Christmas Recap

This Christmas was a delight...here are the highlights:

Paul's Mom came for a few days to spoil us with her great cooking and her grandma hugs!

We all got dressed up to attend a beautiful Mass at the Cathedral. The church was so packed that we had to go downstairs and watch the service on a big screen TV! At first I was annoyed by this, but then I realized how happy I should be that so many people came to "Christ's Mass" on Christmas. Deep down I think that all people know what is truly important when Christmas comes: faith in Christ. I hope some of those "once-a-year-Catholics" were touched so deeply by Christ that they start attending Mass every Sunday. Wouldn't it be awesome if the church had standing room only every week!?

Dominic had his preschool Christmas program while Grandma Jean was here, so he was delighted to show off his singing and dancing skills for her. He is our most out-going child and loves to perform...I wonder what God wants him to be when he grows up.

This year we started a new tradition of having a Christmas recital at our house with our closest friends. Joseph, Michael, and Dominic each played a few piano songs. Michael even sang while he played his Christmas songs...he loves to sing!

And even I was brave enough to play one song on the piano during the recital! I asked our friend Glen to accompany me on the violin to cover up any mistakes I made :) Glen is a very gifted musician...he can't read music, but he can play anything by ear on the piano, fiddle or guitar! His lovely wife Lisa is also musically gifted and she played a few songs on the piano while the rest of us sang along.

Another new tradition this year was to go Christmas-light-sight-seeing. Our favorite house was Dominic's preschool teacher's. Her house was programmed to music, so different lights flashed on and off to the beat of a few different Christmas songs. None of us had ever seen anything like that before, so it was really impressive. We brought along hot cocoa and cookies to snack on while we watched, and we hope to do this every Christmas in the future!

Of course, opening presents was one of the highlights of Christmas... And this year's favorite gift was from Grandma Jean. She took the boys on a shopping date for new bikes...bikes with breaks and gears on the handle bars! Grandma even took the boys out for lunch at a fancy restaurant afterwards...so it was double-special date and a memory I don't think the boys will forget. Thanks, Grandma Jean!

The favorite gift for the whole family was the new Wii video game, compliments of the money my parents sent us for Christmas. We really struggled with whether or not to buy a video game for the kids, but after talking with other friends who have the Wii, we decided it would be a good choice. So far we have not been sorry at all for the purchase. The whole family is loving it! Even Paul and I sneak downstairs to challenge each other to a few games once the kids are tucked it! It really has been promoting family togetherness as we all play it together. The only games we have so far are the Sports games that came with the Wii and a Major League Baseball game, all of which will keep us moving on our feet during the long winter months in Montana. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

Nathanael's favorite Christmas present was the chocolate candy from his stocking. Well, actually it was chewing on the soft plastic lid of the candy container. He was easy to please this year :)

Nathanael was also thrilled with the new book he received. He loved all the excitement of present-opening-time, even though he was clueless what was going on :)

Dominic's favorite gift was the new blue whale stuffed animal he received...can you tell he's smitten with it? :)

Paul's favorite gift was the special picture frame that Joseph wood-burned for him at at school. Paul took it to work to put on his desk and show off the detailed F4-Phantoms that Joseph wood-burned with such skill.

My favorite gift this Christmas was learning how to ski! Paul bought me 3 lessons at our nearby ski hill, and we were able to go up to the hill with the older boys while Grandma Jean babysit the two younger boys. It was a lot of fun! I'm still a beginner compared to our fearless little boys and my hot snowboarding husband, but hopefully I'll be able to keep up with them soon!

One tradition that remained the same this Christmas was our cat Arwen's past-time of stalking and killing our Christmas ornaments :) Unfortunately, her favorite prey are the homemade ornaments the boys made with their cute school pictures in them. Next year, will someone please remind me to put those ornaments way at the top of the tree?

Christmas Letter 2011

For those of you who are not on our Christmas mailing list, I wanted to post our annual Christmas letter to wish you a blessed holiday season and to share a summary of our year...

May God’s graces be showered upon each of you this holy season as you strive to make more room for Jesus in your hearts! Here is the annual update on our family:

Joseph, age 10, is excelling as a 4th grader at St. Andrew Catholic School. He enjoys art, history, reading, airplanes, baseball, being an altar server at Mass, playing piano, chess club, skiing, Swiss army knives, and anything Nerf. He is eager to start hunting with his dad in a couple of years.

Michael, age 8, is a tremendously bright 3rd grader at St. Andrew Catholic School. He enjoys math, computer games, airplanes, baseball, chess club, playing piano, skiing, and helping me entertain Nathanael. He is eager to start singing in the Cathedral’s children’s choir in January.

Dominic, age 5, loves his pre-K class at Our Redeemer’s Lutheran school. He enjoys playing board games, putting together intricate train tracks, playing baseball, pretending to be various ocean animals, and copying everything his older brothers do. He is eager to start Kindergarten at St. Andrew School in the fall so that he will be “big” like his big brothers.

Nathanael, age 1, brings so much joy to each one of us! He enjoys making animal or machine sounds, reading books, snuggling with his teddy at naptime, playing with trains, and making mommy chase him all over the house. He is our first redhead (although we’re still not sure if the color will stay) and has such a sweet, happy disposition that we almost feel ready for another baby. :) We will trust in God’s will and timing.

Paul, who wishes not to disclose his age :), continues to enjoy working for the FAA as a safety inspector, but his real passion is taking advantage of all the Great Outdoor opportunities in Montana. He spent many happy hours hiking and hunting, and we went on many family camping adventures this summer. He is eager to fill our freezer with elk meat in the coming year, as well as do some more fly-fishing.

As for me, I can’t wait to look my age instead of being carded every time I buy wine at the grocery store. :) I still enjoy participating in my rosary group and Bible study group, helping with our local 40 Days for Life pro-life campaigns, as well as sewing and writing when I can find the time. I especially enjoy writing on our family blog that chronicles all our important family events, as well as random things that I ponder, so if you’d like to read more about us, visit: www.atotustuusfamily.blogspot.com.

I would like to leave you with a powerful story to carry with you throughout the New Year…The portrait of Jesus pictured below has become very special to Paul and me. It is called “Prince of Peace,” and it was painted by an 8 year old child prodigy named Akiane Kramarik. Despite being raised by an atheist mother, she started having visions of Jesus and heaven at age 4 and began bringing them to life with her brush. Akiane says, “I want my art to draw people’s attention to God.” Her own mother’s conversion to Christianity is confirmation that her wish is coming true. The other amazing story behind this portrait is its connection to a young boy named Colton Burpo, who also claims to have met Jesus when he nearly died of a ruptured appendix at age 3 (Colton’s story is beautifully told in the best-selling book, “Heaven is for Real”). When Colton’s father showed this painting of Jesus to his son, it was the ONLY picture of Jesus that Colton said looked just like the Jesus he visited with in Heaven! Wow! Now every time I look at this picture I can really picture my precious Savior looking at me with those loving eyes, and it makes me desire to love and serve Him more so that I can spend eternity with Him someday… I pray that you grow to love the Prince of Peace more this year than ever before too!

Thankful Thursday: the Advent Edition

Advent is sincerely my favorite time of the year, so my heart is simply glowing with thanks...

• a new nephew being born--Evan Andrew--and sending homemade gifts to the happy family



• listening to Christmas music while I cook in the kitchen



• playing Anne Murray's Christmas album while decorating the tree with my little helpers, just like I used to do with my mom



• the grace-filled sacrament of Confession---a snow-white soul (at least for a moment) :}



• hunting for the perfect Christmas tree in the snowy woods with friends...finding more than a tree: family togetherness, the warmth of friendship, feeling alive in the brisk mountain air



• our freshly cut Christmas tree twinkling with lights in the morning, helping me start my day with a twinkling spirit



• boys being trained by their daddy to do dishes



• Nerf darts shot into our newly decorated tree, making mommy shoot angry words and later seek her son's forgiveness



• Taco Tuesday for supper...LOVE IT!



• Amazon.com Christmas shopping = easy + earns money for our school + pays for a portion of our tuition through the Scrip program...TRIPLE BONUS!



• having a holy, candle-lit dinner each night using the Advent wreath that my mom made years ago, the same wreath we lit growing up



• hanging the homemade stocking my mother-in-law made for each of us

The nursing apron, teddy blanket, and burping rags I made for Jon, Debbie, and baby Evan

The beautiful Advent wreath my mom made, giving us a candlelight dinner each night and preparing our hearts for Christmas

The Christmas stocking's lovingly made by Grandma Jean

Dominic, one of mommy's tree decorators. He especially loved the photo ornaments...they are mommy's favorites too!

Joseph: another big helper who also put together the train tracks under the tree

Michael: another brave helper who wanted to hang the highest ornaments of all!

Our freshly cut and decorated tree with our traditional train making laps at the base

Look beyond the lights and busy-ness of the season to find the real reason we celebrate: Jesus

A God Moment

We are trying to start a new tradition at our dinner table, a tradition I borrowed from Ann Voskamp's beautiful blog. Ann's family brings their Bibles to the dinner table, and once the meal is over they all pull out their Bibles, read a chapter or two, and then discuss as a family what God is speaking to them through his Holy Word. I fell in love with that idea of family devotional time around the table and asked my husband if we could try it. So far we have only successfully remembered to do our Bible reading twice...it is far from being a habit yet, but we are hoping it becomes one.

Anyway, today as we sat down to dinner, I reminded the boys to remind me to remind them to do our Bible reading once we finished eating :) Then I recalled the Scripture passage about "man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." I said it out loud to the boys to try to explain to the boys why we are starting this new tradition of reading the Bible every day...because God's Word feeds our souls and is more important than food feeding our bodies. I asked the boys if any of them remembered where that verse in the Bible is found. Like good Catholics, none of us could remember the "address" for the verse :} So we dismissed it and started eating dinner. After dinner, it was Joseph's turn to be our Bible reader. I told him he could pick any book in the Bible to read from or he could just open it up and randomly read whatever page he opened to. He thought the latter idea sounded fun, so he opened the Bible and pointed to the middle of the page. Guess what passage he pointed to?

"One does not live by bread alone." (Luke 4:4)

God totally answered my question at the beginning of our meal!!! I could not believe it! All of us stopped and looked at each other with our mouths hanging open. I said, "Crazy! That was no accident, boys!" Luke 4:4 is relating the story about how Jesus responded to Satan tempting him on the mountain after his 40 day fast. When I looked at the cross reference to the verse it brought me to Deuteronomy 8:3. Jesus is quoting the Old Testament passage when the Israelites were given manna in the desert and Moses tells them, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord." So now we know the address,and I don't think we'll every forget it. How incredible. I guess God wasn't joking when he said, "Ask and you shall receive." How neat for our family to see a miracle like that, proving that indeed our God is alive and active in our daily lives, and that He cares about the smallest questions that we might have.

1st Birthday...take two

Remember how I said that my sweet husband threw a party for our big one year old while I was away at a retreat and how I needed to have another party so that I could be there? Well, here's a collage of photos from Nathanael's 2nd "1st" birthday :) It was a great party, and I was very happy to be there this time to share in all the smiles of my big 1 year old!

Nathanael was smitten with his train cake...he loves trains right now, which makes living a block from the train tracks a big bonus right now. The "choo choo" sound of a train was one of the first sounds he learned how to make.

The knew what to do with the cake a bit faster the second time around...

Yes, he demolished his first piece in a hurry, then he wanted more (of course)...

Nathanael had no idea how to open his presents, so thankfully there were lots of little helpers more than happy to show him how...

He received lots of books, which are his favorite "toy" in the world, especially the "lift-the-flap" or "touch-and-feel" kind...

His grandparents bought him this fun interactive train, which he adores...

...and they also bought him this Thomas tent/tunnel/ball-pit toy which Nathanael was mesmerized by...

His brothers loved it too, and we later found our cat playing in it too, so I guess it's fun for the WHOLE family :)

Overdue Thanksgiving List

On this day of Thanksgiving, I am reminded how long overdue I am with sharing my gratitude list. My goal is to post a list each Thursday of things that I am thankful for in order to train myself to constantly be looking for God's graces all around me. I have failed miserably at posting a list each week, but here is the list that I've been working on the past couple of months:

• boys looking handsome and happy in their blue and khaki school uniforms


• the jibberjabbering of babies...the sweetest language on earth


• rainbows in the soapy suds as I do dishes, reminding me that even chores can be beautiful with the right perspective


• one-on-one bonding at breakfast with whichever child wakes first in the morning


• Nathanael learning to balance on 2 chubby legs


• hiding Scripture memory verses in my heart with my prayer partner


• slipping love notes and Scripture verses in lunch boxes


• dimpled chins and baby grins


• praying at Planned Parenthood in the falling snow, feeling God's grace fall upon me


• Dominic pretending to be a new ocean animal each week


• the delight in my boys' eyes as they watch MLB games on the computer


• a surprise gift of chocolate from my friend Beth on a day I needed a boost


• crunchy carrots from our garden that somehow taste better than the ones at the store


• hunter husband returning early from hunting camp = huge deposit in my love bank


• hunting season nearing its end (3 more days, but who's counting) :)


• singing the name of Jesus at a Cursillo retreat


• unexpected polanca (love letters) from those I love most, including sweet drawings from my boys


• the gentle flicker of the sanctuary candle, silently beckoning that God is near


• my kind friend Alyssa who brought ginger ale and bread when our house had the flu


• learning Mother Teresa's secret: thirsting for Christ and trusting that He thirsts for me


• times spent reading or sewing


• finding a new babysitter and piano teacher for the boys


• women sharing their "mountains moved" by faith and trust in Jesus

the big ONE

Our baby turned ONE on November 10th, and although his mommy was away at a Cursillo Women's Retreat getting her soul refueled, his daddy and brothers made is day very special. Paul bought the chocolaty-est cupcake he could find at the grocery store, found a candle somewhere in our cupboard, serenaded Nathanael with help from the big brothers, and then let Nathanael dive right in. Paul even remembered to take pictures (my 11 years of nagging him is finally paying off!) The only thing he forgot was a bib...but who needs bibs on their birthday, right?

It was very special for me to see photos of the celebration and to know that Paul and boys had fun while I was away having a different kind of fun of my own. I think it was so healthy for Paul to have that special bonding time with his boys without my interference too, and boy did they bond. When Paul and the boys came to pick me up from my retreat, Nathanael clung to daddy and wouldn't even come to me!!! At first I was a bit saddened by that, but then I realized how much it must warm Paul's heart to know that he was the "favored one" this time :) I think part of the reason Nathanael wouldn't come to me was because as soon as I saw the boys, I basically turned into a puddle of tears because I missed them so much and was so happy to see them. I don't think Nathanael has ever seen his mommy cry before, so when he saw my tear-stained face he was like, "Who is this crazy woman...there is no way I'm going to let her hold me!" Thankfully, once I pulled myself together and wiped my running mascara off my face, he quickly changed his mind and let me love on him :)

Here's the play-by-play in pictures from Nathanael's real birthday... We are going to have another celebration this weekend so that mommy can celebrate her baby's birthday too (my husband doesn't understand why we need to celebrate again, but I'm sure all you mothers out there understand) :)

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe daddy gave me a cupcake!"

"Now, what exactly do I do with it?"

"Hmmm, it tastes pretty good!"

"Oh ya, it tastes great and it's fun to play with too!"

"Nuts, it's a bit sticky though..."

"I'll just try to flick it on the floor to get it off my hands."

"This was the BEST BIRTHDAY OF MY LIFE!!!"

Whale of a Good Time

On Halloween each year, we do our best to turn the secular holiday into one that glorifies God by focusing on the holy saints instead of ghouls, witches or make-believe superheroes. Why not focus on the "real" superheroes instead--those who loved Christ, served Him, and often died for His sake!? My husband and I became convicted about 8 years ago that we didn't want to be a part of the dark roots of Halloween. Plus, the fact that Halloween is still celebrated by Satanic groups and those in the Wicca religion really bothered us. So we decided to scrap trick-or-treating altogether for some good, holy fun instead. We always invite a group of Christian friends over for some heavenly food, some saintly games, some intercessory prayer asking the saints to help us grow in holiness, and then we share stories of our favorite saint or the saint we dressed up as for the party. Here is this year's rundown of who we chose as our saints:

• Paul: St. John Bosco


• Maria: St. Maria Goretti


• Joseph: St. Juan Diego


• Michael: St. Damien


• Dominic: St. Brendan


• Nathanael: St. George

We always end the celebration with letting the kids break open a homemade pinata. This year's pinata was a whale in honor of the saint Dominic chose to dress up as: St. Brendan the Navigator who is the patron saint of whales and sailors. All in all, it was a whale of a good time had by all!

This year was extra special because my mom was able to celebrate with us and help us prepare for the party. She helped the boys make their "Saint-O-Lanterns," in which they carved a symbol that represents the saint they chose to dress up as this year. She also helped me make Dominic's costume, clean my house, make the meal, and a million other things...THANKS, MOM! She didn't need to dress up as a saint for the party because she truly is a living saint! (Anyone who knows her would agree!)

This year's Saint-O-Lanterns: The pumpkin for St. Bosco and St. Maria Goretti has a cross symbol, St. Juan Diego has a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe on it (Joseph drew the picture and did an incredible job!), St. Brendan has a whale, St. George has a spear, and St. Damien has a big "D" carved out to represent his name.

Joseph as Juan Diego, Maria as St. Maria Goretti, Nathanael as St. George, Dominic as St. Brendan, Paul as St. Bosco, and Michael as St. Damien.

Our saintly friends: Glen as St. Paul of the Cross, Lisa as St. Jacinta, Brian and Maria as their saintly selves, Jennifer as St. Esther, Beth as St. Elizabeth, Scott as St. Zachariah, Maria as St. Maria Goretti, and Paul as St. John Bosco.

All our saintly kids ready to eat their candy from the pinata!

St. George looks way too adorable and gentle to slay a dragon!

St. Brendan is ready to set sail and be a missionary for Christ!

Dominic dancing at his school costume parade where the class sang a few songs.

Michael as St. Damien and Joseph as St. Juan Diego at their school party. They had a blast playing games at all the different booths and winning lots of candy for prizes.

Michael and Joseph playing the "Halo Toss" game.

St. Michael covered in halos at the "Halo Toss" game.

Michael playing "Pin the Halo on the Saint" game.

Joseph ready to drop a rose from our balcony for our "St. Therese's Roses from Heaven" game.

A view from the balcony after the roses have been "showered from heaven." Whichever child dropped their rose closest to the picture of St. Therese was the winner. This game is always a big hit; the kids wanted to play this game over and over again.

Little Audrey ready to give the whale pinata a smack.

Michael's mighty batting skills sure payed off this year!