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Friends, Fun and Farewells

03 May 2011 by

We enjoyed a great trip to see our good friends ( and Cecilia’s God parents)  the Ceys this past weekend. We went to the beach in Galveston on Saturday. It was a beautiful day to be out on the beach. The girls dug for clam shells with live clams in them. Cecilia enjoyed countless hours of playing in the mud. Fulton  had a great time in the water before he fell asleep–the night before he was having some growing pains and was up a lot.  And the rest of the time, we  spent every spare moment just soaking in the good times before our friends relocate out of state.

There are very few that we have shared so much with over the last 7 years. Our reunions are always filled with the presence of Christ but even more so this weekend. Our families kneeling together and sharing our night time prayers left the greatest impression on me. Even our night time prayer is the same! Fulton leading us in the Divine Mercy Chaplet one evening, and all the children praying for each other with such love, left me with such gratitude to our Lord for blessing our lives with their friendship. I can still remember when the Holy Spirit prompted me to open our home to them when they were looking for an apartment 7 years ago. And they said yes! Our lives have never been the same since. Blessed be God!

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The Blessing of the MBOC

11 Apr 2011 by

The Mystical Body of Christ(MBOC) is a wonderful, amazing blessing. All of our intimate friends share at the Lord’s Table with us every Sunday. Not always at the same church or the same town, but we are all connected–we are all one–in the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a gift. But of course, the best part of the gift comes when you unwrap it.

Through the years we have enjoyed unwrapping this gift over and over as we meet new families that come to our parish, or we say good-bye to great friends who move away and our friendship continues to bloom across the distance. We make memories celebrating the great feasts of our Church or celebrating the blessings of our families in the ordinary days of our lives. We support each other when we need it. We are honest and build each other up when we need that too. We share our lives and our families.

Yesterday at Mass, the kids and I were sitting in the front pew and Adam had to serve as an alcolyte. Our friend Peter was  behind us (and his wife was in the back with the baby) and another family we have recently gotten to know was to our right. And actually it was just the dad, Ryan, and the two older girls (ages 4 and 5) because his wife was in the back with their baby.  During the Eucharist prayer, Fulton had to go to the bathroom. Rather than parade (because that’s what it would have been) all four kids out from the front row, I took him and the baby and asked Peter to keep an eye on Therese and Muffin. We managed to come back by the beginning of the Agnus Dei. But as we were coming back, Ryan left with one of his girls, leaving the other in the pew by herself. So the time to go to communion came and Ryan hadn’t returned. Thankfully his daughter knows us (and loves Therese) and so she went up with our family. Holding up the communion line for a couple of minutes, there I was blessed with these 5 wonderful children. And in that moment I felt truly blessed that we know, trust, and are at ease with the people sitting around us in the pews at church to step in and help one another with our children.

I have to play ‘single parent’ today and tomorrow as Adam is busy with a work project and unavailable to us. In a semi-disastrous and challenging moment taking the kids to class at church today, our dear friend Elizabeth who’s baby I watch once a week gave me a much needed hug and later her husband called to invite themselves to bring us dinner tomorrow night.

These are the  sweet gifts of our friends in Christ. Thank you friends!

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Mayborn Museum in Waco

30 Mar 2011 by

Today we met up with Fulton’s God parents in Waco at the Mayborn Museum. That has got to be my favorite local children’s museum. It was great to see our friend and our God son. The kids had a great time despite having to eat lunch outside in the cold.

There were discovery rooms with animals and insects; physical science; earth science (with a really cool tornado); the mammoth excavations; anatomy; sound; optics; simple machines; play cars; bubbles (which I would recommend bringing a change of clothes). It was a great time. It was hard to leave.

Category: Family, Friends, Homeschooling  One Comment

Renaissance Field Trips

11 Nov 2010 by

Last week was field trip week for our little home school. Tuesday we left for Houston to visit our dear friends, the Ceys, and learn more about the Renaissance period since it is part of our history curriculum.

Wednesday we went to the school days of the Renaissance Festival. Thankfully the ‘school days’ are quite a bit more toned down than the regular days which Mrs. Cey and I quite appreciated.  We went to watch the Cast in Bronze (the guy who play an organ like contraption but it plays bells–really  LOUD bells).  We stayed for two minutes and left because it was SO loud and the kids had insisted on sitting in the front. Then we watched the birds of prey and the jousting. We walked about a bit and saw some of the trade skills. I let the kids ride one ride and our day was complete.

Thursday we took the kids to the Houston Museum of Art to enjoy some artwork from the Renaissance period.  Then we enjoyed a picnic and ran over to the Natural Science Museum to watch “Starry Night Express” at the planetarium. It was a perfect movie since both our home schools are studying astronomy as well. Afterward we took the kids to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Thank you to our wonderful friends for hosting us and sharing this adventure with us!!

Category: Friends, Homeschooling  One Comment

TAL Dinner

28 Oct 2010 by

I know this is old news.  You’ll see why I’ve been so busy in my next post.

We had a great time with great friends at the Texas Alliance for Life dinner. Abby Johnson was awesome!

Here we are with Sr. Mary Judith and Sr. Mary Jacinta.  Blessing to see them again. Sr. Mary Jacinta hooked me up with some fabulous plays that the sisters wrote on Blessed Imelda Lambertini and St. Tarcisius for their sacrament prep kids that we will hopefully use for ours.

Category: Friends  2 Comments

The things my kids say

07 Oct 2010 by

Can you guess who said these?

After this child fell down…“Mommy, I have a sky scraper on my knee.”

At dinner time, spooning up some quinoa…“Ok, little quinoa. Get on the boat. Time to go to my tummy.”

“When I become a boy like Fulton, I’m going to pee standing up.”

This morning on the way home from Mass…“When you have two more babies, can we have a bigger van?”

Category: Friends  3 Comments

Welcome Corbin!

19 Sep 2010 by
We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called according to his decree. Those whom he foreknew he predestined to share the image of his Son, that the Son might be the first-born of many brothers. Those he predestined he likewise called; those he called he also justified; and those he justified he in turn glorified. What shall we say after that? If God is for us, who can be against us? Is it possible that he who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for the sake of us all will not grant us all things besides? (Rom 8: 28-32)

We are honored and blessed to welcome a new God son to our spiritual family! Corbin was baptized this afternoon and became a son of God and brother in Christ.

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The Dominican Doctor

29 Apr 2010 by

Congratulations to Sr. Mary Elizabeth who successfully defended her dissertation in electrical engineering!

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A Visit from California

27 Apr 2010 by

We were blessed last week to have the Shearer family come to Austin to visit us (and their own families of course) from California where they now reside. It was great to see our God son, Gabriel again. And in turn, Fulton was so excited to see his God parents. He enjoyed coloring and having a few moments of time with his God mother and God father. Our kids (and we) were sad to see them leave, but we’ll look forward to another visit soon. After all, first communions will be here before we know it!

Fulton and “Uncle Andrew” and “Auntie Elizabeth.”

The God fathers and the God sons.

Gabe entertaining Muffin.

Our wonderfully silly kids! (Gianna, Kolbe, Malia, Therese, Fulton and Gabriel)

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To All My Aggie Friends

19 Mar 2010 by

Go Boilers!

Category: Family, Friends, Fun  2 Comments
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