Pope Benedict

It is hard to believe everything that is happening with Pope Benedict - his news of stepping down this month was shocking, to put it mildly. We are especially thinking of him today while keeping him and the Church in prayers. The next month will be most interesting.  Right now, this is the the bookmark I am using in my Lenten reading, "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas A Kempis. Benedict truly is a holy man, we will miss him as our leader.

"And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship with him." - Benedict XVI

Winter Activities

 We didn't get too much snow during the earlier part of winter, but in January and February, we've gotten our fair share. And, kind of surprisingly to me, I've loved it! It is so beautiful and I've been quite content being cozy inside. Here are a few different times we've been out playing in the snow the last couple months. The kids are at a point where they enjoy it and can stay out longer. Jude likes throwing snowballs - a new thrill for him which he cannot get enough of. He especially likes playing with our next door neighbor James who puts on quite the show with him. I can't believe what a trooper Benedict is! Even being outside for a couple hours, he never made a peep! The kids enjoyed sledding too. In these pictures, we were going down a very mild hill - next year, we'll have to tackle some more adventurous ones.

Our short fat snowman! At this point, the snow was not sticky enough to roll into big balls to make a big snowman. Faustina was especially on a mission to complete him.

At the farm in February

We had a very fun couple days up at the Saunders' farm. We'll have to start calling it the Saunders' resort - Uncle Mark and Aunt Mary completely spoil us! The few days were complete with the wonderful company of Mark, Mary, the Nohner family, Luke and his fiance, Megan, Mary's spectacular meals, tractor rides, sledding, hot tub fun, Valentine day candy hunts, lots of ping pong, etc. I think I've said it before, but it has been fun to go up to the farm the last couple years - I find all the fun memories flood back. It is even a bit surprising! The kids loved having the Nohners to play with - Faustina and Chase were practically inseparable.

We were able to go to mass at the Cayuga Church where the priest was terrific. He gave a great homily about Jesus' temptations in the desert, sin, and the abundant amount of grace which the sacrament of confession blesses us with.  I also have many memories of this small little church since it is right next door to the house my Grandparents lived in - many family gatherings in the basement of the church. Also, it is the place where my parents were married.

Mike and I stopped by the town bar where the very fiber of its construction is crumbling as we speak. It has about 30 broken tube t.v.s in it, the ceiling was caving in, the chairs were broken - it was one of those times that when we walked in, everyone stopped talking and stared at us! The owner looked like Santa Clause (according to Mike) but he said he remembered Carmen and Gail. He assured us that they were 'before his time' even though he looked way older than my parents!

It was a good weekend. Jude is officially 'farm boy' - he had a special attachment to Uncle Mark and is obsessed with the farm. Unfortunately, we were not able to spend time with Grandma as planned, she was sick and not up to visitors on Sunday. We missed seeing her and we'll have to try again...although probably not before this baby comes. Time is flying by!

Faustina and Jude kept asking Uncle Mark if he was going to make a bonfire since he made a HUGE one last time we visited. He didn't disappoint, even with all the snow and cold weather!

Steamy hot tub. The kids were in and out all the time.

Jude took his ice cream making quite seriously. He didn't leave its side. He kept packing down the ice for about 20 minutes or so. It was delicious, of course!

Uncle Mark took out this somewhat obnoxious singing fish that the kids (especially Anna and Jude) loved. All the adults would take it away from the kids...and then Mark would get it down for them again!

Dressed up Jude

 These photos are from the last couple months. Jude has been enjoying his dress up outfits that came from my SIL. Thank you, Auntie! Jude is in a fun stage right now. The first half of being three years old, he was going through a pouty stage, which still does come out from time to time. But, in general, he is growing up and he provides ample entertainment daily for me and the whole family. Jude potty trained himself, basically, before he was 2 years old. He, again, pleasantly surprised us and has not used diapers for the last couple months during nighttime. Nice work, Jude! Jude is going to his Good Shepard classes this year with Faustina. It is fun to see their relationship continue to develop. They really are best friends. In the car this morning, Faustina showed him a picture she drew and he said with great enthusiasm and a wide mouth, "Wow, Dina! That is beautiful! Good job!". We'll have to get him into some sports this summer - his favorite past time by far is throwing things, playing with any kind of ball and kicking things. Yesterday, I had to carry him away from an open gym kicking and screaming because he wanted to keep playing ball!

Jude informed me that he was like the dragon in Peasant Pig and the Terrible Dragon - his favorite Richard Scarry book.

Jude posing as 'the strongest' fireman. He held this pose for several minutes waiting for the camera to turn on since he wanted his picture taken.

Jude has become quite the helper over the last couple months. He loves putting dishes away from the dishwasher, setting the table. Here he is helping me make manicotti. I have to work harder to help him to clean up...

Jude informed me that Wallace is his police watch dog. For the past 6 months, Wallace has been sleeping in bed with Jude. Jude asks for him, and when we hear Jude giggling at night, it is from him tickling/playing with Wallace.

He walked up and down the street like this for about 15 minutes in the outfit blowing his whistle. He had to keep watch, he insisted.

A par for the course Jude face. I looked at him in the car yesterday and he was making faces at himself in the window for about 5 minutes. Sometimes Mike and I will look over at him at the dinner table and he is just staring at us with goofy faces waiting for us to look at him. Not sure where this guy came from!

Jude usually requests to have a picture of himself with Faustina, these days.

Here is my boy as we are headed off to mass this morning for Ash Wednesday. A handsome fellow he is, I think. He was especially excited about this sweater because it is brand new - a rarity around here! He got to take the tags off and everything. Another gift from Auntie!

On another note, Ash Wednesday is here and we start the Lenten journey toward Easter. Since last week, Mike and I have been getting up and having our prayer time in the mornings and the extra grace which that brings throughout the day is tangible. I hope we can keep it going! Easter will be here soon, and soon after that, we'll have our new little babe here with us!

Our Lady of Lourdes

Mary visiting Bernadette

Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes. I really do appreciate the Marian feast days. Today was extra special because a long awaited gift from Mike arrived in the mail:

Mike has been in contact with a well known rosary maker for the past couple months. Mike had this beautiful rosary hand made for me. He asked me what color I would like and a few other details - it turned out gorgeous! The medals on this one in the picture are different from the one I got (Mike has it right now with him). It turns out that I got medals of Our Lady of Lourdes on the rosary - and, what do you know, it came in the mail on her Feast Day! Pretty cool. The rocks are a combination of ruby, brazilian jade, ametyst aceented in solid bali sterling silver. This rosary was originally a birthday present, and then over time it morphed into a birthday/anniversary/valentine's day gift. And, yes, over the past several months of waiting for it, it happened to come today. As I said, it is beautiful, it is very sturdy, and handmade. Apparently, this rosary maker made one of John Paul II's rosaries for him. He buys large whole rocks, and then has a jeweler cut these stones all from the same piece.

It is also special that the theme to the rosary is Our Lady of Lourdes since my favorite necklace is from my Mom. It is a picture of Our Lady of Lourdes and it has actual water from Lourdes in the necklace piece.

It all falls into place.

Dear Mother Mary, please intercede on our behalf!

For our record

Here is part of our Christmas 2012. Although I haven't been blogging much lately and one twelfth of the year is gone, I still want to have a few pictures to look back on.  Between Benedict's birthday, going to Grandpa and Jeanne's on Christmas Eve, having friends for brunch on Christmas Day, and the Lee side with a few family friends on the afternoon of the 25th, we barely stopped the celebrating! Cheers to a wonderful Christmas 2012! It certainly was different for Mom and Benedict from being in the hospital the last year!

We were fortunate to see almost all our family members during the week of Christmas. It really is fun to get the cousins together! They get crazy!

We've been saying 'Benedict is about to walk any day now!' for the last month or so. He has taken a few steps and can stand up on his own from a sitting position. But, at this point, he is still #1 speed crawler.

We were so lucky to have Kim back in town for almost a month! Unfortunately, she was sick for par to of it, but she stayed a few evenings with us. And as you can see, Wallace missed her too!