In Memory of Daniel

St. Sylvester is the pope who led the Church into a new era of peace...taking on this position in the year 314, he would be able to organize the unity of the different bishops with better correspondence and discipline.  He even held the first Council of Nicaea in which produced the creed recited in many Christian churches today.  He is often called the 'peace pope.'

This brought to mind Daniel...the first of the children we learned about in greater detail.  At seven years old, I have to tell you...he sure lived a full life...in fact, many mentioned in the articles and memories posted on line that Daniel was born 'old.'  He seemed to have a more mature understanding of ideas according to family and friends.  He loved being outside and participating in sports, such as swimming and soccer.  He also loved to play the drums in a band with his siblings.  However, more than anything Daniel wanted to be a firefighter.  This would have been fitting for a young boy who cared most about helping others.

In all the interviews, his parents spoke of him being a 'light' or a 'lighthouse' in their family.  The quilt design we have was our first and was not as personal as we wanted it to be, especially after we began to realize the dynamics of our efforts.  So, we do have a design I will show today; however, the more we think about the quilt (which will be the first we put together next week) it will most likely take on an image of a lighthouse with his interests coming out like rays of light.  Hopefully, this will be possible.

Today is the SEVENTH day of Christmas!  WOW...hard to believe it is going by so quickly but our Christmas gift of quilting is making the days go by fast!  We are truly enjoying this time together.  Whenever I think about swans swimming, it reminds of a graceful dance...the swan seems to float across the water in regal form.  Maybe that is why the seven swans represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit - wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude (or courage), knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (1 Corinthians 12)

I am posting this email VERY early in the day...so it is shorter than usual...as we are leaving early this morning to pick up Amanda from the airport (hoping weather continues to be OK for flying).  We will then be heading off to family and friends for the New Year.

I pray that everyone stays safe and enjoys ringing in the New Year with family and friends.  I will 'see' you next year!

All About Ana

Today is the feast set aside for the Holy Family.  Although we know little about the events of those early years with Jesus, there are the hints that lead us to feel a closeness to this family.  Hopefully even a desire to be like them in some small way.  Mary was like most mothers caring for her husband and son...fretting when Jesus was lost (Luke 2:41-52) and pondering the full understanding of all these events in her heart (Luke 2:19),  While Joseph took on the role of guide and protector (Matthew :13-23), as well as provider.  And Jesus, even as a devoted son, still caused worry and stress as He went about His Father's business, and yet when he realized this burden placed on his parents, determined the need to be obedient to his earthly parents (Luke 2:51-52).

We too can see these roles in our lives and look for an example in the Holy Family when things do not go as we hope they will.  They also show us how to have the patience and strength to endure the times that seem impossible.  For Ana's family (and all the families of Newtown) that time is right now.

We chose to remember Ana (6-year-old) because it seemed that whenever we read about her, we also heard about her family.  This close knit family loved to be with each other.  In one of the last videos the family has of Ana, she is singing while her brother (Isaiah) plays the piano.  They looked so happy...God gave them the grace to not know what would happen to Ana just a few days later.  Ana loved music and I am sure the bond of her family (all of whom are musically talented) gave her the confidence to sing and dance with such beauty.  Everything was all about Ana and her family as we learned how she was loved by them and we are sure that they cannot imagine life without her.

We can only offer our heartfelt condolences to this family we do not even know except through tragedy.  However, we will try to help this family in their understanding of grief by creating a quilt for them to remember her.  The quilt we designed is all about music, dance and whimsy.  We hope that it will be a way for them to remember the blessing of her short life.  Also, in the Christian hope of everlasting life, Ana does not stop being a part of her family but looks down upon them in anticipation of the time when they will join her in Heaven.  May the soul of this sweet little girl rest in peace...and may her family remember the special time they had with her.

With the breakdown of families through divorce, single parent homes, and the assault on traditional marriage, it seems to be harder on families more than ever.  Today we had a special blessing for all families at our church.  We also made a special meal that would need the help of everyone to build unity.  It turned out well, but hoping next year we have two parents to make it a little easier to prepare (I am really looking forward to NOT playing the part of single mom in just a few days!)  We made cabbage rolls with mashed potatoes, side salad, and rye bread.  Oh so yummy!  Then we finished it off with apple pie for dessert.  We then spent the evening looking through photo albums and sharing stories about family events.

We are also so excited to have Amanda coming back from New York tomorrow...we look forward to picking her up at the airport.  The boys are beside themselves with anticipation!  Hopefully the weather cooperates.

Today was the SIXTH day of Christmas with six geese-a-laying....eggs are a symbol of life so what better way to remind us of the six days of Creation (Genesis 1).  May we never take for granted this special gift,  hug your children and spouse a little tighter today.  Give your parent a call and tel them you love them.  Try to find the good in your own life and stop and praise God for His gift of life.  We do not know when the end of this life will come to an end, but it seems t me that there is not enough time to waste on the negative....The popular phrase: "Love, laugh and live!" comes to mind...Enjoy life..enjoy your family!

In Memory of Dawn

Today is the feast day for the well-known St. Thomas Becket.  For those who do not know the story, here is a quick version:  King Henry II, who was having trouble with the pope...decided the best answer was to make his friend the Archbishop of Canterbury.  What he did not realize was at the consecration of Thomas Becket, God filled him with the Holy Spirit and was given the gift to resist the temptations of the king...in fact, becoming quite determined to follow the Church's teachings and help the people in England over the king's desires.  Although King Henry truly appreciated Thomas as a friend and adviser, in a fit of rage over Thomas' new found pious demeanor, cried out:  "Who will rid me of this man?"  Four soldiers, overhearing this command, decided that killing the archbishop was the answer and carried out this plan by sneaking into the cathedral during Mass...killing Thomas at the altar. There is so much more to this story and I encourage you to learn the details as it is an awesome story of God's grace.  There is even a wonderful classic movie that gives a good account...Becket (1964).  We will be watching it today.

So, we thought about this saint and how to bring this back to our daily memorials for the victims of Sandy Hook.  After great thought, we realized the best choice for today was Dawn.  Dawn was the principal of Sandy Hook who risked her own life to stop the shooter.  She was a true leader trying her best to improve the school and make learning fun for the students.  While we looked for information about Dawn, we came to see her as a strong leader who wanted more than anything to make 'her' school the best it could possibly be in all aspects, including security.  She went to great lengths to encourage everyone around her to be their best.

Dawn was a small woman in stature with a big heart for education.  She was always seeking new ways to provide the needs of the teachers and students.  She would even provide these needs herself...dressing up as the Book Fairy...creating fun learning days AND fully participating in these events...and seeking grants to improve the school.  She had a distinct interest in helping the special needs children in her school as well.  She also had a desire to learn for her own improvement, as she was going back to school to obtain her doctorate...and then sharing what she learned with others.

There is no question that she will be missed by everyone in the community as she considered her position a role that included everyone in Newtown.  She saw the school and the community as her extended family.

Away from school, Dawn was a wife, mother, grandmother, and dear friend.  She was just as active in her home as she was at the school.  She loved hiking, sailing and skiing, but most of all, she just loved being with her family.

How do you put all of this spirit into a quilt?  It just is not possible...but we tried to capture her role as a leader along with her interest in the whimsical to create her quilt.  The idea was to focus on her fun book fairy character that she portrayed at the school.  The main quilt design is a crown with  her various interests incorporated into the display.

So after looking back on the life of Dawn, we see the likeness to St Thomas Becket.  Dawn was so  passionate in her role in the community.  She died in a senseless act and defended the lives of others until the very end.  One of her friends described Dawn as a 'raging bull' (included in her quilt design) because she was willing to charge in and take on a situation head on.  She showed this to the very end of her life...willing to give her own life as the solution to end the assault on the school.

May her soul rest in peace...and may her family and friends be comforted by the knowledge that Dawn was true to herself until the end....a true hero in life and death!

Today is also the FIFTH day of Christmas...five golden rings...the most treasured of all the gifts...represents the first five books of the Old Testament (Torah).  Within, these books is the most valuable of messages..."Love the Lord with  all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:5) and "Love thy neighbor as thy self." (Leviticus 19:18).  In our house today, we honor the life of Dawn who fulfilled these commands throughout her life.

Grace on the Feast of the Holy Innocents

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents...to celebrate...it seems such an odd word to use when speaking of the unthinkable killing of children.  This is to recognize what many consider the first martyrs of the faith as these are the children killed because King Herod was afraid of the prophecies being fulfilled in Bethlehem.  This choice to accept Jesus, even as a baby, was refused and out of fear for his own selfish desires King Herod ordered the killing of the babies (Matthew 2: 13-18).  Jesus is saved as Joseph flees into Egypt after a warning from angel.  

Many have (and are going to) made a parallel to the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary to this Biblical history.  Although there was the senseless killing of innocent children and the woeful crying of mothers (and others), the parallels do end there.  The victims of Newtown did not die because of  the rejection of Jesus....they died from the actions of a young man who had a terrible mental illness.  I am sure we all know those among us who try to overcome their own form of mental illness...even good Christians who have accepted Jesus and battle their illness every day.  We do not know the state of mind or soul of Adam on that awful day...it is hard but we must try to avoid judgment even in this awful tragedy.

There was one other parallel in this events...there was grace in both situations...Jesus would surely not forget any of these children and their innocents souls.  I am sure He holds them (along with other innocent children who have died throughout the ages) in his arms in Heaven today.  Can you not imagine the long line of children waiting their turn to be with the King of Kings, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?  So, with that thought in mind, we would like to take some time today to remember Grace today on our blog.  A sure sign of hope in the tragedy of Sandy Hook.

Grace was the 7-year-old who many knew for her fashion flare and love for anything sparkly!  She loved pink and purple so much that the church that had her funeral was COVERED in pink and purple (especially balloons!) including the mourners who refused to wear the traditional black in order to honor this little girl.  She was called a little "fashionista" because she loved to shop for beautiful things, especially jewelry.  She loved to play dress up and create art.

There was so much more that Grace wanted to learn and see in this world.  She loved gymnastics and playing soccer.  She enjoyed cooking, especially making cupcakes.  The church was also  decorated with seashells because she had such a special love for the beach and lighthouses.

We have been trying to make all of the quilts a unique and meaningful representation of the person.    I am really not a very creative person (usually taken on the ideas of others when doing anything crafty) and the boys are not really into girly things, so you can imagine making quilt designs for NINETEEN female memorials was any interesting task.  I know that this might seem strange to some of you but I am convinced that in praying for each person before creating their design helped guide us in this effort.  I have to tell you that the quilt for Grace was our last one to design.  When we started on this last quilt idea, we were really not sure what to do to make it special.  We did not have a lot of information about her at that time.

As we prayed for her family and for guidance in making her quilt, I felt the need to go back and read more about her.  It turned out that it was the day of her funeral.  The fullness of this Grace's life was so great that as I read the article about her funeral, I immediately had the image of her quilt in my head.  You will later see another quilt like this one (I had designed for another of the girls but it will be evident the difference in the two), but for Grace the image of a beautiful ball gown came to mind with sparkles and lace throughout the design. In fact, this design evolved after I copied the design you see here because there was so much to tell about Grace.  I look forward to adding all these details to her quilt in hopes that this world will continue to have a little bit of this sparkle that Grace loved so much.

The feast day is supposed to be set aside to honor the children in our lives.  Today, we will also take the time to give our children a special blessing in remembrance of the Holy Innocent.  I try to personalize this blessing by emphasizing the child's strengths after giving them a blessing.  You might have read about the special blessing I gave the children on the first day of Advent.  That blessing was done in private, as I ended that blessing with a discussion about character traits the child should work to improve.  Today's blessing is public (at least within our home) to share these strengths with everyone.  In fact, I encourage everyone to tell something they think is special about the others as well.

Although we do not give gifts on Christmas Day, I felt it fitting to give a little something to our children today.  The boys LOVE reading the odd fact books that pop up every year to recognize the strange things people do in this world.  We have checked these books out at the library to the point where I thought we DID own these books...so I bought some of them to give the boys.  I found the cutest version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle) for Zaira.  It is a stuffed animal with a simple version of the story on the side.

I woke the children up as usual with the promise of a special breakfast.  They were to come to the table while I was cooking.  They found the gifts on the table to enjoy while they waited.  They hardly wanted the breakfast they were so interested in looking at the books!

The rest of the day will hopefully be a blessing as well.  We will be going to pray for the children lost to abortion at the Planned Parenthood clinic in town.  We cannot forget these innocent babies lost in the THOUSANDS each day in America.  We will also pray for the country to see that this tragedy ends.

We also plan to go to the store for another round of fabric for the quilts (We will probably need to make one more stop at a special fabric store next week.).  Then we will make a trip through a drive-thru for dinner and drive around town to see Christmas lights again.  We are hoping one of the churches still has their famous dancing light show going tonight.  

OH!  And we can not forget that this is the FOURTH day of Christmas.  Today we recall the four calling birds who sing out the Good News of the four Gospels...Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  May we take the time to tell someone about the Good News of Jesus!

Remembering James

On this THIRD day of Christmas, I would like to remember the young 6-year-old, James.  When I asked the boys who we should choose today, they all agreed he should be the one whose life we should celebrate.  I was surprised and asked why...Sean told me it was because today is the feast day set aside for St. John the Evangelist and his brother was James.  It sounded like a good reason to me...especially when I think about the role some say John personified in the Gospels as the beloved disciple.  I am sure James would be considered one of God's Beloved.

You see...from what we read about James, he was so loved by everyone who met him.  When his family was asked to describe him they mentioned his love for anything related to the outdoors as well as sports.  His ability to swim like a fish was especially noted.  He sounds like he was an all around boy ready for adventure...with his love for video games, tractors, and food (with our house full of boys that made sense to them!).  However, he also had a joy of more academic undertakings, such as music and numbers.

I cannot even imagine losing a son who was so dear to his parents and a brother who loved most of all to dote on his sister, Anna.  They spoke of James as their "beloved Prince."  I can imagine that he was called this because he showed the qualities of a true gentleman.  They spoke about his desire to please others with kind acts and gift giving.

I have never read such a loving remembrance and if you have a desire to read more about James, I encourage you to read it.  As I read it myself, I could not help but cry knowing that the world needs more children like James.  May God bless his parents and sister as they grieve his loss...May James rest in peace in the arms of Jesus.

The quilt we are making for James tries to show at least a small glimpse of all of these ideas.  Some how we imagined that this quilt should capture the action of a fish swimming in water...the other interests he held on this earth would flow like water around the fish...As we looked at the design later, we noticed that James must represent the fish leading the way with his kindness.  We obviously did not know James personally, so I wonder if his kindness helped others to see him as a leader who could lead the way.

On this third day of Christmas, we continue our understanding of the Christian themes of the popular song...We found out that the three French hens were considered valuable poultry that would only be purchased by the wealthy.  The symbolism of these birds recalls the three gifts of the Wise men....gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:10-11).

With St. John the Evangelist's feast day today, we also bring to mind two themes of interest.  First, John is often called the Beloved Disciple of Jesus (although I took a class once that suggested the Beloved was actually Lazarus...another blog post some day)...When reading the Gospel of John, I have always suggested we place ourselves in the stories that speak of this Beloved...not to be puffed up in a position of fame, but to consider what would make us a Beloved Disciple of Jesus.  Did John DO something to make him the Beloved?  He believed....he had faith...he followed...In so doing, we too can be numbered among Jesus' beloved disciples.

Then, the other theme that comes to mind on this feast day...John is known as the Evangelist...writing the Gospel that focuses on God's love, it is probably the most popular of all the Gospels.  When I think about John, I cannot help but think about how he spread the message of Good News to all the world through his writing, but also through his actions.  The only one of the 12 Apostles who did not die a martyr's death, but was exiled.  Jesus told him that he would see the Second Coming...little did John know that meant he would receive the Revelation of this glorious event and write this message for all of us to have this prophetic message revealed.  It makes me realize that we need to be open to God's plans...our ideas might not be what God has in mind.  Imagine if John had that vision and stubbornly said he would wait around for the real thing.  How many times do we do that...wait around for our version of the plan to come together and miss God's plan in our lives?  May St. John be an example to us to stay focused and evangelize to the world through our actions and obedience to God's plan!

In Memory of Avielle

On this second day of Christmas, we begin our remembrance of the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary (see side note below).  The boys and I wanted to take these twelve days of Christmas (and beyond) to remember each one of these precious lives as individuals.  So, we will look at what we learned about each one and share with you throughout the next month...the length of time it will take to share each day for the next 27 days.  That in itself is so upsetting to think that there were so many killed; however, the grief we feel is nothing compared to the families who will go on with their grief indefinitely.

Today we remember Avielle...a sweet little 6 year old girl...her family called her their "little hummingbird."  We thought it was fitting that she be remembered on this second day of Christmas...as the popular Christmas song brings to mind TWO TURTLEDOVES...although this is to represent the sacrifice the Holy Family made at the Temple as an offering to God (Luke 2:22-24).

We learned that Avielle loved ACTION...from swimming and archery to riding horses and Kung Fu...we could easily see why her family choice the feisty little hummingbird to express the energy Avielle must have had in her short life.  However, she also liked reading and music.  When we were designing her quilt, we immediately thought of a super hero cape that showed all of her strengths.

We are only at the design phase of her quilt because we need to make a run back to the fabric store for more material.  She had so many interests that we want to include in her quilt!  It was such a joy to 'meet' Avielle and I am sure my rambunctious boys would have enjoyed playing with her.

Today is also the feast of the first martyr of the Church, St. Stephen.  He was stoned to death under the watchful eye of the zealous Saul outside of the walls of Jerusalem.  He is known for his prayer for his executioners as he died.  This is only story of Christian martyrdom recorded in the Bible (Acts 6-7).  Just as St Stephen was given the task of helping the poor widows and orphans as a deacon, we should take some time today to help the poor.  Our plan is to give food to a local homeless shelter and clean out our closet of anything that can be given to the thrift store dedicated to helping the women's shelter in our town.

And, we cannot forget the good saintly king Wenceslaus who also served (much like St Stephen)...Did you think it was just a nice song that we hear at Christmas?  He was a real king who not only served his people and fought off his own pagan mother and brother, but would also do as the song suggests...He got dirty feeding the poor...not leaving it just to his servants to complete the task.  We hear more about him on September 28th as this is the day he was killed by his own brother!

SIDE NOTE:  I have had people say that we are becoming a little obsessive in our understanding of this tragedy.  I think that in our nation there is a sadness that cannot be explained due to this mass killing of innocence.  I normally do not read the headlines nor the story behind them to my children.  These stories usually seem to show the evil of this world and I keep this away from the boys unless I see the need to share.  However, the headline of "27 Killed at Elementary School" flashed across my computer screen while trying to help the boys with school work and they saw the news along with me that day two weeks ago.  I had no choice but to read the story with the boys crowded around me.  They wanted to know who would do such a thing as this and who the children were that would 'deserve' to be killed in a school.

You can imagine...as we learned together in our home...how hard it was to read the first article not knowing what it be like...knowing that the boys were a little scared wondering if something like this could happen in a school closer to home...or even in our home.  To find out that most of the lives lost were children was devastating.  We stopped right then and began to pray for the families who lost their loved ones that day.  We prayed for the first responders.  And later, we prayed for all of those in Newtown and our nation, who also grieved the loss of peace during a time that should be filled with God's peace...that we would all find HIS peace somehow in spite of the evils of this world.

Since the boys knew what had happened, I felt a need to make the tragedy of these deaths wiped away from their minds...How do you remove the images of evil from ones mind?  The only way is to replace the evil with GOOD...and for me, in that moment, the choice was to learn about the lives of those lost.  I thought at the time it would just be a simple reading of names and seeing their pictures.  I really did not think we would be so touched by these lives...however, the more we read about these children and their teachers, the more we felt a connection to them.  We wanted to know them and we were sad to know that this world had lost them...and their special gifts.

Then our desire to help the families became our goal.  We saw the outpouring of love sent to the families and the others of Newtown.  We had no desire to send toys or flowers....plenty of money was being sent for memorials...What could we do to help the families?  The boys wanted to do something for the parents and siblings that would help them through the grief.  Then a phone conversation with Amanda brought the idea of making a memorial quilt for each child began to take shape...literally...at first in small baby steps...we began to see each life as precious through the designing of the quilts we were making.  Regardless, of the end result of this project, we know that the lives of those lost on the morning of December 14th will not be forgotten.  The families and friends...our nation...our family...will remember these precious lives...and we know that in the hope of God's grace...we will have the opportunity to meet them one day in Heaven.

The Word was Made Flesh

...and dwelt among us."  ALLELUIA!!!!!

I hope everyone is blessed with a wonderful day with family.  And for those who are not able to be close to home, I want you all to know that I offered up my Christmas Mass for those who feel lonely or unloved....that you may have a peace within you that is greater than anyone on this earth can fill.  May this Christmas be one of joy and new-found cheer that can only come from the best Christmas present EVER....Jesus Christ...Our Lord and Savior!!!

Today marks the first day of Christmas...one of our favorite of Christmas songs because of its deeper meaning behind the seemingly frivolous gift giving..."On the FIRST day of Christmas my true love gave to me...a partridge in a pear tree!"  Today Jesus comes to us as a gift from Heaven...He is represented in this song as the partridge and we are His true love!  He loves so much that he would come down to earth to be born in a manger and later die for us to save us from our sins....this is the true message of Christmas!  The partridge is used as the symbol for Jesus because the partridge is known to be a "valiant bird willing to die for its young," along with the pear tree that represents the cross.

Once again, I will post what our plans are for the day and will try to update if there are any changes and add pictures in the evening.

We will be up with the Radiant Dawn, but not to open presents.  That's right...no gifts today...Jesus is the only gift we need to make our day special.  We have already placed our extra nativity scenes out, including one under our Christmas tree.  We have not added the baby Jesus to the manger because we have hid them around the house.  Each child must find a baby Jesus to add to the nativity scene.  We have three nativities that are played with throughout the Christmas season.  We also have several nicer ones that are placed throughout the living area downstairs.

I also had a secret 'gift' for our Scriptural Nativity set this year...I added a new angel to the scene...I wonder how long it will take the boys to notice!  

UPDATE:  They say they noticed the new angel right away, but I did not hear a single thing about it until late into the afternoon.  They did like the addition and acted out many of the angel stories that we had read over the last few weeks.  So much fun to watch them!

Our plan is to go to Christmas morning Mass at the monastery.  After Mass, we enjoy the company of the nuns telling them about the happenings of the last year and what we hope to see happen in the next...always asking them to pray for us.  Our nuns are cloistered and dedicate their entire lives to prayer...it is always nice to have someone in constant prayer for our benefit.  We love to take the nuns some of the special treats we make for Christmas as they are so thankful and appreciative.

We will then come home and make our Christmas feast.  A few years back we decided to try something fun and choose a different culture to learn about and create a meal based on what would be eaten in that country for Christmas.  We have had many enjoyable meals in this fashion.  One of the favorites is a seven course meal.  So, the boys and I planned and will do this again this year.

I did convince them to pick simple courses (I hope) that are not too time consuming.  I am hoping to work on the courses while the turkey is roasting in the oven.  Here is what we have planned:

• Appetizers:  Candied Jalapeno Cream Cheese with crackers and Sausage Balls
• Soup Course:  Fully Loaded Potato Soup
• Fish Course:  Smoked Salmon and Shrimp Platter
• Sorbet (palate cleanser)
• Main Course (Entree):  Turkey (along with Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus Spirals, Butternut Squash and Rolls)
• Cheese Course:  Various Cheese and Olive Platter
• Dessert:  Apple and Peach Pie

And, what about all those treats we made over the last few days?  Those will be served throughout the remaining twelve days of Christmas!

I am hoping we can go for a Christmas walk after our meal.  This will depend on two things...the time and the weather!  It looks like a serious storm will be coming through tomorrow.  We will see what happens.  We also have some other activities so I will let you know how it all goes tomorrow.

Enjoy your family and be blessed with God's love!  Merry Christmas!

UPDATE:  Well...we had an eventful day....We did enjoy our visit with the nuns.  I can not tell you how peaceful this visit is for our family.  The nuns especially enjoyed the newest member of the family and Zaira liked them too!  You never know...maybe a nun in the making!

We did hear an awesome song song on the way to Mass this morning....it should be our theme song during this season!  It is called "This is Christmas" by Kutless.  It was like we knew the lyrics before we heard it....I like songs like that!

Then we came home and began our very full meal...I have to tell you...we made to the 5th course and we were FULL...and that was after reducing the appetizers and combining that course with our fish course!  I think that this idea is just ludicrous...who would EVER need to eat that much food!  SO...we decided we would carry over the last two parts of the meal until tomorrow....we will have a modified cheese course at lunch and dessert will be like an afternoon tea.  That does not even include all the leftovers which we will have for dinner or freeze in quick soup packets.

Also, after many attempts at her first meal of solid foods, I finally gave in and gave her some mashed up turkey, potatoes and green beans.  I had hoped Michael would be the first one to feed her but she just could not wait another 3 weeks.  I had tried to appease her with small tastes here and there but it was just not satisfying her.  SO...I really thought she would eat what was given to her...but she did not like it!  LOL!  She gave me a funny look...smacked her lips and then decided she had enough.  You just never know with babies!

The big change in our plans for the day were the call to the sheriff's department.  I know...sounds crazy but we actually had someone on our property using the bank of our pond as a berm!  The shots just seemed to get closer and closer to the house...I was trying to decide what to do when my neighbor called to tell me that they were shooting into the pond and I should call.  What fun!  The sheriff did come and he thought it was our neighbor...I am not sure but after he spoke to them the shooting stopped.

Between the shooting and the storms...we never got our Christmas day walk.  Maybe we will find another time to go around and enjoy a good tromp through the woods.

I would just like to say that I am proud of boys...they love this holiday...when the wind was blowing hard gusts...Brendan would call out "Jesus is coming!"  It became the shout out for the day...if the outside doors did not get closed tight and the wind blew it open..."Jesus is coming!" and we would sing "Happy Birthday!"  The best part...no gift wrapping frenzy that ended in a let down.  We were exhausted from the day that was filled with great times and love.  The best gift that can be given...all around!

I missed Michael's call this morning, but we did get to chat on-line.  I spoke to Amanda and she is doing well, and she will be home to celebrate next week.  I also got to talk to most of my siblings today.  It was a nice beginning to the Christmas season.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

Christmas Eve

I was woken up this morning to the gentle touch of a baby's hand against my face (yes...we co-sleep)...it was so sweet and the the first time Zaira has woken up before me.  It was a great start to our day!

I am posting this message early in the day to tell what we hope to do today...if I do this now, then I might have time to actually enjoy the experience!

We have already opened the last door of our Scriptual Crib Cabinet...placing Mary and Joseph in the Nativity scene.  We are asked to "go meet the Blessed Mother, and lead her to the manger of your heart and beg her to lay the Divine Infant in it. Shorten your chats and telephone conversations and spend more time today thinking of Jesus and Mary and Joseph. Come, dear Jesus, Come; my heart belongs to Thee.  Amen."

We also placed our last Jesse Tree Ornament...a stable to remind us of Jesus' humble birth.  We read Luke 2:11..."Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."  May we never forget the profound news that this simple verse brings us!

We will spend the day decorating our home and finishing up any special treats.  We still need to dip our snowballs and pretzels in chocolate.  We will also make rolls for our Christmas dinner and sweet rolls that we will place in the frig to bake in the morning.  Finally, we will make a pastry dough for a new recipe we are going to attempt for a side dish tomorrow.  Then we hope to be out of the kitchen.  Today is a day of fasting for us (as the feast begins tomorrow...we must not forget our focus of prayer as we prepare for the Christ Child.)

I also wanted to tell you about a music CD I happened upon while looking for my Advent music this morning.  Although it is not really considered Advent music, it really helps in the focus of the day...the best part it about it...you can obtain this CD for little to no cost (along with other ones too!)...I have loved the voice of this woman for years and all of her music that she writes is written before the Blessed Sacrament...she blends her music along with traditional hymns.  Her name is Simonetta...I strongly encourage you to go to her website and learn more about this opportunity.  Think of this as my Christmas present to you through her.


We hope to have all of these last minute preparations completed by early afternoon so we can dress for Christmas Eve Mass.  This Mass is the final culmination of anticipation before Christmas.  All of the Scripture readings and prayers are pressing us onward into the Christmas season.  Furthermore, we find through our tradition (rooted in the Jewish tradition) that a feast begins at sundown and carries over until sundown, so we leave Mass and enter into the Christmas season!  In our family, we finally break into song and joyous celebration by driving around to see all the Christmas lights (most of which have been tempting us for weeks to view!).  We love having a little contest to see if there are more revelations of Christ or Santa in the neighborhood lights.  We always pray that Jesus will win the contest...sad to say that it has gotten real close on certain years...HOWEVER, we always manage to find one more nativity scene or angel to put Jesus over the top before heading home!

We also try to make at least one stop at a fire station each year...we sing carols and offer a gift of goodies for the firemen who continue to protect us even on holidays.  I hope we can do this tonight but I am a little nervous about trying to keep the children all together by myself.  Help me, Lord, that I may be your light to others even when I am most afraid.

We then return home to light our own Christmas tree for the first time.  We enjoy wassail (along with a small snack) that has been brewing in the slow cooker while we were away.  Then off to bed as we will be waking up early for our Christmas trip to the monastery in the morning.

Traditionally, Catholics have three celebrations...we can attend all or some of these Masses...to represent the different aspects of the revelation of Christ to humanity.  The first Mass (we do not attend because the children are so young) is at Midnight...at this Mass the focus in on Christ revealed in the darkness even before Creation.  The Mass takes place in the darkness of night to reveal the true Light of the World!

Then the second celebration of Christmas day takes place at dawn...this has its focus on the birth of the Christ child.  The timing of this Mass allows the sun to reveal the Son of God...lying in a manger in humility...a humble birth for the Savior of the World!

Our family looks forward to our first celebration of Christmas which we will attend in the morning.  This would actually be the third celebration of the day, which focuses on the birth of Christ in our souls.  This grace that is revealed when we accept that Christ became man in Jesus in order to save us from our sins.

If I have time before going to sleep myself, I will try to update this post to any changes that may have happened in the course of the day.  I do hope that you will have a blessed Christmas and that Jesus will be revealed in this most sacred of HOLYdays!  God bless!

UPDATE:  I just wanted to share that our little church had a special memorial for the 27 killed in Connecticut.  There were 27 candles in front of the altar along with our nativity scene.  27 people were asked to go up and light a candle before Mass.  It was very beautiful and touching.

We also had a picture of the children taken.  They did not cooperate with the camera tonight so I will probably try again tomorrow morning.

Also, in our count for Jesus vs Santa...we had to sadly admit that there were more Santas this year...but not very many lights up at all.  It was actally quite diappointing!  However, our very last turn in the last neighborhood we drove through had the most beautiful nativity scene...it was a nice way to end the evening and so I end my post as well.

God bless!

O Emmanuel

I woke up this morning thinking the toughest task of the day was going to be getting everyone ready  for Mass....oh how wrong I was!  As we began the rush through the shower with #3 already through the assembly line (just joking...I wish we were that organized!), I hear a scream from upstairs.  Thinking that someone was hurt, I rushed to find out what was happening...the toilet was leaking.  OK...I thought...no big deal...we can deal with that problem.  BUT, oh no...this was not just a small leak and before I knew it there were screams downstairs to hurry to see what was happening...How could it get worse, right?!  WRONG!!!  The screams were to inform me that there was A LOT of water coming from the light fixtures in the kitchen!

I managed to get the water turned off on the toilet and got a bucket under the almost empty toilet tank...there was a crack all along the back side of the tank.  It is amazing how much water those tanks hold!  The water went straight through the holes in the ceiling that hold the light fixtures (three of them...brand new...just replaced as a surprise from Michael before he left).

Since there was nothing we could do at the moment...and my rant of "Why ME?" was not getting us anywhere...I decided the best thing to do was to finish getting everyone ready for Mass and not worry.  Oh...I did switch the breaker off for the kitchen so we did not come home to a bigger disaster!

I was so thankful to have the refuge of a little church in the woods when I needed it most.  I told the couple who sits behind us that it was really the only thing that saved me from insanity this morning.

So, we listened to the readings and sang music of anticipation.  We heard how we should be like a child awaiting the most amazing gift...knowing it was coming...It was fitting that Brendan sitting next to me at Mass would look at me hopeful every time he heard the priest or deacon say Christmas.  "Mommy, is it Christmas yet?"  I am sure he was a little confused as he (and the others) were also given little gifts from two of the elderly parishioners.

Mass calmed me and I was able to think sensibly when I returned home.  We had a plan...first clean up the towels and table cloths (We used everything that could absorb water in the midst of the chaos!).  Then call my neighbor and ask him to come help me disengage the kitchen lights so we could have power in the kitchen again.  Then call our home warranty and see if a cracked toilet tank was covered under our warranty (I love our home warranty as it gives me peace of mind while Michael is away and has more than paid for itself over the years!).

We did get the towels and such cleaned up...after washing all day!

Our neighbor did come to help us look over the damage...he disconnected all the lights that held water.  I must say...when I called him he told me that he would come as quick as he could to help...he suggested that I take the covers to the lights and the ballasts off before he came...smart man...as these covers held a ton of water...cold water...that fell on my head TIMES 3 (there was no other way around it because in order for me to take the covers off I had to be directly under the light...I tried to maneuver each a different way but the same result every time).  I was actually glad that I did this without him here also as I was drenched and had the opportunity to change before he arrived.  Our neighbor is so kind...he also checked out a hole in our driveway and told me what to do to fix.  It has been a concern for some time and I have tried to fix myself but to no avail.  We are so blessed to have such a good neighbor!

AND...I did call our home warranty service.  They were happy to help us get the problem solved.  I was thankful for the quick response...assured her that there was no emergency and that we would not need anyone to come out until after the holiday break...so we are down one bathroom until Wednesday.

All in all...it could have been worse...we will survive this...WHY ME? I asked as the chaos started...Can we ever really understand why things happen the way they do?  Is it upsetting? Yes.  Is it the end of the world? No.  If only I could learn to see this from the start...what a better person I would be...and a better mother.  Brendan, sitting beside me, just asked if I hated him...so sad...that I would lose my cool and make him think that I was mad at him for what happened.  I am sure the others were wondering the same, but in his innocence he was willing to voice his concerns.  It made me stop and give them all hugs and ask them to forgive me for anything I might have said in the climax of the moment.

Needless to say, we did not have the opportunity to enjoy any of our Advent devotions this morning.  It was not until late into the afternoon and all had settled down again that Edward (on his own) went to the nativity and asked if we would come and say our prayers.  We added Joseph to the nativity scene.  We are asked to "accompany Saint Joseph from door to door. Learn from him silently and patiently to bear refusals and disappointments. Open wide your heart and beg him to enter with the Blessed Virgin Mary." Edward decided to take this to heart and took Joseph around to check out their lodging before returning to Mary.  We went ahead and moved Joseph, Mary and the donkey to the kitchen to continue their journey around our house.  We actually placed the trio in the middle of our Advent wreath ... I think they will stay there until tomorrow evening.  We will place them at the manger before leaving for Christmas Eve Mass.

Henry then placed our Jesse Tree ornament on our tree.  The symbol was a candle...reminding us that Jesus is the light of divinity and power.  We read from the Gospel of Matthew about the wise men following the star to find Jesus.

We did not get a lot of cooking done today...although we got our power back on in the kitchen, it is not so easy to cook in a dark room.  So..that leaves tomorrow to make anything we hope to have for Christmas.  I am so glad we know that it is not about the gifts or food that come around this holiday season to make it special.  We already have all that we need to make the day special...Jesus!  So today we made a double batch of Sausage Balls.  And then we had a late dinner.

Then we prayed the last of the antiphons:

"Come to save us, O Lord our God.  O Emmanuel, God with us, our King and Lawgiver, the expected of the nations and their Savior: Come to save us, O Lord our God.

"The manger reminds us of the simplicity and poverty surrounding the birth of Jesus and is representative of His life of humility.

Recommended Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7."

We did not read a book tonight...I was so tired that the boys were sent to bed early.  I think the day was just mentally and physically exhausting.  Normally, I read the book about the custom in many Hispanic cultures to remember the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem...Tomie de Paola has a wonderful version that I recommend...The Night of Las Posadas.  Hoping to get some rest tonight so we can be ready to enjoy the next week celebrating Christmas together.

O King of the Gentiles

Before racing out the door for my appointment to get my tire fixed, we had time for a quiet Bible devotion.  Yes...quiet...as the boys were barely awake as they had slept in.  We read the story of the visitation from Gospel of Luke (1:46-56).  We also read from Matthew 1:18-25 for the Jesse Tree ornament story.  The symbol added to our tree was a hammer representing Joseph and his faith and trust in God to become the foster-father of Jesus.

The nativity had an angel added to the scene.  Yeah...it is a little early for the angel but since there has been an angel throughout the Advent season stories leading up to the nativity I figure it is OK to place this messenger from God near our manger.  (Also, I have a secret that will make up for this early angelic presence!  SHHHHH!)  We were asked: "Invite the angels to adore God with us. Cheerfully obey the inspirations of our guardian angels and of our conscience.  Holy Guardian Angel, never let us forget that you are with us always. Amen."

Sean, Zaira and I...not only made it to the tire store...but to the recycling center and thrift store drop off as well!  Thankfully these places were along the way!  We were back in no time from this little trip and were back to baking and candy making.

Today we made (Sorry there are not a lot of pictures today as we were so involved in the baking that the camera was far from our minds...AND...the batteries were charging anyway):

Missouri Fudge

Sugar Coated Pecans

Truffles

Pecan Pie Muffins

Cowboy Candy (This is for a cheese spread we make for an appetizer before Christmas dinner...We have never made these before but the lady at the store we buy from said they were easy to make...so this is our attempt to see if we want to make a big batch next summer when we grow our own jalapenos!  Also, this link is the only one close to our recipe so please forgive this man's colorful attempt at humor.)


And that was enough for one day!  Woo...we probably should not have put off the last recipe ...having it done last week would have been better for the full flavor to permeate the peppers AND for our sanity.  There has got to be a better way to remove the membrane from the pepper!  If anyone knows a way...PLEASE let me know...AND for those who say leave it in...well, I don't mind so much but the children are not quite ready for that heat.  Maybe we will try a pepper that does not have as much heat for them next time and keep the jalapenos for myself, along with the seeds!

We finished up in the kitchen by mid-afternoon...it had turned out to be a nice day outside, so I sent the boys out to run off some of their energy.  We then created a delicious meal of pierogies and kielbasa along with sauerkraut and vegetables.  So wonderful!  By the time we got the kitchen cleaned up for the second time in a day, it was time to have our evening prayers and go to bed:

We prayed the antiphon of the day:

"Come, and deliver man, whom You formed out of the dust of the earth.  O King of the Gentiles and their desired One, the Cornerstone that makes both one; Come, and deliver man, whom You formed out of the dust of the earth.

"The crown and scepter signify Christ's universal kingship. As we sing in the fifth O Antiphon, Christ is not only the King of the Jewish nation, but the "Desired One of all," the cornerstone which unites both Jew and Gentile.

Recommended Readings: Revelation 15:1-4."

As we prayed this antiphon, I thought about Jesus sitting on his throne waiting for us to come before him.  Just as any king on earth and so much more so...we are called to give him homage.  Imagine if we were to go before a king (or in our case the president) for a special ceremony...what would we do?  We would clean up and dress in our best and maybe have a special gift to give him out of respect and admiration for the position of authority he holds.

In the book I read to the children tonight (The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola...Zaira loved it by the way!), we learned of an old clown who stood before the King and his last gift on this earth was his juggling.  One might think that is a strange gift to give God; however, we are all given gifts that we are to offer to God...throughout our lives...if we share these gifts for the better good then we please God...King of Kings!

O Radiant Dawn

So...I woke up and thought...I have something I am supposed to be doing today...What could it be?  That was at 7am and it came to me in a flash!...We needed to be at the VA Clinic to serve sandwiches and coffee to the Veterans at 9am!!!!  You have never seen a woman jump out of bed so fast!  Not only did I need to get five children dressed and out the door (along with a crazy woman!!), but I needed to find food to take for the sandwiches.  

Thankfully, I like to have a fully stocked pantry and a freezer full as well (and that we are blessed to be able to do this).  I had the fixings for tuna sandwiches and we were gone by 8:30am...except for one stubborn child who was left at home...name removed to avoid embarrassment...but I will say that he was old enough to take care of himself.

We even had time to read our Bible devotion and Jesse tree ornament (the stories were the same)...to remember the Visitation and the actual birth of John the Baptist.  I thought the story in our devotional was interesting...the writer mentioned that we should follow Elizabeth's example...instead of focusing on the outward events in our lives, we should look from within and how the Spirit works in us....guiding us to the ways of God.  And...Whoever said the Bible was always serious has never looked closely at these kinds of stories.  I would love to have been there when Elizabeth insisted on naming the baby John...followed by the disbelief of the family.  Then to have the mute Zechariah come in, with tablet in hand, insisting that the baby WOULD be called John.  The story is too amazing to make up such as this!   

We then placed a key in the nativity scene.  We were asked:  "Provide the stable with a key to keep out thieves. Exclude from your heart every sinful thought, and every rash judgment.  Dear Jesus, close my heart to all that hurts You.  Amen."

Then we arrived to make sandwiches and serve these along with coffee and donuts that were provided.  We were so glad to see some of the regular men who come to the clinic.  We had thought we would only stay long enough to make the sandwiches but these Veterans are so dear to us and we just had to stay and serve them.  About an hour into the service, one of the men walked up to me (I was helping with the sugar and cream station) and he bent over the counter.  I asked if he was OK and he said he just stood up too fast and he would be fine.  AND THEN...he fainted...he slipped right down the side of the counter and I caught him about halfway down!  This was quite a feat as I had a baby strapped to my front!  LOL!  It turned out he was a diabetic with elevated sugar level.  He was taken to the back and seemed better but I am not sure...so say a little prayer for him tonight.

The clinic was not very busy so we were able to leave by noon.  We then went to the "zoo"...AKA as the crazy mayhem of Christmas shoppers to find shirts for the boys and last minute food supplies.  We finished quickly.  While getting everyone back into the car, I noticed the back tire was very low.  So, I had to make an extra stop at the tire store.  It was busy and my car was full of food that might spoil so I had them air the tire up and scheduled for them to fix the tire tomorrow morning.  

We got home much later then planned, so we had time to put groceries away and start dinner.  After our meal, we had a little down time so I cut all of the backing for all the quilts.  I do not really consider myself a quilter (although I have made a few), so I am not  sure how an experienced quilter designs quilts.  These memorial quilts are very free style designs and we have only drawn them on a small scale.  I decided that cutting the backing for the quilts would allow us the opportunity to re-create the paper design in the right dimensions.  With that said, we set up the backing for the first quilt on the table and gathered around to pray for the family of the individual.  We asked God to bless the family and give them comfort during these difficult times.  We asked God to guide us in making this quilt a special memorial.  Then we began placing the material we chose on the backing.  We then lightly penciled the design on to the backing so we would know the shape to cut out the material (allowing excess for the stitching).  We still need a few pieces of material to finish the design, so we could not sew the top together.  

This was our first attempt to complete a top for one of the quilts.  We hope to have more time tomorrow.  However, this will be our routine for each quilt made...first pray and ask for guidance in choosing the right message to honor the individual child or adult we are creating the quilt to remember.  We hope that in doing this we can create something special for the families.  

We ended the evening with the antiphon prayer:

"Come, and shine on those seated in darkness, and in the shadow of death.  Dawn, splendor of eternal light, and sun of justice, come, and shine on those seated in darkness, and in the shadow of death.

"Just as the natural sun gives light and life to all upon whom its rays fall, so Christ, the Rising Dawn, dispels darkness and brings eternal life and light."

Recommended Readings: Malachi 4:2-6.

The dawn...it reminds me of the star that guided the wise men....surely seen by many in the night sky but only followed by these three men.  Do we choose to see the Radiant Light of the Dawn and follow Him or just look at Him in passing?  The book of choice for tonight was This is the Star by Joyce Dunbar.  Even though it is about the night the star shown over Bethlehem  I thought it was fitting to show how the star is the first indicator of a yet brighter light for the world to vanquish the darkness.  

We found a Christmas card from my Mom in the mail today...we will not spend the first days of Christmas with her as we usually go there for New Year's Day instead....may she be blessed with joy throughout the joy...we look forward to seeing her in a week!  Also, we received a card from our dear friends the Bittners...it is so good to see the pictures of the boys grown up...I wish we could just gather up our friends in a big hug for Christmas!

Needless to say...I did not get to clean my room today so I guess the journey of Mary and Joseph will need to wait a day.  They will get to the manger in time...somehow!  

O Key of David

Let the baking begin...and the candy making!  We finally have everything we need to get started and the boys are having fun in the kitchen.  They especially love the clean up process in between recipes!

I managed to get the boys to sit down and have our Bible devotions before we got started.

The Bible passages are starting to converge to the one story of Jesus... a sure sign that Christmas is almost here!  The Gospel of Luke was our main focus for both the Mass readings of the day and the Jesse Tree ornament.  We read about the angel coming to Mary to announce Jesus becoming incarnate in her womb (Luke 1:26-38).  I had the boys think about the experience...Mary was being told the impossible...and yet it was true that she would be the Mother of God with a simple yes.  Then I had them imagine what that would mean for them.  Could they think of an impossible mission that God would send a message asking them to do?  I told them that God does ask of us to do things in our lives...we must be prepared for that calling.

I placed the shepherd in our nativity scene today...this also was an opportunity for the children to add our extra animals to the scene.  We are asked to imitate their watchfulness; stress in your speech and thoughts the idea that Christmas is important because Jesus will be born again in you. "Jesus, teach us to love Thee above all things.  Amen."




Then the boys were racing into the kitchen to make:

Fool-proof Fudge

Chocolate Carnutty Bars

Snowballs

We started with some of the easier ones...hoping that we could have an easy time on our first day of making Christmas goodies.  We always make enough for ourselves and for the nuns (we visit the monastery on Christmas morning...more on that later!).  We had a HUGE mess but they had fun and it was all cleaned up...just in time to make dinner!

After dinner, we prayed the antiphon for the day:

"Come, and bring forth the captive from his prison.  O Key of David, and Scepter of the House of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens; Come and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.

"The key is the emblem of authority and power. Christ is the Key of the House of David who opens to us the full meaning of the scriptural prophecies, and reopens for all mankind the gate of Heaven.

Recommended Readings: Isaiah 22: 22-25."

I thought about the key that opens our hearts to the true king...the King of Kings.  This made me think of a wonderful book about a man who had to find a key to open his heart to love again...he found it in a little boy who dared to show him love...just as Jesus shares Love with us.  The book is called The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski.  I love this book of transformation of a man's soul over the "Advent" season.

We have decided to not read the Jesus of Nazareth book until we are close to Epiphany (January 6) as the rest of the book focuses on this aspect of the infancy years.  This allowed us more time for discussion of the day and it worked well.

Also, we have worked very hard to design 27 unique quilts for our Christmas project.  We are so excited to be able to show the unique gift each of these people brought to this world!  We look forward to beginning the process in making these quilts a reality.  Our plan is to show what we learned along the way about each of them throughout the Christmas season.

Sean and Edward finally got there room clean in order to bring Joseph and Mary into their room.  I think that means I need to clean my room next!  Oh my!  Hopefully, that will not take to long because tomorrow I make one more trip to the store for last minute food for Christmas dinner.  I also need to buy white dress shirts for these boys!  They keep growing on me...and surprise me when I am not looking!  LOL!  I am just glad I realized it before the weekend.

O Root of Jesse

So we had a bad start to the morning....I am not sure why but the boys were all in a snippy mood bickering over little things.  I had to break this cycle quick or it was going to be a bad day...not the ideal for this Advent season...or any season for that matter!  I tried to send everyone to their rooms to clean in hopes that having Mary and Joseph in their room today would help motivate them.  NOPE!!!!  They seemed to be asking for a fight...so I needed to do something drastic!

I decided to make them walk a mile.  We have a nice wrap around porch and we once measured it off and found out that 25 times around the house is a mile.  So that is what I had them do...but the catch was...nobody could move unless they were all holding hands!  They had to work together...all four of them holding on to each other moving together WITHOUT FIGHTING!!!!  They had to work as a team.  It took about five times around the house for them to get settled down...every time they fussed, I made them stop and talk it out before they could move again.

Thankfully...by God's grace...the boys not only made it around the house a mile...but also managed to like it...the younger riding on the backs of the older ones to finish up the final laps.  They were calmer and nicer and ready to start the day.

Since they were already outside, I decided to have our Bible devotion outside this morning.  It is a nice crisp day...not too humid and just the right temp to be comfortable.  We read from the Gospel of Luke about Zechariah and Elizabeth finding out about John through the message of an angel (1:5-25).  Once again, the story is fresh and new in spite of the fact that we think we know it so well.

Zechariah, a righteous man...speaking to an angel before the altar in the Temple...doubts God's will.  But we have to look at him...an old man...his wife barren...it is not surprising to think that it might not be possible.  Is Zechariah punished for his disbelief?  YES!!!!  He is made "speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time."  So...here we have this righteous man who still makes a mistake and must be punished.

Just as a righteous man like Zechariah can make a mistake, so can we err in our judgment.  Imagine if we were struck mute every time this happened...the world would be a quieter place!  LOL!  But maybe we would be a little wiser also.  It makes me think back to Psalm 42..."Be still and know that I am God."  In Zechariah's time as a mute, he likely spent the time listening to God's will.  When we are reminded of our sinfulness, do we sit back in silence and listen to God's plans?

So fitting that our nativity scene had lambs added to it, and we are asked: "Strive to bring little lambs, meek and patient, to the nativity. Do not murmur or complain.  Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like Thine.  Amen."  With a humble and meek heart, we turn to God for guidance.  In His wisdom we choose the path that brings us to Him.


The Jesse Tree Ornament also reminds of the humility it takes to follow God's will.  The lily symbolizes life and Resurrection, which is our hope for the future.  This we find as we read the story of the incarnation in a new light....God's humble servant, Mary, says yes (Luke 1:26-38).


Later in the evening we prayed the antiphon for the day:

"Come to deliver us, and tarry not.  Root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the people, before whom kings shall keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: Come to deliver us, and tarry not.



"The flower which springs up from the root of Jesse is another figure of Christ. Isaiah prophesied that the Savior would be born from the root of Jesse, that He would sit upon the throne of David, and in Christ this prophecy is fulfilled.

Recommended Readings: Isaiah 11:1-12."

This brought to mind one of my favorite books to read during this time of year, Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl Buck.  I think this story fits because it shows the importance of respecting authority.  When we look back at the line of David...it is when God's Chosen People respect their authority and follow God's plan that they are blessed.  This starts at the top...from the leader down to the lowliest servant...we all have to look at God as our authority.  God is the ultimate authority figure....however, he has placed under authority here on earth as well.  By being respectful to this authority, we show that we have respect for God's authority.

I won't get into a big discussion about earthly authority today, but I think we can at least all agree that our parents and our pastors are obviously authorities here on earth.  And, even Paul discussed the need to be obedient to government authority (i.e. Hebrews 13:17).  With that said, I am glad that we have the guidance of our Church leaders to teach us about theological issues.  As we read Jesus of Nazareth, I am able to learn so much more about the details of the life of Jesus found in the Gospels.  Tonight, we learned the wise men.  Once again, I think I will save this information as we get closer to the feast day related in this part of the Bible.


One Christmas card came from one of our dear friends from the Young Eagles program...We are so blessed to know this kind couple who teaches our children about flying airplanes.  May Rick and Linda be blessed this holiday along with their precious family!

Today was a struggle...I spent most of the day putting out fires...I hope the boys can get a good night's rest and wake up in a better mood.  It really makes it difficult when we struggle like this for prolonged periods.  I have learned that the best option is to pull back and not do so much, but in this case we might need to add some activity to our day.  The boys must be getting restless from all of our inactivity.  I thought we would be baking by now but do to a situation in our house I have not been able to do that...hopefully you will be reading about our pre-Christmas baking tomorrow!