Christmas 2010 in a blur of pics

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")