Rugby championship

Zach is playing in the final two rugby championship games this weekend in Glendale, Colorado.  If they win today they will play for the national championship tomorrow.  The team is the Detroit Tradesmen.  These guys work really hard.  They are very skilled rugby players and they get practically no recognition because of the lack of popularity of the sport.  Please pray for their victory.

Zach, having always loved the Lord, just came into the Catholic Church under the name of Christopher, at the Easter Vigil this year.  (Saint Christopher is the patron saint of sports-- no surprise at this choice.)  His Confirmation is pictured above in the 8 sec. or so video.  The photo of Zach and me is at the party we had celebrating his entry into the church.For the glory of God, may the Tradesmen win their game today!!!

Those tough decisions...

On my daughter's Confirmation night my youngest son was supposed to be at the Catholic League championships for track.  Ordinarily I would not allow any sports event to be given a higher priority than an important family event like a Confirmation.  Even an individual event at a championship I would require a child to skip to be at his sister's Confirmation.

But the important event at this track championship was a relay.  It was a very fast relay team and they had to qualify to even run in these championships.  And all the runners had to be the same kids who had made the qualifying time.  In other words, he could not be replaced on the relay.  If he wasn't there, the whole relay would not be able to run.....in the championships.

So his brother drove all the way to the championships and waited to see if he could rush him off to Confirmation right after his race.

Jim felt very badly about the prospect of missing his sister's Confirmation.  He really wanted to be there.  When I dropped him off at school I told him, "Well, Jim, if you end up not being able to make it, then you run FAST and offer it up for your sister, OK?"  He gave me a big grin and said, "OK.  I can do that."

It turned out that the schedule was delayed and he wasn't able to leave on time.

But he did bring home a silver medal from the effort he offered for his sister.

(pictured above.)

Here is how my front walkway looked a few short months ago.....

And then..... (from Scripture         

                                                     For, lo, the winter is past.

                                               The rain is over and gone.

                                                     The flowers appear on the earth.

                                                     The time of the singing birds is come.

                                                                     OR NOT!!!!!

Two days ago we had a FROST ADVISORY. the temperature was to drop to the low 30s and frail flowers were in danger.   Usually once Memorial Day is past it's safe to plant anything.   But frost, even this late, is not unheard of.  So... having planted my flowers a little bit early to be ready for the Confirmation party,  I took out the plastic and decided to protect them.  And I'm happy to say they made it through the night.  There was indeed a light frost.

Spring in Michigan is like this.  It's cool in the morning and often warm in the afternoon and quite cold sometimes at night.  There can easily be a thirty degree temperature shift in a day.  

As a result, many Spring coats get left behind by children (and also adults.)  Who thinks of the coat you wore in the morning for a little nip when it's afternoon and 70 degrees out?

But It's truly gorgeous here, anyway.  Blue sky, flowers, birds.... and the snow was not so long ago that we have forgotten to appreciate God's lavish gift of extraordinarily beautiful weather.  That's one gift of living in Michigan.  We stay grateful.

Dairy Queen

This time of year, there is just no place like the Dairy Queen to put a smile on kids' faces.
Even a little wait it too long.......

And then..... they are completely engrossed in the cold, sweet, taste sensation.  You gotta love it.

A Good Day!

Yesterday was a very nice day! I was able to spend nearly four hours IN MY HOUSE. I like to be in my house because that's when I get things done. I did a lot of laundry, some blogging, listened to some talk radio and had some quiet time too.

I had adoration at our Eucharistic chapel from 4:00 to 5:00 and arrived home to find my husband had made dinner and it was ON the table. That was nice.

Then he drove my son back to school for a madrigals event and on the way home not only filled my car with gas but also had it washed. (Nice clean car in top picture.) For those of you have not read my blog long let me say that this car is (was) my father's car. I drive it because it reminds me of him, not because I'm particularly fond of Lincoln Town Cars, although they are VERY comfortable. But I AM only 53, not 73, OK?

THEN, my 13 year old daughter asked if I wanted to go with her to Beaner's where she could read her book for school and I could blog using their wireless internet. Now there's an idea. I bought her a decaf frap drink, I had green tea, and we both got a big yummy caramel. Really fun out-time, as we call it, with my 13yo.

All in all, not a bad day. Actually, very much in the category of "good days."

These apple blossoms bloomed in my backyard several weeks ago, but I have to tell the story of when my oldest was just learning about apple blossoms.  He was about three.  (Now he's twenty-three, almost twenty-four.)

The two apple trees in our backyard were in full, glorious bloom, actually a lot more abundant than in this picture taken a few weeks ago.  Course the tree was twenty years younger.  We know how that goes.

My son said, "Mom, why are there white flowers all over that tree I thought that was an APPLE tree."  I told him, "Well, it is an apple tree.  First it blooms all over with white flowers.  Then, when the flower dies, everywhere there was a flower an apple will grow.

He gave me a look of utter delight and excitedly exclaimed, "WHAT A NEAT IDEA!!!!!"

I burst out laughing and explained that indeed it was a neat idea, and that everything that God created started out as an idea in the mind of God.  I found myself contemplating this concept and amazed at the wonder God gives to his little ones.

Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom....

Family Moment Monday

Family Moment Monday-- Motherhood for Dummies has hosted a "Family Moment Monday."

I borrowed this idea from my friend Ann K.

Whenever she has a party celebrating a family event, or even if she's not celebrating anything, she has taped to her kitchen cabinets recent photos of family members, family happenings, adult children living elsewhere, etc.

The photos don't stay there all the time. They change, depending on the family happenings.

My cabinets pictured above have photos of my daughter's Confirmation which we celebrated yesterday. The photos will stay up for at least a couple weeks. They are just printed from our camera on regular copy paper so no need to worry about water stains or anything. At the party it was fun for people to see photos from the event, especially for the people who are in those photos.

For my daughter and my other children the presence of these photos underlines the importance of the event. It says this is who we are honoring and this is what we are celebrating. This is a family happening. We are all here. It brings smiles to the faces of each person as they look up. My daughter is reminded by the photo of the brother who drove for 6 hours round trip to be with her on her special day. She (and all of us) are reminded that we are a unit. We are a family. We are together.

It's a little thing. But while it delights guests and provides entertainment, for our family it is a record of what we are about. And all those reminders help cement the family bonds that I am convinced provide the foundation for a child's sense of well-being.

Confirmation Party.....

I am sooo tired. We had a brunch today to celebrate my daughter's Confirmation. A lot of friends came by. The wonderful part of having people over (besides just the fun of being with them) is that I actually get my house looking pretty good. I even planted most of my flower beds and pulled out most of the weeds. The bathroom is clean. The house is dusted. I guess I'm willing to put forth this kind of effort for other people, but for us? Well, not so much and not so often. Maybe there's something wrong with that. Anyway, we get to enjoy it now!

How many parties must there be?

Warning:   Bad attitude on this post.....

This is the season when every class, nearly every event, every club, and every group of individuals together for any reason seem to need a year end party.   And who is asked (told) to bring the refreshments?  Why mom of course.  Child makes the commitment and Mom fulfills it, right? 

My daughter came home to tell me she "had to bring cupcakes and rice krispy treats" to the year end band party.  I said NO.  We are NOT bringing BOTH cupcakes AND rice krispy treats!  Why did you sign up for two things?  Because no one else was signing up.  Oh well.  ONLY ONE!!!  Cross your name off the other one.  I drew the line. 

Shortly after, her older brother who should know better came into the kitchen.  Mind you, my husband was working late.  We needed to leave for the school Spring concert in about an hour.  And he says, "Mom, I need two pounds of taco meat for my Spanish class."  I looked at him, fearing the worst and said softly, ".....when?"  He looked at me sheepishly, mouth turned downward and jaw tense, anticipating my response.  "Tomorrow?"

I said, "YOU SHOULD BE ON YOUR KNEES BEGGING FOR MERCY!!"  In my defense, I did smile, mainly because the request was so ridiculous.  His sister of the rice krispy treats/cupcakes commitment leaned over and quietly advised...."You better get on your knees."

Fortunately for what would otherwise have been a taco-less Spanish class party, another son offered to drive his brother to the store to buy ground beef.  He then came home and made HIS OWN two pounds of taco meat AND cleaned the pan afterward.  That was the only way it was going to happen.  Only so many hours in the day.  I was glad it worked out for him because there was no way I could have made tacos on that particular night.

Oh the joy of year-end celebrations!  Give me summer vacation!!!!  I'm ready!

Confirmation Pix

With sponsor, Pat!!!  Ready to go!

With the proud Mom and Dad.
"Scholastica" with her godparents and Pat M. her sponsor, who sometimes comments on this blog.

Thank you for your prayers!!

The Alphabet Meme

Jean from Catholic Fire tagged me for this meme. And e-friend Deb from Ukok's Place has also done it with some fun answers.

The theme for this meme is that using the 26 letters of the alphabet you will express who you are, what you do, your interests, what matters to you etc….and you have to write it within 26 minutes…

A-- athlete-- I am NOT one. I don't even like exercising unless it's gardening. I do exercise, but it's a chore...

B- - Bailhe-- is my maiden last name

C-- Catholic and conservative

D--Definitely likes to blog

E-- eggs-- I like them

F-- funny- I can be at times

G-- generous, I hope

H-- Holy Spirit, come!!

I-- intense, yeah, sometimes I am

J-- Jesus is my Lord, my reason for living

K-- kids, I love them

L-- listener, I'm becoming a better one oh, and linguistics (my college major

M-- mother, yup, I'm the mom.

N-- never want to go skydiving. I don't like heights.

O-- opinionated, definitely

P-- patient, oh, I wish. working on it

Q-- guirky, yeah, I can be

R-- Rosemary, my real name

S-- Stay-at-home-mom and lovin' it

T-- testy

U-- uninterested in most of what's on TV

V-- very pro-life!!!!

W-- wanting to do the mom-thing right!

X-- Xtra grateful for the many blessings the Lord has given

Y-- you, the readers of my blog make me smile

Z-- zoo-- happy family memories

Thanks for the tag, Jean.

I tag:

Journey of Truth at A book A Day

Mimi at Bigger than a Breadbox

Barb at SFO Mom

Mary Poppins Not at Crazy Acres

Kate at Heart Speaks to Heart


Have fun!!!!

Confirmation Prayers!!

Please pray for my daughter who will receive the sacrament of Confirmation tonight!!!! She will take the name Scholastica!!!

My mother the actress

My mother was a great actress.

On one occasion my brother had a gag item that looked like a small pool of vomit. It was just the right size to have been left by our miniature dachshund. We were about nine and ten years old, I think. My brother put it in the middle of the living room and called,

"MOM, GRETA THREW UP!!!"

My mom, who NEVER swore said, "That d___d dog!!!

(My brother and I are already stifling laughter)

She came out with a paper towel, cupped it over the item and scooped it up. Then without the slightest twinkle in her eye she said with all seriousness,

"Wow. That came up really easily." She then took it over to the garbage can, dropped it in, and walked away, without a word.

My brother and I almost died silently laughing. It was silent because we wanted to keep up the pretense that we had actually fooled her. That's what made it so funny.

We knew we hadn't fooled her. And she knew that we knew that we hadn't fooled her.

But she wouldn't let on because We were having so much fun!!

She was a great actress and a great mom. We really miss you a lot, Mom.

Mommy blogging!!

Kellan from "On The Upside" was interviewed by a local television station about "mommy blogging!" If this link works it will take you to a clip of the great interview. (Just endure the short commercial first.) Kellan does a great job explaining what blogging is about and why we love it. Check it out!

Oh, and check out Kellan's blog too. It is very entertaining. I laugh every time I read it.

Do the ears of children hear better?

OK. I know I'm obsessing a little on this Joshua Bell article. (see yesterday's post). And my apologies to those of you who already talked this out when it was blogged about some time ago. (This is not a blog that stays current.)

I don't know if I would have stopped to listen to Joshua Bell. For me, that probably would have depended, like everybody else, on the urgency with which I needed to make that train.

But I was struck by this point in the article:

"But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away."

What do you make of that? Is it because children are so pure that they immediately recognize and are drawn to beauty? Is is because they have so little concept of time that listening to beautiful music would naturally seem more important to them than getting anywhere on time?

I'll tell you one thing. A home-schooling, stay-at-home mom with children would have stopped. That is the beauty of being at home with one's children. You can stop to look at and talk about the flowers, that interesting bird, or that lovely music. The freedom to nurture one's children while not being tied to a schedule is wonderful--- especially with preschoolers. Of course, this freedom can be sacrificed by keeping a family schedule that's too full.....but that is the subject of another post.

Do we stop to hear the music?

My oldest son forwarded to me a fascinating article from the Washington Post about renowned violinist Joshua Bell agreeing to play the violin in a subway, posing as a street person begging.  I didn't get anything written on my blog yesterday because I was so drawn in to this article.  It's long but well worth the read.  In my mind all kinds of questions were raised about the nature of people, the quality and pace of our lives, the definition of beauty and goodness... Oh, and if the link works there are two clips of his actual performance in the subway.  He's playing on a violin worth over three million dollars!!!!  Would love to hear your reactions....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

Happy Mothers'Day

Happy Mothers' Day to all those women 

who have been blessed with

  the greatest job in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!

(and don't let the world tell you otherwise...)

Techno--Idiot

The other night I was trying to load some pictures onto my laptop.  I couldn't figure out how to do it.  I was in iphoto.  Everything looked good.  I just couldn't figure out what I was forgetting to click.  I even started to get annoyed with my computer like I used to.  The Apple is supposed to be so intuitive.  Why wasn't my intuition working???  I even walked away from it thinking I'll have to ask my Apple tutor next time I go.

It wasn't until later that I realized what the problem was.  Are you ready?

The camera was not connected to the computer!!  Yup.  I actually did that.  It was next to the computer.  But the little plug was not attached.  I was back in my days when I thought computers were so smart they should be able to read my mind.  Course, even reading my mind would not have helped put my pictures up with no connection!!!!

(Glad my kids didn't notice...)

My daughter came home from school on Monday with a headache and stomach ache.  It usually takes her a long time to recover from such ailments.  I think she has a sensitive system.  All day Monday and most of Tuesday she only drank small amounts and didn't want to eat anything.

Finally on Tuesday she had some chicken noodle soup.  I thought, Yea! She's getting better.  Nope.  she threw it up.  Next day, still home, she asked for chicken noodle soup again.  I gave it to her.  What could be better than chicken soup, right?  Wrong.  She threw it up again.  Back to popsicles.  Later in the day, "Mom, can I have some chicken noodle soup?"  My response, "Are you SURE  you want it?"  "Yup."  You guessed it.  She threw it up AGAIN.

Thursday-- she was feeling a little better. I, wanting to get some food into the little thing, said, "Is there ANYTHING at all that sounds good for dinner."  She paused, looked a little sheepish and said, " KFC popcorn chicken??"  Eyebrows raised I whispered, "Kentucky Fried popcorn chicken???"   This is not going to be good. She said, "My head knows that's not good for someone who's sick but my tummy thinks it sounds good."  

I thought let's go with the tummy because conventional wisdom is definitely not working here.  Would you believe the deep-fried greasy popcorn chicken stayed down?!?!   Greasy chicken--  the new comfort food.  Who knew?????  She went back to school today.  

The glory of God is all over the Spring. 

New life, so full of hope

A kind of resurrection.

Blessed be God .

Prom night

Here he was on prom night!  And wearing his grandfather's cuff links.  How cool is that.

Child Number Two----Launched!!

Here she is!!  Off to heal the world!! (In those great shoes.  Did you notice they match the lining of the sash?  She IS my mother's granddaughter.  No doubt about it.)

Congratulations, Anne.  We all love you a lot!!

May Crowning Tomorrow

Tomorrow is our annual parish-wide May Crowning. I have been working on it with a committee of people. Could you pray that Mary will be honored and that the Lord will be pleased with our efforts? It's all of the last minute details that I'm praying will all go well. Mary O. once again has ordered the crown from Hawaii. Fresh Hawaiian flowers!!!! Only the best for the queen. Way to go, Mary O. Above is how she looked last year, queen of the angels, queen of the May!!

If a teenager is told that a pile of books may not be kept on a chair in the living room, is it reasonable for that teenager to then conclude that the floor next to the chair is an acceptable place to leave the books?  And would an intelligent teenager be so sure of this conclusion that he might just take the books from the chair and put them on the floor?  Yup.  And when the inappropriateness of this second location for the books was pointed out to this teenager, should I be surprised to not see even a hint of sheepishness in his response?  Just a calm reaction to what to him was just another new piece of information about where to keep books ?  I guess not.  Teenagers are really just not all there yet.  Lot of information in those heads but a whole lot still missing too.  Guess that's why we shouldn't be too hard on them.