This Is It

In a matter of hours our oldest will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.  I am a Sacrament cryer.  I cried tears of joy at our children's Baptism, First Reconciliation and First Communion. This year I started crying early - during Confirmation practice LOL. I think the Holy Spirit gave me the gift of tears :-)

After Mass on Sunday the boy blurted out how he just can't wait, he's so excited that he can't sleep.  I asked him why and he said to me: "Mom, I have no memory of my baptism. This Sacrament is something I freely choose, something I will have a memory of.  This is it.  This is it until the next Sacrament I freely choose - to get married or become a priest".

And that ladies and gentlemen, is why I do what I do.  Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

he worked hard for this much-coveted Confirmation class award

update: - and how appropriate that the Pope is currently doing a series of catechesis on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, for today's General Audience he talks about the gift of Understanding -  http://en.radiovaticana.va/articolo.asp?c=795152

Celebrating Saints In Rome and At Home

Wow, what an incredible day for Catholics with two popes canonized on the beautiful Feast of Divine Mercy! My heart is so full of joy, I have been so emotional since Easter Sunday anyway and today everything just boiled over.  I am saving the rest of my (joyful) tears for Wednesday when my oldest receives the Sacrament of Confirmation. As usual, in moments like these I don't have a lot of words so I will just share photos:

a coloring page from Fenestrae Fidei

a new addition to our gallery of saints - a holy card display around the whiteboard

even my phone is Catholic ;-) JPII has been my constant prayer partner, my three-year-old learned to pray the rosary in Latin with him

watching Pope Emeritus on tv, I think he too is a saint. I'm a fan of his works, his words and his mind. I always end up wanting to be a better lover of Christ after reading his books. I love him.

goosebumps moment

cuddling with my oldest while watching the canonization Mass

he fell asleep after the homily... I pray everyday for his sainthood

an insert from our church bulletin, I will be framing this

here we were chanting the Divine Mercy chaplet, I am super-biased but my three-year-old is so cute when he chants the chaplet. Do you close your eyes when you pray?  The kid who took this picture obviously doesn't LOL

and finally...my husband's to-do list before my siblings arrive from Texas and Canada tomorrow will definitely earn him a place in heaven :-)

How did you celebrate today?

The Florida Room DIY Saga

As promised, here is the story of our Florida room project - in (lots of) pictures:

hubby and youngest inspecting tools, remember this "well-loved" carpet, this is the last time you will see it ;-)

don't you love the dingy door and wooden panel walls? I don't miss it

hubby and oldest taking the first door out

on the job training for the oldest

the ceiling in all it's 70's glory

carpet out, new doors in - it's time to paint (and paint and paint and paint ad infinitum)- thank God for paint rebates

I'm not complaining, all I did was take pictures and bark out orders ;-)

500 coats of primer later, he was still painting

it was the never-ending paint job

every child was hired for the job

then it was time to lay down the new floor

working into the night so we can beat the Easter deadline and keep the Triduum holy

before the final piece of flooring was put down the kids wrote on the concrete - a testimony of their hardwork and my picture taking skills ;-)

to make up for the fact that I did not take any pictures of the middle child helping with the Florida room I had him wash the living room windows so it doesn't look like we both didn't do anything to help the DIY cause

this is what the Florida room looks like today, it's a basketball court until I make up my mind what to do with the extra space and finish up the decorating

I love the blue ceiling

I love this room

What I didn't capture was all the annoyances and setbacks of imperfect walls, floors and the constant ticking of the deadline clock.  I think DIY projects are saint-makers, this is part of my encountering Christ anew LOL.  Fortunately for my husband the next opportunity for sainthood won't be for a couple more months years.

PS - My husband reminded me about the lamps

I suggested just spray painting this but this had wiring issues that paint can't fix

 and here's the new one:

Easter And A Birthday

 "And even when you were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of the flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with it's legal claims, nailing it to the cross; despoiling the principalities and the powers, he made a public spectacle of them, leading them away in triumph by it." - Colossians 2:13-15

Alleluia, He is Risen!

Happy Easter Monday.  I hope you all had a blessed and fruitful Lent. It has been one of the most powerful Lenten season in my life.  Maybe because last year was a rough year, I don't know.  All I know is that I met Christ in this journey, not that I've not met Him before but this time it was in a new and different way. Cor ad cor loquitur. Heart speaking to heart. That is the only way to describe it. For each one of us the encounter with Christ is different but for all of us it is always life-changing. I know mine has changed and for those areas where my will has to bend for change I will need an abundant supply of grace. It has challenged me to truly put on the new man as reflected on my chosen Scripture theme for Lent-  "Your inmost being must be renewed, and you must put on the new man." - Ephesians 4:23-29  

I wasn't sure in the beginning what that passage meant for me or what it would look like within and after the 40 days.  I think I know now what it means and I pray that God's sufficient grace will sustain my fervor. 

I won't bore with you with updates of the "fun" details of our DIY projects today.  Maybe tomorrow ;-)  For today I am sharing some Easter photos:

you know my seasonal posts isn't complete without our Easter decorations, the girl has taken over this job from me and she does a great job.  She made the egg bouquet in the middle of the chandelier. 

our Easter altar

coloring eggs with their cousin Kelsey

getting ready for Mass, my goofy boys

the baby refuses to be in this picture

everyone is in this picture but there's an unhappy, Spring allergy-suffering child.  One of these days I will have a perfect Easter photo ;-)

hunting for eggs in the backyard with cousins and friends

as usual we forgot to hand out the eggs at the party so if you need hard boiled eggs we have 'em!

a surprise breakfast in bed on a day that I have actually forgotten because we have been so busy with the DIY projects LOL - what a privilege to celebrate a birthday during the Easter season, what a privilege to be a mother to these thoughtful kids

Advent candle doubles as a birthday candle LOL

I am spoiled

and before I forget- this is how amazing my ten-year-old daughter is - she baked this Easter lamb cake all by herself. I will share the recipe for this yummy egg-less cake sometime soon. It is delicious and I love that girl!

A happy and blessed Easter season to all. 

Spring Cleaning/Renovation,Confirmation, etc., etc.

We're in the midst of DIY-renovation chaos over here so I am taking a quick break to blog for therapy :-)  What started out as a simple Spring cleaning checklist has become quite the project.  I am not complaining as the big stuff is all done by my husband.  All I have to do is that which I'm not good at - making decisions.  The kids have been a big help in tackling some of the smaller jobs.  

Currently there is bedroom furniture in the living room and our sun room (Florida room for Ohioans) is a battle zone.  I don't thrive on chaos but I am gritting my teeth and marching along.  It will be worth it in the end.  We are doing only what's absolutely necessary as most of our planned renovation money went to fixing cars and replacing the dishwasher (amongst other expenses that have skyrocketed with the new year).  So we committed to replacing one of the bedroom floors, re-paving our horribly pocked-marked driveway and the rest is all about updating the sun room.  That whole room has been deteriorating so we decided to put all our efforts in getting it back to an enjoyably livable space. The bedroom floor is a temporary fix for the vinyl tiles that have been peeling and cracking for years.  We intend to replace it with more sturdy floors as finances permit. 

We should be done in time for my sister and brother's visit for the Confirmation of my oldest. It's still amazing to me that I have lived in Ohio for almost 14 years yet this is the first time my brother will visit! We're always meeting up in Canada or Texas but not in Ohio. It's very exciting, my kids adore him and they cannot wait to take him places.  In fact, this morning alone they started writing a list of places they want to visit.  My brother is a kid at heart so they always have a blast with him.  My sister was chosen by the oldest as his Confirmation sponsor.  I think he made a great choice, she is a very holy person even if she doesn't think she is.

Here's a few pictures to share, I will post more of the sun room as we make progress -

the two oldest scraping out flooring that is older than they are

she's a good helper

working through the night

Back to the grind over here!

The Car, The Dishwasher and The Space Ship

So it looks like I won't get out of Lent a rich man.  After all the money spent on repairing, maintaining and resurrecting dying car(s) the dishwasher gasped it's last sputter mid-cycle. It's the irreparable kind of sputter, the one that said "out with the old, in with the new so part ye with thine hard-earned riches".  I have never despaired over things breaking before as I feign mastery of the virtue of (material) detachment.  But the dishwasher broke in the middle of the joyful planning of home improvement projects, the ones that should have been done three years ago. There's no room for replacing broken appliances in the budget. And, of course, once I started despairing over such a trivial thing (because, thank the Lord, we can actually afford to replace a dishwasher albeit sacrificially!) all the heartaches of the past year summoned itself into my brain.  Things that have already passed and smoothed over through God's grace came flooding back as I dramatically give over to another "why me, why these unending sorrows" moment.

As I lament this minor misfortune in prayer the prophet Jeremiah brought me back down to earth with today's reading: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress but still bears fruit"

That very image of roots stretched out to the stream brought me peace.  If I am truly rooted in Christ I have to have a detached heart from broken things, unbalanced budgets and all the minor (and major!) inconveniences of this earthly life.  It is a hard thing to practice in reality but the image of roots on the stream is where my peace lies (momentarily LOL).

Now that we know I have given all my alms to the car repair shop and the appliance store let us rejoice in the fact that I am gaining a space ship.  And for that alone I have gotten my money's worth.

the Spirit of Adventure

constructing the ship

cutest Martians ever

the blue plastic dishwasher wrap makes a good window

May your cars and dishwashers run smoothly today.