Happy St. Patrick's Day

Although most surround themselves with green on this day, I found myself in the middle of the rainbow!  How fitting as I think I have found my new pot of gold on earth...QUILTING!  I just love it!  I am now motivated to finish the quilt I started for Sean months ago!

Since we had completed all the memorial quilts, I decided to sort through all the material we had and had it divided into all the colors of the rainbow.  It turned out that we had almost 100 yards of material in order to complete the different quilts.  I really had no idea we had that much, but now I have a lot of material to make MORE quilts.

We actually started our day with Mass....almost the whole family participated in assisting with worship today.  Sean and Edward altar served.  Michael and I were lectors....and Zaira decided to share her singing voice through the Mass...well at least until she fell asleep.

We also had a guest priest from our local monastery celebrate Mass.  He spoke to us about the greatest of graces as forgiveness.  This related to the readings of the day...Isaiah 43:16-21... Philippians 3:8-14...and John 8:1-11...as the may focus of the day is to seek forgiveness...Paul speaks of this as the desired goal in order to possess Christ's promise of eternal life....and Jesus shows mercy to even the worst of sinners.

Fr. Paul's message was much the same as Pope Francis gave today (surprise sursprise!)...:"saying the core message of God is "that of mercy." He said God has an unfathomable capacity to pardon, and noted that people are often harder on each other than God is towards sinners."

Another good day...I end now as Amanda is telling me a brief version of her novel she is creating!  So much fun...hearing  her talk about fantasy world of characters that take on animal or plant forms.  Maybe you will read her story one day.

Happy Birthday, Henry!!

So happy to celebrate the special birthday for Henry.  Our family tradition is to let the birthday person choose the meals of the day on their birthday each year.  Also, for special birthdays (1yr, 5yr, 10yr, 13yr, 16yr, 18yr, 21yr, and 42yr) the birthday person is allowed to have a BIG party with people from outside of our family are invited to join in our celebration.  We started this a few years ago to offset the many parties we were having each year...along with the expense!!!   So, funny...because this year we were hit wit ha huge whammy of special birthdays all at once...Henry turns 13...Sean turns 16...Zaira turns 1...Edward turns 10...Brendan turns 5....Amanda turns 21...and Michael turns 42....all within 18 months of each other!  I am the oddball with a special birthday the following year!  Such is life!

So...with all that said...today was Henry's day!  We woke up early to make him his favorite breakfast of hash browns  bacon, omelette and more bacon, along with coffee and grapefruit juice...and a little more bacon please!

We then sat down at the computer and he showed me the engraver tool he really wanted and we got it ordered.  Originally, we were going to buy a computer for him (well...pay half of the cost so he could afford it) but he decided to hold out for a little while.  (More on that later!)

I then had this great idea to have a group picture taken of all the boys!  This actually came up due to a deal I could not pass up on my favorite photo developing site (that had to be used TODAY!!!).

Then we got most of the prep work done for our evening meal.  Followed by a lunch of nachos!

We then raced out the door to get Amanda her lunch...only to find out she would be leaving work early. That was OK...it gave me a chance to see her at her new job...I even got a picture of her with her favorite dress in the shop!  And, once she left work, I convinced her to have her picture taken with Zaira and I...just us girls!

We had a plan to all join together this afternoon at the bowling alley by Henry's request.  He opted out of inviting a lot of other friends to join us...being the quiet hermit that he is.  If I had thought about it...I would have found a few of his friends to surprise him there.  We did have a few others join us for this fun and even with just our family we managed to make a big hoopla out of the event!

We even had Zaira bowling by the time we were through.  It was especially fun to watch her try to roll the big ball down the lane and actually knock some pins down.  Brendan was also a thrill as he was given a special aid to direct the ball...it was shaped like a dragon but the tail was like a slide used to roll the ball.  With this and the bumpers, he was sure to hit a few pins.  He even got some spares and a strike!

Amanda and her friend, Christina (our pseudo-daughter) joined us and they came bearing a gift as well!   They insisted that Henry open it right away...he was very pleased to find a t-shirt with Zelda character, as well as drawing supplies and 13 cents!

Then we had Sam and Cord join us!



We had balls dropping...gutter balls...and gutter bounces...laughs...dancing around the floor...more laughs and lots of pictures (see more on Facebook if you dare)!  We also decided to not play for high score so much as just for pure enjoyment.  To ensure we had no prideful winners or sore losers, we came up with a different way to determine the winner.  We had every one decide the score they THOUGHT they would make and whoever scored closest to that score won a prize!  We still had the bragging rights of high score and lowest score but most important we had fun.

We came home to grill Henry's birthday dinner....bratwurst...German potato salad...fresh garlic green beans...along with JJ's delicious cabbage.  We also made artichoke dip and spinach dip to tide us over until the dinner was ready.  We hardly had room for dessert!

Henry was also given a nice set of tackle from Uncle Sam.  I am thinking there is going to be another trip to the pond soon!

We all hope that Henry had a good day for his birthday...we sure enjoyed celebrating the day with him.  We also pray that he has many blessed days throughout this year and beyond.

A Week of Fun Around Town

Well...while most of the area was on their Spring Break this last week, we chose to keep our noses in the books....well or so we thought would happen.  We just could not resist a few trips into town, as well as some time outside enjoying the beautiful weather!  We will take our 'real' spring break during Holy Week at the end of the month!

As you saw earlier this week, we spent much of Monday at the funeral of one of our World War II veterans from our little church.

Tuesday, we actually did get a good day of school work done before heading to the park for our 4H project meeting.  We had a great time learning about turkeys and deer.

On Wednesday, we took a day to enjoy the museums in town.  We first went to our forestry museum to see the new exhibit..."Timber Town"...and participate in the annual Reading Railroad.  Normally, this activity takes place throughout the indoor and outdoor areas of the museum, but this year there has been a major renovation of the outdoor train exhibit so we were left keeping the reading stations inside.  It was still a great experience, as there was the new train model exhibit inside.  This was set up to represent our area's historical sites and it was hard to keep the children's interest with this hands-on exhibit available for the first time!  We did manage to hear a lot of great books from community leaders (train conductor, librarian, zookeeper, mayor, grocery store workers, businessmen, and pastors).  And, Michael and I both read books to groups of children as well.  In fact, Amanda and Sean took a turn at reading books to children also.  AND...Edward read a book to one of the community readers while she waited for a group to join her station.

After a quick lunch, we made a side trip to our local art museum...there was a new exhibit...“Look To The Past — Reflect On The Future”...We were most interested in the black-and-white photography of Rosa Parks, as she rode through Montgomery, Ala., during the early days of the civil rights movement. We thought it was interesting that in the seat just behind her, a young white man staring almost expressionless was Nicholas Chriss, a reporter who worked at United Press.  He was assigned to interview Mrs. Parks.  We would love to know what these two people were thinking during those days of change.

We also enjoyed other photos from this collection, as well as other exhibits (civil rights photos, early county history, and nature photos) in the museum.  Another new exhibit still being created was available to view...a definite work in progress.  There seemed to be a focus on art created from paper but there was also a creation that represented a playful table and chairs covered with a quilt to create a hide away like we would have as a child.  The children (and Michael) enjoyed this open creation.

As you read in an earlier post, we arrived home to learn about our new Pope!  So amazing to hear the news and learn about this holy man who is now our Church leader.  We also made it to Mass in thanksgiving for our pope.  Fr. Joseph blessed all the blankets and quilts so we can make our delivery to the women's shelter next week.

We thought we would spend Thursday to complete our week of school work (knowing Friday would be busy).  We had a good morning and had just had lunch when we saw a truck pulling up the driveway.  We had surprise visitors!  We finished up the assignments we were working on, and picked up our fishing poles!  It is so nice to have a stocked pond just a few steps away!  We spent the afternoon catching our dinner!  I made an impromptu meal plan switch to add cole slaw (It was as if we planned it when we bought a double bag of cole slaw mix earlier in the week...not a normal purchase since it was not on the menu.), baked potatoes to go along with the fish caught.  I even had time to make an applesauce cake!  A great dinner with good friends!

Then Friday, we woke up in time to head out quick to the VA clinic.  We had our monthly trip to serve sandwiches, donuts and coffee.  We had a slow day at the clinic...we learned that most of the doctors had taken Spring Break also!  So, the patient flow was low...we had the time to talk to the few veterans who arrived for their appointments.  We also left a little earlier than usual.

That early release from serving the veterans allowed us the opportunity to go to a local quilt show!  We loved the time looking at the quilts made by some of own favorite quilters.  The boys even voted for the quilts they liked the most!  We learned about the quilter's guild and hope to join them from time to time when we have the time.  The quilters we spoke to were impressed that the boys were so interested.  We told them about our memorial quilts and we hope to show them our pictures when we attend the next meeting.  (SIDE NOTE:  If you followed those blog posts, I have gone back and added pictures to those posts of the finished quilts!  I also created a book using the reflections called "Lessons from Newtown."  We hope to mail a copy to the priest we spoke to from Newtown soon!)


We did manage to come home and complete most of our school work for the week.  It will eventually be completed so no worries here!  It was a good week of learning.  I have learned that not all learning comes from books!

More on Pope Francis

Now that I have had more time to look at the many reports about our new pope, I felt I should give a little more information and reflection to this amazing event in our Church history.

The Holy Spirit has surprised us all.  Giving us...the first non-European pope...the first Latin American pope...the first Jesuit pope...AND...the first pope to call himself Francis.  I thought it was interesting that we can already see the direction of our new leader.  As one reporter said..."the three keys to his pontificate will be humility, reform and evangelization."

Looking at his humility...above all else this is made clear by his lifestyle and his reaction to being selected as pope.  He chose to wear a simple white cassock without flare or embellishment...as well as no stole, and his pectoral cross was the same simple one that he has worn as bishop and Cardinal archbishop.  Furthermore, when his cardinal brothers paid him homage, instead of sitting on the papal throne, he stood as he received them.  I see this as a way to show that he is an equal to the others.  He even refused to take the papal car that had been prepared for him choosing to take the same minibus he had arrived in along with the other cardinals.  He also picked up his luggage at a Vatican hotel, personally thanked each member of the staff and even paid his own bill. Then, at his first Mass, he delivered a short, unscripted homily — in Italian, not the Latin of his predecessor — holding the cardinals who elected him responsible for keeping the church strong.

Pope Francis briefly addressed the cardinals at the festive supper, after thanking them, quipping, "May God forgive you [for what you have done]."

Pope Francis suggested to the people of his homeland that, instead of coming to Rome for the inauguration of his pontificate on March 19, they make a charity offering to the poor.

Do not let this quiet demeanor fool you!....He will also be a reformer for the Church.  I pray not in the way that the liberal media suggests, but instead as one who will bring the Church into the modern age through prayer.

Here is his stand (which shows his compassionate conservative Church views) on several of the moral issues of the day:

Sanctity of Marriage
During his first morning as Pope, Pope Francis, prayed for nearly 30 minutes at the altar of Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major. Before leaving, he greeted a married couple and gave his blessing to a woman who is five months pregnant.

When the issue of gay “marriage” arose in Argentina, the new Pope argued strongly against it, saying “At stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother and children. At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts. Let’s not be naive, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.”

Pro-Life
In February 2005, he chose to celebrate the Mass for Holy Thursday in a maternity hospital in Buenos Aires, where he washed the feet of 12 expectant and new mothers. Before he washed their feet, he told them that “Some of you are holding your babies in your arms. Others of you are carrying them in your womb. All of you are women who have chosen life. I, as a priest, am going to repeat the act of Jesus, and carry out a concrete act of service for women who have said yes to life. In washing your feet, I am washing those of all mothers, and of my mother, who felt me in her womb."

“Abortion is never a solution,” then-Cardinal Bergoglio said on September 16th, 2012. “We listen, support and understanding from our place to save two lives: respect the human being small and helpless, they can take steps to preserve your life, allow birth and then be creative in the search for ways to bring it to its full development.”

On October 11, 2011, he pointed out that “Children are strength and hope, while the elderly are treasures of wisdom. Help us, Our Lady of Luján, to take care of the little ones and the elderly. Help us to protect life from the time they are waiting [to be born] until they take their last breathe along the way.”

Refusal of the Eucharist
“We should commit ourselves to ‘Eucharistic coherence’, that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive holy communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.”

As far as evangelization...Just hours after his election, Pope Francis had a message delivered to Rome's Chief Rabbi, in which he remarks, "I very much hope to be able to contribute to the progress that relations between Jews and Catholics have experienced since the Second Vatican Council, in a spirit of renewed collaboration and at the service of a world that can be ever more harmonious with the will of the Creator."  He obviously has a desire to reach out to all of God's Chosen People.  This would also include the continuing efforts to reconcile differences with the Greek Orthodox Church.

Because of his humility and spartan lifestyle, everyone takes his name, Francis, to refer solely to the justly famous founder of the Franciscan order. But we wonder if it is not also a reference to another Francis, St. Francis Xavier, co-founder of the Jesuit order and one of the greatest missionaries of all time. This is, after all, the age that the Church has declared as the “New Evangelization.”

He is a pastor of sound doctrine and of concrete realism.  "When we journey without the cross ... and when we confess a Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord."


And one last note of encouragement from Pope Francis....Here is a translation of the homily Francis gave at Mass with the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel.  He spoke in Italian without a text.

* * *
There is something that I see that these three readings have in common: movement. In the first reading (exodus 32:7-14) it is the movement of a journey; in the second reading it is the movement in building the Church; in the third, the Gospel (John 5:31-47), it is the movement of confession. Journeying, building, confessing.

Journeying. “House of Jacob, come, let us walk together in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5). This is the first thing that God said to Abraham: Walk in my presence and you will be blameless. Journey: our life is a journey and when we stop it does not go on. Journey always in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with that blamelessness that God asked of Abraham in his promise.
Building. Building the Church.

We must go out and confront the world, Pope Francis insists, not simply sit in the pews. “Jesus teaches us another way,” he told his priests in Argentina last year. “Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.”


***

Bergoglio is a man whose words are matched by his actions.  A man who does what he calls upon others to do.  I think we are going to have our work cut out for us if we follow this leader in the direction he will ask the Church to take.  Be ready as the days and weeks go by as we await for Pope Francis to lead us.

Our New Pope

The archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has been selected to become the next Pope.  Taking the name Pope Francis I (in honor of Francis Xavier), he is the Argentine-born son of an Italian railway worker and is seen as a compassionate conservative.  He is a staunch pro-life advocate when it comes to abortion.  He once called abortion a “death sentence” for unborn children, during a 2007 speech and likening opposition to abortion to opposition to the death penalty.

I pray that his first words as pope will be true to his leadership for the Church:

"Brothers and sisters, good evening!

You know that the duty of the Conclave was to give a bishop to Rome. It seems as though my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world to get him. But here we are. I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan community of Rome has a bishop. Thank you!

Before all else, I would like to say a prayer for our Bishop Emeritus Benedict XVI. Let us all pray together for him, that the Lord may bless him and that Our Lady may watch over him …

[Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be]

And now let us begin this journey, [together] as bishop and people. This journey of the Church of Rome, which is to preside over all the Churches in charity. It is a journey of fraternity, of love, of trust between us. Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the world, so that a great brotherhood may be created. I hope that this journey of the Church, which we begin today and in which my Cardinal Vicar who is present here will assist me, will be fruitful for the Evangelization of this beautiful city.

And now I would like to give you my blessing. But before I do, I would like to ask you a favor: before the bishop blesses the people, I ask you to pray to the Lord that He bless me…. the prayer of the people for a blessing upon their bishop. Let us take a moment of silence for you to offer your prayer for me.”

[Silence … the Holy Father bows]

[Cardinal N. says … “The Holy Father, Francesco …”]

“Now I will give you my blessing and to the whole world, to all men and women of good will.”

[Pope’s blessing]

Brothers and Sisters,

I leave you now. Thank you for your welcome. Pray for me. And we’ll see one another again soon. Tomorrow I want to go and pray to Our Lady, asking her to watch over Rome. Good night and have a good rest."

It brings me hope to see such a holy man in this role for our Church.  May God continue to be with us as we continue the faith of the one true God, Jesus Christ.

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)

OH!  I had to share this picture of one of our local priests, Fr. Francis, seeing the news for the first time with the rest of us.  Praise God for ALL our holy leaders!

The Loss of Another One from the Greatest Generation

Today Michael and the older boys went to the funeral of another one of our World War II veterans.  It is so hard to think we are losing these great men and women in large numbers in these last few months. Today we felt a little more connection...as he sat in front of us each Sunday in church.  I think it is most difficult to know that a man we saw weekly over the last five years....now gone...was never really known by our family.  Once again the stories were not told and we missed an opportunity to learn history from the source.

James Posky...husband...father....family member...and friend.  Unlike the last funeral we attended, James was well-known by many and his funeral was attended well.  The cars were parked down the road and jammed in all the nooks and crannies.  In fact, I wondered if Michael would even be able to find a spot to sit.  Sean and Henry are getting better in their duties to assist the priest during the Mass.  I am proud of them for trying so hard to give respect to the deceased and their families.  They also assisted at the grave side.  They were able to stand with Fr. Joseph as the final rites were prayed at the grave.  They heard the young soldier play Taps and watched the soldiers fold the flag that would be presented to his widow.

James was blessed to have his family surround him in prayer and love as he passed from this world.  He was the last of nine children in his Posky family to pass on.  He leaves behind a wife and many children and grandchildren to share his life.

We are told in his obituary:  "He served our country during World War II in the United States Army in the South Pacific from 1942-1945. He was shipped to Alaska and then to Siska in the Aleutian Islands. From there he was sent to Hawaii, Marshall Island, Leyte in the Philippines and Okinawa. He is a recipient of the Purple Heart for his injury in battle."

He loved being outdoors...taking on the hard labor of construction work, gardening, fishing, and hunting with great joy!   He loved being a part of his church family as well.

I was very sad that I would miss this funeral for a man who loved the Lord so much.  Unfortunately, I was needed to take care the younger children and also found myself taking Amanda to the doctor.  It turns out that she has bronchitis and an eye infection.  I took her to the doctor during the funeral and she was given meds to help the infection.  We are praying she will be well in order to go to work as she has missed several days now.  The doctor was concerned enough about her eye infection that he had her go to an eye doctor to verify the infection was not a more serious condition.  The eye doctor verified the infection.

It has been a rough winter for us...in fact, Edward was sick over the weekend as well with another virus.  Spring could not get here quick enough and into the summer would be fine with me.  Then we would at least know the weather...hot!  LOL!  This up and down with the temperatures is got to be part of the problem right now.

We did manage to get everyone in the right direction in the afternoon.  Michael took Amanda at the eye doctor and I took the boys to our last 4H Photography meeting.

We are all home and glad for the chance to rest.  I think we are all tired from the race we ran today!

Praying for the New Pope

I have been trying to avoid the internet and computer use over the last few days, but I felt like I should post about praying for the new pope.  It is so much on our minds and in our prayers right now.  I spoke before about how shocked we were by the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

On Tuesday of this week, I was sent two emails of interest related to this topic.  The first was to adopt a cardinal to pray for them to have wisdom in choosing a new pope.  I felt like this was a valid request and so we signed up to adopt a cardinal.  We were quickly sent an email to pray for one of the United States cardinals...Raymond Cardinal Burke.  I was so excited to pray for this cardinal because I already knew a few things about him.  He is very conservative...not afraid to tell how the Church feels about various issues ranging from abortion to female priests.  One of the most impressive is his stand on NOT allowing politicians who are Catholic who vote against the Church teachings.   Regardless of his views, we are glad to have this opportunity to pray for this cardinal.  We feel like we are some how participating in the election of the new pope.

Election...not your typical election....but in choosing the next leader of the Church...the cardinals come together to be guided by the Holy Spirit in this decision.  We...by praying for the cardinal...are a part of the greater Mystical Body of Christ and in our prayer we look in hope to see who will be that leader.

The second email I received was a call from the Vatican to pray for all the cardinals.  The idea was that the cardinals were all arriving in Rome by Wednesday at 10am (our time).  They would be entering into a time of intense prayer before the conclave would begin.  We (all the faithful) were being asked to pray with them at this time.  I assumed this information was going to all the churches and would spread through the media.  Since I had little access to TV or internet, I assumed there would be a lot of people praying around the world.

On Wednesday, I asked my Mom if she would like to go to her church with us to pray at the designated time.  She agreed and we headed out for this prayer time.  We arrived and the parking lot was empty.  We decided to go in to the side door of the church to go to the small chapel.  She was ahead of me with the older boys and they walked right in, but when I got to the door it was locked!  She let me in and we realized that the gates that lead into the main church were open and the chapel was closed.  So we were able to pray directly in front of the altar.

We stayed and prayed a Rosary for the cardinals to make wise choices.  I am convinced that it was meant for us to pray in the church building.  The doors should have been locked and the gates closed.  We some how (God's grace) were able to get into the church.  We left feeling so close to God and at peace with what will happen in the Vatican.  Our church will be strong until the end with God's will all things are possible.  We are only to remain faithful!