The End of a Chapter

I am moving my blog to a new location. This one will remain as a chronicle of my past few chapters.

I hope you decide to visit!

Running Towards Him

We have visitors!

Again I am very behind in my blogging... Too busy living I suppose. I promise to catch you all up on the things around our home, but I wanted to be sure to take a moment and share a few pictures of some beautiful visitors enjoying our entirely-way-to-overgrown backyard.

We have the blessing of a family of Peregrine Falcons in our neighborhood and they seem to love our old birdbath!

These are an adult and a baby only a few weeks old. It has been incredible experience watching them!

Catching up, blog style

Sometimes I get so far behind that I get overwhelmed with what must be done. Okay, I lied. Not just sometimes, A LOT of times this happens to me. This month has been filled with many wonderful things and each is deserving of its own post, but for the sake of sanity, I will combine them into one.

Foo Turns 14!

It is hard to believe that my first-born son has hit the milestone of 14. He towers over his father and I in height now. His voice is the deepest in the home. I love to watch him grow into the young man that he is and look forward with great anticipation at what life has in store for him. Happy belated birthday, son!


This month has also been busy with other various celebrations. The wonderful parish that we belong to took time to honor the graduating seniors. They had a splendid dinner and a night of reflection and sharing that the teens were able to take part in. I don't believe there were many dry eyes by the end of the night.


These are some of the seniors that Bean has had the blessing of sharing her highschool years with.



Foo and Lem also had a night of appreciation as our parish honored the altar servers. It is a beautiful Mass in which the altar servers, ALL of them, probably over 100 of them, are escorted and honored by our Knights of Columbus.



The "ceremony" in which this Mass begins really does help to set the tone for the reverence that is due to the Mass and the emotion of watching my children and those young people that serve at the table of the Lord have a moment of recognition is one of the most memorable events of the year. Of course all of this is taken in stride by Fish who wanted to know why the PIRATES were at Mass!! I love that I still have the blessing of Fishims!!

After the Mass, I walked outside for a bit before dinner and came upon a memorial garden that had recently been created for 3 sweet baby boys, one of whom has the same name of one of my sons. I had to take a few moments to take it all in. The solemnity of the Mass. The beauty of Our Lord. The sorrow of a mother and father who have lost their dear children. The joy that I have in watching mine grown. The wonder of why. The feeling of gratitude and yet unworthiness.





On Mother's Day, we had the wonderful privilege of watching Fish receive his First Communion. Because of the Swine Flu, our diocese has instituted precautionary measures which include not offering the Cup during Holy Communion.



However, on this occasion, Fr. George not only invited Fish up to the altar to receive the Body of Christ, he also offered him the Chalice to receive the Blood of Christ! It was quite a moving experience and I cried through the entire thing. I couldn't help but feel the presence of my own mother with us, and that coupled with the presence of our Lord, the Holy Spirit, and all the Saints, really took me over.



One extra special surprise was the visit of a dear friend who moved away a few years ago. It was so wonderful to have Amanda join us!

In true Fish-fashion, when I asked him to bring down his clothes to be ironed for Mass, this is how his shirt arrived. It had been hanging in the closet just as you see it here...



We still have a few celebrations before the end of the month. Graduation, 18th birthday, Grandfather's birthday and Grandparent's anniversary! Then, before the end of the summer, we will be saying good-bye to Bean as she heads off to college! What a wonderful plan He has laid out for us!!

God is Moving Me

Another layer of my spiritual onion is peeling away... painful, but knowing that His hand is in this makes it worth the journey.

I will post more once I can make a bit more sense of it all.

For now, I will post these lyrics to Matthew West's song, The Motions.


This might hurt
It’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care
If I break
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just ok
Is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

No regrets
Not this time
I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love
Make me whole
I think I’m finally feeling something

Take me all the way
Take me all the way
Take me all the way

Attitude Adjustment

I've been in a bit of a funk the last few days. Nothing major, but just an internal churning that usually signals to me that my spiritual life is not as it should be.

I am always embarrassed to look back over my thoughts and behaviors and see how ridiculously selfish I can become.

On the outside, it manifests itself as me appearing extremely frustrated and stressed out. If only I could recognize immediately what is going on and fall to my knees, beg for His forgiveness and then count every blessing I have.

No. I have to do it the hard way. I have to hurt the ones closest to me, or at least make them uneasy which is not fair to them. Thankfully, gratefully, they seem to still like me and put up with me. Another true blessing.

I see that it is time to pull out some St. Francis de Sales and get back to the business of striving for holiness. I pray that when I reach those personal points from which my root sin stems, that I can look to the cross, embrace it, and carry mine with a much more pleasant affect.

Divine Mercy Novena - Day Nine

"Today bring to Me the Souls who have become Lukewarm, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy."

Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen.

Divine Mercy Novena - Day Eight

"Today bring to Me the Souls who are in the prison of Purgatory, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice."

Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be celebrated.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded: Manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way but only through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. Amen.