Franciscan Reunion

I almost forgot to mention that we recently hosted an area Franciscan Alumni Reunion at our house.  It was such an honor to do this.  I hope that we can make this an annual gathering.  Much to my amazement, while I did absolutely no preparation, it was a smooth event with an abundance of food.  A household sister of mine was married the day before and I was out of town for her wedding until just about an hour before the reunion started.  I am grateful for how much everyone pitched in!  It was actually kind of nice the way it worked out, as the day was much less about us hosting, and more about everyone having something valuable to contribute (in more than just the food realm:)).  We had some great conversation, praise and worship, and even Mass said by Fr. Drew Curry. 

More Fall Photos

Sorry...I'm frustrated with blogger...I'll try to fix this later. 

Christus In Parvulis

This is the inscription we have in our wedding bands. We put this there for two reasons. 1.) It reminds us often of our need for the virtue of humility in our relationship with God, each other, and everyone else. 2.) We know that much of our sanctification will come about through the graces of parenthood (as long as we respond to those graces)as we lose or lives for our children.

With that, I am pleased to announce that we need to figure out a new Internet name for another Little Blessing who is due around July 23rd. Amazingly, I looked back in my journal (which I don't often write in), and right about the time of conception, I was asking Our Lord to help me embrace the Cross. A few weeks before that, I started to dread the thought of having another child. All of the sacrifices of going through another pregnancy, having a baby who wakes in the middle of the night, more laundry, another person to disrupt the order and organization I long for in the home, getting fat, being needed for nursing--all of these and more seemed so despicable to me just weeks before conceiving. And yet, thanks to Christ and His wonderful grace, my reaction is one of peace and thanksgiving. I am ever so grateful for the opportunities this Little Blessing will bring, and has already been bringing in my life. When moments during the day are tough, the constant thought, at least thus far, has been that this is such a grace, and I have the great gift of having so many opportunities for Christ's glory and power to be manifested in my life. When things come up that I dread, I can say to God, "I really don't like this, and I don't want to do it, but I just ask that Your power would prevail and not my weakness." I have been completely amazed at the result of this prayer. It really is easier to make it through the day when you are not relying on your own power. I only hope that I can continue to grow in this wonderful trust of Our Lord and in the peace that following His will brings.

PS-I think it's a boy, even though I love, love, LOVE the girl's name we have chosen! :)

Happy 30th Birthday, Dear!

That's right. The Man of the House just turned 30 the other day! We had a fun-filled celebration at my parents' with his parents in town too. My parents were very generous and let the kids stay with them, while we got to stay at the hotel and get two glorious nights of sleep!! Also in celebration of 30 years, we took the plunge, and bought a piano! It has been a marvelous blessing! He practices in the evenings after putting the kids to bed, and it is wonderfully calming to everyone in the house!

(Thirty doesn't seem quite as frightening as it used to.)

A Few Fall Photos

Ballerina Babe

Little has enjoyed her ballet classes immensely. Her father has too...as he said after the parent observation class,"I'll pay whatever they want to see that again."

Little Saints

One of the reasons we've been so busy is that Little and Littler have been diving into their "school-work". I mentioned in a post during the summer that I was doing a little trial run with homeschooling. We've all very much enjoyed it, in spite of the great amount of preparation that goes into the Little Saints Preschool curriculum (Just a heads up to anyone considering it.) I still do not know what we will do next year as far as school for Little. I'd like to try homeschooling again, and I've looked into a few things I may like to use. I am relieved that there will not be the great amount of preparation I've been putting into it this year. One aspect that I've enjoyed the most is that I generally feel more relaxed about our home and the state it's in because I've enjoyed the quality time I've spent with the kids doing school work with them. However, I have hired a sitter to come two afternoons a week so that I do have some time to run errands, catch up on things around the house, or just have some relax time to myself. I find that knowing that a sitter is coming also helps me feel more relaxed about the house b/c I know that I will have a few consecutive hours to do the things that are so difficult to do with the Littles at my feet-like clean the bathroom. At any rate, I ask your prayers that as far as the school decision goes, we do the will of God. I'm hesitant to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a decision one way or the other...I don't think I'd ever come to a decision. So, with that, I've decided it's not about that or what I think the "best" decision is-I've made the focus of the decision on what God is calling our family to do. It is, by the way, difficult to set my love of teaching aside when I pray about it, but I'm doing the best I can.

August? Really?!

I cannot believe it's been August since I last posted! All I can say for myself is that life has been busy, and I am no longer able to get at the computer while Littlest is awake. I don't think I'll complain about that-She's pure joy to have around. I'd rather look at her than a computer screen anyway. I guess I feel the same about the other Littles too! :) Other than that, I have way too many other projects that I've been working on...the biggest being a cross-stitch Advent calendar. It's coming along, but will not be done before Advent, which means that the pajamas I was hoping to make for the kids for Christmas probably won't be done either. *Sigh* There is always next year. I'll try to get everyone caught up on the happenings around here.