Lest I Forget

Today was a good day.  I have been struggling lately to find the good in my days. For the third time in two years, I am taking a mega dose of vitamin D, thanks to the lack of sunshine over here in Germany. For me, lack of sunshine equals lack of happiness. And spring, oh beautiful spring, you are taking your dear sweet time this year! My mood has been very gray and dismal, just like the sky. But today. I took Therese in to the pediatrician, for I suspected she had pink eye, along with the cough and congestion she has been suffering the past few days. I normally would let things run their course, but there is someplace I want to go soon and I really, really want to be able to go. Taking four kids into the doctor's office is never a task I enjoy. So I packed coloring books, school books, and other random things to keep people busy and off we went. They were so well-behaved that I made sure to lavish them with compliments on the way to the car. It was then that I realized that f...

I awoke to a cold, rainy Friday morning. Fitting, I thought, for such a day as this. All Heaven and earth are in mourning. In keeping with the solemnness of the day, I had in my mind that we would have a silence in our home and hearts from noon until 3:00. We would do the Stations of the Cross, pray the sorrowful mysteries, and at 3:00 we would start our Divine Mercy novena. As so often happens, my plans are not the Lord's. I was angry, that my way, which seemed so wonderful, was not to be. And I did not handle it with any sort of grace, I tell you. However, when we finally did begin the Stations of the Cross, the children made it the most meaningful of this Lenten season. When we went to the ones at our chapel, I had to keep little ones from becoming distractions for others and was not able to focus. But the tears came as I watched my kids take the peg dolls and move them through the city they had built. It came alive to me, at the hands of my children's play. How long wil...

Way back in the middle of winter, Therese asked me to make her a sweater. We looked through patterns together and she picked a beautiful pattern , though very challenging. I could only work on it when I had complete quiet, in other words, I had precious little time to make any progress. Three months later and I had knit maybe 5 inches of the back panel. Seeing her disappointment every time she asked if I had finished her sweater was about to do me in, so I offered her a compromise. We went looking at patterns again and found one that she liked, but that required much less concentration on my part. Off the needles came the old pattern and I cast on for a new sweater. In the last 10 days, I have knit all the previous yarn I had unraveled, plus much more from the skein. It is taking shape, though I am little worried about the size. It calls for DK and I am using fingering. I am knitting two sizes bigger than what she would wear, so I hope it comes out right in the end. Three mont...

One of the first places we visited after arriving in Germany was Berg Nanstein. We revisited it this week on one of the first warm, sunny days. After realizing it has been almost precisely two years since that original visit, I decided to go back and look at the old pictures to see how much the kids had grown. After all, Peter is now the age that Therese was back then. So, here are some comparisons of then and now... Then Now     Then Now Then Now Then Now The rest of the pictures are from the other day at the castle. I am having fun trying to learn how to use the camera!

As spring slowly (and I do mean slowly!) starts to make its appearance here in Germany, there are a few other new things around here. The best is our newest member of the household. I now have five of my six living children here! Olivia is here! She arrived Monday after many long hours on a plane. We could see her through a glass partition while she waited for her luggage. We put our hands to the glass, eager for a true hug. She will be staying with us at the very least through the Spring, and maybe longer if she decides to take some classes. Our first outing was a hike yesterday. We did not reach our intended destination, but we did have a nice little adventure on the first sunny, warmish day of the year. I put my new camera around my neck, Jack slung his backpack over his shoulders, which was filled with water bottles, and Therese packed her own backpack with drawing supplies so she could sketch some nature scenes (her own idea!). Peter was the reluctant participant right ...