My Retreat.

I was going to do a nice long post about my retreat last weekend. But that's probably not going to happen as I've been very busy all week doing stuff for A Baby's Breath. (We're finally getting clients at the new center. Now all we need are more advocates. Volunteers? Anyone?)

I will just say that it was a lovely weekend, the musicians were talented (even if the song writers weren't), the talks were excellent and I'd definitely go again if given the chance.

The grounds at the retreat house are quite nice, and I got some good nature pictures, including this shot of a wrinkly mushroom. I love taking pictures of mushrooms, don't ask me why, I just think they're neat.

Lourdes Grotto

Random Kid pictures.

Another picture of Amelia falling asleep while eating. This time she was This is what happens when mommy's busy cleaning out her closet.

Yes, Maria's dressed in her Mrs. Santa dress...
Amelia's in Maria's old Easter Dress, so they had the two major holiday's covered.

Another picture of Amelia falling asleep in the high chair, the only difference is here she was eating breakfast (note the pj's). This is what happens when you stay up all night partying.

I can't believe that my husband added this link to his blog without telling me.

I was just checking Jim's blog and found a link to this site, Stuff Catholics Like, in in his links list. I don't think that he ever told me about it, but I went there today and it's just great!

Here's a link to one article on clapping at Mass. It's sooooo funny. And scary at the same time.

Mary's month.

( statue at Malvern Retreat House)

It's May again so it's time to pull out all those Marian devotions that you've been ignoring. :)

Since I told Rob that I would, this post will include links sites dealing with Marian prayers, devotions, and apparitions.

I'll start with Our Lady of Guadalupe. I learned a lot more about her this past weekend at the Women of Grace retreat. One of the speakers, Dan Lynch has written several books about her, and Our Lady of America, the only appearance of Mary in the U.S. which has been approved. You can find out about Dan, his books, and the missionary images here.

This is another good site for info about the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego, as well as prayers, pictures and other links.

Since Rob mentioned it in his post, here is a link to St. Louis Mary de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary. It's fairly long, so purchasing a copy might be a better idea. It's also not a good idea to hand someone a copy of True Devotion to Mary if you're trying to convince them that we Catholics don't worship her, as the language he uses to describe devotion to Mary is rather strong. However, it helped me to understand devotion to Mary as a new convert to the Faith, so I do recommend it.

In a nutshell, here's my version of True Devotion. As Christians we are engrafted into the Body of Christ. Thus as members of the body of Christ we are called to walk the path that He walked, to do in some limited sense, but to the fullest of our ability, what He did while He was on earth. (WWJD?) Jesus began that journey in Mary's womb, entrusting Himself entirely to her care. So how could we go wrong to entrust ourselves to her, and to have her lead us in His path, the same path she walked with him from the manger to the cross?

(Really, you have to read the book for a fuller explanation.)

I think I posted this link before but here it is again. The University of Dayton Mary page. Click on the link on the top left, About Mary, and you'll come to a page full of links to others Marian sites with prayers and info about Mary and Marian devotions. There's even a link to a printable coloring book.

As for what to do with kids, I'm hoping to pray the Rosary as a family more frequently this month (i.e. at least once or twice would make it more frequent for us). Catholic Heritage Curricula has a nice set of rosary prints, showing all the Mysteries of the Rosary, available in two sizes. I think it's nice to have visuals for kids, especially ones that aren't cartoons.

If all those links aren't enough for you, here's a link to the Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on Mary.

Rescued from the Laundry...

one doll chair, an unclothed Strawberry Shortcake doll, several magnetic letters.
Strawberry was very happy to be found, having had the harrowing experience of being drooled on and carried around by the hair by a toddler who shall remain nameless, then being unceremoniously shoved deep into a tangle of dirty sheets and towels. The chair had no comment.
The letters were shaken-up as well and it may be several days before they return to normal.

Run for Life 2008

This past Saturday was the Run for Life for A Baby's Breath, CPC. Jim and I went without the girls thanks to my in-laws who took them to a family event for the day.

Start of the 1 mile fun run.

Becky and her boyfriend came and ran. Becky was very excited that she beat him to the finish.

Jim got pulled into being a race marshal so he had to stand around waiting for slowpokes like me to finish. I ran/walked really fast/stopped to stretch (stupid shin splints) my way to the finish line in about 38 minutes, better than my best time so far.

And good enough to get me a second place medal (thanks to a lack of women in my age bracket). That beats Jim's surprise third place finish from last year. Not to brag or anything.

First Socks?

Awhile back, I joined the Yarn Pirate Booty Club. Each month you get an exclusive club colorway of her hand-dyed sock yarn. It's really a lot of fun to receive yarn in the mail not knowing what the colors are going to be till you open it up. Kinda like getting a present.

Here's the March colorway, Emerald City. It's definitely my favorite so far. So I decided that I'd use it to make my first pair of socks.

However, getting the yarn from a hank to a center pull ball is much harder than I thought (and I expected some difficulty) if you don't have a yarn swift and ball winder. (And I don't...yet.)

It ended up in quite a tangle that took about a week to unknot. I do have it wound up now and have cast on for a gauge swatch. Don't have picture yet, but soon. Maybe once I'm done swatching and actually have progress on the sock.

Little Monkeys.

The Magic Monkey Sleeping Bag.
(Now if it only put them to sleep.)

Easter at home.

When we got back to our house, we gave the girls their Easter baskets. I filled them mostly with non-candy stuff as I figured there would be a bounty of candy from the Egg hunt (and I was right).

I'm really happy with the enamelware dishes... Jim and I have been trying to rid ourselves of the plastic kids ware for awhile now, and these bunny plates work well.

This last picture is from Palm Sunday dinner with Jim's family.

Easter Pictures.

Finally, some pictures of our Easter trip to Grammy and Pappy's house.

We were surprised by an snow storm on Holy Saturday. There was about 6 inches or so on the ground when we woke up, so of course, we had to rig up a snow suit for Maria and let her go play.

In this picture you can see her "oh, so stylish," plastic bag boots. The gloves that she has on were sized for an 8 year old, but it was the best we could do.

I think that she was very happy to finally be able to make "Frosty."

Here are the girls in their Easter dresses... yes, they matched including the shoes. That hat was not part of the outfit but it was all we had for an Easter hat for Amelia.

Maria really cleaned up at the family Easter Egg Hunt... held inside due to the snow.

Prayers please...

For the family of Border Patrol Agent Jarod Dittman. He was the son of my mother's pastor, Cathy. He is leaving a wife and young daughter behind. There is a memorial page set up here.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon him.
May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
rest in peace.
Amen.

Look, it's a....

CowDuck!

Yes, I had to have it. Luckily, I have kids so I could pretend to be buying it for them. It's just so...awesome!

Strawberries anyone?

Thought I'd provide a "palate cleanser" after that last post. Strawberries as big as my hand.

Yummy!

The end of an experiment.

Ok, so when I watched this documentary I was inspired to create my own experiment. I went to "the French Fry House" one day, and despite having watched what this type of food can do to you, ate everything in my combo except for a few fries. These I stuck back in the carton, which I wrote the date of purchase on, and set on my kitchen window sill.

Now, a year later, I give you my results. This photo was taken one March 6, 2008, one year and one day after the fried were purchased.

They still look pretty yummy, don't they? They're hard and smell like rancid oil, so I don't think anyone would mistake them for fresh french fries, but its still rather scary to see that they have maintained their original shape and color without breaking down and getting moldy, like any normal food would.

I have to admit, I have eaten the fries there, even after seeing these sit around so long. But I didn't enjoy them the way I used to.....couldn't stop thinking about what might be in them to preserve them for so long.

I did think about keeping them longer, just to see if they ever break down, but I decided that one year is enough evidence for me. So into the trash they went. Maybe they'll finally break down in the landfill?

Another day, another baptism.

This time we were late and didn't get any pictures of the actual event, since we rushed from the car to the church without grabbing the camera. So again, these are just some pics from the after-party.

This is the only picture I got of the newly baptized little one, catching some zzz's while getting a ride from Daddy.

Toys were provided for the benefit of the many 5 and unders present. Note the Veggie tales coloring book behind Jim. A sign of a great party indeed.

Look! Yet another shot of Maria stuffing cake into her mouth.

I'm not sure what's going on in this picture. I was just trying to get a shot of Amelia and E. coloring. But when I looked at it in Adobe, I noticed that E. appears to be levitating. So the grace from the Baptism must have rubbed off. Either that or someone spiked the punch.

D. playing host and entertaining the guests like a good big brother.

Laundry Day....

...with two little 'helpers.'

And yes, that's the dirty laundry they're playing in.

Lunchtime napping: Part II

Thanks to Jim for the photo.

A fun day...

Here's some pics from E's baptism. All my shots of the actual event are dark and haven't been edited yet so you'll have to be satisfied with party pics.





I've got about 6 more, uh, "poses" of this shot, so if you don't like how your kids looks in this one I may have a better one. If anyone wants, I'll send pics to you (uhm, if I know you... cuz that would be weird otherwise).

Ready to Learn?

We just finished re-certifying to teach NFP for the Couple to Couple League and have started two classes. Jim took these photos one night just before class.

I love their faces in the first one. It's kinda like the look we got from the first couple who were required to come to our class. They were not happy to be there, and didn't come back for the second session.

This second shot is more like the majority of our students, happy to be there and ready to get started.

Note: the kids were banished to another room for the actual class.

Just because....

You Are Grass Green

Down to earth and a bit of a hippie, you are very into nature and the outdoors. You accept the world and people as they are. You don't try to change things. You are also very comfortable with yourself, flaws and all. Optimistic about the future, you feel like life is always getting better.

What Color Green Are You?


I think this is pretty accurate... except maybe that optimistic thing. But I suppose I'm getting better in that area... I used to be much more of a pessimist. I may also take issue with the "don't try to change things" part. I think that I do try to change the things and people around me, but I try to be very gentle and unobtrusive about it. Anywho, that's enough self-analysis for the moment. I'm going to write a real post now, I promise.