7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol 1)

Let's see if I can figure this out, 7 Quick Takes Friday, that is. I got this idea from another blogger, so be sure to visit her!

--1--

Spring is here: so is soccer! We set up fields and practices have begun. You may catch me chirping this spring: sometimes beautifully, sometimes a bit aggressively, but I’m happy to join the birdies. According to my dad, they know everything! ("A little birdie told me!") At least one does. Not me!

What part of springtime are you?

--2--

Michael received the sacrament of healing, Anointing of the Sick Sunday. Fr. explained and administered this sacrament during Mass. After the explanation, Michael, 7, whispers in my ear, “Should I go up there, Mom?” I told him that was fine, and then he wanted me to go up with him. I was proud of him and his understanding of the sacrament. I also had the terrible thought go through my head, ‘let’s just ask Father to do it later, so people don’t start asking what’s going on with him.’ We went up. Maybe I was the one who should be receiving the sacrament of healing with my attitude? It was beautiful and probably more moving for his mother.

--3--

Gina (the 2 year old 28 pound princess) playing with Rudy (the 5 month old 58 pound puppy):

Gina was playing fetch with Rudy down the hallway. One time Rudy tried to take the toy out of Gina’s hand. She clonked him on the head and told him, “No!” Then, “Sit!” Next, she gave him a big hug, “You’re my best friend, Rudy!” We now know what it takes to be a friend to Gina – listen and do whatever she tells you. You’ll have a friend for life. We’ve got to work on this control thing – I mentioned to my husband that someone needs to inform her that she is not an only child. My husband piped up, “she is much more well adjusted than only child. She knows many different personalities and manipulates each and everyone to get what she wants!

--4--

Daniel: Monday, for the first time, after taking 2 weeks off school, he sat down and did his work right away without complaints. Schoolwork this day was too easy. I didn’t know what to do with my extra time. He gets to put 5 jellybeans in the jar for doing his best work this year! (he did great M,T,W-NOT Thur. O well, it was fun while it lasted!)

About the jelly beans:

We keep a jar and jelly beans in our prayer room during Lent. (Gina got into them once this season, they are ‘her’ jelly beans, ya know.) Everytime we catch the kids doing something good – helping out extra, being kind to a sibling, etc, they get to put a colorful jellybean into the jar. The white beans are set aside with me. The black jelly beans are for poor behavior. They hate getting black jelly beans. The goal is to have the jar filled by Easter. On Holy Saturday night, the white jelly beans replace the black ones as a reflection that Jesus died to take away our sins and make us white again so we can enter Heaven.

--5--

Midnight madness: NO, not basketball, though my kids do enjoy keeping track of who’s winning the games for the NCAA tournament! Luke doesn’t think he can sleep tonight due to Memphis and Duke losses yesterday. Poor boy.

Our midnight madness was a bit different. Chalk it up with the “joys” of parenting. Maybe after the fact, God was rejoicing, but definitely not during the incident: I’ll just say we had a lot of wake up calls but one not so pretty. It was one of those that I didn’t exactly handle well. One of our children was screaming, again. I went to the crying room to assess the situation. The child was on the floor, screaming. I could not calm this child with talking. I went to pick the child up and the blessing decided to pee all over and on the carpet. I too lost it, my temper that is. I was tired, I was mad. How could this child do such a thing? After aggressively taking off the wet pants through the continual screaming, the shirt came off by lifting the child slightly off the ground. I must be doing this too rough. I calmed down, made sure the blessing didn’t have to go anymore in the toilet and gently put the child back to bed with an I love you.

I too went back to bed again, and felt awful (clumped up once again). How could I have treated this child like that?

This Lent, our priest has been using Preface of Lent III for daily Mass. It has been moving for me. It was all I could think of when I got out of bed the next morning.

“…you ask us to express our thanks by self-denial. We are to master our sinfulness and conquer our pride. We are to show to those in need your goodness and mercy.”

So here I am, living it. As it said in the Magnificat that morning,

“By taking upon Himself all the shame of the nakedness and sin in Adam’s, and our place, Jesus once and for all brought it before the merciful eyes of His Father…and from this point on sinners should no longer hide; they have been reprieved from disgrace. So let them come to the light of Jesus’ cross…our own nakedness and sinfulness no longer has a reason for embarrassment or condemnation. It has become an opportunity for faith, faith that can arise even from a foolish self-confidence.”

May we have the “courage to humbly and gently gaze toward the bleeding face of the crucified Jesus” to gaze upon “the shame of Jesus who covers and hides ours.”

Yes, take courage: By God’s Mercy we are saved. How shall we thank Him?

--6--

All is well with Baby: After scheduling an ultrasound with the doctor, trying to change it because we found out the girls would have practice, and deciding to leave it alone and find a sitter for the rest of the crew; the doctor’s office called saying their machine was not working and we would have to reschedule. I called the sitter off, to only call her back a few hours later because the dr. office called back again saying they would be able to use a different machine and my appointment was back on. With all the variables, it ended up being a tricky planning day, but in the end, we got to see:

--7--

Gina: Mothering me on how to cut a pinapple. “No cut it that way. Be careful, don’t cut yourself! Be careful, Mommy! Now this piece. Are you being careful?” She then proceeded to put on Kathryn’s mascara which was left out on the island for some reason.

Where’s my ‘little’ girl?

----------

Have a great Weekend Everyone!

We will be celebrating with Kathryn. She is now old enough to get her permit to drive!

I repeat, "Where's my little girl?"