Belated Birthday Recap

How crazy!  Our baby is 6!  He actually turned 6 in April, but he was sick and it was snowing on his birthday, so we postponed until May...and then it took me until June to post pictures of it.  Such is life.  So here is a recap of his fun birthday party---a very simple event with school buddies.  They played with Legos, chased each other with Nerf guns, and then we took them outdoors for some zip-lining and a game of baseball in the yard...followed, of course, by cake :)  How blessed we are to have Isaiah in our family!  He's our kid who is shy and quiet around others, but silly and talkative at home.  Right now a few of his favorite things are:  collecting baseball cards, building with LEGOs, playing monopoly, and reading. 

"Dear Isaiah,

We are so blessed to have you in our family.

You bring us so much joy, so much silliness, and so much love!

May God always surround you with holy friends, 

lots of laughter, and His merciful love.

We love you more than all the baseball cards ever made!

Love, Mom and Dad"

Confirmed in Christ (times 2)!!!

On May 19th both Joseph and Michael received the Sacrament of Confirmation.  What a beautiful and holy day!  Both of the boys picked holy men to be their sponsors:  Joseph picked Nathan Casey, a family friend who loves the Lord, and likes baseball and playing guitar--just like Joseph! :)  And Michael picked Tom Kaiserski, another family friend who attends our church, attends a monthly Marian prayer group that we are a part of, and he also attends many of our boys' baseball games because he, too, is a baseball fan.  :)  I'm so proud of the boys for picking such great Catholic men to sponsor them, to pray for them, and to be strong role models for them in the faith for many years to come.

The Confirmation Mass was truly filled with the Holy Spirit.  It was beautiful to watch all the confirmandi be prayed over by all 4 priests that were concelebrating the Mass, and then be blessed with the holy oil by Monsignor O'Neill (our temporary bishop who our boys know so well because they have been altar serving for him for nearly a decade!)  But the highlight for me was watching my boys be altar servers for their own Confirmation Mass, especially during the holy Consecration when all of the senior altar servers reverently knelt with candles in front of the altar while one server prayerfully swung the incenser 3 times as the priest held up the Body and Blood of Jesus.  It truly felt like heaven on earth--so mystical and holy--and it made my heart overflow with gratitude to be Catholic and to have my children raised in this beautiful faith.

I pray that my sons will always be filled with the Holy Spirit and share their love for God and His holy Church their whole lives!

"Come Holy Spirit, 

fill my sons with your gifts, 

and guide them along the path of God's holy will 

in all of their decisions throughout life."

Joseph chose St. Augustine to be his Confirmation name and intercessor.

Michael chose St. Michael the Archangel as his name and intercessor.

when failure weighs heavy

Perfectionists like me take failure hard.  But it is good for us.  It keeps us humble.  It reminds us that only God is perfect.  And within the suffering of failure, there is merit (that is, if we remember to offer up the suffering and unite it to Jesus' suffering!) :)  I'm not so sure I always do so well at the offering it up part!  But this quote that I recently came across in St. Faustina's diary inspires me to not take failure so hard, because succeeding at a task is not what is important to God--it's the suffering, not the succeeding, that has merit!  How freeing that is!  Perhaps this quote will encourage all of you perfectionists out there too!

"It is not for the success of a work, but for the suffering, that I give reward." 

(Jesus' words to Faustina, diary entry #90)

And here's a real failure story for you too, in case it helps you feel better to know you're not alone in your failures... :)

Last summer I was inspired with an idea for our school's Kindergarten auction project.  I love to quilt, and my baby was going to be a Kindergartener, which meant I would have tons of free time to quilt since all of my kids would be in school.  So I offered to make a quilt using the school uniform fabric and the cute faces of the Kindergarteners printed on photo fabric.  I worked my buns off for 4 months, spending countless hours agonizing over every detail like a true perfectionist.  I followed the directions to the tee regarding the photo fabric because I had never made a photo quilt before.  I had fun but I was also very stressed out.  I finally finished it.  I washed it...  And I ruined it.  Yes, I ruined it in the wash.  I didn't even use any detergent!  The photo fabric was supposed to be "color-fast," but when I pulled it out of the wash the photos were faded and wrinkly.  It looked horrible.  There was nothing I could do.  I had to accept the experience as a teachable moment, an opportunity for humility, and move on with plan B for the auction quickly.  Thankfully, I was able to design and order an adorable fleece blanket from a company online using the cute Kindergartener's photos that I had taken, and it turned about beautifully!  It was not as awesome as I had planned, it was not a hand-made quilt using the cute uniform fabric, but it was still beautiful and snuggly and made the family that bought it happy (I hope).  And I trust that God had a reason for how things turned out, and that He used every ounce of my suffering for some good purpose.  (I'm not sure if I'll ever try to make a photo quilt again though...or ever offer to make an auction project.  There's only so much suffering that a perfectionist can take!)  :}  But all in all, it was a good experience for me.  It stretched me and reminded me to say "Praise the Lord anyway!" when things don't turn out the way I had hoped.  For  His ways are always perfect, and He will use our failures and sufferings for great good, even though we might not see it or understand it right away.

Here's a photo of the quilt prior to me ruining it in the wash...

And here's a picture of the cute blanket that became the final auction project:

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This...

Our sweet Nathanael received the sweetest gift of his life last weekend:  the real Presence of Jesus for the first time!  It really doesn't get any better than this---at least not on this side of Heaven, I don't think!  To have Jesus' Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity within us at every Holy Eucharist, filling us with His grace, strength, and love---what a Gift!  I love being Catholic!!! 

It was such a beautiful day for Nathanael.  He was so happy and excited.  I bet he felt like he had waited a lifetime for this day...watching his older brothers have their 1st Communions and watching them receive Jesus week after week and having to wait and wait for his turn to finally arrive.  Well, arrive it did, and he was ready!  He wore the same 1st Communion outfit that his oldest brother Joseph wore 9 years ago!  It truly warmed my heart.  As a mom, I am so happy that my children truly believe in the Real Presence, and I pray they always will.  I heard a crazy statistic that over half of Catholics don't even believe that the bread and wine truly are changed into Jesus' Body and Blood (as Catholics we call this transubstantiation).  I don't know how this can be...how can Catholics not believe this essential truth of our faith?  Especially when you read about all the Eucharistic miracles that have happened and are still happening all over the world!  I was so happy that our young, on-fire priest gave his homily about Eucharistic miracles and how there is no doubt that God loves us so much and wants to be so close to us that He literally gives us His Heart at every Eucharist!  There have been numerous, well-documented miracles of communion hosts that have literally changed into bloody flesh, and when they have been scientifically tested, they all have AB positive blood type, they all come from living heart tissue, and they all show evidence that the heart has undergone a terrible beating of some kind.  Coincidence...no way!  Jesus gives us His real, living, wounded Heart at every Eucharist!  What crazy-love our God has for us!  I hope many hearts were inspired to believe more fully in the Real Presence at that special 1st Communion Mass.

After the gorgeous Mass at the Cathedral, we came home to celebrate with 2 other families that had 1st communicants (2 of Nathanael's very best friends), as well as 2 of our neighbors who wanted to share in Nathanael's special day.  Despite the fact that we are in the month of May, it snowed outside.  But we were all warm and happy inside, and some of the kids braved the weather and went biking and zip-lining anyway :)  Perhaps that is how Nathanael came down with a fever and cold that night???  But we were SO grateful he waited to get sick until after his 1st Communion.  It was a day that I hope he treasures in his heart always, and I pray that he will always firmly believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and grow closer to Jesus every time that he receives Him!

Nathanael (on the far left) with his 1st Communion Class,

as well as Deacon Bob and Fr. Christopher Lebsock

Nathanael with one of his best friends, beautiful little Emily, 

who also happens to be my God-daughter.
They look like a little bride and groom...

wouldn't that be something if someday they got married!  :)

Nathanael with his 2 best friends:  Emily and Stevie

Paul and I so proud of our holy little man!

Nathanael showing a few of his special 1st Communion gifts:

A rosary from Grandma Jean

A Bible from Grandma Theresa and Grandpa Pat

A Sacred Heart picture from mom and dad

And with the money he got from friends and family, he wants to buy baseball cards :)

Hallelujah---it's Easter!!!

Do not abandon yourselves to despair.

We are the Easter people

and Hallelujah is our song!

~St. Pope John Paul II~

Happy Easter everyone!  How was your Lent?  I learned that the word "Lent" literally translates to the English word "Spring," which surprised me and almost made me laugh :)  Here in Montana, Lent rarely looks like Springtime, but rather we are typically buried in snow and longing for any signs of Spring.  And perhaps that is what Lent is supposed to be about...a longing for something, a longing for Spring, warmth, joy, forgiveness, new life in Christ!  Lent makes us long for Easter!  And not just for the secular things of Easter like candy and egg-hunts and great food, but the deep spiritual things of Easter, like the hope of heaven and the joy that Jesus takes away our sins!  That's why as Catholic, Christians, we really never should have room for despair--no matter how crappy life gets!  We are an Easter people, and Hallelujah should always be our song! 

I certainly awoke Easter morning with a Hallelujah in my heart, but it was a gentle Hallelujah song :}  Our family had a quiet and slightly "quarantined" Easter celebration.  A few of our kids were sick, but especially Joseph, who had been battling a nasty virus for a week and then it turned into pneumonia and an ear infection.  But despite the coughing that could be heard every few minutes in our house, we had a joyful Easter.  Mass at the Cathedral is always my favorite part.  Dominic got to altar serve for the Easter Mass (he was our only altar server who wasn't sick!), and he was given the special job of ringing the consecration bells, which brought such joy to my heart.

We did not get to have an outdoor egg hunt this year due to rain, but the kids had fun finding eggs throughout the house when we returned from Mass, and they also were super happy about their Easter baskets that they found on the table when they awoke.  I went a little bit overboard with sodas and sweets this year, but ironically what they liked the most was a tiny packet of baseball cards that they each received.  The rest of the day was spent trading cards and pouring over all the stats on the back of each card!  :)  Nathanael was so crazy about the baseball cards that he traded all of his candy away for more cards!  I'll have to remember to do more baseball cards next year and less sweets!  Much better for their teeth!  :)  But without further ado, here are some photos of a few of our Easter moments:

Thank you, God, for these handsome boys!

Isaiah studying his new baseball cards :)

Paul studying his coffee :)

Sweet Isaiah after Mass at the Cathedral.

The little boys literally "weighing" their Easter booty :)

Cute cooks in their aprons. :)

Paul grilled delicious tri-tip steaks for Easter.

Maria made the usual side dishes:  

green bean casserole, parmesan baked potatoes, marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes

Sweet and simple.

God is good.

Happy Easter!!!

And keep that Hallelujah song in your hearts all year long!!!

Happy Sweet 16, Michael Hollis!!!

Michael turned sweet 16 this week---how can this be!?  I still remember vividly being 8 months pregnant with Michael when his Navy pilot daddy got sent overseas to Iraq for a secret mission of an unknown length of time.  So I took little Joseph and my pregnant self to South Dakota to be with my parents "just in case" Paul didn't make it back in time for our baby's birth.  Thankfully, Paul made it back in time.  I was so happy and relieved that I went into labor the day he got off the plane!!!  Daddy was so jet-lagged that I tried to let him sleep while I labored with my mom, walking around her basement and praying the rosary together.  Apparently I let daddy sleep a little bit too long, because by the time I got to the hospital, I was too far progressed to get an epidural.  NOOOOOO! I was SOOOO bummed.  The labor and delivery were indeed painful, but the part that I remember the most was my placenta getting stuck---probably because Michael was born about 3 weeks early!  I won't go into details, but OUCH is all there really is to say about that!  Michael's sweet, angelic face and fuzzy red hair made every ounce of pain worth it though.  Truly.  Sweetest face in the world.  Notice I didn't say sweetest "temperament."  :)  Michael was (by far!) our fussiest child.  He cried all...the...time.  I had to wear him in a front carrier all...the...time.  But we persevered through those fussy baby years, and now we are persevering through the grumpy teenage years.  :)  "This too shall pass," older and wiser parents tell me, so I keep baking chocolate cookies to try to make him smile and talk to me while he dips his cookie in some milk, and I keep placing him within the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  I know he will always be safe there!  :)  I hope he knows that he will always be loved and that his momma will always be here with some fresh chocolate chip cookies whenever he needs me! :)

For Michael's birthday this year he invited three of his best buddies to hang out for a few hours.  They played lots of basketball and ate lots of food.  The perfect recipe for happy teenage boys! :)

Happy Birthday, Michael!

May God always bless you with holy friends,

well-groomed fields for playing baseball,

a comfy couch for watching Detroit Tigers games,

and a safe place within Jesus' Sacred Heart!

Daddy and I love you with all our hearts!!!

Monthly Medjugorje messages---perfect for Lent and Springtime!

Annual apparition message to Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo, March 18, 2019

"My children, as a mother, as the Queen of Peace, I am calling you to accept my Son so that He can grant you peace of soul - that He can grant you that which is just, which is good for you. My children, my Son knows you. He lived the life of man, and at the same time of God: a wondrous life-human flesh, divine Spirit. Therefore, my children, while my Son is looking at you with His eyes of God, He penetrates into your hearts. His tender, warm eyes are looking for Himself in your heart. My children, can He find Himself [there]? Accept Him, and then the moments of pain and suffering will become moments of tenderness. Accept Him, and you will have peace in [your] soul - you will spread it to all those around you - and this is what you now need the most. Heed me, my children. Pray for the shepherds, for those whose hands my Son has blessed. Thank you."


Monthly apparition message to Marija, March 25, 2019 

"Dear children! This is a time of grace. As nature renews itself for a new life, you also are called to conversion. Decide for God. Little children, you are empty and do not have joy, because you do not have God. Therefore pray until prayer becomes your life. In nature, seek God who created you, because nature speaks and fights for life and not for death. Wars are reigning in hearts and nations, because you do not have peace and you do not see, little children, a brother in your neighbor. Therefore return to God and to prayer. Thank you for having responded to my call."