Trinity Taco Tuesday

For the past few months our family has started a new tradition that we all love and look forward to each week. We call it "Trinity Taco Tuesday." As soon as Paul gets home from work, we all pile into the car and drive just a few blocks down the road to Trinity Chapel to visit Jesus. Yes, He is really there. We can see Him.  We can feel Him. How the kids love to rush into the chapel and be the first one to open the wooden doors of the tabernacle, as if they are opening God's arms to receive a loving embrace. Embraced we are. What a gift we have as Catholics to know that our God is waiting for us to visit Him anytime in any tabernacle in the world, waiting to pour graces into our hearts as we sit in His Real Presence. This chapel is extra special because Jesus is not just hidden inside the tabernacle, He is visible in a golden monstrance that we are blessed to adore behind a thin piece of glass. We get to gaze right at our God who wants to be with us so much that he humbles Himself to be inside a simple piece of bread!

 

 

It has been beautiful watching our children experience the awe and wonder of spending time with Jesus in this way. Each week we pray a little bit differently. Some days we pray the rosary, some days the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  Some days we recite the Divine Praises, and some days we just talk to Him from our hearts.  Some days we just sit with Him in silence (well, as silent as it can be with a baby babbling and a 3-year-old playing with the kneeler). The main reason for starting this tradition was to impart to our children the truth that Jesus is really with us in the Eucharist like He said at the Last Supper, and also for our kids to learn to be comfortable talking to God like a friend who is really there. Talking to Him while looking at Him in the monstrance seems to make my kids truly aware of His Presence unlike just praying at home around the dinner table or in the living room or laying in bed.

 

 

I was a little bit shocked when I asked our boys to pray out loud from their hearts while looking at Jesus in the monstrance for the first time. One of the boys became visibly embarrassed and simply couldn't find any words to say. He honestly didn't know how to talk to God without a memorized form of prayer to recite. Yikes! I was convicted at that moment that our family needs to practice praying impromptu more often so that we all become comfortable talking to Jesus like the best friend He wants to be to each of us. I think that is one thing many Catholics are weak at doing:  having a personal relationship with Christ that allows us to pray to Him like a friend or a brother. Watching my boys struggle with finding words to talk to Jesus reminded me that every relationship takes work and practice. Marriage takes a whole lot of practice in learning to listen and communicate well if it's going to last. Best friends only stay best friends if they keep talking and sharing their joys and struggles with each other on a regular basis. The same is true with our relationship with The Lord...it takes practice and spending a lot of time with Him so that we can grow closer to His heart and listen to the loving guidance He so desperately wants to give us to help us find true joy in this life and in the next.

Anyway, it has been beautiful spending time as a family in the Presence of Jesus at Trinity chapel. It's something that I've wanted to do for years and we finally made a commitment to make it happen.  I hope we continue this tradition for a long time so that even after our boys are grown they will always remember how important it is to spend time with Jesus---especially when they are struggling and in need of some extra grace.  I want them to know and live these words of Blessed Mother Teresa:

 

 "The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time that you will spend on earth." 

 

 

To make our Tuesdays even sweeter, we decided to go our for tacos after our visit with Jesus! The kids love it because they get tacos and soda, Paul loves it because of the potato oles, and I love it because I don't have to cook! It's a win, win, win situation!

 

 

Happy Trinity Taco Tuesday!

 

Our Zoo

I haven't been doing very well at giving monthly updates on our little Isaiah...  Nor have done well at taking pictures of his adorable face...  My excuse:  BUSY-NESS.  Wow, I never imagined how busy I would be with 5 boys!  Our house is like a ZOO, but thankfully I always loved going to zoos and I also am an animal lover, so I guess being a zookeeper is the perfect job for me!  :) 

So even though this is long overdue, here is an update on the sweetest member of our crazy zoo.  Isaiah continues to be a joy and a delight to everyone in the house.  He is mellow and happy 99.9% of the time.  He just got his first two teeth a couple days apart from each other--the two bottom ones.  This means he just loves chewing on everything right now!  He loves to roll onto his side or tummy to reach things, but then prefers to roll right back onto his back to start chewing on whatever he found.  I'm starting to wonder if this kid will ever crawl because he has no desire at all to be on his tummy.  Oh well, I'm in no hurry for him to crawl...  I like the fact that I can leave the room and know that he can't get into too much trouble!  :)  He also learned how to sit up unaided this past week, which he loves because he now has a better view of the zoo in which he lives! :)  He is completely weaned and loves his bottle.  And I'm very happy to report that he is now sleeping beautifully (only waking up once during the night for a bottle, then going right back to bed).  This makes the zookeeper much more patient with all the members of the zoo, which makes everyone happier.  :o)

Well, I think that is a recap of all of his new tricks.  I'll try to be better at my monthly updates, but no promises.  After all, it's more important that I keep this zoo under control!  Pray for me!!!

Message from Medjugorje

During my senior year in high school I was blessed to go on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia where the Blessed Virgin Mary has allegedly been appearing to 6 young visionaries since 1981.  Although the Catholic Church has not yet made an official ruling as to whether or not the apparitions are authentically from God, I have no doubt in my heart that Our Lady is appearing there to give the world very important messages of peace, love, and repentance in order to draw the world closer to her Son.  During Mary's last apparition with the visionary named Mirjana on November 2nd, this was the message she wanted to share with the world, and I felt it was worth sharing too:



"Dear children! Anew, in a motherly way, I am calling you to love; to continually pray for the gift of love; to love the Heavenly Father above everything. When you love Him you will love yourself and your neighbor. This cannot be separated. The Heavenly Father is in each person. He loves each person and calls each person by his name. Therefore, my children, through prayer hearken to the will of the Heavenly Father. Converse with Him. Have a personal relationship with the Father which will deepen even more your relationship as a community of my children – of my apostles. As a mother I desire that, through the love for the Heavenly Father, you may be raised above earthly vanities and may help others to gradually come to know and come closer to the Heavenly Father. My children, pray, pray, pray for the gift of love because 'love' is my Son. Pray for your shepherds that they may always have love for you as my Son had and showed by giving His life for your salvation. Thank you."

Black and White

One of the most difficult parts of marriage for me has been learning how to handle our differences.  Some days I feel like Paul and I are as different as black and white.  Had he and I taken a compatibility test before we met, we probably would have never gone on a first date.  God works in mysterious ways, doesn't He?   Perhaps he wanted to use our marriage to prove that, sure enough, ALL things are possible with His grace!  :)

So the other day I was interiorly making a litany of all the things Paul and I don't have in common.  I was getting quite depressed about my list, and then as if put there to prove my point about how irreconcilably different we are, I noticed our two coffee cups sitting side by side... 

His:  ink black
Mine:  creamy white

So I pointed this out to him and said, "Look, even our coffee shows how different we are!  How are we going to make our marriage work!?"

He immediately grabbed both cups of coffee and calmly dumped some of his into my cup, and some of mine into his cup, making a bit of a mess in the process, and then he set them down and said, "That's how." 

Darn it.  He was right again.  I guess I had assumed that when we became sacramentally "one" on our wedding day, that we would become like the same person and live "happily ever after" from that day forward.   Ha!  Little did I know that being "one" is a lifetime process of sacrificing for one another, patiently putting up with our differences, and forgiving the spills and sinful messes that happen along the way.   Maybe our marriage is not as "happily ever after" as I had hoped it would be, but it's a whole lot "holier ever after," and that's all that matters in the end.

Lessons from the Leaves

The season of Fall reminds me that I can either lament the fading colors of the falling leaves and the impending cold winter, or I can dive into the leaves with childlike joy and just live in the moment. 

It's always a matter of perspective and focusing on what really matters.

I'm learning that joy is a choice, not a feeling.  There are a million things surrounding me that I can choose to be joyful about...like Nathanael's sweet face!  :)

I'm so thankful for my children (and the leaves) for teaching me these profound truths!

 

Have a Joy-Filled Fall!

called to prayer AND action

After learning about the tragedy in the Philippines, I have felt helpless.  Sure, our family has been sending many prayers that direction, but it hit me today that perhaps we are called to do more than just pray.  The Catholic convert and blogger Jennifer Fulwiler (www.conversiondiary.com) posted this a few days ago, and it inspired me to pray and act, so I'm sharing it for others who feel called to do the same.  I'd also love to hear any other ideas of ways we can help the people in the Philippines...so please leave your ideas in the comment box if you have any!

For those who would like to help the relief effort, you can donate to Catholic Relief Services, which has a strong presence in the Philippines. They note that the recent earthquake has strained their resources, and they’re in dire need of financial support.

A prayer from the CRS website:

God who quiets great winds and stills rough seas
We ask your protection for the people of the Philippines.
Comfort them in their fear.
Stay close to them in their danger.
And we ask the intercession of Your Blessed Mother
That together with her and with all your holy saints
We may stand in solidarity with our Filipino brothers and sisters
through their darkest hour, through their longest night.
Give us the courage to remain steadfast
To reach out to them in their need
To comfort them in their sorrow
To hold them as closely as You hold them
To see them through to morning. Amen.

THREE!!!

My oh my, how time flies when you're having fun!  Our fun-loving Nathanael turned THREE today.  Since the day he was born, he has blessed our home with a JOY that we didn't even know was missing.  Nathanael makes everyone in our home smile and laugh with his antics, his innocence, his dimpled chin, his funny faces, and his munchkin voice.

We had a very simple celebration for him today, but I'm pretty certain he didn't mind.  Nathanael is our home-body.  He just loves playing with his toys and being with his family.  So after Mass, I stopped by the grocery store to get him some red, white, and blue cupcakes with sprinkles on top---he loves sprinkles.  Then we came home, sang "Happy Birthday," ate some cupcakes, and opened a few little presents.  He entertained himself the rest of the day with his new toys.

How I wish I could keep this little guy little and bottle up the joy he brings. But I know that's not possible and that joy is not meant to be hoarded, but rather to be shared.  I know that Nathanael will continue to fill our home and our hearts with joy, and I pray that each year that he understands even more deeply how much he is loved--both by God and by his family.  

Thank you, God, for blessing us with Nathanael. 

He is sweeter than a cupcake with sprinkles on top!