you too!



ignore the
Read more!

Farewell Tony. We will miss you!

Robert Anthony Snow
June 1, 1955 - July 12, 2008
To read about Tony's career and life click here.

We will miss Tony very much and had been anxiously waiting his return to the news and politics. The news of his death early Saturday morning was a shock.
May God Bless his family and we pray for the repose of Tony's soul.

Please ignore

Read more!

Hey there...

I know it looks like I have disappeared but I have not really fallen off the face of the earth. I am actually here enjoying this! And it is AWESOME!

I'll be back Sunday or Monday! May God Bless you all with a peaceful weekend.



Ignore the
Read more!

Whilst...

... showing the children pictures a beautiful baby boy born yesterday, Elsa who was onmy lap piped up and asked;

"Is it a him or a her?"

"It is a him", I replied.

"Oh, please" she begged, "can we make it a her! Please???"

Sorry sweet heart, we can pretend a doll is a her or a him - but a baby boy is a baby boy and that is that. But I think I know what she is hoping for if we are blessed with another - and it's definitely not 'a him'!



Please ignore
Read more!

sometimes...

...you have to experience something to fully appreciate it and no matter how often you are told not to do something because it is dangerous - you still do it.

Emma recently experienced such an event. Emma loves to jump on her bed. But two nights ago she and Elsa collided, and the worse that Elsa experienced was a sore head but Emma almost bit through her tongue and was terrified by the blood.

Some ice and love, a little Motrin and she was ready to settle down for the night. However, she reassured me repeatedly that she would never jump on her bed again. Finally yesterday, she gave a huge sigh, after once more telling me that "I will never jump on my bed again!"

"What?'s the sigh for?" I asked.

"My poor bed. It might be so sad now that I will never jump on it again. "

But I think it is probably secretly celebrating and just looking sad for Emma's benefit. After all who wants to be jumped on every day!


Please ignore
Read more!

Monday blues

TOO tired

TO think

TOday....

which is why one should not go to bed at 12 knowing they are getting up at six....
Read more!

The business...

...of being born is an incredible movie. To see a preview and it's official site click here. As you can imagine being a mother of 12 children born over three decades - I found this movie fascinating.

I highly recommend that any mother facing birth watch this movie. If nothing else it will convince you how important it is to be informed so as to be able to make good decisions for you and your baby. The old adage a little knowledge is dangerous - far from applies in today's high tech approach to birth. Today a woman needs to have every "little piece" of information that she can find. She needs to be an informed consumer so as to not come away from what can be the most empowering experience of her life - feeling stripped of her independence and every shred of her dignity.

Whether you are expecting your first or your fifth or simply know someone expecting - watch this very enlightening and thought provoking movie. I bet none of you knew that the US, of all the industrialized countries has the second highest maternal mortality rate. I didn't.

This movie is available for rent from Netflix both in the instant watch format as well as a DVD that can be mailed to your home.
Read more!

Happy Independence Day

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas Pray for us!

God Bless us.

Ignore Read more!

Down for the count...

I have been cold... despite the hot temps of 35 c. Sometimes I would go sit outside to warm up while everyone else was asking me to turn the a/c up. Then I would get so, so, so hot, I couldn't stand it.

I was often tired... very tired.

This morning I woke up exceptionally tired.

As I was reading my email I happened to rub my fingers over my check bones and it seemed swollen. For weeks now - if I pushed on my sinus - one tooth hurt.

I compared cheeks. Yes, the right one was just a bit more chubby than the left. So I pushed my tongue up onto my left gum and there was a pea sized lump on my gum over the tooth that hurt when I push on my sinus.

So I called the dentist. Two hours later I left the office with a prescription in hand. It appears that I have a sinus infection and an abscessed tooth. Hmmm, maybe that is why I am so tired. Maybe that is why I have been having chills one minute and boiling hot the next.

Now I am off to Wal-mart to pick up my prescription that I dropped off a few hours ago. But I bet if I asked Hugo really nicely - he would get it for me! Then I can take a nap. I hope to be back online in a day or two - but if I'm not, you all know why!


Please ignore the

Read more!

Home safe and sound....

...and the last twenty minutes were filled with "are we almost home, I am so tired." "When will we get home, I am soooo tired."

I agree, I am tried and was most anxious to get home... but what happened to those exhausted children. You know, the ones who couldn't wait to get out and stretch and then head to bed.

I only hear kids who are hyper, loud and far too awake for my taste.

Tomorrow we will be busy cleaning out the van, washing the clothes and getting groceries. So this post plus an update on Gracie below, is all that you will see from me tomorrow.

Update on Gracie... PLEASE PRAY

TUESDAY, JULY 01, 2008 04:48 PM, CDT

URGENT! GRACIE JUST BEGAN TO "DE-SAT" IN HER OXYGEN INTAKE. THEY ASKED MOM AND I TO STEP OUT WHILE THEY CHANGED OUT THE C-PAP TUBE IN HER NOSE. PRAY THAT THIS TAKES CARE OF THE PROBLEM!! SHE HAS A LOT OF SECRETIONS IN HER CHEST. PLEASE PRAY THEY CAN RESOLVE THIS WITHOUT HAVING TO INTUBATE AGAIN. THANKS, AMANDA

TUESDAY, JULY 01, 2008 01:50 PM, CDT

SO FAR....SO GOOD! GRACIE LOOKS BETTER THIS TIME THAN LAST TIME AND SO FAR, HER LABS AND SATS LOOK GREAT! KEEP PRAYING! TODD AND I WILL STAY CLOSE THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS WE KEEP PRAYING AND TRUSTING IN A MIRACLE! BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT GRACIE! SHE HAS A C-PAP TUBE IN HER NOSE THAT IS TRANSITIONING HER TO COMPLETE EXTUBATION....THIS IS UNCOMFORTABLE BUT NECESSARY....PRAY IT CAN COME OUT SOON!! TODD AND AMANDA

TUESDAY, JULY 01, 2008 10:04 AM, CDT

THE VENTILATOR TUBE IS BEING PULLED RIGHT NOW!! PRAY HARD!! PRAY THAT GRACIE BREATHES! We will not know until the end of the day how Gracie does--but we want her to stay off!! PRAY! THANK YOU--PRAY ALL DAY! Todd and Amanda

Read more!

Stealing from the past...

...AGAIN!

Hugo is terribly busy and I am hoping that we will be moving this summer so I have not made much of an attempt to look for space for my scanner so once more, I am borrowing from the past. We have also started our summer semester and this being the first week back... it has been somewhat hectic. Some of my readers, no doubt wonder how I can torture my children with a summer semester but if you are familiar with the climate you will quickly agree that for many hours of the day - it is simply too hot to be spending any time outside. (Those not familiar with the climate can click here. In fact, we frequently experience weather warnings that are for air quality and not for storms or tornadoes. Though we have our fair share of those too. On those days, our children with asthma have to remain indoors as much as possible. Sometimes we will have three or more days like that in a row so... we might as well be productive and stretch our brains.

Now onto the glimpse from the past. To view click here.



Ignore the
Read more!

Anna's chocolate chip cookies... with a twist

A long, long time ago - while hunting for a chocolate chip cookie recipe I came across a wonderful recipe on Allrecipes.com. They were absolutely delicious. Recently Bethany (10) has taken over making chocolate chip cookies but I was suspecting, as good as they were, she could not be using the Anna recipe. So I checked and my suspicions were confirmed. I know not where she got the recipe but it just was not "the one." So I suggested she try to find the other recipe, intending to help her. But before I could she had gone online, found it, and printed it. Not only that but like all the good bakers in our house, she had already decided to experiment with it. The last trip out with her father - she got him to buy a LARGE bag of M&M chocolate covered peanuts. ( About a 400 gm sized bag - I need to confirm this.) Was her plan to replace the chocolate chips with the peanuts or add them in addition to the chocolate chips? To find out just click on the

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cup butter ***
* 1 cup white sugar
* 2 cup packed brown sugar
* 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 4 eggs
* 5 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoon salt
* 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
(And for a really yummy and unique change add one LARGE bag on M&M chocolate covered peanuts)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Finally, mix in the chocolate chips. (And M&M peanuts at this time) Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Remove from baking sheet to cool on wire racks.

Depending on the size of cookies that one bakes you can have several dozen cookies and the cook time can vary from 8 to 15 minutes - again depending on size.
*** when I made this recipe last week, I accidentally left 1 of the 2 cups of butter out - and it made NO discernible difference. We only realized it when we discovered the two butter sticks I had put in the microwave to soften - still in the microwave and the cookies already half gone!)



Read more!

Happy 125th

... to all my fellow Parishioners and our Priests. Today will be a very busy day for our Parish. We will be having a special Mass at a location large enough to accommodate the large number of parishioners that are typically spread over seven Masses. Following this Mass is a reception. Later in the day we will have a ground breaking for the new church. However we will not be attending this as we will be home by then, packing the van for our whirlwind trip/vacation to Ohio. If the auto posting works - there will be a post for Monday and Tuesday, if not - we will see you all on Wednesday. We leave at 3 am sharp Monday morning!







Ignore the
Read more!

Back Pack update

After wearing her back pack and little else all day, Elsa finally fell asleep and was put to bed. So I took the opportunity to discover just what enough is to a three year old.

Enough for an over night trip is:

3 pairs undies
4 t-shirts
1 pair of shorts
1 dress
1 pair of P.J. bottoms
1 P.J. top from different set than the pj bottoms
1 bathing suit
1 pair of yellow flip flops
3 sheets of paper and 2 pencils

... just enough, eh?

PLEASE IGNORE THE

Read more!

From the peanut gallery

We are preparing to head to Ohio for one of our whirlwind picks trips. However, this time we have made reservations for a hotel room at a location with an indoor pool. Given we are used to temps of 35 c and the high is 25c, plus the possibility of rain, an indoor pool seem the better plan.

But I digress, as part of my preps I caved in and bought two cute, but rather small back backs for Emma and Elsa. Spying hers at breakfast time, Elsa properly ooohed and awed over it and announced she needed to pack it NOW.

A few minutes later she flew down the stairs in her typical style and fashioned her very full pack hanging from her shoulders for me.

"Oh", I asked, "what did you pack?"

"Enough!"
Read more!

Something Important....

...very important to think about.

To read about it click here. And for those wondering why we did not return to Canada following my husband's job loss - this is the answer. The crumbling health system is why we sought a transfer to the States. Please take the time to read this article and know - when they say patients are participating in lotteries to see the local doctor - they are not joking. Many towns no longer even have a single doctor's office open. Saint George, New Brunswick is such a town. My father and step mother have to drive to Saint John, a city an hour away, for medical care. As do all the residents of Saint George.

Oh, and in Canada - health care providers can, and do, go on strike. The doctors were on strike when we left Canada in January of 1997. We had an 18 month old son requiring surgery at the time and we were told to wait for our transfer to the States as the waiting list, due to the strike, was so long - he would not get it done in Canada before the strike was over. We were told this in November of 1996.

And keep this in mind. If the Doctor, through negligence, removes your left ovary when he was to remove the right one and so you end up with NO ovaries - who do you sue? His employer? Which is ... the government. Ever hear of anyone suing the government and winning?

Nah, me neither.

So please read this and think very carefully about what you want your health care to look like in few years before you vote in November. I am only 46. The system was broken when we left and that was 11 years ago. The government system came online AFTER I was born. It took less than thirty-five years to fall apart.



Please ignore
Read more!

Some of Anna's photos for ...

... Photo Thursday. These are photos Anna (14) has taken in the past year.

A little nature a la brick.

Looking out - Noah 12 yrs

Emma, about 5,
and Elsa 2 yrs

Please ignore the

Read more!

A word of warning

Don't anyone, and I mean ANYONE dare read this blog to my youngest child who really hates, detests, despises or in other words barely tolerates her car seat.

Here is a quote from a recent post there:

"The ride there was hilariously bad, with The Baby screaming "SOMEONE HELP ME! THEY ARE CHOKING ME WITH MY CARSEAT!" for a solid HOUR."

Elsa would SO love to have a line like this up her sleeve, so I repeat, do NOT show this blog to my child.



Ignore the
Read more!

Updates on prayer requests!

NICK Y.

According to a recent email, Nick Y has had surgery and is expected to be in hospital 5 - 7 days. I do not know if he is still in ICU but very well maybe as he has a chest tube. Apparently this happened, to him, once before - five years ago. Please uphold this family in your prayers. While they are part of a very loving parish and will get much support - they are in a particularly challenging situation. In January they were transfered to a nearby State. Nick, due to school, opted to stay in NC. Therefor while the family is here (with ALL of other 7 the children) they do not have a home to call their own. As I said, they have lots of support here, but still - this has to add to the stress!

STORY
On a positive note STORY has been released from hospital and has gone home with her two loving parents. To see her enjoying the experience of being at home click here.

GRACIE
Gracie, continues to need much prayers as do her family. Gracie is around 3 to 4 months old and here is a quote from her caringbridge site as to where she is now:

"Options for Gracie:

Spend the next few weeks (1-2 months) giving Gracie physical/occupational therapy, giving her lots of love and food here at Duke, then proceeding to the second open heart surgery and praying that her heart is strong enough. If they decide this, they may also give her a tracheotomy.

#2- Proceed towards transplant because they feel her heart is not strong enough to handle a second open heart surgery. If this is the case, we have no idea when a heart will come and Gracie is very low on sedation…and the ventilator tube is driving her crazy! But if this is the option—she cannot have a tracheotomy because it will change her transplant status.

GRACIE HAS TO HAVE ONE OF THESE TWO OPTIONS TO SURVIVE."

At this point they have been gradually weaning her off the heart meds and the plan is to do the extubation of her breathing tube this Wednesday - however, if Gracie cannot tolerate this - she will then have a tracheotomy placed and this will, if I understand correctly, eliminate her from the heart transplant list. Please continue to hold Grace and her family in your prayers, especially this Wednesday. To follow her progress click here.



Ignore the Read more!

Too clever by half!

Have you ever been tempted by the very cuteness of your baby to threaten to just "eat her all up"? I have, and Hugo is prone to this also. We have moments when we can not bear their cuteness anymore and tell them we are just going to eat them all up, sometimes just 'cause we are hungry or sometimes for a specific meal. If we follow through with our threat than the child is tortured with kisses and tickles, all over, until they are breathless from giggling and chortling.

Elsa, however, is too clever by half. For instance yesterday when her Daddy announced he was going "eat Elsa for supper" she responded; "You can eat Elta all up for supper, but I am NOT Elta!" and when telling me about this later, he shared how she typically agrees to this threat to be eaten for supper with: "Emma is for supper, I am dessert!"

This is a girl that will not be falling for any pick up lines!

Read more!

Urgent Prayer Request

These are good friends of our family. We learned yesterday that Nick was in the hospital and today this prayer request was sent out to our parish via email.

" Please pray for healing and for wisdom for the doctors at (the local) Medical Center. Nick Y., Dean and Bridget Y.'s oldest son, is in ICU with a collapsed lung. He is in serious condition. "
The following Psalm was attached to the prayer request.

Responsorial Psalm
71:1-2, 3-4a, 5-6ab, 15ab and 17

In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, and deliver me;
incline your ear to me, and save me.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.
For you are my hope, O LORD;
my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.
My mouth shall declare your justice,
day by day your salvation.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.

Read more!

June 23rd...

Hmmm, what is familiar about this date? Oh yes, at this time on this date, last year, we were scurrying around loading roasts and coolers and meat slicers into the van, counting shoes and socks to make sure none were left behind and gathering special dresses and outfits. Thankfully the guys suits were all already in Charlotte. Then we were counting heads to make sure that in the excitement of heading to Charlotte for John and Jenny's wedding - we didn't leave any children behind. We certainly did not want to have any pairs of shoes without owners once we got up there. It was an incredible day and flew by in the wink of an eye. Shortly after the wedding we received a disk of pictures from our favourite photographer and we were able to share the wedding with my readers. It was such a beautiful wedding, so full of joy and happiness. Below you will find a few high lights again. In the meantime, I want to wish John and Jenny a very happy first anniversary. It will be hard to top this first year guys - you have accomplished so much!

Congratulations!

Read more!

some photos from a year ago - today.

The flower girls and the ring bearer who bore a crown for Mary, rather than the rings.

Sisters of the bride, including the maid of honour.

Waiting for the orders to march...

Waiting for the bride...

Fighting back tears of happiness as she walks down the isle with her father.

Exchanging vows...

Mr and Mrs Ryan leave the church, no longer single adults but now united as one couple through the sacrament of marriage, a living joyful sacrament.

First dance...

Cutting the beautiful cake, a gift from another young couple. It was as delicious as it looked.

Dancing with joy - celebrating the awesome sacrament that just took place.

A quiet moment as the celebrations wind down...

Off to the honeymoon! Once they returned, we enjoyed a fun slide show filled with beautiful photos from the area they had visited.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are SO many wonderful photos that Paul Tomas took that captured such special moments through out the day - it was so difficult to chose which ones to share here, but my goal was to just touch on the highlights. I hope you enjoyed revisiting that day with me.



Ignore the Read more!

This weeks question...

"One more thing: Enjoyed the towel plan. Read an article about large families and dirty dishes (family fun magazine). This mom's solution was to pack away all dishes, buy dollar tree clear glass plates, paint names on plates, everyone has one dish (large flat bottom bowl) and washes their own. No more dishwasher. Can't eat if your plate is dirty. Downside was washing dish between courses (dinner, dessert, soup or salad) So here's my Saturday request: how do you handle dishes?"

Well, I have to say that while we were experiencing drainage problems, we were using disposable dishes as much as possible because washing the dishes had become an excruciating chore with whoever was on dishes having to constantly check the level of water in the pail below. More often than not - we experienced an overflow due to the level of water sneaking up on us. Thankfully this is no longer a problem!

I have to admit that the chore of washing the dishes has been a thorn in our family's side for some time. This was due to the tendency of the child on duty for the day ultimately leaving a few dishes behind. This was also my fault. By the end of the day and supper chores time, I am usually quite beat and often do not double check the kitchen so as to ensure that not only all chores have been completed - but have been done thoroughly. This would result in arguments the following day...
Finally the children themselves came up with a solution. They suggested that we make the chores permanent and not constantly revolving. As I mentioned in a previous post, I did not like the idea of the chores being permanent. I want children to experience a variety of chores and then there is the reality that some chores are easier than others. So I compromised and came up with a 3 month revolving list as opposed to a daily revolving list. This semi permanency of the chores has completely eliminated the constant bickering that not properly done or incomplete chores had been causing. I am also finding that children are taking more pride in the areas assigned to them. I imagine because it is evident to themselves they have not done a good job and also realize it is evident to the whole family that, for example, the living room is not swept well - because they did not sweep it well. It has also made it infinitely easier for me to keep track of who is responsible for which chore - which also makes it easier to crack down on sloppy work.

Over all I am happy with this solution and wish we had come up with it sooner. We have tried many ways of encouraging chores to be done well and consistently and this has by far been our best solution.

Thanks for the question Peg! I hope you, and the other readers, enjoyed the response, as well as found it helpful.

Be sure to submit a question you might have about the challenges of parenting a large family - or parenting in general. You can leave it in the comment section or email it directly to me.

Oh, as to the lady who decided to buy one plate and cup per child, I have to wonder what happens if a dish breaks? Did she have some put away as back up or does the kid have to wait and borrow another child's dish until the mum found another dollar dish that would suffice as a bowl/plate. Her idea is quite unique but I know dish breakage would be a definite challenge for us!
Read more!

FRIDAY BONUS!

Decided to pop over to Beautiful Day to see what was up over there and almost fell off my chair and said then and there - this is too funny not to share. I am still shaking my head and wondering how this missed the news? Or maybe it made it onto the national news, and because I don't have cable - I missed it!

Well - not to keep you in anymore suspense click here to to satisfy your curiosity. Warning to EXPECTANT mums- empty bladder before reading.

Ignore the
Read more!

Finally - Fun Friday!

Nope - I don't have a scanner up and working but decided for the sake of the many new readers that I have I would dig up some old cartoons to share. To see a fun post about how to know if you are a large family click here. The cartoon was drawn by Anna who was 11 at the time. Enjoy! (For this post please ignore the read more link) Read more!

The terrible twos VS the Teen Challenge

As the miles slipped by bringing us closer to our destination, Hanceville Alabama, I listened to the mostly cheerful noises from behind me in our fifteen passenger van. Occasionally the noise was punctuated by the growls of the soon to be three year old who does not enjoy being strapped into her car seat for prolonged periods of time. Lucky us, we only had another five hours to go. As her 17 year old sister tried to entertain her, I began to muse about the difference between dealing with the temper tantrums of the “terrible twos” stage and the emotional difficulties of the teen years. It struck me that the challenges facing the two year old and the teenager were largely the same – that of the struggle to find one’s independence while also dealing with the fear and the unknowns that this very goal brings with it.

I think most parents when asked which they would prefer to deal with – the terrible twos or the rebellious teen years – would resoundingly answer the terrible twos. Perhaps that is mostly because the memories of the teen years are closer in proximity. Yet, I would venture to say that in many cases it is because those rebellious and troubled filled years brought the most tears and gray hairs than did the terrible twos.

However, as I close in on facing my seventh teenager about to join the frays of those change filled years, I am also still dealing with the throes of the ‘terrible twos’ of my youngest. And so I can honestly say I find the teen years with all of its hormones, searching questions and even tears, infinitely easier to live through than the terrible twos. No doubt, upon hearing this, many parents would look at me as if I had two heads or wonder how many milligrams of Prozac I am on.

None the less it is true and I believe the reason for this is that my teens and I have a foundation that supported us through these difficult years.
It was a common foundation and it was, and is, our relationship with God. I am not saying that it was all cozy, warm and fuzzy with all of us simply turning to God in prayer when faced with a confrontation. Rather it was more a matter of my children having an authority even higher than mine to answer to. And this I believe is the true key to not only coming through the teen years, but all the stronger for having gone through them. That, and continued communication. These are what is missing during the phase of the terrible twos.

At that stage not only is the child’s relationship with God just emerging, it is almost impossible to effectively communicate with the frustrated child why he must or must not do something. The child simply can not comprehend why. Nor can she communicate the frustrations she is experiencing beyond screaming and tossing items about. However, teenagers, if communication lines are kept open, can voice concerns, frustrations and even temptations they are experiencing. When at logger heads over an issue most of my children have had spiritual directors to turn to, who in turn directed them back to the Authority over us all. God. What better resource can one have than that?

But this did not emerge over night. My husband and I did not pull God out of a magic top hat on a child’s thirteenth birthday. My husband and I began building this foundation at an early age, with attendance of Sunday Mass, and catechism taught at home. Efforts were made to pray the Rosary on a daily basis as well an attempt to communicate why it was important to pray. We attempted to make it an enjoyable experience. We also made many books of the saints available as examples to strive for. A personal relationship with Jesus and the community of Saints was what we strove for as a family through the frequent reception of the sacraments. It was a continuous, even if sometimes imperfect, effort. Thankfully we did not fall for the secular idea of not introducing our children to God as this was a personal experience, and was not to be inflected on a child. This idea was supported by the professionals who claimed it was better to leave a child to discover a god, or a higher power, of their liking.

I now truly believe it was this faith foundation that helped pull our teens and will continue to pull our current teens through those difficult years when one feels the need to challenge all authority around them, to seek independence and the why for everything. Why listen, why obey, why be different from ones peers. Why dress modestly when all around us don’t? Why be chaste when the message all about us is be hot and sexy? What better answer to these challenges, these whys, than God. What better than to be able to ask; ‘What do you think God wants you to do?’

Because we introduced our children to God at a very early age, we were able to work with Him to guide our teens through these difficult years. With God on our side when we have been faced with these challenging questions of why, my husband and I do not need to be the bad guy. At least, not for long. When we have had to enforce a decision that was not popular, typically it was not long before the teenager saw the sense of it. The teenager was able to see the reasoning because he was able to take it to God, through the sacrament of Confession, through direction from their Spiritual Director, or through his own private prayer life.

My husband and I know we are not perfect parents. I know that as a mother there have been many times when I over corrected, under corrected and just not been as attentive as I needed to be from time to time. However, I am putting my trust in God, that in His infinite mercy, He has blessed my children and us with enough graces to fill in those cracks in my parenting, and it is my continued prayer that He will continue to do so. I pray that He will continue to assist my husband, and I, in building the foundation that will sustain our children though their teens and on into their adult years – the foundation of a personal relationship with Christ. A foundation built through the sacraments offered by our Church.
Read more!

Well, well, well...

Virtuous Tuesday has rolled around again and I have yet to actually write a post about how family life offers us the possibility to grow in virtue. Sadly today is not going to prove different. Instead I am going to share what is coming up this week on my blog and why I am doing it this way. As regular readers are aware, I have been experiencing back pain and problems with my neck. These are old injuries that a fall back in September aggravated and I am beginning to wonder if sitting at the computer and especially typing is aggravating it... So I thought to myself, this being the last full day of summer vacation for us, I might as well go full out and get as much writing done as possible and then avoid the computer as much as possible for a few days and see if that, along with the changes we have made to our bed, will help my continuous discomfort. (The frame was broken so we removed it and put the bed on the floor to see if that would make a difference.)

So far I have accomplished three posts that are ready to be posted on their relevant days and am hoping to come up with a few more before the end of the day.

I am praying and hoping that taking a short break from the computer will allow some healing to take place. I know that until I can afford to see a chiropractor and get some much needed adjustments I will not find complete relief. However, I believe the last months of sleeping on a crooked bed frame has exacerbated the misalignment of the vertebra in my neck. I am hoping that heat therapy alternated with some icing, along with avoiding the poor posture I fall into at the computer for a few days straight through, will bring some relief from the muscle strain that I feel in my upper body.

I have also prayed for some relief and have felt God's grace in that regard. Please, if you think of it over the next few days, add me to your prayers for God's healing is my best hope for gaining some sense of relief. While I am not in a lot of pain, it is almost continuous and so is very wearing and very tiring which makes the fulfilling my duties as a wife and mother very difficult. I would like to thank every one in advance for their prayers. Read more!

No Pics!

Sorry - this meatloaf was so good that there was not time to take any pictures. Maybe next time I whip it up.

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground burger (used the 20/80 mix although I prefer the 10/90)
1 box Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix ( 2 pkgs)
1 cup (already steamed) brown rice
1 jar beef gravy or about 1 - 2 cups left over gravy.

I put my rice to cook in our ** rice cooker/steamer, a device we have had since Gabriela was an infant so it is 17 years old and still going strong - knock on wood.

Once it was ready and cool enough to handle I mixed 1 cup of (cooked) rice to 2 lbs of (raw) ground beef and then worked in two bags of the Lipton Soup mix.

I was working on memory here. The first time we ate this meatloaf was 24 years ago and I have not made it in years or more accurately in over a decade so there were several children anxious to see what this mysterious thing called meatloaf was going to look like, never mind taste.

Once all the ingredients were well mixed I patted it into a loaf pan and poured a generous layer of the gravy over it. Inserted it into a preheated oven set at350. Set the timer for 30 minutes as I had no clue how long it would take to cook.

We rolled into the oven, strategically placed here and there, 12 potatoes that had been duly poked by Gabriela, the chef's assistant for that night. Not only had they been poked, but they had been generously rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Next time I think I will add the salt and freshly ground pepper to the oil and then rub it on the potatoes and see how that works.

Then I hopped online to see if my estimation of 30 minutes was a good one and determined it might be better to give the loaf a good 50 minutes to bake in peace before I started poking and prodding it to see if was ready.

On the ding of the timer we pulled out a steaming hot loaf and carefully, but quickly placed the pan upside down on a cookie rack set over a tray to catch the fat. I had read of a great idea (after I had already placed the pans in the oven) that one website suggested and that was of buying some cheap loaf pans, poke holes in the bottom so that the fat drains out while baking - into another larger pan of course.

By then even the largest of the potatoes were ready, the salad had been thrown together and placed on the table. The hungry crew gathered and in no time at all there were only a few slices of the loaf left and these were eagerly consumed the next day at lunch time by the ones smart enough to remember before anyone else that there was left over meatloaf in the fridge.

Now I can imagine you all sitting here scratching your heads and wondering what size of loaf pan was this, that it fed this crew and had a few slices left over. Well here is my confession - I actually made two loaves but as most people will not be needing to feed a crew of twelve on the average week night, I only posted the recipe as for one loaf. It was an incredibly easy recipe to make, and easily duplicated so that I actually had two loaves in the over in under 20 minutes from start to finish.

The only thing I might change is to use only one bag of Lipton soup mix per two pounds. When I try that, I will let you know how it fared. And of course, had I had left over gravy that would obviously have been my first pick as a gravy!

I never cared for meatloaf as a child, in fact I detested it as a child as well as an adult so when a friend brought this to the door as a care package meal after Jennifer's birth, I gulped and put on a big smile and graciously thanked her, while wondering how many meals it would take Hugo and 15 month old Aimee to finish off this huge loaf! Perhaps sensing my discomfort, though I was hoping she did not as it was so gracious of her to have brought us a meal, she quickly explained that her meatloaf was not like most others. Intrigued I asked what made it different. She explained about the rice and the gravy and I was hooked. This I had to try - esp if it had real gravy on it.

Later that night we feasted on Cathy's meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans. It was an instant hit with the "whole" family, that is the three of us that had teeth and could chew. It became one of Aimee's favourites, especially with green beans.

Time marched on and as my confidence as a cook grew along with my repertoire of recipes, this one eventually fell to the wayside and was forgotten, I don't know if even Aimee remembers it. But a few nights ago, we were sitting around the dining room table talking and something triggered my memory so I told the kids all about meatloaf and they were curious to try it. They had read about it often in books and wondered what it was.

Now they know... and they loved it. If you try this recipe, let me know what you thought and how your family enjoyed it. While doing my research online to help me to determine how many cups of rice to mix in with the beef, I came across several interesting ways to make meat loaf - including adding in grated potatoes and carrots. I might try that some day!

(** Note: I do not know the brand of my rice cooker but this one, being sold at Target, looks the most like ours and falls into about the same price range that we paid 17 years ago. One of Hugo co-workers, originally of Vietnam, had his mother find us one in Montreal, and he picked it up while visiting her and brought it back for us and cooking rice has been a dream ever since!) Read more!

Catholic Face Book?

Check this out! Read more!

Father's Day

A glimpse of the past years as a father...









There were so many more pictures I wanted to add but started having problems with my neck (old whiplash injury) and then there are the Daddy pictures from with the other older children but they are in albums and as you all know - my scanner is not yet where I can use it.

Thank you Hugo for being a great husband and a wonderful father and for being there whenever we have needed you.

Love
Christi Read more!

Ooops did it again!

Open line Saturday came and left - without a post AND I had a question from a reader too! Well - I will just have to write that this week sometime and post it next Saturday. My excuse? Well, lets say it is a combination of vacation time that is coming to a close all too soon, a double date last night with my husband and our married daughter and her husband and a bit of fatigue caused by some of the health issues I am dealing with at this time.

I will tell you though that it was a lot of fun meeting up with John and Jenny and having dinner out with them and simply enjoying being with some of the adult children. It was very enjoyable and I highly recommend it. I have days when I really miss my adult children and now and then I either get to have a great chat that lasts for an hour with one of them or this new experience - double dating and I realize that while they have left home, they are still very near to me. Read more!

Fun Friday...

... with something fun by one of the kids just hasn't happened yet because my scanner is still at the warehouse largely because we can't decide where we would set it up, once brought home.

So instead I will share a funny conversation with, whom else but Elsa, from a few days ago. Again - it involves the stairs. This time we were going down the stairs.

Me to Elsa as she blithely springs from step to step her little baby toes barely curling around the edge of the step before lifting off for the next one.

"Slow down!" I admonish her. "I don't want you to fall!"

"Ohhhtay" she responds and then rather than springing from step to step she began to grip the edge of the step with her toes like a monkey while grasping the railing. In this fashion she stretched her body as far down the railing as her body could physically reach and then let her toes relax so that her feet slumped to the next step where she repeated the exercise. I, in misery, watched this gymnastic feat holding my breath lest she fall.

Finally we reached the bottom step which she sprung off of lightly and I, still tense from watching this incredible feat, called after her in a (somewhat) teasing voice:

"You just live to make mummy worry don't you? I guess you think that's your job, eh?"

"Yup!" She answered me, her little red curls bouncing as joy and energy emanated from her little body as she danced into the dining room.

And it is my job, for now. And before I know it that job will be done - more or less. I will always have the job of praying for her. But all too soon the daily errand of watching closely behind her, scooping her up when she falls and wiping her tears when her feelings are hurt will be done. Oh sometimes she will call and her tears will flow over the phone, but for the most part she will be independent, standing on her own two feet and she won't really need me any more. So I think I will go find her now and see if she might like me to read her a story. Something I don't do enough. See you tomorrow for open line Saturday. Read more!

Photos from the past...

I am only going to post one photo today. It is that of Benjamin with Gabriela and Jennifer. Jennifer is now married and happily settled in a small NC town. Gabriela, of course, is still home and enjoying her younger siblings. Benjamin is now 11 and still enjoys attention! But don't we all?

I have a funny joke to share but will try to see if I can pull off a video of it with one of the kids telling it. However, given the current shape my neck and back are in - I am keeping my time online to a minimum as sitting at this desk seems to especially exacerbate my neck injury and right shoulder. As always - I am open to prayers for healing. Read more!