Emma's First Reconcilliation

I am finally getting a moment to post Emma's picture from that special day. Here she is with her candle that she made to commemorate the event.

Quizno's Bob

Quizno's Bob has nothing on our little Brendan!!

And I had to share what three of my monkeys were busy doing yesterday!!

Broken Radius

My poor son Matthew fell of off his bike yesterday and broke his left arm. The radius to be exact. He is devasted as he has been intensely training for the weapons and sparring aspect of our upcoming tournament He has been in some pain while we await the swelling to go down so that his permanent cast can be placed later this week.

I tried to console him with the fact that he is still number 1! He is the first child to break a bone in the family. Hey, 6 kids, 18 years - 3 months and only one broken bone!! That's pretty good odds in my book! Of course JP has taken the cake on glass eating and 2nd - 3rd degree burns, and let's not forget the ol' hole in the heart! But broken bones... Matthew got the first place medal on that one.

Help with a Rosary

Geaux Running is going to be running a 100 mile ultra marathon next weekend, Feb 4th and 5th in Huntsville. He is asking for names of people that would like a rosary said for them or for their loved ones, while he is running. In return, he is asking for those who ask for prayer to please pray a rosary for him, especially during the over-night hours when he will be most challenged physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Rick would like his petition to be for strength and courage as well as for protection from injury. He is not asking for prayers to finish the race only the petitions above.

If you would like to add a name to his rosary intentions, please leave them on the comments section. My comments are moderated and in this instance will NOT be posted on my blog.

New Encyclical

Pope Benedict's New Encyclical on Christian Love has finally been released.

Check here to read it!

Pro-Life Search Engine

Thanks to Moneybags at A Catholic Life for this information! Each search will bring in donations to the pro-life organizations.

Prolifesearch

Conversations with Fish

Mom: " Thanks for going with me tonight, honey!"
Fish: "I like going places with you, mommy!"
Mom: "That makes me feel so special!"
Fish: "Does that make your heart grow?"
Mom: "Yes, sweetheart, it does..."

Americans on Call

Thank you to Danielle Bean for posting this on her blog.

I encourage all to read this and respond accordingly. I believe it is truly the only way we will ever see an end to abortion in our time.

Americans on Call

Busy busy busy

Life has taken over this week and I've had no time to blog. I hope to get a few moments today. We are trying out our new "schedule" around here and it is working fine, but I am not getting any time for computer... WAAAHHHH!!!

Priorities come before the fun, I suppose!

Prayer of Parents for their children

O Jesus, Lover of Children,

bestow Your most precious graces

on those whom You have confided to our care.

Increase in them Faith, Hope and Charity.

May Your love lead them to solid piety,

inspiring them with dread for sin, love of work, and an ardent desire of worthily approaching Your Holy Table.

Preserve in them innocence and purity of heart;

and if they should offend you,

grant them the grace of a prompt and sincere repentance.

From Your Tabernacle watch over them day and night;

protect them in all their ways.

Grant that they may acquire the knowledge

that they need to embrace the state of life

to which you have called them.

Grant us a sincere love,

constant vigilance

and generous devotedness towards them.

Grant us all consolation on earth

and eternal reward in Heaven.

Amen.

Sanctity Sunday

Today is Respect Life Sunday. The anniversary of the tragic decision of Roe v Wade. Let us please pray for all lawmakers, medical professionals, and citizens who favor this decision to have a complete conversion. That they come to realize that each life deserves to live out its full life from the moment of conception until its natural death.

Let us also pray for those who have been affected by abortion, that they feel the healing power of Christ and feel His mercy in their lives.

Let us most especially pray for the Holy Innocents who have been lost through abortion. Those sweet souls that we will only meet once we get to Heaven.

Finally, let us pray stop assisted suicides, euthanasia, the death penalty and war. All life is precious and God's timing is perfect.

Hail Mary, full of grace
The Lord is with Thee.

Blessed are Thou amoungst women
And blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen

New Blog

I have created a new blog just for my rambling attempts at poetry, particularly, Haiku. It is called Words Upon A Page


Feel free to stop by!

Help!

I have Haiku-itis! I have looked at Haiku for years, never really able to come up with much and now, I wake up with it in my head... What is going on? Am I infected with a bug? Here are a few that came to me as I awoke this morning

Breathe in, Breathe out, Peace
Snuggle close sleeping child,
Breathe in, Breathe out, Peace



Chocolate brown, wet nose,
Secrets only she can know
Behind her soft eyes.


Colors piled up
Seems like work that never ends
Caused by gifts from Him


Filled with seed it waits
God's creatures flock and eat a bit
Joseph fills it up

Just what will he be
Filled with grace from heav'n above
Prayers prayed every day

I may need to start a new blog just for this!

New Blog Skin

Well, I thought I would try a new look not realizing that selecting my choice committed me! I do like the look, however, I lost all of my links, booklist, and blogroll. Not that it was very extensive anyway, but I will try to get it back up and running asap.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

She Can Read!

Little Em' is reading! It brought tears to my eyes! After only two weeks of the Kid Potential Program , she is able to read fairly difficult words that she never would have been able to tackle just a few short days ago. It is truly a miracle. One of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen, aside from each child's birth.

Little Em' can read
She can do it with such ease
And mom is so pleased

My attempt at Haiku

Thanks for the inspiration, Cindy!

Think of a short verse
Matters little if it rhymes
But nice if it does

For more inspiration, check out Haiku of a Homeschooler

Prayer for Christian Unity

Thanks to a Catholic Life for posting this. Anyone else want to join in?

Just wondering...

I know that there are more important things in life, but why, oh why do things like this drive me nutso...?

Why does my tube of toothpaste have 5.6 oz? Why not just 6.0?? Are the toothpaste generals feeling generous giving me an extra .6 of an ounce or or they being stingy not wanting to hand over the extra to make a nice round 6 ounces?? My face wash has 6.7 ounces. You'd think for what I paid for the stuff, they could make it an even 7 ounces!

I have had it with stupid people today. If one more comes my way today I might go nuts. In fact, there is no "might" about it. It's a breezy day, maybe some of these folks had their brains blown right out of their ears. That's ok, if they use 1.2 ounces of gum, they can stick themselves back together...

Bad day... don't ask... Lord, make me nice again, please?

I have an owie...

Actually, I have a few of them. I drug myself onto the TKD mat last night and resumed my status as an eternal white belt. The last time I was on the floor was almost a year ago. Unfortunately, pregnancy and TKD don't mix well. Honestly, my pregnancies only mix well with sleep, eating, and throwing up.

So the hips are a bit sore today. As are the knees, the feet, and the hind quarters. Ahhh, the joys of being 40 and a new mom. But that won't stop me from being "super Mom" able to leap mounds of laundry in a few bounds, able to climb the stairs multiple times screaming, ARE YOU COMING DOWN FOR LUNCH??!!!

The scariest part of last night... seeing myself in those horrible mirrors wondering... whose butt is that exactly?? Oh, mine? YIKES!

At least the kids look good!

Why do I Homeschool?

After watching John Stossel's 20/20 report on Schools in America, I just had to post this...

Thanks to Cindy, who got it from her friend...

Our World is a Bit Off

It's funny what happens sometimes when you have a larger family. I have 6 six, 18 - 12 weeks. On numerous occasions, my older daughters have been holding one of my babies and have been asked "Is that your baby?" by wondering folks. My oldest was completely freaked out by this telling me at one point that she would never hold the baby again in public because she doesn't want people to think that SHE had the baby.

The other day my 14 year old was holding the baby and she was asked the same question. Her reaction was pretty much the same.

But today took the cake. I was at an appointment with my youngest daughter who is 7. My 10 year old son came along to help me with the baby. While I was in the treatment room with Em, an adult in the waiting room approached M asking him if he was the FATHER of the baby!! As my son relayed this to me, I thought, surely the man must have been joking with him. However he also reported to me that the receptionist had to chime in telling the man that M was in fact the BROTHER...

Weirdest thing of all, he was there with HIS 10 year old son.

I have heard it all now... At least for today.

Reconcilliation Day

Today my sweet little Em' will make her First Reconcilliation. She is so sweet and so small, how could she possibly have anything to confess? She is the most obedient child I have ever known, with the exception of M who is just as obedient. Yet, she is fretting so about what to do, what to say, what will happen.

Our school day will consist of copywork, playing a geography game, and then reviewing what to do during confession. I'll have M play the part of the priest. He went to confession last week and swears he wants to go every week now. So does B!

All of these years I have worried if I have been doing enough to pass on the faith, then I discover that God is really the one doing all of the work. I just help Him. And I don't do it very well, but I keep trying. I try by being a living example. Some days better than others, but always trying.

I remember my first confession. It was with Father Shea in Holyoke Mass at Sacred Heart Parish. I was a nervous wreck. I was sure I was going to Hell, but he made me feel so comfortable. My confession was face to face. It was 1972 or so with Vatican II changes all around. I remember sitting at a table, nervous as could be and Father Shea holding my hand as we "talked". I don't recall what I said, or what he said for that matter, but I left my 1st confession feeling wonderful and knowing God loved me.

I wonder what happened to that wonderful priest? He knew me by name! He would make a point of giving me a big hug after each Mass, whenever Mom and Dad took us... that's another story for another day.

Please keep Em' in your thoughts today as she receives her 2nd sacrament in the Church.

Is he a Dunn?

Well, you all vote and let me know... Everyone says he looks like me, I say I don't really think so... Maybe my brothers, but not so much me. He is almost 20 lbs, 12 weeks old yesterday and is not able to fit into the 3-6 month outfits that have feet attached.

New things he's doing...
He is starting giggle. It is the cutest thing ever.
He wakes up by turning his head back in forth against the sheets in rapid succession achieving a nice bald spot on the back of his head. I'll have to get a picture of that.
He loves to hear his siblings voices. He smiles whenever he hears them. Even mid-cry, he hears their voice, he smiles, and then returns to crying.

On that note, crying never goes longer than 15 seconds because one of the said siblings runs to his rescue. This child's feet will NEVER touch the ground!

Mama was speaking Tagalog to him on Sunday night and he loved it! It was so precious to watch them interact!

He still sleeps quite a bit, but I guess when you are lugging around 20 lbs, you tire quickly... LOL