Too Close to Home

Prayer Before Mass

Almighty God, as we approach your altar to participate in the divine sacrifice of your only-begotten Son, we wonder what we think we are doing here. We are jerks. We are incredible hypocrites. We spent the morning primping in front of the mirror, shrieking at the kids, and pouting at our husbands. We approach you with fear and trembling, and wonder if there's any possible way we could be reconciled to you in your goodness and your glory.


Then we behold the crucifix; and we say, "Oh."


I mean,

Amen.



Taken from National Catholic Register:Simcha Fisher

Frugal Forty

On tax day, I turned 40. It wasn't exactly the birthday I had planned out a year ago. My Mom and I planned a fun party where we would challenge family and friends to spend $1 creatively with a prize going to the most clever, followed by a fun exchange game. Unfortunately being nauseous and fatigued, pretty much ruled that plan out. However, it was a very nice birthday. Here are few highlights:

Jonah, Hannah and Eli had their piano recital.

Hannah requested one of her arrangements to be

Happy Birthday and then everyone sang Happy Birthday to me.

I was totally NOT expecting that!!

My sweet little brother

sent me flowers....aren't they gorgeous??

Don surprised me with a card full of the prayers he has been saying for the baby and I.

My Mom surprised us with dinner(Knolla's Pizza) and an ice cream cake...YUM!! Throughout the week little surprises and blessings came unexpectedly.

I DO feel 40...on some days much older.. but I am thankful for each day and for all the marvelous people God has placed in my life!!

Eli's 1st Communion



Eli's gift from us, a keepsake of his special day.



Fr. Jerome and Eli at St. Pat's

Eli's godparents, my cousin, Sarah and my Uncle Mike

Eli was so proud of his cake...from Sam's. He was especially excited that Sam's wrote our last name on the box.

Eli's first Holy Communion was a very special day, he has been preparing and anxiously awaiting the BIG day for what he considers a very long time. One of his favorite gifts, a rosary from his godfather, has been a comfort to him at night. For some reason, every night after almost everyone is asleep, he gets up with a tummy ache. So, he has been taking his rosary to bed with him, he goes to sleep very quickly afterward.

Kisses From Katie: Review

This true story is an amazing journey of self denial written by Katie Davis. Katie was a senior in highschool when she says Jesus called her to go to Uganda to work in a pre-school over her winter break. She fell in love with the people and felt a strong desire to return.


This came as shocking news to her parents who wished for Katie to attend college. Katie had been the class president, homecoming queen and she was "in love" with her boyfriend.
Even though it was extremely difficult, she did return to Uganda and became a foster parent for 14 girls. She also founded Amazima Ministries which provides food to hundreds everyday.
The organization also helps with school expenses, school supplies, family support, and provides jobs to single mothers.


Katie is living proof of what God can do if we are open to His call and will. The book is a synopsis of her day to day life of joys, tears, and triumphs. I'm not sure if I've ever cried so much!!


The book also challenges us to live out the gospel, not because it's a nice thing to do, but because it's a requirement of our salvation.


I did have a few "issues" with the book, though. As I am about to share these,  keep in mind that Katie is still very young, growing and "figuring it out". She is much more "together" than I was at her age!


First of all, Katie makes a reference to her "parent's church" to which she likes to attend occasionally and distribute communion. This is a Catholic church and she doesn't consider herself Catholic. Although the book never says she was raised Catholic, I'm assuming that because both her parents are and she is allowed to be a Eucharistic minister, she must have been brought up in the church. I understand she is probably finding herself and that is part of growing up, I just have a problem with someone participating in the distribution of the Eucharist who doesn't even consider themselves part of the church. I do realize that she is doing more for God than most Catholics would even consider, and that we all have many lessons to learn from her. I just felt as a Catholic myself, I wanted to share this observation.


Secondly, in the course of the book, she never mentions that the children she considers herself, "mommy" to, are foster children. I felt the way the book is written makes the reader assume she has adopted them. But by law, a person must be 25 years old before they are allowed to adopt in Uganda. I felt this is an important thing to just "leave out". Possibly it is because she is trying to protect her children?? In one chapter she tells of a  heart wrenching ordeal involving the birth mother of one of her "children" and how it was so hard to have to give her back. The truth is, Katie is the foster mother, not the adopted mother...yet, so it is the right of the mother to seek custody. I'm sure life at Katie's home is much more stable, but until she is the adopted mother, she should expect something like that may happen. I'm not saying it still wouldn't be devestating, but when I was reading the book, I felt angry at the birth mother...until I learned later that it was a foster situation.


Please understand, overall, I LOVED the book, I just like complete honesty when reading true stories.


I highly recommend Kisses From Katie and currently, Hannah is reading it as a part of school.
Have you read it?? What are your thoughts???

Bathroom Update

Hi! The bathroom project is dragging along very slowly....I just haven't had the umph to keep it going. But, I wanted to share with you our progress...hopefully it will help kick us into gear!



Before update



Originally, when we started planning, I fell in love with this beautiful bathroom. After installing the new counters, sink, tile, faucet and mirror frame, I tried out 4 different neutral paints...none of them looked right, everything just looked washed out and faded...too many neutrals! Then one of my favorite bloggers, Layla from The Lettered Cottage, posted this fabulous faux reno.  I fell in love with both the shower curtain and the paint color on the vanity...it totally changed my perspective.

I decided to bring that fabulous vanity color to the walls and find a similar shower curtain. I had a gift certificate from Kohl's left from Christmas, burning a hole in my purse, so I headed over and found this gorgeous treasure.

Then we headed over to Sutherland's to choose a paint color to match, we went with Seaside Accents.

We added a few

decorative accents, the

rug is from Kohl's and

painting is from Menard's.

After update

We've also been painting the storage cabinets and replacing the hardware.

Projects still in the works: replacing the door, replacing baseboards in sink area, painting the pocket doors, tearing out the rest of the tile in the second part of the bathroom, paint the second storage unit and trim.

Sorry it's taken so long to share our progress! What do you think???

Pregnancy and Stuff

I love checking Babycenter to watch the baby's growth and development. I find it interesting they use food to compare the size of the baby...why not sports equipment or flowers...just wondering?

When reading about this week, Babycenter says "the morning sickness should be waning"...this is NOT what's happening in my body.

I am not a cute pregnant person. I look like a Jabba the Hut impersonator most of the time. So, I won't be sharing any photos of my different rolls and gelatinous masses.....sorry;)

Benny and Charlie were sitting on each side of me on the sofa....Benny leaned in hugging my tummy and said, "Mommy, we are your two pregnant loves."

The other day, Benny asked me to set the timer for 10 minutes because he was "making" something. Apparently, he forgot about it, Don found an egg floating in the bathroom sink...Benny was "hot boiling" it.

Charlie can't say his F's very well so he calls his flip flops his drip drops.


Benny has been showering me with his kind of "love" lately. He told me while once again hugging my tummy that he used to be inside my tummy...Charlie indignantly responded..."NO Benny!!! That was ME!"

I hope you each have a very Blessed Easter!!