Congrats Short Family of Colorado

Becky Short joined the convent.  It is so lovely to see all these kids grow up and choose their path in life. Parents are Annette and Lee Short of Colorado.  And they also became grandparents over the weekend.  Very exciting.  Prayers coming...

Surprise!

I love when an opportunity arises to do something nice for my kids.  Three months ago a secret plan was under way for the girls wonderful friend Meilani from California to visit for the weekend.  I kept it completely under wraps.  

So I her flight came in at 11pm, took forever for luggage to come in and then when she arrived we snuck her in the house!  The girls freaked out! It was awesome.  

Other friends came in to drop off for school so Saturday they all got to get together for some great teen fun.  I love seeing all these Catholic teenagers being able to see each other and have a great time.  Friends from Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, California.  Just some great fun and for me, I got to see some of my friends.  

In Honor of...

of the pregnancy that I lost two years ago August 15th.  I had an early miscarriage that was a twin pregnancy.  I think about this sometimes, took it quite hard because being a twin myself I always wanted twins, but I know it was not meant to be, but I find comfort in remembering the babies that were not meant to enter this world.  I love that art exists that console families, statues, paintings and of the like, when we see something tangible, it gives us much joy.

Its been....real! Sweet baby Elaine Bernadette

So my computer is not working well so my posts are a bit out of order.  Last week was a very emotional week, my heart has been flooded with emotion for someone else.

One of my closest friends suffered a terrible shock and a tragic loss.  A little more than 1/2 way through a pregnancy things went terribly wrong, terribly fast.  What went from baby will be ok, may need surgery for a hernia, then moved quickly to preclampsia, toxemia, baby having a chromosomal issue, massive proteins in mom, fluid retention like you wouldn't even believe, the birth and death of her sweet baby girl.  

My heart ached and still aches for my wonderful friend Rheanon and her family.  But their faith and strength through it has been a beautiful thing.  I spent much time on the phone with family, trying to use my experience to console them.  Life is so precious.  This precious baby lived three hours, was baptized, was loved and will forever more be loved, was held and kissed and then was sent straight to Heaven to be in the glory of God, and with His Saints and with His angels.

I am reminded for our purpose in life, and that is to love God, serve  God and be with him in Heaven.  This little baby is gone from this world so soon, yet brought so much love together.  She graced this world for such a short time as my little babe's did, and we are reminded of how their place in our families isn't diminished because their time here was so short.  We all love them, keep their memory alive.  We must not be afraid to talk about them, because they are where we are striving to go.  They are special.  They know the glories we do not know.  So as I reflect upon this new little Saint Elaine Bernadette, I am reminded of the beauty of my own little Saints in Heaven, and we pray for this sweet family, Rheanon and her husband Blake, her sisters, her grandmother and grandfather, her many Aunts and Uncles, all her family, to ease their sorrow and understand their pain, but we also rejoice with them, that their special baby will only ever know love, happiness, perfection and joy.  As I reflect on my own babies that left my arms so soon, we are reminded how precious life is and how every thing we do in this world is a direct reflection to our soul.  So may God Bless this family, console this family but may we also keep them in our prayers and rejoice with them, honor their little baby.  Sweet baby Elaine Bernadette...pray for us.

School is in!

It was a busy week but we got school underway.  

Jaclyn first day of her senior year.  Evelyn first day of Junior high (7th), Joe in 10th, Madelyn in 5th, Michael in 3rd and Rosie in 1st and I only have 6 kids in school!  I'll never have 7 kids in school again!  Wow!  Not counting college kids, I'm just talking Catholic school.  So I am no longer the Mom with the most kids in the school. hahahaha. And Carolyn is going to teach a Math class at the school this year.  Its nice the graduates are welcome to help where they can and they are also able to participate in P.E. if they're schedule permits.  I love that about our school, especially since Carolyn was a 16 year old graduate, she can still be around young Catholic people when she can fit it in her schedule.  First day!  Woo Hoo.  

I have to admit I was dreading it.  I love the freedom of summer, but after it started and the kids were in their classroom the feeling of routine was a really nice feeling.  So as we all know there is a time for all things, and so guess a time for school is a good thing too.  Praying this is a good year!

The week before school....

What do you do?  Week before school?  We sew!  Got my sewing machine up and running...dummy me forgets one important thing....you must oil your machine!

So our children as you all know where school uniforms and each year its mending, praying, hem up, hem down, add an inch here, take an inch there...fix, fix, fix!

Oh, dear... its happening...School starts....in one week!

So Sunday activity is to look at everyone's schedule and synchronize!  hahahaha!  Well after Mass of course...maybe a little prayer or two to the Holy Ghost that we can juggle everyone's life!  hehe.

August means.....GRANDPARENTS AND UNCLE DENNIS!

August means a lot of things around here, summer is about over, school supplies need to be bought, clothes need to be in order but around here August means Grandma and Grandpa Cichos and Uncle Dennis come to visit.  We so look forward to this.  Kids start working on their card playing ability, Rosie starts practicing her singing, I look forward to a few days of relaxation and chit chatting catching up and we plan as little as possible, on purpose!  I think we need the calm down as much as anyone else!  Especially me, I must say...all summer long, run, run, run but when the grandparents come its just time to enjoy the family.

This year grandpa and grandma brought a lot of pictures I had given them through the years and some grandpa printed from my email updates, it sure was fun looking through the pictures.  We worked on a project to send grandma and grandpa home with a book that entailed each child with their birth stats and other important milestones.  I enjoyed putting it together, and the left over pictures I'm going to save for the children, so they can build their own photo books.  So that was fun.  

We laughed at some of the song's Rosie sang that she heard off the radio!  Gong to have to watch that radio, that's for sure.  Gwena said both grandma and grandpa while they were here.  Joe stuck to his grandpa like glue, buddies since the very beginning!  The kids enjoyed playing hide the thimble and cards, along with the little ones learning war and Tony learning numbers with grandma.  All in all we had a great visit.  

We had some funny moments with Dennis and Rosie.  The kids have always really adored Dennis, its so funny because he's a your cute and nice to be around and all...but you are also a loud little person. hahahaha.  I'm just kidding of course.  So now they have gone home, darn... that means.... time to get ready to get real busy.... oh, well it was great while it lasted!

Their 67 Wedding Anniversary is on the 18th!  Isn't that just so awesome!  

Oldest and Youngest...brothers...and friends...

Pictures....

One of my many hobbies is scrapbooking, I like to record things for the kids, and things like that.  The digital age was great for me in that now you don't have to print an entire roll of film, you can pick and choose which image you want.  You can post pictures instead of printing, and you can share much more...

However... I got a surprise this week.  Steve's dad printed quite a few pictures I sent in update emails.  What a joy it was for the kids to look through them.  But not really worth printing so many pictures, that's a lot of paper!  haha.  So the albums they brought and extra pictures we are putting aside for the kids to have and use as they grow up.

I did a little project for them, downsized an album for them of just our kids, a few pages for each child, the important information like their full name, birthday, weight, godparents and confirmation names.  They just really do not need all these little pictures all over the place.

So what did I see, well seeing it all in once place I saw...

Joey was the smallest
Marilyn was the longest
Madelyn was the biggest
Katelyn was held the most
Carolyn was the most independent
Jaclyn is the most photogenic
Evelyn was the most picture shy
Madelyn is still the craziest
Michael looks the calmest (he's really not)
Rosie has the biggest smile
Tony has the cuteness
And Gwena... its all beginning...but Gwena has all the love of all the above... she's the baby.

I guess to some it may seem like a silly hobby and one of never ending, but just the same, its a hobby, something I like to do and one day I may think, this is way too many pictures...but for now I think...they are nice to see... I imagine one day I'll think, what in the world was I thinking.  But hopefully by that time I'll have kids that will want to look through then and enjoy them.

Peacemakers

I'm a peace maker, I'm pretty sure.  My father was a peace maker.  Growing up, my dad would not rest if someone was fighting or disagreeing in the home.  It didn't matter whom did it, how many times you did it, or what it was we were family and get over it.

I have found myself to be very much that.  On a few occasions this year alone I have put my guard down and attempted to make peace.  It was the right thing to do, I know.  But in a way it was hard to do  I was hoping the peace would of been made with me, that I would of been important enough for that.  And I've come to terms that, that doesn't matter. In life we want to feel needed, to feel important to those we love, and we want to be appreciated.

I fall into the category  that I love too much and care too much.  Emotion comes easy to me, way too easy, tears from hurt flow in excess.  So past the tears, past the hurt, past the sadness or grief, if we do what we believe is what God would want us to do.  If we mend a bridge that has been broken and we do the best we can do, than we can live our life without regrets.  I don't ever want to say, I should of fixed that but my pride prevented me from doing so.

Where is the lesson?  What can I teach my children from this lesson? I can teach them to live their lives for God that made them, to be charitable and if an occasion comes where they can help someone along, do it with charity and love of God in mind.  Being a peacemaker isn't so bad, but keeping priorities is whats important.

Confidence in one self

You know this carries much weight, and as my children grow up, I'd like to see them find the confidence in themselves.

We work hard to become the person we are.  We have our family influences in the younger years, we have experiences and moments that mold us, we have the love and support of our spouse and children and we have friends that lend support.

As our life moves along we may change our minds on things, we may learn new things, but our core person remains.

Recently I experienced what seemed to be a negativity of the person I am, and I let it bug me for about a day, and I realized, how foolish... to worry about someone's opinion that hasn't even taken the time to really know what they are criticizing.  We must be true to oneself, God made us who we are.

There have been times where I've thought, why so emotional?  Yet the happy tears that flowed at the girls graduation wasn't something to be ashamed of, yet something to cherish--they were happy tears of joy.  The tears of happiness and relief after a healthy baby is born, shows the joy and excitement in the same way the sad tears after the death of a child shows the love a mother has for their child.

We all carry faults, we all carry something that can be improved upon.  We also all carry beautiful things and special things.  But the best gift we can give another is to be real, true and carry oneself with respect, happiness, devotion and charity.  Peace of heart goes a very long way.  And that is my wish for my children...peace of heart, keep the soul pure and be the best person you can be.

And yes...it happens to the best of us

Does this really happen?  Oh, yes, I think it does.  Of course I've known my mother was right about so many things for such a long time, but just when you get comfortable being Mom, something happens and they become teenagers...and they know how to do everything, don't ya know!  Life can be jammed pack with moments that you think, hmmm...is that so??????????

So the first time I really noticed, like really noticed was the year before last, if you recall Carolyn took college classes her senior year.  Well she took an intro to the Deaf World and in the class they were studying how language is formed and so forth, how a child learns, etc... and she proceeded to explain to me how a toddler learns to talk and how the process works....Really?  You are telling your Mother of 10 children how to teach a baby to talk.  yeah...that's funny!