When your marriage needs a boost...

...go BOWLING!!!

Seriously, just go put on those sexy bowling shoes,

...pick out a hot pink ball,

...embarrass your husband by taking photos of him with a pastel purple ball,

...beat him in 2 out of 3 games,

...then tell him he's a very handsome loser,

...and then hopefully he'll take you out for dessert,

and your marriage will be so much sweeter!

Sidenote:  Paul and I very rarely go out on dates since we live so far away from family, but every time we do miraculously go out, we are reminded how wonderful and important it is!  We were blessed last week with an overnight date while we were visiting my parents in South Dakota.  We ate at a great restaurant, went bowling with the whole bowling alley all to ourselves (that only happens in small town South Dakota!), then went out for drinks and dessert afterwards.  The best part was that we reserved the same hotel room that we had on our wedding night, which of course brought back many sweet memories...but I'll spare you those details! :)  Even though Paul and I know how much our marriage needs these special date nights, we are at a loss for how to make it happen on a regular basis.  If any of you have any tips, please share them!

A Fitting Father's Day

How fitting that this Father's Day weekend was our first camping adventure of the season.  My husband loves the great outdoors.  It is his happy place.  Our boys are so blessed to have a daddy like him.  He is teaching them everything there is to learn about being a true man---a man of God and a man of adventure. 

With such respect I watched him all weekend teach the boys things their mommy certainly couldn't impart.  With patience and step-by-step wisdom he taught them how to build a fire.  Not how to build it the cheater way with a fire-starter or a box full of matches, but the survivalist way...starting with a single match and a tee pee of tiny, dry twigs, then placing a larger tee pee of slightly larger twigs around the first, followed by medium sticks, and so forth, until the fire was ablaze.   Later on, I watched as he coached each boy in archery, patiently making adjustments to their bows and dreaming aloud with them how they will soon be hunting by his side.  When they tired of archery, he took turns playing Chucko or Golf Toss with the boys.  Throughout the weekend, I watched as he cooked all our meals with a single-burner propane grill and calmly asked the boys to help with various chores.  It seemed that he was constantly working...while, at the same time, teaching our boys to value work.

The next day, I watched as he carried our littlest one (who isn't so very little anymore) in the hiking backpack for an 8 mile hike without complaint.  His example of quiet strength inspired the boys to hike without a whine escaping their lips (which is more than I can say of their mother).  As I watched him hike I was reminded that his rugged outdoorsiness was one of the qualities that most attracted me to him when we dated.  I loved hearing about all his hiking adventures in college and all over the world when he was in the Navy.  I secretly prayed that I would meet his adventurous standards enough to be his bride, and I dreamed that someday we would have lots of kids and be one of those outdoorsy families who camped and hiked all the time.  My prayer was answered about becoming his wife, and although I'm not sure we truly rate the outdoorsy family category yet, at least we are trying.  And I think the fact that we're trying made this a truly happy Father's Day for my husband...

Here is instructor daddy teaching Campfire 101.  Although you can't see it well in the picture, I love the fact that his Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, all worn and ragged, is peaking out of his shirt.  To me, that is a perfect snapshot of who my husband is:  humbly spiritual and a wild-at-heart outdoorsman

Here are my rugged men hiking to Cottonwood Lake.  This section of the hike was quite unique.  More than half of the trees in this area were dead and blown down from a fire and then a wind-storm years later.  Piles and piles of trees were strewn as far the eye can see.  Here and there you could find a few evergreens standing tall and bright, but those seemed to be the minority...

As I stared at the scene before me, the thought struck me that perhaps this is how God views the current state of humanity.  It seems that more and more souls are falling into sin and casually living a culture of death.  Things like abortion, contraception, divorce, and premarital sex are accepted by the masses.  Even our government is trying to create a health care plan with a mandate which threatens to take away our religious freedom by forcing all insurance plans to cover immoral procedures that our taxes will pay for.  It seems like those who stand up for a culture of life are the minority, just like those bright evergreens peeking through the piles of dead trunks.  I am so proud of my Catholic Church and my husband who have been actively standing up against the HHS mandate, striving to remain faithful to Truth whether it's popular or not.

Here is my handsome husband in the background taking a well-deserved break while Nathanael takes a break of his own. 

Joseph was a happy camper because he got to practice shooting his compound bow to his heart's content.

Michael takes after his mother and just loves to read with sunshine on his shoulders.

And Dominic was in Big Sky bliss because he could play Golf Toss from sun-up until sun-down.

Nathanael's favorite part about camping was sitting by the stream and throwing rock after rock after rock into the water.

He could have happily done this aaaallll....daaaay.....looooong.

When he wasn't throwing rocks into a stream, he contented himself with picking dandelions for daddy for Father's Day :)

And mommy was a happy camper with her favorite beverage in hand and knowing that her man was having a Happy Father's Day.  I am so thankful that God blessed me with my husband, Paul, and my dad, Patrick, who embody the highest definition of fatherhood and strive to please their Heavenly Father in all they do.  I pray that my sons grow up to be just like their father and grandfather someday (minus my dad's smoking habit, of course). :)

Thankful Thursday

Things found in my thankful notebook...

• "Chili's" bottomless chips and salsa
• Dominic's giant smile that swallows my heart whole
• Nathanael's growing vocab that makes our whole family laugh out loud:  we've decided that he's bi-lingual and speaks Hungarian most of the time and occasionally we catch a word or two of English
• A hotel get-away:  swimming for hours, vending machine snacks, Major League Baseball on the TV, a hot-tub right outside our door, Johnny Carino's Italian restaurant next door, free breakfast in the a.m., reading in the car while Natey napped
• seeing college kids who are clearly in love with the Lord at Mass
• the Eucharist, the Eucharist, the Eucharist!
• belated Birthday margaritas with girlfriends
• my two biggest boys on the pitching mound making mommy both nervous and proud
• the last day of school = less time in the car, more time with my boys
• growing buds in our garden that survived the May snowfall
• Wii weekends that teach boys how to share
• suppertime devotions (when we remember to do them)
• birthday gifts from my beloved:  hiking pants that zip off into shorts and new hiking shoes
• another handsome 4-eyes in our family (Joseph now has glasses, but he prefers to wear his contacts)
• finding a special rosary that had been missing for months (the one blessed by JPII and given to me from his very own holy hands)
• new glasses and a new prescription (thanks to my optometrist brother!) :)
• getting away for a haircut
• Mass and Reconciliation date with my boys, followed by a treat at the Bagel Company
• my "J" friends---Jenny and Jody---who help me add jewels to my crown and encourage me when I'm down
• boys with the garden hose
• boys running through sprinklers in their underwear without a care
• boys reading books from the library all afternoon
• an accomplishment:  weaning Nathanael from his beloved bottle...hurray!
• summer sleep-in schedule
• meeting friends at the park
• reading a good Catholic mystery book to the boys out loud before bed
• daily Mass on Tuesdays because Joseph got asked to be an altar server---what a joy to watch my son assist the priest, what a privilege to receive Jesus an extra time each week, what a challenge (I mean, great training opportunity) for me to teach Nathanael how to sit quietly in the pew!

Play Ball!

Joseph and Michael just finished an exciting season of baseball this week.  They were bummed that the season was over, but mommy and daddy were a bit relieved :} With the boys being on separate teams, we had a game to attend nearly every night of the week!  Some nights the boys had games at the same time, which made it a marathon to run back and forth between their games to try to see equal amounts of each game.  But our baseball days are not quite over yet because Dominic's league starts in a week!  It's hard to believe, but in just a couple of years we will have FOUR boys playing ball all at the same time...now that will really be a marathon for mom and dad!  :)

Both Joseph and Michael were pitchers for their teams, which was BY FAR their favorite position to play.  It was not mommy's favorite position for them because it totally stressed me out to have that much pressure weighing on their shoulders (but they didn't seem to mind the pressure one bit).  They both did an excellent job throwing into the strike zone, but they will need to work on speed if they want to stick with pitching in the years to come.  Each year the league gets more competitive, and by age 10 the pitchers are already throwing fast balls with some serious heat.  When the boys weren't pitching, Joseph played short-stop or center field, and Michael usually covered the short-stop position.  They were both solid hitters for their teams.  They enjoyed every minute of every game, and mommy and daddy were very proud of them.  This summer they are looking forward to attending a Brewer's Baseball Clinic where our local minor league team will teach the kids the tricks of the trade. 

Here are some of the best photos I took this season.  I didn't get many action shots because I was always in action chasing my 1 year old!  All in all, Nathanael was a real trooper during the season and contented himself with digging in the dirt with his trucks, finding puddles to stomp in, and picking dandelions for mommy :)

As Old as Jesus...

This week, on May 22nd, I turned 33.  It struck me that I am now the age that Jesus was when he died on the cross.  Jesus accomplished so much in his short 33 years of life on earth...he saved countless souls, healed so many lives with His love, and he continues to do so today.  I know it seems futile to compare my 33 years of life on earth with my Savior's life, but since we are all called to become more like Him, perhaps it's something we should do from time to time (perhaps even daily). 

As I look back on my life to see what I have accomplished, I see times when I know God was pleased with my efforts, but also times when I have failed miserably...failed to tap into His grace to touch others with His love, and chosen a selfish path instead.  The area that I have failed the most is my marriage.  I am married to a wonderful, Godly man, who has grown into a spiritual leader of our family, an incredible father to our boys who is modeling true manhood and virtue for them, and a loving husband who strives to serve me above himself.  And yet, our entire marriage I know I have placed expectations on him that were impossible to fill, therefore making him feel like a failure, when, in fact, it was me who failed...failed to serve and love him unconditionally.  We celebrate our 12th Anniversary this weekend, and it truly has taken me this long to see my marital immaturity and strive to repair, to heal, and to touch my husband's heart with Christ's unconditional love.  Thankfully, he is a very patient man and has continued loving me and trying to please me through my slow learning process :)  One of my dear friends, who has helped pray for my marriage over the years, sent me the link to an encouraging blog post about marriage.  The following excerpt really convicted my heart and hopefully it will help me become more like Jesus by age 34, and make my marriage more beautiful by our 13th Anniversary!  May these powerful words inspire you in your marriages to:


How would you ever learn unconditional love if you were married to someone who met all the conditions?


How would you ever learn mercy, patience, long suffering, or heart felt compassion if you were married to someone who never failed you? Who is never difficult with you? Who never sinned against you? Who is never slow to acknowledge their sin or ask for forgiveness?


How would you ever learn grace to pour out your favor on someone who did not deserve it if you were married to someone who was always deserving of all good things?


I was reminded that our focus of marriage should not be whether our spouse meets all conditions perfectly, to provide an easy relationship to enjoy.  Rather, we should focus on the opportunities God gives us in marriage to build up our character.


Marriage is a platform to practice the same characteristics of Christ.


You are married to a person who does not meet all the conditions, so that you might learn unconditional love. You are married to a person who needs mercy, so that you learn to give it.

And thus you become like the God you worship!


The main purpose of marriage is that through your marriage you become transformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

(an excerpt from a sermon by John Piper)

Here's a fun photo of Paul and I after 1 year of marriage.

I pray we will be this twitterpated, perhaps even MORE twitterpated, when we celebrate 50 years of marriage!

Memories I Want to Remember

Part of the reason I blog is to be able to write down funny things my kids say and do so that I don't forget them months or years down the road.  It seems like it's the split-second endearing moments that make motherhood worth all the hours and years of routine and sacrifice.  So here are a few snapshots (in words) of recent memories I want to remember...


The two older boys are in baseball right now, and I am surprised at how nervous I get when they are up to bat or on the pitching mound.  Dominic was standing near me while we were watching Michael's game last week, and in the middle of an inning the coach asked Michael to take over as pitcher.  As Michael started pitching, Dominic tells me, "Mom, mom, Michael is the pitcher!"  As I was trying to keep my eyes on the game, I just nodded and said, "Ya, ya, I know."   Dominic immediately replied, "But mom, shouldn't you be doing this?"  I didn't know what he meant, so I quickly glanced at Dominic who was apparently showing me what I normally do when Michael is pitching...  He had is hands in a prayer-position way up by his mouth.  I had to laugh out loud!  I never realized it before, but that is the nervous stance I take when one of my boys is pitching or at bat.  I guess I just do it as a nervous habit, although sometimes I really do start praying to help calm my nerves and hopefully to send some graces in my boys' direction to help them do well.  How funny that my 5-year-old noticed that...I hope no one else noticed!  Now that my kids are in sports, I am starting to realize why my mother used to obnoxiously yell and grab my leg when I sat next to her at my brothers' wrestling tournaments :) 

Nathanael is saying all sorts of funny things these days now that his vocabulary is taking off like wildfire.  Just this morning he was playing with the bikes in the garage and I said, "That's a bike, can you say bike?"  He looked at the bike again and confidently said, "A butt, a butt."  :)  And last week, I was filling up water balloons outside for the older boys while Nathanael was playing in the rocks nearby.  He came over to me making a perfect buzzing sound.  I thought to myself, how sweet, he must have seen a bumblebee.  Then I hear Dominic yell, "Mom, Nathanael's holding a bee!"  So I drop my water balloon that I was filling and quickly run over and slap the bee out of Nathanael's hand.  It falls to the ground, still very much alive, and Nathanael reaches down to pick it up again.  "No, no!" I yell as I quickly stomp on the buzzing bee with my shoe.  Then, of course, Nathanael starts to cry.  How he escaped from being stung is a miracle to me, but apparently kids never escape their moms ruining all their fun.  :}

Every night around the dinner table, Paul always asks the boys the same question:  "So, boys, what did you learn today?"  The boys have come to expect it now, and they usually are prepared with an answer about something that they learned in school that day.  Well, a few weeks after Paul broke his wrist, he asked the boys that same question at dinner time.  Joseph and Michael both gave one of their usual responses about leaning how do do long division or learning a new spelling word or something of that sort.  And then it was Dominic's turn.  Out of the blue he replied, "40 is too old for snowboarding."  Everyone broke out in laughter...  I guess I kids really do learn from their parent's mistakes! :)

Motherhood: Beautiful Death of Self

My husband bought me these roses a few weeks ago.  They were beautiful, but unfortunately they died within a few days.  I hated to see them just get thrown away, so I decided to try to hang them upside down to dry them.  They dried beautifully, and now I get to find joy in them for months, perhaps years.  As I celebrate Mother's Day this weekend, these roses reminded me of the vocation of motherhood.  When I became a mother and experienced the thrill of falling in love with my first-born, it was similar to the thrill of receiving unexpected roses from my lover.  However, just like roses that wilt and die, sometimes the thrill of motherhood wanes with the mundane routine, the stress that motherhood can bring, the countless acts of sacrificing my own wants for the needs of my children.  But as a mother of seven children, 4 on earth and 3 in heaven, I am beginning to see that the daily "dying-to-self" that motherhood entails can be a beautiful thing, just like the beauty in dried roses.  When we die to self, there is more room for the life of Christ to shine through us...and that indeed is beautiful.  Jesus tells us that death is not only beautiful, it is also fruitful:  "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24)


Motherhood roots out selfishness like nothing else can.  I am forced to put my will aside numerous times every hour....I can't just go hang out with friends, or take a few hours to read quietly, or have a romantic date with my spouse, or catch up on my photo albums whenever I want....the call to motherhood is a constant and more urgent calling than any of my selfish wants.  Diapers need to be changed, kids need to be carted to school, scrapes need to be kissed, dinner needs to be made, laundry is always waiting to be washed.  So I choose to die to self and live for others instead.  Sometimes it is painful.  Sometimes I complain and have a pity party.  Sometimes I even cry and mourn the death of my identity.  Until I remind myself of my true identity:  I am a wife, a mother, a servant of Christ.  I am no longer just Maria.  No longer do I have the luxury of being selfish.  I have the privilege of being self-less; I am the daughter of a King who has promised me an eternal prize greater than all of my selfish wants put together.


So this Mother's Day, may all of you beautiful mothers out there embrace your identity, your vocation of motherhood, with new enthusiasm...embrace the beauty of dying to self so that you may truly live for Christ and bring Him to others, especially your children and spouse!  Remember that your daily acts of dying to self are indeed beautiful and fruitful.  Happy Mother's Day!