Tune Out

I would consider many moms to be super heroes. By the grace of God we are given many talents to carry out this vocation called motherhood.

Mothers also have certain powers that we have learned over a period of time. One of these powers is called tuning out.

My dear husband has a low tolerance of loud screeching children, slamming doors, banging feet and the constant shrill of voices. He comes home from work to find our children doing all of the above plus a couple more neighbor kids doing the same.

He will find me on the couch engrossed in a book or magazine. He stares at me with the are you kidding me look and my response is, "what?"

I have learned to tune out. It is a wonderful power that mothers have.

Here is a picture that my husband took of me using this very power.



This is what it looks like when I read. Bug was not quiet or lying still. The other kids were off banging away with their friends and I am not sure where Oney was.

I believe I have perfected the tuning out abilities of mothers, and this power can be a wonderful thing.

A Birthday and a Feather Party, What More Could You Want?

I had an exciting past weekend. It was Oney’s 2nd Birthday.
We had a little party for him. Here he is with his Blues Clues cake.



This cake is very easy. Make a 9 inch round cake and some cupcakes. Frost the cakes with blue icing and there you have Blue's clue.

I also went with my family to a feather party. If you have never been to one let me explain.

They are held at a Polish hall and you can win all sorts of things. This year they had Turkeys, beer, pop, salami, fruit baskets, and the beloved liverwurst.

I dislike liverwurst very much, but the people who attend these feather parties LOVE it! When liverwurst is announced as the next prize people actually applaud. If you happen to be the lucky one to win a 3 foot liverwurst (I am not kidding about the size) you can trade it with someone for just about anything.

For 20 dollars you can play 10 games, have a few drinks and eat free hot dogs or venison stew. The Polish really know how to have fun.

I was apprehensive at my first feather party. I didn’t know if it was my kind of thing, but as you can see in the picture below I was quite proud when I won salami!

My sister-in-law and I felt that a picture was needed.

A Difficult Homily

This past Sunday our priest gave a wonderful but difficult Homily.

The Gospel passage was from Matthew…

34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Our Priest broke this passage down in a way that pertains to my immediate world.

Do I give unconditional love to those who hunger for it, my husband, my children, family and friends?

When people thirst for acceptance and truth do I quench their thirst or do I hold back because they are a different religion, a different color, or have different ideas of truth than what I believe to be right?

Do I welcome the stranger into my circle of friends or family when they are different than me? Do I accept them even though they have different beliefs, political stance etc…?

When people are naked with vulnerability do I feel superior towards them, use that vulnerability to manipulate them or cause them harm?

When people are sick with addiction, mental illness, or lack of love, do I run away from them, ridicule them?

When someone is imprisoned with depression, home bound, or is in a prison of sadness and anger because of hurt that has been afflicted upon them do I keep my distance?

Our priest also said that we must see Jesus in everyone. This is so difficult. It is hard to see Jesus in the person addicted to drugs who is hurting themselves and their families.

Am I supposed to see Jesus in the people who harm children, who are not sorry for their crime and will do it again if they have a chance?

Is Jesus really in these people?

When the homily was over I knew I fell short on everything Jesus was trying to say through the Gospel.

I do pray for everyone, even those who do evil things, but even though I pray for them I don’t have the love and compassion in my heart for them. I do not see Jesus in them.

I want to see Christ in everyone, but it is difficult when I have trouble finding Him in me.

I don't have the answer. I know what Jesus wants me to do but at times I find it impossible. The only thing I know to do is pray.

I will keep this homily in my heart, pray about it and ask Christ for help.

Peace

Terrific Twos

Oney is two years old today!



Happy Birthday little man. Enjoy being two!!



Momma Loves You!!

Fight FOCA

This is another post, which I am going to link to my friend Cathy’s blog From The Field of Blue Children.

Cathy is a wonderful writer and the post I am going to link to is so powerful. There is a video that is very graphic and I know some people think showing graphic images of abortion is horrible and wrong.

If looking at such horrible images hurts how much more does the procedure of abortion hurt.

Abortion is legal, that is the way it stands right now, but to have no regulations, no parental consent that is something I cannot comprehend.

Please go to From The Field of Blue Children and read Cathy’s post. View the video and sign the petition.

Everyone needs to be informed of what The Freedom Of Choice Act is all about,whether you are pro-life or pro-choice.

This is not a battle only for the unborn but for woman, daughters, human rights, and parental rights.


God Bless

Quirks

Cathy and her blog From The Field of Blue Children has been tagged again and this one is all about quirks.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog
3. Tell about your six quirks
4. Tag six bloggers to do the same.
5. Leave them a comment to let them know you've tagged them.
6. No tag backs.

Here are my six quirks

I announce everything I am going to do. If I am going to wash the dishes I will say to whom ever is in the room, “I am going to wash the dishes now.” Or “I am going to go to the bathroom now.”

I like everything I do to be in order, from my daily activities to the order in which I put on my makeup. If something comes up that throws my order out of whack I get a little testy.

I do not drive on freeways.

I prefer to drink out of plastic cups rather than glass. The reason is because I do not like the print lips make on a glass.

I can get grossed out very easily when I am eating. I can not eat by our fish tank, or watch anything on TV that has to do with something gross. My dad picked up on this little quirk when I was younger and used to talk about gross things while I ate. Real nice dad!

I say cool and awesome a lot even though I am 33 years old.


Everyone who reads this has been tagged let me know if you are going to play so I can read your quirks and feel better about mine. :)

I Have Been Awarded

Cathy at From The Field of Blue Children was kind enough to acknowledge me with a blog award. Cathy is a magnificent blogger and an all around special gal.

I just realized that Marie at View from the Pews has also given me this award. Marie is a sweetheart who writes what she believes and believes what she writes. I admire that.

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.

The rules to follow are :
1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I want to pass this award along to the blogs that have become places where I can receive encouragement, enlightenment, entertainment, and have a good read.

The award goes to…

A Catholic Mom Climbing the Pillars

Just Another Catholic Mom

Joyful Days

Many Little Blessings

Small Things With Great Love

Overwhelmed or Lazy?

I am feeling overwhelmed, or just lazy.

We have some kind of extra curricula activity every day of the week except Wednesday and the weekend

I have found that on the days where we have no extra things to do school goes much better. There is no rush, I can do the things with the kids that take extra time and we enjoy it. I may even get a load of laundry done or clean the kitchen on those days.

I like being home, and after a day of school all I want to do is get the house tidy (notice I didn’t say clean.) and chill out. Yep I am a lazy mom or overwhelmed, however you want to view it.

My kids are independent. They all play together and really don’t want anything to do with me unless a Barbie needs to be dressed or a fight breaks out. I can sit and read my books while they sit at my feet and play. So it is not like I need to get out of the house or a breakdown will happen.

My kids also play with their friends in the neighborhood, that means after school and after the extra activity all the “regular” school kids are banging at my door at 3:00pm to come over and play. On those days I can feel a breakdown is close.

My kids’ socialization is through the roof, I am the one that needs work in the socialization area

When I was a kid there was no such thing as extra curricula activities. I went to school, came home did homework and chores, if I didn’t have to watch my brother I went out and played until the streetlights came on.

I feel like I have to do all these extra things for my kids or they will feel left out and unsocialized, even though it may be effecting the education I would like to give them, not to mention my sanity.

I need to find a comfortable place for both my kids and me. Give them extra activities without compromising school time. Have some fun activities planned without the result being pulling my hair out.

I need advice from parents, whether you homeschool or not, how do you handle all the extra activities that seem to be a must for kids these days?

Just Another Day at School

Hope

I can’t say I am thrilled at the outcome of our presidential election. I don’t really know how to feel about it. Obama is someone who does not represent my family or myself, but he is now our President.

I can be angry and disappointed, even a little scared. What would that accomplish?
Those of us who opposed Obama’s view on life are stuck in a place where we have no power to control what happens to the human beings who don’t seem to matter. Or do we?

We still have our hearts, our minds, and our spirits. We can use all these things to continue to pray, to come together, to speak out about the atrocities that go on in our country.

I think the most important thing we can do is educate our children about life issues. After all they will be our future politicians, and voters.

I read a post today titled How Would You Know? It is from a blog called Conversion Diary.

This post puts everything into perspective.

We can’t give up hope that some day all humans will be treated with dignity. We may never see it but if we help our children understand, their generation may make the difference.

Obama’s campaign was all about hope and I do have hope, I hope his heart will soften toward human beings, I hope my children will fight for human life, and I hope this country will open their eyes to the reality of what we are doing to those who need the most hope.

Vote

The time to vote is upon us.

In my younger days I was not a voter. I did not think it was that important, not until I was married and had children did I see the importance of the issues that would effect my country and my life.

My husband and I do not want our children growing up and thinking the way I thought as a young adult.

There is a place called Green Field Village, if you have never been there it is worth the trip. When you go there it is like stepping back in time. You can visit historical homes, see how the America of the past lived, worked, cooked, and how the actions of others shaped our country today.

Green Field Village has an exhibit about Women Suffrage, and how much pain and hardship women had to go through to get the right to vote. There are posters, letters and other memorabilia on display from the time when women were fighting for the right to vote.

You can sit in a jail cell and watch a video of the actions that were taken against these women. Some of the women who were jailed went on a hunger strike, only to be force fed through tubes shoved down their throat.

Miss was in disbelief that there ever was a time that a woman could not vote. We took this opportunity to explain to Miss and Lil D the importance of voting and how when they turn 18 it is a right that they should never take lightly.

I think the experience stuck with them because both my son and daughter are talking about this election and about voting.

I will be taking Miss with me to vote, I encourage everyone to go out and vote. Take your children with you. Make it a learning experience that they will carry for a lifetime.

I know when Miss and I are standing in line waiting to vote we will be thinking of the women before us who fought so hard for this right. To stay home and not vote would be dismissing everything these brave women suffered for.

Mothers take your daughters and have a little “girl power” time. If you don’t have daughters take your sons and get them acquainted with the process.

Whether you have children or not, whether your female or male, young or old, embrace this wonderful right that we have as American citizens and VOTE.