SALE PENDING!!!

This lovely house that has been our home for the past 9 years will no longer be ours as of July 17th.  Putting it on the market this year was such a different experience than last year.  Last year we had it on the market for 7 months with only one very low offer.  It was a miserable 7 months because we were in "constant cleaning mode."  It was so hard living in a house with 5 busy boys and trying to be ready for a house showing at all times.  I was constantly stressed out and felt more like a witch than a mommy...  In fact, I'm pretty sure if the boys would have dumped a bucket of water on me I would have started to melt just like the Wicked Witch of the West!  :}  So this summer we decided not to go through such misery.  We got the house in showing condition and then we left the stress behind and headed for grandma and grandpa's house for the summer!  The crazy part is that within 3 days the house was SOLD!!! :)  The offer came on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was a beautiful confirmation that God is guiding us on this crazy adventure.  We are so grateful that it sold so quickly this year, but now we need to find a new home (or a rental until we find a new home)!  Please help us to pray for patience and openness to God's will as we search for the perfect house God has planned for us!

JESUS, WE CONTINUE TO TRUST IN YOU!!!

How do I love May, let me count the ways

May if full of things that make me happy...here's just a few of them:

• First of all, May is the month devoted to the Virgin Mary who I love dearly.  I have lost count of the times that she has untangled the knots in my life and protected me under her loving mantle.  This month my women's prayer group finished the book "33 Days to Morning Glory," and we all consecrated our hearts to Our Lady.  It was very special and I highly recommend Fr. Gaitley's book which beautifully explains why Catholics entrust our lives to Mary:  in short, because she will lead us on the most perfect path to Jesus.  I especially love the May Crowning Mass at my boys' Catholic School, where the entire student body honors Mary by placing flowers at her feet while singing "Queen of the May."  It is so beautiful...it must make Mary and Jesus smile! :)

• May is also the month of Mother's Day, and I have happily continued my dad's tradition of planting flowers on Mother's Day.  This year was too cold to actually plant the flowers on Mother's Day, but a week later I was able to get my hands in the dirt and make our front yard look lovely.  I love planting flowers.  It reminds me of all the years planting flowers side by side with my dad, which was our gift to my mom on Mother's Day.  Also, there's just something therapeutic about digging in the dirt and creating something beautiful.  I am hoping that our pretty flowers will inspire someone to buy our house this summer.  We are putting it on the market in June...  This is the second summer that we are trying to sell it.  To be honest, last summer was miserable trying to keep the house constantly clean with 5 active boys in the house, so this summer we have a much better plan...  The kids and I are heading to South Dakota to spend the summer getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa, while my sweet husband stays behind to keep the house ready for showings!  Why didn't I think of this last summer?!  Anyway, please pray for our house to sell quickly and for God to provide us a new home that will be perfect for our family.  St. Joseph, pray for us!!!

• May is also my birthday month.  I honestly forgot how old I was turning this year and had to do the math to figure it out!  :}  I guess that means I'm getting so old that I don't want to know how old I am anymore!  Hopefully it's not early onset Alzheimer's!  Anyway, it turns out I am 36.  This year I was totally spoiled by my husband who bought me a full-suspension mountain bike so that I could bike with him and our boys on some of the very best mountain-biking trails in the country!  I don't know if I will be able to keep up with my adrenaline-junkie boys, but I am very eager to try and to get my exercise in the fresh mountain air and gorgeous scenery!  Paul spent many months searching for the perfect bike in my favorite colors (chocolate brown and sky blue), and he even bought me a sky blue helmet, sky blue pedals, and sky blue handle grips so that everything would be completely color coordinated!  Boy, he sure knows me well. :) 

• And last, but not least, May is also the month of my anniversary.  This year Paul and I celebrate 15 years together!  They have not all been blissful or easy years, but they have been fruitful and sanctifying years.  We have learned how to make handsome boys (I wonder when will we learn how to make girls?), how to forgive, how to sacrifice, how to fight, how to kiss and make-up, how to fake it 'til we make it, how to cling to Christ when we want to give up, and how to keep guiding each other towards Heaven.  Marriage is nothing like I thought it would be, but just what my soul needed to learn how to be Christ-like.  Our anniversary gift to each other this year is something we have been dreaming about since we were courting...  We are making a pilgrimage to Medjugorje, the place where our love first began.  When I made my first pilgrimage to Megjugorje as a senior in high school, I made a deal with Our Lady (dangerous, I know).  I asked her to send me my spouse my first year of college, and if she didn't I would take it as a sign that I was meant to pursue the vocation of religious life, which was something I was seriously considering.  My frugal nature didn't want to waste time and money going to college if God wanted me to be His bride in a convent, so I wanted Mary to help me sort out my vocation right away.  And she did.  At Christmas break my first year in college I came home to visit my family, and Paul was on vacation from the Navy visiting his family in the same hometown of Aberdeen, SD.  While he was home, he happened to chat with my brother Steve (they were highschool classmates and friends), and Steve mentioned to Paul that I had recently made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje.  Paul's curiosity was piqued because his devotion to Mary had grown immensely over the past few years, so he gave me a call to ask me about my Medjugorje experience.  I was delighted to share my story and a sweet friendship was born.  After months of beautiful courtship via phone calls, love letters, and occasional trips to visit one another, it became abundantly clear to my heart that this man was Mary's answer to my very specific prayer request in Medjugorje.  We got married a year and a half after that first phone call, purposefully choosing the month of May to exchange our vows because we truly give Mary the credit for bringing our hearts together.  Perhaps that gives you a better idea of why Paul and I are so thrilled to be making this pilgrimage together after all these years.  We leave for Medjugorje on June 22nd.  Please pray that we have a safe and holy pilgrimage, and we would be honored to take any of your prayer requests with us to offer to Our Lady while we are there...you can send them via the comment section on this post or via email:  pmhurlbert@gmail.com.  

1000 Gifts and Counting...

Like Ann Voskamp, I continue to scribble my gratitude list and click my camera at things that make me see God's love and grace-filled gifts in my life...  These past few weeks there have been just too many to count or capture in pixels, but here are a few:

One single blossom on a tree that otherwise looked lifeless,

a sign to never lose hope,

a sign that all things are possible with God.

Pushing this sweet boy in the swing,

listening to him giggle as I give him under-dogs, under-cats, under-hippos, under-cows... :)

This boys' freckled face melts my heart whether he's smiling or serious

Our tree covered with ladybugs...

hours of entertainment for my little boys...poor ladybugs!  :}

Watching these hands work diligently---

seeing Paul's passion at fixing things

and doing outdoorsy things like conquering a mountain on a bike

Bubble-making boys in the backyard...

Like mother like son... :)

Daddy and baby wrestling on the bed

Watching my husband play ball with his baseball-loving boys

Boys immersed in Grandma's storytelling

Crisscrossed paws and a bundle of fur blending in with our  new bedspread

Dominic the tree-climber with his massive mop of hair...

how I love his massive loving heart!

Signs of new life and hope everywhere I look...

even within my heart!

Thank you, Jesus, for all these gifts and so much more!

Happy Birthday, Baby Isaiah (who's not a baby anymore!)

Our baby turned TWO on April 26th...where oh where did the time go?!  Just in the past few weeks Isaiah seems to have grown from a baby into such a smart little man with a personality all his own!  For example, a day or two before he turned two, I decided to pull out the potty chair just to see what would happen...  He sat down, looked into the potty, and peed!  He pees every single time I put him on the potty!  That was the quickest and easiest potty training I've ever experienced.  He still hasn't figured out the pooping part, but I'm thrilled with the progress thus far!  What a big boy!

Also, just in the past week or two, Isaiah's vocabulary has erupted in a volcano of new words and even full sentences!  It seems like overnight he learned how to say any word anyone asks him to repeat.  Hearing him talk is like sunshine to my soul.  For example, today as we were driving away from church, he yelled out in his sweet little voice, "Bye-bye, Jesus!  Bye-bye, Jesus!"  (which sounded more like "Bye-bye, Sheshus, Bye-bye, Sheshus!")  It just doesn't get more beautiful than that!  Boy, I love that boy!  And all of my boys!  I am one blessed mommy, indeed!

Isaiah is going through the "I love trucks" stage right now, so for his birthday cake I just bought a chocolate cake from Walmart and put a few construction trucks on top.  Nothing could have pleased him more!

It was sweet to watch his older brothers cheer him on as he tried to blow out his candles...

while trying to protect him from burning himself at the same time!  :)

That little boy sure is surrounded by love!

Like a typical boy, he just dove right in!!!

Then he began to eat a little bit more civilized with a spoon...

Even with a spoon, it was a big, fun mess!

Grandma Jean and Grandpa Dick came for a quick visit during the weekend of Isaiah's birthday, which sure made his birthday EXTRA special!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

Sweet Isaiah Jesse!!!

9 minutes that will stretch your heart

I came across this amazing "true love" story on Ann Voskamp's blog.  It was just what my shallow heart needed to see.  It humbles me to admit that marriage is hard for me.  In other words, I'm not very good at it because I have carried in my heart a very selfish definition of what love is.  The Gospel gives us the correct definition, of course, but it has always been hard for me to convert that self-sacrificial definition of  love into my marriage.  Perhaps I watched a few too many sappy romance movies over the years when I should have been reading my Bible instead!  :)  But anyway, this story of marriage lives out the Gospel definition of love more beautifully than I've ever seen...it is definitely worth the 9 minutes!

kisses from Jesus

Last week I felt like I was in total darkness...fighting to think holy and charitable thoughts, struggling to control my mood, and shedding a lot of tears.  I am still in the process of trying to find out what is causing these severe mood swings, and I think I'm getting closer to finding some answers, but it is taking longer than I had hoped...  I'd sure be grateful for your prayers as I walk on this long and lonely road, that I may soon find healing, peace, and joy again.  Pray for my poor husband and kids too, who have to deal with me on a daily basis!  :}  The Lord has been so merciful and patient with me, and during this past week of darkness He had me stumble upon a passage from the book I am reading that really consoled my heart (and made me weep--imagine that!) :)  I thought I'd share this passage in case it encourages your soul too.  It is taken from a book I highly recommend called "33 Days to Morning Glory" by Fr. Michael Gaitley, and in this excerpt Fr. Gaitley is reflecting upon the life and writings of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta:

From the beginning of creating her new religious order, Mother Teresa began to experience "such terrible darkness" in her soul "as if everything were dead."  At times, it seemed unbearable, and she frequently found herself on the brink of despair.  In 1961, she received a light in the darkness.  After a conversation with a holy priest, she realized that her painful longing was actually a share in the thirst of Jesus.  She said, "For the first time in this 11 years, I have come to love the darkness.  For I believe now that it is a part, a very, very, small part of Jesus' darkness and pain on earth."  Teresa's experience of darkness and painful longing continued to the end of her life.  She found strength to persevere because she realized that the darkness was actually a mysterious link that united her to the Heart of Jesus.  What about us?  Do we yet realize the mysterious link between the darkness we sometimes experience in our own lives and that of the Lord's suffering?  Let us ponder Mother Teresa's words on suffering that come from her own experience and so, like her, become better lovers of the Heart of Jesus:

"Suffering has to come because if you look at the cross, he has got his head bending down--he wants to kiss you--and he has both hands open wide--he wants to embrace you.  He has his heart opened wide to receive you.  Then when you feel miserable inside, look at the cross and you will know what is happening.  Suffering, pain, sorrow, humiliation, feelings of loneliness, are nothing less than the kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have come so close that he can kiss you....I once told this to a lady who was suffering very much.  She answered, "Tell Jesus not to kiss me, to stop kissing me."  Suffering has to come, though, that suffering that came in the life of Our Lady, that came in the life of Jesus--it has to come in our life too.  Only never put on a long face.  Suffering is a gift from God.  It is between you and Jesus alone inside..."
  
"...Be careful of all that can block that personal contact with the living Jesus.  The Devil may try to use the hurts of life, and sometimes our own mistakes--to make you feel it is impossible that Jesus really loves you, is really cleaving to you.  This is a danger for all of us.  And so sad, because it is completely opposite of what Jesus is really wanting, waiting to tell you.  Not only that He loves you, but even more--He longs for you.  He thirsts for you.  He loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy.  When not accepted by others, even by yourself sometimes.  He is the one who always accepts you.  My children, you don't have to be different for Jesus to love you.  Only believe--you are precious to Him.  Bring all you are suffering to His feet--only open your heart to be loved by Him as you are.  He will do the rest."

The Best (or second best) Day of Dominic's Life

On Sunday our delightful Dominic received his precious Savior in 1st Holy Communion.  Dominic's soul was so prepared, and he was all aglow for days leading up to the special event.  In trying to prepare Dominic for how special it is to receive the body and blood of our God into our own humble bodies, I told him that receiving 1st Communion would be the most special day of his life...  However, he quickly corrected me and said, "Wouldn't that have been the day I was baptized, mom?"  Sheesh...I guess this kid is well catechized!  Dominic was so giddy the morning of his 1st Communion that it was hard to keep him from bouncing up and down when we arrived at the Cathedral. How I wish we adults kept that same zeal in our hearts for Jesus as we prepare to receive Him each week!

What made Dominic's day even more grace-filled was that it landed on the Feast of Divine Mercy.  Jesus appeared to St. Faustina countless times and expressed over and over again how much He loves us and is longing to give His mercy and graces to anyone who asks for them and trusts in Him.  For example, here are some of Jesus' words written in Faustina's diary:

"My daughter, tell the whole world about My Inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy.The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.

What a beautiful, grace-filled day for Dominic, and a great reminder for the rest of us to receive Jesus in the Eucharist with child-like joy and to ask for Jesus' mercy with childlike trust.

Proud momma and daddy with Dominic.

Dominic is proud of the new Bible he received from Grandma Theresa and Grandpa Pat.

Dominic with Deacon Bob and his 1st Communion Class

Dominic with his friend Grace :)

Dominic, may you always remain close to the Holy Family,

and especially to the Sacred Heart of Jesus who you received for the 1st time today!