The Truth About Yawning

The other morning when Dominic had just gotten out of bed he did a huge yawn, and said with conviction:

"The sleep came out of my throat!"

Cute and kinda true :) I love it when my kids make me laugh. I really need to laugh more often.

I Got Published!

Well, shockingly, our local newspaper published my Letter to the Editor. Not so shockingly, they gave my piece a liberally slanted title by using the phrase "Anti-Abortion Rally" rather than "Pro-life Prayer Vigil." Figures. If you'd like to read the piece, here's the link:

http://www.helenair.com/news/opinion/readers_alley/article_b38920e6-bd37-11de-8046-001cc4c03286.html?mode=story

40 Days for Life Candlelight Vigil

I am very blessed to be the Vigil Coordinator for our city's 40 Days for Life fall campaign, and this week we had a Candlelight Prayer Vigil at our local Planned Parenthood to mark the mid-way point of our campaign. It was bitter cold, but a very blessed evening. Young and old alike, of many different faiths, attended the prayerful event, and it was an evening filled with music, prayer, and hope that someday the tragedy of abortion will end in our country. For those of you unfamiliar with 40 Days for Life, it is a pro-life movement that is striving to peacefully end abortion one soul at a time through prayer, fasting, and being loving witnesses for life outside of abortion clinics. Since 40 Days for Life began in 2007, more than 1700 babies and their mothers have been spared from the pain of abortion (and those are just the ones we know about)!!! To learn more about his amazing campaign happening in over 212 cities across the globe, visit: http://www.40daysforlife.com/.

This is the 3rd 40 Days for Life campaign we have held in our town, and each campaign we try with all our might to get the media to cover any of our events...always to no avail. I feel certain it is because the abortion issue is so contraversial and the liberal media simply doesn't want to cover conservative stories. I thought the media was supposed to be fair and balanced and cover any newsworthy events objectively??? So why is it that they will cover a gay pride parade, but not a pro-life prayer vigil??? I was so irritated by this discrepancy that I wrote a letter to the editor last night. I'll let you know if it gets published, although I highly doubt it will. Here's what I wrote:

I find myself frustrated that “politically incorrect” issues often do not get media coverage, so I feel compelled to highlight a local event apparently deemed “too sensitive” for the media to touch. The heartiest pro-lifers in Helena braved the bitter cold on October 12th to celebrate the half-way point in the “40 Days for Life” fall campaign. To me, the most touching part of the event was the 2000+ birthday candles that participants lit and blew out as they prayerfully circled Planned Parenthood. The birthday candles represented the number of babies in Montana not celebrating their first birthdays this year. The multitude of candles graphically gave a sense of the sad prevalence of abortion in our country, even here in Big Sky Country. How many birthday candles would it take to represent those babies nationwide who will not have birthdays this year? I truly believe that because of 40 Days for Life campaigns happening all over the nation, next year there will be far fewer birthday candles needed. As of day 22 of this fall campaign, there have been 251 confirmed reports of babies and their mothers being saved from the pain of abortion nationally. Now that seems newsworthy to me.

Remembering Sebastian

Two years ago today our little Sebastian was born and brought to Heaven. The memory of that day stirs up many emotions, but this year I am thankful that some of the sorrow has dissipated and has been replaced with peace. I keep picturing holding his little body, perfectly formed, in my hands. He was beautiful. And now I know how beautiful it is to have a saint up in heaven interceding for our family. I will try to focus on such thoughts rather than the pain of missing him and our 2 other children in heaven. This photo is a painting called "Escort to God" by Melissa Dayton. My friend Denise gave me this print when I miscarried, and it brings me so much comfot to picture my babies being escorted to God by angels. I can't wait to get escorted to Heaven someday and hold each of my heavenly children in my arms.

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,

Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Job 1:21

Kings of the Mountain

"The Lord's power and glory can be seen in the distance."
Isaiah 30:27

We hiked to the top of Mount Helena this past weekend (believe it or not, the following day the mountain was covered in snow!). Paul and the older boys loved the hike; whereas, Dominic and I did a fair share of whining :} It is so beautiful at the top to overlook the city and the surrounding mountains. One truly understand why Montana is called "Big Sky Country" when you're looking at the state from the top of a mountain! We feel so blessed to be here and hope to embark upon many more hikes in the years to come...hopefully with less whining!

The Mighty Hunters

Here's a photo of the mighty hunters who unfortunately came back empty handed in the meat department but loaded with animated stories :) From left to right: My brothers Steve and Jon, my dad Pat, my brother Mike, and my husband Paul. Despite no one shooting an elk, they had a blast bonding in the way men do: telling stories, drinking beer, and finding some sort of strange fulfillment roughing it in the wild. I am glad they all had such a good time, and I hope they all are able to put something in their freezers before the season comes to an end. I have to admit I will breathe a huge sigh of relief once the season is over :} Perhaps then it will be time for me to go on a 3-week "Camp for Girls" getaway! Any ladies out there want to join me? ;)

The Little Flower of Lisieux

Today is the Feast Day of one of the saints dearest to my heart: St. Therese the Little Flower. I've prayed many a novena to her and received many heavenly roses from her hand. I've read her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, and will forever strive to imitate her "little way," as she calls it, to holiness. Her way simply consists of daily dying to self and living solely for God by loving and serving others. My mom, who is fittingly named Theresa, has a deep devotion to St. Therese and so beautifully models "the Little Flower" every day through small (and big) acts of sacrifice and love. Hopefully, I'll catch on soon and be able to follow in both of their footsteps :) Here is a little excerpt about St. Therese's life that I found inspiring:

Few saints are more popular than this young nun. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, is read and loved throughout the world. Thérèse Martin entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age of 24. Life in a Carmelite convent is indeed uneventful and consists mainly of prayer and hard domestic work. But Thérèse possessed that holy insight that redeems the time, however dull that time may be. She found holiness in quiet, redemptive suffering, suffering that was indeed her apostolate. Thérèse said she came to the Carmel convent "to save souls and pray for priests." And shortly before she died, she wrote: "I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth." Many people claim to receive miraculous roses from Therese when they seek her intercession. Thérèse has much to teach our age. We have become a dangerously self-conscious people, painfully aware of the need to be fulfilled, yet knowing we are not. Thérèse, like so many saints, sought to serve others, to do something outside herself, to forget herself in quiet acts of love. She is one of the great examples of the gospel paradox that we gain our life by losing it, and that the seed that falls to the ground must die in order to live (see John 12). Preoccupation with self separates modern men and women from God, from their fellow human beings and ultimately from themselves. We must relearn to forget ourselves, to contemplate a God who draws us out of ourselves and to serve others as the ultimate expression of selfhood. These are the insights of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and they are more valid today than ever.

I find it ironic that on this special Feast Day of St. Therese, I am feeling so absolutely unlike her. For weeks I have been battling with serious selfishness, wanting to be loved and served rather than loving and serving others, preoccupying myself with worldly and vain thoughts, and finding it very difficult to be joyful or even to pray. Although it humbles me and troubles me how far I feel from St. Therese's "little way" lately, I am so thankful for her example and her intercession. So from the bottom of my heart, I sincerely pray, St. Therese, pray for me.