'Tis the Season (Jesus is the reason for the season!)

Around here the holidays are a terrific time. Thanksgiving is just the beginning and for us it signals that the Advent season is just a few days away. We do have a few Advent traditions that we have yet to prepare for, but we will, I am sure. Of course it starts with our advent wreath. We make a new one every year. The kids and Mary seem to enjoy making a new one, although I'd prefer to just buy a nice one and use it every year. Along with the wreath the girls make an activity chain for everyday of advent, our version of the advent calendar. Each person in the family gets to determine activities for the chain, so everyone is involved. We also set up our nativity scenes without the baby Jesus in them in order to get prepared for His arrival on Christmas. The girls also enjoy putting the 3 wise men in another room from the nativity and as each day gets closer to Christmas, the wise men are moved a little closer to the nativity scene. And on Christmas morning the wise men get to meet the baby Jesus and the Holy Family! This event on Christmas also gives us the chance to once again "meet" the Holy Family.

The Holidays are always filled with family fun, travel and Church. It is the travel part that is most difficult for us. We want to be with everyone we know and love at this special time of year. However, we have not figured out our travel plans for the Christmas season. But, like the advent traditions, we will get our plans ready, soon.

All of this preparation starts on Thursday with Thanksgiving.

I took a few impromptu shots of the girls this morning during our daily lessons. Emma can be seen here working on her Math. She was in the middle of converting units. Like how many eggs are in 2.5 dozen? And then harder things like what is 8lbs minus 14 ounces? Fun stuff like that. She understands it and sees the practical applications of it, but she stills prefers not to do the work. She also walked the dog and played touch football in the yard with her sisters today, I guess that was he P.E. for the day.

Elani did a spelling activity where she spelled her words on a dry erase board. Her idea of school days where the kids had a slate and did their work then erased it for lack of paper. anyway, since it wasn't on paper we took a picture to help remember we did the lesson.

As a family we have been quite busy this semester. With home school for all of the kids, Mom has started a new position at work, a new dog, Hurricane Gustav, my Religious Studies Institute classes, soccer, swimming, ballet, etc. We have decided to take a stress break this coming Saturday and will be going to the Third Day concert in Lafayette Saturday evening. This should be an awesome event where we can have a great time and worship God with other Christians. With my renewed interest in ecumenism this will be a great opportunity to praise God with other Christian brothers and sisters who do not profess the Catholic faith.

scatter thoughts

Well, you might have noticed that I haven't posted anything in several days. My mind has been "scattered". It is not scattered in a way that I can't have rational thought, it's scattered in a way that it has been difficult to pick a topic to type about.

I can share that the home schooling is still going full speed ahead, but seemingly at half-speed most days. I am finding that with 3 girls in "school" and a 2 year old to boot that my best intentions often are put aside in order to keep the peace around here or put out the "fires" that seem to pop up on an hourly basis.

Remember the 9th grade Catechism class that I spoke about a month ago or so? well, that class has been giving me fits the last 2 sessions. That 9th grade age, 14 or 15, is a tough age. Their behavior has been more like that of a 7 or 8 year old. But I am not gonna let that get me down, I do enjoy teaching the catholic Catechism to the youth of our Parish. I just need to find a new way to present the information to this group of students in a way that will make them comfortable.

I also have a lot of studying and paper writing to do for my Religious Studies classes. I pray that the Lord gives me the strength to home school, study, write papers, and be the father my girls deserve and the husband that my wife deserves.

Amen

another crazy week

The week from October 29 - November 5 has been "nutso" to quote the Fonz, from Happy Days. From the moment I was told that Mr B was probably not going to make it through the night, his funeral, Halloween plans, Soccer matches(which frustrate me to no end, I am the coach), driving all over southeast LA, trying to get some home schooling done, the national elections(which did not go my way), chasing after a new dog and chasing a 2 year old that apparently has a tape recorder for a voice box has been pretty rough. However, through it all there has been 1 constant for me. The love of God manifest through the bonds of my marriage to Mary.

I do have a few random things to talk about. And these are not ordered based on importance, just as I think about them I will type them.

1. Having now officially rescued an abandoned Golden Retriever has its rewards. I can tell that "Jennie" likes to be around all of us. She is getting used to the way her new family does things.

2. The girls loved meeting our "step" family in Slidell, Metairie and the general New Orleans area. I say "step" family only to identify that group of family members. I have always thought of step family as part of my family just like an adopted person is now a part of the family, so is a step person.

3.  The National elections. I am disappointed that John McCain lost the election. I truly believed that he was the best candidate for the country. I judge that the citizens of America that voted for President-elect Obama got wrapped up in the celebrity, rock star appeal of Barack Obama. In my opinion the country voted, not on issues, but on looks. The features and benefits, to use sales terms, were not truly considered. We Americans now have a pretty, shiny big screen high definition TV, I just will pray, like my old customers, that we don't have to use the extended warranty to fix the TV when it breaks. (we do have a 4 year warranty, don't we?)

I am also concerned about the make up of our senate and house of representatives, which are both now overwhelmingly Liberal. I think that our forefathers in the beginning of our great nation never conceived of a political party having this much power. I judge that 3 fairly balanced branches of government would be better for our country. But now with all 3 branches leaning significantly to the "left", I am a bit worried that our government may end up throwing out the baby with the bath water. I just hope that President-Elect Obama will make good, sound decisions and truly reach across the aisle and have a balanced administration.

well, that's all I really have time to type for now. I will post some more soon but right now I am going to try to get my student, daughters back into the mode of learning and doing school work.

Oh yeah, 1 last thing! LSU plays host to the University of Alabama this weekend. LSU has has reduced itself to the role of "spoiler". I know that at the beginning of the season I didn't expect LSU to go to the BCS championship game, however once the season started I still had hope. I also did not expect this to be a super year for the Crimson Tide. It will all come to a head this Saturday at 230pm in Death Valley, I'll be watching on TV. I just hope it is not a blow out like the UF and UGA games.