When I Think Of Home

Thank God it's Friday!  I mean it.  This week has been all sorts of crazy.  First my niece who visited from Texas had such troubles getting out of Ohio.  Her flight was delayed a couple of times. Her original flight was supposed to leave around 2pm then due to weather issues in the South it got moved to 3:30 then 4:30 then it got cancelled so they re-routed her to a flight that was supposed to leave at 9pm then it got delayed to 10:45 then to 11pm.  So I just told her to re-book her flight for the following day, we picked her back up from the airport and she finally got to fly home the following day. Poor girl.

Then the baby got sick. He's still sick.

Then today we buried our dear Fr. Pendolphi.  The Mass was beautiful.  The homily was personal, funny and beautiful, it was delivered by Father's best friend.  He had us laughing and crying. I always thought Father Pendolphi was funny but I had no idea that he had an epic sense of humor.  It was such a good reminder to my children (and myself) that laughter and faith go together.  In the words of St. Teresa of Avila, "from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!"

I really thought it would feel weird to go back to our old parish but it wasn't.  It still felt like home. Father Dinovo was so kind, he told us we are always welcome and encouraged us to visit often.  We got to visit with old friends, priest friends, deacon friends, the Bishop and our coach/neighbor who catered the luncheon. I felt at home.  It's good to be home in the Catholic Church.

Tomorrow is another special day.  Our friends will celebrate the baptism of their two adopted children. They too will make their home in the Catholic Church. I don't typically cry at baptisms of friends but I might cry tomorrow :-)  Part of the crying will be because said friends are moving to Texas in August.

Sunday is also going to be a special day.  A friend is having a personal/baby shower.  She's pregnant with the fifth child so the shower is more for her than the baby.  I can't wait.  It's always a treat when I get to hang out with just the girls.

So all this week I've been thinking about home. Having lived in the West for more than 20 years I have sometimes felt lost - not (always) eating my own food, speaking my own language, not being among my people.  But upon closer reflection, I have come to realize that the Lord has been generous in providing me a home in the (Universal) Church. From the Philippines to Canada to the US, the Lord has seen to it that I have a home. A home amongst people of the same faith. They might not eat my food, speak my language or have the same skin color but we speak the same language of the Church. And the events of this week continues to reinforce that Divine generosity.  The Lord is home, the Church is home, the domestic church is home. I am home.  Hopefully, I will one day merit the eternal home.

So the next time you hear me complain about not being at home, feel free to point out my domestic church (laundry and all) or send me to the next Mass or homeschool event ;-)

St. Michael students line up the path as the funeral coach that carried Father's body pass by

two of our favorite priests look on 

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." - Psalm 23:6

Well Done, Good And Faithful Servant

I was hoping to post about all the fun we're having while my niece is here from Texas.  That will have to come later this week. 

We received word that our former pastor passed away suddenly. We have many fond memories of him including how he would introduce us to people not by our names but by how unique the names of our children are. He was particularly impressed with a couple of children middle-named Ireneaus and Ignatius. He loved the idea of naming children after the Church Fathers.

He was a lover of Truth even in the face of persecution.  For a while I kept clippings from the church bulletin specifically of his writings on the "pastor's corner".  I am particularly biased towards my love for him because he speaks my native tongue (Tagalog). He was stationed in the Philippines long enough to be conversant in the language. He marveled our children one time when he recited the Our Father to them in Tagalog (they recited it back to him in Latin). I also loved his story of how he had the best Christmas in the midst of the poverty in the Philippines.  He was a big part of why we did not leave that parish even after moving away from it's boundaries.  

I remember when our diocese was awaiting the announcement of a new bishop, he said: "I cannot wait to find out who the Holy Spirit will send and to whom I will pledge my obedience".  We've had so many more of those jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, faith-challenging moments through the many years we were at St. Michael.  We always left the Mass challenged to examine how we live and to live it in a holier way.

He was also welcoming to our homeschool group, welcoming our use of the undercroft for our game/dance nights and Christmas pageant.  I also remember the amazing homily he delivered at our homeschool mom's day of reflection. He asked me why I homeschooled and after hearing my response he nodded and told me "I respect that".  He understood our desire to preserve the Catholic identity of our children.  He knew of our desire to raise our children knowing why they believe what they believe. 

I have more stories I could write but for now I will keep all of those in the memory of my heart.

To our dear Fr. Richard Pendolphi, as the line from the Songs of Farewell goes - May Christ, who called you, take you to himself; may angels lead you to the bosom of Abraham.  

Well done, good and faithful servant!

I think this was taken either on his birthday or a sacerdotal anniversary, we only had three kids back then

First Communion of our oldest

our last photo with him as we bid farewell when he got transferred to another parish

In your charity, please pray for the repose of his soul and for all of us who are mourning this great loss.

The Baking Girl: Confirmation and Easter Cake

The girl made a special cake for Easter this year as she tries her hand on using a lamb-shaped cake mold.  She also volunteered to bake the cake for big brother's Confirmation. 

icing the Confirmation cake

using a dove-shaped (Holy Spirit) cookie cutter to decorate

et voila! Confirmation cake

the Easter lamb cake, I wish now that I took pictures of how she made this but Easter is always a busy time around here

Since there are 50 days of Easter, we have a lot of excuse to eat more cake!

The Baking Girl: Sports-Themed Cakes

The girl has been busy trying to perfect her favorite egg-less cake - recipe here.  We love that condensed milk is used so the cake is moist and perfectly sweet.  The icing recipe is different since it does not use powdered sugar.  It has become our favorite.  Here are a couple of what she made:

a volleyball cake for her favorite sport

a baseball cake for her brothers

Now we need to play more sports to burn off these calories! 

A Great Dad

My husband recently celebrated his birthday.  The kids were quick to prepare for the special day and the girl was up especially early to make her dad a surprise breakfast in bed-

I love this "DAD" pancake

a sweet hand-made card from the middle child, he really is a great dad who is always there for the kids - through the laughter and the crying, fishing, camping, baseball, basketball, volleyball, Science, annoying Math problems, the big questions of morality, faith and life, a great teacher by example of what it is to be a man (I Kings 2:2) to his little boys and for the girl, well, she is well-guarded LOL.  He makes us laugh, a lot.  If I wrote anymore there wouldn't be anything to write for Father's Day ;-)

He is the best dad.

Surviving Spring

I didn't intend to be so quiet over here.  Spring allergies have rendered me practically useless (and) sedated for about a week and a half.  Today is the first day it has eased enough that I could sit outside (for 2 seconds!) without sneezing my brains out.  I have posts on queue about Confirmation and my siblings' visit, Mother's Day and also a new page that the girl asked me to make for her.  She wants to chronicle her baking and cooking adventures which I thought was a great idea. It is currently empty until I get my brains around posting links to old baking posts and also create new ones. The girl doesn't realize now that she has a page on this blog she might have to bake more often ;-)

Thank you to those of you loyal readers who visit here everyday.  I promise to write a little bit more each week once the allergies ease.  In the meantime, before the Benadryl kicks in let me share some photos:

beautiful phlox but not so nice for allergic people like me

husband and oldest child doing yard work...

...while the girl slaves over making me a good cup of coffee :-)

he was bent on making a diamond pattern on the grass

I hope you are all having a wonderful Spring.  I love these early days when it's still fun to sit outside before the mosquitoes appear.  I love that I spend a lot of these days sleeping, thank you Benadryl :-)