Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well, we didn't have corned beef and cabbage, but, we had a little celebration for St. Patrick anyways. I made a big lunch with stuffing, baked chicken, and green beans. Even though this is not a traditional St. Patty's day meal, we did serve it all up on green dishes. We listened to the story of St. Patrick and had shamrock cookies (yes, I know... as you can see I took the easy way out and bought ready made cookies I just had to bake!) and we drank green milk (food color can turn lots of foods and beverages into holiday fare!) The kids thought it was fun and I heard lots of "thanks, Mom" so I know they are happy and that makes me happy!



St. Patrick's Breastplate

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this today to me forever
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Saturday

This past Saturday (thanks to my mother-in-law for organizing) the kids and I joined some family members to pray outside Planned Parenthood in St. Cloud for an end to abortion. I believe our family count was 19 of us in St. Cloud and 3 more at a Planned Parenthood in Michigan during the same time period. We took an hour for the 40 Days For Life campaign. We enjoyed ourselves and, hopefully, our time there was fruitful. When I checked the 40 Days website the count was... day 28, 319 babies saved!!

Field trip

Since Myriah had Monday off at the high school we decided to go on a filed trip. We drove to St. Paul to visit the Cathedral and then went over to the Science Museum.

The Cathedral is truly a very beautiful church. The children were in awe as we walked around looking at the various statues and stained glass windows.

But... the highlight and, really, what prompted the visit to the cathedral in the first place:

An exact replica of Michelangelo's "La Pieta" (Italian for "pity")

After my first miscarriage, back in 1997, the Pieta became my greatest source of comfort. I was 17 weeks along and needed to be induced to deliver my baby. Holding little Lewis' body in my hands, all I could think of was Our Lady holding the broken body of her Son after His death for us, and in the suffering of my heavenly Mother I found comfort for my own. Through the 4 other miscarriages and the loss of my husband, the imagine of the Pieta and the Seven Sorrows of Mary have become very dear to my heart.


Unlike visitors to Rome, here you are able to walk around the statue, seeing it from all sides. What a beautiful piece of art! So hard to imagine how Michelangelo could take a hunk of rock and carve such a detailed wonder.

Look close and you see the scars in His side, in His feet, and in His hand.

Sitting and praying in front my Mother as she cradles her Son, I was struck with such a sense of awe. Such suffering depicted and, yet, such beauty to be found. It was truly a grace filled moment for me that day! A gift from my Lord and His Mother. I found myself wondering, would I ever find the beauty of my own suffering and truly be grateful for it?

Here is a picture of the plaque that stands beside the statue. Click on it to enlarge it. It is worth the read. You can also find more information here.

After visiting the Cathedral we headed over to the Science Museum for the IMAX film on Vincent Van Gogh. Although it could not compare to the time spent at the Cathedral, it was very informational and an enjoyable addition to the day. I never knew Van Gogh had produced so many paintings in his lifetime; 900 paintings and 1100 sketches and drawings (only selling one while he was still living.)

Finally, I return

It has been a very long time since I have take the time to post! Life has been twisting and turning and heading full speed ahead!

As many of you know, I started grad. school in January. As it turns out, the timing is not right for grad. school. But, not to worry. Grad school will always be there!

My oldest son has been diagnosed with Developmental Dyslexia and I have a few others that may have it as well. So, I am looking into specialized training so I will be able to tutor students and adults with dyslexia, starting with my own children. It is very empowering to finally have some very clear answers to some of the things we have been struggling with for years!

Since my last post the kids have been busy with school, but, finding time to enjoy the wonderful weather outside. Bikes, skateboards, and scooters have found their way out of the shed. Last weekend we all headed out to the wild life refuge. I wanted to take some winter pictures to go with our summer and fall shots. Unfortunately, after driving all the way there this is what we found!

So my photo was limited to a distance.

But we chose to find another trail still open to hikers and enjoyed our evening in the woods just the same!

Epiphany

Every year we celebrate Epiphany Sunday (the second Sunday after Christmas.) The readings at Mass tell of the wise men that made the journey bearing gifts to honor the new born King. Before our first child was born, Paul and I decided we would set apart this day each year to give our gifts to our children and make this day special just for us. It gives us a chance to celebrate throughout the 12 days of Christmas. We have visited with extended family. We have welcomed a new year.


This year Epiphany was January 3rd. Right away in the morning I put a pork loin and carrots in the slow cooker, set the table and listened to a chorus of "Mom, when are we going to open gifts?" You would think they would remember from year to year that we do not open gifts until we get home from Mass; but, every year they forget (yeah... forget? Oh, I'm sure not! They just hope I will forget and let them open them sooner. Nice try kids!)

After Mass, we walked in the door to the wonderful smell of dinner cooking. After putting the potatoes on to cook, I took pity on the children and we gathered in the living room to open gifts. Before opening the our presents, we sing "We Three Kings" and add our wise men to the nativity set. This year we add something new. I found gold, frankincense, and myrrh in decorative boxes. As we sang "We Three Kings, the kids took turns placing the gifts near the manger. Then we all gave our gifts to Jesus for the up coming year. These gifts can be anything that you feel God wants you to work on in the year ahead. We write our gifts on a slip of paper and place them in a small box that sits on our family altar throughout the year. Then the kids were finally able to open their gifts.

After gifts we had a wonderful dinner together. Apparently, I can still cook! The kids loved it! We decided we wanted to spend the rest of the evening playing games, but what do you do when 6 people all want to play something different?? I had everyone write a game on a slip of paper and put them in a bag. We drew out one slip and played that game for awhile and moved on to another Apples to Apples was the first draw and mom came out victorious!! Then we played movies charades. Lawrence put in NERF war. That was the third and final draw. We split up and played three on three (little did I know we had 6 nerf guns in the house) and each team defended one end of the house. Which ever team commandeered the most nerf bullets by the set time would win! Myriah, Magdalene and I took on James, Madison, and Lawrence. After almost an hour of running, chasing, dodging, and laughing we all dropped. By unanimous decision, games were over and it was time to add songs to the new mp3 players and watch a movie. We had fun!!! It was a very good day!

Hello again!

Yes, I know! It has been a looonnngggg time since I last posted on my blog; too long. I am not even sure why. I guess I wasn't much up for blogging in December. The holidays were still a little difficult for me this year. In some ways even more difficult than last year. Talking with a few widow friends of mine I soon discovered that it is normal for the second year to be some what harder than the first. We are not in the same "fog" we were in last year, but, the reality of his absence is just that much more pronounced.

We did have a very nice holiday with family however. Due to the pending winter storm that was due to hit Christmas Eve and continue through the weekend, we packed in a rush and headed to my mother's Wednesday, a full 2 days earlier than planned.

Christmas Eve day was spent just relaxing and visiting with my mom. This is our 1st Christmas since Grandma died (my mom's mom) and I am glad we were there to spend the day. Later that evening we headed into Mass. The church was beautiful and the homily was great.

I usually do not give my children gifts until Epiphany Sunday (the 2nd Sunday after Christmas) but I did allow them to open one gift Christmas Eve. It really wasn't from me though, so I could justify it. Thanks to some VERY generous friends my kids were THRILLED with their Christmas Eve gift.

Yes, I made sure the anticipation had time to build. "Humor your mother and sit for a picture OR we don't open the present tonight " :) I need to use all the leverage I can at times.
Hmmm... do you think they liked it? I'm just not sure! What was so thrilling, you ask. Why, a Wii, of course. Now I have even more leverage for getting that schoolwork and chores finished!!

Thankfully we chose to head out of town when we did as the storm hit as predicted and I would have chosen to stay home.
It was, without a doubt, a white Christmas. Very beautiful, I might add. Of course, we had already safely arrived at our destination. If I had been forced to drive in it, or been stranded someplace I had not expected to be, I might have thought differently. But, like I said, we had already arrived, so Christmas morning the kids and I cranked up the CD with the song "Let It Snow" and we sang along!

That afternoon my older sister and her son and my younger sister, her husband and their 4 girls joined us for dinner and fun. After gifts we played Apples to Apples (bible edition) and Phase Ten. A few of the younger ones spent some time enjoying all the snow.

After our fun at Nana's, Saturday we headed out in the snow and drove to Grandma's house (Paul's mom) for another round of fun. Saturday we went to Mass with Grandma and back to her house for a wonderful dinner. Paul's brother, Tim, his wife, Jen, and their daughter Ava joined us and we had a nice evening visiting while the kids played. Sunday afternoon was spent at Julie (Paul's sister)and Richard's with the MN siblings and families, and Mom, of course.

Monday we finally left for home. We had originally thought we would leave Christmas day (Friday) and head home Sunday evening. Well, after leaving 2 days early and coming home one day later than planned, we were all glad to finally be home again. It is always fun to get away for awhile and we really enjoyed our time with family; but, there is something about coming home again!!

The feast of Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas has come and filled our stockings each year on his feast day... December 6th. This year we happened to be at Nana's (my mom's). St. Nick found us there as well.!

December 6th is also my mom's birthday and since December 7th is Magdalene's birthday, my sisters and their children joined us for cupcakes and ice cream.