Friends Forever

Remember the old Michael W. Smith song, "Friends are Friends Forever"?...   Sorry, now I have it stuck in your head!  Well, that song came to mind as I was blessed to spend a few days with my old college roommate who came to visit last month.  Chrissy is one of those friends who I haven't seen for about 10 years, but she's still as close to my heart as she was in college--perhaps even closer.  Michael W. Smith was right:  "Friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord of them."  Chrissy's love of the Lord and love of others is absolutely awe-inspiring.  She has a heart bigger than the "Big Sky State."  She works as a physical therapist for special needs children, and she usually takes a mission trip each year to use her medical experience to help handicapped kids in other countries.  It was a joy to watch her play so naturally with all my kiddos while she stayed with us for a few days.  We had a blast doing all the touristy things in Helena, some of which I had never done yet in my 8 years of living here!  Here is a photo tour of our time together...

The kids wanted to take Chrissy to our famous carousel for a few rides 

and, of course, some homemade ice-cream

We also took Chrissy on the tour train to learn all the local history of Helena.

Nathanael loved the ride, but the history lesson eventually put him to sleep!  :)

I took Chrissy on the gorgeous "Gates of the Mountains" boat tour

which gave us more history about this area.

I had wanted to take this tour for the past 8 years,

so I was delighted to finally get the opportunity!

The towering rocks on both sides of the river were breathtaking,

and it became clear why Lewis and Clark nicknamed this area 

"the Gates of the Mountains."

We also learned about the Mann Gulch tragedy while we floated down the river.

What a heart-breaking story!

We saw lots of wildlife from the boat, including merganser ducks, osprey, turkey vultures, pelicans, and these pretty deer taking a drink at the shore.

We also saw this majestic bald eagle.

We even saw a monster in the rocks! 

We took a tour of our capital building,

which was also a first for me.

Inside the capital, we were able to see this famous C.M. Russell painting

depicting Lewis and Clark's encounter with the Indians in this area.

The painting is 25 feet wide by 12 feet high!

We learned lots of history on the capital tour, but my favorite story was

the one about the statue of Mike and Maureen Mansfield.

Mike was a great Montana politician, and when he was initially approached

about the sculpting of the statue, he consented only under one condition:

that the statue feature his wife along side him because he considered her to be

"the greatest influence of his life."

I thought that story was very touching 

and hopefully it inspired me to be a better wife!  :)

Our family took Chrissy on a hike up to the top of Mt. Helena.

We were proud to show her the gorgeous view of our city surrounded by mountains...

...and it was especially fun to show her the famous "Sleeping Giant"

who forever slumbers in our valley.

Here's me and my two sweet gentlemen who picked me wildflowers on the hike.

Here's my handsome husband with our littlest hiker :)

Here's a photo of the beautiful view as we hiked back down the mountain.

Thank you for coming to visit, Chrissy!

What treasured memories we made while you were here,

and what a treasure God has given me in your friendship!

I'm quite certain we will be friends forever.

Pray for me, and I'll pray for you!

Consolation from Padre Pio

A few nights ago my family gathered for our 1st ever "Catholic Family Movie Night."  I have wished for this for years...to gather with my husband, my boys, and perhaps another Catholic family, to watch a movie that will point our hearts towards heaven.  It finally happened.  For my birthday I ordered $100-worth of great movies about the saints and some old Catholic classics.  Then I invited some of our favorite friends to come over, but sadly, their kiddos were sick so they had to take a raincheck...which will certainly happen because we plan to do this once a month!

The first movie we chose to watch was "Padre Pio:  Miracle Man."  I highly recommend it.  There were parts, however, that were dark and heavy and even hard for me to understand.  But, all in all, it certainly inspired our faith and gave us a deeper awe for God (not to mention a more intense fear of the devil!).  One theme that really struck me and gave me some consolation was the fact that Padre Pio often felt frustrated in his faith and didn't fully grasp God's will--even though he was obviously a very holy man, a man so close to Christ that he shared the wounds from the crucifixion (a miracle called the Stigmata).  He also was given the gift of reading people's souls to help them make a worthy confession and had the rare ability to bi-locate (to be in two places at the same time) if the Lord felt it necessary to accomplish His will.  How could a man with these miraculous gifts be so down-hearted at times and unsure of God's plan in his life???  I don't know the answer, but I do know that it somehow consoled me because I often feel like the more I mature in my faith, the more confused I am by God's ways, and the closer I get to Christ, the more lonely I feel.  It reassured me to know that even the saints felt this way too.  Perhaps I'm on the right track after all!

St. Pio, please pray for me to stay on the path that leads to heaven and to trust in God's will even when I don't understand it.

Some Dreams Come True

Joseph's baseball season ended the way every baseball-lovin' kid dreams it would...  Not only did his team win the competitive city tournament, but many other factors combined to make it even more of a dream come true and a day that Joseph (and his proud parents) will never forget:

1. Joseph's team was the underdog for the championship game, facing the nearly undefeated team: "Fencecrafters".  Because it was a double-elimination tournament, Joseph's team, "Kleen King," had to beat "Fencecrafters" twice on the same day. After they barely beat them in the first game by miraculously getting 3 home-runs in a row in the last inning (how rare is that!), they never imagined they could win again...but they did!
2. In the championship game, the score was tied at the top of the last inning.  Joseph came up to bat with one runner on first base.  He made his traditional "Sign of the Cross" with his bat on the home plate, and then got ready for the pitches to come.  First pitch:  a curveball for a strike.  Second pitch:  a fastball outside of the strike zone for a ball.   Third pitch: a high and away curveball that JOSEPH HIT OUT OF THE PARK!!!  It was his first homerun of the season, and what a time to do it! Though his team was now 2 points ahead, Fencecrafters still had one turn left to bat, and guess who was the closing pitcher?
3. Yep...Joseph was chosen to be the closer.  This mama started praying Hail Mary's like any crazy Catholic mother would.  I was a stressed-out mess.  Joseph was as calm as can be, lovin' every minute of it.  The first batter got a homerun...bring the score 7-6...GULP!  The second batter struck out...WHEW!  The third batter got a double...YIKES!  The fourth batter struck out on Joseph's wicked curveball...HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF!  The last batter hit a short grounder, which Joseph flipped to first base to end the game...HURRAY!  So, not only did Joseph hit the game-winning home run, he also got the final out, and as the closing pitcher, he is credited with "the save."  Pitching is his favorite part of the game, so that save was probably the bigger highlight for him than the homerun.
4. The other neat part about this game is that many of the team's "average," or even "below-average," players were the ones who got the major hits during this game to bring about the victory.  The whole game was a testament that God exalts the humble and lifts up the lowly.  So in my humble opinion, I think that the real "save" of the game should be credited to God, who helped out my son's team and gave those boys a dream come true and a taste of God's goodness.  All praise and glory is truly the Lord's, but I sure am proud of those Kleen King kids too!  :)

Here are some of the photo highlights of Joseph's season:

This is Joseph waiting for the homerun pitch...

Here's the homerun swing (I am so happy my husband caught this on camera!)

And here is Joseph watching his homerun hit...how cool is that!?
He may be the smallest kid on the team, but he proved that size doesn't matter!

This is Joseph on the mound, hoping to close this game with a save...

Joseph pitching with all his might...

Joseph receiving his 1st place medal from Coach Barry...

Kleen King...the "KINGS" of the tournament!

This was my favorite close-up of Joseph at bat during the season.
I love the determination on his handsome face :)

I love my telephoto lens to capture action shots like this!

This is my all-time favorite picture of the season:
Joseph warming up in the field, happy as can be, despite the pouring rain.

MORE STITCHES!?!?

Yep, more stitches.  Although, this time it was my big 11 year old instead of my baby, thankfully.  Michael, Michael, Michael.  This kid has as much personality and passion as he does freckles.  Right now, his passion is directed at baseball, so of course, that's where the stitches occurred.  Minutes before his final game of the season, he had just finished up practice and was passionately waiting for the game to start when he accidentally tripped outside of the dugout and did a face plant on his bat.  Blood everywhere.  But I think he was more in agony over having to leave the game than he was over the gaping wound on his head.  Paul rushed him to Urgent Care to get stitches, and 5 stitches later he rushed back to the game to beg "Put me in coach, I'm ready to play!"  Sure enough, he got to bat the last inning and hit a nail-biting RBI to make the score 3-4.  There were already 2 outs, however, and the next batter struck out.   But Michael was sure proud to hit the ball one last time.  My dad is certain that if Michael could have played the whole game, his team would have won :)  Regardless, that boy sure was the hero of my heart that day.  What a joy he was to watch on the field and at bat all season...  Here are some season highlights I captured on camera:

Michael was always very easy to spot on the field...

He faithfully wore bright orange socks every single game 

in honor of his favorite team, the Detroit Tigers.

He adamantly refused to wear red, for that would resemble his nemesis, the Boston Red Sox.

Michael most often played short-stop, and he fit that definition to a tee:

He was short, and he always stopped the ball.

In my opinion, he was the best fielder on the team.

He would sacrifice his entire body to stop a ball, and made many awesome plays this season.

At the plate, he was small but mighty.

With amazing hand-eye coordination, he always got a piece of the ball

and could hit all the way to the fence!

Base-running was a breeze for Michael.

He was fast and has a brain for the game,

always knowing when to steal and how far to lead off.

Here's Miggy coming in for home plate!

Miggy was his nickname during the season

because that's the name of his favorite player:  Miguel (Miggy) Cabrera

Miggy about to slide in for home to score!

He scored major points in this mamma's heart

with his courage, passion, and sportsmanlike conduct all season long!

WAY TO GO, MIGGY!

Anniversaries, Memories, and Fairy Tales

This year, our wedding anniversary shared Memorial Day, which made it a day filled with memories for me.  I still remember almost every minute of my wedding day:  getting my hair done with my bridesmaids (and then redoing it myself because I didn't like it), wearing my mom's homemade wedding dress, swooning over my soon-to-be-husband in his military suit, my dad crying as he gave me away, lighting our unity candle to the Marian song "As We Kneel Before You" while we dedicated our marriage to the Blessed Mother's care, walking under the Navy sword arch and being swatted in the derriere with the words "Welcome to the Navy, ma'am," and thinking that I was in a fairy tale and would live happily ever after.  

How thankful I am for these vivid, happy memories to remind me that God has indeed blessed me with a real-life fairy tale that He has written just for me.  If I had written it myself, I know I would have changed many things along the way, but then I probably would have messed up the whole story and turned happily ever after into a tragedy.  Perhaps if I trusted the Author of my soul and Script-writer of my life a bit more, then I would find perfect peace and joy.   But the control-freak, English-major-geek inside of me always tries to steal the pen from God's hand.  When will I learn?

For example, I would have re-written the parts where the babies in my womb died.  There would be three more children in our family making our life even more joyfully chaotic.  And I probably would have written in the script that one of those sweet babies would be a curly, red-headed little girl named Bernadette Therese perhaps.  But, I didn't get to write that part of my story, and those 3 babies are in heaven praying for my family instead, interceding mightily so that we can all make it to meet them someday.  And God knew that's what we needed, and although I don't understand it, I do trust the Author and know He only chooses what is best.  I know this, but I don't often feel this.  I never imagined crying and questioning so much.  I hope God understands.

This is our sweet baby Sebastian who died at 13 weeks.
I hope this photo doesn't offend anyone...
It's the only photo of any of our lost babies, so it is precious to me.

I would have also removed many chapters of heart-ache and re-written the character development of my spouse just a  bit.  I would have had him holding a guitar rather than a hunting rifle, writing Christian music lyrics rather than FAA pilot regulations, and he would passionately put the protagonist on a very high pedestal.  But what kind of love story would that have made?  A pretty pathetic one, at best.  Who wants to read about a spoiled brat for a protagonist?  And without heartache and character flaws, how would the lovers learn about unconditional love and that the crosses in our lives lead us to the crown of Eternal Life?  Again, I would have mucked up the whole story and perhaps lost my salvation in the process.  Yes, God is a trustworthy Author.  I will hand Him back the pen and learn to be thankful for this wonderful life He has written for me, thankful for my babies on earth and the ones in heaven, thankful for my spouse who is teaching me about real love, and thankful for the Author of my Soul who has given me the gift of happily ever after in heaven someday.  God knows I love happy endings! :)

I love you my sweet babies in heaven.  Please pray for us until we meet again in glory!

One Very Blessed Birthday Girl

This month I turned 35!  I sure don't feel that old, and according to most restaurant waitresses who still card me when I order a margarita, I must not look that old either.  But 35 is what I am--like it or not.  This year contained many ups and downs for me, many tears mixed with a little laughter, and many failures that led to humility and (hopefully) closer to a Christ-like heart.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but I feel like this year has been like a mid-life crisis for me (a bit young for a mid-life crisis, I know, but I'm just getting it out of the way early, I guess)... :}   It has been a year of dying to dreams and desperately searching for new ones; a year of letting go of who I thought I wanted to be when I grew up and striving to be who God created me to be instead; a year of clinging to faith, hope, and love even when my feelings betray all three.  Yes, this year was difficult but good, and on my birthday I had MANY reasons to feel very blessed...

REASON #1:  Chili's chips and salsa and MARGARITAS (mmmmmm!)

REASON #2:  FREE molten lava cake to share with my crazy-awesome boys

REASON #3:  My mom and dad coming for a week and watching them bond with my boys

REASON #4:  My dad helping me plant our garden and our flowers

REASON #5:  Getting to go on a field trip with my 6th grade son watch him play music for the elderly

REASON #6:  Taking my boys to go play mini-golf

REASON #7:  Paul coming home from a long work trip and watching him teach our boys all about archery

 



REASON 8 (the greatest reason of all):  KNOWING THAT I AM LOVED BY GOD---a merciful God who forgives my failings, feeds me with His life-giving Body and Blood, and who gently reminds me to look for the blessings all around me (yes,even in my silly mid-life crisis) and to live my next year loving Him and others even better than I did the last.

Yes, I am one very blessed birthday girl, with one very AWESOME GOD!