TWINS!

I can finally let the world know the good news! My wonderful sister and her husband are going to be the proud parents of TWINS! They got to meet them yesterday for the first time and they are so happy! The twins are a little boy and a little girl and they are 20 months old. They are doing the transition meetings now and hopefully they will be with them by the end of next week. We can't wait!

The story of how this has all worked out is truly the work of God. From the very beginning he has had a plan. We did not know what his plan was and it was very difficult to understand, but looking back it is clear to see his hand. What an awesome God we serve!

West Coast Walk For Life

Participating in the West Coast Walk for Life was a great experience. I have never done anything like this before and I am so glad that I did. Next year, I hope that my husband and children will be able to walk as well.

We started the morning bright an early with mass at 6:00am. This was a very emotional mass for me. I cried almost the entire mass; I did get there a few minutes late but I cried almost the entire time that I was there. I felt the Holy Spirit moving me that morning.

On the bus, we prayed and said the rosary. Then we watched Horton Hears A Who, which when you are paying attention, chronicles the Pro Life struggles. A person is a person no matter how small! It was a quick bus ride and we were in San Francisco before I realized it. (A nice little nap helped out.)

It started to rain just as we got into San Francisco. But it did not dampen our enthusiasm.

This was the banner for our church's group. I liked our banner because it was not in your face and it was a positive message for women and for babies.

After unloading from the bus, we walked just a block to the Plaza where the speakers were. It was here that it started raining, and then it started pouring! It was hard to hear all the speakers but what we were able to hear was inspiring. We were there for about an hour before we started the walk. I was so happy that my wonderful sister bought me a rain poncho! It was a life saver in many ways.

After walking for about an hour, there was a little tower by the water that people were going up to take pictures of the crowd. I darted up it so that I could see how big the crowd was. It was amazing seeing the crowd from above.

This was the crowd in front of us! Little did I know that there were even more people over the hill. It was about here that my other brother in law got a phone call that the group he came with was all ready done and at the park waiting for them. The people go as far as you can see and there is a hill at the far right of the picture that they went up.

Here is a close-up of our group: My two nieces are in the red jackets with white lining, my other niece is behind them in the gray poncho with blue collar, her friend is in the red shirt with white jacket, my brother in law is in the navy blue jacket with white stripes directly behind my niece and then my nephew and brother in law are in the denim jacket, orange poncho and dark sunglasses! That orange poncho was our guide and we could see it even if he got ahead of us. Again I was thanking my sister for the ponchos!

The crowd was very peaceful with many people saying the rosary. I never felt worried or nervous being among all those people. It was an amazing experience.

This was the crowd behind us! There were people as far as you could see going both ways. There was a helicopter taking photos from above. I have been trying to find them on the Internet but there has been very little publicity about the entire event.

The crowd was very diverse with priests, brothers, nuns, old people, young people, families and little babies. This one was such a cutie I had to take her picture. This was towards the end of the walk when we were walking up the hill.

At the top of the hill, I took this picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. It looked so pretty peaking out from the trees that were all around.

After coming down the hill on the other side, you can see the crowd gathered at the park in the center of the picture. There were people all through here when I took the picture of the people ahead of us! We had heard that there were suppose to be around 40,000 people there that day. Even with the rain, the people stayed and walked. I would love to find out how many actually walked.

When we made it to the park, we gathered up and then walked to our buses. They were about two blocks away in a school parking lot. The buses were all lined up and we got loaded up and were on our way in no time. I was amazed at how easily the logistics worked. We were on our way back home by 3:30pm, and I was kissing my babies at home by 8:15pm that night.

It was a wonderful day, with lots of emotions. I am so glad that I went and I can't wait to take my entire family next year!

Easter 2009

We all had a very blessed Easter 2009. We started our day celebrating Mass and the Resurrection of our Lord and then spent time at Grandma's and also at Papa's with both sides of the family. This combination is always a guaranteed good time. The kids of course made a haul in both places.

October 15th National Day of Rememberance

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.

October 15th is the National Day of Remembrance for pregnancy and infant loss. This includes all babies who have died because of miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS, or any other infant death. I did not know this, but Angie at Bring the Rain has a wonderful post about it. This is dear to our heart this year as we lost our little Elizabeth on April 14th. This has been a very painful loss for her family as well as her extended family. The pain of losing any child, no matter how little they are, is real and is difficult to get over.

The loss of Elizabeth made me think about other losses we have had in our family. My mother lost a child between my older sister and my older brother. Until losing Elizabeth, I never thought about this miscarriage. But this was one of my siblings, who is now in heaven and is rejoicing with my Mother. My oldest brother and his wife lost a child between my niece and nephew and my older sister also lost her first child early on in the pregnancy. These are all little angels in heaven waiting for us to join them.

I ask the Lord to give you all comfort today, as we pray for your loss. May your little ones be sitting with Jesus, interceding on our behalf!

Prayers for Miss Stacey

We received some very sad news yesterday regarding my daughter's preschool teacher. She has been diagnosed with colon cancer. They found a tumor in her colon and she will have surgery on October 13. This Thursday will be her last day, until after she recovers. Her doctors also believe that the cancer may also be in her ovaries and her uterus. They will not know for sure until they do the surgery.

The children will not be told until Thursday. She is going to tell them, in a way that only she can. She is so great with these kids and she will know exactly what to say to them so that they will not be worried or afraid. Unlike the way I feel right now.

I have been in shock and so sad since finding out this news. Miss Stacey is such a great teacher; she is kind, patience and loving to the kids. My daughter all ready loves her so much. When she was gone for two day about two weeks ago having her tests done, my daughter couldn't wait for her to come back. It is hard to believe we are going to have to get used to her not being at school for quite sometime. I am crying as I type this.

Please pray that the doctors are able to get all the cancer and that her follow up treatment will be easy on her. Pray for her husband and two sons; one is in high school, the other is in college. She is such a wonderful person and so full of life, I am sure it is going to be hard for them.

Please also pray for Miss Cheryl. She is the second half of the teaching combo. She has always been more of the worker bee and it is going to be an adjustment for her being the center of attention. She does a great job, but it is going to be hard on her. Her and Miss Stacey have taught together for at least fifteen years.

A Story Worth Telling

Irena Sendler 1910 to 2007

I discovered today who this sweet little old lady was. She was a heroine. We should all know who this woman was. She was small in stature but large in courage and love. She is Irena Sendler, a Catholic social worker from Poland, who saved 2,500 children from the ghettos of Warsaw during the holocaust. She was nominated for a Peace Prize, but she lost to Al Gore, who made a slide show.

Irena was able to get herself placed in a welfare office inside the Warsaw ghetto. She then convinced the Jewish parents and grandparents to give their children to her, so she could smuggle them out, and save their lives. She then hid them in convents, gave them to people in the country who cared for them as if they were their own, or others who could keep them hidden. She then smuggled them out of the ghetto in gunny sacks, coffins, tool boxes, under the floor boards of the sanitation truck or any other way she could get them past the guards. She trained her dog to bark anytime a guard came near, so the children's cries would not be heard.

She promised that when the war ended that these children would be returned to their families. So she wrote their names down and also their aliases on cigarette paper. She buried the jar under an apple tree so that they would be safe. There were 2500 names in that jar. After the war, she dug up the jar and tried to match the children with any of their family that was still alive.

This woman had been captured during the war and beaten severely. Her legs and feet were broken. She was sentenced to die. A guard was convinced to let Irena go. She was dumped in the woods on her way to her execution. After the war, she was able to dig up the jar and try to reunite the children with their families, if any had survived; at the time over 5,000 people were dying every month in the ghetto. Most of the families were killed by the Nazi or starved in the ghetto.

Her story has been discovered by a group of high school students who wrote a play called "A Life in a Jar." They won a history contest in their home state of Kansas with their story. They traveled to Poland to meet this woman and their lives were forever changed. Years have passed, but they continue to do the play even though they have all graduated, are working and married. Her story is so important to them that they want to continue to tell it.

What a contrast between her and Al Gore. Irena saved the lives of 2500 children! She risked her life and her families in trying to save strangers. She put aside race and religion and saw the human faces of children and she did what she could. Her efforts saved so many. Al Gore on the other hand made a video slide show and made lots of money doing it. How did the selection committee get this so wrong?

The Panda Lesson

The kids and I went and saw Kung Fu Panda this afternoon. This is the first movie I have taken them to since Cars. As you can see, we don't get to the movies very often. They had gotten movie gift certificates for Christmas from their babysitter and we just haven't been able to find a time to go. I had wanted to see Horton Hears a Who, and then my son wanted to see Speed Racer and then it was Prince Caspian. Each time they were gone before we could get to the theater. So since we have been enduring record breaking heat here, we made it a point to get to the movies this afternoon.

The kids really enjoyed it. My son stayed interested the whole time and my daughter only got tired towards the end because it was nap time. The last time she was still to young and it was not much fun for me. I am glad they are both at the point where we can start going and enjoying the movies more often.

I enjoyed the movie very much. I really liked when the wise old turtle told Po, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that is why it is called the present." This is probably not a new quote but I loved it. I also loved that the hero was an overweight Panda who didn't know what his strength was. When he discovered it, he became the hero.

There is a great lesson in this for me. I need to stop thinking about yesterday and worrying about tomorrow. I always beat myself up when I mess up on my diet and I doom myself by thinking that I can never change it. I start thinking that it will take me forever to get to my goal and I just give up. I need to start seeing today for the gift that it is and to stay focused only on the present. If I can do this, then I too will see my strength and can be in charge of my life and my weight. It has helped me this past week or so to look at my eating on the spiritual side as well. It has taken awhile, but I am starting to see God's hand helping me with my struggle for control over my food and weight issues.

Choice?

I was listening to Catholic Radio today and heard something that has made me think all day. It was a clip from a speech given by Father Frank Pavone at the funeral mass of several aborted babies that had been found in the trash behind the clinic. What got me thinking is a comment about it really being a choice. Do these women really feel that this is their choice or is it that they feel that they have no choice? I think it is that they have no choice because they are pressured by boyfriends, friends, afraid of what their parents might say or do and many other lies that society tries to convince them of. I really don't believe that the majority of women and young girls are there because they feel that this is the best "Choice". Instead they are convinced that this is their only "Choice". If only they could get beyond the moment of fear and worry. If only they knew that there are lots of people who would be there for them, if they knew this was their choice.

It makes me think about people who are contemplating suicide. They too must think that suicide is the only choice that they have to get out of their problem. If they could just get beyond that moment, a solution could be found. There is always someone who says after the tragedy, if I only knew I would have helped them.

Is God sending me blog posts (Gluttony!) and messages on the radio to speak to my heart. Is he trying to tell me something? Am I going to be open to what he has to say? Oh, Lord I pray that I can be open to your will, in all areas of my life.

**When I sat down to blog tonight, I was going to post about our upcoming 4th of July trip. Who Knew!

Prayers

I was reading some of my favorite blogs yesterday when I came to Rocks in My Dryer. She had a list of different blogs that had posts that interested her. I decided to click on the one that said "A Letter to My Daughter" by Bring theRain. She said you may want to bring the Kleenex, so I decided to go and read it. I love a good story that needs kleenex. I was not prepared for what I read.

I have so much respect and awe for people who can put things in writing when they are in the middle of a life altering experience. This woman had given birth to her fourth daughter, "Audrey Caroline" knowing that she was not intended to stay long in this world. The story of her pregnancy and birth is amazing. Her love and faith in God is even more so. Her letter to her daughter was so touching, that I cry now even posting about it.


But the story didn't end there. She has recently posted about losing her nephew, they believe, to SIDS. Their family is again dealing with the loss of a new life. Little Luke was only a few months old. It has only been seven weeks since they buried Audrey. Yet once again, it is their faith in God that is getting them through.

Please pray for this family. Pray for the parents, the siblings and the friends that will support them. Pray that God will continue to give them all that they need to get through this terribly sad time.

The Future President!

My son did his reading today and he did AWESOME! And that isn't just a mother bragging! He had that reading memorized and he never once stumbled. He spoke clear and looked out at the congregation.

That is my niece, his big buddy at school. She was there to help in case he forgot where he was or in his case if he forgot his reading. She never had to help him!

After mass, the principal told me he looked like a natural up there. That is one of the things that amazed me, he was never nervous! If he keeps that up maybe someday he will be the President and will have all of his speeches memorized! A mother can hope!

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.

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!

Divine Mercy Sunday

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday and the conclusion of the Divine Mercy Novena. These past ten days have been very fruitful for me. It has been a week of quiet revelations that has brought me closer to my Lord. I pray that it has been the same for others.

We will go as a family to a special Divine Mercy Sunday mass at 3:00pm today. I hope it will be a beautiful service that will inspire my husband and children as well as myself! Jesus, I trust it Thee!