Verbatim

Alisha: No, you can't poke your chicken with that screwdriver.

Charlotte: It's so messy right here.
Alisha: Then, why don't you pickup.
Charlotte: Well, nevermind. It's not so bad.


Charlotte: Did you know Carley has the movie Cowboy and the Tramp?
Alisha: Haha. No - what's that about?
Charlotte: Well, there was a fire and he blew in there - the man with the mask and it had holes on his eyes and he runned to the fire and he breathed like this [sighs] and said, "Yee-haw!"
Alisha: Makes sense.


Alisha: Who made you so beautiful?
Charlotte: You did.
Alisha: No, God did.
Charlotte: And you made me awesome?

technically, this wasn't spoken, but written, errr - typed...

Joan: [singing] Come, now is the time to worship.
Alisha: What does worship mean?
Joan: [pauses] To just stay with God.


Charlotte: Mom, I have dirty breath.


Alisha: [attempting pigtails] Please be still! PLEASE, Lord - be still!
Charlotte: My name's not LORD!

Charlotte: I look like a saint.

Alisha: Man, why is your ear so dirty? Have you been pouring dirt in it?
Charlotte: No, it's just chocolate.

Charlotte: Dear Simon, I like the smell of your breath.

You're not crazy.

I am.

St. Nicholas's Feast day is today, the 6th.

Not on the 5th, like I thought.

So, may your celebrations be merry and your calendar be tidy.

Christmas is still on the 25th, right?

St. Nicholas came to town

The girls were so excited to dig into their stockings this morning. One year they'll remember that he almost always brings the same stuff: chocolate coins & new toothbrushes. Guess their tiny brains can't remember all of 2010 & 2011. Well, those years are a bit of a blur to me, too.

Adorable pjs courtesy of Nanny Chloe & Uncle Art

"toothbrushes are legit!"

Cinderella, her "bay-vrit"

I hope I never lose the link to these coin images 

and that Dollar Tree never stops selling them.

And because today's not just about them, we brought our gifts to the church 

for a family in need, in honor of St. Nicholas.

WE JUST SOLD A HOUSE

YES.

WE JUST SOLD A HOUSE.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.

OR WHY I'M STILLING SCREAMING AT YOU.

SORRY.

BUT WE JUST SOLD A HOUSE.

3 YEARS, 5 MONTHS, AND 25 DAYS LATER.

WE SOLD A HOUSE.

Your thoughts, prayers, tears, encouragements, and sacrifices in our name have not gone unnoticed. God bless you and blessed be His name forever, until the end of time!!!

A Lost Cause

We finally have an approval letter from the bank, stating that we can close on or before August 7th. So that's the good news.

The uncertain news is that the appraisal is being reviewed at the moment by a third party. A third party that we can have no contact with to say, "Hey, this house will be foreclosed on on August 8th, can you hurry up?" A third party that may need us to address more repairs, something we don't have time for. A third party that hasn't been dealing with our unique manufactured home and may have questions about the comparisons we gave them and why they don't quite match up. A third party that doesn't know me or Jude, or our beautiful children and could care less about us. A third party who, if they don't turn things in in time, could be the reason we lose that house to foreclosure.

We feel like it's a lost cause. And so, we call upon the name of our advocate and friend, St. Jude, the Patron of Desperate Situations and Hopeless Cases. Please pray with us, starting TODAY (30th) through AUGUST 7th.

Novena to St. Jude: (Our request will be that every bit of paper work is done and in place so that the closing scheduled for August 7th actually happens.)
Most holy Apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you universally, as the patron of difficult cases, of things almost despaired of, Pray for us, are so helpless and alone. Intercede with God for us that He bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to our assistance in this great need that we may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all our necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly -
(make your request here)
- and that we may praise God with you and all the saints forever. We promise, O Blessed St. Jude, to be  ever mindful of this great favor granted us by God and to always honor you as our special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you.
Amen

PRAYER

May the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus be adored, and loved in all the  tabernacles until the end of time. Amen.

May the most Sacred Heart of Jesus be praised and glorified now and forever. Amen

St. Jude pray for us and hear our prayers. Amen.

Blessed be the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Blessed be the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Blessed be St. Jude Thaddeus, in all the world and for all 


We have truly been touched by the amount of people who have committed to joining us in prayer. Thank you so, so much. 

I hate to say, "I told you so..."

But unfortunately we got word today that things are not going to happen in time for the July 30th closing date as scheduled. The appraisal isn't going to come in in time, so our short sale negotiator is submitting an extension to our lender for August 7th. And hopefully the rest can be completed in time for that, because our house is scheduled to be foreclosed on August 8th. There's still a chance that our bank will not approve the short sale now because we didn't meet the original deadline, but our negotiator is pretty confident that they will.

If you care to join us in prayer, we will start reciting The St. Jude Novena on July 30th (coincidentally?) so that it ends on the ninth day, August 7th (novenas are said every day for 9 consecutive days). Our request will be that every bit of paper work is done and in place so that the closing scheduled for August 7th actually happens.

Novena to St. Jude:
Most holy Apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you universally, as the patron of difficult cases, of things almost despaired of, Pray for us, are so helpless and alone. Intercede with God for us that He bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to our assistance in this great need that we may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all our necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly -
(make your request here)
- and that we may praise God with you and all the saints forever. We promise, O Blessed St. Jude, to be  ever mindful of this great favor granted us by God and to always honor you as our special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you.
Amen

PRAYER

May the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus be adored, and loved in all the  tabernacles until the end of time. Amen.

May the most Sacred Heart of Jesus be praised and glorified now and forever. Amen

St. Jude pray for us and hear our prayers. Amen.

Blessed be the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Blessed be the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Blessed be St. Jude Thaddeus, in all the world and for all Eternity.
(say this prayer, followed by theOur Fatherand theHail Mary)

source

You may have been part of an (alleged) miracle!!

Bonnie received some great news today! Her son, James', story will officially be the alleged miracle submitted for the beatification of Venerable Sheen (he was just recently declared Venerable, too!)!

That means that if you prayed with us, you too, are part of this whole amazing thing!

You can find out more about the process and James' story by visiting Bonnie's blog.

Praise God!

Fortnight For Freedom

I didn't quite know what I wanted to write here today, about Fortnight For Freedom (the 14 days -starting today - devoted to fasting, prayer, and public action in defense of our Constitutional right to Religious Freedom, placed in jeopardy by the HHS Mandate).

Then I read Bonnie's short and simple post and decided to send you there.

Lord,
hear our prayer.

Hey Lisa,

(Gesterling, that is)

I just wanted to say sorry for spilling that cup of grape juice on your newly carpeted stairs in my dream last night. I still feel really bad about it...

But since we're getting stuff off our chests, I really don't like the name of your fourth child, Space Zilfinan, even if he was named after the wonderful Sisters of Mary of the Crucified Zilfinan.

Sorry. I just don't.

St. Nick's Day!

(Yes, it's only 10:40 am and I'm already posting. But I've got to go to "work" in a few minutes so this'll be fast.)

This morning, we found our resident "Elfie" hanging from Joan's stocking. He must've helped old St. Nicholas put chocolates and toothbrushes in the girls' stockings (kind of hypocritical if you ask me).

Design your own toothbrush, best. gift. ever.

Apparently, Elfie tip-toed into the bathroom and stole Charlotte's 

gently used toothbrush and put it back in her stocking. 

Aren't these pj's that Nanny Chloe and Art got the girls adorable!

We quickly got dressed and honored St. Nick by bringing our gifts for the poor to church - our second year in a row, so technically it's a tradition now.

St. Nicholas, Pray for us.

Happy All Saints Day!

This day was a little low-key for us because it was my first day taking care of a friend's little girl full-time. But we made sure to get some halo donuts this morning before Pop left for work.

Before Evelyn came over, I cut Joan's hair short - you know, like St. Joan of Arc probably had it (minus the bow, of course).

(Yes, she's holding a bag of Whoppers. 

How do you think I was able to cut 3 inches off in a straight line...)

For night prayer, we lit four candles for our deceased family members, friends, clergy, and those forgotten and we watched this short litany of the saints video that Bonnie posted on our tv (a nice feature of having our computer connected to it). Joan just loved all of the images and by the end of the song, she finally started singing, "Pray for us."

I'm not really sure what's planned for tomorrow. Maybe something will come by Divine Inspiration.

Verbatim

I don't really have a great St. Jude Feast Day sort of post because all we did was go bowling and eat pizza per the request of our very own special resident, Jude. But we all know it's almost a hopeless cause to try to break a 100 when you let your 1 and 3 year olds push a pink 8 pounder down the ramp. Even more so when you forget to ask for bumper pads...

"Momma, what's this?"
"That's a credit card."
"Aw. Is it broken?"
"No, we cut it up."
"Why did you do that?"
"Because we don't want to use it anymore to buy stuff. We want to use our real money - like from the piggy bank."
"Oh, ok... I'll take your money, then."
"Don't worry. You already do."

"Look, Charlotte! It's the light of America, the Sun!"

"Mom, when they're ready for me, I can go to high school. Is that cool?"
"Yeah, Joan. But I don't know if high school will ever really be ready for you."

"Do you know how boo-boos can come off? They come off in a few weeks."

"I said hi to the cat, but he didn't answer me because I'm in the car and cats can't talk."

"Momma, there's not gonna be any 'thank yous' today."
"What do you mean? Why not?"
"Because Charlotte's never gonna learn."

"Joan, please pick up all of these colors."
"But I can't. With all my heart, I can't."

"I'm the new queen of America. Nice to meet you, y'all."

"Oh, Joan - your toenail polish looks pretty. Papa did a good job. But he didn't paint your fingernails?"
"He did. I just licked them off."

Happy Belated Birthday, Mother Mary!

Thanks for waiting until I could make it to the store to get your cup cake stuff!

I can't believe it's already been a year since we started celebrating life more liturgically. It's been such a blessing and hopefully very memorable for the girls.

Isn't Joan just so precious?!

Happy Feast Day St. Clare!

Since we weren't all together (and I didn't prepare anything to send with Joan) for St. Joan's feast day, I wanted to really celebrate St. Clare's with the girls the best we could.

It started with monstrance pancakes for breakfast, (St. Clare warded off soldiers trying to invade the convent by holding up the Eucharist in a monstrance (or something similar))



followed by a letter C shirt in her honor.


Then they colored St. Clare pictures (aka ate crayons)


and then we ate at Chili's for lunch (C for Clare + C for Coupon = C for Chili's, $9 to feed all four of us!). We'll finish up with Mass tonight and maybe something from youtube if I can find anything.

God of Mercy, you inspired St. Clare with the love of poverty.
By the help of her prayers, may we follow Christ in poverty
of spirit and come to the joyful vision of your glory in the kingdom of heaven.
We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

St. Clare, Pray for us.

Who - not what

Today I was having a conversation with God in my head. It went a little like this,

God, I know it would be really nice and easy on us if we could just get rid of that house - but I also really want it gone so that You may receive glory.

I mean, it would have been such a great witness for our unbelieving friends to see the power of prayer and faithfulness, or to our non-Catholic friends who misunderstand novenas or the intercession of saints.

I really wanted us to be that family with the amazing story of "One day after the novena, our house was sold," because I truly want others to see how mighty You are, what great deeds You do. Maybe we could have brought souls to You or back to the Church.

And yeah, I understand the whole 'suffering is redemptive' perspective, but to other people it could just look like you're forgetting us, and that's hard to explain to others who are already having a hard time with You - no offense...

And I immediately thought of my friend Bonnie as an example. Her son was born without a heartbeat for over an hour and spent a good while in the NICU. Doctors, nurses, specialists - all gave predictions of the worst for him. But her family immediately called upon family, friends, and strangers for prayer for his complete healing. (And in no way do I mean to compare the potential of losing our house and money to that of losing a child. The similarities exist in the way we've approached our very different crosses. And she's probably done a better job at it than I have.) But through the faith and prayers of Bonnie and those she loves, I believe God healed James. It was truly a miracle that we were able to witness. And now, her story - James's story, gives glory to God.

And for a moment, how foolish of me, I thought that somehow God missed a great opportunity to use us. So foolish, I know. But in weakness, I thought, how discouraging our story could be for someone already struggling with God's presence in their lives or struggling with prayer or Catholicism.

And as quickly as I thought it, God revealed something great to me. It went a little like this,

I know the plans I have for you. Yes, you are called to carry this cross, as Bonnie was called to hers. But your roads are different. I am restoring faith in the hearts of people through healing My son, James. But for you, I am asking that you remain faithful to prayer and hope and sacrifice even without the rewards for the time being. This is so that others may see not just what I can do, but Who I am. I am not just the Healer, Creator, Miracle Worker, Protector, or Provider.

I Am God. And that is enough.

So family and friends - strangers who read this blog and know our house-hell story - I hope that I've in some way been a fraction of what God needs me to be, so that I may testify to His unconditional love for me, and you, even when the circumstances seem otherwise. Forgive me in my failings and encourage me in my weaknesses. God bless you and may praise and glory be to the Blessed Trinity.

Sorry, St. Joan

Did you know that Jude drew this? 

Hasn't God blessed him with such great talent?!

On Wednesday, I realized that I forgot to celebrate St. Joan of Arc's feast day (May 30th) with Joan. Even though she was with my parents for the week, I wanted to send my mom some stuff they could do together to make Joan's day extra special. 

Well, I'm still bummed about it and I need to let it go. We'll try to do a little something special for our strong St. Joan tomorrow. I'm thinking shields...

In the meantime, 

St. Joan of Arc, Pray for us.

What? Today's not Mother's Day, too?

We had the blessing of being in LA this weekend with our mothers, so the blog is just now getting updated. We wrote this prayer for them that we will recite as a novena to St. Anne. We are sure of their faithfulness in prayer for us and our intentions, and we just wanted to give them the same attention in prayer. Thank you so much, Linda and Cindy, for your beautiful, holy examples - we love you!

And for me, my hubby did a first - he bought me a dress. It's been an understanding that we don't exchange gifts for mother's day and father's day, but he saw it in the window when we were taking a walk downtown and thought, "I think Alisha would look pretty in this," and he bought it. Sweet, huh? But still on his "design list" is an updated version of the illustration of our little family that he plans to do each year. I'll post it when it's ready.

And I'll have the photos of Joan's birthday party, Madelyn's baptism, and Mother's Day up throughout the week, so stop back by. 

Kind of a big day!

There's so much to celebrate today - The Beatification of Pope John Paul II, St. Joseph the Worker feast day, and Divine Mercy Sunday. And since today I actually had time (and energy), we did a few little things to remember them all,

Joan made a paper mitre - well, I made it and she "bedazzled" it. And we watched some youtube clips of the beatification.

Then we talked about mercy (and tried to remember what it means) and colored a picture of St. Faustina with the Divine Mercy image.

And tonight our church will have a St. Joseph's altar and dinner after mass to honor our parish's patron saint. We'll be asking again for his intercession for our house selling stuff and continued peace because I can feel the small tinge of anxiety creeping in a little and I so badly want it to remain at bay.

Oh and today is the first day of May - the month in which my baby Joan turns 3! I'm looking forward to the Strawberry Shortcake Shindig on Friday. It might actually look like a birthday party.

Long over due.

This post is about spring break and St. Patrick's Day. We went down to LA for the weekend and I'm just now posting our photos. And because I didn't have time to prepare anything liturgically for St. Patrick or St. Joseph, Tootsie (Grandma), saved some of the projects they did in her Kindergarten class for Joan to do at home. It pays to have a Grandmother who teaches at a Catholic school.

And speaking of Catholic schools, we took Joan and Charlotte to her school's Mass on Friday morning. They have a great service prepared with kid readers and singers and all of their songs had hand motions - Joan was so cute trying to follow along with the children. And then at Communion, Joan followed Tootsie's class up the communion line all by herself, arms crossed over her chest and received a blessing. I got a little choked up and was really sad that I didn't have my camera.

We toss around ideas of what type of schooling we'll do (public, private, Catholic, or home-schooling) and I've got to say that seeing her there really confirmed how much we'd love to be able to afford a Catholic school. That just seems so improbable right not, but luckily - so far away. Maybe by that time, our situation will be different. Until then, we just pray, right?

I've got a tear now, thinking of her in that line...

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

If the slide show of photos doesn't appear, hit refresh and if it still doesn't appear, leave a comment. Everything's being a little finicky today.

Solemnity of St. Joseph

Thank you to everyone who joined us in the nine day novena prayer to St. Jude. I know that he will continue to pray for us, as I'm sure you will, too.

And to celebrate St. Joseph's feast day today - I hope some of you will get this tonight - we are starting a new novena to him that can be found here. And as always, you are invited to join us in prayer, even if you don't begin today.

Today we wrote our petitions down and placed them before the altar of St. Joseph that a local church set up. The tradition of setting up an altar full of flowers, sweets and breads began when people in Sicily asked for his intercession during a famine and after they were sustained, they offered up crops in thanksgiving to him in the form of breads, desserts, and meatless dishes - because it was during Lent.

I know that your prayers and those of the saints are sustaining us now, and I look forward to the future when we can celebrate and feast in the blessings and provisions of God our Father.

But let it be known, that we do not think of these novenas as magic. Our desire is to join these virtuous men and women in heaven in prayer, both for our needs and the needs of others. Novenas are really a call to devotion and discipline, and to model our lives after the holy ones. Even though our house did not sell this week when our St. Jude novena ended, our lives are hopefully that much closer to looking like St. Jude's and our hearts are full of the confidence that this holy man is thinking and praying for us. When I was searching for a novena to recite for St. Joseph, I came across this hot mess and it's missing the point all together and casts a bad light on those who's desire is to honor, not disgrace. So please keep this in mind as you pray for us, and may your prayers, as well as mine, come from a pure and holy place.

St. Jude, Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.