A Beautiful and Amazing Christmas!!!!

Our Family shared a beautiful and amazing Christmas this year!  Little baby Jesus was so generous to us.

Interior Peace and the increase of Faith and Hope seem to be the theme of this Christmas and upcoming year!!!

God desired for us to spend some real quality family time on Christmas.  We had to cancel Christmas Dinner plans with friends and were so disappointed.   The reason being that Andrew caught the stomach bug and vomited from Midnight Christmas Eve until about 5:00 am Christmas morning.  Pool little guy.  However, because of Andrew's sickness and our having to cancel dinner plans, the entire family stayed in our jammies all day long.  The boys absolutely LOVED this since one of their gifts were Transformers jammies, which they see as costumes in which they actually become Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee.

All in all, not the Christmas we planned, but God certainly made it into something even more than we could have imagined.  Isn't HE continually doing this in our lives?  If we allow Him into our hearts, He can transform us into something (or someone) beyond the hopes and dreams we could ever have for ourselves.

Merry Christmas and May be Peace of the Christ Child Control your Hearts!!!!

This last one is a video so it won't show up in the book.  So sorry guys!  It's mostly to share with family!!

Mark's Birthday photos

Icing the birthday cake.  

Homemade maple cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Recipe courtesy of Pioneer Woman. I love her recipes!!!

The long awaited and anticipated BATCAVE!!!  Later that day, the boys were playing quietly and  I couldn't resist taking a peek.  To my surprise, Andrew was playing with the batcave and Mark was playing with Robin and the box.  Andrew's response, "we talked about it and he let me play with the batcave."

I didn't bring the camera to Chuck E. Cheese, but that is where we went for dinner. The boys had a blast.  All three of them.  After Chuck E. Cheese, we came home and ate cake.  It was a fantastic day for everyone, especially the birthday boy.  

It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas!!

The excitement! The anticipation! The Tree!  The baking!  The longing!  The Photos!

This has been a tough, but great Advent for us.  We spent the first two weeks trying to focus on Advent and preparing for Jesus to come.  We tried to light our Advent Wreath every night for dinner and sing "O Come, O Come, Emanuel".  We celebrated St. Nicholas Day with candy in the boys shoes and a new DVD about St. Nicholas.  We celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  All the while "Christmas" is raging all around us.  Advent is always a very confusing time for me.  My soul longs to prepare my heart for "the one my heart longs for", but my flesh can't help but get caught up in the secular "Christmas".  I then become depressed and cynical which is completely counterproductive to what Christmas is all about.  AT least those who are celebrating and preparing are filled with Joy!  But I think for me, this is all part of my struggle in preparing myself for Jesus and the graces He's bring on Christmas morning.

The third week was a little stressful when the the reality that Christmas is almost here sets in and we prepare for the celebration of Mark's birthday.  This year we discovered the O Antiphons.  How beautiful!  Where have they been all my life?  The longing, the anticipation in those Antiphons.  Another family tradition has begun.  Bruce and I prayed the prayers together each day while the boys helped us by singing  "O Come, O Come Emanuel".

The boys are counting down the days until Christmas.  Andrew, especially is so very excited.  The other morning I was laying in bed, enjoying the peace and quite of the day and the sound of the the shower in the bathroom while praying my morning offering.  All of a sudden, Andrew came running into the room and jumped into bed with me.  He snuggled up next to me and asked, "Mom, what do you want for Christmas?"  "Peace and Joy", I responded.  "I would like Baby Jesus to fill my heart with  Peace and Joy.."  "OH, so baby Jesus can bring gifts, like Santa Claus."

Andrew and I made an Advent Chain to help give him some idea of when Christmas would get here.  He asked almost every day of December, "Is it Christmas today?"  until we finally sat down and made one.

We cut down our own Christmas tree this year at a Christmas tree farm.  The boys had so much fun.  It it sure to become a family tradition.

Christmas Photos of the boys this year!

So, now we wait in anticipation for the night of Jesus' birth and all the graces of peace, hope, joy, and faith he will bring!!!!!!

My Little Markie is 3 years old!

I can't believe my baby is 3.  He has been such a joy to our family.   Mark is every bit as energetic and bouncy as any average 2 almost 3 year old.  He especially loves to jump off of and onto anything and everything.  He also loves to be upside down.  I previously posted about this.  

There is, however,  a quiet, determined side of his personality that we are starting to see more and more of as he gets older.  We saw a glimpse of it when he decided that Christmas Eve 2008 was the day he was going to walk so he practiced all day long and by Christmas Day, he was walking all over the house.  He just recently started to love putting puzzles together.  He will spend 30 minutes putting together a 24 piece puzzle on his own, patiently trying all of the pieces every which way until they all come together.  He practiced and practiced until he learned to put on his socks all by himself.  Andrew is still quite content to have me put his on every morning.   I know that 2 was the "I do it myself" stage, but Mark took it to a level Andrew never did.  Not only does he want to do everything himself, but he wants to figure out "how" it is done.  He is eager to "learn from his mistakes" and is often willing to practice until it's perfect.  Not that he's a perfectionist, but he doesn't mind the effort it takes to learn a skill.

Of course, the best part is that amazing smile that comes with that sense of accomplishment.  I wish I had a photo of that.  

Mark just adores his brother Andrew and his Daddy.  For a while there I worried if he had an original thought all his own since EVERYTHING he said and did was an imitation of something Andrew had done or said.  He's growing out of that more as he is approaching three and developing more of his own language and personality.  

He is a Daddy's boy.  Although, he has started to want to cuddle more with Mommy in the last few months.  At least twice everyday he will curl up in my lap and want to be held for no more than a minute or two and then he's off to defeat the bad guys.  I LOVE those moments and treasure them in my heart.   

 

At least 4 out 7 days during the week, Mark's preferred choice of clothing is either of his two Superhero costumes (Superman or Robin).  He wears it To the store, school to pick up Andrew, meetings at church, and park outings.  Bruce and I draw the line at wearing it to church.  

Markie, we love you so much.  Your Dad and I thank our Good God that He chose to gift us with your life and make us a family. 

A Few "lights"I From the Silent Retreat

I wanted to share a few things that touched me on the weekend.  Grace was all around, as I imagine it always is on a retreat, especially a silent one where so much work is done interiorly.  These are some of the big things that spoke to my soul and made me go, "Ahh, yes".

"To rescue a slave, he gave away His son." - I am that slave.  Slave to my sins and weaknesses.

"God is greater than our mistakes and sins."  This always amazes me when I hear it and I need to hear it over and over.  It's one of those head/heart things.  My head wants to say, "yea, ok, I understand that.  it's common sense, right?", but thankfully my heart knows just how much and often I need to hear it and is in awe as if it is the very first time.


"May my trust in Christ be proportioned to His Trust in ME" - This was one of the fruits we were to pray for during our meditation on Matthew 14:22-33.  It's the story of the storm and Peter's walk on water.  Father explained that the Apostles had been on a boat in a storm all night and then they see Jesus coming toward them, walking on the water.  Peter's faith and trust in Jesus bring him to abandon the boat after hours of fighting the storm and walk on the water.

Father said, "Not by running away from challenges will we grow, but by facing them head-on.  It is there that we meet Jesus, in our struggles.  He can use our weaknesses in the solutions."

As long as Peter trusts Jesus, he walks on water.  It reminds me of a song we used to sing years ago in New Orleans, "If I Keep My Eyes on Jesus, I can Walk on Water."

"Maybe things fall apart because I take the credit and I'm trying to control everything.  I don't let God take care of things and I get in His way most of the time."  Which of course = lack of trust.  -  This was HUGE for me.  For the life of me I can't understand why I have such a hard time trusting such a loving, merciful, and trustworthy God who has proven all of those things to me over and over EVEN though He is God and doesn't need to prove anything to insignificant me.  He also didn't have to die a horrible, tortuous, death for the selfish sins I commit everyday, but He did that also, because He can't bear the thought of spending eternity without me.  Jesus, I trust in You.

And finally, (although I have so many more, I thought this was enough for now)


"God speaks with mankind, proposing a way of life, and awaiting a free response."  which seems to go hand in hand with "Personal experience of God through prayer is HOW we taste and see how good God is."  He never stops calling us to a life with Him.  He has so much to give us, give ME.  I need to respond to Him, spend time with Him, personally experience Him.

Silent Retreat

I attended a silent retreat this weekend.  Everyone should attend a silent retreat in their lifetime.  A warning, however, you will be hooked.  I was so excited in the days building up to the retreat.  I knew it was my own private little get away with Jesus and I miss connecting with Him on that level.  Try as I might throughout the rest of the year, "busy"ness and demands of the vocation of wife and motherhood doesn't set an environment for deep connection with Jesus.  I try to spend at least 15 minutes of quality one and one time with Him in the morning and I know that all I do as wife and mother is in service to Him.    I also attend Eucharistic adoration every other week, but there is truly something about being emersed in the presence of Jesus with very little distractions for more than a 48 hour period that is like a much needed drink of water to the soul.  It results in the most profound peace.

The retreat began on Friday night, at which time the silence begins, and doesn't end until  after 11:00 mass on Sunday.  For me, Friday night is spent trying to clear my mind and soul and leaving the world behind.  This is a difficult task and usually takes the entire of Friday night.  I had an experience this time on Friday night in our first meditation talk.  I'm not sure what the priest was saying, but he was trying to be funny and telling jokes and I was there for spiritual food so in my head, I started to judge him.  Can you believe?  I thought to myself, "How did he become a priest? "  The nerve of me.  I have been known to exaggerate to tell a good story, but I am NOT exaggerating when I say that not even 10 minutes later he starts to go into his "how I became a priest" story, which was absolutely beautiful.  He even remarked that he didn't know how he got on that tangent.  I couldn't believe that either.  I knew beyond a doubt that Jesus was telling me, "I'm here and I've got things under control.  Don't worry and let me handle things."   By the way, that priest was awesome and in so many talks Jesus used him to talk to me in a profound way.  That same priest would give a talk on the last day of the retreat on the topic "How to live a joy-filled life". One of the main practical points:  stop the RATS (really awful thoughts) in your head.  How ironic (not).

Saturday is the longest day ever and a work day, but I am so happy to go through this day.   For me, there is  lots of crying, reflection, weeping,  bearing of my soul, and sobbing.  This is the day of the Passion. There's something to be said for examining your conscience right in the middle of a 3 day silent retreat.  There is no where to run. No where to hide.  It's just you and your sins.  It also helps that one of the meditations that day is the Passion of Jesus.  A whole talk on how much Jesus loves me that He took on my sins.  I spent at least an hour gazing at Jesus on the Cross.  Looking at how ugly and painful my sins were for Him, brings true contrition.  A painful process, but Praise God that the Resurrection is around the corner because we should  never stop at the sinfulness.  There's always the Resurrection.

By the end of Saturday peace begins to emerge.  I've received Jesus, prayed the Rosary, walked the Stations of the Cross, spent time adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, prepared my Program of Life (where we identify areas of our lives where root sins keep us from growing in holiness and come up with concrete ways to build virtues in those areas), met with a spiritual  guide, meditated upon many aspects of Jesus' life and ways I can build my trust in Him, tried to truly understand His love for me,  contemplated God's compassionate Mercy towards me, and given Him all of my burdens.  In addition to all of that, I experienced a most profound and healing confession and I am now ready for the Resurrection.

It slips in very quietly, very peacefully.  I believe it was that night when we were given time to examine our conscience and as I looked into my soul, I found the most profound peace.  That peace that surpasses understanding.  I found Jesus there.  I had worked hard on cleaning out my soul and HE was there!!!!  That one which my heart desires.  There really was nothing to say.  At that moment nothing in the world mattered but  HE and I.  We just basked in that peace and  love for as long we could.  I knew it would only last, if I was lucky, through the next day.  I knew once the silence was broken, it would disappear.  Not that HE would disappear, but my ability to access Him in the deep depths of my soul would disappear when I stepped back into the world. He would always be there waiting for me and will happily and lovingly take any time I will give Him; ten minutes here and a prayer of desperation there, but sadly that moment won't come again for a long time.  I know it is only a drop in the ocean that is heaven, but it was my little taste of heaven.  Heaven:  my true home.

Carving Pumpkins

Here is our small attempt to keep Holy - Halloween.  I'm still not quite sure how to handle "Halloween", but this is what we did this year.  I found this little poem, which we read as we were carving our pumpkins.  We talked about sin, a little, since my children are so young.  Although Andrew is beginning to understand the concept of sin.  Also, because they will see many scary things, we spoke about how some choose to use Halloween to celebrate evil, but we are going to just have fun dressing up and collecting candy and letting the light of Jesus in our hearts shine.  We prayed for everyone we will see on Halloween.

ALSO, we celebrated All Saints Day on Monday by gathering photos, statues, and cards of our favorite Saints and making an All Saints Day altar on our mantel.  The boys really enjoyed this.  WE then prayed a litany to the Saints. I regret not getting a photo of our All Saints Day altar.  Maybe next year.

Here is the poem:
Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. 
God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. 
He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all of the yucky stuff -- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. 
Then He carves you a bright new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see!

Contemplating Halloween Revisited

Maybe a possible solution to the "Halloween issue" instead of boycotting Halloween all together is to use this as a teaching moment. Here is a wonderful link that I found.  Enjoy!

Obviously, I am still trying to figure out this blogging thing.  I thought I had linked the link, but apparently had not.

By the way, there are also links from this link that are great so keep searching once you are here:

Here it is:  http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2010/10/saint-o-lantern-link-up.html

SHIRT OF FLAME: WHY I KNEEL

Since the only meaningful thing I did today was laundry:  didn't shower, didn't get dressed, basically ignored my kids all day (did I really admit that), I had ample time on my hands between loads.

I found two blogs which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!!!

One is here with a link to a post that brought tears to my eyes.  I have NO doubt I will be posting a link to another in the near future.

SHIRT OF FLAME: WHY I KNEEL: "Genuflect: late Latin genuflectere, from Latin genu, knee, and flectere, to bend. Date: 1630. 1.a. to bend the knee. b. to touch the knee to..."

Contemplating Halloween

Contemplating Halloween

In addition to laundry, laughter, and jammies on this Friday, (now afternoon and still no shower), I have been contemplating Halloween which is around the corner.  I know many families who do not "celebrate" Halloween and I respect them for that choice.  Bruce and I have allowed the boys to dress up and trick or treat that past few years because, let's face it, to them the only meaning it holds is that they get to dress up and  get candy.  

Having said that, I feel that this will be the last Halloween that we won't have to think about what Halloween actually is or means.  So I have been thinking about that alot lately.  I have heard some who claim that Halloween, which actually means "Holy Eve", has it's tradition as the Eve of All Saint's Day and there is nothing wrong with celebrating the traditional Halloween.  After all, we celebrated Halloween when we were children, right?  I guess what is eating at me or disturbing my peace about all of this is that while Halloween is fun with the candy, treats, dressing up, and a little spookiness, the underlying premise of Halloween is that it has become a celebration for what is evil.  However, the scariest part of all is that it is packaged to children as fun.  It makes me almost want to cry when I see a child (or baby) dressed up as the devil or a witch. I mean there is no such thing as a good witch.  How can a person reconcile serving Jesus Christ and being a witch?  It's like oil and water.  Wicca is real.  There are real witches.  Some may say I am making too big of a deal.  Maybe so.  However, I DO know that we exist in the midst of a spiritual world which is in a constant battle for our souls.  One side is working to assure our salvation and that our eternal souls are spent in the kingdom of God while the other is NOT.  It just seems prudent to do all you can to NOT give the other side any advantage.  Is celebrating Halloween opening a door that we don't want opened?  I'm not 100% sure of that, but I am certainly going to pray and discern over the next year.  

Friday

Casual Friday

It is 12:30 and for the second Friday in a row, I find myself having not showered and still in my jammies.  Besides the fact that I am the biggest procrastinator I know, I  think the reason for this is that we go and go and go all week long that on Fridays (when we have no real place we have to be), I just enjoy lounging around all morning long.  Who am I kidding?  My 4th load of laundry is in the washer while 5th and 6th lay in sorted piles on my kitchen floor.  But I do enjoy not having to rush to be somewhere.  Even if I do enjoy it so much so that I can't even bring myself to shower and get dressed.

Missing My Camera

A few months ago I dropped my camera on the ground.  As a result, it doesn't close and the battery is always dead.  The only way I can take a picture is immediately after my battery has been charged.  This leaves those spontaneous photo ops gone forever.  There were two this morning that were hilarious and I really regret missing them.   However, both reminded me of old photos of Andrew so I am going to attempt to at least give an idea of what they were.  

1st - Above is Andrew at about 21 months.   Ok, I was unloading the dishwasher in the kitchen when I look into the living room and am surprised by the cutest little moon. Picture Mark in this exact same outfit (shirt and boots), but with no diaper AND bent over cleaning up toys.  It was hilarious!!!
In an aside, Mark is 34 months old and wearing the same jammies Andrew wore at 21 months)

2nd missed photo op - Again this is Andrew at about 19 months wearing his Halloween costume, which looked at little snug then.  The missed photo op was that Andrew (my boy who absolutely LOVES to dress up and pretend)  had that same costume on today.  He wore it for almost an hour.  I have no idea HOW he got it on.. I do know that when he was ready to take it off, it took us about 10 minutes.  He started to panic at one point and when it was finally off he said, "I thought I'd have to wear that forever." 

Humility

Humility - Freedom from pride and arrogance.  Enables one to have a sense of one's own unworthiness through imperfection and sinfulness.


Wow - Did today's gospel touch anyone else?  The basic lesson for me was humility.  It was the parable about the Pharisee and the Tax collector praying in the temple.  The Pharisee spends his prayer time boasting of all the wonderful things he has done while the tax collector humbly acknowledges his sinfullness and unworthiness before His Creator and begs for mercy.

Have you ever prayed the Litany of  Humility http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/Litanies/humility?  Red Flag Alert:::: don't pray it unless you are truly prepared to practice that virtue.  It is a very difficult one.  I have been practicing that virtue for almost 20 years and feel that I am no closer to being humble than the day I first prayed that Prayer. I struggle greatly with humility because 1) I am a first born child and by definition, bossy, in almost every sense of the word b) God blessed me with 16 years of being a single Catholic women.  AT which time, I learned as much as I possibly could about my faith.  The second is not where I struggle.  I have  a love and passion for my faith that bears in me a strong desire to share it with others.  However, the combination of  1 and b can make me look like a bossy know-it-all at times.

Practicing the virtue of humility requires you to possess a full knowledge of your sins, failings, weaknesses, skeletons in your closet, etc. while at the same time maintaining a firm confidence in your dignity as a child of God made in His image and likeness, graced and blessed by Him, your Creator.  If you tip too far to one side, you can fall into despair, the other side, self-righteousness.  Maintaining that balance is not easy.  The freedom comes in the fact that I cannot do it alone and I am, indeed, in need of a Savior who lovingly died for me 2000 years ago.  When I am able to acknowledge that and allow Him to save me, I am, at least a little, practicing the virtue of humility.

PracticingVirtues

My newest adventure with Jesus is practicing virtues.  A very good friend of mine recently introduced me to The Virtue Store www.thevirtuestore.com.   It's a discipline (for lack of a better word) program designed to help your children identify and build virtues.  I immediately LOVED the idea, ordered the program,  and spent days waiting by the mailbox for it to arrive. 


For me, it's important to sow those seeds of faith and develop that relationship with Jesus as much as I can.  With the way today's society and culture is heading, I sometimes fear for their souls if I don't.   I want to help provide them an anchor and as many tools as possible for when they hit those teen - young adult years.  I try to stay grounded in prayer myself and am constantly begging the guidance of heaven.  I recently heard Scott Hahn say that at night before he goes to bed, he sometimes goes into his children's room and prays to their guardian angels, asking for them to help him to know the best way to bring his children to Jesus and heaven.   Beautiful.  I started doing that and not long after was when I discovered the Virtue Chart.  


What surprised me (not sure why it surprised me, I should have expected it) was that I found myself in desperate need of practicing the virtues right alongside my boys.  God is so good and I am so happy to say that I am always eager to embark on any adventure He puts in my path.  


So, here we are, practicing our virtues.  Please pray for us, especially me.  

Pumpkin Patch

Photos are finally download from way back in October.  Some catching up to do.

We took a day trip with friends to our favorite pumpkin patch.   Although there are several pumpkin patches near town,  we have been traveling a little over an hour to this one for 3 years now.  Bruce likes to search the internet and plan Sunday day trips to the most obscure little places around Texas.  We always have a great time and this is no exception.  Obviously there is face painting, hay rides, pumpkin painting, hay and corn mazes, and lots of home bakes pumpkin goodies.  There is always this cute little bluegrass band which Bruce and I particularly enjoy.  Of course, there are pumpkins.

Andrew as a tiger.

Which, of course, meant Mark had to be a tiger as well.

Mark driving a tractor.

I just had to include the entire sequence of shots in the pumpkins because it depicts Andrew's personality so well and is so funny when viewed in sequence.

This is boring.  Hurry up, Daddy.

Dad, do you need help because I know how to take excellent pictures?

Time to readjust. Just give me a minute.

Silliness sets in. 

Whoa!! Did you see that?

Not sure what's going on with the tongue, but did anyone notice that Mark has barely moved?  

My sweet Markie

Markie:  Can we go to the park now?

Mom:  I'm sorry.  We're not going to go to the park.

Markie: You said we going to park.

Mom:  I know I said maybe we can go to the park, but I changed my mind.  Sorry.

Markie:  Can we go to the park when you done changing your mind?

Sickness in the Our house

Sickness has fallen upon the our household.  This strange thing is that it has been a variety of illnesses, unless it is the same, but evolving.  AT least one person in the our household has been sick or recovering from sickness almost every day since September 2.  We may have had 2-3 "good" days this whole month.

Andrew and I have had the stomach bug.  Mark, Andrew, and I have had a fever/cold-like symptom thing, and I have even had pink eye.  Yes, you heard that right.  Not my 2 and 4 year old boys, but me.  I recently purchased new glasses and suspect that I picked it up trying on 20 or so frames.  Here's the difficult part about this entire thing.  Mommy has been sick just as much, if not more than the boys.  It's tough enough having sick children, but when Mommy is sick, the whole house almost falls apart.

Andrew and I missed our church festival, Aquinasfest, yesterday and were so disappointed, especially since we missed last year due to sickness.

If anyone reads this, please pray for our family.  I suspect there is a lesson in here somewhere for me.  When I'm well and things have settled, Jesus will tell me what that lesson was.  I have some ideas already. I know that our entire life here on Earth along with each experience is meant to bring us closer to Jesus and our eternal home.  So this whole experience is just one more step up the mountain.

Cute little toes

I remember when Andrew was about 4 months old.  WE were attending a city festival in Geneva, I believe.  Anyway, a lady approached us and was cooing and admiring Andrew.  She was looking at his toes (evidently he didn't have shoes on) and she said to me, "Enjoy these cute little toes, because one day you'll turn around and they'll be big and hairy" .  I thank God for the gift of my boys and their (currently) cute little toes.

Mark's cute little 2 year old toes.

Mark's handstands

Ok, Mark's favorite position these days is upside down in a handstand.  These photos were taken over the course of just 2 days.

In the evening after bath.

 The next morning.

That night!

I'm thinking I should put him into gymnatics.

Direction for our Times Family Retreat

Over Memorial Day weekend we attended a Family Retreat.  It was in association with Direction for our Times and The Volumes by Anne.  Bruce and I have been reading The Volumes since Andrew was born and they have been a source of much needed grace and peace through some very difficult times.  We still ready then daily and find that they have so enriched our faith and brought us closer to a closer relationship with Jesus.

We were so excited when we heard that they were offering a FAmily Retreat ONLY a little over an hour from our home.  We had such a wonderful time meeting and faith sharing with other families AND growing spiritually together as a family.  The grounds were spectacular and the boys had a BLAST!!!  We participated in a group Way of the Cross as well as a Living Rosary in the Rosary Garden.  The FAmily Scavenger Hunt activity enabled us explore the beautiful grounds and work together as a family.  We fished, hunted for bugs, canoed on the pond, and many, many more.

There is another Family Retreat scheduled for Labor Day weekend.  Information can be found at directionforourtimes.com.

Here are some photos!

Andrew caught a fish. It was a scavenger hunt item.

Andrew the bug hunter.  Another Scavenger Hunt item.

Andrew and Mark enjoy the campfire and smores.

Mark in the Rosary Garden.

The Playground almost right outside of our cottage.

The grounds were absolutely beautiful.  

OK, I'm back.

OK.  I'm back.  I was in a little bit of funk for a while, but I believe, through the help of Jesus, I have been able to pull out.  It think it was a combination of many things including the trip back to La with all of it's changes and the onset of summer heat.  

Part of that funk may have been from the fact that I  have been frequenting Yahoo comment boards on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in an attempt to defend my Catholic Faith.   I don't know if it was curiosity or God that first made me click on that first article, but I know it was God and the level of hate and misinformation about the Catholic Faith that made me to stay.  I have debated athiests and protestant Catholic haters on issues from the existence of God, Mary, Communion of Saints, women ordination, etc., etc.  In many cases, it forced me to ask myself, "Why do I believe this?" and in all cases, through the gift of faith and the love of God, I have been brought to a deeper and fuller understanding of  my Catholic Faith AND the very existence and love of God.  It has also given me a sheer appreciation for the blessed gift of faith for there are many lost souls who refuse to be open to the love of God and the gift of Faith, which I believe, from this experience, only results in lack of peace.  

Based on this experience, I know now more than ever that the only true source of Peace, Love and Joy can only be found through the experience of the transforming Love of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, I trust in you.  

Lazy, HOT, Summer days.

So, while June was a busy and active month filled with pool dates and play dates with friends and good times, July and the beginning of August found us at home most of the time.

Brotherly love.

Summer Fun.

Visiting The Farm

Andrew picking apples at The Farm with PawPaw.

Daddy, Andrew, and Mark fishing in the pond on the Farm.

WE began July in Louisiana, Ether Louisiana to be exact.  In December, my parents sold their home of 20 years and moved from Thibodaux, LA to a 40 acre farm in Ether, LA.  This is my first trip "home" to the new farm.  It was bittersweet for me.  I am thrilled that my parents are almost giddy in their excitement over their new adventure on the farm. I also know that home is where family is and not a particular dwelling, although many memories can be associated with a particular dwelling so for that reason, it was a little sad not going back to the same house.  

We had a great time!  The boys absoultely LOVE playing all day long at The Farm!  The only thing they didn't love was Mom and Dad's first animal, a lab named Aggie Mae. She tackled both boys to the ground the second they emerged from the car and she was on their "avoid" list the remainder of the trip.

More photos from the Farm.

Paw Paw's new toy. 

Paw Paw's Farm Patch..

Markie acting shy for the camera.

Andrew and Mark's enemy - Aggie Mae