Home and Family

It's now the first week of June, and we are finally starting to see some easing with the lockdown. We are entering "stage two" in Maryland. I am not real clear on what that will entail, but I do know that I will be able to receive Jesus on Sunday, for the first time in months! I am so excited! I am going to dress up! 😊

Other than that things around here aren't much different. I have been to visit a couple of friends, and the guys are getting out to see their friends more often.

Tim is still working from home, but we have a good schedule worked out for the use of the office room in the basement. 

The weather has been hot for the last few days, and last night we had a rip-roaring storm! 

It was nice for the plants!🌷

I have done very little in the gardening department, but I am maintaining the areas around the house. 

I have been mostly working on stuff indoors. 

Nina and Lilly are heading out to PA tomorrow morning for a sheep show. 

Lilly has worked hard on her lambs.🐑

Cecil County Fair has been cancelled, but they are hoping for some independent shows. 

Nina has a new heifer, Delilah. She is a very pretty little thing. She is also a pretty tough little thing. 

Hope they get a halter on her soon. 

Nina and Delilah

Lilly and Tansey

I guess I will be driving to Texas sometime in August. I had hoped to be heading down there much sooner, but the Covid problem is still pretty bad in the states that I would have to drive through, so I am not going to try until it has more time to settle down. The cities are also pretty unstable right now due to the protests that are going on. Most of them are peaceful and are kept in check by the participants, but some of the bigger cities are being looted and burned, and I would be traveling alone, so I guess waiting is the best plan. 

I have been trying to get out for a walk every day, just to have time to pray the Rosary and listen to a podcast or two, but man, it's so hot today!

Maybe tomorrow will be better. 

I am praying for a better month in June. So far 2020 has been a handful.

Hello March

Wow.
March 3rd, and the lion certainly did show up!
Actually as cold as it's been, this snow was a gentle, beautiful gift on Friday morning.
It covered everything perfectly, and then was gone by afternoon.
Now we're just waiting on that lamb...

Like The Father

This is the year of Mercy, declared by Pope Francis as a special year to embrace the Mercy of God, and express it as a gift to others.

God's Fatherhood is a mystery to all of us, but it must be inexplicable to those who have never had the selfless love of a father, and have yearned to fill that hole, however possible.
We are wired to be fathered and it's human fatherhood that gives us a tiny glimpse of what our Heavenly Father is to us. No one is perfect, but it falls to the dads to model the love, mercy and justice of God to their children. Without this earthly model, a child is left with only part of the picture of the goodness and greatness of Our Father in Heaven.

No wonder satan has an agenda against fatherhood. No wonder he seeks to tempt men away from the Sacrament of Matrimony that binds spouses to each other and provides the best place for the nurturing of children. No wonder he blinds men to the Grace and dignity of Marriage and the raising of children, and tempts them to selfishness and sexual sin. He knows that the family will defeat him, and that fathers are the most influential in building a deep and abiding faith in their children. Mom tells you to say your prayers, work hard, be mannerly and treat people well, but dad shows you. He is the one that the children watch to see if they really have to do all that mom says.

I am reading a book called "It Was Me All Along" by Andie Mitchell. It's the story of a girl who, when she was little, saw the devolution of her family, in large part because of her father's alcoholism, and how she came to use food to fill the deep need that she had for wholeness. She developed a relationship with food, in an effort to find the comfort of family. I am reading this and thinking about how many children must be going through this, and then this evening I came across this video, and it just broke my heart.

We're all the sum of the Father's love for us, but we are only children, that can only respond to what we are given. How it must break His heart to see His little ones led to despair because they have no one to hold them, teach them, and love them unconditionally.
We are called to be merciful as the Father is merciful, but someone has to show the children the Mercy of The Father.

Bathroom Bliss!

Well, Merry Christmas to us.
Our upstairs bathroom redo is almost done thanks to Tim and the guys at Zancro!
Tim has worked so hard on a project that, as usual, has had to be done in an unorthodox way.
Older houses are a challenge!

Here is a picture essay of the project:

So it begins....

Before...

UGH

Zank's part of the project.

Tim's side...

Tiling by the experts.

Wiring and new fan

Toilet wrasselin'

Putting down the floor

Paint

Light fixture and fan

Out with the pink and gray

New sink

Closet overhaul

Shower

Mostly finished!

All that's left is a little more paint.

It's just so nice! This has been on the list for so long, and now it's done!!

Thanks so much to my sweet hubby!!

A Cozy Day

Sure, it was raining and icky outside, but so much the better to stay in and catch up on a lot of tasks that got put off over the weekend, plus it's just nice to be able to look out at the rain and know that I can stay inside!
I got some bills paid, the laundry is caught up, school went well, I got my planning for Friday co-op done, and the email is under control!
The boys had drama at the activity center, but that's not too far to drive.

Tomorrow will be different....

9am- The contractor is coming to start the tile job in the upstairs bathroom.
11am- Brendan has Math.
1pm- John and Brendan to PE
1:30pm- Jen and Paul head up to Wilmington for GI appt.
6:30pm- Brendan and Paul have another rehearsal.

Whew!

I will post a few "before" pictures of the horrible, terrible, bathroom, before they tear into it.
So excited!

Happy Feast Day Blessed Mother!

What a special Feast day for Mary!
She goes to be with her Son, Jesus, and to bring to her children so many Graces and blessings.

We had a nice day today.
John and I got out the door early to go to the college to get his student ID.
When we got back I got a text from Paula saying that a bunch of the homeschoolers were over at the school spreading the mulch that had come a week early!
So we went over for a couple of hours and the boys got some good exercise!
Then we came home and I got out and mowed the lawn. It is a lot of work these days, what with the cooler temps and the rain every so often. The grass is still growing like it's Spring or something!
We had a thrown together dinner and then it was time to get ready for Mass.
We decided to go downtown to St Patrick's because they were having a 7:00 pm mass.
John decided to walk down. It only takes about 15 minutes.
We are going down there for Confession tomorrow.
Paul is going on a birthday camping trip for his friend Timmy, and John is going Parasailing!
I'll blog that tomorrow!

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BLOGS » JENNIFER FULWILER

JenniferFulwiler

Those Catholic Women Who Use Contraception

BY JENNIFER FULWILER Wednesday, February 06, 2013 5:26 AM Comments (104)

When I was giving a talk early last year, two women in the front row caught my eye. They were about my age, nicely dressed, and seemed to be friends with one another. They attracted my attention because they radiated a certain anxiousness: They nodded politely through tense smiles, but I half suspected that there was another speaker after me whom they were waiting to see.

After the talk I chatted with some folks, then packed up my things to leave. When I reached the exit, the two women were standing there waiting for me. Let's call them "Amanda" and "Laura."

They introduced themselves and said a few kind words about my speech, which was about atheism. Then Amanda said bluntly, "We didn't really come to hear your talk. I don't even know any atheists."

Laura finished for her: "We came to talk to you about contraception."

We settled into some empty chairs at the back of the room, and they explained that they are both cradle Catholics who have gone to Mass pretty much every Sunday for their whole lives. They love their faith and are proud to be Catholic. They volunteer at the parish, fast during Lent, pray the Rosary when they can. And they both use artificial contraception.

They explained that they had not fully understood that the Church was serious about this teaching until the blowup surrounding the HHS Mandate; before then, they explained, it was easy to assure themselves that contracepting must be fine since so many other people in the pews were doing it. For example, after Amanda's second child was born, her Catholic mother warned her sternly that it would be irresponsible not to get on the Pill. Laura once had a confessor assure her that contraception was a matter of personal preference, not an objective moral issue. Neither Amanda nor Laura had heard anything about the topic in their many years of Catholic school and religious formation classes. And so for all of their married lives they'd used various forms of contraception, never questioning how it might jibe with the doctrines of their faith.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jennifer-fulwiler/those-catholic-women-who-use-contraception#ixzz2K9lNPjYt

A Beautiful Baptism

Our visit to Texas and the Cooke family wrapped up with the Blessing of the Baptisms of the newest Cookes, Max Aquinas and Miles Andrew.

We were so privileged to be able to be there.
It was also the baptism of about 10 other babies!
That is a happening parish!

Max and Miles have two wonderful couples as God parents, and we enjoyed getting to know them.

Carol and David Smith with Miles

Daniel and Carol Smith with Max

Two new little Catholics in the Family of God! Hooray!!

Smilin' Miles

Miles loves his Mama.

Beginning the Yarn Wreath

Laura's latest project. This wreath will eventually contain 370 feet of yarn! More pics as it progresses.

LOL

Got 'em!

Max and Miles

Umm...The babysitter.

Brendan and Paul

Recital For Brendan and Paul

This is Paul's two pieces, one is a duet with his teacher, Irene Yeakel.



And here's Brendan!

They both started with Mrs Yeakel in the Fall. There were some great performances from many of the student.

For Claire Cooke, Love Mimi....

A Quilt for Claire

And For P.E....

More snow this morning meant that the boy's school day was augmented by a really neat PE activity...

Rolling up the backyard snow into snowballs almost as big as them!




Flexibility is our theme...

Saturday Snow Surprise!

We weren't supposed to get much snow...

The guys that do all that weather stuff said that it was going to miss us...
So people made plans and had the last weekend in January all booked up.

Well, that'll teach us!

I think we are going on six inches right now, but it really was a great day. Brendan asked if he could have his friend, Henry, over for the afternoon, just to hang out. I got in the car and headed to Elkton to pick him up, and the driving got pretty challenging on the way back. By the time I got home we had about three inches...

The guys got right outside to sled, just in case it stopped soon.


They had a ball and got all wet and cold.

Lilly was here and she wanted to go out SO bad.

At first she was content to watch them from the window, but after a while I got her into her coat and boots and Brendan took her out to the back.
She got cold, but she had fun!

The kids came in and I talked to Henry's mom, Rachel, who said that she was inclined to have him sleep over rather than try to drive down and get him. The county was asking people not to get out on the roads.
Yeah, the boys were pretty thrilled. They are going to camp in the basement and right now they are watching a movie. What neat bonus for Brendan!

Happy Birthday Nina!

My baby girl is 25 today...wow.

I'm so proud of the you that you are. A wonderful mom and a beautiful wife.
You are a special friend, always bringing me a smile and a good laugh!
God Bless your year!