When we bought our house over 15 years ago, we bought an older home and only calculated my hubby's income when it came to how much we could afford for a mortgage.... We *really* wanted to buy a new house and include both of our incomes. But, I am SO thankful my mother-in-law spoke up and said that we should not calculate my income because once we start having babies, I may not want to go back to teaching and that I'll want to stay home instead. Wow! Was she right! I have stayed home as a full time mommy ever since baby #1 arrived!! I am ever so grateful we "settled" with an older house and only took into account my husband's income, and not my teaching salary as well.
Having bought an older/smallish house, we have had to make many renovations to help our house grow as we grew, little by little.... We added on a large two story addition when Mario was a baby. When we had our sixth baby, we grew out of our normal mini van, and bought Big Red. Shortly thereafter, we added on a larger garage that would fit it. Then we renovated our kitchen and dining room. Two years ago, we finished off our basement. And, now we are in the process of a complete renovation in our main bathroom upstairs. Phew!!! When we are done with all these renovations, we'll practically have a new house.
So today's "Thankful Thursday" post is for those wise words shared and listened to.
**BEFORE**
**DURING**
(stay tuned for completed pictures in the next few weeks!!)
++Thank you, God, for wisdom shared and open ears to hear!!!++
We celebrated Easter on Sunday with our families and will continue the celebration for many more weeks!! What a time for JOY in celebrating Our Risen Lord! He has given Himself so fully for us and the JOY we feel is just so natural! How can we be anything but full of JOY?!!
We prepared for and celebrated in many ways. Many of these are traditions that we have been doing for many years and they make this season so special!
**Holy Thursday liturgical tea and getting to attend my niece's First Holy Communion that evening!!
**Good Friday liturgical tea and Good Friday service at our church. We also made Hot Cross Buns.
**On Holy Saturday, we went to an Easter egg hunt in the town where I grew up. Yes, I know it wasn't quite Easter, but it's one of those traditions that even *I* did as a kid and we really wanted to pass this on to our own crew. And, I'm fine with our kids getting this little bit of JOY before Easter. We also made our very first Paschal Candle!! And we colored Easter eggs that night. And (yeah, it was a busy day!), I also made our Lamb cake!
**Easter morning Mass!!! Our oldest boys served and our oldest girls sang in the choir. It's so strange to sit in a pew with only four of our kids! We only take up half a pew!! Then we were able to celebrate with both of our families! All my siblings and their husbands, my husbands brother and his wife, both sets of our parents, and all the cousins. Blessed beyond belief to be with our loved ones and to see the JOY of Jesus living in each one of us!!
And a blurry selfie picture of Neil and I, after we took off our "Easter Egg" church clothes. And after having Skirted It Up for Lent, you can bet that I happily changed into jeans for our two Easter parties that day!
**SING!!! Sing your little hearts out!! Make a joyful noise! We learned a new song on Easter and we have all been singing it. I had to record sweet Rose singing it....
And a great song that has many "Alleluia's" in it! Great since we have been fasting from singing Alleluia for 40 days!!
I hope and pray you have a beautiful and blessed Easter season!!!
Fone came upstairs out of breath with a huge sigh of relief and such excitement in his voice on Sunday morning and said, "There! It is finished." What you may ask?? This....
And, then a little brother (Max) saw what his big brother had made and wanted to make one himself...
And, that same kid who copied his brother, who loves to draw, drew this...
I love when our kids are thinking about these holy times and incorporate them into their play and art all on their own.
We have been blessed by having you in our life in SO many ways! Here's 10 of them, just to get us started...
#1 - You always step up to do the work/chores that no one else ever wants to do. (Mario)
#2 - You are always willing to help me build Lego sets (Pookey)
#3 - You play Barbies with me. (Rose)
#4 - You are always happy (Melody)
#5 - She's my little leprechaun!! (Fone)
#6 - Your JOY, your smile, your vibrance for life!! (Mommy)
#7 - I like it that she plays Lego's with me (Max)
#8 - your silly giggle (Daddy)
#9 - You are always willing to help and love and snuggle me when I need it. (Yoda)
#10 - You are FUN!!! (Melody)
++Loving God, you created all the people of the world and you know each of us by name. We thank you for "Ariel", who celebrates her birthday today. Bless her with your love and friendship that she may grow in wisdom, knowledge, and grace. May she love her family always and be faithful to her friends. Amen. ++
