It's not easy being an angle in a house of boys

I find this odd, but true.

I have chocolate milk on my ceiling.

The cup slipped out of my 5 year old's hand. It hit the ground. Both of us stood in amazement. Chocolate milk was everywhere including above our heads.

Advent and the little ones

Getting ready for Advent. I've been searching around for some good ideas for Advent crafts for our little ones. I came across CatholicMom.com . Lots of neat ideas under "Faith". I really like the brief child friendly explanations that coincide with Holy days and Sundays liturgy. They provide coloring pages, and word puzzles that reinforce the message of that weeks gospel. I printed a few off, and hope to give them a try starting next Sunday. November 21st we celebrate the last Sunday in Ordinary time. The priest will wear either gold or white vestments. This Sunday we will focus on the triumph of our Savior Jesus Christ. The following Sunday, November 28th will be the start of Advent, and a new calender year in the Catholic faith. I am so excited that I can share this with my children.

sunday fidgets

Sunday Oct 31
Luke 19 1-10

The lesson was not about Zacchaeus seeing Jesus. It is about Jesus seeing Zacchaeus.
Put yourself in a place for Jesus to see you.

We are all connected. What you do affects me, what I do affects you. A reminder to make good choices. We do not have to climb a sycamore tree for God to see our deeds, or the intentions of our hearts. Put yourself out there, take chances, be generous with the gifts God has given you.

Halloween joke

In St. Louis it is a Halloween tradition for the trick or treater's to exchange jokes for candy.

This year our 5 yr old was in on the action. His dad told him a joke. "where do fish go when they are sick? To the dock." So the boys go up to the first house.

John (our 10yr old) gives the first joke, "What is a ghosts favorite toy? A Boo marang."
Nicholas (our 7 yr old) was second, "Trick or treat, I like sweets, Halloween can't be beat." (I know, it's not a joke, but he thinks it is funny.)
THEN Donald steps up. "Where do fish go when they are sick? To the DECK." I couldn't help but to laugh. A dock looks just like a deck, just on water. It was close enough to get a chuckle, and score some candy.

a barb-isum

If I don't TRY it, I'll never DO it.

yoga

I have started taking a yoga class. Loving it.

WOW! Where is the time going? School is in session. The calender is filling up with activities.

Feeling better. Just so busy. It's a Good busy.

feeling under the weather. Have a cold. Ugh.

PSR

first night of PSR (parish school of religion). all seems to have gone well. celebrated the night with ice cream.

sunday fidgets

Fathers message:
Don't try... STRIVE to fit through the narrow gate.

The following was not part of the sermon, but my thoughts as they ramble sometimes. As I sat and listened to the sermon, my mind started to wonder. Earlier that day I had stopped into church to pick up something a friend had left in the vestibule. I had Nicholas with me. We paused to watch father pour two buckets of water into the baptismal fountain. This was a behind the scenes sneak peek for Nicholas (7yrs). As father finished and greeted us, Nicholas had questions. "What were you doing?" Father explained that the water was low in the fount, and he was adding holy water to it. Father gave a brief explanation of evaporation, and the need to replenish the water. Nicholas followed him around the corner to see where the buckets belonged, and asked "Is this where you get the water?" No, father explained, this is where the buckets go.

As I sat in the bench on Saturday, I replayed this little exchange. I thought about the holy spirit in the form of water, transformed (or evaporating) into the air we breath. The mystery of it all. My son, "So that's where the buckets go." The real question on his mind, the same question many of us have from time to time was, where the holy spirit might be found. Can I see it, touch it, take a little bit home? Like the air we breath, the holy spirit is always ready to touch us, fill us, and take us home.

Why is bed time so challenging? Oh yeah, because I'm so tired. I wish this little guy would stop flopping around and go to sleep.

"This is a free country, and you can't buy me!" Nicholas 7yrs old

sunday fidgets

'pray for trust, not clarity' - Mother Teresa

"Through prayer we keep our friendship with God keenly alive" Pope Benedict XV

sunday fidgets

(Luke 10 38-42) Mary and Martha was our reading today at church.

The readings today were about hospitality. We prayed for forgiveness for the times we were not as hospitable as we should have been. 'You can be at the right place at the right time, but with the wrong attitude.'

Forgive me, there is more to say. I will have to revisit this again on a day that has not been quite so taxing.

Don't make me come down there

"Don't make me come down there!"-GOD

sign hanging in my friends kitchen.

Kitchen Table Wisdom

The other day I found my self sitting at a friend's kitchen table. Three ladies sharing tid-bits of our summer. Passing back and forth a bit of wisdom, as we talk about the struggles that go along with being a mom, a wife, a friend. The time passed too quickly. As we stood up to leave, my friend suggested a book, "Kitchen Table Wisdom". I am on the look out for that book. With any luck I will find it before my birthday. As I type this I am sitting at my kitchen table. It is probable the most functional piece of furniture in our house. As I grow older I am coming to realize how much I enjoy having friends in the kitchen. It changes your pace, and widens your focus. I certainly could use more Kitchen Table Wisdom in my life.

("Sitting around the table telling stories is not just a way of passing time. It is the way the wisdom gets passed along. The stuff that helps us to live a life worth remembering."

- Kitchen Table Wisdom; Stories that heal by Rachel Naomi Remen")

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."

-John Lennon

Growing Pains

Growing pain is the name we give the pain our children feel when they are little and their legs ache in the middle of the night from a hard days play. The pain they feel with the breakup of their first love. Or the disappointment that comes, when they find out that the hard work they put into a project just isn’t enough. But, growing pains do not end in adolescence. They carry on into adulthood and plague us at different stages of our lives.

There are times in our lives we can see change coming, other times we can be completely side swiped. When you go to bed the night before your wedding, you know tomorrow things will be different. You leave behind your single life, and begin a new life with your spouse. You know the day the test comes back positive, it marks a turning point in your life. A time that calls you to be more then who you were the day before. Whether we want it to or not, our life will not continue with the old status quo. Parents grow older, kids go through tough stages, friends move away, loved ones pass away. This is the flow of life. Our hard times may change us, but they do not define us.

When we are on the door step of change there can be a pang in your chest. These are the times that we reflect on where we have been, and where we want to be. Sometimes it is a matter of growing out of one person’s shadow, to move into place that you can claim for yourself. Mistakes can be made, some big, some small. Stretching beyond the old, into the new is not always a pleasant time. There is a commercial I like on TV. It is advertising for a business collage. The actress is wearing a fast food outfit and the announcer says “If you keep doing the same thing, what is going to change?” I don’t like to think of commercials as holding wisdom, but this one does. I turn my thoughts to that commercial when I find myself attacking problems with old habits that don’t give results.

Recently a friend sent me an article about Hillary Clinton visiting Our Lady of Guadalupe. From the questions Hillary asked, you could tell she did not know what to expect. She did not wake up that morning expecting to be face to face with a miracle. It occurred to me how much Mother Mary urns for us to come to her. To embrace her, and find comfort with her. She urges us to take up her cause, and fallow the path that God has laid before us. How will this change Hillary? I spent the day wondering….What would it be like if Hillary Clinton became a pro-life advocate? It seems it is not our choice to grow. Our choice is weather we grow closer to God. We are bound to stumble along the way. We have to try to be patient with ourselves and others. Growth can be painful , and it is not always easy. Change does not come in a day, a month, or a year… but a in a moment.

Sunday Fidgets - Pentecostal Birthday Cake

After church today we celebrated Pentecostal Sunday with a Red Velvet Birthday Cake. The boys helped me make it. We sang Happy Birthday to the Church. We enjoyed the cake. The boys, especially my Kindergartner, had a lot of great questions. They were very interested in this Holy Day. They asked about the Holy Spirit. Who is he, where is he, what does he do? Why was this the church's birthday? Why red? This could have been the most interactive, and constructive conversation about religion I have shared with my boys. I love moments like this. It was practically effortless, yet nothing short of amazing.

Endurance

"We should run the race that God sets before us with endurance."
I read this as I passed by the local church. It was posted on their outdoor sign.

It seems to go reinforce my "unexpected renewal" theme running through my life lately. So much in life depends on us to simply keep plugging away. It took me too many years to realize that the dependable employee, was the more valuable employee. A dependable employee with a good attitude? Invaluable. That same wisdom carries across the board in life.

On a more literal note. As I passed by, I also thought of the many 5Ks that benefit charities. What a great excuse to get moving, and donate to a good cause. There are so many to choose from. Hope to see you at one soon.

Starting spring with a Garden

Look closely and you can see the tiny tomato plants. It has rained for 4 days since I planted them. It has been a strange spring. It was so hot in April, now in May it has been chilly with a lot of rain.

Unexpected renewal

The running theme in my life is: Unexpected renewal.

The picture above is the perfect example. A tree fell on our swing set. At first my heart sank as I looked at the damage. My next thought was how we could rebuild. I am hoping we will be able to go to the lumber yard soon. With this unexpected destruction, we have the opportunity to replace it with something stronger and better.

Every spring I turn over the dirt in my garden to get rid of the weeds, and soften the ground. I throw aside the rocks, raked the rough ground until it was smooth. Then I add a little fertilizer, and finally plant the seedlings.

Sometimes God does the same in my life. Things get disturbed, and out of place. With work we smooth out the rough spots, throw out the distractions, then do the work that will ready ourselves for harvest. Sometimes you have to let go and let God.

Sunday Fidgets

Love one another.

I came to the computer to write a thank you note. I find myself editing old tid bits to share on Jumping Jelly Beans. What I really should be doing is going off to bed.

A while back a friend asked, "Would you still love to write, even if no one would read it?"

my answer, Apparently so. :)

The Servant Song

Saint Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing.
Dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

Sunday Fidgets

Sunday Fidgets on Friday?
John 6:1-15
I slipped into daily mass today. What a treat! I wish I could get there more often. Today Fr. John spoke to the 8 grade class which will be confirmed this Sunday. He spoke about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. How God gives each of us gifts to use. We should never question whether those gifts are good enough to share with others. God does not make mistakes, if he gave you a gift it was with the intention that you would use it. Don't be afraid you are not good enough, you are always good enough. Keep your intentions pure, and your faith in God. Like the little boy who offered up his fish, we should be willing to speak up, and share our gifts with others.
It was a shot in the arm for me.

"Every morning prepare your soul for a tranquil day"

- St. Francis de Sales

a trip to Botanical Garden

I had a great day with the boys! The weather has been amazing these last few weeks. After this long cold winter, we can really appreciate a beautiful spring day.

I took the boys for a long stroll through the Botanical Gardens. We saw a coco tree, banana tree, fish, turtles, sculptures, butterflies, and of course beautiful flowers. On the ride in I was a little worried it would be too tame for the boys. As we left John said, "What a great day! It was beautiful and fun."

At one point we took a detour. A short path, that was not stroller friendly. It led us to the edge of a large pond. The end of the path was lined with large flat rocks so you could stand close to the water, and enjoy a more private view of the garden. During this short detour, we found a turtle sunning itself on a rock, a goose begging for food, and another nice family. I am always surprised when those rocky, uneven paths lead to little gems.

Why do we boil and decorate eggs for Easter?

Eggs symbolize new life. At Easter we celebrate our new life in Christ. The egg has three parts, reminding us of the Trinity: the hard outer shell (God, our refuge); the egg white (Jesus, our purifier); and the yolk (the Holy Spirit, our nourishment).

"Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway."-Mary C. Crowley

Sunday Fidgets

The church was so full on Sunday. The only seats left were the little red stools in the back corner. The ones that are just the right size for a second grader. They are completely out of place. They don't match the decor, their size is awkward, and you can't see anything if you sit in them. There is probably a story that goes along with why they are in the corner. As I sat there I couldn't help but to think this is a taste of purgatory. Can you picture me? Sitting in "The seats of purgatory", listening to the mass. I was just happy I have a seat, in the warm church. I was happy I could listen, even if I couldn't see. However, I have to say I really wanted to be in the bench with a kneeler. I was secretly hoping the guy in the bench next to me would scoot over and make a little room.

The sermon was based on the first reading. "I am your Lord, and you are my people."

Note taken: That includes me and you no matter where we are.

40bags/40days

So here we are, the first week of Lent. Some of my friends are doing the 40 bags in 40 days. Removing the excess from their house one bag/day at a time. It is a double good. The house gets cleaner, and in the process it creates donations for others who are in need.

What ever you
Choose,
Do,
Let Go,
and Pray,
during Lent
may it bring peace.

Before and After

Yes, this is the same house. Before and After.

A friend of mine asked, "Do you think God sees the house we live in, the car we drive, the clothes we wear? Or does he just see our spirits, and how we interact with each other?"
I revisit that question often when money is tight, and choices have to be made. I also think of it when I go to confession. For some reason it came to me when I saw this house.

I wonder if God sees our souls similar to how my husband sees a house in need of repair. Full of possibilities. The top picture has been neglected. Literally the people who lived there, closed the door to the back room to hide the hole in the roof. The hole let in the weather, and a few squirrels. Eventually the neglect damaged the house. With a little vision and a lot of hard work, the house was repaired. When we go to confession we walk in damaged by our sins. With grace we leave renewed.

Don't close the door to try and hide something embarrassing or ugly. It costs less to keep up with repairs when they arise. Don't scare yourself out of reconciliation.

Happy Valentines Day

Still anticipating the Pinewood Derby....

The pinewood derby was rescheduled due to snow. We will race in March.

Anticipating the Pinewood Durby

It is in mine, and my husbands nature to be last minute. Not complete procrastinators, but always up to the last minute with the finishing details. I'm afraid we are passing that trait on to our boys. Maybe they can't escape it. It's just in their geans.

Last night I was pushing John to finish his history report. Tonight he was working with his Dad to finish up his Pinewood Durby car. The race is tomorrow. Just in time for the boys to go to bed, the car is finished. A big bonus, the wheels are on, and it rolls.

This is Johns 4th Pinewood Derby. The first two were hard lessons in loosing. The first year was tears and frustration. Last year was just a bit of frustration. This year we took time while building the car to reinforce that the fun was in the journey. Win or Loose, we pointed out that he enjoyed the time he spent with Dad. The he had fun creating the design, and changing that block of wood into a new toy. Here's to a good nights sleep, and a fun day tomorrow. Hopefully no more tears.

Waiting for the snow, daydreaming about spring and summer.

Pinewood Durby comming up

It's that time of year. The boys have been working hard whittling that box into a car. Weighing, sanding, gluing, painting...All the while building his hopes that it might be the fastest one in the lot. The race is only days away.

Did I miss it? Pro-Life March in Washington

I had friends who marched in Washington on Friday. I know it happened. I saw it on EWTN. I am a bit of a news hound. I was watching the local stations, and my regular, The Today Show. Maybe I was caught up with the kids, or on an errand when it was covered. I was hoping to see the sea of people standing up for what they believe in. I was looking for the marchers in Washington. I did not see it on the national or local news. Surely it was news. How could it be missed? Maybe it was just me not paying enough attention, or was it the media that was out of the loop?

We are being flooded with seed catalogs. The past few weeks have been snowy and very cold. The thought of spring is a welcome one. However, I am not ready for the work a garden requires. Last year the fruits of our labor were stolen by a raccoons and deer. It is frustrating to put so much into the planning, planting, watering, and nurturing only to have it taken from you. As they say 'spring is hope eternal.'

I have friends planing for a trip to Washington this weekend. If you are one of a million getting ready to march. Good luck to you, drive carefully, and keep hope.

No big toothless smile for the book. humm.

Sunday Fidgets

Do not use being busy as an excuse not to pray.

The rewards of prayer are always worth the time and effort.

tooth fairy in our mist

John (10) finally lost a tooth. He spent two days trying to decide what a little fairy could bring that would be a fair trade. He surprised me when he asked for a book. He was thinking a Black Lagoon, or Diary of a Wimpy Kid would be nice. You know the tooth fairy amazing. I can't wait to see his face tomorrow. I'm hopping for a toothless grin. :)