Blogger tells me I haven't hallowed these halls for over a month. I knew it had been awhile since I've had the chance to sit and write, but I surely didn't think it had been over a full month! Where, oh where, has that time gone?
Perhaps it is that every time I sit down to write, I lose inspiration, even if I was brimming with words in my head. Perhaps it is that on days like today, where I sat down to write while the kids were playing quietly, they heard the first click of the keyboard and lost their lovely little minds and then the gates of hell tested their fury trying their best to breeze in here for the day. I don't know.
I'm giving this the old college try...well, maybe more effort than my old college try...and away we go!
Speaking of Hades entering...today has been one of those days. The early morning was glorious. G-L-O-R-I-A glorious. My new little 4 year old climbed into bed and snuggled. Snuggles are the best. Both kids quietly and preciously snuggle d for a good half hour, letting me rest well past when I should have been up. I'll take it. I know those days are preciously numbered and I will take every last snuggle I can get in the morning as long as they do not involve pulling my hair out or sitting on my face (or full bladder). Oh what a sweet morning! They proceeded to get up and play nicely together, ate breakfast without hassle...I should have known. I should have KNOWN, but I was hoping beyond hope that today would be a fully and gloriously harmonious day. Sigh.
This happened.
Which led to this.
Because when a drawer won't shut, it is necessary to clean out all the cards that have been stored and subsequently fallen behind the television stand only to breed an army of zombie dust bunnies that could attack at the slightest disturbance. Wouldn't you know, our DustBuster has been broken for a while (like the plastic is cracked and it wont' stay together broken, not that it doesn't work). Today, my friend Amazon.com promised to have a new one to me by next Tuesday as long as I leave small unmarked bills in a nice briefcase for them at the drone landing.
Of course, my first instinct was to say to heck with all of this and pitch it all in my great desire to get rid of all the clutter. If I hadn't read these cards in the last five years, it ain't likely I will read them in the next five, right? Well, I didn't, and I came across a few very special reasons my better sense told me not to just make haste and haul to the nearest dumpster.
In the midst of all the din, the kids were cordoned off with caution tape behind the police line to keep them from returning to the scene of the crime (read: they were playing in Gia's bedroom once Judah was permitted to be released from his place of restricted activity aka highchair). I was free to shake my fist at God, and then ask the devil what in tarnation he wanted with me. Was he afraid I would have gotten the laundry done? Was he afraid that I might have had a remotely peaceful day keeping me from being locked away at the closest sanatorium? Did he simply not want me to share my angst or tell you that I have been praying about what direction to take the blog, and that we may be heading down a slight turn in the road? What? What did he want with me???
For the time being, things have calmed down a bit, and we have arrived at the promised land, otherwise known as naptime, where my new strategy is to let Judah sleep and just close Gia's door so I don't have to hear her if she chooses not to cooperate. Now I am free to tell you that I have been praying about the writing, since it has been so difficult. I've realized now that more than a handful of lovely people have asked how a Hindu gal growing up in Iowa ends up a devoted Catholic living in Detroit. I realize that the enormity of the story, mixed with its underwhelming tones in my mind, make it difficult for me to understand why anyone would care. And yet, it seems at least a few inquiring minds want to know. Along with that, I have realized in watching all the bickering unfold about the nuances of the doctrine as relates to {enter topic here} that I do not have the stomach for breaking it all down in philosophical detail. I don't have the patience, time, or knowledge to sit here and pontificate on the intricacies of the issues, their historical evolution, their magnitude among the entirety of Catholic teaching or scripture, etc etc etc.
I have come to realize that I have a lived story, much like every other person out there. More importantly, that lived story with all its struggles and joys is the way God intends me to share Him with the world. No, I do not have empirical evidence that states that Jesus has transformed my life, but I do have the stories of my life to tell you how He has. I know the pain I have experienced, the peace He has brought, the prayers He has answered and not answered to His glory and my good. So this will be a place of storytelling. Some preaching might enter in, because well, you can't always break old habits. For the most part, I want this to be a place where we share our stories, where I can enter in with you to know your stories, to help discover the abundant love of God and the opportunities He gives us to know and love Him more deeply, so we can live out of that love and transform this world around us. It sure needs a lot of transformation, don't you think?
That was all very serious and deep. Now to come up for air in the shallow end a bit. This summer we visited the Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids for a hot second, and the kids enjoyed a short time in the Children's Garden. Shockingly {I jest} I took a "few" pictures of them. Well, I tagged 'em, and this week Meijer Gardens contacted me to share one of them. It isn't that big a deal, but I thought it was a fun little highlight to our week.
Saving the best for last, our Gia turned four. FOUR!
What a crazy week it has been - between a couple of events the Hubs was coordinating with the folks from the St. John's Bible, trying to get some things completed in the studio, and the general busy hum of life, we barely got to celebrate! Here are a few photos, though, no shocker there. I did my best amidst the craziness to give her a few special moments and memories and maybe start some new traditions for us now that she and Judah are old enough to notice.
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| L-R: Birthday eve dinner, birthday tiara, birthday balloons, & treats for school |
Gianna's birthday falls on the feast day of St. Pope John Paul II which is so special to us. I shared this quote from him on Facebook as one of my favorites, and it, along with the other quote, are two that I pray our children embed into the very fiber of their little beings.
"It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.
It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal."
And from his address to the youth in Toronto, this gem:
"We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son."
That we might all come to know those things in the deepest corners of our souls...
There was so much more on my list, but when a day like today hits, I let the old fingers clickety clack away and see where it goes. There's always next week for more takes out of this corner of the virtual world. For more Quick Takes this week, visit Conversion Diary! Oh - and if ya'll would keep a few friends in prayer who are preparing to give birth in the next week (hopefully), that'd be swell. You're the best!
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Hello! I am happy to read this update. Happy Birthday to your Gia! And I would love to read your conversion story. :)
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