First Confession For James!

The same day James was winning 2nd place in his den in the Pinewood Derby, he was also going to Confession for the very first time!  It was a very busy penance service, and I was super proud that James decided to go to a shorter line instead of trying to visit a certain priest.  He knew he would be going to Confession very often, so he knew he would have many more chances.

Clean soul!

Be Sealed With the Holy Spirit

Our First Confirmation!  My Patrick Dominic is confirmed!

 

 He chose my Godson, Michael to be his Sponsor.

 This is Patrick and my parents, and his Godfather (would you add a prayer for him?  He's got some health issues that we are praying for good news.  Thank you!).

 This is our AWESOME new bishop.  Bishop Burbidge set up the Confirmation to have a Mass (YES!) and he came and did 2 nights in a row at our parish. 

 

And of course, we had our priests there as well! 

7 Quick Takes: Saint Michael, Lucy's Birthday and More Lucy

7 Quick Takes

 

Linking up with Kelly for this weeks 7 quick takes! 

 

 

1).  We had the Archangels feast day on September 29, and I had this desire to wear leggings.  Little did I realize that my longing for comfort was also liturgical in nature!  Apparently, Saint Michael is the patron of leggings.  We don't often celebrate feast days, but both Lucy and I were happy to participate.

 

 

2). The newest Reynolds grandbaby had a Baptism, and sweet Joanna is lucky enough to have Tommy as Godfather. 

 

 

3). I sent a text to my local family to let them know that we were doing cake on Sunday for Lucy.  I had a small cake, and some ice cream.  I am not one for big parties anymore for little kids.  It's more fun just getting family together if you can to let the grownups talk.  I didn't think more than a handful would come, but was TOTALLY thrilled that ALL of them came!  I have 5 siblings local, and they came with their kids and so much joy to celebrate Lucy.  It was a quick visit, but absolutely perfect. I was so touched that they wanted to come and be together, but especially for my little "Light."

 

 

These boys are soo sweet with her. 

 

We would ask Lucy if she was having a birthday, and her response would be "cake."  She was excited for the cake, but I think in all her joy of the day she wasn't even ready to eat it!  (Walmart was selling cake mixes for a $1!  I didn't stock up, but I should have!)

 

 

4).  Lucy loves Barbie.  We watch the Barbie Princess movies, (something I implemented as soon as the kids started to go to school.  Ninjago and Lego Batman were out while I was exercising.  It was time for some girly movies!) and she was so excited with her new gifts. 

 

 

This photo is one of my favorites. 

 

5).  Because it is still Lucy's birthday week, I will give you more Lucy love.

 

 

 

6).  Some James school quotes, which I love.

"I don't like coloring, but I know I have to do it, so I do."  (insert heart emoji!)

"I want to be on K2 Superstar so I don't do anything wrong during the day."

(His teacher told me that he doesn't say ANYTHING in school, so of course he can focus on his work, and is on K2 superstar.  Which will involve a prize so who wouldn't want that??)

He comes home and wants to do homework right away.  I love it.  I know it won't last forever, but that sweet boy has so much joy!

 

7).  We are back in our busy routine of meetings, camping and workout nights.  My handsome husband works so hard, and I know he could use a pick me up.  We did enjoy the shooting range, but that can get expensive.  I want to be able to do date nights, but it's tough to schedule them, as well as find a good babysitter.  Patrick is technically old enough to watch the little guys, but I don't think I am ready to leave all 5 of them for a few hours.  And, though the older ones are self-sufficient and don't need the sitting, it is still expensive for all 5.  I know.  We are in the trenches and will be for a while, but it's so hard to be sure that we are making time for "us" in this busy life.  

 







William's First Communion

What a special gift on Mother's Day weekend to celebrate a First Communion! 

We were so excited to be able to share in the joy with my nephew, Robert.  He is the youngest of my sister's 4 boys.  Big day!

 

The Mass was beautiful.  My Tommy's sister-in-law led the young people's choir at the Mass, they sang my favorite "Oh God, Beyond All Praising" which caused me to cry (as usual.  "We'll triumph through our sorrows, and rise to bless you still.  To marvel at your beauty....").  It was lovely. 

  

I am a picture taker.  I take lots, and when it is a special day for my family, I start to worry.  I worry about the food, the photos, the clothes....yes, I worry about silly things.  We were running late before Mass, and didn't take pictures as much as I would have liked.  I started to worry during Mass that we needed propane to cook the meat after, and I made the mistake of sending Tommy home with 2 kids.  Our family split up, and there was no chance of taking any pictures at church.  Okay, we take them at the house. 

 

Well, no, that didn't happen either.  The grill wasn't working, so off came the suits for playtime, firing up the coals.  So things moved along, and we didn't do all that I hoped for.  But we did get some really important ones:

 

William and his Godfather Uncle Paul.

My girls.

His Godmother Aunt Jenn.

Grandma (with her heart doing much better) and Grandpa.

And Mani and Papa.

 

Everyone else.  

 

Not one of all my kids, or the family.  I was trying to "let it go" and not worry so much, but it was eating me up.  I just wanted my family (or my chickens, as my mom would say) in one photo.  Just one. 

Now, really I should laugh.  I should.  I shouldn't be such a worry wart.  The party was lovely, we had family together, and lots of leftovers.  But I like things just so, and I asked just one thing for Mother's Day.  And I got it.  Tired faces, not as nice outfits, but they (sort of) did it for me.

Our sweet friends came to our rescue before Mass, and we managed a little something.  It made the celebration of William's SECOND Communion just as special!  Tommy was the Eucharistic Minister at Mass and made sure he was on our side for William.  We were all smiling, and in truth, that is what it is ALL about!

Lent and it's sputtering start in our home

 Lent started the week after we had a week off of school and sputtered through the following week.  It was a tough start, as it always is, here, but it began perfectly for my William.  He made his first Confession on Tuesday, February 9.  So excited for May and his First Communion!

 Ash Wednesday was the next day, and James very grudgingly got ashes placed on his head, and Lucy was just totally unsure about the whole thing.  (Yes, I am one of the distracted mommies in church who takes a selfie in Mass).  I found that my ashes stayed quite long this year, just like my mom's used to do.  I never understood how she did that.  I still don't know the secret. 

We have been doing stations of the Cross at home, and we have been trying to get the kids more focused on them.  I have wanted to make the little votive candle holders with the stations on them, but I haven't been able to get my act together enough to prepare for that.  So I tried to just put out some little candles, just to see how the kids would do with the candles.  (It's hard to tell, but there are 14 candles)  I really wanted the mood of the candles, but the kids needed to read the station book, so we didn't manage it as much as I'd like.  But the snuffing and the flip chart are a great tool to get them involved.  We used the stations booklet from my sister Jenn's blog.  I need to make a better copy so we all can have one, and William had a box with props for each station.  All in all, except for the occasional fights over who's turn it was to snuff, and how hard it is to share the books, I think it went okay.

 Our favorite Father Juan had a holy hour for children (I called it for kids, and Patrick was indignant. "I'm not a kid" so I clarified.  "Kids and pre-teens.") and I just love the joy and love of Jesus that he reflects in all that he does, and the sweetness of the time with Jesus.  My favorite was the 3x we days, "Jesus, I want to be a saint." 

I have not put out the beans, as I forgot, but there are still 4 (!!) more weeks of Lent left.  Our newest priest, Father Noah, came to our home the weekend before Lent.  I hope he had a nice time, and I think James hugged him a total of 10 times while he was here.  Father was an eagle scout and we hope he will keep up in spending time with our scouts.  We played a version of Clue, and I don't think the noise of our family of 5 kids was too much, as he is coming from a family of 8 kids!

 

50 years, 7 children, 31 grandchildren: One Couple

 

I am filled with joy, gratitude and love as we celebrate the anniversary of my parents. 

50th anniversary. 

 We had a Mass offered by a priest family friend.  My siblings all joined together to help make a lovely celebration after the dinner.

 A beautiful vow renewal celebration. 

 Our mother's request, we sang "Panis Angelicus" in 4 part harmony, accompanied by our sister Jenn.

A small celebration afterward included 6 children and 20 of the 31 grandchildren, just a few priests and some dear friends.

 

 The oldest grandchild, Joseph, got a small message from each grand kid, and he made a video for the grandparents.  It was perfect!  I needed way more tissues than I anticipated.

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of life from my parents.  That room would have been empty except for the face that my parents came together in marriage.  Thank you for the gift of our faith and the joys that family brings.  Thank you for showing us the power of prayer, sacrifice, and your graces!