Come Hungry!

Matt and I took the girls out to a Mexican restaurant last week, which is always an adventure with 4 kids. We really like to eat Mexican because they always bring out the chips and salsa beforehand, so the girls have something to munch on while we wait. The only problem is that by the time our meal comes, they are so full of chips and salsa that they don't eat the meal! I suppose if I am to be totally truthful, it happens to me a lot of times, too!

When it comes to appetites, our own or our children's, it can be difficult to discipline ourselves and stay hungry for the good stuff. Who among us wouldn't be disappointed to go to an amazing party with delectable food and drink if he had just wolfed down a whole bag of cheese puffs and a 2-liter of pop!

But it's not only our food appetities that we need to discipline. There are many appetites in our lives that we "feed" with "junk" rather than the good stuff. We've all told our children, "Don't eat that, it'll spoil your dinner!" But maybe you've heard a mother say, "Don't watch that! How will you ever appreciate good movies or theater if you are full of that stuff on TV?" Or even, "Don't look at that stuff! How will you be hungry for true art if you fill your eyes full of trash?" Or how about, "Don't text all the time! How will you truly feed your need for intimacy and relationships if you are full of junk communication?" Maybe some of our difficulty in passing on the faith and culture to the next generation has less to do with our presentation of it, and more to do with their appetites being filled with everything but those things that will truly feed them!

We all know what Mom meant when she said, "Don't spoil your dinner!" She meant: "Come hungry!" Sometimes in our "feed it now" culture, we are less than disciminating when it comes to when and how we feed ourselves. Even though we spend much of our time full, we are still malnourished. Just like my girls with the chips and that yummy Mexican meal, sometimes some guidance from Mom and Dad can help children learn that it really is better to hold on to the hunger for a while so that in the end we can be truly satisfied.

"Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you shall be satisfied... Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry." Luke 6:21a, 25a.

God Bless!

First Holy Communion

Well, things have been busy around here, and today I am actually almost caught up on laundry and even have some granola cooking. I thought I would post some pictures that I have of Bethany's BIG weekend last weekend. :)

This one is after her First Reconciliation. She is wearing a white pinafore that SHE designed and helped make with the Sacred Heart of Jesus on it. (He loves us so much, His heart burns for us!) She received the garment and the candle to signify the "cleansing" of the white garment she received at baptism. When we enter into Christ, it's darn near impossible to keep from getting in the muck! But we know that at the wedding feast of the Lamb, our garments will be white. Reconciliation is when we wash them clean in the blood of the lamb.

This is the cake we got from our new favorite grocery store: Fareway! Bethany was so excited to see the grapes and the vine, because one of the Bible studies she did in preparation for this day was John 15:1-11: the True Vine!

This is a cropped pic that was a large group. I didn't think I should publish a pic of all 22 children!

This last picture is on the way home.. She wouldn't take off the veil (from my wedding dress) all day, but it looks like she has the crown off by this point. It was one happy day for her. We had Grams and Papa D. over for a little while--Papa slept (so did I), but Grams had fun playing with her grandchildren, I think! Bethany requested Chinese Food for supper, so we ran out and got take out from a local joint.

She's pretty grown up, and has now received her 4th communion--2 yesterday! She told me last Friday, "You know, Mom, I've been thinking about my First Communion all week!"

We have more pictures from the photographer, but these are the ones we have so far. Bethany wore the same dress that I wore at my first Communion, and the same one that my (girl) cousins on my mom's side and all of my aunts (on mom's side) wore, too! The dress is 56 years old!

Come Holy Spirit!

Hey all my good friends and neighbors! Just a reminder that the Pentecost novena begins TOMORROW (Friday the 14th). These 9 days between the Ascension and the Pentecost have historically been rough ones for Christians and the first Christians were no exception. Our Lord promised to send us His Spirit, and told his apostles to go and wait. Let us also wait upon the Lord and ask Him to send His Spirit mightily upon us in His sevenfold gifts! I am very excited for Pentecost this year as I have seen the Lord move mightily, and I think He's only just begun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. AMEN!

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/pentecost/seven.htm

Crazy Kids

OK, the hardest part about being a mom is how you can't remember anything! I have been planning to write a blog about the hilarious things that the kids have said in just the past week, but this is the only one I can remember:

"Hey kids, we should pray for Aunt Sarah because she has her last show tonight (she was performing at the Lyric in Kansas City!!!)"

Emma: "You mean, we need to pray that her baby doesn't come out in the show?"

{:O

Leah does a great knock, knock joke:

"Knock, Knock."
"Who's there?"
"Dead guy."
"Dead guy, who?"
(Turns head to side, sticks out tongue). "Ack!"

She's actually not so good with the jokes, as she mixes them up.. or has really bad timing:

"Knock, Knock."
"Who's there?"
"Interrupting Cow."
"Innnteerrrrupptinnnnggg Cooooooowwwwww, whoooooooooo?"
(Long Pause)
"Moo."

Or this one:

Why did the skeleton cross the road?
To go to the store and get some guts. (This one assumes you know that the skeleton was afraid to cross the road because he didn't have any guts).

Leah is also absolutely NOT afraid of water. She will walk right to her drowning death in a zero entry pool and have no remorse about it afterward. It was actually quite frightening to see. This last weekend, I had her on my belly as we were floating in the pool at The View in Grandview, MO and she squirrelled around and kind of fell off of me and got her head under the water. To this she reprimanded me: "MOM! How many times do I have to tell you???"

Really?!?

Emma also had a very dramatic time with her Aunt Genny. She was constantly frustrated last Sunday in her pursuit of art supplies and was limited to the likes of construction paper and crayons. After we had left, her aunt Genny did find what Emma had made in lieu of her more creative dreams and plans: A Wishing Book.

Cover: My wishing book
Page One: "Wishing I had never been born."
Page Two: "Wishing for scissors."

Seriously?!?!?

Madeleine digs school and is pretty much taking care of Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons all by herself. She is pretty much a scaredy cat, though, and does not like to have the door closed when she goes to the potty, which can be awkward when guests come over, and she will only let me close the door in her room IF she is on her bunk bed. She also makes "hammocks" for herself out of her blanket and the loft bed. I am not sure how she does it, but she does it all the time!

Beps: Besides wanting to move to West Bend, the biggest part of her life right now is preparation for her First Holy Communion. She has just 1 Sunday left that she will have to get a blessing. She has memorized her Act of Contrition (it took her about a week to do it confidently without the paper) and she is pretty excited for May 16th! She's growing up in so many ways. She is now my official Jell-O maker, and she is also Felicity's favorite baby-sitter (so Bethany says).