A Birthday Boy...a Biking Boy!

The month of April was a very special, happy month for Isaiah--despite a worldwide epidemic going on around him!  On April 26th he turned 7 years old!!!  I think that officially puts him out of the baby and toddler categories and into the big boy group.  He didn't care one bit that he didn't get to have a birthday party with friends, for he had his best friends (his brothers and his parents) around him to celebrate his big day.  He also didn't mind one bit that his mother doesn't like to cook or bake cakes---because for those very reasons he got to choose his favorite restaurant for a drive-through supper and his favorite dessert from our local grocery store.  He picked Arby's for supper and cheesecake for dessert--two choices the whole family was happy with! :)

The other big event for Isaiah in April was that he learned to ride his bike!  Yay, clap, hurray!  He learned just a day or two after his birthday--and ironically enough, we heard on the radio that day that it was "National Learn to Bike Day"...how crazy is that?!  I think hearing that on the radio, along with turning 7 years old, gave him the extra boost of confidence he needed :)  We tried to teach him last summer to no avail.  But this Spring he learned how to bike in basically 1 day with his daddy's expert help.  :)  He was sooooo happy and proud.  It was so beautiful

So, without further adieu, here are photos of Isaiah's birthday and his "Learn to Bike Day!"...

Isaiah, along with his brothers, loves Garfield books!

A new Minecraft backback...if only he could go to school to show it off!  :}

More surprises await inside the backpack...

A bunch of Minecraft books!

His brothers Dominic and Nathanael liked the books as much as Isaiah.

They are all huge Minecraft fans :)

Isaiah liked the Minecraft "Creeper" balloon 

who wished him a Happy Birthday when he woke up in the morning :)

A birthday supper at Arby's made everyone happy!

I don't think we've ever had a birthday dinner in our car from a fast food drive though before...

but we could get used to that tradition :)

Cheesecake is Isaiah's favorite dessert

That smile warms my heart!

Big brother giving Isaiah bunny ears again :)

Isaiah, you truly are an "AWESOME DUDE"

Here is Isaiah's awesome daddy teaching him to ride bike

Proud is written all over his face

Even when he crashed he was happy :)

I will never forget the joy these boys had riding bike in our driveway for hours.

day after day.

I know it won't be long and they will be driving cars

and leaving our driveway for college and other adventures,

so I will embrace these moments

 while they last

with gratitude and joy!

Totus Tuus,

Maria

Good Friday, Easter, and Pandemic Living

2020 will a year everyone remembers...and certainly a Lent and Easter filled with some pretty crazy memories of how the coronavirus/Covid-19 affected each and every one of us.  I find it fascinating how everyone seemed to have slightly different struggles as a result of the pandemic.  We each had our own crosses to carry that I believe were meant to bring us closer to Jesus as we learned to suffer with Him in different ways.  For some people, they had to carry the cross of the coronavirus itself, some even losing their lives or their loved ones from it.  For others, it was the loss of their job due to the imposed social distancing rules.  I have a dear friend who learned during Lent that her mother has terminal cancer with less than a year to live.  For countless parents, the cross of becoming an instant "homeschooling teacher" was thrust upon them without a choice and with no concern for academic qualifications! :)

For our family, there were a variety of crosses and so-called slivers that made this pandemic time difficult:

• the sadness of Joseph's unexpected knee injury during his senior year
• the turmoil that our small, Catholic school went through due to losing its principal and numerous other teachers and then trying to put all of the pieces back together again to keep the school going
• Paul's stressful role as president of the school board 
• my sudden role as a 3rd grade teacher, and then my new role as a remote 3rd grade teacher (I think I know how a fish out of water feels now!) :}
• figuring out how to do remote learning from home (ie how to Zoom, how to record yourself on YouTube, how to scan and submit assignments, how to learn college-like time management skills--STAT!, how to share 2 computers for 7 people, how to balance homeschooling 5 boys while teaching 17 third graders at the same time, etc)

But, despite all of those crosses and mere slivers, there have been even more blessings and silver linings, and it is more important to focus on those!

Here is a short litany of the blessings, and then I'll post some pictures that captured some of them:

• Because we transitioned to remote learning the day after Joseph's knee injury, he didn't have to deal with going up and down the school steps on crutches for 6 weeks or more :}
• We realized just how blessed we are to live in Montana where there are fewer cases of Covid-19, fewer people in general, and much more wide open spaces to hike, fish, and still enjoy the great outdoors even during this quarantine time
• Our family has made the commitment to pray a rosary and a Chaplet of Divine Mercy together every day--I will never forget how beautiful it was to light our prayer candles every day and gather to pray on our living room couches, taking turns leading each decade while snuggling under covers (and sometime giggling as we watch daddy fall asleep!) :)
• We realize how much we miss receiving the Eucharist at Mass every Sunday, but at least we have the grace-filled option of making Spiritual Communions until we can return to church again
• Being able to bond with my boys by playing countless board games and card games
• The crazy but beautiful foot of snow that we received on Easter---we couldn't have an outdoor egg hunt, but the boys were able to sled and play in the snow instead :)
• The quarantine couldn't stop our fun traditions, like making a edible Crown of Thorns, decorating Easter eggs, and making Resurrection Rolls
• Sleeping in and teaching in my pajamas has been nice :)
• I will treasure the long walks taken with my husband during this time as well

Making homemade bread dough to make an edible "crown of thorns" on Good Friday

The boys love placing the "thorns" in the crown;

I try to remind them each year to think of their sins while they place in the thorns

and to say "Sorry" for hurting Jesus with their sins.

As they take the "thorns" out to eat them, I remind the kids to say "Thank You" to Jesus 

for suffering for their sins and always forgiving them.

Traditionally, we just have a simple meal of bread and meatless soup on Good Friday

On Saturday, we decorated our Easter eggs to prepare for the big day ahead.

The colorfulness of Easter eggs never fails to make me happy :)

The boys were nice enough to let me decorate a couple of them--

you're never too old to have fun decorating Easter eggs, right? :)

Easter morning at our house!

A day or two before the snow hit, Paul and I cleaned out the bird houses.

I hope that a few birds found the houses to stay warm in during this Spring storm!

We had just put a new bird house on this post;

the next day a bear came to investigate and knocked the post over!

I bet the bear wishes he had stayed in hibernation a little bit longer! :)

New buds were just blossoming...and then we got a blizzard!

Nathanael showing off his eggs during the Easter blizzard

Isaiah with his favorite egg

Dominic showing a couple of his favorite eggs during the snow storm

What a fun memory of decorating eggs and then standing in a snow storm for a photo! :)

Dad made the boys shovel for Easter!

But it was more like playing than a chore for them :)

We got so much snow we needed to ask Our Lady to help us :)

Paul doing school board work during Easter break.

Michael taking Isaiah for a little sledding adventure :)

I think Michael is enjoying himself more than Isaiah at this moment :)

Isaiah and his sled are covered in snow :)

Isaiah didn't seem to mind the snow too much because he liked to eat it...

and he knew he'd get hot cocoa once he came inside :)

Nathanael and Dominic having a competitive game of Catan.

It has become our favorite game!

Joseph, Michael and I play it almost every night until midnight :)

Easter morning treasures for the oldest 2 boys...

Easter morning treasures for the youngest 3 boys.

The lava lamps were the biggest hit!

After opening their Easter treasures, they went on an egg hunt...

Can you find all of the hidden eggs?

My mom's home-made Jelly Bean Duck is a fun Easter tradition.  

This year instead of jelly beans, we put Robin Eggs/Whoppers inside the duck.

The boys are constantly sneaking "duck poop" for a snack :)

Watching Mass on our computer screen was certainly a new thing for us!

It was beautiful to see our own bishop and priests do the Mass,

but we sure miss attending Mass in person and receiving the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Thankfully, we are able to invite Jesus into our hearts in a Spiritual Communion,

but I am so eager to be able to go to Mass again (soon, I hope!!!)

I do have to say that our couch is more comfortable than the pews though :)

We are SOOO blessed to have a new, holy bishop during this pandemic. 

His homilies have been so encouraging and hope-filled!

Getting the table set for Easter dinner...

As soon as I had the sparkling grape juice poured, the kids came out of the woodwork!

Here is Nathanael looking like a "boy from the hood" in his new Easter sunglasses :}

It was a quiet and simple meal with just our own family.

We were planning to celebrate with another family with 8 kids,

but scratched that idea due to the social distancing rules :)

We had ham, green bean casserole, cream cheese corn, hawaiian rolls and fruit.

And of course Easter wouldn't be complete without making Resurrection Rolls,

which beautifully remind us of the Easter story.

What a sweet reminder of the sweetness of God's love!!!

A blessed Easter Season to all of you!

Our prayers are with you during this pandemic!

A Torn and Fractured Lent, but God is still Good

In my last post, I mentioned that this Lent has been a hard and heavy one--much stress and many decisions to be made.  Well, it suddenly, drastically got harder and heavier--on a global level, and also on a level very close to home.

First, the global level--which I'm sure everyone who reads this is currently experiencing.  Last week the coronavirus started wrecking havoc not only in China and Europe, but it found it's way to the United States, causing a global pandemic and all schools to shut down.  So all of this week, I have been homeschooling my own kids, but also continuing to be the 3rd grade teacher at our school---but in an online setting.  It's been a bit crazy, but honestly, I love being home with my kids.  The schooling only takes a few hours, and then the day is spent playing outside, playing board games, getting chores done that haven't been done in ages, and of course some hard-earned iPad time for the boys :)  But still there are worries in the back of everyone's mind...will the virus hit our family, will the stores all shut down, will we have to do online schooling the rest of the year, will there be a baseball season, will Joseph have his senior graduation ceremony, will we have enough toilet paper--oops, I mean food--to last until this is all over???

These questions and worries all became so little as our next "cross" of Lent was suddenly handed to us much closer to home...

On Sunday (one week ago today), Joseph had a bad skiing accident.  Tore his MCL.  Fractured his tibia.  It was the last ski day of the year and the ski hill was about to shut down for the season, so Joseph and Michael wanted to have one last fun skiing adventure before all the snow melted.  Now I'm sure Joseph wishes they had not gone, but somehow we trust that God allowed this for a good reason.  Romans 8:28 has become our verse of the year:  "All things work together unto good for those who love the Lord."  God is going to bring good out of this.  But it is still hard.  It's hard for me as a mother to watch my son hurting, and to not be able to fix it.  It's hard for Joseph on so many levels, and definitely not something he expected to experience his senior year.  He was looking forward to mountain biking with friends, playing basketball with his brothers in the driveway during this long break from school, and most of all, he was eager for his final baseball season which was about to begin (and which might not even happen due to the pandemic).  But I have to say, he has been handling it like a strong, Christian man.  No complaint has escaped his lips.  I am so proud of him.  We found out next week whether or not he will need surgery.  In the meantime, we wait, trust, and pray for God's healing and His graces to be poured on Joseph as he unites his suffering with Jesus's.

Yes, the coronavirus pandemic and Joseph's accident are both difficult crosses to bear.  It is indeed a torn and fractured Lent for our family, but God is still good and there is still so much for which to be thankful:  Joseph's accident could have been worse, we have all this time in quarantine for Joseph to recover without having to worry about using crutches to get up and down the steps at school, we have a big beautiful house to hunker down in and to have lots of family bonding time in, we have 7 amazing acres of land to enjoy when we get stir-crazy, we are stocked up with plenty of food to last us months and months, we have extra time to pray, and of course, we have the assurance that God is with us and will get us through this so we have no need to panic.  "Jesus, we trust in You," will continue to be our motto.

This will likely be a Lent that none of us will ever forget.  But hopefully, in years down the road when we look back on it, we will recall more than anything the great good that came from the suffering, rather than the suffering itself.

Totus Tuus,
~Maria

Lent...

Lent is here...  I'm not sure why my first reaction is always a sigh.  You probably could hear me sigh as you read this. :)  I guess it's because I'm weak and comfortable and I'm not very good at sacrificing joyfully :}  But I'm going to try to do better this Lent at offering up my little sacrifices.  I truly believe there is so much merit in sacrificing and fasting--Jesus himself says so in Scripture, and countless saints have practiced and echoed that truth.  Perhaps one thing that will make fasting and sacrificing some small simple comforts is to focus on offering those sacrifices for a special intention.  So this Lent, I'm going to offer up my suffering (however small and pathetic it may be each day) for clear guidance from the Holy Spirit to help my husband and I make some big decisions that are weighing heavily upon us.  To help me do just that, I stumbled upon an awesome Prayer to the Holy Spirit, written by a very holy Cardinal, that I am going to pray and meditate on each day during Lent.  According to Cardinal Mercier, this prayer is "the secret of sanctity and happiness."  WOW!  Well worth a try, I'd say!  I'd love more sanctity and happiness.  Here is the prayer and some background information about Cardinal Mercier if you are interested in more sanctity and happiness too: 


Cardinal Mercier, a Belgian lived from 1851-1926, and was ordained in 1874 and eight years later became professor of philosophy at the University of Louvain, where, under the auspices of Pope Leo XIII, he organized an institute for the study of the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas. He was instrumental in in the 20th-century revival of interest in Thomistic scholasticism. He was made archbishop of Malines in 1906 and Cardinal a year later. Cardinal Mercier worked to secure greater cooperation between the Catholic clergy and the laity and to promote social well-being. In World War I, Cardinal Mercier became the spokesman of Belgian opposition to the German occupation, for which the Germans placed him under house arrest.

"I am going to reveal to you the secret of sanctity and happiness. Every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to the things of sense and your ears to all the noises of the world, in order to enter into yourself.

Then in the sanctity of your Baptized soul, [which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit] speak to that Divine Spirit, saying to Him:

Oh, Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul. I adore Thee.
Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me.
Tell me what I should do . . . give me Thy orders.
I promise to submit myself to all that Thou desireth of me
and to accept all that Thou doth permit to happen to me.
Let me only know Thy will.

If you do this, your life will flow along happily, serenely and full of consolation, even in the midst of trials. Grace will be proportioned to the trial, giving you the strength to carry it and you will arrive at the gates of Paradise, laden with merit.

This submission to the Holy Spirit is the secret of sanctity."

~Joseph Cardinal Mercier

overdue updates

Once again, many weeks have elapsed since my last posting.  I do have an excuse this time, though!  I got a job! No one could have been more surprised than I was!  :)  Due to some crazy, unexpected events, I was asked to become the 3rd grade teacher at our small, Catholic school.  It has sure turned my life upside down and given me little extra time for things like blogging.   Heck, it's miraculous for me to even get the laundry done these days! :)  But I truly believe God wanted me to take this job to help our school during a crisis, and I love, love, love these 3rd graders and will strive to do my very best in teaching them and guiding them closer to Jesus!  Please pray for me!  But more importantly, pray for our school and all the families and teachers there--for God to guide, heal, and bless them.  It has been a difficult year at our school, but I continue to cling to the Scripture verse that says:

"All things work together for good for those who love the Lord."  

(Romans 8:28) 

Here are my sweet 3rd graders!

Other overdue updates:

Nathanael turned 9 in November!  What a fun, smart, and sweet kid he is!  And now that I'm his 3rd grade teacher, it is neat to see what he is like in that environment too.  He makes me a proud mother AND teacher, and I think he and I will both treasure this year in our hearts forever :)  Here are some pictures from his birthday party waaaayyyy back in November:

Opening presents with his best buddies!

He loves this Star Wars piano book and has already learned most of the songs!

He was super thrilled with this Yankees backpack and the Babe Ruth picture for his wall!

Nine candles on a Dairy Queen ice cream cake,

surrounded by friends and love and God's grace...

doesn't get much better than that!

Dearest Nathanael,

Your daddy and I sure do love you

and we are so grateful you are in our family!

May you keep growing closer to Christ each year,

may your Irish eyes always keep smiling,

and may you always know that you are loved--

more than all the baseball cards you ever collect...plus,

all the other baseball cards collected in the world combined!

Love,

Mom