Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, and Happy Epiphany!

Well, I just lost a week of my life. What I mean is, a stomach virus has made its rounds through our household. It started New Year's Eve with Emma and ended (we think) with Jacob and I. I'm shocked that dear hubby didn't get it but time will tell if he finally gets it. He's been on nightshift so maybe he didn't get to be around us enough to catch it. :-/

Everyone's blogging their New Year's resolutions but I feel like I do the same ones every year.You know the ones: lose weight and be healthier, be kinder to one another (family), offer more time to God's work, save money and be good stewards, you know... be a saint! It's alot to bite off. But that's what we're called to do, right? Be saints? My pastor always tells the story that his parents wanted to marry not only because they loved one another but because they thought that their beloved would help them get to heaven. They chose one another because they wanted to help one another get to heaven! How many of us can say that? I hope many of us can. I know my husband and children help me to have opportunities to exhibit heroic patience and self-control everyday. (hee-hee!)

I've learned a great deal these past few weeks, much of which was not how I wanted to learn it! Dear hubby had to work throughout Christmas on nightshift (12-hour shifts) and I was a basket-case trying to do everything for everyone. A dear family friend passed away just before Christmas and his funeral was a couple days after Christmas. *We found out our dear pastor is leaving in March!* (More on this later.) Just as we thought we were beginning to see the light of day, this stomach bug started on the eve of the New Year. On my daugher's birthday day I was in the throes of washing up after the 4 yo and 7 yo all day (while trying to make her birthday day as pleasant as possible under the circumstances). What's the saying about human beings make plans and God laughs? Well, I got my priorities put in place, whether I wanted to or not.

Below I will quote an e-mail I sent out to many of you dear friends while I was in the midst of my pity party on Christmas Day:


I want to share my 2X4 to the head kind of revelation from this morning...

Background: Vince is working thru Christmas (electric company nuclear
reactor).

So Christmas Eve was his 4th out of 5 nights he has to work
12-hour shifts. Tension building, I'm getting frustrated taking kids to
Mass, etc. by myself (4 year old boy going bonkers!), trying to make the
perfect Christmas, etc. Christmas Eve was the last straw... it was just a
pure disaster. Jacob's 13 year old hormones and I clashing constantly... I
was in tears half the day... most of us were arguing the whole day long
and Emma was fussy most the day. I got almost nothing done that I had
planned and we ended up having Chinese food after 5 pm Mass. Pathetic...

Last night as I was awake in the wee hours doing all kinds of Christmas
magic by myself I was having a big-time pity party, but I was trying to
shake it off the whole time, trying to push away the depression that
was trying to overtake me. I also was bummed that I didn't get a chance
to finish a Christmas arrangement for Hannah's grave. Like "What kind
of mother doesn't find something for her baby's grave?!" I finally
cried and recovered enough to finish up my chores and get to bed about
2 AM.

So this morning as I brushed my teeth to drink some much-needed coffee,
I felt like I got a real kick in the rear from my guardian angel or the
Holy Spirit or someone up there. I realized that my temporarily absent
husband would be coming home, God-willing, safe and sound. We have a
local homeschool family nearby who lost their dad a couple months ago
as the mom was expecting her 6th child. I think of the soldiers who
have died this year leaving children to spend their first Christmas
without their dad, also. In other words, I got a big dose of humble
pie. We are abundantly blessed, indeed.

God bless all those families
who are missing their loved ones today! :'-)


I post this again here b/c I need to be reminded of my blessings daily when I get in a tizzy about unimportant stuff. I want to wear a scarlet letter of sorts to keep me humble and on my knees in prayer and thanksgiving.

So this weekend feels like my New Year's celebration... Happy Epiphany! What a great opportunity to adore Jesus as the Wise Kings did so long ago.

God bless you all and now I've got to finish my New Year's letters!

Back to our regularly scheduled photos and jottings...