Happy Easter 2013

 

Jesus Christ is risen today!  Alleluia!  O triumphant holy day!  Alleluia!

 

Happy Easter!

Holy Thursday

Lord, I want to be your disciple.
Help me to show greater discipline
in seeking what is truly important
and not the trivial.
I know I have denied you
countless times.
Please help me to always return to the cross,
to the Eucharist,
to You.

Home Journal vol. 6

3-13-13
Outside my window: Sunny, nearly snowless, though I thought I caught on the news last night that it was a bit nippy. I haven't ventured outside my home since Saturday so I really couldn't tell you but I wouldn't mind finding out! Seems springy-er. Its amazing what a few hours north will get you though, my dad was busy plowing 9 inches of snow this Monday!

Clothing myself in: Smart-wools, Brown boots, dark blue jeans, gray top and tank (the top is maternity but still fits nice) I had on a sweater but was sweating and the finishing touch-- one of the girls just gave me a Hello Kitty sticker.

Around the house: We're recouping from having a really sick kid so though I've been trying to keep a handle on things there is a pile of unfolded laundry waiting me in the living room and some folded clothes to put away in a basket hiding in our bedroom. I think I just finished washing the last of the sheets and blankets. I've got the crock-pot on supper duty. I'll just boil up some noodles before Kurt get homes and throw a veggie in the microwave. Presto! The girls are progressively messing now that Julia is feeling better and Katie has a playmate again.

The baby: Has been as usual wonderful! He's continuing to be cheerful, easy going and such a love. I think he gets that from his dad. I was/am a bit concerned that he'd catch our in house bug but am putting hope in my antibodies and that yummy mommy milk. In the wee hours of last night I woke up panicked after he'd spit up that he was going to start throwing up. Kurt calmly reminded me that it could have been the Hoisen sauce I had with my chicken last night. I think he was right- note, lay off the Hoisen (but oh was it tasty!).

He hasn't hit any milestones of note but he turns 4 mos. this week. I still haven't got any stats on the boy but we'll finally be heading to a well child check-up next week. Barring another flu outbreak.

The kiddos: As aforementioned, Julia caught some sort of stomach bug which started with throwing up on the kitchen floor on Saturday and proceeded to escalate to throwing up quite frequently (every 20-30 min.) into the wee hours of night. God bless Kurt for taking the late hours so the baby and I could sleep. It continued on into Sunday with a high fever that hung around till Monday. Yesterday the fever went down some and we attempted to get her to start eating again (which has proven difficult). Today she's ornery and very vocal...a good sign, no fever and she hasn't thrown up in 48 hrs. Katie has been missing her sister A LOT! She's been pesky and antsy. I am glad to know how much she really enjoys her days playing with JuJu. I can't quite imagine the transition to Kindergarten when Julia will miss her undoubtedly more! She is definitely showing more signs of readiness for more learning. Her current habit is copying words/letters she sees and asking what she wrote. (Examples include- AFV (from the TV show), days of the week from the calendar, dedications and words from favorite storybooks, etc.) I also caught her sounding out letter sounds as she wrote. We made a school visit the end of February (I know, I need to post more regularly) and it went well. We'll go back again in May for an afternoon in the classroom.

Alright...I got interrupted by a child, then white smoke, then a feverish baby and now we'll try and finish it today...as the avoiding sickness did not occur and my fevering baby is currently sleeping peacefully I am not making guarantees.

In the kitchen: I made General Tao's chicken (w/ Hoisen sauce) this week for the first time. It was a modified healthier recipe from Cooks Country magazine. Yesterday we had crock-pot roast today it's become beef stew. Tomorrow something without meat.

Bringing me joy: The news of Pope Francis! It was great to share the moment of his announcement with Katie. And to celebrate as a family! Especially enjoyed Simcha Fischer's Papamoon article this a.m. Only a fever- as in the baby hasn't thrown up (yet) and this brings me copious amounts of joy. The thought of getting a haircut. Funny how just thinking about it makes me happy. I'm in that post-pregnancy stage of hair loss by the handful. I will be ecstatic to get out of the house and have someone chop it! The sacrament of Reconciliation.

Thinking about: Making a good Lent, worries about sickies, praying more often, loving my family each day to its fullest. And with that, the baby is stirring.

Halloween and the Holy Ones!

Tinkerbell and Captain Hook on Halloween- it was also Green day at the library so we got to wear our costumes.

Both Kurt and I took the girls trick or treating around one of our blocks here.  It was a great night for a walk and we got to visit with some of our neigbors and limit the houses we hit.

St. Bernadette of Lourdes and St. George ready for our All Saints' Party hosted at our home Thursday.

Here, Katie got one of me- St. Felicity.  Hopefully my labor will not be under such dramatic circumstances as hers.

Crafting up some puppets with our Moms' group for All Saints. Recognize any? 

St. George and St. George

The bigger kids at the party with their puppets- we're missing 4 kiddos from this shot but that's the best we could do.
St. Bernadette, St. Lawerence, St. Elizabeth, St. George, St. Kateri, Angel, St. Therese, St. Rose

Some of my favorite saints all in on spot for a picture!

If you haven't placed your Baby Bets you'd best do that soon! It's November!!!   ;-)

The Year of Faith- The Apostles' Creed 'I Believe'

In the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI declared this year (October 2012-November 2013) the Year of Faith.  Certainly, as someone mentioned to me the other day, every year is a year of faith, or should be, right?  Yes!  However, I always feel like the more opportunities, reminders, encouragement and big picture focus I can get helps me to practice each year, day, hour of faith as it comes. 

So, because of the Year of Faith for our religion classes on Wednesday nights we have been working on teaching and studying the Apostles' Creed and will continue working through it all year- hopefully.  For our Religious Education Parents' Night this year I took on the same theme- "I Believe- the Apostles' Creed" and ran with it.  I thought I'd post our station activities and snack here in case anyone else was interested.

Station 1-
Apostles' Creed Mini-books

Station 2-
Creed Races and Relays  I adapted this game, after the first two rounds of ordering the prayer they took it to the gym to really relay race with the pieces.

Station 3-
Apostles' Creed Game  I took the questions from this game and paired them with this game board, a di and two markers.  Then families played as teams.  If they got a question right, they shook the di and moved.  If not, they stayed put play continued till someone won or the team who traveled furthest in the time allotted won.

As you can see, I can't take much credit for the activities.  However,  I will say coming up with a snack that went with our theme as in past years was tricky.  Google got me nothing!  (In years past- we've done a cupcake rosary, devils food cake with swords for St. Michael, liturgical Sundaes for our Mass themed night...you get the picture.)  Anyway, here's what I eventually came up with- delicious!

Apostles’ Creed Snack Mix

The Year and Our Children (original edition I purchased at a book sale) includes in the back ideas for symbols representing saints, including the apostles...so that's where I started. Imagination, inspiration from the Holy Spirit and the dollar stores get the rest of the credit.

The Apostles—

·         St. Peter, the first Pope represented by the ‘pope’s hat’ or mitre aka Bugles

·         St. James (the Great), shared the faith in present day Spain baptizing many represented by the scallop shell for baptizing aka marshmallow

·         St. John, was a fisherman with his brother James represented by fish aka goldfish

·         St. Andrew, also a fisherman represented by nets aka pretzel nets

·         St. Matthew, a tax collector represented by money aka money mints

·         St. Philip, remembered for his part in the miracle of loaves and fishes in the Gospels represented by loaves aka pretzel loaves

·         St. Thomas, the doubter felt Christ’s wounds represented by wounds aka cinnamon reds

·         St. James (the Less), leader of the early Church in Jerusalem was stoned  to death represented by stones aka M&M’s

·         St. Simon, went by ship to spread the Good News represented by the ship’s life savers aka fruit loops

·         St. Bartholomew, skinned alive as a martyr represented by knives aka pretzel sticks

·         St. Jude, pictured with fish from his time traveling by sea or his presence at the miracle of loaves and fishes represented by a fish aka Swedish fish

·         St. Matthias, the apostle that replaced Judas Iscariot after his betrayal  represented by  a carpenters square or dice for the lots cast to choose him aka cheez-its

Yes, Lord! VBS 2012

This year our parish didn't host a Vacation Bible School (we'd gone every summer since Katie's birth!) and I was totally bummed.  It didn't work out on our calendar to go elsewhere and the closest parish ended up not doing theirs either. :-(  So, my dear friend Rachael and I decided to do our own.  We took inspiration from other mothers who've done the same and from our years in Totus Tuus and thus VBS 2012 Yes, Lord!

Our week having preschool age children in mind was three mornings of Vacation Bible School rather than the whole week/day long.  We decided to focus on three Old Testament Bible Stories (Noah, Moses, David) and three coinciding mysteries of the Rosary (the first three Joyful Mysteries).  The day consisted of songs, prayer, lessons about each story and mystery, craft, snack and game.  It was enough for our crowd (5 yr. old, 4 yr. old, and two 2 yr. olds, plus a newborn and mom and a pregnant mom) who had occasional meltdowns or moments of being uncooperative (no, I didn't have the meltdown!).  The kids however had a BLAST!  And there were moments of great joy for us moms, too in seeing cooperation, learning and excitement about our faith!

We didn't take many pictures but here are a few off of my phone to share.  I wish we could have had video of the game station- what a hoot!  Especially the Crossing of the Red Sea!  I think we crossed it at least a dozen times before it got old and they wanted to play it again the next day!  If you're interested in our outline or anything like that I'd be happy to share.  Nothing too time consuming!

The stage was set!  Day one- Noah

Snack Time!

The big girls showing off their work!

Crafts!

Our smallest and cutest helper!

The attendees sporting their VBS 2012 T-shirts and smiles.

Rosary Praying Template

I mentioned this to a few people and couldn't figure out a way to post it to facebook (yet) with my SLOW Internet.  Maybe once I can get out of the house again (read- it is winter and we have the plague ;-))  So hopefully this will work for now!  Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, pray for us!

Its Coming! Its Here! Advent!

Well our preparations for Christmas have begun with the season of Advent (the beginnging of the Church Liturgical Year).  And here at our home there is much preparing going on, too.

With the impending move Advent (and especially Christmas) may be a bit more on the simple side than previously thought as there are preparations to be done in the moving department as well.  We are also taking a bit of a break from the Alphabet Path.  In December we'll just do the letter J (for Jesus- and his coming birth!) and our 'Advent Stuff' and resume in full swing in the new house come January. 

As for what we're doing for Advent.  I've mentioned Advent Adventure before, we're doing that and the Jesse Tree that they mention each day there.  The girls made their first ornaments today.  I've decided to forego my regular Christmas ornaments for the time being and just do their homemade ones this year.  We Julia being at that climbing monkey age our tree isn't that safe in her vicinity and once again the move will just make it all the crazier.  So our Jesse Tree will essentially become our Christmas Tree. 

Along with that we've got our Advent Wreath out and lit week one.  And we've been attempting a decade of the Rosary (with Advent Adventure).  We also have an Advent Calendar that they handed out in our church bulletin that we'll mark off days on.

Kate is already anticipating St. Nick's Day.  The stockings are hung and I've got a few things up my sleeve.  I'll try to take pictures.

We were up north last week for Hunting Season and I totally didn't take a picture.  Sorry.  It wasn't a good year for me 'catching a deer' as Katie called it.  Though I overheard a conversation between Kate and my niece (4 yrs) that might explain why--
My niece was telling Kate that her mom got two deer this hunting season (6pter and 14 pter, in MN) and then said, "My mom is a good hunter."  Katie's reply, "Well, my mom is not!" 

Quick Takes 11-11-11

1- As H week wraps up we are anticipating a visit from one of our favorite H's, my cousin, Heidi!  She's always a fun house guest and the girls are tickled that she'll be spending the weekend with us.  Hopefully we can get her some needed R&R away from the college life.  And her and Kate are requesting more SNOW!

We had our first round of snow this week and Katie loved every minute of it.  She was out in it not long after the day began!

2-Well I think that we're through the HFM and the disease never really seemed to take over as I expected.  Though 8 days of keeping the girls home was certainly enough in this mom's book!  Neither girl has a blister and there are just dwindling signs of the rash that plagued them.  I am grateful that it wasn't worse. 

3-FREE Things!  Really excited to see this printable at Catholic Icing not only for my own kiddos but for Religious Ed classes locally.  Really helpful, really handy and FREE! And just received a reminder about Advent Adventure from Holy Heroes, another FREE faith opportunity.  We really enjoyed the things they did for Lent last year and are definitely looking forward to Advent with joyful anticipation now!

4- We attended Wool Day at a local farm with the Home Education Network (HEN).  It was a big hit for Kate.  I was quite impressed with it too.  The family hosting had sheep that they showed how to sheer (though just a bit because a wool coat comes in handy this time of year), then a local artisan brought wool samples and supplies and showed the kids how they could each felt their own ball.  For the older kids she did spinning lessons and more.  Kate and I were quite happy with our felted ball.  And I was particularly pleased to meet a few other moms for potential networking

Katie took the pictures of our ball to post on the blog.

She also picked out the colors herself- blue, black and glitter sparkle (which you can't really see from her shot).

5-We did this act of thanksgiving today (and H is for Hands!).  I case you're wondering, it is a tree with hand print leaves that note things we're thankful for on the hands.  I have to once again put a plug in for Small Steps for Catholic Moms, It was the act of the "Think, Pray, Act" today.  I highly recommend this book for moms particularly ones with small children who struggle to fit prayer and apply it to daily life.   It has been a continual blessing to my days. 

Katie is thankful for- Grampa, Gramma, Mom and Heidi.  She traced her hands and wrote all the names herself!

Julia is thankful for "Boos" aka her pacifier, Cock-a-doodle-do aka roosters, and babies.  Mom is thankful for Dad, Our Church and coffee especially at today's 5 AM wake up.  I think I live with roosters!

6-And speaking of gratitude...ladies do you dare to try this?  I'm giving A Heart of Gratitude a go (started yesterday with my own adjusted version) but wow, I think Betty's right on the money in these remarks.  However, what a great lead in to Thanksgiving or just practice in gratitude and love!  I know I've seen a few folks listing things they're particularly thankful for on Facebook, too.  I dare not try that, I'd be on there way too much!

7- You'll be seeing a new look on the blog in the near future!  Be patient as I try to have patience!  Here's to a great weekend!

Head over to Conversion Diary as she hosts "Quick Takes" every Friday!

7 quick takes (not on Friday)

I haven't done one of these in awhile and it seemingly will fit my needs at the moment as a bit of catch-up here in Kieler.  Since I'm ready before Friday I'll post it now and if I remember link it to Jen's at Conversion Diary on Friday.

1- We've had some company here in Kieler.  My aunt Katie and cousin Heidi paid us a visit in September.  It was fun to have them for the weekend.  We hit Galena to do some window shopping and just enjoyed a visit.  Heidi even stayed to watch the Packers that afternoon! 

2- As you may or may not have been wondering.  I made it to Norway and back.  I returned with some special treats for our Moms Group.  Here are the pictures recording our celebration.  I can't imagine life in Kieler without these ladies from the environs.  They are such blessings to me as friends, sounding boards, support, and comic relief.

3- We harvested our pumpkins a few weeks back.  There were some dandys!  I haven't decided if I am going to process them for pie or just enjoy them for seasonal decoration.  Kurt says according to his favorite t.v. show that pumpkin is the one thing you need not make from scratch for the best taste/most effort. Hmmm.

Isn't she a posing pumpkin?

4- We've been enjoying the fall sports season here in Wisconsin.  The reigning Super Bowl Champs aren't doing so bad, the Badgers had a great win this past weekend and the Brewers- we're not the only ones rooting for them!

Notice Katie's hat?

Root, root, root!!

5- We've as mentioned started our way down the Alphabet Path here at home.  It has been a work in progress for me but that'll have to be a whole post in itself.  Beyond Elizabeth Foss' Serendipity site with all its Alphabet Path links and book recommendations I have been reading her book, Real Learning- Education In the Heart of the Home.   I also must mention that I have found these sites and the work of these folks very helpful and insightful--

On Montessori, Homeschooling, Reading/Literacy, and More-- Heidi's blogs at Work And Play, Day By Day and Work, Play, Read are gems that I continue to return to over and over.

Here's Julia having some sensory play with cornmeal.  She LOVED it!

On all the extras, crafts and fun stuff Catholic as well as great links for Religious Ed--Lacy at Catholic Icing is worth reading.

On trying things out for the first time, Monica and I have found ourselves in similar experiences.  She is full of ideas and as always is keeping it real.

6- We spent some time up north the end of September.  This is the only picture I took. It is my littlest nephew snitching some waffle, that Julia snitched from her cousin Kaylee.  He can't walk yet but was totally cruising on her so he could have a taste or two. 

We came home on Wednesday and brought Kaylee with us!  It was such a treat for the three girls to play together for an extended stay.  They were really well behaved.  We had so much fun!  My folks and family came down for the annual Kieler Parade (have you read about it the past three years?).  The weekend weather was pleasant.  The kiddos just wanted to play and for the most part that was fine by us.  The parade was the best yet in our opinion.  I enjoyed it to the fullest not taking one picture the whole weekend (shame).  Perhaps, this will entice others to come check out this one of Kieler's main events- you'll have to see it for yourself!

7- I found this at The Badger Catholic's blog.  I had to repost it here because nearly half of the people in it are from Kieler (or environs) and/or I know them!  Very fun! 

St. Pauls promo video from Backflip Films on Vimeo.

"I Own A State" - Camping Trip

Earlier in August we headed to my college alma mater in Winona, MN for a 100th anniversary celebration at St. Mary's Parish, my first out of college job.  I was the youth director there and at the Cathedral Parish for 2 years after graduation.  Kate has a Winona State shirt and everytime she wears it she 'reads' it as "I own a state!"  Hence the post's title. 

Here are some shots from out overnight camping excurssion the day before the Centenntial Mass and Dinner held that same weekend.

At our campsite...

We had some of my friends come for smores that evening.

Coming out of the tent...

Waking up that morning...in the tent.

Before Katie woke up

The next day...the girls were 'bugs' lunch'

Back home with the marks to prove our camping success.

Blessed John Paul II

My personal story with Blessed John Paul II began the summer of 1993.  I was just out of 8th grade and my mom finagled me a spot on our Diocesan lead trip to Denver, CO for World Youth Day.  There were 10 of us from our small parish that made the trip.

I'm on the far left in the back.

 It was a LONG bus ride.  My strongest memories of the trip are of time spent in Mile High Stadium where the Holy Father  and various bishops spoke to us.  The theme song I remember was 'We are One Body' and the gospel message  "I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full" (Jn 10:10)  The cheers for the World Youth Day cross being carried into the stadium and the cheers for the Holy Father as he entered in the popemobile gave me chills. Oh, and the weather that day was rainy and when the pope came, the clouds cleared the sun shone and there was a rainbow over the scene- a coincidence only God could come up with!
 

I have pictures of the Holy Father's helicopter flying him into the stadium and these 'close' pictures of him on the jumbo-tron.

 As with every WYD the highlight of the week long pilgrimage is a hike out to a field where pilgrims will spent the night on the ground in vigil for the Sunday morning Mass with the Pope.

Here's a shot I dug up of the pilgrims hiking out of Denver to our field.

Looking back at this pilgrimage, that summer was a point of conversion for me.  The Catholicity of the faith became so obvious in the gathering of cultures of the young faithful from all over the world.   The faith became my own.  It penetrated my life at school and at home in ways that it hadn't before and in a real sense I grew up as I entered high school that fall.  I began to defend the Church and her teachings at my public school- I wrote a letter to the high school paper about swearing and recall asking a friend, who was making fun of the pope to not do so.

In college, I grew even closer to JPII- reading some of his writings and seeking like him to be "Totus Tuus"  I was especially fond of Familaris Consortio. I was able to make another pilgrimage to hear him speak at St. Peter's in Rome at the end of the Jubilee Year.  [I couldn't find pictures from that one].

I began working that summer in youth ministry and had big plans lead a pilgrimage of my own to World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada in 2002.  There were 20 of us, including my mom this time!  She encouraged me to go that first time and I returned the favor this time around and had her chaperone.  It was AWESOME to share a pilgrimage experience with the youth of my parish.

This time we got a lot closer as the Holy Father came through.

Our zone in the field was prime real estate.  You can see the stage behind us.  The headphones with A.M. radio were treasures, too, especially if you're rusty on other languages.

I am third in on the back left.  My mom is in the back to the right of the sign in the WYD hat.

The Holy Father had aged since I saw him in Denver.

This time my memories are a little firmer.  There are two stories revolving around bathrooms (maybe for another post) and I remember the theme and the experience of pilgrimage (not to be confused with vacation) as a spiritual reality.  John Paul II brought me to tears more than once on that trip with his words to me and the youth of the Church.

I had the opportunity to start studying for my Masters in Theology the fall following that trip.  And that first year took The Writings of John Paul II as a course!  My studies lead to a move to Stevens Point Pacelli and as co-Director of Campus Ministry once again I would get to make a pilgrimage to World Youth Day.   Our plans were already in place on April 2, 2005 when John Paul II died.  The Holy Father had already written his message for the celebration of the 20th WYD in Cologne, Germany that summer.  As part of our trip we were able to stop at the Vatican and visit the tomb of the late John Paul II. 

The grave of Pope John Paul II

Camping out for the vigil, 2005.

And the 800,000 plus young people gathered that week- especially at the vigil remembered the legacy of the previous pope as we prayed with Benedict XVI.  I am part of what some call the JPII generation, I grew up  with John Paul II as pope.

Tomorrow, May 1, 2011 John Paul II will be declared blessed.  And though he is not John Paul the Great, yet, GREAT has been his influence on me and my spiritual pilgrimage in the Church and for that I am grateful.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!