6 Years Ago This Week

Flashback Friday: June 2006

The very first meeting of Joseph's Tiger Den, in our back yard, 2006.

Peter learns to ride with 2 wheels, with assistance from Zachary.

Peter celebrating his 2 wheel accomplishment.

Peter singing screaming in the rain.

Joseph and Collin in the strawberry field.

Zachary, Joseph, Bridget and Peter at a friend's civil wedding ceremony.

Two cars are loaded with gear and we're off on a big adventure in the Cascade Foothills with Boy Scouts and families.  Hiking, camping, cooking, river rafting, and a 5PM Mass Saturday night are on the schedule.  The weather forecast looks promising, and the boys are very excited to head out.

Peter's preparations for 1st Class Cooking have consumed many hours and much brain power this week.  He's planned a menu for his 5-man cooking patrol for breakfast, lunch and dinner Saturday.  He organized his camp kitchen, shopped for the groceries, figured the cost of each person's food portions, and packed everything for travel.  He insisted on homemade rhubarb jam for the lunches Saturday, and made it himself with rhubarb picked from our garden.

Bragging about how haphazardly he packed, Joseph is like a puppy waiting for his walk!  He's sleeping in a one man cot-tent Tim brought home from the shop.  He's wearing hand-me-down hiking boots (found at the last minute in the garage, saving us a last minute trip to REI).

Over-the-top menu items like grilled steak and chocolate-raspberry cast iron cake are on Zac's packing list.  No tent, just a bag and pad to sleep out under the stars with the older Scouts.  We've missed having him on this annual camp out for the past few years due to it's usual conflict with our diocesan priestly ordination Mass.  Since ordination was last weekend (which we all attended together), Zac's back in action on the camping roster.

Camping time!

501st Post

{Flashback Friday}

March 2000

Zachary, Peter and Joseph

Zachary and Joseph

Joseph

Zachary and Peter

Neighbors Alyssa, Zachary, Collin and Joseph gather on our front steps to enjoy a spring afternoon snack.

500 posts, plus this one makes 501 posts!

Just so you know, there's an added bonus to visiting our blog...

I pray for you everyday!

(You = whomever happens to read our blog.)

May God bless you and keep you, and may he let His face shine upon you!

Christmas Eve {Flashback Friday}

‎"My little Jesus, 

tonight You will humble Yourself and become human for my sake, 

for all of us, 

and bear on You all the sin and suffering of this world 

so that we may have forever life! 

What greater love is to be found?" ~St. Therese

2008

Joseph, Peter and Zachary visit the Nativity Scene at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Christmas Day.

from the USCCB

Today our family will celebrate Christmas Eve with a whole crowd of cousins, ranging in age from 17 to 5 months, and with my grandma, who is 93!   We were up early baking oatmeal carmelitas, and organizing a few last minute details in preparation for what will be a 3-day celebration of Jesus' birth. 


At the midnight Christmas Mass, Joseph and Peter will be singing a prelude (their first time at Church), and Zachary and Joseph are servers.  Tomorrow morning, we will attend the 11AM Christmas Morning Mass, (by the boys' request we're attending two Christmas Masses) and all three boys will be serving.  Sunday my dad will join us for Mass, and spend the day with us.  


We wish you and yours a Blessed Christmas and pray that you will draw nearer to Jesus each day in the coming New Year!




For anyone who is returning to the Church at Christmas, here's a great site to visit: http://www.catholicscomehome.org/  Also a great site for anyone who wants to simply learn more about the Catholic Church.  

Prepare the Way

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

Peter, Joseph, Zachary 

December 2004

One of the most important ways we prepare for Christmas, and in fact for each and every Mass at which we receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, is by cleaning our souls through confessing our sins.
Near the beginning of Mass we participate in a Penitential Rite, during which each person examines his/her conscience before praying as an assembly for forgiveness from our sins.
Then the priest, In Persona Christi, forgives us our (venial) sins.  Mortal sins are not forgiven in this way, but require sacramental confession.

If you would like help cleaning your internal house before Christmas, here's a great resource from Father Corapi:  Examination of Conscience


Have you ever wondered what the early Christians believed and taught about confession and penance?

“It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt. 3:6], but in Acts [19:18] they confessed to the apostles” ~ Basil the Great (Rules Briefly Treated 288 [A.D. 374]).

“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure” ~The Didache (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]).




Happy cleaning!

Male and Female {Created}

 FLASHBACK FRIDAY

AUGUST 2008

At Hannigan Pass, Zachary and I stopped to capture the moment after hiking our first mile on a 50 mile trek across three passes and over to our destination: Ross Lake.

Ok, so Zachary didn't really want a photo of himself being kissed by mom... but I was thrilled that he had hiked back a mile to carry my pack that last bit of the way.

Zachary crossing

Descending Whatcom Pass, heading for Beaver Pass

Very happy to see Tim, and even happier to let him carry my pack the final 4 miles out

After a 43 mile, 4 night hiking adventure; and a 4 night canoe camping adventure, our family was reunited on Ross Lake.

One of my best memories from the 50 mile hike with Zachary and his friends and their mom was the day that Tim and the boys (and the other half of the other family) hiked in several miles from their canoe campsite on Ross Lake to hike out with us.

Was Tim ever a sight for sore eyes!  Of course I was happy to see Joseph and Peter, but seeing Tim was like a seeing a light at the end of the tunnel!  He immediately offered to carry my pack and I gladly agreed.  I know there was a time in my life when I would have flatly refused such a gentlemanly offer for the sake of proving my own strength or independence.  But I humbly accepted his offer and I felt so loved and cared for (and light) on that hike out.

Such a simple gift, but so meaningful.

On day 3, near the summit of Beaver Pass, Zac (then 14) had hiked back down about a mile (after reaching camp and setting down his own gear) to offer to carry my pack.  I tried to kiss him I was so happy.  The kiss part didn't work out, but the bid to relieve me of the weight of the load for the final mile was a winner.  The gratitude in my heart made that last mile a breeze.

I fondly remembered these moments from the summer of 2008 after an incident at Costco...

While shopping at Costco yesterday, I stopped to sample some Brie on crackers with topped with spicy goo.   The sample lady couldn't open the can of goo, and when I spotted her male associate approaching I suggested that she let him open it for her.

Not so fast!  She was clearly not willing to relinquish the task, and instead tried stabbing the lid with her knife to get it open.

Again I proposed, "Let him open it for you." 

He took it and opened it easily and wandered back to whatever he was doing.

She said, "I was determined to open it, I didn't want him to have to open it for me!"

I replied, "I say just hand it to the guy and stand back and watch him work!"

Questioningly, she asked, "That's all they're good for?"

"No," I explained, "That's what they're made for!"

***************************************

All Hallows' School {Brisbane, Austraila}

FLASHBACK FRIDAY:

As a student teacher, in 1990, I taught at All Hallow's Catholic Girls' School.

In the second half of my senior year at UPS (and the first half of my 5th year), I lived in Brisbane, Australia, where I attended the University of Queensland on a Rotary Foundation Scholarship.

It was a full ride scholarship, so all expenses were paid by Rotary International for a year of post-graduate study.  I chose the Diploma in Education program, thanks to my grandpa K, who found it in the UQ course guide and suggested I enroll.

My practicum (student teaching) brought me to All Hallow's Catholic Girls' School on the banks of the Brisbane River.  I taught sophomore English and also was a guest teacher in other classrooms.  

My mom had shared stories about having attended an all girls Catholic high school in Seattle, and I always wondered if she wasn't exaggerating some of the details about the strict uniform rules, etc.

On my first day at All Hallow's the principal called an emergency all school assembly.

None of the students or teachers knew what the emergency was, but everyone hurried to the assembly.

Turns out, the emergency was that some of the girls at All Hallows had been wearing Lycra bike tights under their uniforms, which could be seen during athletics or at recess when the girls were active.

NOT ACCEPTABLE!  Uniform meant UNI-form.  Everyone wearing exactly the same thing, with no exceptions~ matching socks, matching hats, matching everything, even book bags.

I knew, then, that my mom's stories about the all girls high school were not fancied.

Someday maybe I'll post about the time I sneaked INTO the staff room at All Hallows to grab my belongings and sneak off the campus during a bomb scare...  

Flashback Friday {Seattle, 1958}

Grandpa Peter, at age 14

I love this photo of my dad!

As a teenager, my dad was named "US Catholic Youth of the Year," and traveled to 

Washington DC to receive his award.

Joseph, age 11, miter bearer for Bishop Tyson

(Father Qui Thac's Pastor Installation Mass 2009)

Peter, age 10 (Easter Sunday 2010)

Zachary, age 15 (Acolyte, Easter Sunday 2010)

I met a nice Christian lady at a training session recently who implied that I (my husband, our children, and all our relatives) had been baptized illicitly because we were baptized as infants.

Yes, our parents and Godparents brought us to be baptized and made baptismal promises on our behalf.

Yes, we came into the Body of Christ before we could articulate the desire to accept Jesus on our own.

Yes, we were washed clean of original sin, saved through Christ's suffering, death and resurrection, and received special grace and virtues.

For some reason lately, I'm being asked all kinds of questions and/or being challenged for my beliefs, and 

I want real answers!

I don't know about you, but I will follow Jesus wherever He leads me!

I've found a great resource for answering such questions {like the one about choosing baptism vs. being baptized before you're old enough to choose for yourself} at a great website called Bible Christian Society.

Question posted @ Bible Christian Society:

I’m a Born-Again Christian and I was wondering why the Catholic Church doesn’t do the altar call to have people accept the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior since it says that you must make this declaration to be Born Again?

Answer posted @ Bible Christian Society:

The Catholic Church does, in a sense, make an altar call at every Mass. When people approach the altar to receive Communion, they are indeed accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, as they accept His body and blood into their bodies. Jesus says in John 6, verse 51 and following, that unless you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you have no life in you. If you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you will have eternal life He says, and He will raise you up at the last day.

He repeats Himself on this matter in John 6 like He does nowhere else in Scripture. Catholics take Jesus' words literally - we believe what He says. That is why we believe we receive His actual body and blood during Communion (or the Lord's Supper as you might call it). So when a Catholic approaches the altar to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, they are saying with their bodies, “I believe.” And just minutes before they approach the altar, they have, with the recitation of the Nicene Creed, declared with their lips that they believe. They believe Jesus is the Lord and Savior of mankind and they believe He is present - Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity - in the Eucharist that they receive.

My question to you, however, is where does it say that someone must make a “declaration” in which they "accept the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior" in order to be born again? Nowhere does the Bible say such a thing. In fact, the Bible says that one is born again by being baptized. John 3:3-5 says that unless one is born of water and the Spirit (baptism) one cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

So it is through water and the Spirit that one is born again. All Catholics, by virtue of their baptism, are Born Again Christians. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that one should not make a declaration that Jesus is their Lord and Savior - we need to constantly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ - but the Bible does not say that one is "born again" by making such a verbal declaration of acceptance of Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior....

Flashback Friday {Kauai 2003}

Joseph (age 5) and Tim

Zachary, Peter & Tim kayak along the Wailua River

Peter, age 3