Last Saturday we went to the funeral of
Mother Mary Gabriel, SSEW, who founded the
Sisters Servants of the Eternal Word.
It was a precious day to celebrate an extraordinary woman. Marc was blessed to altar serve the Mass celebrated by 2 bishops, 2 deacons and over 20 priests.
Last Sunday I saw one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. Our precious little Tucker altar served for the very first time. He was so proud of himself and was very reverent and calm. Tucker, you are just the most precious little boy.
After Mass I was looking for him and found him at the grave for Brendan and Gabriel
(two of our miscarried babies- one at 13 1/2 weeks and the other at 14 weeks). He had his little eyes closed and was praying so hard.
Tucker can be very deep and sensitive at times. One of Charlie's many birthday gifts from his party was a pillowcase with the Scared Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary on it. Tucker went on and on about how nice it was and how it was his favorite thing Charlie received. Such a sweet boy.
He made Charlie a "Queen" chess piece for his birthday card. :) Chess is still Tucker's number one pursuit. He plays it all day every day. I woke up this morning and played a round of chess before breakfast. Yes, I lost. :)
One of Charlie's very favorite gifts was an Auburn helmet and jersey from his Godparents. He loves that Auburn jersey and has worn is every single day this week!
Thing 1 and Thing 2-
He used his birthday money to get a nerf gun. :)
On Monday we went swimming to celebrate Tucker's return to swimming. :) I sent this picture to Marc and said, "Thank you for working so hard so we can enjoy summer days." I am so grateful for Daddy working so hard to provide for us.
We went to the zoo this week.
Marc wasn't with us at the zoo because he is at boys choir camp this week. This year it was held at UAB. I hope he's had a good time- we pick him up tomorrow after concert.
Today we went to the art museum. We walked through the entire place and enjoyed all of the exhibits. They have a gorgeous section of Italian Renaissance paintings that I could stay in all day. Of course the children like the children's area.
A wiki stick horse and rider-
Last night Julia had a friend over to play and have dinner. Afterwards they and the boys made brownies.
I just read the best book that I highly recommend. It's called
The Collapse of Parenting by Dr. Leonard Sax. The subtitle is "How We Hurt our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-ups." Many know that one of my pet peeves is watching adults be bossed around by children. This book addresses the dramatic shift in parenting, really in just the past 20 years.
Our current child-led parenting has resulted in out of shape, emotionally-fragile children without skills or virtues, who are more connected to their equally ignorant peers than their parents. And sadly, it is largely an American problem and not seen in nearly as much in other first world nations, proving that it is not inevitable with our modern advances. We need books like this to remind us of our God-given authority and duty to our children. We fail them when we leave it up to them to raise themselves.
In this same category I want to suggest the book that I read about eight years ago and absolutely loved,
Hold on to Your Kids by Dr. Gordon Neufeld.
I urge anyone to read both of these books to empower yourself to guide and love your child and not be sucked into the teen/tween culture of disrespect and indolence.
