FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

On Friday Therese brought me her workbook and said to me, "Mama please teach me!" How do you say no to that? I knew I wanted to begin earlier than most home school families because the baby is coming in March, and it would be ideal to be done with school by then. So if we begin early, and if we don't take off for Advent and Lent (which is what I did last year), then we should blow through the year in time for our next  little present to arrive...

I have misplaced ALL my home school supplies somewhere among our stored things. So I found these books at Costco and bought one for each of them...

This book has JP's work separated into many topics, not just reading and math, but phonics, reading comp, vocab, addition, time, money, etc. It's great.

Here's the kiddos at the work table. I would like to add that Therese also has on her plastic heels as well.

We're learning religion this year from the St Joseph's First Communion Catechism...

John Paul's first spelling lesson... this was week one. So what do I do now? Crazy smart kid.

And here is Therese's craft work... which of course used almost the entire container of glue... she's so eager to do work that I will have to find other stuff for her to do. John Paul was not interested in art/crafts,and PreK is not that involved in the home school world. I kept saying, "Therese, you're done with school, you can go play." But she refused to leave and ask for more things to do. 

And as for Jacob, he played magic tea party, then I let him mess around with scissors. You heard me. I was standing right there and he had a wonderful time and was totally occupied. Micah was in his bed and eventually fell asleep. I know that won't work everyday, but he's a climber and so if he's not napping he'll be attempting to climb the table. He's really not the "sit in his high chair and color" type, so I'll have to come up with something for him when he decides not to acquiesce to my napping request.

Good good first day! Praise God!

Glordinary...

Today we celebrate THIS... the Transfiguration. Basically Jesus became glowing with His own awesomeness and Moses and Elijah (representing the Law and the Prophets) came to chat with Him. This experience revealed to his three closest apostles that HE was the fulfillment of the law and the prophets and that He was exactly who has had been saying He was. Actually the Voice of God told them, too, when it boomed from a cloud: "This IS my beloved Son. Listen to Him" which is why I like this image best- those apostles are FREAKING OUT!! They are literally blown away by how AWESOME and GLORIOUS their friend/savior/companion really is. The reality is almost too much to handle. Why does He do this? He's giving them strength- a mountain-top  (a great post by my sweet friend at Humble Handmaid) experience to empower them to undergo what happens after this, which is, of course, Jesus' suffering and crucifixion in order that they might also experience the Resurrection.

So my prayer today has been that God will reveal His glory to me and to David, that we may have hope to help us to continue doing what we're doing. So what happened at Mass? After communion I prayed that same prayer - Lord show me your glory that I may have courage to do what you call me to do- and do you know what he told me? "The glory is in the ordinary" WHAT?!?! Seriously. Womp Womp. I am not to proud to admit that I was a bit disappointed in hearing this. If we're honest with ourselves, we can say that we desperately want (and expect) that if we ask God to reveal Himself to us that He will come in all that awesomeness that Peter, James, and John were allowed to see. And because this doesn't actually happen most of the time, we're pretty disappointed with God...

So what do I do? What does God mean for me to experience this Feast Day? I know He doesn't mean for me to feel disappointment. So I'm thinking about exactly what the "ordinary" looks like... I call to mind what I received from the retreat (Focus on what God IS doing and not on what He is NOT doing), and I am looking around at the ordinary and finding glory in it...

We are living in a 4800 sq ft home (granted it needs COMPLETE renovation, has bees and a broken dishwasher) that is large enough to be worthy of both inside and outside activities for my kids. We get our Daddy home at 4:30 every day because he walks home from work in 5 minutes. Judging by the constant queasiness, we are in fact blessed with another precious life that is helping our family to grow to the size that we've hoped for (a BIG size). The dishwasher is broken, and in washing each child's/husband's dish individually I am amazed at how it evokes a DEEP appreciation for that person's life ("Aw, Jacob's oatmeal bits, Micah's banana pieces on his bottle, David's sopping up every bit of everything on his plate that I barely need to wash it). We are minutes from more parks and libraries than I can count. All our home school stuff is somewhere in storage and I cannot locate it, but I am so pumped to get started early so that by march (baby time) we will be through and can love on our newest addition. There isn't a morning that David doesn't wake up with a huge smile on his face just to see me  (oh and it's a pretty sight, indeed). I have time pretty much every afternoon where all four are sleeping or at least horizontal, allowing me to have to time to pray, sleep, cook, chat, or blog.

Ordinary... but truly Glorious... Glordinary? New word. Write it Down.

Best and most of all, I see that our children GLORY in their ordinary days. I don't see them waking up with anything but TOTAL excitement that another day has arrived. I want to be like that. They don't even know what the day holds are what day it even is, but they love to be US- our family. That is glory and awesomeness to them. "Would that you would be come like little children {to enter} the kingdom of God"...

" The angel carried me away in spirit to the top of a very high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. The city had no need for sun or moon, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb." Revelation 21:10,23

This realization of God's glory in the ordinary (His Glordinary :) is what can empower me (US) to do what we have been called to do. How often do we say/hear that the world is going somewhere in a hand basket? What can we do about it beside sit back and say "oh, what a shame" ? We can have Glordinary! We can live day in and day out in the monotony- and LOVE IT! This will change hearts, because the first hearts it can change is MINE! Then it flows to my kids and  their precious hearts will change others, and so on and so on. That is the power of the Transfiguration! That is Glordinary power!! I am finding mine...

"And He lead them up onto a high mountain, and there He was transfigured before them..."

A family retreat... a change in focus

We've recently returned from the Domestic Church annual family retreat in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

A family retreat... is it possible that those two words function in the same sentence, you ask? Last year, we had our very first retreat, and it was in St Francisville, LA. We had 19 families (complete with 43 children; 9 of whom were under that age of 1 year), and this year we traveled a bit further because the retreat was extended from 4 days to 8 days. It was a 14 hour drive for our LC crew ( minus 3 hours for us New Orlean-ians), and I want to give a shout-out to may AWESOME kiddoes for doing a fantastic job during that drive (both ways)! Aside from one child getting car-sick in the first our, it was COMPLETELY uneventful! Those kids survived it, and they did so without a DVD player (bc we don't have one, not because we're martyrs)!


There were 10 familes and around 25 children (one of whom was 5 weeks old)...
So what happens with our children? The children basically have their own mini-retreat going on simultaneously headed up by different adults each day while the other adults experience Scripture study, talks on prayer and the spiritual life given by different retreatants, and couple prayer and dialogue. That all takes place in the morning and evening sessions, but the entirety of the afternoon is dedicated to "family time" where we spend time together as families. This year involved many hikes, rock-hopping, swimming, creek-exploring, Biltmore sight-seeing, etc. Here's a few pics captured from those precious times...

 Chimney Rock North Carolina - we decided to hike the stairs up to it... no we weren't on anything, we just wanted a challenge. ALL the kids made it like champs... even Jacob the 2 1/2 yr old.

Is it possible? You think? There was a grocery store (for all us who had to continue to go to the store to buy milk and diapers), a wash-a-teria, and the retreat center was just like a Motel, with 2 queen beds in every room, towel service, and a HUGE porch covered with rocking chairs, and of course, complete with a full few of the Blue Ridge Mountains. My parents came on the retreat, too, which meant that we had Therese sleeping in their room every night, Jacob and John Paul in a bed, and Micah in a pac-n-play. So going to bed a night was hysterical with Jacob and John Paul leg wrestling (Jacob discovered new-found freedom not sleeping in a pac-n-play for the first time) and Micah would call out to them like a dog in the night... howwwl. After a few rounds of shh-ings by David we would eventually fall asleep... around 10:30. All the early risers with hang in a common room and drink coffee before morning prayer (complete with much sought after Community Coffee- sorry Maxwell House, you just don't cut it). It went beautifully! Much better than we ever expected.

A few things that I have decided to share with you about what God did for our marriage just in case your vocations/marriages may be in a similar place:

A retreat (a week-long especially) gives you time to evaluate your life and its details in a way that also give you a chance to work on a CHANGE to it (as opposed to simply seeing the problem then going home as a shorter retreat might do).

David and I came to 3 huge realizations (from our couple dialogue and couple prayer). I share it with you because it applies to you, it will change everything by the grace of God.

1) I have been focused on what God is NOT doing and being disappointed and resentful because of it.
2) David has been carrying our marriage when it comes to addressing walls between. I was a comfortable with complacency, and I relied on his sensitivity to certain situations and relied on him to bring up any problems that needed discussing. I imagine many marriages have one spouse who does a lot of the grunt work when it comes to the relationship dynamic, and I imagine that it's a lonely place. Since returning home, we've BOTH made a point of tackling walls AS SOON AS they come about. It's been helpful so far...
3) GOD has revealed to us that two things that HE desires for our marriage and for our family are JOY and AWE (yes we asked Him directly and waited in silence for His answer... it's part of the formation materials... I suggest trying it out!).

I hope this has given my readers (whoever/wherever you are) something to chew on. God is faithful and the fruits and graces of this retreat have been EVIDENT!!

God be praised!!

A thought that punched me in the soul...

At Mass the other day, a precious priest named Fr John at St Anthony of Padua (where we've been frequenting since moving here) said something that has changed me...

"YOU CANNOT BE A CHRISTIAN BY YOURSELF"

A Christian by definition means to love another person. So as much as I have been pushing to have my "alone time" so that I can pray and talk to God in silence, a real Christian means loving others!

No don't get me wrong, I know that personal prayer is ESSENTIAL for the life of a Christian, but as David says, "Prayer is not a reality without the other"...

Now how 'bout that for a game-changer?  Being a Christian REALLY means pouring myself out for David and for these guys... and whoever else God sends our way.

Living on Carrollton: Week 1

Shall I compare thee to a summer's house? Thou are more large and much more... filled with exactly the same stuff from our regular house... A summer house. That's what I'm thinking of our time in Holly Grove (that's what this area of NOLA is called... who new?)

We have been blessed abundantly throughout our first week here. David walks to work, Micah has slept through the night 3 of the 6 nights, we've had visitors almost EVERY day, the zoo, the aquarium, Creole Creamery... and to top it all off, we are preparing to go on a family retreat in North Carolina for Domestic Church. That's right, our whole family gets to go on retreat together for a week with our precious DC community (don't you wanna join DC now??!?!) David's sister and uncle's family live down the street, I have a cousin and his fiance' here as well. So we are not without family.

David has likened this week to being in a foreign country: nothing is done on automatic pilot. We have to actively think through everything. Where's the pots? How do I do laundry when it's on the second floor? Where is a flippin' Walgreen's? I can't find my teapot to boil water for the French Press bc I had to return the coffee pot to a friend before we left. Oh and we have an industrial kitchen (beautiful gas stove and restaurant size refrigerator)... but no freezer. I've discovered that a freezer is overrated; so is a stainless steel fridge. Those little fingerprints are impossible to get out.

We are, as I've mentioned earlier, living here until our house sells, so we're still praying for that. And if you're wondering what to pray for, it's THAT!

We are on Carrollton Avenue, which means we get to see and hear a little bit of everything. The children are totally intrigued by streetcars, and because it's been our practice to pray a "Hail Mary" when we hear a siren, we're pretty much getting a rosary's worth of 'em by sunset. And this is the view that we have from our front porch:

The house itself used to be a shelter for women and children in situations of domestic violence, so when people see a full family (not mention MEN) coming in and out of this house, they are quite intrigued.  A lot of people are asking if we bought the house... I want to say, "Thanks for thinking that we look like we could afford a half a million dollar mansion, but know, we're renting it for NOTHING." I just chuckle and say that we're renting for a little while. But it has brought many people to our door welcoming us to the neighborhood. One precious couple even brought us flowers!

David loves his job, and he has already been able to answer one of my burning questions: Do you have to do marriage prep weekends?!?! The answer is a lovely NO! The Archbishop is on vacation for the entire month of July, so David says that he can do all his messing up while Archbishop Aymond is gone, than be perfect by the time he returns. Unfortunately, though, he has already been hit up to go on the the March for Life, but I can't talk bad about the friend who suggested it because he's a priest now. You're lucky Fr Tim... you're lucky.

So that's week one...
And yes, we have two guest rooms and two pull-out couches, so what are you waiting for? July 21 (when we return from retreat) we're back open for the Dawson B and B... our summer house.

Didn't see that one coming, God!

Last Thursday, as we were preparing to send David off on his own to begin his new job in New Orleans while we stayed behind to sell our house, David received a call from the Archbioshop (Aymond... remember it, he will probably be a cardinal one day). He said to David something along the lines of: so I hear that you haven't been able to sell your house yet. I don't want you to live away from your family, so listen, the archdiocese owns a home that is vacant. Why don't you move your family into it until you sell your house in Lake Charles?

WOW! Generous, huh? So I asked David about a few things. Location? ACROSS THE STREET FROM HIS NEW JOB! How much is rent? FREE!! How long do we have? UP TO 6 MONTHS IF WE NEED IT! And my last question was "how big is it? Can we all fit?" Then I received this picture:

It was once a convent, then it was converted into a home for women and children in situations of domestic violence (The Crescent House) for almost 28 years, and just a few weeks ago, it became vacant. I have heard to called "The Cody Mansion"  by some. The archdiocese is planning to sell it, but Archbishop Aymond put that process on hold so that we could have somewhere to live. What man! What a boss! What a shepherd!

It's almost 5000 sq feet and has (not pictured) a side yard that has playground equipment that the Crescent House has (for now) left behind when they relocated. It's looks like a park on the side yard.

Why do I tell you all these details? Because we were at a stand still with our house, and we new our price was right and that we were doing what God was asking us to do, so we asked for help from Him. What asked for his Providence. We needed something to happen otherwise we were going to have to live apart for an unknown amount of time. This is what He came up with!! What sovereignty, huh?!?!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In All your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path."

Please don't think that I am some perfectly patient discern-er here. I was begging David to call someone and ask for a room for him at the Seminary (also across the street, where he use to live, which is ironic), and I got one fever blister, one cold, stress headaches almost daily, and was workin on an ulcer. But David was a precious companion and kept reminding us that God was going to take care of this. So we prayed, we trusted, we waited...

Now it means that in less than 4 days we will be packed up and gone, and this is difficult for us. It seems almost unbearable to leave behind ur precious friends and family.  I pray for peace and trust in His providence, which He has and is always so faithful with this. I place my hope in this and the joy of not having to live apart. I would have stayed in a tent if it meant that we could stay together, but THIS is what we have been given.

To my dear friends- I love you I love you I love you. God showered down so many of you into my life and you will FOREVER have a place in the deepest part of my heart. Know of my gratitude for your lives, your love, your children, and your laughter... and tears. God is faithful! He is sovereign, and His mother intercedes for our needs UNCEASINGLY!  Let us all keep that reality in our hearts to bring us consolation and hope.

I'll write again soon from our new place in New Orleans....

And now for something lighter...

David sent me this today, and I almost had an accident. Hope your continence is better than mine: