Bah- Stomach Bug... how God lifts up the lowly!

On this 22nd day of December, I write from a house that has been struck with a mild stomach bug. I can say with all honesty that it's really not been that bad... with 2 children checked off the "who's got it" list and one husband currently home early from work sleeping it off, I have some wonderful news to share: from the throws of one of the most difficult parts of being human, God doesn't stop trying to reach us!

In today's Gospel, Mary proclaims her Magnificat: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord!! A little further into this beautiful proclamation she says to Elizabeth, "He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly!" Today I admit that I fall into both categories: the mighty made low and the lowly lifted up. How is this possible? Well who had Christmas all planned out (well, relatively planned out) and even left all the purchased gifts in Lake Charles in order to save on packing space for when we would return later? Who lined up play dates and outings with sweet friends while we're in town (again when we visit Lake Charles)? And even deeper than that, who planned at all? "Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." James 4:15. I am quite humbled in this way...

So what is my response? 1 Samuel:7 "The Lord makes more and makes rich. He humbles, He also exalts." (Today's responsorial) and again in Job "We accept good things from the Lord, should we not also accept adversity?"

So how do I also fall into the latter category? I want to share what it looks like when the rubber meets the road, or when the vomit hits the floor, or however you wish to see it. David and I have noticed just how close he and I feel to one another and just how grateful we are for our precious family. We've hunkered down since Wednesday and done nothing but taken care of one another. Now truth be told, this is the first time since beginning parenting that we've been up at night with vomiting children (no joke... gotta love home schooling). So this being our rookie stomach bug experience it could account for the rose-colored glasses of such an experience, but I choose to believe the God is reaching out in a particular way to show us that He is present in EVERY situation. In our lowliness. Our poorness. Our sickness... He still comes to us!

Maybe Christmas won't look like it normally does, and maybe the rest of the house may come down with it over the next 24 hours, or maybe we are fine by tomorrow and will head to be with family for Christmas Adam (one family's celebration the day before Christmas Eve... get it?). Maybe our Christmas feast may entail the B.R.A.T. diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast).  Maybe I will have to run out and grab a little something for each child to be able to open Christmas morning (because remember all their gifts are in Lake Charles). Maybe David and I will have to come up with some special activities to do during these days of Christmas because we don't want to spread this particular kind of Christmas "Cheer" to anyone else.

God will make it clear soon enough as to what our Christmas 2014 will look like. For now we watch and wait... KIND OF LIKE ADVENT!  Genius, God. Genius. Clearly we needed a lesson that would be unlike others in these last few precious days of Advent. Don't you just love how God prepares us for the most important celebration in the history of man-kind? I can say "YES" with confidence, that while I would have not chosen this kind of prep, David and I trust Him and say, "He has looked with favor on his lowly servant. The Almighty has done great things for me and holy is His name."

God's will be done!

___________________________________________________________________________

Oh, and just to clear the air about my possibly being some sort of super-sufferer, you should know that just a mere 8 hours after typing this post, I proceeded to throw a nice pitty party in Adoration and shed my pout-y little tears because I would MUCH RATHER have Christmas the way I KNOW CHRISTMAS. So while I'm sticking to what I have said, it doesn't mean I'm doing it well... 

As Christmas approaches...

Know that the Dawson family is peaceful, joyful, and so very grateful for all of God's gifts- most especially the gift of His Son.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." - Isaiah 9:6

This free digital collage created with Smilebox

The Post About Moving...

In case any of you were losing sleep at night just wondering when I was going to post again in order to dish out all the fantastic details of moving from New Orleans to Mandeville... your sleepless nights are over!!

On the 22 of November we packed up 4800 square feet of house and put it into two 26' U hauls... of course when I say "we" I mean David, his mom and brother Pete, and about 10 seminarians/friends who hopped across the street from Notre Dame, and three others who drove FROM COVINGTON to help us, while I changed the Pandora station numerous times (in order to provide adequate moving music) and sipped on my peppermint mocha because I'm not suppose to lift anything. And when I say "packed up 4800 square feet of house", I really mean the big sun room (among a few sun rooms) that held 3/4 of our boxed up lives and all the other furniture that we actually used (as well as the contents of the kitchen, which when packing, releases THOUSANDS of souls from purgatory). And when I say "two 26' U hauls"... I really mean that. The lives of 6 Dawson's went into 2 giant moving trucks... except for the LEGO's that I promised one six year old little man that I would take good care of... oh and the vacuum cleaner. I hadn't vacuumed the new house yet.

The contents were emptied into our little 1900 square foot house at 204 Governors Court in Mandeville... (I know 1900 sq ft isn't little, but it is actually the smallest house we've had before).

And in the last week and a half, we've had family and sweet friends come and help get our life unpacked here. By "help" I mean Michael and Erin Franco and their three beautiful children joined us for the day and Mike and David did a house note's worth of hardware store purchases for house projects and Erin watched ALL 7 kids while I unpacked boxes and hung up pictures. My parents joined us for the weekend and my mom opened Pandora's boxes in order to organize the classroom (remember how in previous posts I mentioned that I could find ANY home school stuff? Well she found them all).

And I have officially opened the last box (that I could find) today! It was filled with children's books... phew! Good thing I found it because we were only up to our knees in children's books rather than our elbows. Now we can wade through them like we used to... ah home!

We've picked back up with homeschooling and I've joined the home school group here on the northshore... "Rachel" - R.C.H.A.L so we're going to join them for First Friday Mass and I picnic this week. We're excited ("we" meaning me).

And so far, the neighborhood's hospitality has brought me to tears: the next door neighbors gave us the entire crop from their satsuma tree, we were brought a chocolate cake and a card by another couple, I got some baby gear from another family, another neighbor brought by the neighborhood directory complete with a year's supply of pencils (which we need bc I found my electric pencil sharpener, so we're running that baby ALL DAY), and we met another family with 5 kids who joined us in a bike ride... is this for real?!?!?

So here's your reward for reading...

The classroom

 The students

 The Micah Man

 The Cul de Sac... basically the best thing that could have happened to this housewife.

 I let my kids play in the street... say somethin'

 That would be Micah playing in our neighbor's leaves who have purposefully left them un-raked for my children...

 I will lovingly refer to Mama Mary as "Our Lady of Sidewalk Chalk" from now on. Micah has adorned her with all the colors of the rainbow. She likes it!

 Obligatory front door pic

 The living room/kitchen which reveals that for the first 30 seconds of every video, all four children sit lovingly together on the couch... I'll take whatever peace I can get.

 And when you move to a town with no known babysitters, you're a team! So the kids helped me take care of my new license at the DMV

 And here is a captured moment of sheer grace. All my children at the grocery store (they're all always with me at the grocery store) all on the same cart, nobody turning grocery aisles into the running of the bulls, and nobody screaming. They're are actually saying "Ah." We were a hit. I actually got a positive response when I answered the daily question of "Are they all yours?" The man said, "Well, God bless you, they are just beautiful." Thank you Lord... I needed this one.

 Potty-training Mcghee having a satsuma (we found four potties when we moved... I'll take the hint).

 The easel is finally getting used! Isn't she the cutest?

 And some more cuteness for you...

Coming to a close in NOLA...

Well almost 5 months have come and gone since we've started the adventure of moving to the wonderful and ...er... not so wonderful city of New Orleans.  If you don't know/remember how we ended up in this giant house, it is from the sheer generosity of David's boss/Archbishop who said, "Listen, David, I heard you're having trouble selling your house. We have a vacant house close to the office. Why don't you and the family stay there rent free until your house sells... take all the time you need. "

I find myself reflecting quite often these last few days over the sheer number of gifts and lessons (and honestly chuckling when encountering the things I will NOT be missing). There are a lot of things about New Orleans that people who have liven here all their lives that they categorized as things you just get used to. I will choose not to give them credence by listing them in this blog post, and instead I'l focus on what we've learned and what we will miss...

Next Wednesday we are closing on a house in Mandeville. We should be moved in just before Thanksgiving....

So we'll be moving from 4800 square feet to 1946 square feet... something I am quite grateful for... It was SO HELPFUL to have so much space in New Orleans proper, because I didn't let the kids outside by themselves (something I really didn't like) with all the traffic (both car and foot traffic). I had to constantly watch little Micah man and make sure he didn't run (with glee) into 6 lanes of traffic on Carrollton Avenue, and make sure Therese and John Paul didn't invite ANYONE who walked passed into our house to come see trains/legos/littlest pet shop, etc. With outside being a bit of a source of stress, the 6 bedroom house allowed for a dance room, a train room, a changing room, a play room, a staircase, a napping room, and a racing track (if you ever made it to the house, you know what I'm talking about). With 3/4 of our possessions in storage, I also spent the last 4 months NOT ironing, NOT vacuuming, not having 1/2 our toys/books to deal with, and NOT dusting. It's been pretty nice. I'm sure the temporary nature of living this way made it bearable...

 We only did the downtown thing one time (with the exception of the gazillion trips to the Aquarium), it's tourist glam is a bit clouded with some inappropriate- uh- professions that we've since avoided for the sake of young children's eyes. Believe me there is plenty to do even if you avoid downtown completely...

We started first grade and preK...

 We took a trip to the beach...

 We enjoyed New Orleans summertime, which means beautiful flowers, butterflies EVERYWHERE, and sweet summertime afternoon showers...

 We discovered that God gave us a parting gift from Lake Charles. Our BABY GIRL is coming in March...

 Mommy made lots of solo adventures while Daddy learning his new job...

 Micah danced with Mary every time we went outside...

 Micah decided he wanted to start school too... the requirement was that he is ALWAYS in Therese's lap...

 Micah learned to go up and down (and up and down and up and down) the 18 stairs. Therese is the BEST helper in this department...

 We will REALLY miss the parks: Audubon, City park, Daneel... the kids are feeding the BEAUTIFUL Wood ducks...

 PARKS PARKS PARKS! These saved us this summer because the trees in New Orleans are big and shady, making playing in the park totally bearable for mommies...

 We will miss this most of all... sigh... Daddy worked ACROSS THE STREET! We went outside to watch him cross the street almost every single day. The Mandeville commute is about 45 minutes...

 Mommy is thankful for NETFLIX...

What we are grateful for...

• The resilience of the children through the transition. It's like they never noticed the traffic, the road construction (which is on ALL the major roads of the city thanks to the $$$ from the Army Corp of Engineers). They enjoyed the fun, bumpy ride while all I could think was "my poor shocks."
• The Audubon institute membership. We had free entrance to the zoo, the park, and the insectarium, so we went to one or more at least once a week.
• The beautiful front porch. Despite the crazy traffic, I took my sister-in-law's advice and allowed it to sound more like waves. Coffee after a short nap on the front porch NEVER got old.
• The older three share a room. We call it the "Peter Pan" room bc it looks just like that. It was also upstairs and they stayed in their room (according to the rule) until 7:30 every morning. David and I had coffee and prayer time in (almost) silence until 7:30 (which is also because home schooling means that we don't have to be anywhere at a certain time).
• I am grateful for my children and what a joy they are. Having many many family and friends at my fingertips while in Lake Charles meant that I never had to really dive into my children if I didn't feel like it. Living in a place where the friend list is much smaller (though precious, indeed) and all my family members here work during the day, I had a choice to make: be bitter and resentful if my children were being "difficult" or really be present to them and learn more about them. It really has been such a gift that I've had such a desire for... praise God for this grace! 
• I'm grateful for the lesson that my children have learned here that we are VERY fortunate to have what we have. There are so many poor and hungry people here- and where we live, they are on EVERY corner asking for help. Therese has noticed it the most out of all of us, and her precious heart hurts for them. 
• Notre Dame seminary is right across the street...

        Just 10 years ago, David was a seminarian in this beautiful place. We have friends from Lake Charles who are here, as well as old seminary buddies, now priests/professors who are here. David's dad also runs the New Orleans Catholic Community Radio out of NDS. We attempted daily mass here a handful of times, but as you can imagine, there is no cry room, and we didn't want to scare anyone out of preaching to people "like us"... I'm partly kidding. but the lack of cryroom means that whoever takes Micah out has to pace the halls of the seminary rather than what would happen at a "normal" church parish. We'll have our sweet guys on the northshore from St Joseph Seminary College will be nice to have too...

• All the Beautiful Church parishes that we were able to check out...

St Anthony of Padua on Canal is where we frequented...

Mater Dolorosa on Carrollton...

St Francis of Assisi on State...

St Patricks...

• I'm also really really thankful for this restaurant Ye Olde Collge Inn. It is next door to our house (after you cross through the organic gardens that we were allowed to "check on" whenever we wanted. The Blancher family owns this restuarant and the Rock-N-Bowl (where David took the older kids on their feast days)

This family came to us the first week we were there with flowers welcoming us to the neighborhood. They have never stopped checking up on us. What a gift.... not to mention this...

My favorite thing: fried green tomato shrimp po-boy!

I'll leave everyone with that image. You have a week and a half to get down to New Orleans to have a free place to stay (well, it may cost you a po-boy). I'll blog next from our new home:

204 Governors Court Mandeville, LA. You may be wondering why we're choosing a 45 minute commute over living just minutes from Daddy's work? Well because I''ve chosen not to list what we don't like about NOLA, you'll just have to trust two very simple things: 1) owning a larger than 1100 sq ft home in New Orleans in not the most affordable option and 2) Mandeville is (a lot of) the beauty of New Orleans with out the noise and danger... and most of all because God made it QUITE clear that He wants us to live on the northshore...

...where I have no doubt that the blessings and the lessons will continue.

A place to fill you up!

We've been in New Orleans for 4 months! It would seem like we would have hit up all the famous NOLA churches while we've been here, but... we haven't. So when I saw that one of the churches had mass at the appropriate time, we got in the van (30 minutes early bc that's how long it takes to reach your downtown destination from uptown) and found street parking (it's own miracle bc it was a home game) and went to mass at St Patrick's Catholic Church. This place has stain-glass that will take your breath away, and it's altar is beautiful wood, and it's ceiling over the altar (which probably has a fancy name) is (little known fact) ALL Tiffany's glass.

As we entered, the ushers were handing out  booklets with the bulletins, which I politely refused because I didn't want to tear them apart with our little tree frog fingers that some of our kiddos have. As we found our place, I noticed a few things were different: 3 priests, nobody facing the congregation, 18 altar servers... THE LATIN MASS... extra-ordinary form... Oh no!! Deep breaths...Now this can either be a BEAUTIFUL thing or a complete disaster! We already have trouble keeping the kiddos interested when mass is in ENGLISH... and to boot, we sit close to the front in order to keep them focused on what is going on up on the alter. So now we're up at the front, no booklets, no real clue as to what's going on (except for David who's pretty familiar with everything, though his Latin is not quite memorized), and to top it off, I'm the only female without a mantilla (the lace veil over my head) minus the Packers fans in the back of church whose heads were still covered with a cap at least.

So how on Earth was this so fulfilling? Well we were among one of the smaller families in church. There were many young, large families there (all whose little girls had their heads covered), and so our family noises were not a problem for ANYONE! The reading and the homily were in English, and I knew what to say in English in response to the Latin, though a booklet would have been helpful at this point. The Music... sigh... the music spoke such love and reverence that had we not been with our children, I would have been a BASKET CASE of tears because it was all so beautiful!! Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony. Gets me every time.

The main reason it was so refreshing and fulfilling is that Jesus was THE MOST IMPORTANT person there. The 18 altar servers (all men ranging from 8 to 60s') looked like true soldiers for Christ! All the movements about the sanctuary (i.e. the main altar) were obviously very rehearsed and it said very clearly, "This is important to us and Jesus is the focus." It occurred to me that even if someone who WASN'T Catholic came here, they would have known that Jesus was the most important person. There was a candle procession of altar servers just before Consecration to a four-part harmony of SANCTUS SANCTUS SANCTUS (Holy Holy Holy) as if to say, "Ok everyone, Jesus is coming down to us in just a few moments. Let's get the place ready"

The fact that it was in Latin didn't bother anyone (anyone, referring to John Paul, Therese, Jacob, and Micah). It was novel for our kids, and it felt less like something I couldn't understand/relate to and more like what was happening was so important and so heavenly that mere English just wasn't reverent enough. Gosh, I LOVE the Church! There was SO much to see and hear and smell, that I wanted to shout from the streets, "BRING YOUR CHILDREN TO CHURCH- I PROMISE THEY WON'T BE BORED." And obviously I was so moved by this mass that I had to tell someone about it... and I happen to have a blog. It made me appreciate both forms (the "English" being referred to as Novus Ordo, whose meaning I have no idea), but it was such a realization that the church has more to offer than I realize!

So... St Patrick's Church in New Orleans. You won't be disappointed... even if you don't speak Latin... which I don't!
Deo Gratias! (ok I know a little bit).

Did you know...

In light of the Church's feast of Guardian Angels...

Every person born has a guardian angel? I'm sure we've all heard it before, and we picture this:

Which is sweet, but I thought I would give a shout out to our family's guardian angels and encourage you to think a little bit more about you own (and your spouse's and your children's as well). Imagine that since the beginning of your soul's creation - like inside your mother's womb) you were given an angel- HAND-PICKED by God to be by your side AT ALL TIME... FOR YOUR ENTIRE LIFE! Maybe it's a little more like this...

Or this

Your guardian angel is BOTH beholding the face of God while at the same time walking with you step by step through all your life's details- waking or sleeping. It's not easy to picture, because as it turns out (a little catechesis for you) angels are not people who have died and "gone to be an angel" nor do they really even have bodies. (We as humans have both bodies and spirits, angels have spirits without bodies, and animals are bodies without spirits,) Don't worry- our loved ones in Heaven are beholding the face of God NO DOUBT, but they are actually higher than the angels (why do you think Satan was so mad at God for that decision?) and are not assigned to do that intense work that angels have to do...

I digress. I wanted to share with you a though. A prayer. Our guardian angels have names - given to them by God. Why don't you ask God what those names are? David and I when we first had children began to ask that question.
David's is Philip, Mine is Bartholomew, John Paul's is Angela, Therese's is James, Jacob's is Stanislaus, and Micah's is Philomena ... crazy names, right? Not some that we would come with on our own for sure (believe me, I was hoping for a name different than my own... sorry Bartholomew). I just want to put out there that if we knew the names of our own angel, it could help us to recognize it's work and have more gratitude for God's mercy and compassion to be so generous with his legions of angels- so loving as to give us EACH our very own. What a kind and merciful God. So go ahead, ask Him. I PROMISE He'll answer you...

An Overdue Dawson Update... bullet form

• We are now 15 weeks pregnant for our next little miracle. I had a small gift given to me recently in Adoration. I (tried to) picture the moment when I get to hold him/her (which is really an impossible thing to do), and while I couldn't see a face, I got a taste of the feeling I will have.
• This child is (how do you say) 100% God's idea- what an incredible moment it will be to behold the face of a child whose existence was completely HIS thought.
• Our house is under contract and we are in the middle of the waiting game: appraisal, inspection (which brought the price of the house down... again), termite inspection.
• We're looking for a house, not sure if we can afford to buy (this side of the state is bloody expensive, ya hear?) or rent, and we're waiting for God to tell us if it should be north or south shore.
• I'll translate: Northshore - north of Lake Pontchartrain including, but not limited to Mandeville, Covington, Abita Springs, and Madisonville. Southshore: Metairie, Kenner, and all the little areas of what falls south of Lake Pontchartrain that are too numerous to mention.
•  My  sister, brother-in-law and their 2 precious girls have moved back to Lake Charles... like a few days ago, so we haven't been west to see them. So glad to have them closer. An answer to prayer for sure!
• Micah says a lot of words: Daddy (no, not Mama), ice, please, Body of Christ/Amen (and feeds himself), and  sings Alleluia.
• My brother is getting married in less than a month... crazy.
• One child (nameless for the purposes of dignity) has fully begun to explore the pushing of the envelope: how much can I get out of you/this situation, and what can I get a way with without getting in trouble? It's a bit of an emotional experience for this pregnant,dramatic mama.
• We've begun attending the daily masses at Notre Dame seminary from time to time, which is filled with seminarians and priests (and like two other single women), and a few professors who are married. That should explain itself... it's pretty interesting.
• We recently celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary... so grateful for my precious (and incredibly good-looking) husband and for a wonderful, fulfilling marriage. (Thanks, Elaine for babysitting)
• I'm really beginning to feel the ache of being without friends. We have some family here, but there is no replacing friends that are so deep in my heart. You know who you are..... with that being said...
• God has provided sweet and holy friends for us to meet here (and some old ones too) and we are so grateful that they are opening their homes and their hearts to us.
• Jacob has become extra snugly, making sure that before any sort of management takes place (diaper-changes, food-dishing, disciplining), he gets a hug. It looks like this: Me- Jacob lets [fill in the blank]. Jacob- Mama, I hug. What a priority check to the question of "Am I mothering or am I managing?"
• John Paul is reading well and adding in his head. (Through no teaching of mine, you see) He isn't that interested in drawing/coloring pictures during Religion. He's much more interested in dialogues...I kind of feel like we should have pipes while discussing questions like: What does it mean to know God? or What is the most important thing Jesus did for us?
• We will be attending a retreat for married couples this weekend on the Northshore (St Ben's Monastery) and will be giving another Domestic Church retreat this November. This will be a first for this side of the state (the BR/NOLA area if you're interested).
• If you read in a previous post about the broken dishwasher being spiritually enriching and thought I was holy, let me clear the air... the dishwasher has broken again (it was a precious 3 weeks of having it back). It doesn't fill my soul like the last go-round, but I have simply worked hand washing into the routine (helped considerably by watching a series set in the 40's... keep reading). Maybe if I donned a cutesy apron, I would be happy to do it...
• It has been a time of heart/soul stretching, finding creative ways to stretch our food dollar and enjoy the weekends when David is home and when friends come to visit.
• In one particular week, we had friends come for various conferences, trainings, visiting, and school- Wednesday through Sunday that week we had overlapping visitors every day and night. It was such a nice break from the regular routine! So grateful for that week!!
• Therese LOVES pre-K. In fact, she asks for more school than I can provide. She literally says, "I want to do more school, Mama. Please teach me." 
• If I could find my bloomin' home school stuff, baby... so we're making do and the kids seems to be enjoying just fine. That's all I can ask for at this point.
• Just finished watching "The Pacific" - the series done by the guys who did "Band of Brothers" - learned a lot and my heart is aching for the men, the loss, the stripping of souls of then men who returned, the change of the times. We learned a lot, stayed awake late all week (there were 10 hour-long episodes), and tossed and turned every night trying to process what we had just learned. Deep Sigh- that was exhausting... and now to watch the entire DVD of special features.
• We've gone home to visit LC one time... and due to David's work ethic and his refusal to skip work as I had suggested, I drove with the kiddos SOLO... not bad (when you stop at Jimmy Johns in BR to have lunch with Pete and Julia!) 
• And now for pictures...

 John Paul (now 6... sorry, forgot to mention that)
and Jacob (3 next month) at Chili's after playing on the Northshore.

 The drive back from LC

 My sweet Therese picks me flowers every day

 One day of school, Micah decided the Sister's lap was the ideal place to play. 

She obliged... for over an hour.

 The newest Dawson at 13 weeks

 Micah enjoys what is clearly dancing with Mama Mary! He knows how to pick 'em!

Joesph and Dominique's picture in the paper...

We are learning a lot, enjoying being just us (which has been an unexpected treasure) and learning to trust in God's Providence and His plan for us. Our hearts are full, and we are grateful...