Life: It's that important.

Little Clare

Beautiful girl

New Video

Hey y'all, my little sister asked for some new footage of the littles--so you have her to thank for these newest videos!!

Drawing--Henry shows us his drawing skills.
Clare crawls--outdated footage of Clare beginning to crawl (more to come...)
Salsa Babies--we love this song!
Henry: The boy from snowy river

Confession

"It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.

It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace."

It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God." He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother." CCC 1424

It's one of the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church, and such a beautiful beautiful gift.

Thanks, Karl, for watching the kiddos today. What a blessing it was to hear these words:

God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and the resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church
may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

My Young Doppleganger?

Thanks to my mother for sending along one of my baby outfits.

Beautiful Day

All four of us took much needed naps this morning--Karl recovering from late night monitoring duty, and the kiddos and I recovering from a week-end illness. The extra rest successfully delivered everyone to Mass in rare form.

Henry, while still exuberantly himself, confined his energy to our little section of the church, chimed in on cue with "Amen" and "Alleluia," and proudly held his sister on his lap. Karl whispered a word of praise to Henry during Mass, and the sweet darling's eyes welled up with tears*! What a little man he is becoming.

I had to pause as I entered our living room when I saw Clare sitting by herself examining a small wooden alphabet toy. She, too, is growing so! How she makes me smile.

Thank you, Lord, for our little family--we are so blessed!


Here's a photo from an outing last week. Pictured are Clare and her new friend, Philomena. They share August 11th as their feast day! Their patronesses must have arranged their friendship in heaven :)


*Were Henry's tears caused by:
a) Surprise at the realization that he was behaving well at Mass,
b) Excitement and Joy that he would receive a doughnut after Mass for good behavior
c) Both!

Holy Day of Obligation!

I hope you are better at looking at the calendar and living the liturgy than I have been of late. But in case you are in my same boat, here's your reminder!

Don't forget to attend Mass tomorrow (FRIDAY) in honor of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is the oldest feast day celebrated in her honor.

Karl will return from work around 6:30 tomorrow morning, and then we're off to St Elizabeth's for morning mass. I couldn't ask for a better start to the day! I've got the kids and my clothes (even their diapers and shoes!) ready to go--a 6:30 call time is early even for use these days.

A blessed day to you all!