Friday!

Yeah! It's family weekend getaway time!

Kids have gone back to school!

Emily started soccer! Too cute!

I have memes to do!

Christmas planning to do!

Will report when I return!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Reflections from Downtown

Yesterday, the kids and I headed out on the Blue Line and went to downtown LA. They had a blast on the light rail train. We arrived downtown underground just like a subway in New York. The kids thought that was cool. I was secretly praying that there wouldn't be an earthquake.

Once out in the open air, we were caught in the frenzied lunch rush from all the office workers leaving their high rise buildings. We decided we were hungry too, so we walked across the street right to a little outdoor mall. Lots of eateries. Chinese food sounded good so we ate at Panda Express. We were lucky enough to find a place to sit down.

That's when the thoughts invaded my head. Everywhere you looked were what seemed to be high powered men and women. Nice clothes, nice shoes, nice everything. Taking a break from their high powered jobs for a bite to eat. I wondered about them. What were their lives like? Did they have a happy home life? Did these men have a wife at home caring for their children? Or did their wives also have a nice career? Did these women have a family or were they focused and driven in their careers? Did they go to far away cities on business, go to dinner parties?

For a brief moment, I envied them. For a brief moment I wished I had a career with a high salary. I wished that I could yak it up with the rest of them out there in an adult conversation.

But then I looked at the faces of my beautiful children sitting right in front of me. How privileged I was to be able to sit with them and listen to what was in their hearts, even if it was silly. How could I wish for something different? I love the life I am living. How thankful to God I am, that at this time, this moment, I can be here for them. I can be a stay at home mom. Financially, it is hard. There may come the time, that I will have to go back to work outside the home.

We finished our lunch, took a little walk to look around at all the unique buildings, then took the train back to our car. We went home to our normal life. The place we like the best. We waited for dad to come home to tell him all about our trip.

I thank God that He has placed me where I am right now.

Hello There!

I know it's been awhile since I last posted. I've been busy enjoying the last couple of week doing things with the kids before they head back to school.

This is their last week to enjoy their vacation. Even though the bickering drives me crazy at times, I will miss having them around.

Let's see, what have we done?

---Swimming, and swimming, and more swimming!
---Play Spongebob Monopoly many times!
---Read!
---Do some cleaning (a little :)
---Visit Grandma and have lunch with her
---Visit Dad for lunch
---Watch TV
---See fireworks at Disney*land
---Go to the zoo
---Play basketball
---And of course, do the spontaneous stuff that kids love to do like talent shows, play store, paint, color, etc., etc.

I'm sure there are some other things that I'm forgetting, but we've had lots of fun in spite of bickering.

This week, my plans are to make sure the kids all have their supplies together for the first day of school. We need to label their items. I think I still need to find a plastic shoe box that both of them need. I hope to take them a couple more times to the pool before it closes for the summer. The last day is Sunday. I also hope to take them to downtown LA on the metro line. It's a light rail transit system and they've always wanted to go on it. We can catch it by my mom's house and it will take us to downtown LA right where the skyscrapers are. There is a mall there and we can have some lunch, look around a bit, then head on back.

This has been a pretty mild summer, weather wise, than I thought it would be. I was expecting lots of days in the 90's, but pretty much it's stayed in the low to mid 80's. I'm not going to complain about that. I'm looking forward to the Fall. It's my favorite time of the year.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Emily's Daring Plunge

I'm so proud of Emily. She took her plunge off the diving board (with some help)! Ryan didn't want me to post his plunge, so I didn't. The video is grainy because it was taken off of my camera.

WAY TO GO EMILY!!

A Giveaway!

Suzy is hosting a giveaway at her Scraps of Starlight blog! You can have a chance to win an original print of hers. If you' ve been at her site, Sailing by Starlight, you know what a gifted, artistic soul she is.



She has also set up an Etsy Shop. Go take a look at all her goodies. Lots of beautiful items!

Old Treasures

I love reading prayer books and general Catholic books written pre-Vatican II. I find that they are very concise and straight to the point about what it means to be a Catholic. The prayers are often beautiful and God centered rather than me centered. I learn a lot from those type of books. And they help me in my prayer life.

I wanted to share a couple of these treasures.

My mother recently found this book at her house when she was doing some digging around. My father had ordered this some time in 1964. At least that's what is written in the front of the book. This book is called My Catholic Faith by the Most Reverend Louis Laravoire Morrow, S.T.D. It was printed in 1949. It contains information about what Catholics believe and even information about the hierarchy of the Church. It is written in Q & A format and has those Catholic illustrations that seem to abound in old books.

Sorry for the blurry picture. My camera doesn't take close-ups very well. This is a shot of the chapter about Sins Against Truth.

What is a LIE?

A lie is something said for the purpose of deceiving others, which we know or suspect to be untrue.

A lie expresses opposition between one's word and one's thought; it implies the intention to deceive by stating what is false.

Lying is a sin even when it may be the means of effecting much good; we must not commit evil in order to obtain good.

Further questions asked are: When does a person commit the sin of Rash Judgement? When does a person commit the sin of Detraction? When does a person commit the sin of Calumny or Slander?

I happened to google this book and came up with an on-line version. It is not the complete book but it has a lot of information. You can find it HERE.

The other old book I'd like to share is this prayer book that my mother gave me. She has an exact copy from my grandmother, which was in better condition, so she gave me her own copy. I love that it is worn. It shows that it was used a lot. I have so many fond memories of this book, even though it's in Spanish. Ever since I can remember, my mother has belonged to a Rosary prayer group. Once a month she has gotten together with other ladies and said the Rosary as a group and then shared a meal together. She has been the official leader in the recitation of the Rosary and she always used this prayer book, which had a Rosary novena prayer and a litany of the Blessed Mother.

This prayer book is called El Devocionario Para Todos (The Devotional For Everyone). It was printed in 1942. Aside from the Rosary prayers, it has meditations, Gospel readings, novenas, and many more prayers. It is just a treasure to me. Besides the spiritual aspect, it is such a wonderful reminder of my mother. It is something that gave her strength and was important in her relationship with God.

I have a few other old gems, but so far, these are my favorites!