"Oh how I love to help you, my dear son and daughter. Let me remove those knots for you forever. I love you."

This morning as our new little guy was sleeping (well, not so new, 7 months now!), our 4 year old was trying to untangle a set of earbuds and becoming a bit frustrated.  Feeling a full heart this morning for many reasons, I decided to offer my help as I could see my patience was a little higher than his (which isn't always the case). Plus the baby was sleeping. 

That is not a picture of the same earbuds that we untangled, but some random group of tangled cords that seem to lie in abundance about our house.  But thank God we have a lot of pictures of Jesus at our house too.  Plus I thought you might get a kick out of the industrial strength ultra duster that my husband seems to think is the way to dust our house, which is covered in dust. But I digress.

He gave me the earbuds, and I proceeded to untangle the cords with great patience.  With this great gift of patience in my heart, I began a *teaching moment*.... this one was successful though!  I told him that it only takes a little bit of patience and perseverance to untangle and remove the knots.  He agreed. We worked together diligently and within no time at all, it was untangled! This happened with no interruptions, a miracle in itself.  It was so easy, but I reminded him that sometimes tangles are not so easy, and if we let God do the work for us and with us, He always works out the knots for us.

Right after we had that one untangled, he put it on top of another group of cords and it became all mixed up again! He and I laughed about that, and he tried to get them out himself but it was not working. That's when I said, "Here, let your mom help you out."

and bam! there she was, Mary, right there with us, saying, "Oh how I love to help you, my dear son and daughter.  Let me remove those knots for you forever. I love you."

So thankful for praying a Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots, recently, so she could open up my heart in this beautiful, tangible way.

And since I haven't announced yet here at this blog that we had a new baby, here is a picture of him! He was born just after midnight on January 21, 2015 on the Feast of Saint Agnes, with Saint Sebastian's help the day before during labor. We all love him so, our dear little David:

Seriously? :)

To lighten the mood around here a bit, Michael's dear sisters decided to introduce him to a few of their barbies:

Hmmmm....

Seriously?

 er, what is this sparkly thing with feet?

My thoughts exactly :)  Yuck.   He's definitely not amused.

 

But he still has a great smile for his mama! :-D

Blowing Rasberries

Highlight of our day:

DS1 and DD2 trying to soothe Michael by blowing rasberries to "encourage" him to release his gassiness since he was really fussy after his nap. He quit crying and then tried to blow rasberries himself. So cute. Never. thought. I. would. write. something. like. this.

That's all I have right now. My brain cells are disappearing faster and faster by the day.

A Story of Hope

This morning I read a great post over at Creative Minority Report about one couple's struggle with conceiving and their decision to go to Gianna Catholic Healthcare Center for Women. The writer Mary talks about how when you prepare for marriage the priest asks you if you are open to having children, but what about the burden of not being able to get pregnant? She does not talk about miscarriage, but the loss of a child by miscarriage and multiple miscarriages is devastating as well. Here is an excerpt, you will want to read the whole post over at CMR:

But they never ask if you are you prepared for when the children don't come. It can be a frustrating and devastating process full of anxiety, doubt, and heartbreak. It is also not something you fail at once like your 7th grade Social Studies test, it's something that 12 times a year you know you failed. After a year or maybe two, you start to really wonder if something is wrong with you. You see your friends having babies and they tell you you’re next. Or you see a show on television where the character is having a baby and you have to switch channels. Or because you look at the second bedroom in your place that you named the nursery when you moved in and now call the office.

I went through five years of this. So many tears and advice. Of course, IVF was not an option. Where do you turn? On my birthday last year, I got the monthly reminder that we failed. Again. As I laid on my bed crying, my husband decided to make a call. He called Gianna, The Catholic Healthcare Center for Women. My brother Matthew had told us about them.....

Read the rest here.

St. Gianna, pray for us!

St. Gertrude the Great - Herald of Divine Love

+JMJ+

*Cross posted at Community of Catholic Bloggers*

A few weeks ago, I could not sleep, even though Michael was sleeping peacefully next to me. My mind and my heart were restless, so I got out of bed to pray and poured out my heart to God. Michael then began to cry so I went to him to care for him. It was then that God gave me peace and this became my prayer:

Lord, thank You for the amazing privilege of being a mother to this baby so beautiful.

As he rests in me, let me rest in You. I rest in You.

Right now, being his mother is the only thing I feel I can do with confidence. No words are necessary, only touch and love and nourishment.

As I grow in confidence in this ability alone, teach me to trust in You the way he trusts in me so that I will know Your Love and care for me and so will he.

As You teach me Lord, heal my heart, my body, and my soul.

Let me grow in confidence so that when words are necessary, I will use your words and actions and not my own.

In this way, You are teaching me to be Your daughter, to be a wife, to be a mother, to be a sister, to be a friend.

Mary and Joseph, I ask for your parental intercession in all this.

In Your Holy Name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.

The very next morning, a dear friend gave me the book St Gertrude - Herald of Divine Love (TAN Books). Wow! Here are some passages from the book that particularly spoke to me (italics mine):

"St. Gertrude was the herald of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus." Thank You Lord for bringing St. Gertrude to me during June, the month of devotion to Your Sacred Heart and at this time and state in my life. Thank you St. Gertrude for coming to me.

"Gertrude's heart sought God alone, and found Him everywhere." O, Lord Jesus, You are everywhere and always with us. Thank You for Your Mercy and Love!

On St. Gertrude's unlimited confidence: "The Holy Fathers have always taught that the measure of our hope and confidence is the measure of the graces which we receive from heaven. They have realized that, through our unreserved confidence, God is most honored and glorified. Nothing will be denied to an unlimited confidence.... St. Gertrude understood that confidence is the key which opens the treasures of the infinite Mercy of God." Thank You Lord for answering my prayer and teaching me to trust in You and to grow in confidence in the Mercy and Love of Your Sacred Heart.

"Once when St. Gertrude was troubled with temptations, she implored the Divine assistance. Our Lord, in His exceeding Mercy, spoke thus to her: 'Anyone suffering from human temptations, who flees to My protection with firm confidence, belongs to those of whom I can say: 'One is My dove, My chosen one out of thousands, who has pierced My Heart with one glance of her eyes.' And this confidence wounds My Heart so deeply that were I unable to relieve such a soul, it would cause My Heart a sadness which all the joys of heaven could not assuage... The confidence that I truly have the power, the wisdom and the goodness to aid a soul faithfully in all her miseries, is the arrow which pierces My Heart, and does such violence to My Love that I can never abandon her.' " O Lord Jesus! I love you and I thank You with all my heart for Your faithfulness, Your sacrifice, Your Mercy and Your Love! I trust in Your Sacred Heart and thank You for giving me the desire for confidence. Let my confidence grow in You and Your Sacred Heart. Lord, let my trust that You will not abandon me grow. St. Gertrude, pray for us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Once when reflecting on her unworthiness: "Instantly she placed all her hope in God's goodness by saying: 'What will it avail me to hesitate? Even if a thousand years were given me, I could nevertheless not prepare myself fittingly. I will therefore go to meet Him with confidence and humility, and when my Lord sees me from afar, He will send in advance a garment wherein I may be fittingly clad to be presented to Him." O Lord, let me always approach Your Love in the Holy Eucharist with confidence and humility. And if I commit mortal sin, may I immediately seek Your forgiveness in Confession that I may not miss Your tender Love in this Holy Sacrament. Let Your Mercy be on us O Lord, as we place our trust in You. In Your Holy Name I pray, Amen.

~~~

The Tenth prayer of St. Gertrude's Devout Affectations on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ:

O Jesus, true and fruitful Vine, remember now the lavish, the excessive profusion wherewith Thou didst shed Thy Precious Blood, when on the Cross Thou didst tread the winepress alone, and wast crushed as a cluster of ripe grapes; when Thou didst give us water and Blood from Thy pierced Side, so that not one drop remained in Thy Heart. Then wast Thou hung up as a bundle of myrrh, and Thy tender Flesh grew pale, and Thy moisture was all dried up within Thee, and the marrow of Thy bones consumed. By this Thy most bitter Passion, and by the shedding of Thy Most Precious Blood, I beseech Thee, O most Loving Jesus, wash my soul at the hour of my death with the water which flowed from Thy Sacred Side, and adorn it with comeliness in the Precious Blood of Thy sweetest Heart, and render it acceptable in Thy sight in the fragrant odor of Thy Divine Love. Amen.

We have a baby boy!!

Hi, just a quick update!

Michael Aidan was born Friday afternoon May 6th. He was 7 lb 8.5 oz and 19.5 inches. We came home yesterday from the hospital! What a wonderful Mother's Day gift!

Will try to post pictures soon. Thank you SO SO much for all your prayers!!!!

Moving from Sorrow into Joy through His Divine Mercy

There is a difficulty in moving from the penance of Lent and sorrow of Holy Week into the joy of Easter and our Lord's Resurrection. Our Holy Church provides such a blessing as we celebrate Easter Day as one continuous day during the Easter Octave. This year, it is giving me time to move my devotion for the Cross of Christ into the joy of His Resurrected Life. I am not making promises about getting there though within this week..... maybe by Pentecost?

This particular Easter I find that life is particularly messy and it has been a real struggle moving from the sorrow (and joy) of the cross to the pure joy of the resurrection. We are now within weeks (if not days) of delivering our new baby! As exciting as this may be, it also carries with it a lot of burden. As much as I am trying to focus on the joy that cometh, in reality, I also am having a hard time with mixed emotions of the pregnancy ending and wanting this pregnancy to be done!! New life is such a beautiful gift and I am so grateful for God's gift to us and to me to be able to carry His creation within, but I am also so tired and ready to be able to move a bit more normally again (God willing).

I also have some fear about labor and delivery, and trusting in God's Mercy is really the only way to get through this time. I am so thankful for the prayers of the Divine Mercy novena, carrying through from Good Friday and through the Easter Octave. I keep trying to think about that moment just after our other babies were born, where words are hard to describe the joy at holding and seeing God's creation for our family for the first time. That is the joy that cometh, new life, and the beauty of God's Love shown in one little soul. A small foretaste of the Joy of being in His Presence forever, perhaps?

Eternal God, in whom Mercy is endless, and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us, and increase Your Mercy in us, that in difficult moments, we might not despair, nor become despondent, but with great confidence, submit ourselves to Your Holy Will, which is Love and Mercy Itself.

I turned 40 on Monday, and my husband and children will tell you that I have not been very pleasant to live with for the past several weeks (maybe even longer??, oh, we won't go there). I'll say it again, life is just messy, and even more so when I begin to contemplate the labor pangs going on in the world right now as well. Trusting in the Mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Resurrection is the only way to make it out of this present darkness.

In my own heart, the darkness threatens daily, and I must look up, away from myself, and to His Resurrection and His Mercy to know His Love and Strength. It is so hard not to be consumed by the information around us and by our own daily anxieties, but Hope in Him is our anchor. He brings us joy now, here in this world He has created for us. Even though there are trials and struggles He has bled and died to give us new life in Him. Let us turn our hearts to the joy that cometh and to the joy that He gives now.

+JMJ+

Hide me within Your wounds, Lord Jesus. Let me never forget Your Sacrifice, but allow me to know Your Joy and Your Resurrection too. Pour forth your Divine Mercy, in the water and blood gushing forth from Your Heart, into my body and soul, so that I may truly know Your Resurrected Life within. Lord, I open myself completely to You. In Your Divine Mercy, cast out my fear. I trust in You. I trust in You. I trust in You! In Your Holy Name, Amen.

Amazing Video of Early Life Development

Wow, this is amazing!



HT Creative Minority Report and LiveAction


Update: If you have trouble viewing the video, you can watch it at liveaction.org

Intense

Okay, well, we have some good news! We are having another baby! The baby is due some time next May, so it is still really early. We would appreciate your prayers. This may be part of the reason for the lack of posts. Honestly, my intensity level has gone over the top and I have too many things that I want to write about and then it ends up that I can't write anything. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, being pregnant and blogging. Have never blogged while pregnant, so hang on, who knows what I'll write about!