Deogratias

A Long Week

Last Sunday at 1:15 a.m. my mother passed away.  Although she had been in and out of the hospital alot this year, somehow I thought that she would pull through this.  She had pulmonary fibrosis and the ultimate cause of death was  hypoxia.

My mother was a very special lady and many, many people will miss her very much.  Aside from us, she is survived by her mother (who will turn 102 in June),  a sister (with whom she had lived for 23 years), two brothers, three sisters-in-law, many neices, nephews, grand neices and grand nephews and tons of friends.  There was a group of 5 ladies with whom my mother had been very best friends for about 60 years.  Also among the mourners was my dad, her ex-husband.  She was preceded in death by her father and older brother.

We had a very lovely Memorial Mass on Thursday in the church where she and my father were married over 50 years ago and where she attended mass at the time of her death.  She was buried in a nearby cemetary next to the grave of her father and the future grave of her mother and sister.

I am the executrix of her estate, so I spent the week trying to figure that all out.  Fortunately my cousin works for an estate attorney's office and she was able to help out with the paperwork.  We still have a great deal of business to attend to though, including going back to her home and picking up the things she left me.

I plan to put together a photo album and essay of my mom's life as soon as possible,   so stay tuned.

A little visitor

I had a nice trip to Pennsylvania, my mom is making some good improvements and everyone back home survived.  We're busy making plans for Nicholas' First Communion on Saturday.

Before I left on Saturday I snapped a few photos of the kids at the new house to show to my mom.  Here is a little visitor that Lee found in the process.

I haven't had time to look him up in the reptile book, but Lee put him back where he found him because he is supposed to be an eater of poisonous snakes.  We'll be glad to keep him around in that case!

More Prayers Please

My mom had to be hospitalized again today for the third time in the past month or so.  She is having difficulty breathing again and they're not sure the reason.  I spoke with her nurse tonight and she is going down for a CAT Scan tonight to rule out a blood clot in her lungs, although the nurse said they don't think she has one.  She is getting oxygen from a mask and this is helping quite a bit.

Here she is with the boys during our visit last summer.

Here are some prayers I found at this website.

Prayer for the Sick
Omnipotent and eternal God, the everlasting Salvation of those who believe, hear us on behalf of Thy sick servant, Madeline, for whom we beg the aid of Thy pitying mercy, that, with her bodily health restored, she may give thanks to Thee in Thy church. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for Doctors and Nurses
O merciful Father, who have wonderfully fashioned man in your own image, and have made his body to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, sanctify, we pray you, our doctors and nurses and all those whom you have called to study and practice the arts of healing the sick and the prevention of disease and pain. Strengthen them in body and soul, and bless their work, that they may give comfort to those for whose salvation your Son became Man, lived on this earth, healed the sick, and suffered and died on the Cross. Amen.

Trying to Sell a House

After what seems like months and months of running around like a crazy person, I finally have a moment to breathe.  I think that is because I decided to skip cooking tonight.  My house is clean, pretty much, and the kids are quiet and there is NOTHING going on!

We have decided to homeschool on Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and then take Thursdays and Fridays to clean house so that it will be ready for any potential buyer to stop by and look at it over the weekend.  I kind of like this schedule and wish we could keep it up year round.  But unfortunately 3 x 52 doesn't add up to 180, and even if it did we would have to take some weeks off sometime. 

I'm going to keep doing the math until I can find something like this that will work though because I'm really enjoying it right now.  There's nothing like lying around relaxing in a clean house!

Yesterday a Real Estate Broker came by to sign some paperwork so we can finally get our house listed on the MLS.  She is doing it for a flat fee so we won't have to pay her a commission - but we will pay the buying agent 3 percent.  The agent suggested that I send her 12 photos so we can draw potential buyers in, so that is what I did.  And I'm so proud of my clean house that I can't resist putting a few of them  here.

First of all, here is my very clean office:

This is where I am sitting right now - it does look a bit messier now though!

The office is a sitting room between our master bedroom and bath.  I really love that and am going to miss that.

Here is our bed where I just got finished taking a nap.  I was able to lie on the bed and listen to all the kids in the neighborhood play in the front yard.  I am going to miss that too (sometimes).

Here's our kitchen which is vacant at dinner time - for once.

And here is my little garden.  I'm sad because it is so small and I had to put it in pots this year. 

When we moved here exactly 7 years ago, I actually thought that we would stay here until the kids were grown.  Although they have done quite a bit of growing here, they'll grow up even more at the new house.

The other night I cried when I realized that when we moved here Jacob was Andrew's age.  It's amazing that in 7 short years our little boy went from a little 5 year old to a big teenager!  It will all fly by before we know it so it's time to enjoy it!

Nicholas' Opinion

I should be busy cleaning up to get ready for any potential buyers who might come our way and putting balloons on all of our signs to attract people to our house.  I'll get to that in a minute. 

Nicholas climbed in my bed and said something cute, innocent and yet sad that he had to even think about it. 

"You know, Mom, I saw the stupidest commercial on TV." 

"What?"

"It was this thing that you use for 3 months so you won't get pregnant. I mean how stupid is that?  Who wouldn't want a baby?"

Speaking of which, congratulations to Megan at Bases Loaded  who now has a BABY GIRL on deck!

Prayers for My Mom

My mom had surgery today.  It was angioplasty in her leg due to a blockage there.  When I spoke with her last night she was expecting the procedure to be easy and to return home tomorrow.  I'm assuming things went ok because she promised to have someone call me today in the event of problems.  Even so, she could still use prayers.

Thus, I'm offering up many prayers for her today -- for the health of her body and soul and her complete recovery from this problem which appeared prior to Easter and required her to spend the holiday weekend in the hospitalized. 

My prayers came in the form of formal prayers, Mass attendance and the offering up of suffering.  And trust me, there was quite a bit of suffering to offer up today.

First of all, I woke up today with pain in my back.  Even though I took two ibuprofen right away the pain didn't subside.  After returning from noon Mass, which was actually a funeral mass for someone I didn't know, I had to lie on the couch and the boys got me an ice pack.  I stayed there and read to the boys from that position. 

We read Prince Caspian, because there is a movie coming out and I have told them that they can't see the movie until we have finished the book.  It turns out the book is very entertaining and keeps them begging for more!    Then I read a little about Pope Benedict XVI in honor of his visit.

The great Catholic blogger Alice provided a link to a great resource on her blog with all kinds of information and reproducables about the pontiff called Celebrate the Visit, so we used that.  We learned all about the pope's childhood and career and then the boys completed some little worksheets.

Next while I was helping Alex practice piano Nicholas and I both got a little scare.  I'm somewhat emotional today and I got out of hand.  First Andrew came in and announced that they had three nests, and then Nicholas came in with three HUGE birds' nests in his hands.  I immediately screamed and told him to take them back quickly.  I was thinking #1) Poor mother and father birds were looking for their nests in which to raise their young and #2) all those germs which were all over Nicholas.

Nicholas ran off and I had to get Jacob to go find him so I could apologize.  I know I over-reacted and I was worried that my scream had scarred him for life.  He took it pretty well, accepting my apology, giving me a hug and assuring me that there were no eggs in the nest.  He washed his hands first though!

My back is still hurting, although not as badly as before.  And I've thanked God for looking after me by giving me this back-ache.  This way I didn't have to feel guilty for not taking Pame to the grocery store!  Because she asked Lee instead and he encouraged her to WALK to the store (less than a mile) in order to become more independent - and she did.  It paid off because she picked up a job application and was able to walk around and try on some clothes for fun.

After a brief make-shift dinner and sending the boys up for showers I was able to lie on the couch, drink a glass of wine and watch some great performances on American Idol and then re-watch them after Lee and Jacob came home from work/Boy Scouts.  Like Megan, I missed Michael Johns - if for any reason that he showed that a little boy that throws the game board up in the air in the middle of a game can grow up to be a seemingly well balanced adult.  I'll not reveal which one of my boys has done this, but his name begins with Al.  Not to mention the fact that MJ is cute and has a nice voice. 

A question I am wondering just now after completing this post is this:  Does offering up suffering count if you complain about it in your blog?  Maybe I should just erase t his entire post and then my prayers could be more productive.  Nah.  After all, I would like to publicize the prayer request for my mom.  Please pray for her!

A Preview of Things to Come

We've been blessed by lots of rain lately and our little spring/creek is overflowing.   This makes for a fun time for 5 boys and not so much fun for a little turtle.

This little guy shows scars from previous traumas -- animal bites no doubt (see the missing part of his shell) He or she didn't seem afraid of coming out of his shell in the hands of some rambunctious boys.

The boys didn't mind treking the entire length of the spring/creek in the chilly water.

With water up to their knees, it's hard to believe this spot was dry just last week.  It's a dry spring which we're hoping to dam up to make a nice little duck (and turtle)  habitat.

Physical Education

I've always been reluctant to begin a formal PE program around here for several reasons.  For one, I've always figured my kids didn't need it because they are so active already.  Just about every afternoon they play for hours and hours outside--sometimes it is a very active game and sometimes not--but for the most part they get plenty of exercise. 

For the most part I have the neighborhood kids to thank for a free PE class.  So many of them are always coming by and organizing some sort of game.  It's football in the fall, baseball in the spring and basketball in the winter. They also alternate between hide and seek (ghosts in the graveyard if it is at night) and four-square, bike and scooter riding and playing war.  And up until recently we had a trampoline which would contribute much physical activity.

Now that we're moving out of a neighborhood I have realized that we'll be pretty much our own, so I need to put something together to keep the guys active.  A few weeks ago I ordered a book called Homeschool Family Fitness from Catholic Heritage Curriculum.  We began strength training and walking this week and it has been wonderful in motivating my kids (and getting them tired out). 

After just three days we have seen an improvement in their skills and the boys are really enthused about it.  They're not too happy about having to walk or jog a mile, but they really do seem to have fun despite the complaints (see photo #1).  I did have one with an aching side and sore muscles yesterday (see photo #2) but that was motivation for me to work more on warming up, stretching and cooling down.

I'm really proud of Jacob for his enthusiasm and eagerness to get into better shape.  It is something he seems to really want to achieve. 

I'll keep you updated on our progress!

Our Easter

We sure had a group of handsome guys this year--thanks in part to my dad who generously bought a brand new suit for each of the boys.  This was the first time in a suit for the boys - except for the oldest two on their First Communion day.  Jacob was especially excited about it and said he plans to wear a suit every Sunday from now on.

I was not quite as dressy as the boys, but not for lack of trying--I just couldn't find anything in the stores that I really liked and that looked good on me.

The celebration began with the finding of the baskets very, very early.  So early, in fact, that I don't have any photos.

Then we got ready and went to 8 a.m. Mass.  Jacob and Alex didn't get to wear their jackets to church because they were volunteered for altar server duty. 

Next, we came home for a yummy bacon and egg breakfast and of course some candy.  The Easter Bunny wasn't quite as generous here as he was to our neighbors though, and Nicholas has reminded me of that several times.  Ian got season tickets to White Water and a HUGE chocolate bunny, or so I was told.

It's been a rough year for the extended family this year, so we decided to go out for Easter dinner instead of cooking.  I don't have any photos of the event, but all was yummy and quite relaxing.

After stuffing ourselves we headed over to our new house for an Easter egg hunt in the woods.

Nicholas found 23 eggs, as opposed to everyone elses 7 or 8.  Can you spell COMPETATIVE?!!  He found both eggs containing money and Grandma's special egg which earned him a prize.  He didn't care about the candy - in fact he gave a lot of it away.  He just wanted to win the most.

Afterwards we hung out in front of the house eating candy and taking some photos.

Pray the Divine Mercy Novena!

We began participating in the Feast of Mercy several years ago, and the graces we have received have been phenomenal.  It's not too late to begin now. The following are excerpts from passages at ewtn.com.  A link to the devotion is at the bottom of this post.

Jesus asked that the Feast of the Divine Mercy be preceded by a Novena to the Divine Mercy which would begin on Good Friday.  He gave St. Faustina an intention to pray for on each day of the Novena, saving for the last day the most difficult intention of all, the lukewarm and indifferent of whom He said:

"These souls cause Me more suffering than any others; it was from such souls that My soul felt the most revulsion in the Garden of Olives. It was on their account that I said: 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass Me by.' The last hope of salvation for them is to flee to My Mercy."

In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her:

"On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls."

The different souls prayed for on each day of the novena are:

DAY 1 (Good Friday) - All mankind, especially sinners

DAY  2 (Holy Saturday) - The souls of priests and religious

DAY 3 (Easter Sunday) - All devout and faithful souls

DAY 4 (Easter Monday) - Those who do not believe in Jesus and those who do not yet know Him

DAY  5 (Easter Tuesday) - The souls of separated brethren

DAY  6 (Easter Wednesday) - The meek and humble souls and the souls of children

DAY  7 (Easter Thursday) - The souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus' mercy

DAY  8 (Easter Friday) - The souls who are detained in purgatory;

DAY  9 (Easter Saturday) - The souls who have become lukewarm.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy may also be offered each day for the day's intention, but is not strictly necessary to the Novena.