Belated 2015 Retrospective: What we've been up to

Hello 2016!! [Yes, I know, I'm a little behind.] Hello friends who might still be reading my blog!! I've gone a long time with very intermittent posts. It's been kind of a long blogging break. I'm ready to come back, but don't expect frequent posts. I'm taking my time, and heck, life is busy as a working mom of three small children who still wants to "do all the things."

But let's start this year off with a nice big update with lots of pictures. I'm killing two birds with one stone here. I never got around to doing Christmas cards this year (something that hasn't happened in forever--I even managed to do them the year Silas was born) and I haven't been sharing much on this blog for many moons, so a big update is in order.

So here's a 2015 recap:

BIRTHDAYS

We always celebrate birthdays, but each year is different. For the twins' fourth birthday we decided to have a party for them with friends who had similar aged kiddos. We made it extra fun by having a bubble party. Lots and lots and lots of bubbles. The weather cooperated (thank goodness because no plan B) and everyone had a great time in our backyard. Bubbles, the water table, pizza, and cake; lots of friends, great weather, no gifts. Simple and fun. The boys loved it!

Ethan with little bro Silas checking out the various bubble wands.

We had some interesting bubble wands. I think Ethan was
the only one to figure out how this one worked.

Peter and Ethan spending time at the water table.

The dads were in charge of the bubble machine.

Silas turned 2 this year!! It's so hard to believe my baby is 2 already. He has changed so much in the last year and his language has just been exploding since his birthday. My philosophy on birthday parties is to do a party for birthday #1 and then keep it small until they are old enough to start asking or noticing that other kids have birthday parties. But, we had to cancel Silas' first birthday party due to sickness, so we made up for it this year. My parents came, his godparents were both able to make it, and a few others friends as well. We still kept it simple (because that's how we roll) and I think a good time was had by all.

Opening a few gifts

Silas loves babies!! Here he is with Baby Mikey.

Birthday cupcake!! 

TRAVEL AND VACATIONS

A bit of travel again this year. I had the usual professional conferences this year which took me to Denver in February and then a little closer to home in October for a regional meeting in Louisville.

The boys and I took a long weekend in late May to go to Atlanta to visit family. In addition, I took Silas one day and ventured up to Greenville, SC to visit college friends and celebrate my godson's First Holy Communion. Peter and Ethan enjoyed spending a day with Nanny and Papa.

Brotherly love in Hilton Head, SC

As a family we ventured down to Hilton Head Island once again to meet up with my family for a vacation. It was a bit dreary for most of the week, but we still managed to have fun on the beach one day, the pool another, took a long walk and collected sea shells, visited the Children's Museum, and took the twins to play their first ever round of miniature golf.

Chris had the opportunity in November to go on a retreat. He didn't have to go too far (our diocesan retreat center near Danville, KY), but I'm sure the break was nice for him.

SCHOOL

Peter and Ethan started in the Pre-K class at their daycare this past August. They both have been doing great. The daycare has been great from very early on teaching letters and numbers, days of the week, calendar months, and a few other things, all in a very fun and natural way. So it has been an easy transition to starting to learn in a slightly (they are only 4 after all) more formal way. The school is using "Handwriting without Tears" and the boys have learned so much. They weren't writing much of anything prior to August. Now they can write their names and all the letters in the first half of the alphabet. They are writing numbers and practicing different writing strokes. It's been a really great program so far.

Silas is in the same school, but not doing any formal learning yet. His classes this year do calendar stuff and draw and color and do fun crafts, but it's all very organic, just as when the older boys were in those classes. He has had great teachers who love him which makes it so much easier to leave him (and his brothers) there each day.

Peter, Silas, and Ethan in December following
their Christmas Concert at the daycare

OUR "FAITH"-FUL PURSUITS

Chris and I now both have commitments at our church's Adoration Chapel. He's had his for many years now (every Tuesday at 6 AM). I used to have an hour but had to give it up during my pregnancy with the twins. This year I jumped back in and have the privilege of spending an hour with Jesus every Monday night.

Chris also took a leap of faith this year and went on the Men's Cursillo weekend in November. I wasn't sure if he would enjoy it or not, but he seemed to. I was so glad to have been able to get a sitter for the last day of his retreat so that I could attend the Closing Ceremony. 

I haven't been on a retreat in a long while but I have been working through my novice lessons for the Benedictine Oblates this past year. I've been rather slow going through them and I don't always fulfill all the obligations of an Oblate, but I'm trying. It's a work in progress. The Novice Director has been great and I love getting his feedback on the lesson answers I send him. I'm almost done, have decided on my patron saint (I'll save that for another blog post), and I think we have a date set for Final Oblation. We're all going to take a day trip up to St. Meinrad's for it in April. It should be fun!

Sometime in the past year or more I agreed to co-chair the Vocations Committee at our parish. The main thing I've been working on with that is a Vocations Crucifix Program where different families host the crucifix each week and pray for vocations. It's been a great experience and the committee and I are hoping to expand our work over the coming year.

WRITING

Well, as you know I haven't been writing much on this blog this year. Most of my writing here was in January and February and then my posting took a serious nose dive for the rest of the year. But that's okay, breaks are good. Besides some "7 Quick Takes" posts and "Small Success Thursdays" I did manage to do two reviews this year. One was for Catholic Sistas on the planner being sold there (check it out HERE) and the other on a new e-Book on the Jesse Tree (check it out HERE). The Jesse Tree book was fun to review and then I used it with the kids this year. Here are a few quick pictures:

Boys hard at work coloring their ornaments

The boys' Jesse tree ornaments: three sets, different ribbons for each kid.

Our Jesse Tree with some of the ornaments

At Catholic Sistas I still maintain a once-a-month spot and I spent 2015 putting together interviews with religious men and women as part of the Year of Consecrated Life. If you're interested in seeing what I've been doing over at CS:

My Year of Consecrated Life posts.

A book review of Soul of Christ: Meditations on a Timeless Prayer by Sr. Marie Paul Curley.

A book review of Life from our Land by Marcus Grodi.

By the way, I highly recommend both of the books listed above.

I also volunteered this year to be a part of the Gospel Reflection Team for 2016 at CatholicMom.com. I was given one date to write a reflection for and submitted that back in September. I'm excited to have this tiny opportunity to branch out a bit more, especially for such a big, well-known website!

During this year long blogging break, I have been considering starting a new blog and leaving this one up as an archive. For the moment I have discerned to keep this one going, but a part of me wants a fresh start. That being said, God has made it clear that now's not the right time, so I'll wait. I anticipate there could be a change here sometime in the next year or so. We'll see what God has in store.

MORE PICTURES

Something I can't really do in a Christmas letter is include a bunch of pictures. But I can here!! So here's some other highlights of the year in pictures. 

A trip to the local children's museum early in the year.

The boys LOVE helping with the laundry.

And fighting over the small vacuum to clean under the kitchen table.

A visit to a local orchard and pumpkin patch in the fall.

Pumpkins!

Halloween superheros and a tiger.

All Saints Day party, Peter as St. George, Ethan as St. Michael.
Costumes made by me, something I've NEVER done before.

Silas attended the All Saints Day festivities as St. Isidore the Farmer.

This is how some people "help" mom out.

The Birthday Boy (Dec. 2015)

Christmas Eve, everyone in Christmas jammies!

Merry Christmas!!
Christmas Day Mass, 2015

Cheating a little with this one: Jan. 2, 2016,
my very first 5K!!

From our family to yours, we wish you many blessings in 2016. 

Why Remain Catholic: 7(+1) Reasons There is Only One Church for Me

I feel like over the course of the last week I've been inundated with so much information. That's a funny thing for someone like me to say. I'm a librarian (otherwise known as an "information specialist") and I do a little writing on the side, which often prompts me to stay up-to-date on current events. So information is kind of all around me, all of the time, even when I try to escape it.

There is no escape. That's the conclusion I've reached.

But this last week, oh boy! It's grown exponentially. The number of articles and opinion pieces, the Facebook posts and ensuing discussions, it seems endless. The legalization of same-sex marriage, the hold placed on the TX pro-life laws, thank you SCOTUS for bringing the culture war even more to the forefront of our lives. 

Thinking about recent events it occurred to me how different my perspective is now than it would have been had I not returned to the Catholic Church about 13-14 years ago. There was a time when I would have rejoiced in some of these recent events. Now, however, not so much. That being said, I decided that now more than ever, I should add my voice to the #WhyRemainCatholic posts from the past month. Yep, that's me, always late to the game. But at least I'm here now.

So, what are seven reasons that I remain Catholic? Let's get started!

#1 The Eucharist

credit: histruepresence.org

No where else do you find Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity, than in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. This is a reality I was not at all familiar with while growing up Catholic. It was a stunning surprise when I learned this as an adult. This one revelation made me sink my feet in for good even while I struggled with other teachings. I knew that I would have to learn to accept everything else because I couldn't leave the Eucharist. 

#2 Humane Vitae

Wow did I ever struggle with this one. Contraception was a given in my world. I had never had reason to use it, but I had never thought twice about the fact that I would if I were to get married. I argued against this (with others and in my own head) quite a bit. Luckily for me, I also listened, even when I didn't want to. I finally looked up Humane Vitae and read it. I expected it to be long, I had never read an encyclical before and assumed it was like a book. I looked it up online one day at work, figured I'd get some info and maybe just read a bit and figure out where to buy it. I was surprised to find that it wasn't that long and I ended up reading it over my lunch break that one day. Oh. My. Word!! I never argued the point again.

#3 Confession

I received the sacrament of reconciliation for the first time in the 2nd grade. I never went again as a kid and I have no recollection of anyone in my family going beyond my younger siblings also receiving their first reconciliation. I returned to the Church in my mid-twenties and it soon became evident that I needed to make a confession. I happened to do it on a young adult retreat. I remember being nervous going in, as well as starving. It was dinner time and I hadn't eaten since lunch. When I finally went in and told the priest that it had probably been over 20 years, he was really nice and helped me along. I walked out of their feeling like a new person. The hunger was even gone, which turned out to be a blessing since we then found out that the dining hall at the camp ground had closed. Oh well!! Regardless, that feeling of being completely in God's grace, wiped clean, was amazing. I'm still not great about regular confession, but I manage it at least once a year. I still have a bit of a hang up about it, but intellectually, I know it is an amazing gift! I remain Catholic because of this gift God has given to His people in the Church.

#4 Art

Historically speaking, the Catholic Church has a treasure trove of art throughout the world. The Church was the largest patron of art for centuries, maybe the largest patron of art throughout history. I have had the opportunity to go to Rome and to see the Sistine Chapel, the Pieta, the amazing architecture of St. Peter's, and so much more. Even here in the U.S. we have amazing art in our churches, from stained glass windows and statues to beautiful architecture (arguably there are a few exceptions, but overall many traditional, beautiful examples exist). Just realizing the beauty that imperfect humans have been able to create when inspired by the beauty of God in Heaven is amazing. I appreciate art so much more now than I ever did before.

"Michelangelo-pieta". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo-pieta.jpg#/media/File:Michelangelo-pieta.jpg

#5 History

Before my return to the Church, I loved my college classes in music history and in European history. Music was my major (and later I did a master's in musicology, which is very history-based) and I minored in European history. I also took one art history class as an undergrad. It was in a music history class, studying the medieval times and early music, that I recognized the Church of my childhood in the Mass. Memorizing the Mass parts of a music major, I had a sudden revelation that this was the Mass. (Duh!) All those parts we were memorizing had a real meaning! It was shocking and confusing all at the same time. Then I took a survey class on early Europe while simultaneously taking an upper division class called "The Birth of Europe." The Protestant Reformation was discussed in both classes and, although I had taken classes in high school that covered the same topic, it was more revealing this time around. I remember a few things coming up about the Catholic Church and thinking, "we believe what?" The Eucharist in particular. There were several little things like that between a number of music history and European history classes stuck with me. When I did return to the Church, they all made sense. It was like carrying around a whole bunch of puzzle pieces for years and not knowing how they fit together. Then one day you walk into a building and the people there start showing you how they fit together. Before long, it all starts to make sense.

#6 Pro-Life stance
I already mentioned Humane Vitae, but I do feel it is important to mention the pro-life message separately from that. Despite growing up Catholic, I did not understand that the Church was pro-life. I was actually once very much in favor of a woman's "right to choose." This was another area that I had difficulty accepting but knew I had to learn to accept. I couldn't just accept it and move on, though. I needed to understand what I was accepting and why. I had to do a lot of reading, a lot of listening, and a lot of praying. Once I accepted the contraception teaching, it got easier to accept this one too. Once I also discovered that the science is there to support the Church's stance, I was converted fully.  I've never looked back. The fact that the Church is consistent in her teaching from the beginning is huge for me! Thank goodness for consistency!!

#7 Mary and the Communion of Saints

I love that the Church acknowledges our brothers and sisters who have gone to Heaven before us. And not just recognizes that they are there, but encourages us to ask them to pray for us. I love this idea so much that I have had a very difficult time really connecting to any one saint as a personal patron. I flit between several constantly and I'm always finding others that inspire me, so much that I never really remain connected to any one for very long. It's like ADD with the saints. Regardless, I love knowing that when we pray, we can not only place our intentions before God, not only can we ask our friends and neighbors to pray for us, but we can also ask Mary and the Communion of Saints to pray for us too. Can you imagine the number of people, both alive on earth and those alive in Heaven, that could be praying for your intentions before God at any given time?

One quick story. I had read about the Mass as being like a little glimpse of Heaven here on earth. I loved that image. Then one time, about 6 years ago, I was at Mass, trying to fully participate, but was having difficulties engaging. Just a few months previously my son Zachary had died at 22 weeks gestation. Since his death I had difficulties singing at Mass and was always on the verge of tears. At this particular Mass, I was trying to focus during the Eucharistic prayers. At one point, when the priest holds up the body and blood after the consecration, I had this immense feeling surrounding me as if the place had gotten incredibly crowded. Our altar is surrounded by quite a bit of open space and, although I couldn't see anything different, it felt different, a claustrophobic feeling with people adoring Jesus in the blessed Sacrament. At the same time I felt an extra presence right near me as well, it felt peaceful and intimate, and I felt a slight weight in my arms. It was only a split second, but in that second I felt as if my son and his sibling that was miscarried prior to him were there with me. It was an extraordinary feeling.

Bonus: I can't end this without also mentioning the amazing men who serve the Church as deacons, priests, and bishops. I have been fortunate to know many wonderful, holy priests and they make the Church better for answering God's call to devote their lives to serving His people. I'm grateful to the remarkable priests who helped me find my way back home, talked me through awkward confessions, took time to comfort my family during times of suffering, rejoiced with us, and so much more. To those many priests, thank you!

And so we have it. Seven (+1) Quick Takes for #WhyRemainCatholic. I could probably have added many more, but then it wouldn't be "quick." Since I did this post as a 7 Quick Takes, I am also linking up to Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum. So please go check out her blog and enjoy the #7QT fun.

Letter to my Children Regarding their Future

Dear Peter and Ethan,

Source: morgueFile

A couple of days ago your father and I began to teach you both about the awesome privilege we have in this great country of ours to vote for our leaders. We bundled you up, strapped you into your stroller, and walked across the park to cast our vote for several of our leaders. You won't remember this experience, but one day you'll appreciate that we wanted to take you along for this very important event.

It's my belief that this election was one of the most important elections I have ever voted in. In many ways I was voting for your future and the future of all those to come after you. You see, this country has started to lose its way. It's a sad realization and, as your mother, it scares me for what is in store for your future.

One day we'll teach you about the sacredness of human life. As a child you'll grasp this concept and understand it better than many adults. Most children know instinctively that a baby in the womb is a human baby and deserves protection and love, not death. Children are often wiser than adults. Today, in 2012, we have many leaders who don't value the life of unborn children. It is incomprehensible. You'll probably ask me about it one day in your innocent, childlike way and I'll be lost for words to explain it. For there's no way to explain how so many people, who should know better, can think it's okay to commit murder in the womb.

In this week's election our great country re-elected a man who has no qualms about promoting the  killing of unborn children in the womb. Not only that, he believes that federal money should be used to accomplish the goal of making this so-called "service" available to all women. And to top it off, he also thinks this "service" should be available at all hospitals and 100% covered by all insurance companies, including those hospitals and insurance companies founded on Catholic moral principles.

What I want you, my children, to understand is that I love our country. America is a great place to be and we are blessed to have been born here. Billions of people around the world will never know the blessings we have. I want you to grow up to love your country and fight hard to keep her a land of blessings for many. But I also want you to learn that no matter what, you are a Catholic first.

You are a Catholic because we baptized you into the faith. We took a vow to raise you in the Catholic faith and we take that vow seriously. As Catholics our destination is not here on earth, it's the Kingdom of Heaven. We are made to be with Jesus Christ. This means that we may experience suffering and persecution here on earth, even in this country of so many blessings. I fear that the sufferings and persecutions will only increase and that you'll bear the brunt of this more so than I ever will.

As a Catholic it's important for you to understand that you have a right to Freedom of Religion in this country. This means that the government is not supposed to tell you how you can practice your religion. This means that the government is not supposed to tell you that you can't practice your religion. And this means that the government is not supposed to tell you what aspects of your well-formed conscience you need to compromise on. Unfortunately, with the outcome of this election, I fear that the government may be interfering in these matters more and more.

This week's election was a very important one for our nation. Unfortunately this election revealed that this great country is losing its moral fiber. Your father and I and many of our friends will continue to fight for the unborn children that would have been your peers and we'll fight to be able to practice our faith in our daily lives. I don't want you to one day be standing in a country that is falling apart and wonder why we, your parents, didn't do more.

I pray that we'll win our fight and not pass it on to you and future generations. 

May God bless the United States of America.

Source: morgueFile

This post has been linked up at the Catholic Bloggers Network, November round-up.

Children and Faith

Today you can find me over at Catholic Sistas. I am sharing about my awe in the intuitive nature children have of God and the spiritual world. Here's a small snippet:

As we begin the Year of Faith, I thought this was a good time to remind ourselves of how that childlike acceptance of faith and the spiritual realm really looks. Only through the eyes of children can we do that. Some of my friends graciously agreed to share some of their stories with me.

Although the post is mine, the stories are what really make the post what it is. I can't take credit for any of that! Thank you to all my friends who shared the stories they had of the faith of their children.

Read more at What our Children can teach us about Faith.