gross-eries

Yesterday, I got a call from the kids' school, just as I was gathering my cookie baking ingredients, saying, "come quick! Rachael is in pain and can't walk!" She did manage to walk to the car, and we set off for the ER. A little insight into my state of mind..we wanted to take her to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, as it is the best around...but I had to check with her as we were on the expressway..."how old are you?"-- "seventeen, Mom."-- "right, okay."

She was in the worst pain of her life and was writhing and also becoming nauseous. When I arrived at the hospital, I got caught on the big circular drive that is new and takes you all around the whole complex. I had to go around TWICE before I could find the entrance for the ER. And you know what happened. She tried to open the door, but we were approaching a bus on her side, and just didn't have the clearance, especially for our car's huge doors. I gave her my jacket, but the explosive nature of the, ahem, event, was not to be contained.

Once we FINALLY got inside, she was triaged fairly quickly, but was unable to even be still enough for a temp. reading. Unfortunately, everything from that point on went on slow motion. She was in a wheelchair, clutching at herself, moaning and writhing around for a good twenty minutes while the desk people studied points over our heads. It took another two and a half hours before they got a small dose of morphine into her. In the meantime were some pretty harrowing moments. She rolled, pounded, cried, moaned, and I just patted her arm and stroked her hair and cried. Sometimes I would call the nurse just to remind them of her agony.

Her boyfriend came to sit with us, and graciously bought me a slice of hospital pizza, not too bad! and was spared the worst, as she was returning from the ultrasound when he arrived. He gave her his shoes and he left with us in socks. It was about 25 degrees outside. 

Once the meds took hold, and her head cleared a bit, her first words were, "I have to get my portfolio done"! (She is applying to art colleges, and is trying to get all the required stuff in by Dec.15th for early decision). Good grief.

After all was said and done, they never really had a firm diagnosis, but one of the things on the table was an ovarian cyst. The sudden onset and resolution seemed to fit, because once the morphine wore off, the pain was gone. Her older sister had this exact scenario, minus the pain med, and it all seemed to add up.

So--today! Here is what I am doing.

                                                            the aftermath in the car.

                                                  and Rachael, getting a little R&R.

and my secret weapon. well, okay not exactly secret, but it seems to be doing the job in the car and the clothes. The car may actually be a multi- step process, say, until sometime next year.



When she wakes up I plan to tell her she should fare pretty well in childbirth someday, as then, at least, the pain subsides off and on, and after that she will be blessed with a little gift from God, just as I was seventeen years ago.

Thank you God, for my family

You have seen this one. Here is the line up. Left to right-Ben, Meghann, Rachael(seated), Corrie, (standing), Malaika, me, Daniel and Melissa. These are all my kids all together under one roof. It was controlled mayhem, but the best kind.

Here are Kaden, Jeff and Meghann on the first few days of their stay. Okay, usually the camera was pointed at Kaden, or, erm, Spiderman. Which we HAD to address him by if we wanted a response.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

At a local diner.Pure South Philly. You would know this if you could hear the voices in the background. 

Now for Thanksgiving Day.

  Meghann, blurry-camera problems, sorry, but you can see the cuteness anyway.

 Adam, full mouth smile.

                         
 The blurriness kind of illustrates how much this kid is in motion.






   

  Daniel and his girlfriend, the adorable Rachael. She is also sweet.

                                                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

  

Michael with my Rachael. I think they had a good time? Rachael does not usually sport a glass of wine.                      

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    



Ben, with Dan's Rachael. We had three tables, this was the one in the living room. I spent most of the meal going in and out of the kitchen.


    


          

 walking around while eating Nonnie's food










Grandmom and Justin's dad. He was very solicitous to her, and they had some nice conversation.   

Corrie and Bob. I think they were full.








Kaden, peering over his special little square cup.

                                                                                

 A couple arrangements I put together that morning. fun! I used ribbons from Meghann and Jeff's wedding.

   Here are the kids with all the husbands, boyfriends, girlfriend, child, etc. Missing is Corrie's boyfriend. He went and did her DJ job that evening so she could be with us :)

So it is--Jeff, Meghann and Kaden, then Ben (standing), Corrie, (seated with Kaden's feet in her lap), Rachel and Michael, Daniel and Rachael, Adam and Melissa (standing) and Malaika, with crossed eyes. Perfect.

At the door, saying goodbye to Uncle Daniel. Meghann-"do you want to give Uncle Daniel a kiss?" Kaden-"uuuhhhmmmmmmm..............no." Hilarity.

 a few shots of Kaden and Malaika doing what they do. She was happy to be older than somebody for a change.

Advent-- He comes toward us

 Well, friends, this is my first posting with my new computer. What a blessing! It does whatever I ask it to do! A novel idea.

 I am in the midst of doing two things as this Advent gets underway. One is our parish's annual novena for the Immaculate Conception. Simultaneously, I am reading and praying through the Total Consecration to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort. I am so thankful, firstly, to God and the Church for providing these devotions, and to Father Check and our parish, for nurturing our devotion by promoting these practices. I know I would not have the impetus on my own steam, if not guided and given the structures to follow. 

  I am humbled and chastened daily. Something I need, but all this is done so gently and lovingly that I only come away blessed and at peace, not at all saddened or disappointed in myself. That's the way I believe, one really knows the hand of God; that whenever we become aware of a measure of our own sin, it is delivered with such a tender, encouraging hand, that we can only respond in gratitude. It is then we know we have been given the grace to change things in ourselves that, under other circumstances, we would find impossible. We know He deserves all the credit for these moments.

 In my search for joy, peace, courage, wisdom, strength, and charity, I cherish the moments that my Lord reaches through my small attempts to grow an inch in holiness and assist me by removing even the smallest of motes from my eye that I couldn't remove myself. Don't get me wrong! I need lots more than a mote removed. But I am thankful for the mote. 

I am looking forward to this Christmas, as I always am, but because of this time I got to spend in a bit of preparation, I can carry the peace and joy through to regular life, and hopefully, to others.

This is a song my husband and I are busily trying to recruit a few "extras" to do this Christmas. :) It sets just the perfect tone for getting ready for His coming. At one of our novenas, Father Kelley went into his teaching mode (which I rather like :) and taught us that the word Advent  means "He comes toward." what a beautiful image, to think of Him always moving toward us. Father explained that only in Christianity, do we have a God that comes to us. In all other religions, it is the people who seek after Him. What a blessing to know that our God is always seeking after us.

What Sweeter Music
What sweeter music can we bring
Than a carol, for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King?
Awake the voice! Awake the string!
Dark and dull night, fly hence away,
And give the honor to this day,
That sees December turned to May.
Why does the chilling winter’s morn
Smile, like a field beset with corn?
Or smell like a meadow newly-shorn,
Thus, on the sudden? Come and see
The cause, why things thus fragrant be:
‘Tis He is born, whose quickening birth
Gives life and luster, public mirth,
To heaven, and the under-earth.
We see him come, and know him ours,
Who, with his sunshine and his showers,
Turns all the patient ground to flowers.
The darling of the world is come,
And fit it is, we find a room
To welcome him. The nobler part
Of all the house here, is the heart.
Which we will give him; and bequeath
This holly, and this ivy wreath,
To do him honour, who’s our King,
And Lord of all this revelling.
What sweeter music can we bring,
Than a carol for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King?
Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
Send "What Sweeter Music" Ringtone to your Cell

family

I haven't been with you this week because my wonderful daughter, her husband and son came in from Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with us. We were engrossed in soaking them in and only mildly concerned about our computer problems. It has always been compromised, and chose this week to acquire yet another crippling virus that made it just barely usable, and as I type this, the whine is so loud the kids have to turn up the TV. ( we had a technician on the phone who kept just suggesting we invest in a new one, to which I replied, "what!?" )  We also have several kids that need it to do schoolwork and two entering colleges next fall, who are submitting applications and such; so my dear husband ordered us a new one!

While I await it's arrival, I will be organizing all our files and loading them off onto our external hard drive, which in itself will likely involve some struggle. But I am greatly looking forward to blogging much more! I also enjoy interacting with my fellow bloggers-something that now is a difficult process,  resulting in freezing and such,  but should become much easier.

 The other really great thing that happened this Thanksgiving,  is that all my seven kids were together for the very first time. The older six were last together in 1998, and a few occasions since, we have come close, but were always missing one. So for now I will post  a picture  from that wonderful day, and I look forward to writing and sharing with you much more in the very near future!

keep it down to a dull roar!

I am blessed to be at home today, and alone for a few hours. I am sitting here doing this because I have sixty-four  (or was it seventy eight?)  things to do before my daughter and her family arrive here Sunday for a short but much looked forward to Thanksgiving visit. Rest assured that the blog following that will be loaded with pictures.

But before that happens.........(drum roll).............I am finally going to start receiving spiritual direction again! It's been since Father Terry was still with us. Wow. And along with that, a bit of an overdue confession. (since Father Check left us, but in a different way.) Yes, I know we are not supposed to have favorites when it comes to confession, but..really now...fess up, you know we all do. It wasn't the only reason I haven't gone, but it was a pretty big part. So today I was sitting before the Blessed Sacrament, doing some preparation for the confession, and realized a couple things. One is that it has been six months since I have gone. That's the longest stretch since I have been Catholic. another is that it is significantly harder to examine a six month conscience. Oh, yes, of course I have been "keeping track", but it's the nuances that escape me after a certain period of time goes by.  That time period is pretty short. So after this, boy, every two weeks? Well at least once a month.

Something else became pretty clear, or unclear really. As I was praying and sitting quietly, the racket in my mind was just deafening! So to speak. If there could be silent decibels, these were on the hearing loss scale. If the Lord spoke to me, I sure didn't hear Him!  Think along the lines of a train passing two feet away. I am accustomed to my usual wandering mind, but this was something else. I even sat a little extra long (for me) to try and wait it out. No.








I am sure God did whatever work He wanted anyway. I have always found that if I take steps to progress in my spiritual life, I experience opposition. Hopefully, the step I am about to take will bear fruit.

                                                                             

waiting....waiting...

This is shaping up to be one of those Wait-and-See-What-Happens days. Not my favorite kinds of days. One daughter is having troubling physical symptoms, but didn't want to miss school, so I am calling around, trying to feel it out and get a game plan.Which results in waiting for doc offices to call back. Familiar with that tune?  This makes it kind of hard to do some of my routine but necessary things, like run the vacuum (something, that in a time of stress, is surprisingly soothing), go to the market, or even just focus on anything else well.

I have never been very good at waiting. I like forward motion. The Bible is all full of waiting verses--sheesh. Guess it is one of those growth producing things--what are they called? Oh yes, Virtues. Wait! hmmmmm.

Patience....Virtue.

riiiiight.










With a large dollop of trust thrown in.



Well, it did enable me to sit here and write this, and peruse the blogospere, and post to facebook, and do some laundry, and heat up one of last night's stuffed peppers for lunch...what am I complaining about? Well, it's just the worry-weight when one of the kids needs medical care, and all the figuring out what it is--hoping nothing too scary-- yada yada.

sigh.
Exhausting stuff.

Well, I may not have gained patience this time(that I can tell), but the pepper was good the next day.

ready, set, change! ... annnnnd....Again!

If you don't like change, get ready to be uncomfortable. Permanently. A lot of it is raising kids. When they are little, as soon as you get used to one routine, they grow out of it. It's sort of like a game of tennis; you lob one to them, they lob one back to you, you have to adjust a bit, lob one back, etc. Well, if childhood is tennis-like, teen and young adulthood is standing at the fast pitch machine while 100 mph balls come rocketing at you at unknown intervals. The older the child, the more monumental the things they hand you on any given day.

For example--the kids come home from school.

Kid #1.( 11 years)-"Mom, I need to have my snack money by tomorrow, and I want to go roller skating and the money has to be in tomorrow". *note-roller skating is in New Jersey, on a weekend, and our weekends are not something we associate with relaxation. I believe I designated a whole post to this subject once. 

 Kid #2. (15 years), "Mom, (puts a sheet down on the desk next to me), I have to get all this drum equipment, we are starting a tympani and concert drum class." On the list are things like tympani mallets, xylophone mallets, method book and such things. I am a little amazed that we are required to run out and drop $100+ on command. But my son is a budding percussionist and of course we will comply. Maybe a little slower than some.

Then we get to the girls entering college this fall. Kid#3 (17 years)- "Mom, I need senior dues, my senior hoodie money and when can we go visit the colleges I am applying to? (anywhere from PA to RI ). Don't forget SAT's, Saturday classes, and the Prom."

Next, Kid#4 (19 years) -"I think I will be happier if I move out and am on my own". (this one also applying to colleges and wanting to do pre med). Anybody else out there ever work their way through school? ouch. 

Kid#5 (20 years) -actually just did move out. Working three jobs. 

All this is given to you without all the intricacies of daily life and without some of the larger challenges posed to each of them and us. The bare bones alone are overwhelming.

Not only do they constantly change, but I have to also. I have to adapt to the many new situations, people and goals they lay before me. Most of the time, embracing their  goals is easy. Sometimes, I can get on board partially, and help when possible. Other times, impossible. Those times are hard. Changing the way I relate to them as young adults is not so cut and dry as you might think. You know, the whole, "well when you turn 18, it will be like so and when you turn 21, like so"...um, no. Every kid is completely different.

I would say that I have learned a lot, and in so doing, have learned that I don't actually know much.

Here are a few things I can say I know.

1. Expect surprises.

If I am too locked into doing things in a rigidly scheduled way (ha HA) I will constantly feel frustrated and even angry when the curve balls come. Sometimes the surprises are good even astoundingly so, and if I am open, I will appreciate these times more.  

2.Nothing (hardly ever anyway) is as bad as it first seems.

The initial shock of getting big news, ( an unexpected illness, a car breaking down,  a kid announcing a surprise decision, or even a positive, "so and so wants you to sing/play at their event, this weekend!" ) can knock the wind out of us. But if we stop a second and kind of take apart the nuts and bolts, and think calmly, most times we can see that we will get through it, and be okay. I have experienced God's grace at times like these, to the degree where I can almost taste it.

3.There will be nice things along the way.

 
 Even when we have to go through hard situations, God always provides some comforts to help us. A good friend to talk to, meeting new people: in the case of my brother in law's very very sad funeral, we got to see family and my husband and I stayed in a hotel room alone together for the first time since.....uh....our honeymoon weekend! (that's another story all by itself).

4.God will be a constant that we can rely on, and provide that bedrock Who is unchangeable no matter what.

When we feel the bottom dropping out, it is so good to know that God is there, seeing us and loving us in that moment. When we don't know what to do next,  it is always a good idea to ask for what we need. My stock prayer is "Lord, I need you." Can't get any simpler than that. For we Catholics, if we are unable to even pray, we can just hold our rosary beads and capitalize on all the prayers said upon them, and (in the words of a much respected priest friend) "let the rite carry you." An excellent prayer is the *Memorare.

5. Another saying I have (boy I have more sayings!), is "If something is good, it is good for everyone." 

This is helpful when we have to make tough decisions, like when a teen breaks up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. If the relationship was bad for you, it was bad for them too.  If you remove yourself from an unhealthy situation, you have basically cured Relational Cancer. Everyone has the opportunity to heal and do better. If my husband has to fire someone,( something he dreads), as long as he knows he was fair, ultimately that person will improve the things that were weak or lacking, and go on to be a better worker. If I become a better person, better Catholic, better mother, all the people in my life benefit. Even if they don't like or agree with all my actions, they benefit from my prayers and obedience. Those things ripple out into the world  and effect changes I may never know about. ( a la my previous post). Of course the opposite is true too, but I am focusing on the positive side here. Usually, upon making any challenging moves, there is a period of difficulty and discomfort while we make adjustments and get used to a new way, but also there is an underlying sense of peace that eventually settles in for good.  (quitting smoking is a good analogy).

6. God willing, we will have another go at it tomorrow.

It is rare that we have to tackle everything and solve everything instantaneously. Take the time to pray, think and talk about things with people you trust. So many times, just "sleeping on it" will lessen the pressure, and give you fresh insight  and ideas. In those instances when we do have to act quickly, at least we can try to only address immediately what truly requires it. If my daughter gets overwhelmed with the college application process, we try to figure out what needs to be done first, by when and just think about that. Looking at  it all at once just underscores how big of a task it is, and is confusing.

 Well, these are just my reflections on how change can be our friend or our enemy, and how God seems to be in the business of always challenging us. I don't think we will be through changing until the day we die, and if we can embrace that, it will be mostly fun and exciting. Except when it's not fun. And then we can offer it up.

A little note-- if you happen to remember yet another of my past posts, I talked about wanting to quit my part time job. Well, I have! It was at one of the Archdiocesan residences for homeless women. I plan to go back on a volunteer basis, and do the fun parts, without all the floor mopping. I am hoping my family will be able to perform a Christmas concert for them. Just the knowledge that I will not have to jump every time they call, or have my youngest daughter have a long face on Friday nights when I have to leave, is a huge weight off my shoulders. I plan to celebrate this Friday night by sitting on the couch, watching a movie and eating snacks.

*

Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen