The Golden Flute {+6}

Can you spot 'something wrong' with this picture?

It's not often we pray that a stolen golden flute would turn up at our pawn shop... but this week we did.  Our prayers were answered, and the criminal (also in our prayers) will face justice and hopefully find healing and repentance.  In a very exciting twist of fate, the solid gold flute stolen from our dear friends' car, which was smashed-during-daily-Mass, was brought in by a suspicious customer who asked $60 for the extremely rare and highly valued instrument.  The golden flute was immediately recognized by our store manager, who knew of the theft and called the authorities while delaying the transaction to allow the law to arrive and catch the criminal in the act of attempting to pawn (our friends') stolen goods.

Can you spot 'something wrong' with this picture?

After almost six months without our former foster twins living under our roof, I have completely forgotten how to pack a diaper bag (again).  On their recent stay we loaded them up after naps and headed for daily Mass with a hastily packed collection of mismatched shoes and various other items intended to keep them warm, dry, fed, and entertained (and slightly quiet).  They love our Church, and Luke, vocalist that he is, still joins in the Alleluia verse sung before the proclamation of the Gospel... and keeps singing Alleluia throughout the Gospel, and the homily...  It could be worse, he could be screaming like he ALWAYS does when we put him down for a nap.  Some habits die hard!  Another favorite passtime at Church for these extremely mobile toddlers is the 'climbing to the loft and stomping above the congregation' feat.
The usual crowd there doesn't seem to mind the added noise, and enjoys the opportunity to catch a glimpse of these two, clearly growing, developing and thriving in their mother's care.

Learning to love books, Luke and Leia sit still for Peter's dramatic reads.

When our old van almost exploded in a ball of flames en route to a family vacation in 2004, Tim's parents insisted that we were never allowed to transport their grandchildren in that vehicle e-v-e-r again.  They literally put their money where their intentions were and purchased an amazing vehicle for us to safely transport such precious cargo.  Eight years later, our Toyota Sienna is still healthy and strong, and although showing the love of so many teenage passengers, is cruising right along.  A big thanks to Grandpa Cliff and Grandma Billie for the upgrade.

Somewhat of a milestone, don't you think?

Can you spot 'something wrong' with this picture?

Zachary's crowd joined the celebration of his graduation at our house recently on one of the rainiest days in recent memory.  The guys didn't mind hanging around indoors, and have clearly grasped the concept of multi-tasking, wouldn't you say?

Let's just say, we decided it was time to sort out the enormous boot and shoe bin hidden in the garage.

I am not a big fan of shoes, but they do serve a purpose.  We let a shoe pile grow in our garage, without really paying attention to the vast quantity of outgrown and unused pairs being deposited as if to their final rest there.  The time arrived to tackle the bulging bin and our subsequent donation of many, many pairs of useful shoes and boots will soon bless the children of migrant workers being ministered to by our local NCCM 'Agape' team.

Instead of asking our kids, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" the Holy Catholic Church encourages parents to train our children to listen to the call God has placed upon their hearts and to courageously follow His lead in whatever path they take for furthering their education and entering into their particular vocations.   Most are called to married life, some to single life, some to the consecrated life and a few are called to the ordained life.  The annual "Quo Vadis"  retreat offers our boys an opportunity to grow in faith and learn about the specific nature and gift of a call to the priesthood while living/camping in community with boys from all over the Seattle Archdiocese.  This year Joseph and Zachary attended Quo Vadis together, though they were placed on opposing 'teams' for the camp-wide games and competitions ranging from Biblical dramatics to big field games like capture the flag.  Joseph's first QV Days ended in victory, as his team took top honors when the final points were tallied.  Zachary's team took second place (of 4 teams total), and the boys shared many fun memories from the 4-day experience.  Our thanks to Fr. Lappe, Fr. Olson and all the priests, seminarians (esp. Louis and Patrick) and Archbishop Sartain for their leadership and example.

Another tremendous Quo Vadis experience thanks to our amazing archdiocese (bishops, priests, seminarians) plus generous donors.

This was no easy feat.

Sometimes a clean shelf means more than meets the eye, which is certainly the case in this instance.  The never slowing stream of assorted-papers-without-a-home seem to find their way to this shelf in our living room, and unless properly tended, begin to multiply and attract papers from all over the neighborhood!  But a good sorting and filing binge served us well, and now we have a shelf worth showing off.  So there you have it, one small victory over clutter worth celebrating, or at least worth remembering.