Okay, Okay....

I've been accused of acting hastily in going private and family members especially don't want me to do it. I understand that thought- I don't like it when my friends go private. I've agreed to wait longer and then decide. I've kept all the addresses on a list though so I'm ready to go if I want to. I know I want to change things so I may just do a new blog. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime I am running all over this town to plan a huge double birthday party for Saturday. Go big or go home!

Going Private

In the interest of keeping things close to home, this blog is going private Friday. If you want me to send you an invite just lemme know- you can comment or email me- (address is bottom right by pic) even if you are just a lurker- I have blogs I read where I don't know the folks so I totally understand! :)

Eight already?

Well, what can I say about the birthday of my precious firstborn baby? The little (okay- the big) brown eyed boy that made me a mommy. Happy Birthday sweet angel. You are just the most amazing child and bring me and Daddy so much joy.

You are the best big brother-



You are incredibly patient and kind to your siblings. You read to Tucker almost every night (before we do) and have put him down for naps for me before. You talk in the sweetest, softest baby talk to Charlie and you can feed him and carry him around. You make Tucker's bed every morning and sometimes help Julia make hers. You are very patient with Sissy and try to help her do her schoolwork and give her hints when I'm asking her "hard" questions. Above all, you are their role model and I'm CONVINCED that the relative order and calm in our home comes from them following your lead. I can't think of what else you could do to be a better brother.

You love to read books- especially history and science books and Great Illustrated Classics, you love computers and the wii, you love all sports, you love chess, you love Noah above any person on earth, you love to tell jokes- you've read tons of joke books and have a bunch memorized. You love to ride bikes, skates, scooters, the 4-wheeler, the tractor, etc. You taught yourself to play several songs on the piano, and you taught yourself the drums. And you LOVE to build things out of wood, cardboard, anything- there is ALWAYS a craft in process at this house. You begged me to buy you wooden clothespins the other day at Publix b/c "there are so many possibilities with these!" I can't think of really anything you don't like doing.

Almost anything I say to you your answer is "Yes, Ma'am". And you take "no" so very well. I know it breaks your heart sometimes when I have to say no to things you think are awesome, but you almost never whine about it- you just say, "okay, yes ma'am". You are tenderhearted and so sweet it hurts. I have to be so careful with your little spirit. You are still our gentle giant. And you love Jesus so much. You are very respectful in prayer and in mass and always pray for Noah. And somehow you seem to remember almost any Bible story or saint story you've heard. You shock us with your retention.

That said, you are VERY tough and love to rough house and knock boys (and Daddy) over. Tonight after Lacrosse practice you and this other boy were running in the field playing tag and he tagged you hard and you turned around to tag him and he went flying. You still don't really understand your strength and how big you really are. But you have used your strength to help us so much- not only by carrying the babies around, but by being in charge of taking out the trash and you can even mow the grass now (with help getting started).



You are up in the playroom right now reading with Daddy. Every single night you two go in there and read the Lord of the Rings series after the littles are in bed. You love that time. Sometimes at night you two exercise or do Kung Fu. Whatever it is- you both have a blast and I love how close you are.

I know this is detailed, but I don't want to forget this precious time in our lives. I LOVE LOVE LOVE homeschooling you and I came this close to putting you in school next year, but I just can't live with you gone all day. I LOVE our time together- I love to watch you learn- I love to read history to you and see you put it all together. We are reading a biography of Isaac Newton right now and we learned about how he made a sun dial and water clock when he was young, and I can see your wheels turning. You want to learn and do and make. And I love how when the littles do or say something silly I can look at you and we both smile that knowing smile to each other.

You have my heart, little boy. I can't thank God enough for giving me such a precious son to lead our little house of babies. Happy 8th Birthday!

We had a wonderful Easter day here. It began last night when Marc and I got home from the vigil and put out the Easter baskets and Easter books (they are old books- but they had been hidden until now). I only did a handful of candy for each, which is so much better than when I've given them gobs of candy. We put butterflies on the windows to show new life!



Marc's-



Julia's-




Tucker's-



Charlie's- (he adores this Peter Rabbit doll- I think we have a 'lovey')-





Our crown of thorns was replaced with a circle of flowers-



Our lamb was complete-



For breakfast we made monkeybread in a cross-shaped pan altogether- this is DEFINITELY a new tradition- the kids loved rolling and dipping the dough-



Voila!



And it was a hit-



We also made the empty tomb rolls together while the monkeybread baked. They kids loved the whole story- the white marshmallow represents Jesus- pure and holy- the butter represents the oil, the cinnamon sugar represents the embalming spices and the dough represents the burial cloths- the oven is the tomb-





Is "Jesus" still in the burial cloth?



No! He is risen!



While we waited for all our baking we played with the new bubble maker-



And Marky doodled with his new watercolors- "He is not here!"



Then it was time to head to the Easter mass. Poor Tucker and Charlie are quite sick so they stayed home and rested with Daddy-









BB and I took the big kids to the cathedral-



I had such cute outfits for Charlie and Tucker- oh well at least I had two kids to dress up-





We ran into Julia's Godparents at the Cathedral-



And after the service the bell ringers were ringing the "change ringing" bells- sounds of heaven- we went to watch them-





Then we came home for Easter dinner. If you don't use your good china and silver for Easter, when will you ever use it, right? (And in person the table cloth didn't seem so wrinkled) :)



Ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet peas, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, biscuits and sweet tea- holla if you hear me!



This is Marc looking like an angel- iridescent-



And even sick as he was, Charliehorse was all smiles! Happy Easter, ya'll!

He is risen indeed!

I love my Church. I love it so much, but never do I love it more than during Holy Week. I love our Palm Sunday service- with the blessed palms and all of the passion narative read aloud while we stand with the congregation being the voice of the crowd saying "crucify Him, crucify Him". It's so powerful to identify as the sinner nailing Jesus to the cross. Then they read, "Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last" and the entire room kneels in silence. Then we get up and finish the narrative, but I have never made it through that service dry eyed.

The Thursday is the chrism mass when all the priests of the diocese come to the Cathedral to bless the annointing and holy oils that will be used for the year. Then Thursday evening we begin the Easter Triduum by having the Maundy Thursday service where the altar is stripped and this is the only time the Holy Eucharist is taken from it's place of primacy in the tabernacle on the altar and put in a place of repose. The red santuary that always burns bright to let us know of Christ's special presence in His Eucharist is not burning. The altar is stripped of candles and crosses- statues are covered in veils, the holy water is taken from the fonts. No bells are rung. There will be no mass again until Easter vigil.

On Good Friday, the faithful gather to venerate the cross. The priest enters in silence, lays prostrate in front of the altar, then we have the liturgy of the Word (Bible readings), people come forward and kiss a crucifix, and then we receive the host that was conscecrated the night before and leave in silence. We also have a service on the seven last words of Christ and of course, Stations of the Cross, which are held every Friday evening in Lent. Then we enter into Holy Saturday where we wait in anticipation for the Easter Vigil. Holy Saturday ends around 6 pm (sundown).

I just got home from the Easter Vigil and am so filled with joy and wonder at our Savior's love for us. The Easter Vigil is just amazing. To walk into the dark church, with no Holy Water to bless yourself, no candles lit, no light to illuminate the gorgeous stained glass, no Jesus in the tabernacle- it's just painful. We don't know what it is to not have Christ in the world. We don't want to know. Sitting in the blackness, you feel like you are in the tomb with Jesus- waiting. Then outside the back of the Church you see the Holy Flames where the fire is burning and the Pascal Candle, the candle that represents Christ's light and from which all other candles are lit all year, is blessed and adorned. Then as all of our individual candles are lit the priest walks in the church with the catechumens behind him as he sings "Christ our light" and we respond "Thanks be to God!". (In the Catholic Church you have to go through a year-long class called RCIA to be received into the Church. Then you make your first confession and have your first communion and confirmation at the Easter Vigil).

From Christ's precious light all of the Church is illuminated. The cantor sings the exsultet rejoicing in Christ's passover sacrifice of Himself. Some of my favorite parts-

This is the night, when once you led our forebears,
Israel’s children, from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.
This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin.
This is the night that even now, throughout the world,
sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin,
lending them to grace, and joining them to his holy ones.
This is the night when Christ broke the prison-bars of death,
and rose victorious from the underworld.
Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed.

O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!
O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!
O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!

We then read 7 readings from the Old Testament, a psalm, an epistle and a gospel. We also sing the Gloria for the first time since Thursday and sing Alleluia for the first time since Lent started. Then the unbaptized are baptized, we all renew our baptismal promises, the new members are confirmed, and then we have the Liturgy of the Eucharist where we receive the body and blood of Christ. After all of this I got to my seat and wept. I thanked God again and again for calling me into fellowship with Him. I thanked Him that His mercy endures forever.

When we were at the natural history museum looking at the mummies from 2300 B.C. I couldn't help but think they didn't know about Jesus. There but for the grace of God go I. He could have left me in my darkness. He could have hidden His face from me. But somehow, though I am but dust, my Savior initiated a relationship of eternal love with me a sinner. Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy.

We adore Thee oh Christ and we praise Thee, for by Thy Holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world!

O Saving Victim

I love this song written by St. Thomas Aquinas, we sing it at every Children's Holy Hour (actually it is sung at every Eucharistic Benediction)- the last two lines are etched on G.K. Chesterton's tomb-




O salutaris Hostia,
Quae caeli pandis ostium:
Bella premunt hostilia,
Da robur, fer auxilium.
Uni trinoque Domino
Sit sempiterna gloria,
Qui vitam sine termino
Nobis donet in patria.
Amen.

O saving Victim, opening wide
The gate of Heaven to us below;
Our foes press hard on every side;
Your aid supply; Your strength bestow.

To your great name be endless praise,
Immortal Godhead, One in Three.
O grant us endless length of days,
In our true native land with thee.
Amen.

Good Friday

Born as a son,
led forth as a lamb,
sacrificed as a sheep,
buried as a man,
He rose from the dead as a God,
for He was by nature God and Man.
He is all things: He judges, and so He is Law;
He teaches, and so He is Word;
He saves, and so He is Grace;
He begets, and so He is Father,
He is begotten, and so He is Son;
He suffers, and so He is Sacrifice;
He is buried, and so He is Man;
He rises again, and so He is God.
This is Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs Glory for all ages.

Saint Melito of Sardis, Bishop, Martyr, and Early Church Father