Yes, Ruth and Paul have an amazingly cute red barn that they can take letters and make signs on. And Paul actually crawls up there and changes them pretty regularly - for sure for the birthdays that come along. Next year Mary's sign will only be up there a short time, because the new sibling will be here a week from Tuesday and there will be a new sign for a little one year old that will be celebrating on May 1st! We are all getting very excited for the new arrival... it should really bring the family together as Nancy and Gus are planning to come down and help Ruth, and John has plans to be here on Thursday night after he is done with classes. All excited and joyful to meet our newest Miraculous Arrival!
What does Mary have in her hand? It is a puppy pointer... I bought it for her at the Catholic School anual book sale a month ago. I have visions of playing school with her two active and unruly brothers, and she is the teacher... it can go from pointing to things on the paper to cracking their knuckles! It is definitely strudy for all that she will use it for. Kind of different.
I just got off the phone to Nancy, and I had to tell her how wonderful her finger puppets were to see... I laughed with glee! http://dosmallthingswithlove.blogspot.com/ "Yeah, Gus really likes them but mostly he likes to pull off their eyes!" He is really into eyes lately... Nancy says that he has a dolly that he takes to bed with him and "I constantly see him touching its eyes!" The other day he met a new 3 day old baby, and wanted to touch the little boys eyes.. Nancy had to hold his hands, so he wouldn't accidentally hurt him. I remember my little ones too being fascinated with eyes. I just came across an article in the Catholic Servant about a little girl born with brain damage - blind, deaf, and paralyzed from the neck down - unable to even swallow. Elizabeth Newton. With a feeding tube in and constant care, she lived for 20 months, and brought great joy and love to her parents and 4 sisters and one brother! Nancy and I were just talking about her perception of the world... they speak of her many smiles and beauty - there was a picture of her and she was beautiful to behold! The only thing she could experience would be feeling touch on her face or having her hair brushed... unable to see a smile on the face of her mother, or hear the voice of her family as they speak words of love and comfort to her. Only that feeling of touch, and it is possible with that extensive of brain damage that maybe she no longer had the sense of touch either. I would suspect that if she was able to smile and move her head that she could feel in her face and head! I tried to find more out about her - caringbridge or something like that, and was unable. I would love to read more about her day to day life, and some of the many blessings that the family received from her as she taught them about the unspeakable truth and beauty of LOVE! While Nancy and I were talking... Augustine was fussing in the background because he couldn't reach a toy..."Quiet! Gussy, you don't have it so bad!" She was kind of kidding him, but not really! A book about such a life would bless many - of that I have no doubt!
I was surprised when I read the Gospel for today to discover that it was Jesus feeding the 5,000! It just seemed wonderfully different to go back to that at this point at Easter, but then today there was much talk about how in Eastertide we are especially grateful... "Jesus continues to feed multitudes with the Bread of Life in the Eucharist, for which we give thanks especially during the Easter season." see http://www.magnificat.com/ Then I realized that this Gospel begins the amazing 6th chapter of John!!!! I had noticed that during Lent we got through John 5, and then jumped over John 6... what a huge disappointment! Well, here it starts... and I jumped ahead and yes we are going to dive into John 6 starting with the feeding of the 5,000 today! The morning prayer reading today was Moses and the manna in the desert - Exodus 16, which is very much reminding us that he feeds us in our hunger and need! I just have to interject here that last night at the spring concert at Holy Redeemer Catholic School... it was wonderfully based on the Old Testament, and such a powerful thing for the kids to perpare for us and learn about - how God cares for His people even though they turn their backs on him over and over! The small kids, K-3, including Mary and Simon, presented a cute bunch of speaking and songs about Noah and the Arc. While the older kids did a show on Moses from birth to obtaining the 10 Commandments from God! Yes, there was a tan blanket used to show the manna on the ground, and gathering it to satisfy their hunger! I left the program last night very grateful that my grandkids are being educated in their faith, and the Old Testament is the groundwork and basis of that faith, and the way that God cares for us, and then came to earth for us!
Now that's a happy girl! She didn't smile like that for the pictures I took of her for her birthday... Looking like a big 6 year old Mary! Scraped knees here we come! No pain no gain. It is just such an exciting thought to be heading full speed into John 6... the Eucharistic chapter! I would highly suggest a person taking up their Bible and read it! I will never forget traveling with a fellow hospice nurse years ago. She was a strong Baptist, and she brought up the Eucharistic Belief - its really Jesus- that we Catholics hold. I asked her about the verse in John 6 that says "unless you eat my body and drink my blood... you will have no life within you." She told me that she had never read that or heard that. Strange! I have heard the big converts on EWTN - Scott Hahn and all - say that until they became Catholic that there were certain verses that they just didn't "see." I have found in my life that the Church has all the answers, and I do not have a problem with anything that the Church holds out to us! 
My brother in law sent this to me yesterday: I would just remind you that I found my label thanks to Cardinal Dolan - Affirmative Othodoxy!
Vatican Orders Overhaul of U.S. Nun Group
Associated Press
"The Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog announced Wednesday a full-scale overhaul of a group representing most U.S. nuns and named an American archbishop to oversee the process.
The Vatican agency cited the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the largest umbrella group for Roman Catholic religious sisters in the U.S., for using materials that "do not promote church teaching" on family life and sexuality, for sometimes taking positions in opposition to the nation's bishops and for being "silent on the right to life from conception to natural death, a question that is part of the lively public debate about abortion and euthanasia in the United States."
Representatives for the women's group, based in Silver Spring, Md., didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain will manage the five-year overhaul, which will include rewriting the group's statutes, reviewing all its plans and programs—including approving speakers—and ensuring the group properly follows Catholic prayer and ritual.
The report specifically cites a social-justice group associated with the conference called Network, which played an important role in supporting the Obama administration's health-care overhaul despite the bishops' objections. The announcement Wednesday made no direct mention of President Barack Obama's health-care law, but said Archbishop Sartain will review the Leadership Conference's ties with Network.
The review, which began in 2008, was a "doctrinal assessment" by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Conservative Catholics have long complained that the majority of sisters in the U.S. have grown too liberal and flout church teaching."
I am rejoicing to read this! It has been awful to hear of these out of line sisters falling into line with OBama! Gross and wrong! Believe me... little Sister Hallel's order is not one of them! They love our Church and support, and follow all its' wise teachings!
Jesus, we are fed by YOU! "Jesus said, 'Have the people recline.' Now there was a great deal of grass in that place(I love this...especially with the lush green grass of Spring!). So the men reclined, about 5,000 in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had their fill... they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments..." John 6: 1-15
We rejoice and are forever filled with your Body and Blood, as you bring heaven and earth together in the Eucharistic feast! We are yours and are filled with your LIFE and LOVE and LIGHT! Such a powerful reminder of how much you watched out for your people from the creation of the world, and finally you came here taking the flesh of Man - Jesus Christ! May we look to you in your Word and Sacraments/Church... you are here among us in every day of our walk in this journey towards joining you in heaven - Eternal LIFE! Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia, Halleluia, Halleluia!
"Sometimes Christ comes with such great majesty that no one could doubt but that it is the Lord himself. Especially after receiving Communion - for we know that he is present, since our faith tells us this- he reveals himself as so much the Lord of this dwelling that it seems the soul is completely dissolved; and it sees itself comsumed in Christ. O my Jesus!"
St Teresa of Avila (1582), Doctor of the Church
Do you think their grass 2,000 years ago had dandylions and little 6 year old girls picking a bouquet?
Probably... but I know one thing they didn't have... a camera to take a picture. My life would be so different, and at a loss...without those pictures... How I LOVE THEM! Too much!
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