Chrysostom at Christmas

Chrysostom sent me this link to an article about his Christmas CD. Ok, not his personal CD, but I believe he's on there. ;)

Summer Summary

This has been our busiest summer in a long time. We have had lots of guests cycling through which, when combined with a new baby, has made life a little wacky. With our final out of town friend flying home Sunday and public schools starting Tuesday, I think we will finally settle into our usual routine soon.

Some summertime highlights:

Thomas' tomatoes, which were blooms when last mentioned, made it to the table earlier this week as a topping for falafel. We've been given other garden tomatoes this summer, but these were THE BEST tomatoes I've ever tasted. And he was very proud.

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While my parents were here in July, we had a wonderful day in Washington DC. We walked only 3.5 miles that day, but it took us several hours. Here's a picture of everyone in front of Union Station:

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My sister Catherine helped me make a 10th Anniversary quilt for Bill while he was at Airborne school. We cut up old clothes and patched them together. The quilt went through several phases of design and development (at one point Catherine called it "assaultive") and a few crises of confidence. I think the final result is pleasing and warm. I'm about halfway through the quilting:

The larger blocks are from the "Special Delivery" outfits that Aunt Paulette sent each of the kids with their birth weight and date etc, and the kids each picked a special new fabric to border their own block. Maria and Catherine embroidered a block for Joseph. Bill and I have a special block which is cut from some of my old pjs. It says "happiness" and Catherine embroidered our wedding date on it.

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We started back to school a few weeks ago so I could get used to the new subjects we are teaching this year. The biggest change is that we are adding in Latin which I have never studied. So far it has gone well, and Anthony impressed a priest at church last week by translating, "In principio erat Verbum" which is carved on the ambo. Anthony has also started making his own Latin chant audio tapes.

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Bill's Airborne experience sounds like it was both exciting and painful. He showed me a DVD of the different training exercises. Apparently being Airborne is a lot more about falling on rocks than it is about parachutes. Still, I'm jealous that he got to jump out of planes and I didn't, and we are all proud when we see his new set of wings on his uniform.

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Cecilia turned 4 in July. That will have to be its own post, but one of the privileges that came with age is that she could go to VBS. The first day she was awake at 6:30 am grinning at the prospect of being a preschooler and choosing her outfit. VBS was at 6:30 pm so it was kind of a long day of anticipation.

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James has become quite articulate, coming up to me and saying things like, "Mommy, I want to show you somefing." He also can chant Latin verb conjugations and knows the meaning of "In principio erat Verbum." He goes to a really good school. ;)

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Today Charles read the words "hot dog" multiple times in the book Harry By the Sea. What a relief! He has been excited about being an official Kindergartener but not so much about the actual learning.

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Maria has been quite crafty this summer. She knitted a scarf with Catherine and started a blanket. She has worked on her latchhook from Grandma and has made little window ornaments and friendship bracelets. Right now, she is upstairs reading Harry Potter 2...again.

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And Joseph. He's practically perfect in everyway. He also has so far avoided being photograped for his August post.

A little humor

Bill is often told that I must be a saint which I strongly object to, mostly because that would require me to be dead.

10 Blessed and Happy Years!

Our 10th anniversary seems like the perfect time to do a top 10 list...

10. (3rd) Having a Sulk--We don't fight, but we do occasionally have crabby moments. On our third anniversary we had one during our lovely dinner out.

9. (2nd) Ranger School--Husband being food and sleep deprived in another state while wife is 1st trimester sick and caring for year-old twins. Of course, no phone calls from Ranger School.

8. (6th) Afghanistan--This rates above Ranger School simply because Bill could call.

7. (10th) The Plague--Bill will be home from Airborne School tomorrow, but the rest of the family is either sick right now, getting over being sick or about to get sick.

5. (7th and 8th) The Nonniversaries--We can't remember them.

4. (9th) Total Disconnect--I was out working on a homeschool conference and then went to a dinner for the planners. Instead of meeting me there, Bill used the sitter we had lined up so he could take Anthony to the ER to get his foot x-rayed.

3. (4th) Command Team Dinner--We got to spend the evening with the battalion and company commanders of Bill's unit. Well, at least we were in Hawaii....

2. (1st anniversary!) Waffle House--Uncle Charles babysat, but in the small town where we lived the only "restaurant" open was the Waffle House. We ate smoke with a side of grease for dinner.

and..........

1. The Best Anniversary so far was our 5th. Friends graciously offered to watch our 4 kids (including a breastfeeder) while we stayed overnight in downtown Honolulu. It was really a lot of fun until Bill got hit by a car as we were walking to breakfast.

May we be blessed with another 10 wonderful years of marriage. :)

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Happy 10th to John and Theresa and to Aunt Paulette and Uncle Ed too!

Thought for the Day

This is what Anthony asked to do today: cuddle on the couch and read Joseph a book. He chose Joseph's Hands. And Joseph paid close attention.

Maria's First Holy Communion

“Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

What is it, my dear niece, that so many Old Testament figures longed to see, but did not, that you see with your eyes and hear with your ears? The reality of sin was stamped upon the minds of the patriarchs from Adam to St. Joseph; it was woven into the sight of the prophets from Moses to St. John the Baptist. Each of them knew they owed an infinite debt to God, and that one day that debt would be paid by a perfect sacrifice, the death of Christ Jesus our Lord. “To Him all the prophets testify,” says St. Peter.

You know the stories. When Abel offered his sacrifice to God, it was from the flocks, but he knew even as he offered them up, that there was another to Whom they pointed, for “it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin.” When Melchisedek, priest of God most high, offered bread and wine in sacrifice, he was well aware that the Almighty God does not eat our food but that these offerings were a foreshadowing of the One Who was to come later. When Abraham laid the wood upon the shoulder of Isaac, but by the command of God did not slaughter him, he foretold to his son that God would provide. All of these offered sacrifice, but they did not see the One for Whom they longed.

Moses ordered the children of Israel to offer a lamb as the Passover sacrifice, but as they repeated that ritual year after year, it only became more and more painfully obvious that it was another Lamb they were waiting for. Even as St. Joseph, foster-father of the Son of God, brought the baby Jesus to the temple and offered two turtle-doves according to the custom of the Law of Moses, he knew that his Son would fulfill everything in that Law by His own sacrifice, but the head of the Holy Family died before his eyes beheld the redemption of the human race. And St. John the Baptist, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, pointed with his finger and cried out, “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world!” thus indicating that this was the true victim of sacrifice, but he too ended his earthly course before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Now, however, the eyes of a young girl see before her the sacrifice of Calvary, Jesus immolated on the cross. What are the words she hears? “This is My body. This is the cup of My blood.” For these are not just words, but sacramental words. The bread and wine are not mere earthly elements, but sacramental elements. Together, they are not just symbols, but sacramental signs—things which not only point to another reality, but actually cause it to be present. Jesus our God is present in His Body and Blood. But that is not the limit to our understanding. He is not simply present, but present as He was sacrificed on the cross. For what do the separate elements signify, if not that the Body and Blood are not together, just as they were not together in His saving death? So, Christ on this altar is the same Christ on the altar of the cross. The sacrifice is the same—only the manner of its offering is different.

“Blessed,” therefore, “are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. Amen, I say to you”—whether sacramental presence or the original presence of sensible realities long ago—“many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it.”

“Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.” Is that true? Is it enough? If it were, then the one who hears the word without understanding has nothing to fear; the one who hears the word with joy but has no root need not fear persecution; worldly anxiety and the lure of riches should bother us not at all.

To the contrary, there is one who is said to have “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” She heard the word and understood it. There is no greater patron saint, my dear niece, than the one to whom we address the prayer, Ave Maria. If you—if anyone—would be that soil whose seed bears a hundredfold fruit in life everlasting, the seed of a worthy reception of Holy Communion—be it the first or the ten thousandth time—imitate her pondering of the Word of God who first conceived in faith before she received in her flesh Him Who is about to be received in yours.--Given by Uncle Fr. Chrystostom at Maria's First Holy Communion, July 13, 2008.

Joseph's Journal--July

Here you are with your cousin Monica when everyone came to visit for Maria's First Holy Communion.

You can roll in both directions, but you prefer to stop on your side. You want to sit up and be a part of the action, so the bumbo Mrs. Reitemeyer gave you has been perfect. Now you can sit on the counter and talk to me while I'm cooking. You love the attention, and we all love giving it to you!