Spilt Orange Juice

We're not supposed to cry over spilt milk.  But my daughter didn't spill her milk.  It was orange juice.  And the tears came.  Not from her, but from me. 

Not a big deal, orange juice washes out of a table cloth.  And most people come to expect a 2 year old to spill their drinks more often than not.  But my 2 year old is different.  It wasn't her young hands that failed her, it was her brain.  She had a seizure.  One of many she has every day.

We are one and a half years into a diagnosis process.  A diagnosis of epilepsy.

And I'm tired.

I'm tired physically.  From dragging a two year old, and at times the whole family, to doctors appointments and new hospitals.  From adminstering medicine over and over, day after day, sometimes easily, sometimes with a difficult two year old who likes to make things challenging.  I'm tired, mentally, from trying to make decisions about treatment.  From racking my brain for answers that will most likely never be there.    From trying to understand what doctors go to school for years to understand.  I'm tired emotionally.  From anger at old doctors who seem to have not done all they could to find an answer.  From trying to stay calm when "explaining" that someone might see something unusual with my daughter every so often, but don't worry.  She's fine.  Tired from knowing she's not fine.  Tired from trying not to freak out when grandparents react to what I must pretend not to notice every. single. day. to keep life "normal" for my kids.  Tired from seeing other kids who are suffering much more than my child and there is nothing I can do about it.

I'm tired.  And it is so hard to be strong when you are tired, but strong I must be.  Strong for my children because they don't know that their sister has something "wrong" with her.  And they shouldn't.  Strong for my husband or else he would have to carry this weight on his shoulders alone.  Strong for our extended family who do react.  Because they care.  They don't know how to not care, which of course makes us blessed.

We are so very blessed.  Blessed to have a new doctor who is eager to get answers.  Blessed to have an amazing hospital nearby that is full of people who not only want sick kids to get better, but to smile as much as possible while they get better.  Blessed to have a beautiful daughter who is so full of life that she makes us laugh more than enough to make us forget her "issues" most of the time.

But most importantly, blessed to have a Father who, though I forget to turn to Him all of the time, never forgets to be there for me.  To tell me to "Be Not Afraid."  I've had to cling to this scripture over the last year and a half.  Because I am afraid, a lot.  But there really is no reason to be afraid.  Because God's plan is perfect.  And as long as I can remember that, there is peace. 

And I can always buy more orange juice. 

Brought Tears to My Eyes

UPDATE:  I apparently put a bad link in before, but it should be fixed now.  Thanks, Noreen for letting me know!

Did you see this during the Bronco/Patriot game?


Love. It.

Stopping in to share...

I want to say things are crazy busy here right now, but I think I will just stick with things are crazy here.  But I wanted to share these couple of things with you before I lose track of them, again. 

Both of these were shared on Facebook by friends of mine.

Blessed Are the Uncool

Don't Carpe Diem

Here's to a great Tuesday!

Top 10 Reasons For Hope in 2011

From CatholicVote.org:



Here's to more hope in 2012!

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

What was in your shoe?

What is the New Translation for Funny?

Because we all need to be able to laugh at ourselves...

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

It's Not About Me

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Grace, Not Perfection

I'm Just Not That Important

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart... ~Jeremiah 29:11-13

Little Flowers Tea Party 2011

This weekend, my daughters and I hosted the end of year Little Flowers Tea for our Little Flowers group. Don't know what Little Flowers is? Visit here.

The girls' table (with all of our craft projects from the year displayed on the wall).

I copied took inspiration from Jessica's Tea Parties and was hoping to have our party outside. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate (it snowed later that day and the rest of the weekend) and I changed my plans to inside. It was a little crowded getting around the tables at times, but I think we made the best of it. Because of the relocation of the festivities, I decided to buy some flowered garland at the craft store (roses and wisteria) to give a little garden atmosphere to my dining room. The pictures aren't the greatest. The sun glare was fighting with me and I was slightly rushed to get pictures taken before our guests arrived.

A view of both tables and some of the added flora

The little table to the left was for our 2 and under crowd

One more angle

This was the first time I had ever hosted a tea party. I don't even own a teapot! So I had to get creative on some things. A lot of what I used was borrowed. At both tables, there were borrowed teapots, cream and sugar sets, lemonade pitchers, and half of the napkins (the flowered ones). At the Mothers' Table, I used my china and crystal.
Mothers' table place setting

At the girls' table, I used cups from my punch bowl set for their tea cups and some borrowed glass plates. I used Holy Cards of the saints we were learning about as prizes all year, so I continued the theme in the place settings. I put the holy cards under the plates, which I thought was a cool effect.
Girls' table place setting

We had three courses and in between courses we had activities for the girls to include Jessica's word search and a Memory Game.

The activity table

This is our version of the Memory Game



We also did a craft, using all of the flowers I had purchased for the individual meetings throughout the year.

The craft prep area

This craft project is also in the Craft Companion guide

One of the finished hats (Dad got involved A LOT with this one)

The food was delicious! Each of the other moms was so helpful and brought a couple of dishes. We had three courses, which I think the girls got a kick out of. I forgot to take a picture of the first course, but it included strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and blueberry scones.


The second course included tortilla roll-ups, cucumber and egg salad sandwiches, and ham and cheese and jelly and creme cheese flower shaped sandwiches. Don't they look amazing?

The third course was DESSERT!


Brownies topped with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles, strawberry creme cupcakes, and a strawberry puff pastry dessert. YUMMY!


Despite all of my stress and worries, it turned out to be a wonderful time and most importantly, I think the girls had a lot of fun.

(Please bear with the poor formatting. Obviously, I've been away from blogging for awhile and I'm a little rusty. I just don't have the energy to fight with Blogger anymore tonight.)

My New Favorite Picture

Check out more "sweet" pictures of Pope Benedict XVI at Anna Arco's Diary. A special thanks to Faith and Family Live for sharing the link!

Lenten Motivation

"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me,

then no sacrifice can be

too great for me to make for Him."

-C T Studd

Praying for Donuts

SECONDS after telling the 2 year old that she was not behaving and would not be getting a donut after Mass, this is what we saw...

The Trouble Tree

The Trouble Tree

-Author unknown

The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. Upon arrival, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles. He hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward, he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. "Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again."

"Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."

Two Reasons I Love the Blogosphere

Empty Yourself


Sacramental Windfall...

Shopping for a Church

Over at Faith and Family Live!, they are having a discussion about whether or not to "shop" for a parish. I went to put my two cents in and came out with a comment that deserved its own post.


Ideally, I think you should attend your home parish. If it's broke, then you be the one to fix it. Or at least get the solution started.

Having said that, I think I have "shopped" for every parish I've belonged to in my married life and have been greatly blessed by doing so. When we were stationed in Utah, just finding a Catholic church was difficult. We really only had 2 options. The church off base turned off my then Protestant fiance with the very senior priest's fire and brimstone homilies. We ended up becoming members of the base chapel, mostly because my husband worked with the woman who was in charge of the RCIA program on base which he became a part of. I will always cherish that chapel because that is where my husband entered the Church and because of a very important couple we met there.

We then moved to Boston and encountered the exact opposite, having a Catholic church on every block it seemed. Of course, the Church in Boston is facing great challenges which has affected its attendance. We attended Mass at our "official" parish that first Sunday in a large, beautiful church. It did not feel welcoming, however, with only a few parishioners in attendance and most of them elderly. We eventually became members of the next closest parish, still only 5 minutes away. This parish was a blessing because of the priest who was very personable and great with children. He even attended our oldest daughter's birthday party once. I have yet to see another priest so involved with his parishioners, especially the children.

Moving once more, we took a different approach this time. We "shopped" for a parish before we decided where to live, in hopes of influencing our decision. Having decided on a parish (a large factor was the number of young families with children in attendance) it is still not our "official" parish because we decided to live on base. But, for some of the same reasons as Michelle stated in her comment, we have stayed with the off base parish. It still isn't perfect, I don't care for the architecture and I don't know if the priest recognizes us (despite baptizing one of our children and our very regular attendance at Mass), and we didn't put our 4 yo in CCD/Faith Formation this year because of some negative comments we heard. But this is where I can step up for this parish and help to strengthen what may be a weak link. Maybe that is why God put me here. And again, the blessings are many. A new family sat in "our pew" a month ago and we are fast becoming good friends. And remember that special couple from the chapel in Utah? They were already parishioners here (the Air Force is a small world) and have since become godparents to our youngest child, not only blessing her, but spiritually supporting our entire family.

This is all not to say that we won't be switching again. I have already thought about it due to our oldest attending Catholic school at a different parish because this church does not have a school. If we were to move off base, a possibility in the not so distant future, this would be a HUGE consideration.

Epiphany Treat

Isabel took these treats into school today for snack time. I thought they turned out pretty well. I used the original recipe for Rice Krispies Treats, spread it into a rectangular cookie sheet and cut out the crowns using a cutter I found at Hobby Lobby for 99 cents. You could easily decorate the crowns more elaborately with candies and icing. I didn't because the school tries to discourage a lot of sweets and snacks with icing, although I probably could have gotten away with it on a feast day like today. Simple, inexpensive, and yummy!

Happy Epiphany!

Did the Wise Men make it to your stable?

You Know Epiphany is Upon Us...

Did you or your kids happen to watch Disney's new Christmas special this year, Prep and Landing? We've seen it again and again thanks to the dvr. In the show, an elf gets frustrated at one point and says, "Oh, Frostbite." This has caught on in our house and is considered pretty funny. Today, however, as I was fighting with a diaper box, one of the panels ripped and what came out of my mouth?

"Oh, Frankincense!"

Fight

No Matter How "Ugly" a Caterpillar...

...we can all become beautiful butterflies!

Please, if you have the time today, check out "The Butterfly Circus." It will touch you and show you what real HOPE is all about.


Thanks to Catholic Media Review for sharing this.

Rosary for Children

Does anyone have a preferred version of the Rosary on cd that would be good for young children? Isabel starts preschool soon, and the morning drive would be a great time to pray the Rosary with the girls.

The sun...

...is brighter.

The snow is whiter.

The air is sweeter.

Confession is good.