Calling all Book Lovers

Love2Learn Mom is putting together (or adding to) "State-by-State", Europe, Central and South America, Canada, Mexico, Africa, etc. book lists. If you have book recommendations that fit specific locations, please head on over to Love2LearnBlog. All you need to do is leave a comment with the location, book's title, and author in the comments. Love2Learn Mom has simplified things by providing links to each book list in the sidebar of Love2LearnBlog.

Prayers Needed

Please pray for my mother-in-law, Michele. She was admitted to the hospital yesterday. Today, she was placed in the ICU and will be transferred to a hospital in Seattle as soon as possible. She is incognizant, her EKGs are all over the place, and she has had heart fibrulations over 300. Please, please keep her in your prayers.

Flu Bug Observations

Warning: This post is not for anyone who is queasy.

When you are two, spitting up and vomitting are one and the same. Each time you vomit, you comment, "I spit up again." Since you do not make a distinction between spitting up and vomitting, your mother wonders whether you will be nicer to your baby brother who spits up 24 hours a day.

When you are two, the best place to throw up is in the pile of clean laundry. No matter how many times your mother asks you to throw up in a bowl, in the toilet, or on the dining room floor, something about the pile of clean laundry remains extremely appealing.

When you are four and decide to rinse the bowl in which you vomitted (because you are very conscientious), the best place to empty the contents is in the sink. When your older sister comments that the sink is blocked, you burst into tears because you were only trying to be helpful. Your mother's response is laughter. It truly is the best medicine.

Queen-Size Bediquette

In a queen-size bed,
two's a couple,
three's a crowd,
four in the bed is not allowed.

Catherine made up the above little poem this weekend, as we discussed sleeping arrangements.

Self-Communicating

Despite his antics, Patrick really does pay attention at Mass. Tonight, he sat at the table with a small stack of Pringles. With each chip, he broke off a small piece, said, "Body of Christ", placed it in his mouth, and followed with "Amen". This continued until the pile was finished.

*Posted by my husband

Real Deer

Patrick was truly amazed by the deer that we saw this weekend. He exclaimed more than once, "It has eyes!" He was also heard saying, "It has feet and it walks!"

Where's the Camera?

We saw a lot of deer up close this weekend, including a mother deer with two fawns. Our children held their breath, hoping the deer would not be hit, as the mother left a clearing in the trees to lead her two fawns across the street. I wish that I could share some photos, but we left our camera at home.

He Can't Help Himself

We spent the weekend at the ocean, visiting relatives. When we walked into the lobby of the hotel, my husband noticed that one of the computers had an "Out of Order" sign taped on it. I patiently waited for his request. He finally asked this morning, "Would you mind if I fixed their computer for them?" Approximately 20 minutes after my husband left our room, he was back, claiming victory. What can I say? I married a "computer nerd".

In Honor of Our Lady

Chesterton's Thoughts on Women

Yesterday, during my eldest daughter's piano lesson, I continued to read Chesterton's What's Wrong with the World. I found myself wanting to make note of a lot of what I was reading in his chapter, "The Emancipation of Domesticity". I was happy to finally learn where the following famous quote could be found:

How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute.
~G.K. Chesterton: Collected Works, Volume IV, pp. 118-119

In his chapter on "The Coldness of Chloe", I could not help but think of some discussions that have taken place regarding skirt wearing. Only Chesterton could expound on skirt wearing in this way:

...a little while ago it was common for an "advanced" woman to claim the right to wear trousers; a right about as grotesque as the right to wear a false nose. Whether female liberty is much advanced by the act of wearing a skirt on each leg I do not know...It is quite certain that the skirt means female dignity, not female submission; it can be proved by the simplest of all tests. No ruler would deliberately dress up in the recognized feters of a slave; no judge would appear covered with broad arrows. But when men wish to be safely impressive, as judges, priests or kings, they do wear skirts, the long trailing robes of female dignity. The whole world is under petticoat government; for even men wear petticoats when they wish to govern.
~p. 128

In "The Pedant and the Savage", Chesterton's insights seem particularly acute for a man.;)

...the woman does not work because the man tells her to work and she obeys. On the contrary, the woman works because she has told the man to work and he hasn't obeyed.
~p. 130

I am looking forward to reading more of this book.

Bernadette's First Communion

On Sunday, May 20, 2007, Bernadette received her First Communion. She has been longing to receive Jesus for a long time and she was more than ready. Nine days prior to her First Communion, Bernadette started a novena to welcome Jesus, using Welcome Jesus: A First Communion Preparation (although this little booklet does not appear in Catholic Heritage Curricula's catalog, they still sell it upon request). She made a beautiful garden of red roses, violets, forget-me-nots, lilies of the valley, bluebells, daisies, buttercups, lilies, and pansies in her heart for Our Lord by "being kind to others", "not getting angry", "visiting Jesus", etc. Her heart was overflowing with flowers for Jesus.

During the Mass, Bernadette read the first two Prayers of the Faithful:

"For our Pope Benedict, our Bishop Alexander, the priests, deacons and all the members of God's family......let us pray to the Lord."

"For all the children of the world, loved by the Lord Jesus.....let us pray to the Lord."

The latter prayer was perfect for Bernadette, who is always thinking of others. The night before her First Communion, when we said we were praying our rosary for her, she stated, "Why can't we pray our rosary for all children who are receiving their First Communion?" We did.

May Jesus continue to bless my little girl

who loves Him with her whole heart!

Thank you to the children's grandparents for traveling over two hours to celebrate this special day with us. Thank you, Bernadette, for telling me, the amateur cake maker, exactly what you wanted on your cake.

May Jesus bless all the children who have received, or will be receiving, their First Communion this year!

I Missed It, but He Didn't

My little boy played in the first couple of innings of his third baseball game tonight (we had a prior commitment that prevented him from playing in the whole game). My husband took him to the game and our son hit two singles. I wish that I had been there to see it.

I am 4 Months Old

I really like rolling over and playing with my feet. I still enjoy sucking my fingers and I continue to spit up a lot. I babble almost all the time when I am awake. My brothers and sisters are convinced that I say, "Mama", but I am just experimenting with sounds. I try to stick everything in my mouth. I smile a lot. *Edited May 20, 2007: My mommy finally added a photo of me. I know that the hat (a gift from my nanny's friend) looks silly, but it made my brothers and sisters giggle.

Fun Mommy

My sister is a great mother! She seems to know just how to handle every situation. The photos below will tell you the whole story.

Happy Mother's Day to my sisters and my friends!

A 2 Year Old's Grasp of the English Language

Yesterday Morning

Patrick: "Mommy, please can we watch a video."

Me: "No, you may not watch a video."

Patrick: "Theresa, Mommy said that only I can watch a video."

Yesterday Afternoon

As the female postal carrier left our driveway, Patrick kept saying, "Goodbye, ladyman! Goodbye, ladyman!"

The Quick Book Meme

Grab the nearest book.
Open it to page 161.
Find the fifth full sentence.
Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.
Don't search around looking for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

True Devotion to Mary is on my nightstand (1966 edition).

"'I will draw them to Me.' says God by the mouth of the prophet, 'by the chains of love.'"

HT: Love2LearnMom

Pope Defends Life

On his way to Brazil, the Pope warned Catholic politicians who back abortion that "they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion."

I am still taking a break, but on Wednesdays I have a pro-life obligation that requires me to use the computer.

Taking a Break

I am going to be taking a break from blogging and most computer activity, indefinitely. God has blessed me with 6 wonderful children and I believe that my time spent on the computer is negatively affecting the amount of time that I spend with my children. What messages am I giving my children when I spend a lot of time on the computer? Why do I spend so much time working on websites and my blogs when I should be attending to my children, cleaning my house, or working in our garden? My mom was a wonderful mother and friend. I want to be more like her.

I once heard Fr. Corapi say that St. Teresa of Avila said that a little black box would ruin the family. Fr. Corapi mentioned that the black box was probably the television; I believe that it may be the computer. My family is not experiencing problems and I don't want it to do so.

Please say a Hail Mary for me. May God bless the families of those who read this post!

Only Once

Brigid and Catherine have been counting in their e-mails to each other.

Brigid sent the following at the beginning of the week:

At Three minutes and Four seconds after 2 AM on

the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be

02:03:04 05/06/07.

This won't happen again in our lifetimes.

~BRIGID

Catherine responded:

This too will only happen once in our lifetime.
On May 6th at 9 minutes and 10 seconds after 8 AM, the date
and time will be: 05/06/07 08:09:10.

Love, Catherine

Sometimes Things Happen for a Reason

A few weeks ago, I left a comment on Love2LearnMom's blog, regarding Chesterton. She recommended that I read St. Francis by Chesterton. I visited our library online (they carry quite a few Ignatius Press titles) and searched for St. Francis. A volume of G.K. Chesterton's Collected Works showed up in the search results. Assuming that this was the volume that had what I was looking for, I put the book on hold. I was surprised when my husband recently brought home The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Vol. IV: What's Wrong with the World, Superstition of Divorce, Eugenics and Other Evils.

I looked over the book and told my husband that it wasn't the book that I had put on hold, but I was glad that he had checked it out for me. It turned out that it was the book that I had put on hold and I couldn't be more delighted. I thouroughly enjoyed Fr. Schall's introduction and now I am loving reading What's Wrong with the World.

I might be recording quite a few quotes from this book as I read it. Below are the first two:

Among the many things that leave me doubtful about the modern habit of fixing eyes on the future, none is stronger than this: that all the men in history who have really done anything with the future have had their eyes fixed upon the past.
p. 54

As my high school Western Civ teacher, Mr. Anderson, used to say, "It is necessary to study history because it is in studying history that we can learn from our past mistakes and avoid them. History often repeats itself."

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.
p. 61

From the Mouth of a Child

Tonight, my husband spoke with his friend's wife and she told him the story of her conversion. One Sunday, she was sitting in the pew at Mass and her son, Adam, said, "Mom, I know what I want for my birthday." His mom responded, "Not now." Adam tried again and got the same response. Finally he said, "But, I have to tell you. The only thing that I want for my birthday is for you to become a Catholic." After Mass, Adam told his mom that he wanted her to become a Catholic so that she could be with him in "Catholic Heaven" when she died.

His mom, a regular Sunday Mass attendee, started going to RCIA classes. Adam got what he wanted for his birthday. His mother was received into the Catholic Church over a year ago.

Chesterton for Second Graders?

Bernadette: "Mommy, please will you put The Ballad of the White Horse on hold at the library?"

Me: "No, it's too old for you."

Bernadette: "But I am reading the Outlaws of Ravenhurst, again, and on the back of the book it says that students really like this book."

Bernadette is my avid reader who enjoys discussing what she has read. She often surprises us with not only what she has chosen to read, but also with her insights. Nevertheless, I will still wait to get The Ballad of the White Horse.

He's Learning

Brendan is learning to play baseball. Yesterday, during practice, he hit a fair ball for the first time. When he heard the children congratulating him and telling him to run, he put the bat on his shoulder and started to run to first base. However, he soon turned around and ran back to the home plate. Upon arriving, he put the bat down, and then started to run again. The second time that he hit the ball, he knew just what to do. God bless my conscientious little boy!

Extended Family Celebrations

Happy Birthday, Claire!
Happy Birthday, Whitley!
Happy Birthday, Karlee!
Happy Birthday, Marie Caroline!

Congratulations, dear Josie, on receiving your First Communion and being confirmed! I wish that we could have been there on the 26th. You were in our prayers.

Congratulations to baby Amelie! She was baptized on the Feast of St. Louis Marie de Montfort!

St. Joseph the Worker

Thank you for watching over my husband, yesterday.
Please continue to do so.