Snow Days

Okay so it is a big deal to get snow that sticks and that is thick enough to be able to go sledding. We had so much fun! We borrowed a big tube because supposedly that's the way you do it in TN. It was fun! Tristan had his little sled as well that he got for Christmas from my mom and dad. I wanted to go again and again and again. I think I had just as much fun as the kids. I think the older I get (28) the more fun it is to have fun and act like a kid again. I love it! The Ehrhardts came with us and we all had so much fun! We came home from sledding and had our Sunday night game night with the kiddos. This is Tristans favorite night of the week. If you are wondering where Finnian is he was in a stroller behind us being the sweetest little pumpkin ever. I would wear him on my back when I wasn't going down the hill.

Baby Katie is in Heaven

This is an email I received today.

Dear Friends,
>
> From Fr. Ryan: "Thank you for all of your prayers. Unfortunately,
> I'm sending you the sad news that Hannah did have the abortion. She
> is not doing well. Please pray for Hannah and all involved, they are
> all hurting very much. Thanks, Fr. Ryan."
>
> I'm so sorry to have to pass this news on to all of you. There is no
> way I can express in an e-mail the sadness in my heart for Hannah and
> her family, or for Fr. Ryan who has been such a faithful and
> courageous priest in the face of terrible spiritual warfare. His
> trust in God's mercy has been incredible, and he is a witness to all
> of us of the power of spiritual, priestly fatherhood that loves to the
> extreme. Please continue to pray for him, as he will continue to
> minister to Hannah in the coming months and years.
>
> At a time like this it would be easy to think that God has not
> answered our prayers or to ask where the Lord was in all of this. To
> attempt an explanation for the dichotomy of good and evil is beyond my
> ability, but I feel that we have all been part of an extraordinary
> movement of grace in the last few days.
>
> On Thursday morning, Fr. Ryan called me asking for prayers for
> Hannah, along with the request to pass the prayer intention along. I
> passed the request on...and you responded with your own prayer and by
> asking those you knew to pray as well. All told, religious sisters in
> about 15 convents in several states and two countries, seminarians in
> 3 seminaries, consecrated women in the US, Italy, and England,
> priests, and over 1000 lay people have been lifting Hannah up in
> prayer. WE ARE CATHOLIC!!! In His mercy, God has united us from our
> different vocations and locations to pray for one of His children in
> her hour of need.
>
> Within one hour of the first e-mail being sent, four people wrote to
> me offering to adopt the child. It was not long before others echoed
> that offer. A woman offered her home as a safehaven for Hannah,
> should she need a place to stay. Others sent me information on
> counseling services and adoption agencies. Women who have had
> abortions offered to speak to Hannah, as did women who had seriously
> contemplated abortion during their pregnancies. All without knowing
> Hannah or anything about her. In a time of trial and crisis, God
> called for generosity and from your hearts you gave, from your hearts
> you responded in ways that could never be expected.
>
> Most of all, the grace of your prayers has been felt and God has used
> this as a moment to teach us all. A friend wrote to me: "Through
> praying for her I can say honestly that I love her, without knowing
> anything about her other than the painful situation she has found
> herself in. I hate the idea of her aborting this baby and then
> suffering for it the rest of her life. I want nothing more than to
> spare her that grief." In the face of hatred and death, God has
> called us to love. Abortion is hatred and it is hatred that leads to
> death. In spite of this, love has grown through the grace of prayer.
> The prayer has been constant and has come from all sorts. I received
> an e-mail that said simply "I have been praying since I opened my eyes
> this morning". From a 5 year-old in Nashville, Hannah's baby received
> a name. Knowing only Hannah's name was not enough for him, he wanted
> to know what the baby was called. Since no one had a name, he called
> her Katie. So Baby Katie became not a theory, but a real person in
> his eyes. On Monday afternoon, I began asking the children in
> religious ed here at St. Pius to pray for Hannah. A third grader who
> comes for class on Tuesday told me that her friend, who comes for
> class on Mondays, had sent her an e-mail after coming home on Monday
> telling her to pray for Hannah. THIRD GRADE!!!!!! A first grader
> asked why we were praying for Hannah, to which her classmate
> responded: "It doesn't matter why we're praying. God knows, and He'll
> take care of Hannah."
>
> I hope that this experience of prayer continues to bear fruit. More
> than that, this experience of prayer must not end here. Young Hannah
> still needs prayer and healing. There are thousands of Hannahs in our
> country and in our world, children living in fear and hopelessness.
> No one, at 15, should have to experience what Hannah is now enduring.
> This should convince us more than ever that abortion is the worst
> option available and that women deserve better. This should be a call
> to us to respond with generosity to those who find themselves in
> crisis, to those who find themselves alone. Jesus calls us to be
> instruments of His mercy and to bring the light of His love to the
> darkness and hopelessness of the culture of death. Today is a sad day
> because one life is ended, and another wounded, scarred and mourning.
> Today is a sad day because we all share in this loss and in this
> wound. In prayer, we have come to love Hannah and we are helpless as
> our sister, our daughter, suffers. But God is still at work and His
> project is not yet complete. He has called us together in prayer and
> He has called out of us a generosity that goes beyond our own desires
> and seeks the good of another for the glory of God. We can take great
> comfort in the promise God has given, that love always triumphs, that
> life is always victorious over death, that the light continues to
> shine in the darkness.
>
> Please pray for Hannah's healing. Let her broken heart be restored,
> Lord! Pray for her parents, for Tom and his parents...they suffer,
> too! Pray for Fr. Ryan, who is their father, friend, shepherd and
> priest. May he receive the grace he needs to protect them and bring
> them healing. May God work in his heart and words so that they see in
> him, not Fr. Ryan, but the face of Christ turning his merciful gaze on
> them.
>
> Peace,
>
> Fr. Sam

What makes me unique to my hubby

I was in Mass a couple weeks ago when I began thinking about Father Bala and his vocation as a priest and how he can persevere in his vocation and during consecration it occurred to me that the mass makes him unique in his vocation. The reason that most Priests within Religious Orders have to celebrate mass every day is for their perseverance so they can experience that uniqueness that makes them set apart from other men and makes their vocation special. This is what makes him different from another man and what makes him unique to the Church, his bride. It then lead me to thinking about Branden and what makes us so unique as spouses and that is the intimacy we share with the gift of sex. The thing that makes us so unique in marriage is being intimate with our spouse and that is the very thing that is attacked the most with in marriages. This is a great means for perseverance when united with God for union and pro-creation. I now try to think about it daily so I can overcome the many distractions and temptations to avoid the intimacy with my husband. Yes I used the word avoid because so often I would try to avoid, most of the time because I am just so darn tired by the end of the day. So I now try to not avoid and take advantage of that special part of our marriage that makes me unique to Branden!

Pray for baby Katie

So we have been getting prayer requests for a young woman and young man in high school that conceived a precious little baby. The abortion is scheduled for tomorrow morning. I told Tristan (5yrs) what was going to be happening tomorrow and of course at 5 he is a soldier. He has an amazing concept of spiritual battle and loves it. He will go around "shooting fires out of his heart" to get the demons by praying or making a sacrifice. So as I tell him this and tears well up in my eyes as I tell him about this little baby and how we need to pray to protect this little baby he asked well what is her name. I thought he was talking about the mom so I told him it is Hannah and he said no the baby. I said well the baby does not have a name yet and he said the baby needs a name. I said we don't know if it is a boy or girl. Well he wanted to name the baby so he said her name is baby katie. We will pray for baby katie. So please please please pray for baby Katie that her life be saved and that her mothers decision to have an abortion will be changed.

Another little note on abortion that I will try and find a picture of is back when we were participating in the 40 days for life we would go to the abortion clinic and pray every Sunday with the kids. One week when we were there to pray the lady who runs the pregnancy center down the street that fights to save babies lives was there praying and had some flags. She explained to the kids the different meanings of the flags and they loved it. Tristan, Annaliese and Gavin marched up and down with their flags and then yes of course these flags became swords because that is way of boys. While we were there Finnian needed to eat so I crossed the street and sat on some steps to feed Finnian and watched Branden and the kids waving their flags along with three other ladies praying and then I began to hear them all singing Yes Jesus Loves Me Yes Jesus Loves Me Yes Jesus Loves for the bible tells me so over and over. My eyes welled up with tears and then I just began to cry. It was such a beautiful image to behold I just know the angels were singing with them.

Febrile Seizure

So Gavin gave us a scare on Sunday as we were leaving church he had a seizure caused by a fever. From what I understand it happens when a fever jumps quickly. Gavin is totally fine now, but it certainly was a scary experience. During the seizure and after during the brains recovery I was just hoping he would start crying or screaming or doing the ever so annoying Gavin squawk. The squawk would have been music to my ears at that point. It took a couple of hours for Gavin to return to normal Gavin. We spent the day at the hospital investigating the cause of the fever and it turned out to be just a cold. When things like this happen to your children it makes you appreciate them and their health so much more. There are people who have chronically ill children who deal with this stuff on a daily basis. I can't imagine. To see your child go through something like this that is so out of your control it really gives you a great reminder that you really are not in control! I like to think I am many times, but things like this always put me in my place and really humble me and give me the opportunity to be so grateful for the many things God has given me. Sweet Gavin just has a cough leftover from the cold he had and the others have been sick as well. I think we are finally better. No fevers! Gavin has broken several things, pooped on the floor two times (going back to duct tape and diapers), squawked a lot, got in a couple of fights and told me ugh huh and nuh ugh about 1000 times. So he is definitely back to normal Gavin and now as for the future we have to watch his temps when he gets sick in order to try and keep him from having any more seizures in his toddler years. Thanks to Bobby and Katherine for their help with Tristan and Annaliese. I don't know what we would do without them here! We love you guys!

If Your Not Happy Change Your Expectations!

I love the quote above and remind myself of it often because with four young children nothing ever goes as expected so I am constantly fighting myself and find myself trying to become okay with the chaos life brings with four young children. It seems the more I plan and the more I try to have things in order the more often I have to let go of how I expected things to be! I hear of great traditions families lived or are living during these beautiful times of the year and have such great anticipation at starting them with our children. I felt as though I was fighting my way through most of them and when I found myself sitting on children while we were trying to complete prayers and stories I realized I needed to let go and we can do bits and pieces here and there and over the years we will eventually complete the task in full. It is not about the things as much as it is about the spirit in which we do them. So I would rather do a little with a lot of love rather than do a lot with little love! So here is where we are at so far.
Okay so here are the things we have accomplished so far and will continue to try and do in the future with our children in these precious days before Christmas...
1. Jesse Tree (partial success with this one) We have made one homemade ornament at this point (so in 24 years we will have a complete set at this rate!) and even had a Jesse tree party, but we just got the tree to put the ornaments on a couple of days ago because I never had an opportunity to go to the store after forgetting the one time I was there with the kiddos.
2. Christmas Tree Filled with Grace: The tree for this is still in the box and was only bought a couple of days ago for the same reason as above and since I have had it all of the kids have been super sick. We have the ornaments and the tree. The idea with this is to have a small (ours is 2ft) Christmas tree and small little ornaments (ours are from dollar store) every time you make a sacrifice or help someone out you put an ornament on the tree. It becomes a tree filled with little acts of love and grace. A couple of days before Christmas you pray about who to send the tree to and all of the prayers it contains and then you send it.

3. Advent Storybooks: We are reading Jothams Journey and there is a chapter for each day of advent. There are also two other books Bartholomew Passage and Tabitha's Travels. We are on Tuesday of the second week of Advent and we should be on Tuesday of the third week of Advent. We may finish in January, but no big deal rubbing backs of sick children and making tea takes priority over this wonderful advent tradition.

4. Christmas Basket Program: This is one of my favorites. This afternoon we began the first part of the Christmas basket by having the kids pick three of their toys to give to the Christmas Basket program. This is one of the greatest traditions. Today as I went with Annaliese to look at her dress up stuff I was so impressed with her attitude of giving. We pulled out her dress up stuff and anything she had two of we pulled out which was almost everything. We started with shoes and she found a perfect pair out of the four pairs she had and then she said we needed a crown so she picked one of the two and it was a little harder because she now only has one then she said a little girl needed a balleration (a leotard) I was so surprised she even mentioned this because these along with her princess dresses are her favorites. I then prompted that maybe a little girl who doesn't have dress up stuff may need a princess dress and she said well no this one fits me and this one fits me. She has three princess dresses and she does love all of them very very much. She went on to tell me because this fits me it won't fit anyone else. We came to the point where I said okay Annaliese but I know you could make God happy and some little girl very happy and she smiled and said okay I think this one will be perfect. (She put my favorite dress in the pile of stuff...ouch that hurts now I have to detach from the adorable dress that I love on Annaliese) It is funny how sometimes you can be more attached to your kids stuff than they are. She put the whole outfit together, but it was missing a necklace and a bracelet and she got it all and put it in a bag and said this is perfect! How adorable and what a loving/giving spirit sweet Annaliese has. No second thoughts no regrets it was done and it is as if it is not hers any longer. Tristan on the other hand was actually more reluctant than Annaliese to let go of his stuff. The things they have to pick have to mean something to them, it has to bring a little bit of sacrifice and detachment otherwise it would just be for the others and not for their formation as well. So Tristan got rid of some of his animals, but boy did it take him a long time. You saw his interior struggle as he would go through all of them and then he decided to give something pretty special to him, his marble run. I suggested it to him and he protested at first, but then was so proud of himself and could not wait for Branden to come home to show him what he was giving to some kid who does not have anything.
This is just the beginning of the Christmas Basket. Hopefully tomorrow we will go and wrap the presents and Thursday we will go deliver the nursing home bags and sing Christmas carols at the nursing home. Friday is sorting night and pizza and then Saturday we will deliver a box or two to a family filled with food and toys. I love our church!

5. The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mexican Fiesta and we went to the Hispanic celebration at our church. There were only about ten white people there and we were 6 out of the ten. What a neat experience and to have mass in spanish, participate in the parade in the streets of downtown Franklin and then end with a Mexican fiesta with dancing. I love our church

6. St. Lucy Feast day went totally different than expected we ended up at the hospital with Gavin and had sick children all day...nothing that i had planned happened that day!

7. After dropping off the toys at church for the Christmas basket (this was tonight) we go to see Christmas lights and stop to get hot chocolate and a donut that we eat in the car while driving around. When we see a snowman we sing frosty, when we see a reindeer we sing rudolph etc... Super fun times

8. Advent Calendar - Every morning the kids open up the doors on our Advent calendar and hang up the pieces

9. Advent Wreath - Made it one week into Advent with extra tree trimmings I found at home depot for free! We got the super cheap Christmas tree that fit into the budget but doesn't smell beautiful so we are getting the expensive Christmas tree smell by picking up the free scraps and using them as decorations throughout the house! We light the candles at dinner time, but have not accomplished the nightly prayers and scripture passages.

So as you can see we are trying and things are most definitely not perfect and they probably never will be! I hate the thought of that, but I must accept it and know that our disaster is beautiful to God!

Adventure Day with Daddy

Branden is so wonderful. He took off a day of work to take the three big kids out on an adventure while I organized our house and set up systems to keep it clean. What a blessing this day was for me! He left at 9am starting by going to the music show at Whole Foods that the kids love and then they continued on their journey to go hiking and find waterfalls. The kids had a blast and I set up an amazing system that is working for me. I have so much trouble being organized and keeping our house clean, but always had so many great ideas, but the problem was I never could get ahead. This gave the opportunity to get ahead and implement the ideas. There is lots of stuff labeled in our house now and I work using a schedule and I have check lists for everything. Is it perfect...of course not, what is! I actually realized I have never implemented anything like this because it bothers me so much when the system is broken...and this happens every day all day! AHHHH I totally have to let go, but in the end it obviously helps so much to have the structure especially with four young children. There are lots of hands touching lots of things and things are never perfect!