Babysitting Blues...

I just want to say that I DREAD anytime I have to ask someone to babysit. I never get a "yes" on the first try. We have a prolife banquet to go to Thursday. We are hosting a table and Marc is on the Board of Directors so we can't miss it. I have already asked eight people to babysit and have gotten all rejections. Oh it's so discouraging. Those of you with family in town- love your family. Those with reliable sitters- love them, serve them, thank them. I just wanted that out there.

Update: Don't cry for me, Argentina. BB has heard my cries and is coming to the rescue all the way from the Port City. Thank you BB!!!! And this babysitting intervention is a 2-fer because Saturday is Daddy Marc's b'day and now we can go out to a dinner/movie date! YAY!!!!

Rammer Jammer.....

L S WHO? haha!! Saturday I got to go to my first Alabama game. It's hard to believe I've never been to one- it was A LOT of fun. And what a game! And yes, I was sitting here- a little way up on the 50 yard line, home side!!!

We went with some of our close friends, Minda and Rob.

Mom, I just happened to be wearing Troy colors. Not necessarily Alabama colors. :) And it was complete coincidence that my earrings were houndstooth.

We spent the entire day there- we got there early and tailgated with her college friends on the quad and then at the President's mansion where we had lunch. Then we went to the game and then back to the quad afterwards to celebrate some more. Finally we got back to B'ham and went to Outback to top off an awesome day! Minda and I have a LOT of fun together and get silly and dance. You need people like that in your life.

When we got home Marc said "it feels like we got to have a 13-hour date." I think we needed it!
The babies were more than happy to spend the day with our dear Ms. Kelly who lives accross the street. They made cookies, went to the park and had many craft projects. And yes, I did pay her by the hour and cleaned out our savings. :)

Bits of Good News

We had some good news today, it appears the cancer has NOT spread into his spinal fluid- that would be much worse. How wonderful to have good news! He's feeling more upbeat and staying awake longer. And the survival rate for his type of cancer is around 65-70%. Those odds aren't wonderful, but they aren't terrible either. More likely than not, he can beat this thing! We believe the Great Physician will heal our boy.

In other (somewhat odd) news, Julia POTTY TRAINED herself this weekend! On a whim, Saturday morning Marc put her in underwear instead of a diaper and said, "be sure to use the potty today." And she did. All day!?? What in the world? She's been using the potty ever since. No more pull-ups (except at night). I knew it would happen when she got good and ready to do it. I cannot express to you how LITTLE we did to make it happen this time. And you all remember how MUCH we did earlier to no avail. You can lead a horse to water......

P.S. Marc, Sr. will be on the Deep in Scripture radio show on Catholic radio tomorrow- locally it's AM1480 at 1:00 p.m or Sirius 160 if you have satellite. You can download from the website later if you are still interested in his conversion. :)

Prayer Warriors Needed

Noah, Landin, Julia and Marc 2007

Amber, Noah and Marc, Dec. 2007

Marky and Noah at Animal Kingdom Oct. 2009

Just wanted to update you and say that every update we get seems to be worse. Now they have discovered that the cancer has spread to his lower brain and spine. It is a grim, awful prognosis, and he will probably be transported to a Gainsville hospital soon. One of the worst parts is that they have had trouble controlling his pain. He is just in misery. Please pray for my precious 6-year-old nephew. He is such a beautiful, special child. He is actually a genius. Literally. To think his amazing brain could have cancer boggles the mind. My friend Christy sent me this beautiful prayer that I am adopting for Noah, please feel free to pray it with me:

O God, by Whose help all things grow to maturity and, once grown, are kept strong, stretch out Thy hand over this, Thy young servant, Noah, in his sickness, that he, having regained his health and strength, may grow up to full manhood, and unfailingly offer Thee a loyal and pleasing service all the days of his life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collectio Rituum from 1954

Halloween 2009

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and prayers for our sweet nephew. It's going to be a long, uphill battle from here on out, and all of our lives are changed from this. I can hear the resolve in my sister-in-law's voice on the phone. She's turned from grieving to "momma on a mission" and she's out to beat this thing.

Meanwhile, it's crazy Halloween/pumpkin time here and it's hard not to feel guilty for having fun when your family's world is being turned upside down. We did have a wonderful Halloween night. We had a chili dinner with our good friends and then trick-or-treated in the perfect weather. Presenting Clone Trooper Marky (i.e. security) and lovely butterflies, Margaret and Mary Hannah, and Princess Julia.

Isn't Julia's dress neat? I actually got it at HomeGoods. You know they sometimes have things like this. I got our McLaren umbrella stroller there too.
The trooper unmasked....

Daddy ended up carrying Margaret and Julia in between houses. They got so used to it they wouldn't hold anyone's hand or walk. Like I've said before, real men haul kids.

Did you think I forgot little man? He was Dumbo- and loved it! It's the same costume we had for Marky's first Halloween.

He was an angel baby and rode so quietly in the stroller and played with his feet. How about those ears?

Friday we had a church Halloween party and Tuker went as Poohbear Honeypot, another Marky hand-me-down. It took me a while to figure out that this costume is supposed to be Winnie the Pooh in a Bumble Bee suit so he can steal honey. :)

This was one of Tucker's first social parties and he enjoyed making the rounds. See his dimple- that means there is a smile under that paci. :) Here he is happy to see that Dinosaur Jonathan has a bag of pretzles.

Don't turn away from me Mr. Dinosaur.

Oooooh....a LADY! Hello legs. Is that hairbow edible?

And before we go, a shout out to my Godson Luke- I love this little bee-fella.

P.S. I want to add that I have NO PROBLEM whatsoever with my kids dressing up like their favorite things or people and trick-or-treating. I remember in high school being so shocked when my hyper-ethical english professor who hated the Easter Bunny and Santa said he had no problem with Halloween. He said, "c'mon...it's just kids getting candy". I argued that it was rooted in paganism and evil and should be completely avoided. Later, I've come to see that Christians have made it our practice over these past 2,000 years to redeem things begun in evil. The Church would go to a pagan temple and convert it to a Christian church. And people argue that Christmas and Easter have practices that include remnants of pagan celebrations. I have no doubt that my children are not dabbling in evil by dressing like a princess and asking for candy. I'm sure there are those who abuse it, but that can be said of anything. And Halloween is such a perfect prequel to All Saints Day. We are reminded of what the Saints were saved from. Today (Nov. 1st) we had an All Saints party and the kids got on stage in their costumes and gave clues to their Saint. They would say, for instance, "I baptized Jesus." Julia was St. Margaret of Scotland and Marky was St. George (of course!). In fact, all night on Halloween, when people would say "oh look a pretty princess", Marky would yell, "No, she's St. Margaret of Scotland." I might as well have put a big "we are Catholic" sticker on. :)

For more thoughts on the topic of Christians and Halloween see here and here.

Please Pray

I am an only child, and Marc has only one sister and she has two children. So we have a very small, close family. Our nephew Noah had been throwing up and having headaches for a while (he even threw up while we were in Florida for the reunion) and the doctors finally did an MRI yesterday evening. They found a mass the size of an egg on the back of his brain and decided to immediately operate. They just got out of the operation and did the pathology and we have learned he has brain cancer. He is 6-years-old. They were not able to remove all of the tumor and it had spread so now he will have to begin radiation and chemotherapy. Our family is devastated, especially because we lost a 2nd cousin to brain cancer a year and a half ago and he was 10-years-old. The good news is that this is the most common form of brain cancer and the doctors have a proven protocol to go by. Marky and Noah are only 6-months apart in age and really love each other. We are starting a new journey with this cancer and we pray that God will give Noah complete healing. Please pray with us.

Thursday Tidbits

This week has been interesting. You may or may not know our house has been on the market since July 1st. We have had a LOT of people come through the past few weeks and even had one offer and one offer of a lease/purchase, but nothing is working out. I had really hoped to move before the holidays, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. We are having people come by almost every day so I have to keep the house extra, extra clean. I am still homeschooling when I can, but I haven't posted much about it. I did start thinking about Christmas and ordered this c.d. of Christmas music and narration and this c.d. of Christmas stories yesterday. I'm also starting a little project for the o antiphons. I may or may not do a Jesse tree this year. If I do it will be very simple because of all the house turmoil.

P.S. this video was taken when we realized that the sound "squeak" was hysterical to Tucker. I found out while reading a book to Juliabug that had a mouse in it. :) Even if he was in another room I would hear a chuckle from Tucker when the mouse said squeak. You guys really shouldn't have told me that you can post videos- I'm on a roll now.