Happy Birthday Grandma

Thanks for being the best Grandma! Just as you have always loved and served your kids and husband, you have done the same for your grandchildren. And they LOVE Grandma!

Days of teething

Lots of Mom holding pain-stricken child, LOTS of tylenol, wet washcloths, and crying.

Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum... Giant Faustina!

Me and Grandpa Gary at Christmas!

Cousins!

Here's Faustina on Christmas day with her new, little cousin, Audrey!

St. Augustine 1,700 years later!?

Last night Mike, Faustina and I had a long car ride so I popped in one of the 'Lighthouse Catholic Media' cd's that we get in the mail each month. I have come to look forward to seeing who the speaker is and listening to the talk; often I view the time as a mini little retreat. The speakers are people like Mother Teresa, Father Corapi, Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins, and other inspiring, bright individuals.

The title of this cd is 'The Power of a Mother's Prayer' by Father Isaac Reylea. This guy was absolutely unbelievable. He was Rocky Balboa from Philly with the deep voice, the slur, the lingo, everything was Sylvester Stallone's character from the Rocky series. Not only did he sound like Rocky, but he also had a similar life. He was a street fighter; he was a 'good' person, but he quickly earned the reputation of someone you did not want to mess with. From the cd he seemed to be a person you just had to like, a regular guy with quite an amazing testimony.

He grew up in a Catholic family with 5 siblings, his father who only converted to Catholicism at the end of his life died when Isaac was 20, and his mother who was the rock of his life was incredibly devoted to the Church and to Mary. Isaac was an altar boy, prayed the rosary every evening with his family, went to daily mass with his mother, and at the age of 5 the Lord planted a seed of desire in him to be a priest.

Well, similar to St. Augustine, Isaac spent the next 17 years saying 'no' to God. He was very successful in the (shady) business world, he was a well-known street fighter, he almost became part of the mafia (the only thing that kept him away was the thought of disgracing his mother), he loved women, he was a very popular man with everything going for him. But above all, he had a deep love for his mom. He took her out to eat, to her to plays, visited her often and was able to conceal his more shameful deeds from her and the rest of the family.

When he was 25 years old his mother had him over for dinner along with an older woman Barbara who was a mystic. At the end of the meal Isaac's mother begged him to let Barbara pray over him. Thoroughly annoyed, Isaac gave in and told the woman to make it quick. Well, this mystic revealed things about Isaac's childhood that absolutely no one but he could possibly know. Barbara's insights had him shaking in his chair but he was able to keep his cool front. At the end Barbara said she had a message from God: God wanted Isaac to be his priest. Isaac's response was "Tell God to forget it. And you are a sick lady."

Five years later, God moved in Isaac's life and he surrendered. A man witnessed to him at work and invited him to a "Life in the Spirit" meeting. It took Isaac awhile, but the Lord slowly wooed him. He gave up his worldly life, instead of holding a supervisor position he was down the ranks (since previously his hands were in dirty business), he started going to prayer meetings, and his life turned around. After his first prayer meeting he went to his Mom's house in the middle of the night. Then he stayed up all night praying and reading the Bible. At one point he went to Fatima and was discerning the vocation of priesthood. He asked for very clear signs. For the next three days, while he was dressed in lay people's clothes the whole time, dozens of people kept coming up to him and assumed he was a priest asking him questions, asking him if he could hear their Confession! He was amazed. Isaac told Mary he would apply to the priesthood; at the same time he was not worried about having to become a priest because he was sure he would not be accepted due to his sinful past. Well, of course, he was accepted. He tracked down the mystic Barbara and she said she had been waiting for his phone call. She didn't know how many years it would take, but she was expecting to hear from him.

The second half of his testimony was about the faithfulness of his mother. When Isaac told his mother, Anne, that he was becoming a priest she told him that she had consecrated him to the Blessed Virgin Mary when he was in her womb. His mother became ill and she suffered terribly for 6 years in and out of the hospital. But she continued to be a witness as she constantly had a rosary in her hand and befriended hospital staff. She continued to pray for her other children and she told Isaac that this was her call: To suffer for the sake of others' souls. She told her son that she prayed everyday to do the Lord's will, not her own. Toward the end, she was unable to pray and was deeply saddened, but Isaac reminded her that she was now on the cross like Christ, and that was the greatest prayer of all. In her suffering, like Christ's, she would witness to her family and she was suffering for their sake.

Father Isaac ended his talk with the message that we all need to pray incessantly and as Christians we need to be willing to suffer for others. He admonished to never give up praying for others who we care about, no matter how they have fallen from grace or faith (he and his mother, like St. Augustine and his mother, Monica, are great witnesses of this); he reminded listeners Mary's message to St. Lucia at Fatima: that people go to hell because there is not one to pray for them. We need to consecrate ourselves to the immaculate heart of Mary and offer ourselves up for others in the imitation of Christ, our Lord and Savior.

It was a wonderful story. You have to hear him for yourself because he tells it very well.

Check it out.

Here's a link to his Lent retreats (audio).

Christmas Eve Morning

New Traditions began with Faustina's first Christmas. We decorated the tree on Wednesday morning, ate the absolute BEST polish sausage from Michigan that Mike's relatives sent us and we luckily received on the 24th, Faustina opened a couple of her presents and we spent the morning enjoying each other.

'Destroyed' Lions: 0 wins - 16 losses

Above are some nostalgic images that come to mind when I think of Detroit.

I had to post this story about my apocalyptic hometown's football team...

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -The Detroit Lions own a distinction no team wants: worst in NFL history.

Facing one last chance to avoid their dubious destiny, the Lions lost Sunday's season finale to the Green Bay Packers 31-21 to complete the league's first 0-16 season. The 1976 expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-14) were the last NFL team to complete a season without a victory.

It didn't come without a fight. After falling behind 24-14 midway through the fourth quarter, Kevin Smith's 9-yard touchdown run put Detroit back within a field goal.

But Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers responded with a 71-yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver and the Lions' Dan Orlovsky threw an interception on fourth-and-27 with 3 minutes left, dooming Detroit to futility of historic proportion.

Here's the rest of the story.

Merry Christmas!

Grandma All Loaded Up

A few nights ago I all of sudden became violently ill. Grandma and Grandpa came to the rescue and not only did Grandma come over to help for awhile, but she took Faustina HOME with her for the evening which was a lifesaver!

Well, at one point Grandma was going to change Faustina's diaper. I told her they were downstairs drying. For a moment I contemplated vocalizing that she only needed to bring one diaper up (there were about 18 down there), but I figured that was probably obvious. Also, Grandma loves the little babies so much that she often is holding them no matter what she is doing. Well, moments after Grandma went downstairs to get the diaper, I hear her laughing uncontrollably coming up the stairs. She comes around the corner and here Grandma has all the diapers piled on her arms and Faustina hanging on for dear life! It was very amusing. Faustina was not fazed in the least, but she did have a look on her face like, "What are you doing Grandma??".

This situation may give Mike a little bit of insight as to why I do things the way I do sometimes - We Lees can tend to be women of extremes!

The Scarlet and the Black

You can never see this epic movie starring Gregory Peck too many times! On Sunday we had Mike's confirmation class, 13 highschool students, from St. Andrew Kim over to watch this film. They enjoyed Papa Murphy's pizza, coke, a good movie, and the girls adore Faustina. Mike and I have been going to St. Andrew Kim for about a year and a half now. At times, there are challenges due to the differences in culture and it being a newly established church. Here is another opportunity to trust in the Lord and be faithful to what he is calling us to. Most importantly it has been a wonderful blessing to meet new people and be part of the St. Andrew Kim Parish.

Workin' the overhead projector (Latin style)

The University of St. Thomas has recruited me to be a 'poster-boy' (literally) for the Catholic Studies graduate department (cringe!). The photos below will somehow be used in flyers promoting the department with the hopes of recruiting new students with full-time jobs.

So, this is me in action with my 10th grade girls Latin class. We were still reading Caesar at this point.

visiting Granny (or Great-Granny for Faustina)

Jason and I visited Granny this past weekend in Michigan.

We arrived Thursday evening and talked with Granny for a while.
Friday morning we went to mass as Sweetest Heart of Mary parish.
Afterward we headed of to DIA or Detroit Institute of Art and had
lunch; we toured the museum and saw some fine pieces of art.
As usual, I was confirmed that most modern art 'sucks'; Granny agreed,
but said it this way: "What is that supossed to be? What is the point of that? Michael, you could easily paint that, don't you think?!" Hilarious and correct.
Friday night we sat around and watched "Live Free or Die Hard" with Bruce Willis... always entertaining.
Saturday we headed off to Uncle Bob and Aunt Loretta's place where we hung out with cousin Molly, who's at Madonna University in Livonia, MI. We also got to see 'Uncle' Marty, who is a living legend; you can count on getting his latest account of the state of things whenever you see him (I was briefed on the latest regarding the bailout of the 'big 3' auto companies). We visited with our cousin Gary, Lannie, and Kathy and their families at Big Boy (classic MI establishment). The William/Potbury clans number at 14 currently with 2 more on the way- impressive! (So stupid... we didn't get any pictures with them!) We ended the evening back at Granny's watching Fr. Corapi tell more of his conversion story.
Sunday we headed off to mass at St. Josophat (literally right next to Sweetest Heart of Mary), and participated in a Tridentine Latin Mass (the old mass); it was quite lovely. Granny said, "We really felt like we went to church today didn't we?!" Yes, indeed. Brick by brick.
Back to Granny's for mostacolli and her famous meat-balls and sauce followed by several plates of her famous cheesecake. We hung out with Uncle Bob and Aunt Loretta until we were off to the airport, back to MN.

I must say that I find Detroit a fascinating place. It is literally apocalyptic! Very sad.

It was a great visit. Thanks to Granny and everyone for hosting us!

-Mike

St. Josaphat Parish (1889)


Sweetest Heart of Mary (1887)

Getting Into Things...

Our strong little girl is pulling herself up on chairs, bookshelves, oven doors, and anything else that looks enticing to her. I guess it really is time to baby proof this place.

Anticipation

Last year during Advent I was only a few months pregnant with Faustina. My mind was absorbed with anticipation of this new little person coming into the world. I clearly remember Saturday December 1st last year; it was a beautiful day with the snow lightly falling and I spent the day decorating the house. Mike was doing other chores and as we enjoyed each others’ company I arranged the nativity scene, set Christmas trinkets around the house, put lights and ornaments on the tree, and listen to Christmas choir music. I kept thinking, "Next year at this time we will have a 6 month old baby in the house!" Basically I walked around the house the whole day with a permanent smile on my face as thoughts wheeled through my mind about the many changes to come in the next year and excited about all the variables of the birth, what the child would be like, how life would change, starting a family, staying home and the list continues. It is hard to capture in words the feelings of excitement, anticipation, a bit of fear of the unknown, faith, and other emotions I was experiencing. As I look back over the past year I see how richly the Lord has blessed Faustina and our family – the anticipation I felt last December was appropriate!

As I think about that day last year, I can translate those same feelings to the Advent season this year. I am eagerly waiting for the birth of our Lord. God is coming to our world as a little baby to live here on earth so that we can know him in a new way – in a tangible way so that we can imitate his acts, words, his person. Here our world is 2000 years later and look how much he has changed the world; it is wonderfully inconceivable to think of what extraordinary things he has in store for us as we live each day.

What anticipation Mary must have felt!! “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Thank you, Lord, for this season of Advent. Give us the grace to faithfully come before you each day to offer ourselves to you; give us a purity of heart to welcome you again into our lives on December 25th!

The Jump-Off

Pretty funny. They jump, stop, stare at each other, start jumping again and laugh uncontrollably.

Morning Visits

For the past few weeks Faustina, Isaac and I look forward to hearing a little 'knock, knock, knock' on the front door around 9am. This morning I open the door to hear Grandma and Grandpa Lee immediately look down at the playmat and enthusiastically exclaim "Faustina!". Grandma and Grandpa have been going for morning walks with Wallace and they stop by for 30-45 minutes to say hello and get their 'Faustina Fix'. The routine has fallen into tea for Grandma, coffee for Grandpa and chatting about whatever. Faustina clearly recognizes her grandparents now and she likes her airplane rides from Grandpa. Grandma and Grandpa are fun to talk to because they always have something new to share, stories to tell or they are just plain goofy sometimes. What a blessing it is for Faustina to see her grandparents so often!

Small Town Heroes

On Friday morning Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to help get both Isaac and Faustina ready for the big trip on the lightrail to the metrodome. We were all going to see my cousin, Daniel Binde, play in the highschool football semi-finals. And let me tell you: this is a BIG deal!! The Binde family lives in Lake, Park MN which is close to the North Dakota Minnesota boarder. Lake Park has about 800 people living there and my aunt Debbie said probably about 795 of them were in the metrodome to cheer on Lake Park. This is the first time any Lake Park team has made it to the State Tournament. As the football team left Lake Park on Thursday afternoon police cars escorted them out of town along with fire trucks and fireworks (Debbie didn't say if the 'fireworks' were literal or figurative!). Nonetheless, Faustina and Isaac seemed to enjoy the ride to downtown as they were looking at everything and taking in the different faces and scenes. Unfortunately, I had an embarrassing incident as I tried to take Faustina in her stroller through the REVOLVING doors and we got very stuck!! I was trying to hurry since there was such a long line behind us and of course by the time we got 'unstuck', the line behind us was even bigger. Whoops. It was a fun morning cheering on Daniel and chatting with cousins. There were about twelve cousins/aunts/uncles there watching the game. Lake Park-Automen (about 20 years ago Lake Park and Automen had to merge schools and I am told there is a lingering resentment if Automen is left out of the equation) came up short in the in the final score which was a bummer. Apparently the junior class is very strong, perhaps we'll be making another trip to the metrodome this time next year.

First Food

Last week Faustina had her first taste of rice cereal...nuummmmmy. Well, she didn't think so. She wasn't a big fan. I don't blame her, it does taste pretty gross. I was a bit hesitate to start her since nursing is so easy and when I think of starting babies on mush I envision messy faces, dirty heightchairs, and a littered floor; none of these thoughts were too exciting. But since Faustina is 6 weeks and she has definitely been closely watching us eat and moving her mouth along with us, I thought I would give it a try. She was all set in her heightchair and her awesome St. Faustina of Divine Mercy bib. I think, however, it will be a slow process getting used to solids - fine with me!

Jumping Bean

Faustina absolutely loves her 'jumping johnny'. She goes nuts in it as she bops around chirping, laughing, smiling. Even when we hold her in our laps she starts jumping around.

Vatican Splendors exhibit

This past Sunday we went to the "Vatican Splendors" exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society. We met our pals Pat and Krystal (with their 6 month old, Charles) there. It was a nice exhibit. Lots of different things to see from vestments to Missals to chalices to pieces of St. Peter's bones to Swiss Guard uniforms. I snapped this photo outside... and one illegal pic of St. Peter's reliquary!

Luscious

Check out these baby 'muscles'. I love them.

Determination

She is 5 months old and doing it. Sunday night she crawled/scooted/inchwormed about 4 feet on our wood floor. The time is quickly coming to baby proof the house!

Pumpkins

It is my least favorite 'holiday' - it is lame that anyone would even call it a holiday. In the past, friends have always been annoyed with me for this - but I just have to say I think it is so dumb. I have never liked Halloween, ever, even growing up I dreaded it. I don't like dressing up, ghosts, goblins, scary witches, costumes, Halloween hype in general. (I will admit, however, babies/toddlers are pretty cute in some of their outfits!) But I think people often underestimate or forget the reality of the unseen in our world. There are angels around us, guardian angels projecting us daily; and there are also evil spirits in the world fighting for our attention and our hearts. I have no desire to see the 'ugly' side come out on Halloween.

I looked outside our front door this afternoon and our pumpkin caught my eye. With Lauryn, Ben, Isaac, and Faustina at the house today I knew I had to get outside a bit. So we carved the pumpkin! That is about all I can contribute to Halloween this year. But Happy All Saints Day tomorrow!

An Unbeatable Day for a Ride

I was so excited about the weather today I could hardly contain myself. Late morning I dressed the babies to be outside and buckled them up in the Burley. They LOVED it. Isaac was having a bit of a difficult morning at the point when I decided to take them for the bike ride. As soon as we stepped outside he was silent and looking around everywhere. He was happy the entire rest of the day - he must have known how wonderful the weather was and wanted to go outside! We biked along Mississippi Blvd and I was marveling at Minnesota mystery weather. One just never knows what October/November will bring you. In years past I have been especially keen to the elements this time of the year because usually I am finishing up some sort of soccer season. I was thinking about October 30th 1999 when my Gustavus soccer team had a home game against Wheaton College. We had got something like 6 inches of snow the night before and we weren't sure if we would have the game. Well, we DID play after they PLOWED the snow off the soccer field and we played on a pristine green field surrounded by snow! It was pretty fun (and by the way we won a close game ;). Anyway, as frequently happens, our bike ride ended us at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Grandma and Grandpa had Henry and Liam over, and Travis was painting the house. We enjoyed Widmer's hotdogs cooked over the fire outside and sat to eat on the deck basking in the perfect weather.


Around 1:30 it soon became clear from Faustina rubbing her eyes that it was time to go home for naps. And of course they both fell asleep on the way home.

I hope tomorrow brings us similar weather. :)

He Never Stops

It is true - my wonderful husband is always doing something. He is such an incredibly hard worker and I am impressed over and over again. Let me list a few of the things he is up too: full time teacher, full time graduate student, works a part-time job for St. Thomas, he teaches confirmation class on Sundays. These are only his 'jobs'. He also is a husband and new father who always finds time to hang out and have fun, read, and enjoy good conversation. In this picture he is fixing our garage door while it is SNOWING (!) for the first time. People are often surprised when they walk into our home because Mike has remodeled a great deal of the house AND decorated so that it is very pleasant and welcoming. I often tell him he should be a interior designer - maybe in a few years down the road when he has more time ;). Often times he even does a good portion of cleaning around the house - which is something I should be doing since I am staying at home now!! He has a servant's heart and I am constantly called on by his example.

You Decide

Who does she look like? I am undertaking a new project: organizing pictures. The photo boxes are purchased for hard copies and I'm trying to scan some older family pictures onto the computer. I came across our baby pictures and it is always fun (I think) to analyze whose genes she inherited. Mike often says, "She looks like Faustina." True - but she also looks like her parents/family members!

A New Addition to Daily Life

Yesterday Faustina and I welcomed little Isaac Banner to our daily routine. Or at least to our day, since we don't really have much of a routine! Since Isaac is 6 months, he and Faustina have a lot in common and are at pretty much the same place in development. Here in this video they are shaking hands making a pact to be friends.

Today we went for a walk which they both enjoyed and I got exercize with Faustina strapped on me and Isaac in the stroller. It's fun to watch the leaves blowing all over Mississippi Blvd this time of year. I have been reading a book by the title, "Full of Grace" during prayer times and at adoration. The book is about motherhood and one of its main points is that mothers are the source of life. It may sound obvious that mothers are a source of life - but as I reflected on it I am amazed at all different kinds of life such as bearing children, creating social networks, being a homemaker, and little acts of love toward husband, children and friends. To be a source of life takes TIME which is often something people covet. Being a mother is new to me and there are many things to learn! I am blessed I am surrounded by many good role models. Isaac certainly will bring life to the Adkins house and we look forward to spending this year with him.