The night with daddy...

In pictures!

This toy just isn't cutting it for a night with daddy.

Now that's more like it!                                              Oh no it's godzilla!!

Poor Worf!

Capt'n Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise

(if you sang that, I declare major nerd alert)

Okay this is fun, but I really prefer to watch them on TV...

All alone.

Thanks to my husband for chronicling the night for me!



Bring me my weapon!!

I keep one in my purse.

One under my pillow.

One in my pocket.

One in my car.

Sometimes I have one around my wrist.

I love the Rosary.

Over the years, this once monotonous prayer has become for me, a life line, a saving grace. "Blessed be that monotony of Hail Mary's which purifies the monotony of your sins!" -St. Josemaria Escriva

It is my every occasion prayer.  When I am sad, it comforts me.  When I am scared, it makes me feel safe.  When I am happy, Heaven rejoices with me!  I actually like that the Rosary is repetitive, and that I can reflect on the life of Christ while saying it, but it is so much more than even that.  When I pray the Rosary, I feel as if all of Heaven is at my finger tips.  There is such power in this beautiful prayer. 

A Dominican professor in Rome said "Our Blessed Lady made known to St. Dominic a kind of preaching till then unknown; which she said would be one of the most powerful weapons against future errors and in future difficulties."  Our Lady of Fatima said the if we prayed the Rosary daily, then there would be peace, in our families and in our world.

The other day I said to Geoffrey, "We really need to make sure we pray the Rosary every day, for the sake of our family."  He replied, "I do say it every day at work."  How blessed I am to have such a wonderful husband!  It was a smack over the head though because I do not hold up my end of the bargain.  Daily Rosary is a must, I know this.  I love the prayer so it isn't hard, yet how often does my daily Rosary end before the first mystery because I fell asleep?  Too often.  "But when will I find the time??" my brain screams. Um, how about the 25 min. drive to work and back most days?  How about the at least 15 mins. I spend nursing Dominic every 2 hours?  Not to mention the time I spend holding and playing with Dominic.  You are never too young to start praying the Rosary right?  Oh, there is plenty of time, thus I declare war on "putting it off."

Sweet Lady of the Rosary, pray for me.  I hope to spend a lot more time with you...

It's just so fun!

Having a little one sure makes every day an adventure.  I have to say, I love it! Can you imagine if adults where like babies, doing something new and exciting every day that we couldn't do the day before?  I guess we experience new things often, they just aren't as exciting.  Although I do remember things like the first time I road the train-which was when I was in college, and how excited I was, but it is nothing like this. Tomorrow Dominic will be 8 months old, and almost every day for those 8 months he has done something new or experienced something for the very first time.  For instance, he had never eaten carrots before tonight. Two weeks ago, he couldn't crawl and then all of a sudden he could! Last week he had 4 teeth and now he has 7, soon to be 8!  Probably these things aren't so amazing to someone who isn't his parent but as my husband said this evening while Dominic was munching on a cooked carrot "It's just so fun!"

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol 1)

**1**

We have been working on our house for about two months.  No matter how hard we work it just seems to drag on and on.  Now we are so close to being done, I am so very excited but getting worn out.  Hopefully I can muster up enough energy to move and organize. Finishing touches are a must!

**2**

I have to admit today is a little sad, it is Friday and now that it is November and cold all the garage sales are gone!!  What am I to do?  Robyn, (my garage-saleing partner in crime), do you feel my pain?

**3**

Once our house is done I am very excited to do all the decorating.  I have been accumulating stuff from those garage sales and re-sale shops over the past few months (really for years) to put in our house.  I bought fabric to cover our dining room chairs and to make some curtains.  The "finishing touch" I am most excited about though is picking out what pictures to get printed and hang!  There are some many great ones of our family, I could cover a whole house.

**4**

Today is my best friend's (Amy's) due date with their first child.  It as me thinking about the anticipation of the birth of Dominic and my due date back on March 9th.  I remember going to bed on March 8th at 11:30pm wondering if tomorrow would be the day.  I woke up at midnight with the first of my labor pains!  Dominic was born at 6:14 am.  In hindsight, I probably should've gone to bed earlier on the eve of my due date, but I've never been able to get in bed early enough.  Even so, it was one of the best nights of my life. :)

**5**

Almost 8 months now, Dominic is officially mobile.  But it appears the only reason he is "crawling" is so he can get to something and pull himself up to standing.  The days of carefree leaving baby in the other room while I do something are over!  While I am a little scared, watching him grown and learn new things has been the coolest thing ever.

**6**

Last night Geoffrey, my loving husband, spent the night with our little guy while I was at youth group.  He always does such a good job taking care of his son when I am away (which isn't often).  I got home last night and our little guy was in bed!  I don't think that has ever happened before.  Kudos daddy!!

**7**

Speaking of last night, we had Jr. High Youth Group and it was lots o fun! (I am a Director of Youth Ministries for a wonderful Catholic Church.)  Our priest takes very seriously his call to be spiritual father to the Parish and as such does most of the teaching.  Last night he shared the Holy Father's message to youth from Oct 31, and it was amazing!  He spoke about how there is so much more to life than what we see here, and to not be afraid to step out from the mold to be something truly wonderful, a child of Heaven.  It was funny though, I realized that when Fr. L. teaches, I get so much out of it, maybe more than the kids.  I am grateful to have such a wonderful teacher and the kids are so blessed!

Pray for Your Dead

The Tridentine (Latin) Mass today was a beautiful and solem requiem. The altar was draped in black, and so was Fr. 

"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen." -Prayer of St Gertrude the Great

Today's feast is a reminder that our dearly departed need us.  So often when someone we love dies, we cannonize them, remembering just all the good things they did.  But it is arrogant to presume that anyone (other than the Holy Saints revealed to us) has made it to Heaven.  We hope that they are not in Hell, but rather that they are in Purgatory, waiting to join God in eternal life and complete unity.  Don't forget about them!

In Fr.'s homily he recommended that today is a good day to take out the old photo albums and share stories of our family members who have died.  And just because we didn't know a family member (perhaps a great great grandparent), doesn't mean we shouldn't pray for them.  Praying for all generations of my family today, those who have died, those now on Earth, and those to come.

       "Eternal rest, grant unto them O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace!