Feast of St. Joseph

St. Joseph pray for us

Treehouse update

I can't remember when the last time we gave an update on the tree house.
Sometimes I feel that GMAC will be in college by the time this thing gets done!
This tree house has been a great bonding and learning experience for all of us

Now with four walls and a full deck

Maya pray for us

I write this with a very heavy heart, my cousin's little baby who was bone five days ago passed away this morning. The doctors had said Maya had a 75% chance to make it, she was born at 25 weeks, just at a one pound.
As parents who were told our baby (Rose) had a 80% chance of survival I was very optimistic. We as a family offered up many prayer, our daily rosary, daily Mass, Holy Hour, several little sacrifices, and prayers through out the day; yet she was called back to be with our Lord. This is not at all easy.

Our jobs as parents is to help our children get to heaven and be with God for eternity. They don't belong to us; He has entrusted them to us for a brief moment on this earth. So we should be happy when our children can go to heaven, yet this not the feeling we experience. The pain one feels at the loss of a child must be indescribable. I can't even imagine the pain Maya's parent, grandparents, uncles and aunts are going through.

I pray they can unite their suffering with our Lord. I pray they find comfort in our Lady, who watched her Son as he was being crucified. I ask for prayers for Maya's parents, family and friends.
We love you, little angel; we will meet you in the Eucharist.

Maya pray for us.

-Mallu

Our little cutie

GMAC is 22 months now and is learning her letters. At the end of the video clip you can watch her say butterfly. "Butterpie" is the cutest thing she says.
-Mallu Mom

Confirmation Retreat

For the past several months I have been helping teach a Confirmation class at Our Lady of the Fields . This has been a wonderful experience, and Scott (the youth minister) allowed me to help out with the Confirmation retreat as well.

They had an awesome skit where a girl asks Jesus to come to her...

And she nails Jesus to the cross.

This was our band during the weekend.

This is my favorite skit, it is the stations of the cross, along side a story of a high school girl.

My Confirmation sponsor Deacon Joseph Gill had a talk on prayer.

Up Lifting Chat

I have a cousin, (my mom's cousin) in the Missionaries of Charity, I am able to talk with her every first Sunday. I really look forward to to our chats, she is such a joy filled and uplifting person. Her love for Christ is radiating and contagious. Today we were talking about the Litany of Humility and she told me they pray it every Tuesday. I pray it off and on, we are adding it to our before-school prayers. It 's beautiful to meditate on each line.

Litany of Humility

Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930),
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

* from EWTN
-Mallu

Our Big Helper

GMAC loves helping with everything we do. I found her a great way for her to help in the kitchen with this gadget from Pampered Chef.

End Product: Cut mushrooms!

Healthy Tortillas

I needed tortillas and didn't have any on hand, so I searched the web and found a great recipe here. It's healthy and delicious! It was easy, especially since I had a tortilla maker.
--Mallu

"I La Loo"

Tonight, towards the end of our daily rosary GMAC came around and hugged each of us and told us "I la loo" and signed I love you. Truly an unforgettable moment!
--Mallu Mom

I asked her to say I love you one more time and she did; Rose was reading to her ( the big hand is Roses')

thoughts on Lent

I saw this on a news group that I belong to and I just wanted to share it

-- Crucian Dad

Living Faith snippets: "Religious practices like fasting are meant to support and nourish concrete acts of love. And our sins are somehow healed when we reach out to others in compassion. These words are sobering. They imply that my Lenten practices are not a private affair between God and me. As the old proverb says, Be not simply good; be good for something." by Sr. Melannie Svoboda, S.N.D.

Rich's comments: When we decide to do something for Lent, oftentimes we think about fasting for ourselves (e.g., giving up chocolate, caffeine, video games, Facebook, etc.); usually something that we crave that feeds an addiction. It is good to periodically screen our behaviors for addictions that can serve as idols in our life; however, these Lenten practices only seem to bring us good, and not others. This Lent, try "sharing your bread" (food, money, time, talents) with others. God of love, may my Lenten practices support my endeavors to make this world a better place. Amen.

Faith Quote: "Everyone knows that fasting is a different experience from missing your dinner by accident or through poverty. Fasting asserts the will against the appetite- the reward being self-mastery and the danger pride: involuntary hunger subjects appetites and will together to the Divine Will, furnishing an occasion for submission and exposing us to the danger of rebellion." - C.S. Lewis