I want to wish you and your families a holy and sacred Feast of the Holy Family. What an awesome idea that God became flesh as a baby in a family. It sanctifies our being family!

The Christmas post to follow...

For those who need to know...

It has occurred to me that there of those who are going through somethings that are so painful and we will just never know. If this is you, "You are made for so much more than all of this." There are those who are feeling inadequate, tired, despondent. If if this is you, "You are more than what is hurting you tonight." There are those who do not know where to go from here. If this is you, "Before you ever took a breath... of all the wonders HE possessed, there was one more precious." And for those of us who simply need to know that we are not alone, "You are treasured, you are sacred, you are HIS." "Of all the earth and skies above, YOU'RE the one HE madly loves.... enough to die." YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!!

Pope John Paul II in Lake Chalres!

Just wanted to see if you were paying attention. He's in Heaven, guys, not Lake Charles. But on Wednesday December 12th there will be a public veneration with a Cassoc that belonged to JP II(The dress-looking thing that all priests can wear, but the Pope's is white) at St Henry's Catholic church from 10am to 10pm.

It has been quite an experience- we have had the incredible blessing of having it at our house a few times while it's been in town. If you are in the area (Houston, Lafayette, BR, etc) please know that the Dawson house can be a pit stop for you on your way to see/pray with the Cassoc. His intercession in our family has been huge! Both our sons are connected with him (John Paul's namesake and Jacob's birthday is his feast day). God has blessed us indeed.

Jacob faces the cupcake!

More important than the pumpkin yogurt post below is this: Jacob turned a year old on October 22. Here is his attempt at his cake. If you watch the video in its entirety, you get a gold star. I will say, however, that he eventually ate the entire cupcake. It didn't stand a chance, really. Get ready for his first steps video...

Easy pumpkin yogurt!

Greek yogurt (or regular, but there are a lot of vitamins in Greek yogurt), Cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and pumpkin puree. That's a Diet Dr Pepper in the background. Don't add that.

Mix them things together ( It calls for quite a bit of brown sugar, so we added very gradually so as not to overdue it, but it is the only source of sweetness)

Dasit

Feast of All Saints!

All you holy men and women, pray for us! "I am pleased to wish all of you a happy All Saints Day! This wonderful feast, along with tomorrow’s commemoration of the faithful departed, speaks to us of the beauty of our faith and of the joy that awaits us in heaven with our loved ones who have fallen asleep in Christ. Let us therefore pray earnestly that we may all be joyfully united one day in the Father’s house. God bless you all!" - Pope Benedict XVI

HOW HE LOVES US!!

I think this blog can be a vessel for a good message every once in a while, but I'm no writer, so here goes: I've been wrong! I posted about my faith like an ember, and it has been lately, and I thought that God was ok with our relationship being like this; that sometimes HE must calm the fire of His love to teach me something (like a kind of spiritual dryness, I guess). But something happened this morning. I was reading James, which said this (or something like it) : draw near to Him and He will draw near to you... He is jealous for you. I realized that, though MY faith and love for Him in this last few weeks has been an ember, HIS NEVER STOPS BURNING LIKE A BLAZING FIRE!! Even if I am experiencing spiritual dryness, as for HIS end, it still burns passionately. He- the greatest lover- never stops desiring to love us with everything He is and has (which is everything). He is a gentlemen and will wait for us to ask Him. So this morning in prayer, I asked to desire Him more, to love Him more than an ember's worth. His response? I am jealous for you- your unique love, Kate, which can come from nobody but you, and I long for it. Here is my heart! It burns for you!

He does not simply mean for us to drink Him in like a little water fountain, like in first grade where we had 5 seconds to drink because others were waiting in line. His Grace (and mercy for that matter) are an OCEAN!! The next analogy: an ocean, not a glass of water. A blazing fire, not an ember. No matter what my heart resembles- a little ember or a small glass of water.

What came next was a song I was asked to play at a retreat. The video is a bit weird, but the words have brought me to tears this morning- He said (says) to me (to you): He loves like a hurricane, all I have to do is ask Him to come in and love me like this... Lord I ask you to remind me that your Sacred heart burns with passion, love, and sacrifice for me. Let this be what gives me the ability to love my husband, my children (born and unborn), and my friends like you! HOW HE LOVES US. I am not simply referring to the awesome act of love on the cross, but through that very act, in each day, in each moment, He loves! Feel free to use this prayer- we can make some pretty good ones when we're raw in front of Him. Play the video, and hear How how He loves us! Thanks be to God! "And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me!" I also don't want to give Jacob's birthday post the shaft, so scroll down to see our sweet Jacob's birthday post!

Our Jacob Joseph is one!! I am typing and seeing the time... I was actually delivering at this moment last year. Boy, didn't you want to know that, didn't you want to picture that? I don't have stats for you, but is 25 pounds people! So here is the year in review! Birth: div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">

Little glowing embers

It has been a while, I know. A few people have asked me where I've been, so I will let you know what is going over here. There is a song that is speaking to the depths of me. The words are : "Faith is not a fire as much as it's a glow. A tiny burning ember in my weary soul. And it's not too much, it's just enough to give me hope. 'Cause love moves slow. Love moves slow." I have no pictures to show (Jacob will be one soon, so be looking for some then), and not much to tell you. First trimesters are not easy, and with three precious treasures (all full of energy and questions/babbling, I might add) coupled with the constant feeling of a hangover (don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about) have made this a time that God is giving me just what I need... and no more. I am grateful to have been forced (again) to learn to live one day at a time. David continues to be super husband and father- always eager to be present to our children. He is making a Crusillo retreat this weekend and I am glad that he will have a weekend among men AND that he will be ministered to, for once. He is doing Jujitsu with a friend, and it's seems to be a nice something extra for him. He is a gift, and something that has become obvious to me is that being David's wife is my FAVORITE thing about myself. Hands down! So blessed. John Paul continues to stumble through homeschooling... correction... John Paul's mommy continues to stumble through homeschooling. He counts to 100 and recognizes all the numbers as well... not kidding. He hates pencils, but humors me if I help him. We are discerning what is the best decision for next year. He is a young 4, but very coordinated in many respects. Therese is getting to be SO MUCH FUN TO BE AROUND. She sings, dances, reads, wakes up early and goes into the kitchen to put sugar into glass baking dishes. Oh you don't do that? She can no longer wear the hand-me-downs of her older friends/family because she is as big as them. She sings very well and is a fabulous big sister. Jacob is a hoot. T-E-M-P-E-R! He is almost sleeping through the night on a regular basis. He can do 8 to 5:30, but usually there is something else goin' on in the night that he feels he must share with us. He now only nurses 2 times a day which as helped with feeling sick (me, I mean). He will be one on Monday- not kidding. I will post much more on our Jacob Joseph then.

My call is love...

Today is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (of the child Jesus), a spiritual giant in our household and the namesake of our precious daughter. Hear her words. "Since my longing for martyrdom was so powerful and unsettling, I turned to the epistles of Saint Paul in hope of finally finding an answer... Then, nearly ecstatic with the supreme joy in my soul, I proclaimed: Oh Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is to love." This morning our own sweet Therese greeted her Daddy with a rose in her hand (St Therese always pictured with roses) and said, "Daddy todath my feath day!"

Speaking of a call to love... David and I, after prayer and discernment of God's will for our family, and the after grieving the loss of a pregnancy in June are overjoyed to share our news: we are pregnant!

5 years... and all I have

September 8th 2007

This anniversary is a big one, not only because it makes 5 years, but because of this very statement that I made to David: David with everything that has been going on this week with the kids, the house, and with our busy lives, and I so sorry to say that I have nothing to give you, not even a letter or a poem (which is something we commonly give each other on birthdays and anniversaries, etc). His reply? Kate, I was going to say the same thing, and that means that we are giving each other all we have- ourselves. And through God's grace and providence, we have received and give ourselves to our children...born and unborn: John Paul, Therese, Andrew Thomas, Jacob Joseph, and Agnes Karolina.

Thank you God for the ability to learn, day by day, to learn to give of myself more and more. I guess I should also tell you that David said this very statement: "You are 10 times more beautiful now than you were that day..." My thoughts? Imagine what a knock-out he'll think I am in 5 more years. This could be good...

Happy Birthday, Julia

My sweet, thoughtful, hilarious, observant, loving, beautiful sister-in-love, Julia Dawson has reached another birthday today! Julia, your virtues are many, and your love for your husband, your sons, your family, for our Blessed Mother, and most of all, for Christ is something to be admired and imitated. I am grateful to have you in my life, my children are so blessed to call you Aunt Julia, Therese is certainly blessed to have you as her Godmother, and I love that you are my friend- my sister. I love you! Happy Birthday! “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you; whenever I pray for you all, my prayers are always joyful, because of the part you have taken in the work of the gospel from the first day until now. Of this I am confident, that he who started a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:3,4

10 month old?

That's right, Jacob is 10 months... here's a recap of his precious little life thus far. Birth

2 months... quite a change there, I know.

3 months

5 months

7 1/2 months

9 months

And 10 months! Jacob Joseph, you are such a joy!

Colorado 2012

Mama and Daddy flew us to Colorado for 5 days to be with Sarah, Steven, Madeline, Anna Kate... and BABY!!! We also visited Mama's 2 brothers and their families. What a trip. What a treasure.

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Body and Soul into Heaven

This is an image from within the Church of Mary's assumption... like where it happened. God had preserved Mary from original sin to prepare her to be THE dwelling place of the Christ child. He also would not allow her body to know decay. So after her death, her body was raised into Heaven to be with her Son and her God. Pope Benedict 16th writes that "precisely because Mary is with God and in God, she is very close to each one of us. While she lived on this earth she could only be close to a few people. Being in God, who is actually 'within' all of us, Mary shares in this closeness of God." And from Ambrose Autpert, "Mary lifted herself up to such lofty heights of heaven that the Word reached down from the highest pinnacle of heaven and took her in."

Mother's Rule to meet!!

HEY HEY! Just a shout out to anyone who 1)Isn't on facebook (which will be me in 24hrs) and 2) wants to know if I'm still doing the one-time- book study. The answer is YES YES YES. Tomorrow, Friday, August 10th at 6:30 at the OLQH Family Life Center. Even if you didn't read the book AT ALL.... or don't even have it. I'm super excited to share this book/experience with anyone who would be interested in having their domestic lives changed for the better. See you soon!

9 month old Funny Guy

Jacob has now had equal amount of life in and out of the womb! It's a big deal, y'all. Does it mean my baby weight has to have been eradicated as well? In true Dawson fashion I have 1 picture in my phone of Jacob. He is 75th percentile in both weight and height... he's 28 inches long and 23 1/2 pounds! This guys knows he is loved and knows that he is funny. This is his sweet eyes face. He can make it on command and it looks just like that every time. So stinkin' funny. What a gift it it to be Jacob's mommy!

Suffering : difficult but necessary

We all struggle to want to suffer, but the truth is that suffering is the way we can 1) gain a better understanding of Christ's love for us 2) gives us a chance to console Jesus in His sufferings as He looks on a world that rejects His gifts and 3) helps us to gain humility in order that we might better accept God's providence and recognize His mercy... among many other benefits. To quote Pope Benedict XVI. “The world offers you comfort, you were not made for comfort, but for greatness.

And aricle by Thomas J. Neal, Ph.D. --- A veritable over-indulgence in spiritual goods, bordering on gluttony. That’s what time at IPF in Omaha amounts to for me. My one hope for salvation is to obey the counsel of St Augustine to all would-be teachers: “What you learn you learn not so you might arrogantly boast or greedily hoard what you come to know, but that you might give it all away.” That is the joy of acquisition: giving it all away. Ruski Proverb Anyway, in a talk I heard today a priest-theologian referred to a Russian saying that, he said, circles among the clergy: priests are ordained to help people suffer well. That saying led my mind to an extraordinary man I came to know in 2009 who is presently dying in a hospice. Not long before he began to face the final crisis in his long battle with his illness he wrote me a one-line email: “Tom, pray that I might suffer well.” Not, “pray that I might be healed,” but “pray that I might suffer well.” Now, he fought mightily to be restored to health; he did all he reasonably could to stave off death. But he also understood that life is de facto filled with sufferings great and small, and that the most-essential vocation of every human being is not to ‘be well’ but to ‘love well.’ And it is in suffering, one might say, that we find the greatest test of our love for God and for neighbor; that we encounter the greatest opportunity to love with depth, with force, with sacrifice. An old Siberian woman at my Dad’s church once said to me, “You Americans do not know how to suffer, which is why you have so little depth.” After taking some offense at that, I realized that it was spot on – certainly in my case it did. To the same effect, a mystic-woman I met in D.C. (who lived through Dachau) in 1991 said to me, "God wishes you to offer Him your crosses, not throw them in His face." Costly Chrism So I have encouraged these men, these seminarians at IPF that I am privileged to be teaching, to be fully aware of this calling. The sacred and fragrant Chrism that will one day seal their hands for divine service flows freely from the bloodied body of the Christ, the Eternal God who suffered with infinite love for and with us and for our salvation. The Sacraments they will celebrate and communicate come forth from the violently opened side of Christ, costly Gifts that beckon from us a like response. And if it is true that the priest is to help us suffer well, it is also true that we faithful must desire to suffer well. My friend, as he nears death, is a white martyr, a witness to this truth lived out in extremis. May I have the courage to one day pray, and not just admire, his prayer. ------ A great book that dives deep into the struggles we face with suffering is this: Consoling the Heart of Jesus: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat- Inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius BY (now Father) Michael E. Gaitley

Our beautiful Children...

Thought I would share- in case you didn't already know- that my children take my breath away~

Small catch up

In no particular order: We have a new-to-us canoe. We were in the paper for dressing as cows from head to toe for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a (which meant free meals for us). I took a day trip with my mama and all three kiddos to Houston. And I'm just returning to this post after starting it this morning... so I don't remember what else I wanted to say. Like that?