Prayer Request-- We need more holy priests!!

Please pray for a young man who, responding to the call of the Lord, has decided to pursue the path to the priesthood. He will have his first interview with our diocesan office on January third at 10:00. Please pray for the success of the interview and for peace and grace for this special man as he follows the Lord's lead. Blessed be God!!

In our house, Christmas is not over!!

Are there people who really regard Christmas as over on the 26th? My neighbors have their Christmas tree on the curb! We only put ours up about a week ago. I told my husband if they put theirs out any earlier and we put ours up any later theirs may actually be down before ours is even up!! (Just kidding.)

My mother always refused to take down any Christmas decorations before the 6th, when the wise men arrived. We moved the little wise men figures all around the living room until they finally arrived at the stable on the 6th.

Sooo...we usually do not take our tree down until the weekend AFTER the sixth. I don't know what the neighbors must think. But we like it that way.

I returned or exchanged 9 Christmas gifts today, including some that were catalog purchases and so had to be mailed. I love it. It needed to be done soon before the receipts disappeared or I forgot what didn't fit or wasn't liked by whom. I think there is only one more to do.

We're waiting for snow. Just rain fell today. There is the new toboggan and a snow tube that need to be tried. We probably won't have to wait long.

Images of Mary's Birthday

As usual, the day concludes with swimming at the hotel pool where out of town cousins are staying.

Here are the boots I wouldn't buy several weeks ago because her old boots still fit...

New hat-- nice and warm, chosen by brother Mike...

I now have only one child who is not a teenager or OLDER!!!

Mary is Thirteen!!!!!

I have another teenager!!!! Sweet Mary is thirteen years old today!!!! She was the quietest, easiest baby of all. Now she's several inches taller than I (although that is not saying much :-) May the Lord bless her all the days of her life. May He especially lead her this year as she prepares for the sacrament of Confirmation. I thank Him for the privilege of being Mary's mother. She is a dear, dear daughter and I love her more than words can say!!

Christmas Morning

Glory to the Newborn King!!!

The following are images of Christmas morning in our house. This is my six children and two nephews squeezing on to a new toboggan which is under them but can't be seen:-)

Christmas stockings ready to be emptied.

Everyone sings happy birthday to Jesus before opening anything...

All the Baby Jesus figures are placed in their respective manger scenes.

Joy to the World!!!

May the Lord bless you all with His gifts of Love, Peace, and Joy.

Classroom Christmas Parties

When I was a child I remember my mother receiving or making phone calls to arrange for refreshments for school parties. I'm wondering when and why this method switched to allowing children to commit their mothers to bringing specific refreshments for a party. I imagine it's to save time making phone calls, mothers are hard to reach, etc. It also, however, does not give mom the opportunity to decline.

I received several "requests" like this from my children this past week. As long as they give me a few days notice I've come to accept that this is just the way it is now-- as long as it it not TOO complicated a request. Once a teacher emailed all the parents with a list of what each child had volunteered to bring and added that if mom couldn't do it to please not worry about it. I thought that was very considerate.

I think my sister may get the prize for the most outrageous assignment for a school party. My nephew came home from school to tell mom that he had volunteered to bring chocolate crepes for the Christmas party for the French class the next day. She said, "What?!?!" There wasn't something simpler you could have volunteered for? He said, "Well I could have signed up for this special kind of lemonade but I figured you wouldn't want to make THAT!"

Apparently you can buy chocolate crepes frozen and then you bake them or fry them, (in case anyone else is given this assignment by a French teacher.) My sister is pictured above in the center, with two of my daughters. Dedicated mom that she is, she actually brought the chocolate crepes. God bless her!

Hope everyone's Christmas preparations are moving along peacefully...

Christmas is almost here....

I have not posted in over a week! I am so sorry. I haven't been reading anyone's posts either. I've just been way too busy. And when I do have a moment to get online my children are all doing schoolwork!! Between Christmas shopping for my whole family, four performances of a Christmas play in which my son had the lead, sponsoring a giving tree at our parish, classroom parties that needed refreshments.....I've been way too busy.

Anyway, now that school is out I hope to get back on a daily schedule of writing and reading posts. Above is the photo Christmas card we have sent.

May everyone receive from the Infant Jesus all of His love, joy and peace.

A website on suffering, from a Catholic perspective

I have a dear friend who has ALS. She is also a very Spirit-filled woman who truly loves the Lord and suffers virtuously. (Although I'm sure she would not have wanted me to write that.)

Anyway, she would like to start a website for those who suffer. A website that would offer encouragement and inspiration in the face of suffering. She'd like it to include Catholic teaching and the Catholic perspective. She envisions it having links to other sites that would also serve this purpose, maybe having audio links to inspiring talks from EWTN or Avemaria radio. She'd like to quote saints and include a variety of inspiring works on this subject, all from a Catholic perspective. She would like the theme to be "Offer It Up."

So my friend has asked me to help her gather materials and ideas for this project. I told her I'd ask all of you too. Do you have a favorite source of inspiring material on the subject of suffering? Any saint's writings that particularly speak to you? Any ideas for a website like this?

I'm also looking for technical help for her. There are some people here locally that I will ask. but if anybody else out there would like to volunteer that would be great. My friend has the vision and the desire but neither she nor I are computer types, if you know what I mean. May God bless this project!!! I will be emailing all of your comments to her. Thank you!!

More Freezing Rain!!

For the third day in a row, we have freezing rain for the ride to school!!! And there are no school closings. I'm grumbling...

Freezing Rain...

Michigan weather at its most treacherous....well, almost its most treacherous. Our schools weren't closed, but I certainly would have been in favor of closing them. I turned the steering wheel to turn in to my driveway and my car kept going straight. It's pretty yucky.

But the worst part of weather like this is the competition on the freeway to see who will spin off the road first. Why the breakneck speed?? People driving 60 or 70 miles an hour with black ice? I hate feeling pressured to go faster to keep up with cars driven by maniacs. Even the average drivers go a little faster in weather like this than I feel comfortable going. In my best moments I remember to pray for the safety of those who are really driving dangerously.

It's Merry Christmas, OK?

I am very happy that so many organizations are drawing attention to the fact that retail stores that will not use the word "Christmas" in their advertising are being silly at best and discriminating against Christians at worst.

What is the big deal? It's a national holiday. The national holiday has a name and it's name is CHRISTMAS!! It's because of Christmas that trees are purchased and decorated. The gifts that are purchased at this, the retailers' busiest time of year, are Christmas presents. That's what they are called. Yes, some are Hanukkah presents, but the vast majority of them are Christmas presents! And the Jewish people understand full well that the national holiday that falls on December 25 is called Christmas.

Somehow, I don't think this treatment of the word "Christmas" as taboo is really about respect for diversity. I think it's about not saying the name "Christ" even hidden in a word where the phonology camouflages it. Let's not forget that there is an unseen spiritual battle going on all around us. The name above all names, Jesus Christ, is very powerful. I think it is the evil one's intent to so confuse people about tolerance that they think they should not say Christmas. I don't know. Just a thought. The whole refusal to say it is just so absurd.

This is the Christmas Season!! Why don't the retailers get over it??!!??

Losing Weight

I have just completed four weeks of Weight Watcher meetings and I've only lost maybe a half pound. It's not the fault of the program. I'm just not following it. It has worked for me before. But I have to actually do it. When I want to lose pounds more than I want to eat, I will start to lose. It's that simple. My choice.

I just ate three chocolates. Well, at least it wasn't eight chocolates. And they were REALLY good. This is not a good season to resist food.

But I will not forget that while I need to control myself, having an appetite is indeed a gift.

Fatigue

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."

William James

Recently as I was trying to discern what should be the highest priority tasks for my day, I came across this quote on the top of the page of my Franklin planner. It confirmed what I felt the Lord was trying to tell me. Get rid of those hanging-on tasks, the things I want done but have been putting off because there is always something else that seems more important. At this time of year it is especially difficult to get to those things. But I did find that by accomplishing a few of them my spirits were lifted and I felt a resurgence of energy. For me, particularly at very busy times, it is important to protect myself against fatigue.

I've used a whole tube of lipstick!

OK. I realize this is the most mundane of posts. Are you ready? For the first time in my entire life of 53 years I have used an entire tube of lipstick. I'm at the bottom.

For most of my adult life I rarely wore makeup. Then, in my late forties, I looked in the mirror and realized that for the sake of those who had to look at me I really should do something. And I started to wear a little. Now I wear it every day. Lipstick-- not every day, but a lot of days. I've never liked to look painted and makeup on me, in my mirror, always looked painted. Now I figure it's better to look just a little painted than to look like an old hag. LOL

Am I a grown-up now?

Freezing Rain-- Yuk

We have freezing rain here today. Well, actually, now it's just rain and the temp. is about 40 degrees. I wish it would freeze. then there would be a chance of a snow day tomorrow. I love snow days.

My snapdragons that just won't die are still green, but wilted over. I think this will be it. Maybe I'll see them again in the Spring. Winter has definitely arrived.