Micah is 4 months!

A lot has happened in this last month... here's a few of them:


David was off on a Monday and when I asked if he could help me with school (which I thought meant to play with the others while I taught), he went to the classroom and started school. He got so much done that we've not had much to do this week... he was/is an excellent teacher! (And that's an icepack on his back; nursing a back injury)

And I couldn't help but capture a rare moment: Jacob "doing school" at the little table I moved into the classroom. He usually is at my leg or trying to get into John Paul's chair while he's working. He was "reading" Bob books.

JD and Rhonda Monlezun (cousins) offered us their super swing set! He said it, "something I mow around now" and they took HUGE leaps and bounds to get it to us (in the rain and the dark while being eaten alive by the mosquitoes). Now... my kids don't come inside anymore, Therese and John Paul have both learned to swing themselves... and Jacob can "swing like a big kid"! Thanks JD and Rhonda!

And our Micah Philip is 4 months old! He's 17 1/2 pounds and 26" long! That makes him 90th percentile in both length and height! Surprised? Neither are we.

According to Dawson tradition, the men feed the first solids...

Sweet Micah Man, as I call him...


He loves his siblings!



Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

OK, another one...

This is in celebration of how AWESOME kids are:

And now for something hilarious and lighthearted...

...to counteract my super heavy posts lately.

I give you the Harvard Sailing team:

An flaw in my system...

As I've continued moving forward each day, asking for grace, grasping for prayer time, grasping for David's time, anxiety-ridden and tired, and somehow still struggling to have joy, God gave an epiphany:

It wasn't while I was up early, deep in contemplative prayer...

It wasn't late at night after everyone had gone to sleep...

It wasn't while nursing the baby to sleep...

It wasn't at my weekly Adoration hour...

It wasn't while in prayer at the kneeler in our bedroom...

It WAS walking from my room to the kitchen to make breakfast- it just CAME to me!

"It's not about you anymore, Kate, it's about them."
DESPITE THE SCHEDULE, THE SINCERELY HELD BELIEF IN THE VALUE OF HOME SCHOOLING, AND THE DESIRE TO MAKE GOD AND DAVID PROUD OF ME...

(WHICH IS NOT A REASON TO DO ANYTHING BECAUSE THAT SPIRITUAL STEAM WON'T LAST LONG, I'VE LEARNED)

... I HAVE FALLEN SHORT, AND WAS YELLING, CRYING, CURSING, AND COULDN'T SHAKE THE FEELING/KNOWLEDGE THAT MY FAMILY WAS NOT HAPPY! GOD HIT MY LIKE A TON OF BRICKS WITH THE TRUTH... IF I AM STILL BEING SELF-CENTERED, THAN THIS WILL NEVER WORK!

And His graces has flooded me with... er... follow-ups to this very simple reality-

 "It's not about what you need to get done this second. It's about what's best for them..."

"It's not as important to finish folding the clothes as it is to hold your crying baby..."

"It's not about brushing off your kids so that you can read 33 Days to Morning Glory THIS MINUTE."

"Your schedule is helpful, but if it's not working for your family today, then let it go."

"I love you, Kate, and I can't wait to spend time with you when you pray... so trust that I will provide you that time."

"Your choosing to put them first consoles me on this cross"

"I thirst"
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So...

This has been THE CHANGE in me during the last two days (While we had a project day in the backyard with a swingset and then sent David to New Orleans for my first night alone with all four), and I have faith that this reminder of what motherhood is WILL (if I freely choose it) give me the ability to do this much better than I have been doing in the this first month of home schooling.

I'll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite songs... (originally from Scripture)

" 'Cause the only way to find your life is to lay your own life down. And I believe it's an easy price for the life that we have found!"

Sanctifying Chaos and Providential Help.

 Working out my salvation lately... I'll explain:

We have just completed the 4th week of homeschooling, and around the second week, Micah decided that he did not want to sleep swaddled... nor in his swing for 2 1/2hrs at a time. Jacob decided that he wanted to be in John Paul's chair doing John Paul's work in John Paul's workbooks with John Paul's pencil... while John Paul was attempting to do/use all these things. Jacob also decided that he didn't like me working with John Paul in our little classroom set-up....

Home schooling a Kindergartener with the Mother of Divine Grace curriculum means that for about an hour a day for four days of the week. An in that short amount of time, the following has occurred... which I will put in bullet form so as not to get over dramatic (because I just never do that, right?)

Trials/Challenges/opportunities for growth/spiritual stretching/tidbits that might lead me to insanity:

• Jacob wants his passy it seems all the time, and very long/large tantrums ensue if I do not let him have it. We have (I should say HAD) a rule that he only gets it to sleep... b/c that's what the rule has always been. From the advice of many a friend, we just have to let it go for now, unless I decide that I like him following me around crying and saying "pah... pah!!"
• Our little foyer classroom doesn't seem to be working, because it seems to have the same effect on the little kids as my talking on the phone does:, fighting, fussiness, desire for passies, etc.
• David and I have begun using the Creighton Model Method for our Natural Family Planning method... the first 30 days of learning how to use the system requires abstinence... please see under consolations :)
• David aggravated a disc while exercising and it meant he couldn't exercise for over a week... or mow the grass... or for a few days even hold the baby boys!
• David's new job has required a lot of him lately- meetings in the evenings, conferences on a Saturday, a trip to New Orleans later this week, and a weekend marriage prep...please see under consolations :)
• The moments that both Jacob and Micah cry at the same time drive me to yell... yes yell... at the older two, who do not deserve such behavior.
• My cursing has kicked into high gear, and I can't seem to stop... can of worms. Need so much prayer for this if you don't mind.

Consolations (Spiritual, emotional, physical or otherwise):

• From the Diary of Saint Faustina (read immediately asking God for more sleep in order to be a better mom and wife): [Christ to Sister Faustina] "My beloved daughter... I will do what you ask, but continue to unite yourself continually with my agonizing heart..."
• David designed and got up and running a Domestic Church Website... so you can finally explore what I've been blabbing about in so many posts!
• A sweet friend came to bring clothes for Therese and stayed with me for the morning coaching me through what could have been a(nother) nervous breakdown.... and another friend stopped by with a diet dr pepper and my godchild (thanks, Carried and Kim)
• When about to breakdown to tears with both baby boys crying in my arms, and a friend showed up at my house and helped me through a chaotic time frame of trying to get Micah to sleep.
• We've broken the 30 day rule :)
• The engaged couples who will have David for their marriage prep weekend will be BLOWN AWAY... and are sure to gain a great understanding of the Church's teachings/God's plan for marriage!
• We celebrated our 6th anniversary with a date: Cousins Greek food, wine and dessert on a friend's warf, and champagne... in the same night!
• John Paul celebrated his Baptism Day!! 5 years a child of God!
• Micah has only needed to nurse once a night for the last 3 nights... I am getting more sleep just as God promised!
• A cup of coffee and some dump cake... which I'm currently eating.
• ZUMBA!
• Mark 4:35-41 Jesus Calms the storm "Lord, how are you asleep when we are perishing? Jesus awake, rebuked the waves..."
• Weekly trips to Adoration on Wednesday nights!
• Homemade wine from one friend and homemade pesto from another. (Thank you Mak and Audra)
• A long phone conversation in the parking lot with with two different friends while having a pumpkin spice latte (love you Kate and Britney)
• John Paul has started soccer. First game, he did a cartwheel... second game, his coach has to tell him to stop helping everybody up when they fell. 
• Homeschooling in and of itself is going super well! John Paul is so willing and able- picking up reading very quickly, working hard on his handwriting skills, warming up to "art" things, and gives me a thumbs up or a "you got it, Mom" every time I ask him to do something. 
• A wonderful community and Domestic church circle... check out the website, y'all!
• A loving husband who comes home to me every day! Definitely the biggest consolation by far.
  

(By the way, this is David 10 years ago... looks about the same, doesn't he? Oh, I am so in love, what a gift and a consolation he is to me)

I see from this post that the consolations far outweigh the trials... and while I am pushed to my limit every day recently, I know that God is lovingly bringing me to the place where I've always wanted to be... covered in my kids and totally devoted to my family and my God! As a friend said the other day... "At the end of the day, it's about souls."

I'll end with a prayer that is also a Scripture verse: "Lord increase my faith"

They left everything and followed...

Once again I have a need to share inspiring words with you... once again, they are not my own. I will share with you that this time of transition has been filled with grace, but it has been a very difficult time. I don't wish to list what has been difficult because I don't want to give any of it credence. I only wish to say that God is faithful and He is merciful. Please read the words that inspired me this morning...

(P.S. there are pictures at the end of this post)

****
      Is there anyone who is not moved by the witness of absolute dedication to Christ? This is the allure of the saints, whom the Church never tires of contemplating and of presenting as proof that it is possible to follow Jesus Christ with our entire selves, that it is possible to make a radical commitment to the Son of God, "the way, the truth, and the life" of man. The saints address our desire for the fullness of life and tell us that this is not an illusion, that it is not a mirage, but a call that resounds in the heart of every man and requires fulfillment. The answer to this desire is not a dream but rather the realism of following Christ...
       Following the Lord is a constant, renewed "leaving everything." It is never finished and continually requires a fresh commitment, as if each of the Lord's footsteps created another "everything" between himself and our freedom, a new "everything" to be left behind once again. This is how the love of Christ continues to live and grow...
     Peter is the saint in the Gospels who is most like us, the closest to our humanity, and yet also very close to Christ. We can always follow Peter. He always leads us to Jesus, he unites us to Jesus, because he never permitted his own fagility to separate his heart from Christ, even when he denied him...
      Peter's transparency is Gospel, is part of the the Gospel, of the good news of redemption in Christ. We can and must enter the school of Simon Peter, the school of his journey with Jesus, in order to follow the Lord as he wants to be followed, to cling to Christ as he enables us to love Him.
*****

Here are a few pictures to make your day...

 We frequent being outside before it gets hot!

 He's so shy...

 Love the belly...

 It's important to at least look like I am protecting the baby from wrestle mania...

 ... see what I mean?

 This is Micah... in a 9 month onesie (though he's only 15 weeks old)

 Sweet Therese Marie... the curls, the dimples, the eyes, the snuggling. She is so wonderful!

We are looking forward to our 6th anniversary September 8th!

(and get ready for pictures of John Paul's first out-of-the house sport...)