Tokyo

So about that vacation...

I guess the best way to organize this is to post by the cities we visited, so here we go to Tokyo.

We took the Shinkansen to Tokyo for a couple of days before beginning our New Zealand Adventure. We met Tommy at the airport (hooray! we were all so glad to see him!), and had a chance to do some sightseeing.

On Sunday, we were able to participate in the Mass at Tokyo’s very modern St. Mary’s Cathedral (http://www.tokyo.catholic.jp/eng_frame.html officially, Sekiguchi, or Immaculate Conception of Mary).

After Mass, we had time to walk around the church a bit. The children were impressed with the two-story stable for baby Jesus,

and the Pieta

Photo credit: Tommy

as well as the bust of St. Francis Xavier, who first brought Christianity to Japan. The bust was originally commissioned by one of the Borgias and made its way to Tokyo's sister diocese of Cologne, Germany, which gave it to the Tokyo diocese in honor of that relationship.

Photo credit: Tommy

The architecture definitely isn’t our favorite. One sad effect of World War II is the loss of historic buildings. Tokyo used to have a gothic cathedral. Now they have this modern building that, to us, seemed very cold. Tommy did think the lighting and slope of the roof guided the eye to the altar and upwards.

And they have an impressive pipe organ.

John and I laughed when we discovered later that we had both been mentally painting frescoes on the concrete walls and ceiling. They wouldn't be appropriate to this architecture, I suppose.

Matthew’s comment about the baptismal font:

“Mommy, what’s that broken thing?”

Outside, we enjoyed seeing the carillon



and the Lourdes grotto

As we walked back to the metro, we kicked through piles of bright yellow ginkgo leaves.

Photo credit: Tommy

Although we already had snow in Misawa, it was still autumn in Tokyo, and the fallen leaves were lovely. I thought of Kyle, the son of a friend of a friend in the U.S. whose “Flat Felix” (think Flat Stanley in rabbit form) accompanied us to Tokyo, and picked up a leaf to mail to him along with other Japan souvenirs.

Then we went to the Hotel New Sanno

for Sunday brunch. Yummy, if a bit overwhelming. I don’t think you could begin to sample everything at this sumptuous buffet. Patrick couldn't resist taking a photo of the chocolate cake with gold powder on top.

There were also photos with Santa (a photo showing slightly more enthusiasm for the experience will be mailed to the grandparents) and candy canes.

Then a metro ride to the Imperial Palace.

While we couldn’t get inside the gates that day, we were able to enjoy the gardens and get a sense of the place.

It’s a typical Japanese castle: painted white, wood frame building amid beautiful gardens,

up a long path through several gates.

The surrounding walls, moats,

and gardens are all open to the public now, and they are painstakingly maintained.

Matthew was very impressed with the ducks and swans in the inner moat.

Joseph more impressed with the guards at the gate.

Then back to the New Sanno for a swim, although Matthew hesitated, saying in dismay, “We can’t go swimming without Clairie-dairy-strawberry.” He still has very fond memories of our summer adventures with the cousins in Illinois. He did manage a swim without Claire, and had a wonderful time, although the “hot water bath” (hot tub) was a bit too hot for his little toes.

He and Joseph loved seeing the fountain outside the hotel lit up at night.

After this busy day, we returned to our lodgings at Hardy Barracks to get some sleep before our long flight on Monday and Tuesday.

View from Hardy Barracks

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

We've had a big snowstorm over the last two days, so Katie, Joseph, and Matthew have been outside playing in the new piles of snow for over an hour. They were excited to get out and see if all of their footprints from the past week had been filled in. At the moment, they are piling even more snow onto the pile that slid off the roof.

Since they were busy, I had time to make a strawberry chiffon pie for dessert tonight. Usually during Lent, we don't eat dessert after dinner, but I'm making an exception for St. Valentine. Even though he isn't officially on the Church calendar anymore, it's a good day to talk about love: the real kind. Our art project for the afternoon is to make a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to write messages of love to Him on the back.

Our messages of love to all of you are made and some are mailed, but most will have to be sent tomorrow. I know this means most people will get them late....again. I'm sorry. I never can seem to get the mail out early enough in February.

While you wait for the mail, here's a valentine photo of our message of love from above. We think she or he has Matthew's nose :-)

Baby at 20 weeks

Cravings

It isn't fair, really. Lots of people crave treats like ice cream when they are pregnant, and they have the pregnancy as an excuse to eat lots of it.

Not me. I crave things like carrots and oranges. Particularly oranges this week. And to prove it, I walked out of the grocery store with two huge (well, huge by Japanese standards ;-)) bags of mandarin oranges today. They just looked so good. Don't ask me what I paid. I'm not telling.

Two mandarin oranges were, however, a delicious accompaniment to my broiled fish and leftover asparagus for lunch.

Things I will miss in 10 years

Even this.



Yes, even this...

Really, it's a good kind of clutter :-)

Happy Candlemas!

In the traditional calendar of the Church, the Feast of the Presentation was the close of the Christmas season. It still is the day for the blessing of church candles, a blessing we have been able to receive for our home altar candles, too, in several previous parishes.

We like to celebrate with lots of candles at dinner, especially our Easter candle, reminding us that Christ is the light of the world. And, of course, a special dinner and dessert. John found a blessing for the meal in Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers. Since Patrick was camping out on his baptism day, he chose the dessert for us: dark chocolate mint cake. He received his baptism day blessing as well.

After dinner tonight we began something new: Sunday Vespers, part of the Liturgy of the Hours. This is something we have prayed as a family a few times, but now we plan to make it the regular closing of our Sunday. We wanted a way to keep Sunday more holy, and this helps us frame the day with the Mass in the morning and the liturgy of Evening Prayer after dinner.

Tommy is a big help in figuring out how to pray this appropriately, as the Reach teams pray morning and evening prayer regularly. So are Magnificat and this book, which I ordered to help us get started.

How toddlers can help with dinner

Hooray! Photo uploads are working again! I promise to work on New Zealand posts this weekend.

In the meantime, here's a Matthew moment....

He can stir the soup after the burner is turned off :-)

Matthew came downstairs and wanted to help with dinner yesterday evening. Unfortunately, everything he wanted to help with was either sharp (chopping onions with a knife), or else he wasn't strong enough to accomplish much (grating cheese).

Then, I remembered something Joseph likes to do. "Matthew would you like to slice the olives?"

"Yes!"

Out came the egg slicer and an open can of black olives, along with a bowl for the finished product. I demonstrated with one olive.



Matthew took a turn, then said, "It's your turn." I thought it might be my turn for the rest of the olives, but I offered him another turn, which he took.

He then continued slicing. After a few minutes, I asked him, "Are you having fun?" "Yes," he replied.

A few minutes later, he informed me, "Mommy, I'm still having fun."

He repeated this information every couple of minutes until the entire can of olives was sliced.



Then he happily left the kitchen, having helped, and not been under foot (really he's usually under arm, as he tends to put the step stool right in front of me where I'm working and climb up between me and the counter or sink so he can see what I'm doing).

Swans

During our recent trip, we "captured" a couple swans--one in Tokyo and one in Rotorua, New Zealand. Can you tell which is which?

Things about babies

The kids had a baby-name discussion several months ago and all suggested fairly reasonable names. Except Matthew. After the submissions of Peter and Andrew and David and Benedict and Maximilian (notice all the boy names--after so many boys, we all default to "boy" when we think "baby"), Matthew said, "No, our baby is named Pancy-wancy, and he will grow up to be a camel and live in the barnyard, in the fence where he will be safe." No other names could be suggested without vociferous protests from Matthew saying, "NO, his name is Pancy-wancy!!!"

Lately, the barnyard hasn't come up, except from the older kids, and all of us have taken to calling this poor child Pancy-wancy.

I pray it will be forgotten after he or she is born and has a real name.

We are waiting to find out if it is a boy or a g irl. Katie and I are still praying hard for a sister for her, and Katie is fairly sure she is. I have to say that I did pray to St. Therese of Lisieux that we might be given another daughter, thinking that she, who was so close to her sisters, would have sympathy for Katie, who has none. I asked Our Lady of la Leche, too, just for good measure. With the two of them asking, how could Our Lord say no?

... ... ...

Matthew, sitting on my lap the other morning during piano practice:

"Mommy, what's that bump on your lap?"

"It's our baby."

"Pancy-wancy is in there?! When will he come out?"

"When he is big enough."

"Oh."


Matthew, sitting on my lap during Joseph's school time later the same day: "How does the baby get out?"

me: "Ummm..."

Joseph: "He comes through a dark tunnel and then there is LIGHT!!"

Me, thinking to myself: "Thank you, thank you, thank you Regina Doman for that one!!"

... ... ...

Earlier this morning, after watching a video of their cousin, Simon, Matthew began talking to the computer and saying, "Hey Simon, what does a monster say?" Then, since the video was no longer playing, answering for him, "grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

A Day of Prayer and Penance

Today is the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion nationwide. Since the decision, approximately 48 million children (source: Priests for Life) have been lost to our nation because their parents had no hope.

Which ones would have brought a peace settlement to the Middle East? to Iraq? to Afganistan?

Which ones would have found a cure for AIDS?

Which ones would have discovered new ways to clean up chemical mess in our environment?

Which ones would have lived a life that brought joy and hope and healing to every person they met?

--through art or music or literature or dramatic performance

--through spiritual or medical or mental health professions

--through simple friendship

What a tremendous loss to the diversity and beauty and intellectual life of the United States!

And in the bargain, we have so many women who fell prey to the lie that abortion is a solution with no emotional cost: the best, the only, way to solve a problem pregnancy. So many women who felt lost and unsupported and in the midst of physical illness and fear and sleeplessness made a terrible choice that brought intense emotional pain and suffering.

And so many men who mourn children that they didn't want to lose. Or perhaps they only recently have begun to regret their pressure of or lack of support for their wives or girlfriends.

And children without siblings: children who know why they are without siblings and who endure that knowledge with often unspoken pain.

And so today, we pray and offer penance in reparation for this great stain upon our nation. We beg God for forgiveness and healing and the deep conversion of hearts needed in our culture. We pray for a return to the recognition of simple human dignity for children in the womb and for the blossoming of a culture of life in our nation and in the world.

9 days of prayer

March for Life

Walk for Life West Coast


United Stated Catholic Bishops Pro-Life Office

Human Life International

National Right to Life

Feminists for Life

Silent No More

Project Rachel

Birthright

Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Technical Difficulties

We haven't been able to post any photos to the blog.

Noticed that, did you?

We're very sorry. For some reason, we're having a problem with Blogger and aren't able to upload photos. Sometimes we're not even able to save posts. So for now, I've been working on writing some posts in Word that I will copy over to the blog when the image uploading issue is resolved. Katie has written at least one post, too, and is waiting to add it until she can get the photos working.

In the meantime, I'm looking into a Shutterfly account or some other way of showing you some photos from our New Zealand trip.

So what are we doing with all the spare time now that we can't blog (it hardly seems worth it if we can't put photos on here)?

--Katie got her ears pierced Saturday. I forgot the camera, but her friend's mom took a couple of photos on her camera. Hopefully, Katie will be able to share these on her blog soon)

--She is in her last weeks as a mother's helper to dear friends who are PCS-ing (moving to another location) in a few weeks. She is really going to miss helping my friend, Lauren, with her 2 and 1 year olds each week. So we'll probably be looking for another mom to lend a hand to over the next few weeks.

--Tommy now has one regular daytime babysitting job, and the potential for two more (one interview today, another probable sometime this week). With all the deployed and TDY husbands on base, a lot of moms really need a break, even if just for a couple of hours one morning a week, so it's possible he'll become very busy with this new business.

--He's also thinking of applying for a paid job at the chapel. This only came up a couple of days ago and Fr. talked to him about it on Sunday. It's an administrative job, is part-time, and it would last until he leaves in the summer, just after our new priest arrives.

--Patrick and Tommy went night sledding on base with a group of Patrick's friends Sunday night. The ski hill, which is really only used as a sledding hill, is fairly well-lit at night, so they sledded and then went to the 24-hour cafe on base for breakfast food with the group before giving some rides home and finally rolling in here around 11:30. Thank goodness it wasn't a school night. And thanks be to God for cell phones.

--We took the younger kids sledding on the ski hill on Monday. We're too old and boring for night sledding ;-) Since last year's snow was so minimal, it was the first real use Matthew got out of the beautiful sled Grandmom and Papapa gave him for Christmas/birthday last year. He looked like a little king sitting in the sled as we pushed and pulled him down and up the slope. He loved having the sides to hold onto, and I loved how stable the sled was--nice and wide and very secure for him. He wasn't nervous at all, even going down the big hill by himself. It was so much fun to have John home for the day and to get out and play with him (I have a few photos on my phone, so if I can figure out how to get them off, and if the photo upload starts working again, I'll share).

--Thanks to the generosity of my husband and eldest son, I started back with the women's Bible study at church last night. It's on Mondays, which conflicts with Boy Scouts. But I asked Tommy if he would mind alternating weeks with me (he going to scouts one week, I going to Bible study the next), and as he was agreeing, John mentioned that he doesn't need to be at the scout meeting every week, so he could take a week, too. So now, I get to go to Bible study 2 out of 3 weeks, and John and Tommy each only miss 1 out of 3 weeks, and Patrick has a ride every week. Hooray! I'm really looking forward to the study--we're using the Ignatius Study Bible to read and discuss the Gospel of Matthew. Good stuff!

Home again, home again

We've finally caught our breath and are settling back into our home routine. So much has happened in the past month, it's hard to know where to start. But I guess I do know.

Tommy is home. That's the biggest news. We are happy to have him back with us. He has mixed feelings. While he's glad to be back home, he's not so glad about the way it happened. Living in community, especially a tiny community like REACH, has its challenges. Especially for an 18-year-old with a strong personality. Some of Tommy's strengths also turned out to be weaknesses within a tiny group. While it may help the community life aspect, it's unfortunate for the retreat ministry, I think. Tommy had much to contribute in that area. I'm still his mom after all and can't help feeling that way ;-) It's also unfortunate for Tommy. The next semester on REACH, with the travel and long series of retreats would have been an opportunity for real growth in spirituality and maturity. For whatever reason, it appears that his place is at home for a little while longer.

All that being said, It's nice to have our family together again, even if it is only for a short time. I am especially happy that Tommy will probably be home when the baby is born in June. His commitment before meant that he would miss the birth and we would have to delay the baptism a month in order to have him here for that. So I am grateful to God for that blessing in spite of the circumstances that have led to it. And I can't help feeling that He has a reason for it. We may not know what the reason is, but I am confident there is one.

When Tommy was in his last months at Reach, he called home several times to ask for prayer over the situation there. I prayed several novenas to the Infant of Prague. Never before have I received a "no" answer in prayer to the holy infant, but this time the answer was clearly "no." So much so, that I prayed several extra novenas (following the example of Abraham's persistence), asking again the same request: that Tommy be allowed to stay on Reach and do God's work there. For a short time, it seemed that the answer might be positive, but in my last novena, it was again, clearly "no." This probably sounds a bit far-fetched to some of you, but it has given me peace about the situation. For whatever reason, either the good of Reach, or the good of Tommy, or perhaps both, Tommy was not to stay. It's what God wants.

Several people have asked what Tommy's up to. He has applied for several paying jobs on base, and will start on Thursday volunteering a couple of days a week during the lunch hour as a receptionist/clerk at the base chapel. He's looking into some daytime babysitting jobs. He has also begun the process to become a Red Cross volunteer. This is needed before he can do any other volunteer work on base. He'd like to help out at the hospital, which means a bit more training before he can get started. Hopefully, by the end of January, he will be set to start volunteering officially.

Since he can't take any university classes without endangering his deferral at the University of Dallas, he's also begun reading his way through the books he hasn't read yet on the UD recommended reading list. Last week it was "Everyman." This week, it's "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." I think he's planning to talk with his Uncle Daniel about reading some other works together and discussing them in greater depth. This would be good for him. He has expressed a feeling of mental stagnation over the past semester and is looking forward to doing something a bit more challenging.

We've been talking about a practical math course. It's tax time and there are those annoying, but highly necessary, Financial Aid forms to be completed in the next few weeks. And scholarship applications are a full-time job in themselves, he is discovering.

Finally, he's counting the days until school starts in the fall and he can get back out on his own again. He is 18 after all. :-)

Please keep him (and all of us) in your prayers during this readjustment phase.

Busy week

When I opened the blog to write this morning, I realized that I haven't posted in a week. I'm sorry. We've been trying to finish week 5 of the second quarter of school, the Christmas shopping and mailing, calling daily about hotel rooms in Tokyo for the weekend, arranging a shuttle seat for Tommy to get him to Seattle on Friday, and the packing.

After Christmas shopping, the packing is the most fun part because of the anticipation it involves. We are packing summer clothes! While it snows outside! It's a rather surreal feeling, and an exciting one at the same time. This trip to New Zealand has been a dream of John's and mine for most of our married life. And it's really going to happen. The last plane tickets are on their way to us via courier from our travel agent in Tokyo and should be here tomorrow. We'll be stopping at the train station tonight or tomorrow to buy the train tickets. Thanks to St. Anthony and the prayers of my sister, we have hotel rooms in Tokyo for Saturday and Sunday. Not at the fancy Navy hotel we were hoping for, but perfectly serviceable rooms in Roppongi (central Tokyo shopping and dining district) and within walking distance from that hotel so we can still go over and use their stunning swimming pool.

Most importantly, we can meet Tommy's plane on Saturday afternoon. Hooray!! Tommy's coming home. We have missed him so much and can't wait to see him. Matthew is waiting to ask him for a big "Tommy stooshie," which is a loud, smacking kiss that sends people flying around the room in hilarious ways only Tommy could devise.

And packages are arriving for Patrick's birthday and being secreted in the luggage. (Don't you dare peek, Patrick!) He will celebrate his 16th birthday in Rotorua, New Zealand. We have planned a fun sightseeing day with great potential for street luge riding in the afternoon. Even Katie, who experienced her first roller coaster this summer and loved it, is looking forward to that activity.

We will arrive in Christchurch on Christmas Eve and spend part of Christmas Day there before driving on to Dunedin for penguin viewing and Christmas dinner (not penguin!!). We plan to go to Christmas Mass at the cathedral in Christchurch. They have a midnight Mass, but the 7:30 a.m. traditional Latin Mass is very tempting, if only it weren't at 7:30 a.m. on Christmas morning. Either way, we are in for a treat. The music at the cathedral appears to be amazing, and even if the early morning Mass is a low Mass, it will be celebrated reverently and in Latin, something we have been missing very much.

On New Year's Eve, we will be en route to Japan from New Zealand via Hong Kong (only the airport, though. Visiting China will have to be saved for another trip). We should arrive in Tokyo in the late evening and hope to ring in the new year at our airport hotel. We'll return home by train on January 1st.

The suitcases go to the shipping company Thursday. So we're really going. It's hard to believe it's really going to happen.

We'll try to post during our trip if the internet connections allow. If not, you may look forward to photos after the first of the year.

A blessed Christmas and happy new year to all. See you in 2008!

Yummy

Here's what Matthew thought of tonight's gingerbread:



Happy St. Nicholas Day to all!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Our celebration of this day began early in the morning when the children ran downstairs to check their shoes. Today they found a candy cane, mandarin orange, some nuts, some chocolate coins, a few Hershey's kisses and some Werther's originals. There was also a note for each child that gave praise for accomplishments and one suggestion for improvement. It's a fun way to encourage the children in their Advent efforts to be good.

The Werther's, in their gold foil wrapping have served to represent coins in the years we couldn't find any chocolate ones at the right time, and now they are part of the tradition for us. This year, thanks to Elizabeth, I found some St. Nicholas coins. Perfect!

After breakfast, we prayed our morning prayer together. Today, we read the Mass readings and the prayers for the optional memorial of St. Nicholas. To conclude our prayers, we sang Veni, veni, Emmanuel! which we are learning in Latin.

Then it was storytime. We read Demi's The Legend of Saint Nicholas, our favorite St. Nicholas book since we found it at Inklings, our favorite independent bookstore in Yakima.



At the moment, Joseph is working on finishing his St. Nicholas book, which he has been coloring and writing in this week. Today's page includes symbols of St. Nicholas, which he is to add into a picture. I found the symbol information at my favorite online St. Nicholas resource: St. Nicholas Center.

Tonight we will have a (sort of) German dinner of bratwurst, sauerkraut, potatoes, and applesauce. For dessert (yes, a mid-week dessert in honor of our favorite Saint of Advent), we will bake gingerbread this afternoon: the cake kind, served with whipped cream. This might be more southern US than German, but gingerbread seems German to me, and we all enjoy the dessert, so it works for us. It makes the house smell good, too. :-)

Reading the Jesse tree story while we eat dinner has been working much better than the years when we tried to read it before dinner with waiting, hungry children jiggling in chairs. So we will continue this way each night. We are still reading a short meditation when the wreath is lighted before our Grace Before Meals. Thanks to The Magnificat Advent Companion, the meditation relates to the Gospel of the day, which we read in our morning devotions, so the day of prayer comes full circle with the dinnertime meditation.

Hope for Unity

Saw this on Zenit today:

Orthodox Patriarch Says Unity an Obligation

Sends Message to Vatican on Feast of St. Andrew

By Miriam Diez i Bosch

ISTANBUL, Turkey, DEC. 5, 2007 ( Zenit.org).- It is an obligation to reclaim the spiritual, sacramental and doctrinal unity that Europe enjoyed prior to the schism of the East and West, said the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople.

Bartholomew I said this Friday in a letter addressed to a delegation sent by Benedict XVI to Istanbul for the regular exchange of visits between the two Churches for the feasts of St. Andrew, Nov. 30, and Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, led the delegation.

Bartholomew I affirmed the presence of the delegation "both strengthens and seals the bonds of love and trust between our Churches, bonds which have been cultivated in recent decades, and which have been especially established by the visit" of Benedict XVI in November 2006.

The patriarch also emphasized "that the peaceful coexistence of Christians, in a spirit of unity and concord, must constitute the fundamental concern of us all."

Here's a link to the full article.

Let us pray that the Eastern and Western Churches might again be united so the Church may "breathe with both lungs," as the beloved John Paul II once said we must.

A favorite book

I'm very excited to see that The Year and Our Children, by Mary Reed Newland, is back in print! When we first began to try to work toward the goal of making our home truly a domestic church, this book was instrumental in helping John and me to strengthen the Catholic culture we provided. It came to me through our parish bookstore when we lived in Baltimore. At that time, were just beginning our journey toward home education, which really began with my desire to live the liturgical year more fully at home (well that and a lot of divine pushes in this direction, which is too long a story for this post).

So hooray! I love this book's wonderful ideas and the way Mrs. Newland writes about incorporating faith into everyday life.

If you want to take a look, you can find the book here or here.

First Sunday of Advent

Yesterday the great season of anticipation began. Over the years, we have enjoyed a lot of different Advent activities, and many have become traditions for us.

The tradition that John and I both brought with us from our families when we married is the Advent wreath. From the first year we were married, we have always had some sort of Advent wreath on our table during this season. Yesterday, we fixed up our Advent wreath at a parish workshop just in time for tonight's dinner celebration.

A family tradition that began when Tommy was small is to have an Advent calendar to help mark the time until the Feast of Christmas. We have a surfeit of Advent calendars. They are fun, though. I don't think anyone minds having three doors to open each day. The kids take turns opening the doors. They cycle through the days: from youngest to oldest this year so that Patrick will have his turn on the 20th, his 16th birthday.

Our first permanent Advent calendar was made by my youngest brother's class as a project for a craft auction/fundraiser for his Catholic middle school. I think all the parents made the ornaments. My parents gave it to us when Tommy and Patrick were small. The big boys never let me skip using this one--it's their tradition now--and I hung it in the hall outside their bedroom.

We placed our wood and magnetic Advent calendar (a gift from my parents several years ago, and my favorite) on the altar this year and the wreath in the center of the dining table.

A couple of weeks ago friends who live in Germany sent us this calendar:

It has a piece of chocolate inside each door. Yummy! This one is in the kitchen. So it's Advent all around the house.

On Saturday, Katie, Joseph, and I put away our fall table decorations and put the Advent table together. In each house, we seem to have found a different location for this table. Here, the seasonal table is in our entryway. It's the top of our shoe cabinets, so we see it many times a day as we come and go. I like the idea that it reminds us of the season as soon as we enter the house and again before we leave.

On top of the table are our Jesse tree and two smaller trees. I like to do things in threes as a reminder of the Trinity. During Advent, we usually don't decorate the smaller trees, but last year, Katie made some origami butterflies for the smallest tree, and she put them on right away this year.



We learned about the Jesse tree at our parish in Yakima and found a partial set of ornaments made of brass at the Seattle Catholic homeschool conference a few years ago. Each year, we make a couple new ornaments so that we will eventually have a complete set.

The ornaments symbolize different people in the story of salvation. It begins on the first Sunday of Advent with the tree itself, with the story of the anointing of Jesse's son, David, in the first book of Samuel (16:1-13) and the "a shoot shall grow from the root of Jesse" verses in Isaiah (11:1-10). The next night, we read about creation, with a dove as its symbol. Then the fall, with an apple and a snake. It continues with symbols like an ark for Noah, a trumpet for Gideon, wheat stalks for Ruth. We cover all of Jesus' family tree and a few others, like Moses, before we get to the end, with Bethlehem and the star. John and I hope that by the time the kids grow up, salvation history will be the most familiar of Christmas stories to them.

The ornaments for the Jesse tree are in a basket on our home altar in the dining room. That way, they are handy for carrying to the tree in the front hall after the verses are read at dinner each evening.

We enjoy celebrating the Saints of Advent during this season, too. Next week, December 13th, Katie's doll, Kirsten, will join us dressed in her Scandanavian St. Lucia costume. Katie already has her all ready to go. (Thanks to Grandmom for the beautiful, heirloom-sewn gown.)



Already on the Advent table is a statue of our beloved St. Nicholas, the protector of children, and patron of our miscarried little one, our Nicholas, who is with God. St. Nicholas always appears in the week of his feast day, December 6th.

We hung the St. Nicholas kilim from Turkey near the school table. He is carrying toys and the Christmas tree in this one, but his hat looks a bit like a miter, and surely that's a red soutane and cincture he's wearing. ;-)

In the center of the Advent table is an empty manger awaiting the Christ Child statue on Christmas morning. The children will fill it with a few pieces of hay each time they do a good deed during Advent. Since they are working hard to prepare their hearts for his arrival, Baby Jesus should have a nice, soft bed by Christmas morning.

Sometime this week, we will get the stable and nativity figures out: when John has time to climb up into the loft in the garage and retrieve them. I wasn't brave enough for that one this weekend. They will go in the living room/school room. As Advent progresses, the children usually add a figure each day or so to the nativity scene until the 3 kings arrive on the Feast of Epiphany. Usually, the kings move about the room to various shelves and tabletops throughout the Advent/Christmas season. They did have a long journey, after all. ;-)

The only unusual thing is that this year, the baby Jesus statues will have to appear while we are away on our vacation. I'll have to figure out how to work that one out. I do want the children to find them there when we arrive home. When Christmas morning comes, their first look the past few years has always been for the Baby Jesus in the manger that they have been preparing for him on the seasonal table. I suspect they will look for him when they come back in from our trip, too, even though it will be New Year's Day.

It all looks a bit bare and unfinished at this point, but that is the point. We are waiting. We are preparing our home and our hearts.

P.S. Note the Easter candle still on the altar--we are still working on our Christ candle. Preparation, remember (I have to remind myself, too :-)) It's the candle we're making each day during the novena before the Immaculate Conception. When it's made, we'll put it in the place of the Easter candle and cover it with a special cloth until Christmas, just as Jesus was hidden in Mary's womb until his birth. Then we will move it into the center of the (former) Advent wreath that will have gold bows and white candles instead of purple and pink. There it will burn brightly throughout the Christmas season.

Hope

Have you taken a look at Pope Benedict XVI's new encyclical? It came out yesterday, and WOW! I have read it once and must read it several more times before I can absorb it, but wow, is it good stuff!

Go ye and read Spe Salvi.

Great news

The surgeon called yesterday to tell me that the cyst they removed from my arm was just that: a follicular cyst. Not cancerous at all.

Thanks be to God.

Thank you everyone for your prayers. They have been a great support to all of us.

Up and Down

The posting has been a bit slim lately, and I apologize. It has to do with how I am feeling :-).

Since several of you have asked, now that the first trimester is drawing to a close, I am feeling better. The all-day-low-level nausea is fading and my pregnancy headaches are less frequent and shorter in duration. I have a bit more energy. But because of that, I have been staying off the computer and trying to catch up on all the household chores that I let slide in the past couple of months. As is usual for me, I had to figure out the hard way that I am still not back to my usual energy level. You would think I would have this figured out by now, but no, I fooled myself again.

On Wednesday, I woke up feeling great. I got up at my pre-pregnancy time in the morning, went for a walk, started the laundry, emptied the dishwasher, and took a shower before Matthew was up. I de-cluttered the entryway, taught school, and emailed the travel agent about our Christmas vacation. I did a second load of laundry--some delicates that have been sitting in the basket since before John left for England. A lady from the chapel stopped by to pick up my report on the Thanksgiving pie social expenditures. I phoned another lady to gracefully withdraw from cooking for Lifeteen each Wednesday evening (pregnancy is a great helper in my ability to say "no" to things). I cooked pasta with white sauce, shrimp and peas for dinner. Patrick and I discussed his Theology and Latin assignments. Bedtime was only about 1/2 an hour later than usual.

On Thursday morning, I couldn't get up when the alarm went off: slammed with a headache that kept me in bed well past breakfast time. Thanks be to God for my dear older children, who fed Matthew and got to work on their lessons without me. Thanks be to God for a commitment-free day and leftover sloppy joe filling in the freezer.

Today, I did a lot of driving, but not so much doing. And I'm off to bed early tonight, since Patrick and John are at an OA campout. Patrick is on the Ordeal team and has been working hard to get everything ready the last few days. They are sleeping outside tonight--with extra-warm bags and liners and tarps. It is supposed to rain or snow by morning. For their sakes, I hope it is snow!

Before bed tonight, we will begin a Novena in preparation for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I wanted to make a candle for this, but haven't been able to yet. Maybe we will work on it a little each day during the novena instead. I have to remember to relax and readjust and do what's most important, or what will mean the most to the children. I really do want to enjoy every moment of the coming season.

Tomorrow, it will be time to change our little altar and fall table for the new season: Advent. That (and more laundry) is my only plan for the day.

How are you feeling?

It's a funny thing. Most of the time when I meet someone I know at the store or church or on a field trip, she asks, "How are you?" And, unless she is someone I know well, she expects a reply of "Fine, thanks, how are you?"

But when I am pregnant, the question becomes, "How are you feeling?" And mere acquaintances expect more than the usual answer. They want to know if I'm tired or nauseous or worried or elated. It used to annoy me when the question was asked by someone I didn't know well. I tend to be introverted, and it felt like a violation of privacy somehow. I never felt this way when friends or family asked, just people who really didn't know me or whom I didn't know well.

Now, in my 7th pregnancy, I am finally seeing the light. People want to connect with a pregnant woman. They feel the mystery of the new life growing within her. They want to say something, anything (and later in pregnancy, the anything can be horrifying!!). They want to connect with the mystery.

Who can blame them? It amazes me every time, this cooperation with God in His creation. When my sister wrote to extend her congratulations, she said, "No matter how many times it happens, it's an amazing, incomprehensible miracle every time!"

She put the feelings of my heart into words.