Three. Straight. Days.

Wash. Peel. Dice. Steam. Puree. Portion. Label. Freeze.

Pears. Peaches. Bananas. Avocados. Carrots. Broccoli. Cauliflower. Butternut Squash. Zucchini. Yellow Squash. Spinach. Kale. Sweet Potato.

Defrost. Hide. Eat. Enjoy.

(And in case you're wondering, no, this isn't just for baby Charlotte...)

A Momma's Girl, finally!

Jude has Joan, I have this little ball of cuddles. Need proof?

He said it best. *UPDATED*

** It's basically saying the same thing, but the original quote I had here was more of a paraphrase I got online (thank you Internet). Here's the real quote I got from my friend Veronica that's from his visit to Washington D.C. in 1979,


"Americans are known for generosity to your children. And what is the best gift you can give your children? I say to you: Give them brothers and sisters."
- Pope John Paul II


And coincidentally, Danielle Bean used the same quote in a blog post today also. Seems like God's trying to tell us (or me...) something, huh? (insert St. Gerard prayer...)

Simple Faith

Today we celebrate the Chair of St. Peter - Christ's appointment of St. Peter as the leader of His Church (Mt. 16:13-20), our first bishop and pope and we celebrate the succession of popes and bishops since his time. And I had previously wanted to do a fun craft with Joan, like these, but I found myself reflecting on something else and discovered that today's lesson was for me, not her. I realized that I've been given a great gift: simple faith.

You see, I can't remember a time when I've doubted the existence of God, when I've found difficulty in believing in the traditions and teachings of the Catholic Church. I've never had a moment of deep conversion. Religion, spirituality, and faith have always come so easy for me.

You could always find me in the youth group, the bible study, the praise band, the prayer circle. But, this doesn't mean that I've lived a blameless life free of sin and evil, nor does it mean that I know everything about my faith and live it out perfectly. God knows I have room to grow in holiness, knowledge, and devotion, but it does mean that where my will was lacking, my intentions were pure. I've always found the faults to be within myself, never in God nor in the teachings of the Church.

I realized today that not everyone has been given the gift of simple faith. Many struggle with the idea of God, His Son in Christ Jesus, or the authority of His church on Earth. And though many great blessings have come through the conversion of those people, like St. Paul or St. Augustine, I have been spared from such dark moments. Even through all of the house drama, I never doubted God's will at work or His love for us - I was only drawn more closely into His comfort. I am so grateful for this protection.

Some might say that I'm just naive and haven't studied other religions enough or that I don't have enough knowledge to make an informed choice about religion. They're right. I'm simple and ignorant and still have much to learn even about Catholicism. But the more I do learn, the more I do ask, the more I believe that the Catholic church has the fullness of faith, the authority given by Christ Himself through the Holy Spirit. And I have the 266 popes to thank, along with their Magisterium (the teaching office made up of the popes and bishops that teach on faith and morals), for doing most of the leg work for me - the studying of scripture, the passing down of traditions, and the continual praying for guidance and protection from the Holy Spirit.

Have the successors since St. Peter been perfect? No. Christopher West writes better than I,
"... the Church doesn't claim that all her members and leaders throughout history have never spoken in error or never made mistakes... The charism that protects the Church from error applies to her definitive teachings on matters of faith and morals. Certainly members of the Church, including some priests, bishops and popes, have not always lived according to the teachings of their own faith... This is scandalous and can weaken people's faith in the Church. Yet the fact that the Church has endured so much corruption and is still standing after two thousand years also bears testimony to Christ's words when he founded the Church upon Peter: 'The powers of death shall not prevail against [the Church]' Mt. 16:18."

Yeah, having doubts, questioning your faith, learning about someone else's religion are all normal, and even healthy, parts of faith and I think it's good to explore those carefully. But I'm thankful that my simple faith has kept me from really battling over the whole God thing, like so many have. And I truly feel like it's more than that whole "ignorance is bliss" mentality. Because my bliss is an honest and pure peace that only He provides and I am so thankful that He found me worthy of such simple faith.

So if you find yourself, like I do, having an easy, simple faith - thank God. And if you are struggling right now with any part of faith, know that my prayer tonight is for you and I will ask St. Peter to pray along side me, for God to grant you enlightenment and peace as well.

Where's my Leslie Knope?

This empty lot (I like to call it Lot 48) is literally 4 houses down from us. I couldn't get high enough to take a picture, but there's actually a deep, deep, crazy deep pit at the end of it. I keep waiting for the Parks and Recreation Department to step in and build a park. Anyone want to fall in and break their legs so we can get that started...?

(What's this all about, anyways?)

Madelyn Claire

Please pray for my sweet little niece, Madelyn, who's been in the hospital for pneumonia. She's been there for a few days and they're not going to get home today, not until she has been off oxygen for most of the day and breathing treatments every four hours.

Please also pray for her sister, Emily, who has an ear infection and fever.

St. Bernadette, patron of those ill, please pray for Emily and Madelyn.
Jesus Christ, our Healer and Comforter, please restore good health to Emily and Madelyn, and bring them peace.
Amen.

verbatim

"Joan, put these in the dirty clothes basket for me, please."
"Right here? In the washing machine box?"

"You're a princess, my momma."
"Oh I am? Am I pretty?"
"Yeah."
"How pretty?"
"Umm, 4 months."

"Joan, where are your manners?"
"They're at Tootsie's house." (Joan's grandmother)

As Jude and I hug and kiss,
"You got married?"

"Oh. This bite has bacon and eggs. They're a family."

"Momma, what park are we going to?"
"It's called McKee park."
"Where's the key?"
"No, it doesn't have a key. It's ma-kee."
"Oh. Where's the monkey?"

When in Rome...

Legend has it that throwing 2 coins with your right hand over your left shoulder into the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome ensures both love and marriage (and a return trip to the Eternal City).

I guess we did it right.

Happy Valentine's Day to my love!

Forever my friend, forever my love.

Bring out the high chair.

I've pushed it back long enough. Charlotte started solids this weekend and now that I've tweaked the home made rice cereal recipe (if you can call it that, it's just brown rice and water) she's taking a liking to spoon fed stuff. Hopefully, she'll be my kid that actually likes to eat. We'll see.

I used my fancy new Beaba Babycook, a steamer and food processor in one, that my mother-in-law got me for my birthday. I'm going to do my best at not stressing over patterns of introductions and stages of consistencies and quantity of servings and amount of feedings per day, this time around. We'll figure this whole eating thing out as we go and so far, so good. 

Our Lady of Lourdes

Today's feast day for Mary is a special one for us. Bernadette is one of Joan's patron saints and she loves, loves, loves the story of St. Bernadette and the apparition of Mary at Lourdes. I often hear her playing by herself, reciting, "I am the Immaculate Maception."

 Our festivities today consisted of wearing white and blue, 

building a grotto for Mary out of playdough,

and watching The Song of Bernadette, a black and white film from the 1940s. 

Joan surprised me and actually sat through most of the 2.5 hour movie (we broke it up into 2 days) and asked me lots of questions, even ones laced with pop culture: 

"Is that a coke?" (referring to a small bottle of wine)
"Are they running home to see their tv?"
"They're not going to the grotto today? Maybe after Chuck E. Cheese."
"Does she have covers?" (worrying about Bernadette when she was sick in bed)

Let's see if Joan can remember everything...

Oh...

Remember this post? I freaked out because St. Gerard, the patron saint of expectant women, was chosen for me by the saints generator and I thought it might be a foreshadowing for my own pregnancy later this year.

And then in this post I discovered some really great insights, unrelated to pregnancy, for why he was probably chosen for me.

Well, today I realized that I have 14 women in my life right now who are either pregnant, gave birth 4 days ago, or just recently had an adoption fall through. Fourteen. Doesn't that sound like a lot to you...

So, I am reminded, once again, that everything is not about me. I am obviously called to be a prayer warrior this year for these women and their situations. What an honor. What a responsibility.

So ladies, namely,
Melissa, Maria, Kelly, Kaitlin, Lisa, Becky, Karen, Mary, Katie, Michelle, Amanda, Courtney, Mary, and Jennifer,
you remain in my prayers.

St. Gerard, pray for them.

And if you're reading this and are also pregnant, please comment to let me know and I will gladly add your name to the list. You may also email me at alisha.landry@yahoo.com

St. Gerard, pray for Kaitlin! **UPDATED**

My friend, Kaitlin is at the hospital right now, about to give birth to her very first sweet little baby. Please keep her in your prayers. She's been laboring for over 18 hours now and is 6.5cm dilated with long contractions about 2 minutes apart. (Kaitlin is also planning for a non-medicated natural birth, so we know she could use the extra prayers and encouragement right around now - and especially during transition...)

You can read about her long journey through infertility and eventual conception of this baby (she didn't find out the gender), all while honoring the teachings of the Church at her blog right here.


Prayer for a Safe Delivery

O great Saint Gerard, beloved servant of Jesus Christ, perfect imitator of your meek and humble Savior, and devoted child of Mother of God, enkindle within our hearts one spark of that heavenly fire of charity which glowed in your heart and made you an angel of love.


O glorious Saint Gerard, because when falsely accused of crime, you did bear, like your Divine Master, without murmur or complaint, the calumnies of wicked men, you have been raised up by God as the patron and protector of expectant mothers.


Preserve Kaitlin from danger and from the excessive pains accompanying childbirth, and shield the child which she now carries, that it may see the light of day and receive the purifying and life-giving waters of baptism through Jesus Christ our Lord.


Amen.


**Thank you St. Gerard for your prayers and everyone else, too! And thank you Jesus for keeping Kaitlin and precious little Hannah Rose (born 2/7/2011 at 3:02 am, 7.3lbs, 20 in.) safe during labor and delivery. I can't wait to meet her and check out that dark curly hair I've been hearing about!

Double Aw.

The best part of this video is knowing that he does this kind of stuff with the girls everyday.

Aw.

I recently learned that when Jude puts away the folded towels, he places the newly washed ones at the bottom of the stack to preserve the life of our towels. He's been doing this the whole 4.5 years we've been married.

Aw.

Charlotte's 6 month portraits

Grandparents, aunts, and uncles, let us know which photos you want, what size, and how many, and we'll print them to order!

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

**No babies were harmed in the taping of this video. The camera didn't record mother's concussion-preventing cat-like reflexes.**


Take Two

Verbatim

"Momma, something's mattering me."


"Ok, Joan, let's get your pull-up on for nap."
Whimper, whimper, "But I don't want to rest my body."


"Momma, Uncle Mark is silly."
"Yeah, but he loves you."
"No. He's loves Sara. He loves her in his heart."
(Sara is Mark's sister/Joan's aunt)


"I'm the Immaculate Maception."


Jude: "Joan, do you need to go to the bathroom?"
"No ma'am, my father."


"Thank you for sharing your bacon, my Momma."
"Oh, you're welcome. That was polite. Who taught you to be so polite? Me?"
"No. Aladdin."


Pouring oil over the chicken in my skillet,
"What's that, Momma? Snot?"

Prayer Request

By now I'm sure you've all seen the chaos going on in Egypt. Sometimes those problems seem so far away and it's easy to be detached. But I went to high school and college with someone who's in Cairo right now. She just moved there at the beginning of the year with her brand new husband.

They have limited communication with her family here in the states, but seem to be safe at his relative's home right now. Please pray for the safety of Ashley, Shady, and his family and that peace will soon be restored.

(I hope she doesn't mind me stealing this off of Facebook... it's so beautiful.)

We have fun.

And here's how we do it.
Swinging. Eating cake at birthday parties. Going to dog shows. Visiting with the Guilbeauxs. Bowling. Wearing ducky pjs. Playing instruments at Kindermusic. Jumping on inflatables.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Pictures not enough?