A good friend of ours shared his brilliant plan for getting easier penances when going to confession with us a few weeks ago, so I just had to try it out. He said that whenever he is going to confess losing his temper with the kids (he has 5 also), he sends them in first. He reasons, “If Father can see what I’m up against, he may go easy on me.” Made sense to me, so I sent them in.... Read more

Today while we were at the gym, our car was broken into and my dear husband’s wallet was stolen. Please pray for our family especially my husband, as this is a great nuisance and the damage to the car will be very expensive to fix. We also ask for your prayers for the thieves. They must have been truly desperate to break into our beat up van that 5 children had just exited. They watched us as we left the... Read more

Is there anything in the world better than slobbering baby kisses? #5 has only recently discovered his ability to kiss us. He crows with delight and then lunges for the nearest face and doesn’t stop until the object of his affection is roaring with laughter and has slobber dripping from his/her chin. Baby love is sweet but also slightly disgusting. We live in a society which has become anti-family. There is a weird schizophrenia to American attitudes about children. While... Read more

Today is the Feast of St Bartholomew. He was one of the Original Twelve and a favorite of my high school catechism teacher, Sr. Philomena. My boys like him because his was a particularly gruesome death. Boys are like that. We also like him because of all the Apostles, he’s the sarcastic one. He’s the one who asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” According to tradition, his original name was Jesus so he changed it to Batholomew. That... Read more

Seven years or so ago, my father decided to abdicate the position of dad/grandpa deciding that there were other things more important in his life than the happenings of our little (at that time) family. We wish him well in his life and pray that he has found the happiness he was seeking. Then 6 years ago this week, when little kid #3 was only 2 weeks old, we met some of the most important people in our lives, our... Read more

37 years after he was kicked off his college football team in his senior year, Mike Flynt decided to go back and play. At 59 years old, he decided to live his life with no regrets and not playing his senior year had always been one of his biggest. So hats off to you, Mike Flynt, for deciding that age is just a number and that dreaming doesn’t end when you hit 30. Hooray for you, Sul Ross State of... Read more

Do you ever wander through the grocery store and look at the boxes of Hamburger Helper and wonder “What kind of tasteless person buys this stuff and do they actually like it?” Well, folks, the answers are me, and yes. I wish that I could be a food snob and have an educated palate, but the truth of it is that I am just a good ol’ girl raised in the South (thank goodness for that) who would rather eat... Read more

After months of reading and enjoy the works of many talented bloggers out there, I decided to take a big breath and jump into the blogosphere myself. I am a Catholic mom of 7, two in God’s hands and five in mine. I am also the besotted wife of my dear husband. He still makes my heart race and my stomach do flip-flops. I hope that you all are as lucky in your lives as I am in mine. So,... Read more