Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Saint Catherine of Siena


How to Do the Will of the Father

I don't see how you can have this sort of strength, a strength whose source is the gentle mother charity, unless you keep the eye of self-knowledge open always. Self-knowledge is the dwelling in which we discover our own lowliness, and this makes us humble. There we find the knowledge of God's goodness too, and in this light a warmth, a fire of love, is born in us--so gently that all bitterness becomes sweet, everything weak grows strong, and all the ice of selfish love melts away. Then we no longer love ourselves selfishly, but for God. And more, we pour out a river of tears and spread our loving desires out over all our sisters and brothers, loving them with a pure love, without self-interest. And we love God for God's sake, because he is supreme eternal Goodness, worthy of being loved...Let's not put off any longer our move into this holy dwelling of self-knowledge.
(Magnificat "Meditation of the Day" April 29, 2009)


Happy name day to two of my favorite Katherines: Mom and Katie!


Monday, April 27, 2009

Snow blossoms




















Weather you like it or not


Remember that sleety rain I was complaining about? As Sunday progressed, this is what happened in our yard:







Springtime in Misawa.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Snain

I'm so, so glad we got out on Friday. Today, our yard looks like this:


Yes, those are puddles of water. It has accumulated in the yard since the rain began yesterday afternoon after one of the windiest soccer mornings we've had so far. Even John, who normally doesn't mind the cold, was freezing in the stands over at Edgren. I cowered in the van watching Joseph's and Katie's games through the fences.

I do have an excuse for not braving the elements in order to cheer for our children. Poor Meghan has come down with a rotten cold. It's one of those sad baby colds where she has to stop nursing to catch her breath. It's a pitiful state to be in. Even worse, we're down to one car this weekend, so she has had to come along to everything. She's taking a nice long nap today, so hopefully that will help her recover from yesterday's volunteer time in the concession stand at Edgren, 3 soccer games, 1 birthday party, evening Mass, and dinner and DVD with friends. Poor baby.

It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but this afternoon it is pouring down a sleety rain and blowing in big sideways gusts. There's even been thunder and lightening. I'm sure glad soccer was yesterday when it was "only" windy. When we go from sunny, blue sky to freezing rain in only two days, it makes me think of the line from Eliot: "April is the cruelest month..."

Friday, April 24, 2009

More blossoms

Katie added these to the dining room table.

Lovely!

Picnic


When we got home from the cherry blossoms, we still weren't ready to be indoors. So we had a picnic in the yard.


Somehow lunch tastes better when we eat it outdoors. Even if it's just PBJ or egg salad.


Even sticks are tasty outdoors, apparently.

Blossom time

We couldn't resist playing hookey today to enjoy the beautiful weather and the peak of Misawa's cherry blooms.


After such a long, snowy winter, we think days like this should be called "cherry blossom days" and counted as "acts of God" so we don't have to make up our schoolwork.


Oh, wait, we're in charge of the school schedule.


Guess what?! It's a Cherry Blossom Day. ;-)









And a couple of Boy Scout building photos for my Dad, who shared his love of scouting with my sons and whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday, Dad. I love you.


Game day


I love it when coaches make the kids dress up on game day.

I also love it when Patrick's teams finally have home games.

So you can imagine my happiness when I noticed how Patrick was dressed for school this morning.

Happy for another soccer weekend.

Oh, and if you'd like to see who had an assist at last week's game, read on:

From Stars and Stripes online April 20, 2009, Pacific High School Scoreboard:

Japan

Boys soccer
Saturday’s summaries


...

Yokota 4, Robert D. Edgren 2
At Misawa Air Base
Halftime-Yokota 3-1
Goals-Yokota, Tony Presnell 3 (13), Christian Heimlich 1 (2); Edgren, Brandon Massie 2 (14). Assists-Yokota, Jimmy Niescier, 2, Patrick Tubalado 1, Cody Trimmell 1, Trey Sauls 1; Edgren, Patrick Riordon 1.

...

Edgren won the game against Yokota last Friday night, but we're just as excited about Saturday's game...for obvious reasons. :-)

Go Eagles!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Soccer Saturday

Here's what we did this morning:

10:00 a.m.

Defense is not Joseph's favorite position, but he's a good sport.







Offense is much more fun!





Good game, Joseph!



11:00 a.m.


Go Eagles!





Watching big brother play.
Matthew in the rear view mirror--tired of watching, now just running.


12:00 p.m.

Katie's turn--she prefers the action at forward, too.



Then home to clean house, pizza for dinner, s'mores over the fire pit for dessert, the last day of the Divine Mercy novena (yes! we completed it this year), an episode of "Lost in Space" from Netflix, and "to bed, to bed, my sleepyheads." Grateful, so grateful, for good weather today and for these happy family times.

Thus we conclude the Octave of Easter.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Holy Saturday


Holy Saturday dawn




For us, it is a day of contemplation and preparation.



Jesus is in the tomb.


We wait,



and we prepare.



In the morning, we baked the Easter bread. This recipe came via Faith and Family online.



While the bread rose, we took time to pray a family rosary. On Holy Saturday, we always offer our rosary in thanksgiving for priests, especially those who have touched our lives. We have been blessed to encounter many priests in our moves around the world, so each year, the list of specific names grows. Today we pray for our bishops, all our former pastors and especially for:

Fr. Ian
Fr. Murtagh
Fr. Milich
Fr. Gary
Fr. Vogl
Fr. Jose
Fr. Andre
Fr. Dominic
Fr. Chris


In the afternoon, we baked the lamb cake.



All was in readiness for the Vigil Mass.


One last baking project: Easter Story Cookies.


We are ready, but the tomb is still closed, and we await the morning.


Family before the Vigil Mass.


The new fire

The Easter candle is lit from the new fire.