Spring 2022 Highlights

I realize I'm WAAAYYY behind again on my blog, but I will do my best to catch up quickly :)  I think only a couple of people even read my blog ("Hi Mom and Aunt Marge"), so hopefully I'm not disappointing too many people when I fall behind on blogging, but I'm determined to keep up with my blog for posterity's sake.  I'm trying to turn my blog each year into a book of our family highlights.  Don't ask me how many years behind I am on making books.  If it's meant to be, it will happen someday. :)

Spring is always a busy time of the year for us, which is why I rarely find the time to blog.  Spring for our family is filled with Easter joy, a couple of birthdays (Michael and Isaiah), as well as baseball for the youngest 2 boys (Nathanael and Isaiah), and track for our high school boy (Dominic).

First, the Easter joys...

At least one of my kids still likes to decorate eggs with me :)

Isaiah showing his beautiful drawing of Jesus on his egg.

The Easter baskets ready to be discovered on Easter morning.

Traditionally, we have the Cronk family over for Easter dinner and an egg hunt.  

I forgot to get pictures of the dinner or the egg hunt,

but here is Dominic teaching the Cronk girls how to play Catan :)

We also had some birthdays to celebrate this Spring.  Michael's birthday came first (April 3rd), but sadly he was in Aberdeen at college, so I don't have any pictures of his birthday celebration.  I think he went to Grandma and Grandpa's house and they gave him a birthday dinner.  I came a week or so later to be with Michael as he got his tonsils out over Spring Break.  No pictures of that either--ha ha!  It was a brutal recovery.  Apparently, the older a person is, the rougher a tonsillectomy is.  I stayed for a week to take care of Michael, but a couple of days after I left, Michael had a scary event that involved a sink full of blood and a trip to the ER for him and my terrified parents.  Everything turned out fine, but it was scary and I wish I could've been there to help.  But all's well that ends well, and hopefully he will have a lot less sore throats next year.  His first year of college was rough with lots of sore throats, a case of Covid, a dormroom full of scabies, and a few other bumps in the road.  Next year is bound to be better.  He's really looking forward to playing baseball for NSU as a sophomore since he had to red-shirt his freshman year due to a paperwork issue with the NCAA.

Isaiah also had a birthday in April (the 26th), and I captured some of the highlights with my camera :)  Isaiah chose to have his party at our local indoor trampoline park with some of his classmates.  It was WILD, but he was a happy birthday boy...as you can see:

"Happy Birthday, sweet freckled Zay-Zay!

You are such a JOY in our family and to all those you are around.

Shy and kind you are, with a heart overflowing with love for Jesus.

You make your momma's heart overflow with pure happiness.

I'm so glad God gave us YOU!

May you grow closer to Jesus every year 

and keep sharing your kindness with the world!

Love,

Mom

P.S.  I'll save the Spring sports photos for the next post :)

Oops, Easter's over, but here are my Easter photos :)

One thing I've learned about God is that His blessings always outweigh the crosses that He allows in our lives. This Easter season reminded me that the difficult season of Lent that we all encounter through fasting, extra penances, and added prayer to our busy days is always worth it and overshadowed by the joys of the Easter season!  In fact, even the length of Lent vs Easter is a sign of God's love and mercy for us!  Lent is only 40 days (which often feels like 40 months!) and Easter is 50 days (which is the LONGEST liturgical season in the Church calendar!)  How awesome is that!  

I'm not sure about you, but I've had some tough Lenten seasons that I thought would never end and made me question God's love a little bit.  Like the Lent when our son Dominic ended up in the hospital with a knee infection that resulted in a three year rollercoaster of PTSD-induced panic attacks for him that we didn't think would ever end.  Or last year's Lent...that was a doosey.  Joseph had a skiing accident that tore up his knee, resulting in months of crutches and a brace, which crushed his baseball season and certainly put a damper on his senior year.  Oh, and how could I forget, that was the Lent that Covid hit too, so we got to experience the cross of being locked in our homes, a bit fearful of this unknown virus, doing remote learning for school, and wearing masks once we were finally able to leave our homes!  The Lent of 2020 will certainly be remember by all :}

  

But somehow Easter---the real meaning of Easter---always pulls us through those long seasons of Lent with HOPE and JOY that we didn't even know was possible.  I feel like that happens every year---sometimes in small ways, sometimes in dramatic ways.  And this year was no exception.   This year, with the prolonged pandemic, the very probable stolen election, the mask mandates, the political and racial divisions, the downward spiral our country seems to be taking...it made Lent feel extra long and  a heavy cross to carry.  But then Easter came...  It didn't take all those crosses away, but it reminded me of Jesus's gift of salvation that He won for us on the cross.   He already won the victory.  Those who love Him and live their lives in His service will be with Him in Heaven someday.  Easter reminds me of that huge and hopeful truth.  The reminders of new life are all around me...in the budding trees, our new chicks, the frequent rain, the greenness of the grass.  I love the season of Easter.  It gives me hope after every long Lent.  I hope you are filled with hope too.  God is good, all the time.  Just look at the proof all around you.  Here's some of my proofs...

The JOY of finding early morning Easter presents never gets old!

We love spending Easter with the Cronk family!

Michael being best buddies with little Joseph Cronk

Isaiah showing off some of his Easter candy

The kids eating an Easter appetizer before our big dinner

(maybe we should have done the egg hunt AFTER dinner--oops)

Don't ever loose hope...

HE HAS RISEN!  ALLELUIAH!!!

Totus Tuus,

~Maria

P.S. Michael's graduation photos coming soon...

Good Friday, Easter, and Pandemic Living

2020 will a year everyone remembers...and certainly a Lent and Easter filled with some pretty crazy memories of how the coronavirus/Covid-19 affected each and every one of us.  I find it fascinating how everyone seemed to have slightly different struggles as a result of the pandemic.  We each had our own crosses to carry that I believe were meant to bring us closer to Jesus as we learned to suffer with Him in different ways.  For some people, they had to carry the cross of the coronavirus itself, some even losing their lives or their loved ones from it.  For others, it was the loss of their job due to the imposed social distancing rules.  I have a dear friend who learned during Lent that her mother has terminal cancer with less than a year to live.  For countless parents, the cross of becoming an instant "homeschooling teacher" was thrust upon them without a choice and with no concern for academic qualifications! :)

For our family, there were a variety of crosses and so-called slivers that made this pandemic time difficult:

• the sadness of Joseph's unexpected knee injury during his senior year
• the turmoil that our small, Catholic school went through due to losing its principal and numerous other teachers and then trying to put all of the pieces back together again to keep the school going
• Paul's stressful role as president of the school board 
• my sudden role as a 3rd grade teacher, and then my new role as a remote 3rd grade teacher (I think I know how a fish out of water feels now!) :}
• figuring out how to do remote learning from home (ie how to Zoom, how to record yourself on YouTube, how to scan and submit assignments, how to learn college-like time management skills--STAT!, how to share 2 computers for 7 people, how to balance homeschooling 5 boys while teaching 17 third graders at the same time, etc)

But, despite all of those crosses and mere slivers, there have been even more blessings and silver linings, and it is more important to focus on those!

Here is a short litany of the blessings, and then I'll post some pictures that captured some of them:

• Because we transitioned to remote learning the day after Joseph's knee injury, he didn't have to deal with going up and down the school steps on crutches for 6 weeks or more :}
• We realized just how blessed we are to live in Montana where there are fewer cases of Covid-19, fewer people in general, and much more wide open spaces to hike, fish, and still enjoy the great outdoors even during this quarantine time
• Our family has made the commitment to pray a rosary and a Chaplet of Divine Mercy together every day--I will never forget how beautiful it was to light our prayer candles every day and gather to pray on our living room couches, taking turns leading each decade while snuggling under covers (and sometime giggling as we watch daddy fall asleep!) :)
• We realize how much we miss receiving the Eucharist at Mass every Sunday, but at least we have the grace-filled option of making Spiritual Communions until we can return to church again
• Being able to bond with my boys by playing countless board games and card games
• The crazy but beautiful foot of snow that we received on Easter---we couldn't have an outdoor egg hunt, but the boys were able to sled and play in the snow instead :)
• The quarantine couldn't stop our fun traditions, like making a edible Crown of Thorns, decorating Easter eggs, and making Resurrection Rolls
• Sleeping in and teaching in my pajamas has been nice :)
• I will treasure the long walks taken with my husband during this time as well

Making homemade bread dough to make an edible "crown of thorns" on Good Friday

The boys love placing the "thorns" in the crown;

I try to remind them each year to think of their sins while they place in the thorns

and to say "Sorry" for hurting Jesus with their sins.

As they take the "thorns" out to eat them, I remind the kids to say "Thank You" to Jesus 

for suffering for their sins and always forgiving them.

Traditionally, we just have a simple meal of bread and meatless soup on Good Friday

On Saturday, we decorated our Easter eggs to prepare for the big day ahead.

The colorfulness of Easter eggs never fails to make me happy :)

The boys were nice enough to let me decorate a couple of them--

you're never too old to have fun decorating Easter eggs, right? :)

Easter morning at our house!

A day or two before the snow hit, Paul and I cleaned out the bird houses.

I hope that a few birds found the houses to stay warm in during this Spring storm!

We had just put a new bird house on this post;

the next day a bear came to investigate and knocked the post over!

I bet the bear wishes he had stayed in hibernation a little bit longer! :)

New buds were just blossoming...and then we got a blizzard!

Nathanael showing off his eggs during the Easter blizzard

Isaiah with his favorite egg

Dominic showing a couple of his favorite eggs during the snow storm

What a fun memory of decorating eggs and then standing in a snow storm for a photo! :)

Dad made the boys shovel for Easter!

But it was more like playing than a chore for them :)

We got so much snow we needed to ask Our Lady to help us :)

Paul doing school board work during Easter break.

Michael taking Isaiah for a little sledding adventure :)

I think Michael is enjoying himself more than Isaiah at this moment :)

Isaiah and his sled are covered in snow :)

Isaiah didn't seem to mind the snow too much because he liked to eat it...

and he knew he'd get hot cocoa once he came inside :)

Nathanael and Dominic having a competitive game of Catan.

It has become our favorite game!

Joseph, Michael and I play it almost every night until midnight :)

Easter morning treasures for the oldest 2 boys...

Easter morning treasures for the youngest 3 boys.

The lava lamps were the biggest hit!

After opening their Easter treasures, they went on an egg hunt...

Can you find all of the hidden eggs?

My mom's home-made Jelly Bean Duck is a fun Easter tradition.  

This year instead of jelly beans, we put Robin Eggs/Whoppers inside the duck.

The boys are constantly sneaking "duck poop" for a snack :)

Watching Mass on our computer screen was certainly a new thing for us!

It was beautiful to see our own bishop and priests do the Mass,

but we sure miss attending Mass in person and receiving the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Thankfully, we are able to invite Jesus into our hearts in a Spiritual Communion,

but I am so eager to be able to go to Mass again (soon, I hope!!!)

I do have to say that our couch is more comfortable than the pews though :)

We are SOOO blessed to have a new, holy bishop during this pandemic. 

His homilies have been so encouraging and hope-filled!

Getting the table set for Easter dinner...

As soon as I had the sparkling grape juice poured, the kids came out of the woodwork!

Here is Nathanael looking like a "boy from the hood" in his new Easter sunglasses :}

It was a quiet and simple meal with just our own family.

We were planning to celebrate with another family with 8 kids,

but scratched that idea due to the social distancing rules :)

We had ham, green bean casserole, cream cheese corn, hawaiian rolls and fruit.

And of course Easter wouldn't be complete without making Resurrection Rolls,

which beautifully remind us of the Easter story.

What a sweet reminder of the sweetness of God's love!!!

A blessed Easter Season to all of you!

Our prayers are with you during this pandemic!