Hope

Yes! The first crocuses are blooming in our yard... thanks to a sunny 70 degree day on Sunday!!!! So what if we're back to wacky Ohio Ping-Pong weather. Rainy on Monday. Cold on Tuesday. Possible snow on Wednesday.

We've seen a glimpse of Spring. It's so close.... popping out all around us. We can make it!

Praying and Waiting

We're praying and waiting... along with the rest of the world.... for the announcement of a new Pope.

 

Check out our cool conclave.....

 

It has exactly 115 cardinals as well as our own stove with black and white smoke! You can print out your own conclave here.

 

We've adopted Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Germany (at https://adoptacardinal.org/) and we are praying for him everyday.

 

We had fun this afternoon watching EWTN as well as a live feed of the smokestack online. The smoke was definitely black!

 

We signed up at http://popealarm.com/ so we'll receive a text message when the white smoke appears!

It's fun and interesting to teach the boys how our Church works.... especially on the heels of the Presidential election they observed in the Fall. It's so very different.

It's been difficult to listen to some of the ridiculous chatter in the secular media. My favorite and most accurate prediction came from a friend on Facebook ---"Prediction. New pope will be Catholic. American media will be surprised. He will believe all those retrograde things like male priesthood, Jesus is the only way, abortion is wrong, Catholics shouldn't be forced to pay fire other peoples contraception. And CNN will say he is "conservative" and act shocked." The bottom line is that the Pope does not set an agenda and attempt to change things according to personal beliefs or popular beliefs. The Pope leads the Church. He teaches, preaches, and guards the Gospel message and the Tradition of the Catholic Church. He's a Shepherd and Father, not a politician. It's just difficult for 21st Century Americans to understand that.

So, please join me in praying for our Church and it's soon-to-be-named new leader.

O God, eternal shepherd,
who govern your flock with
unfailing care,
grant in your boundless fatherly
love a pastor for your Church
who will please you by his holiness
and to us show watchful care.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in
the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Craft Night -- Paschal Candles

On Monday night I gathered with several homeschool friends to make paschal candles for our homes. Just like the Easter candle at Church, these candles will be used for family celebrations and times of prayer. We will burn them for the first time at Easter and then display them on prayer tables and use them throughout the year, especially during the Easter Season. The candles are decorated with the same symbols as the ones at Church: a cross marked to show the five wounds of Jesus, the current year, and "Alpha" and "Omega" (reminding us that Jesus is the beginning and the end).

We used 3" x 9" white pillar candles. We decorated the candles with molding wax, pins, beads, sequins, etc.

The pastor of the church where we met came over and blessed the candles for us. It was a great night of visiting and crafting. And we all have lovely candles ready for our families for Easter.

Our leader giving us directions.

The basic materials.
We used a tracing page and explanation of the various symbols found at Shower of Roses.

Selecting our decorative accessories.

Busy workers!



A beautiful finished candle!

My finished candle

All smiles.... working and visiting together!

Father blessing our candles.

 I can't wait to light our candle on Easter morning and use it in prayer all year!

Where Did the Week Go?

Things have been a bit of a blur here.

Some random highlights....

Jon's mom's surgery was last Friday. We spent much of last weekend like this ---- hanging around the hospital waiting, talking, praying, worrying....

 



Here's Jon's "MOBILE TAX UNIT." He worked at the hospital and at the hotel. He was able to accomplish a lot. And it kept his mind from worrying too much about his mom.

 

I made Jon pose for this shot in a random parking lot in Michigan. ;) Just to show the boys the huge mountains of snow that pile up from the plows over the winter. I kept thinking that if we had taken the boys up we'd have to stop in every parking lot to let the climb the "snow mountains."

One of the highlights of the trip for Jon was getting food from the Knights*of*Columbus fish fry that he loves! We brought food to the hospital for our entire family.

The boys made these cute "Get Well Soon" gifts for Grandma. They're made out of *FLOAM* We all just love Ray's creation of "Grandma with an all better heart!"

We returned home on Monday afternoon.... in time for me to attend a craft night with my friends. (Post coming soon) We are very thankful to my dad and Mary for taking good care of the boys. They had lots of fun and did lots of school work. They went to Magic*Mountain with their cousins and played lots of *Monopoly* tournaments.

Since returning home, Jon has been absolutely swamped with work. This is crunch time for all his business clients. He's been feeling really stressed and working monster hours.

So.... I got to take Adam to his den meeting.

Jon's birthday was on Wednesday. This is how the day began....

 

Shoveling snow at 6:00am!

 

I can't believe I'm posting this picture.... but it is a great illustration of "TRUE LOVE!"

 

It's me making pancakes for the snow-shoveling birthday boy .... at 6:00am!

 

The two early-risers enjoyed a yummy breakfast and other birthday hoopla!

After five meetings and a whole bunch of work, Jon returned home for dinner and cake. I made my first angel food cake. (Not from scratch) Editorial comment: Cake without icing is just plain wrong! Can you tell what we had for dinner by looking at Ray's lovely face? (Spaghetti!)

 

 

The boys and I stayed home most of the week and did lots of schoolwork. Their big request was for some painting time. We mixed colors and made some beautiful masterpieces. (I must have been too busy painting -- working on more saint dolls --- to take pictures of the finished products.)

 

Today I got out this church replica that I had made a few years ago for VBS. The boys had fun lining up the saint dolls in the "pews" and figuring out which saint would make the best altar servers. We practiced naming the parts of the church and the various things you see at church.

And now it's going to be Friday again.... an entire week has raced by!

Jon's mom continues to be frustrated by complications from her surgery. Tomorrow she will have a pacemaker/defibrilator implanted because her heart rate is just not stabilizing. She really wants to be out of the hospital soon. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Have a great weekend!

Update

Thank you very much for your prayers for my mother-in-law. The surgery went well... but took longer than anticipated. The past few days have had some ups and downs. The doctor is working to regulate her blood pressure. She's had a "weird" strand on her EKG. And a few other issues have been caused by her not taking her regular meds for other conditions. But she is strong and the surgery was a success. She's taking the first steps toward recovery.

It's been good to have time to visit with our family here. Jon's gotten a lot of work done remotely. We've gotten some rest.

Tonight (Sunday) Jon and I will take shifts staying with his mom at the hospital. We will head home in the morning.

So please continue your prayers for Elizabeth as well as for my sisters-in-law who will be caring for her when she returns home.

Thanks!

Musings from Michigan

I'm sitting in the waiting room of the hospital in Midland, Michigan. Jon's mom -- who is 84 years old -- is undergoing surgery to replace the valve in her aorta. Please pray for her.

My dad and Mary are back in Ohio with the boys. It's odd but nice to have so much time to just hang out with my sisters-in-law (all five of them) and niece without the kids.

Jon has assembled his mobile tax unit and is busy working on taxes of course.

Check out my awesome niece, Addie -----

How many beautiful blond-haired blue-eyed college co-eds do you know who could handle a fish like this with a smile? She is studying Fisheries and Wildlife Management at Lake*Superior*State*University.  This picture was featured in an article on the Michigan*D*N*R website. Read it here -----
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10366_46403-291127--,00.html .

I'll update later about my mother-in-law. Thanks for your prayers.

Holy Hour, Holy Family

This evening we had the privilege of attending "Holy Hour, Holy Family" at our parish. We gathered with other families for some catechesis (in different age groups) and then went together to Adoration and Benediction. It was a beautiful experience... and one that we all needed today.

Jon had a super busy and stressful day at work, but he broke away to spend time in prayer with us. Today was not a beautiful, smooth day in our homeschool. We were tired and frustrated with one another. But we all came to Jesus together. And Jesus filled us with peace and joy.

 

Adam's coloring page

The theme for tonight's catechesis was "The Names of Jesus." We talked about Philippians 2:10: "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Each of us made a card showing one of our favorite names of Jesus. We processed into Church and placed those cards at the base of the altar.... offering our prayers to Jesus present in the monstrance.

Ray's coloring page

As I knelt and prayed with my family, I was thinking about the fact that I didn't experience this as a child. Adoration just wasn't happening in the immediate post-Vatican II Church. We knew God loved us. We sang a lot of songs. But we didn't have the awesome experience of adoring Jesus so present to us on the altar. I am so very happy that my boys (and Jon and I) are experiencing and appreciating this beautiful practice now.

At the end of Benediction, Adam turned to me and exclaimed, "That was so fun and so holy!" I'm embarrassed to admit that my mind immediately started wondering if he was trying to con something out of me or just make me less angry with him than I was this afternoon. But there was something so beautiful and innocent and real about his comment. In the van on the way home he told  me that Jesus told him that He wants him to grow into a really good Catholic holy man. I choose to believe that his comments and experience were real and deep. Nothing could make me happier than my boys loving Jesus.

On a lighter note.... as we were eating lunch today I surreptitiously worked in a conversation about Pope Benedict's impending retirement and the upcoming conclave. Ray chimed in that if he ever becomes Pope he will choose the name "Nicholas." Adam ---- get ready for it ---- exclaimed that he hopes one day he'll be ....... "Pope MARIO!" Then Ray began chanting some kind of Mario Brothers music and Adam jumped up and started parading around with his hands folded. Of course I laughed as I was shaking my head.  There's a pretty funny picture on Google*images* .... a drawing of a "Pope Mario." But it was just too irreverent for me to post here. Check it out if you dare! Somehow I just can't imagine a video-game-playing-Pope.... but we'll see.