Our Lady of Sorrows

Holy Mother of God, hear the prayers of the Church for all mothers,especially those wearied by life and overcome by the suffering they bear for their children.

Beauty

No matter how beautiful the flower, it can not compare to the beauty of Life, Innocence, Hope, Mercy and Love. Our Lord shows us this beauty everyday, if we only look for it.

Sweet Singing!

While my husband and I were in the house watching the Nascar race, the kids wanted to play in our fifth wheel that is parked in our driveway. They love when the trailer is at our house. They get so excited about the upcoming adventure that they want to play and sleep in the trailer. They had been in there for a little while so I went out to check on them. (I of course took the camera just in case they were doing something cute!)

But what was so cute was the singing that was coming from the trailer. My son was leading the chorus and my daughter was following along as best as she could. What I heard was "Love him, love him, love him in the morning, love him in the noontime, love him, love him, love him when the sun goes down." It was a song about Jesus and how we should love him all the time. There was several different verses; serve him, trust him etc. It was very sweet and made their mother very proud!

Baby Sparrows

Yesterday we brought our fifth wheel trailer home to clean it up in preparation for our annual family reunion camping trip on Mothers Day Weekend. After the trailer had been at our house for awhile, my husband spotted a bird nest in a vent on the side of the trailer. When I looked at it I could see two sets of tail feathers! This made me very upset.

My husband had all ready put his camper shell back on our truck and restocked it with his tools. We also needed to start cleaning it up, so it was not an option to take it back to the storage facility. I talked to my Dad, but he was out of town so he had me call my sister's friend Cheri who is the animal queen. She has lots of animals and knows how to care for them. She said that if we got the nest out, we could feed them with a dropper overnight, and then she would take them when she got into town the next day.

My sister came over to help me. We devised a plan, made a food mixture up, got a box and were set to go. I tried to get the nest out, but was afraid to hurt the birds. My sister took over and was able to start pulling it out. As she pulled out this nest, there were four baby sparrows in it! They were not tiny babies, but had a full body of feathers. As the nest came out, the sparrows were probably scared, and away they flew. Three of them flew into the big tree in our front yard. The fourth flew through a window of the trailer. It was sitting on the pillow of our bed when I went in to find it. I was able to catch it. But when I was trying to feed it, it too flew into the tree!

I put their nest into the tree and left out some food and water for them. I am hopeful that they will be okay on their own. Since they flew so well, I hope that they were ready to leave their nest. It makes me sad that they don't have their mother around to help them out. I hope that they will survive and live in our big tree in our front yard.

I wish things like this didn't bother me so much. I have worried about those four little birds all day and night. This morning as I type this I have tears coming down my face. I keep thinking about Mathew 10:29 "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father." I will have to put them in his hands and trust that he will take care of them according to his will. I did what I could, and I now have to trust.

A Non-Partisan Joke

While walking down the street one day a US Senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in Heaven, met by St. Peter at the gate.
“Welcome,” says St. Peter. “Before settling in, there’s a problem. We seldom see a high official around here and we’re not sure what to do. “No problem, just let me in,” says the Senator. “Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from higher up. You’ll have to spend one day in hell and one in heaven, and choose where to spend eternity.”
“I’ve made up my mind. I’ll take heaven,” says the Senator. “I’m sorry, we have our rules.” St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open… he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. Standing in front of the clubhouse are all his friends and politicians who had worked with him. Everyone is very happy and smiling. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf, and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne. Also present is the devil, a very friendly guy having a good time dancing and telling jokes. They’re having such a good time that before he realizes it, it’s time to go. His friends give him a hearty farewell and wave while the elevator rises … up, up, up and the door reopens on Heaven where St. Peter is waiting.
“It’s time to visit heaven.” … 24 hours pass with some contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing harps and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours passed and St. Peter returns. “Well, you’ve spent a day in hell and one in heaven. Now choose your eternity.”
The Senator thinks a minute, and says: “I would never have said it before … Heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be happier in hell.”
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator … he goes down, down, down to hell. The elevator door open and he’s in a barren land covered with waste and garbage. His friends, dressed in rags, are picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.
The devil comes over and puts his arm around his shoulder. “I don’t understand,” stammers the Senator. “Yesterday there was a golf course and clubhouse here … we ate lobster, caviar; drank champagne, danced and had a great time. Now there’s just a wasteland of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?”


The devil smiles and says, “Yesterday we were campaigning … Today you voted.”

Today's Reading

Jesus said to his disciples: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit."

Oh how appropriate for this last weeks postings!

Beyond the Flowers

I have had fun going through all the pictures from my Father's Backyard. These are some of the other pictures I found that didn't have to do with his green thumb, but more to do with the man that he is. Above all he is a man of faith and it does not surprise me to find a statue of the Holy Family tucked away in a planter box. My father helped to raise us as a family of faith, which I believe is his greatest gift to us! And of course there would have to be a windmill! My father is a first generation American of Dutch decent. His parents immigrated to the United States with two young children and very little money. The family grew to nine children and prospered in this country.

An old mortal and pestle. I am not sure what the story behind this is but I bet it is either from my grandmother's ranch or from his parents house. It is a thing from the past that is to be treasured.

I thought this was a beautiful picture of the statute of Mary in the splendor of the roses.

This bird bath is fitting in the yard. My father has raised different types of birds including Parakeets and chickens. This is probably one of the very few times that I can remember that my dad doesn't have some type of bird. He is now just taking care of the wild ones in his yard.

And of course the most precious thing of all, our little Jeanie. This little stray appeared at my Grandmother's ranch one day. Because my Dad had his chickens there, he did not want stray cats hanging around. He set up a cage to catch her so he could take her to the SPCA, but she would not go in it. She also would not eat any of the food that he left out for her. She would just sit and watch him from afar. After quite sometime, he was finally able to win her over and she came to him. He was attached to her by that time, so he brought her home. He named her Jeanie. (That was my Grandmother's nickname for my Mom.) She is the sweetest cat and beautiful too. She is special to all us, especially my Dad. He now lays his pants on his bed just right so she can sleep in them!

I have enjoyed seeing things through different eyes. It has made me more aware of all the beauty that is around us that we don't see because we are too busy. It is something that I will have to work on. Just like the old saying "Stop to smell the Roses."

It has also made me appreciate how green my Dad's thumb is and how black mine is!

Papa's Grapes

My father has an incredible green thumb. He is usually doing something out in his yard or at my grandmother's ranch. He grows beautiful flowers, delicious fruit and interesting little bonsai plants. He always has some little project that he is working on.

Here he is watering one of his latest projects at my grandmother's house, his beef cattle. Notice the cute little grin, he knew I was taking his picture, but I don't think he realizes that it will be all over the Internet!

When I was at his house on Saturday, he had recently finished pruning his grapes. He had trimmed and thinned the grapes so that they will grow and become delicious. By pruning them, you could see all of the budding little bunches of grapes. I have never paid attention to them before. It was fun exploring all of the little plants!

In this next picture you can see how he has pruned the vines. He thins the fruit so that each bunch can grow to be the sweetest grapes.

The color is beautiful as well. It is such a delicate shade of green that will change into the purpley goodness of sweet grapes.

His grape vines traverse the whole back yard. They wrap around the fences, travel down the trellis wall, and down the original path that has been there since my youth. I don't think we ever didn't have grapes growing in the back yard. He has patiently trained them to grow where he wants them too. They are even on the fences out at my grandmother's ranch.

You can also see in this picture some of his little plantings. He also has Saigo Palms that he takes the pups off and plants them in little pots. He sells them and gives them away to friends and family.

It is just beautiful how the vines just give the backyard color and shade. In just a short time they will also provide fresh juicy grapes, my children's favorites.

My father's back yard is a place of beauty. It is a testament to his hard work and patience.

My Father's Backyard

This afternoon my husband was doing some repair work on my father's patio. So, me and the kids decided to join him and spend some time with Papa. I was walking around and started looking at the backyard in a different way then usual. It was mainly because his roses are in full bloom and the back yard was a burst of color. I was walking around looking for the names of the roses on each plant. In doing this, it made me see each individual aspect of the yard in its own light. It made me go home and get my camera. Here are just a few things that caught my eye.
The statue of the Virgin Mary that has been in the backyard for as long as I can remember. She has endured years of weather, but she still stands regal amongst the roses.

The "Henry Fonda Rose" that my Dad said was his favorite. It was beautiful.

Another one that my Dad said he thought was nice. It is called the "Electron Rose" I have one in my front yard, but it does not compare to my Dad's.

One of the many bushes and shrubs that he has sculptured. It is hard to really see in this picture but it is very cute with all the different little tiers that it has.

Some of the orange blossoms that will turn into the best Oranges you have ever tasted. They belong to a "Washington Naval" orange tree.

Boysenberries that are just starting to appear. These remind me of my Mother and her great Boysenberry Jam. Maybe I will try and make some this year.

These are just a very few of the many things that caught my eye today. I plan on getting them together along with some thoughts on the Wonderful Father who grew all these things with hard work, patience and most importantly love.

Feeling Lousy Again!

I have been feeling lousy again! I never quite got over a cold with a bad cough from three weeks ago. I was starting to feel better when I started feeling bad again on Sunday. This past week has been long because of the bad cough. I finally made it a point to go to the doctor today, and all I got was an inhaler! No antibiotic, no codeine cough syrup, nothing but a stupid inhailer! I sure hope the double shot of Nyquil I just took will help me sleep tonight because I don't have a lot of faith in the inhailer!

Anyway, I didn't feel like doing a whole lot the last couple of days. This evening after dinner the kids put on Winter caps and socks on their hands for gloves! They looked pretty funny so I grabbed the camera. We had fun snapping all sorts of photos of them goofing off. Daddy even came in and watched us from the other couch. It was the only sort of fun that I had energy for. Here are some of the photos that I took. I am sorry for anyone who is getting tired of seeing pictures of my kids. I have just been having so much fun playing with my digital camera that I finally can download to my computer! It only took me four years to figure it all out, and now I can put them on a blog!

This is what started it all!

Notice the lovely clean faces that they both have!

This was taken after I cleaned them!

Being very dramatic

Her normal spunky self

Probably one of my favorite photos of him!

I just told him he could have 6 cookies if he did a good job on his mass reading!

I hope that he continues to always be my sweet little boy.

How about you add just one more cookie Mommy!

Daddy and his little girl!

I would probably not have these wonderful pictures if I wasn't blogging!

Cropping Fun!

I was playing around with cropping and suddenly I had this picture! I love it! It is slightly grainy because of cropping in close but I think it is too cute! I will have to try it now in black and white. I hope it looks good on the black background! Now I need to get photoshop so I will not get anything done!

Sleeping Beauty

This picture was taken on a Saturday afternoon. I had asked her about twenty minutes before this about taking a nap. "I'm not tired Mommy" she told me. Since I was blogging, I told her that she could play for a little bit longer. Somewhere she found a "mimi" or a pacifier and that was all it took. When my son came into the kitchen, I asked him if his sister was in her room. "No Mommy, she is in the Family room on the chair." I went in there to get her for her nap, and this is how I found her. Fast asleep, with her feet on the ground and her body in the chair. I lifted up the recliner part to help her sleep longer. You can see that her shirt is lifted up. This means that she found the mimi and started rubbing her belly button. Once that starts, she is out in seconds. So much for not being tired!

The other picture I posted was just the way I found her one evening. I took the picture and she didn't even wake up. She has always been my good sleeper, her only problem is that she likes to wake up too early!!

WW - Sleeping Beauty

Happy WW! For more great pictures check out 5minutesformom.com.

Kindergarten Mass

This is my son, he is only five years old. He is in Kindergarten. He attends a Catholic School. He has been chosen to read for the Kindergarten Mass on May 2nd. This is the paragraph that he gets to read. It is from Acts 18, 9-18.

During Gallio's proconsulship in Achaia, the Jews rose in a body against Paul and brought him before the bench. "This fellow," they charged, "is influencing people to worship God in ways that are against the law." Paul was about to speak in self-defense when Gallio said to the Jews: "If it were a crime or a serious fraud, I would give you Jews a patient and reasonable hearing. But since this is a dispute about terminology and titles and your own law, you must see to it yourselves. I refuse to judge such matters." With that, he dismissed them from the court. Then they all pounced on Sosthenes, a leading man of the synagogue, and beat him in full view of the bench; but Gallio paid no attention to it.

When I first read this, I said "You have got to be kidding!" When I showed my husband, he said "You have got to be kidding!" When I showed, never mind, you get the picture. We cannot believe that this is the reading for the Kindergarten Mass!

He is excited to do it and has actually been doing pretty good the few times that he has read it. We had fun tonight thinking of ways to remember how to say Sosthenes. It ended up being "sauce on the knees" I just hope he doesn't say it like that at mass!

Monday Weigh In

The last two weeks were tough for me. I am an emotional eater and with all the emotions I have been dealing with it was tough. I lost two pounds the first week, but I didn't lose anything this week. The good thing is I didn't gain anything! This is an accomplishment for me!

I am going to concentrate on drinking my water and writing down what I eat this week. I think if I can accomplish that, I will have better results next week. Good Luck to ALL!

An Answer

I finally received an answer today. It was while I was taking a shower this morning, getting ready for church. God is funny how he picks his moments. I was still thinking about my post from last night and the tears and prayers that were said since then. It was then that God told me clearly, "I said Trust in Me and My will, not what you believed was my will."

It was true. I had put my trust in what I believed was going to be his will. I had not been praying for his will to be done, but for the baby to be healthy. It was what I wanted, not what he had in store for this blessed little baby.

It is still going to be difficult but I believe I have turned the corner. I can now pray and believe that it is God's infinite mercy that has taken place, even if I do not understand why.

Faith

This last week has been very difficult for me in many ways. My sister and her husband lost their baby to a miscarriage. The final ultrasound confirmed that the baby did not develop past six weeks. My sister and her husband are dealing with this thru faith and prayers.

I on the other hand cannot understand why I am taking this so hard. I am trying to pray myself thru it, but it has been difficult. I had a long talk with my older sister on Thursday evening that helped. I tried crying it out after our talk but I just can’t get over it. I have always been an emotional person; I cry my emotions out frequently. Tears are not something unusual for me, but the emotions I am dealing with this time are unusual even for me.

I had a very meaningful Divine Mercy Novena. I made it a priority to participate fully in the novena this year. I had several very moving moments during this novena. I really believed that God was telling me that I needed to trust in him. So I put my trust in him when I prayed for this baby and my sister. I prayed harder for this little baby than anything I have ever prayed for in my life. I believed God had the perfect opportunity to show us his mercy and perform a miracle that would really make him shine. (Like God needs an opportunity to shine.) When this is not what happened, I am left asking why? I feel that I have taken about twenty steps backwards in my faith.

One of the only things that have helped me is remembering what my son told me a while back. “Did you know Mommy that God doesn’t always answer all of our prayers? He doesn’t because he has a better plan for us.” I am praying for the faith of a five year old and an understanding that may never come.

Miracles

Oh Lord,

We pray for a miracle for us and a miracle for the Doctor.

Oh Lord,

Through you all things are possible!

Oh Lord,

We pray for a strong heartbeat today!
Oh Lord,

We pray for a miracle for us and a miracle for the Doctor.

Prayers of Hope

My sister had a good blood test on Monday. She will see the doctor today to discuss the difference in the ultrasound and the blood work. Until we are certain of the results we are continuing to pray for the Lord to show us his Mercy!
Please pray that our precious little one will continue to grow and get bigger and stronger and healthier!

Prayers of Hope

Oh Jesus I trust in You! May you have mercy on us and on the whole world!

Prayers Needed

My heart is sadden for my sister and her family. Their ultrasound results were not good on Friday. They have to wait until Monday to see her regular doctor for formal results. Until that time, we are spending time in prayer for them and for the beautiful little soul that has touched our heart in such a short time.

Jesus I trust in You!

My Black and White Cuties

What I love the most about learning how to download my pictures to my computer, is being able to play around with them. I love to play with changing them from color to black and white. The program on my computer lets me play around with the color without deleting the original picture, so I can go back to the original at any time. It has been fun seeing which pictures look better as a black and white. It is interesting because I have found that not all look good when you change them.

I think the black and white finish makes the kids stand out more, especially when it is a single shot. I talk like I know what I am doing! Anyway I had fun playing with the ones that I posted yesterday and I think I am going to have them printed. The first one of my daughter and the last one of my son were my favorites.

WW- Black and White Cuties

For more Wordless Wednesday check out 5minutesformom. Happy WW!