Me: Bella, you need to straighten up your room and help Mommy get the house cleaned.
Bella: Who’s coming over?
Me: Just because we’re cleaning the house doesn’t mean that someone is coming over.
Bella: (Keeps looking at me.)
Me: (Thinking to self, “Dang, she is right. If it wasn’t for the steady stream of visitors we’d never dust or vacuum.” So I admit…) Well, actually, Ms. T is coming to visit us but that’s not the point. We’d have to clean the house anyway.
(Note to self: Next time we’re cleaning when someone really isn’t coming over.)
Category Archives: family life
Bella Moment: Who’s Coming?
One-Year Well Check and Vaccines
My mind has been in a fog today. I was on my way to taking Andrew for his one year check up and I kept zoning out while I was driving and then having to think, “Wait, where am I going again? Swimming lessons? Dentist? Target? Oh, yeah, pediatrician.” Scary.
I’m happy to report that Andrew is fine and healthy although just a little peanut compared to other babies. However, Bella was the same way and he began life on the small side, clocking in at 5 lb, 12 oz, so I’m not worried about it. I must say he was also a trooper since he was due for his next round of shots. In fact, my sis EL was just asking me about my views on vaccinations. I have friends in both camps and I respect both sides. Personally, I am pro-vaccine with reservations.
We go to a pediatrician who is more holistic and into organics and keeping things as natural as you can. He does give vaccines but he doesn’t follow the standard procedure and timing. He does the bare minimum and spreads out the timing of the shots so the kids’ little bodies aren’t inundated with them all at once. It requires me going to the office more often but in this case, I don’t mind. So far we haven’t had any problems or side effects and today Andrew whimpered a little when he got his shot but he was smiling again within minutes.
Another factor to consider is that regular schools require vaccines but if you’re homeschooling, it’s not as big an issue.
Lighthouse Media: Catholic CD of the Month Club
A friend was telling me about a Catholic CD of the Month Club and it sounds great! Each month you receive a CD from one of a number of Catholic speakers. Some of the CD’s sent out these past months include: The Face of God by Mother Teresa with bonus talk by Dr. Scott Hahn – Understanding the Eucharist (Jun 2008), The Seven Levels of Intimacy by Matthew Kelly (May 2008), and A Guide to Raising (almost) Perfect Kids by Dr. Gregory Popcak & Lisa Popcak with bonus talk – Discipline That Lasts a Lifetime by Dr. Ray Guarendi (Apr 2008). That’s some good stuff! In fact, in the time it took to type this, I decided to join.
The cost is $5 a month for one copy and or you can get discounted bulk prices to pass along to friends. Check it out at Lighthouse Catholic Media.
Catholic Summer Reading Program
A friend forwarded this link for the Catholic Summer Reading Program. There is a program for adults and kids. The kid’s page has a reading sheet they can color and write the names of 12 books they’ve read. They mail it in and receive a prize. There is a list of recommended books for grades kindergarten to 6th. So even your young ones can participate.
For the adults, they took a list of 64 possible books, then chose a top 10 for summer reading. Of the original 64 books, I must admit that Brian has many of them (and I mean many of them!) He is a total book lover! (Note to Brian: We’re out of bookshelf space, Sweetie!)
Here are some books I see sitting on his desk right now:
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know by Meg Meeker
God Alone: A Spiritual Biography of Blessed Rafael Arnaiz Baron by Gonzalo Maria Fernandez
Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life: A Practical Guide to Prayer for Active People by Robert J. Spitzer
Treatise on the Love of God by St. Francis de Sales
A Civilization of Love: What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World by Carl Anderson
A Life with Karol: My Forty-Year Friendship with the Man Who Became Pope by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz
I enjoy reading but I tend to read only one or two at a time – one “educational” and one fiction or biography. My current reads (plus those next in line):
Passport by Christopher Blunt. (A new Catholic novel)
Spiritual Progress: Becoming the Christian You Want to Be by Thomas D. Williams
How to Raise Good Catholic Children by Mary Reed Newland
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza
(Andrew loves books as much as his dad, although he prefers eating them to reading them!)
Dealing with Infertility, Miscarriage and Suffering in General – Part II
I was thinking about yesterday’s post this morning and it got me to thinking about suffering in general. There are various degrees but whether you are suffering from infertility, the loss of a child, the death of your husband or any number of things, there seems to be a point where you are able to lift your eyes and see that you are not the only one suffering.
A friend struggling with infertility told me about a book she was reading about a Japanese woman who was persecuted for her faith – they tortured her and her 3 yr old child. Despite the horrors she faced, she kept her faith saying, “Remember that life on earth is very short and eternity is very long.” It brought to mind friends who have suffered tremendous loss – a newly married friend whose husband was accidentally killed while she was pregnant with their first child, another friend whose mom was brutally raped and murdered, and an acquaintance who suffered eight miscarriages in a row. They could not comprehend why God allowed these things. The internal anguish was acute but they relied on God’s grace and only He was able to bring them through it.
This was a tremendous example to me. I don’t think the pain of loss ever fully goes away but it helped when God’s grace allowed me to take the focus off of myself and realize that there are many who suffer, and suffer greater than I do. After some time, I finally reached a point of saying, “Ok God, you obviously have a different plan for me right now, so what are you asking of me?” And He let me know. There was work for me to do while I was single (looking for a husband,) childless (praying for a baby,) parent of one (missing my miscarried babies) etc. It was difficult but God used these opportunities to bring me out of myself so I could stop focusing on only what I wanted from God and start focusing on the larger picture (eternity) and asking God what did He want of me?