I recently ran into an acquaintance of ours at the grocery store.  She warily eyed my mid-section and asked what was new with us.  (Everyone checks out the belly first…9 pregnancies in 15 years…)  I confirmed her suspicion when I said, “#7 will arrive in December.” She swallowed in a way that told me my news was painful for her to hear.  “So that makes you….6 weeks?  Isn’t that kind of early to tell people?” I understand what she’s saying. ... Read more

Last night was prom night for the homeschoolers in Oklahoma City.  Our first baby got all dolled up in the dress she had so carefully chosen, met her closest friends for dinner, hopped into their limo, and then danced the night away.   It was like a typical prom anywhere in the country…..which seems to surprise a lot of people. I don’t know who they’ve met, but these are the “nerdy” homeschoolers I know.  (#1 and her bff M) Homeschooled students... Read more

Joe tagged me for a meme – the “Why I love Jesus” meme. These are the rules:   Share five things you love about Jesus/or why you love Jesus. Tag five other bloggers. Those tagged will provide a link in the comments section here so others can read them.   « •••†••• » 5 things I love about Jesus   1. His flesh is real food and his blood is real drink. 2. He gave us the “Our Father”, one... Read more

Once upon a time, we baptized our fifth baby.  The priest we love smiled at us and said, ” You know that you can’t stop here, don’t you?” We were taken aback.  What was wrong with five? “Five isn’t a Biblically perfect number.  3 is, but you shot right past that, so I guess it’s going to have to be 7,” and then he laughed. We laughed with him and it became a long running joke in our family, but... Read more

The lovely and talented Jennifer Fulwiler of Conversion Diary recently agreed to answer a few questions about herself.  I could ask anything (oh, where to begin…) but I promised I would limit the number to 5. Here are her answers….she’s a very interesting person…. 1. What do your parents think of your conversion? They raised my to seek the truth regardless of whether it’s convenientand to be intellectually honest, so they respect my conversion, evenif they don’t totally understand it.... Read more

Don’t you hate it when: you have a blog and then someone tells you something that you are dying to write about, except you’re not allowed to and then you can’t think of anything else to write about instead of the first thing? you scrub and clean your house to have people over, make yummy food for the guests, even plant flowers to make everything perfect, and then don’t get to stay because it’s an open house and you’re not... Read more

I spoke with my Mother-in-Law yesterday.  It was an easy and meandering chat about life and the children.  We both laughed a lot and caught up on each other’s life. She said to me, “I love how you can find the fun in anything.  You look at the most normal and boring thing and find the beauty in it.  That’s one of my favorite things about talking to you.” I agreed with her; I’m a pretty “life is wonderful fun”... Read more

From a rally of Planned Parenthood supporters: I just giggle every time I see it. h/t Jill Stanek Read more

This morning at Mass I sat next to the nuns.  (The nuns!!!!!!!  Love them!!!!!)  I was wearing these super cute black wedges I bought a few months ago, and it wasn’t long before the nun nest to me was checking them out.  (She’s a girl…she notices shoes…I like that in my nuns.) After Mass, she touched my shoulder to get my attention and said “Cute shoes.” “Thanks” I replied. “I have a soft spot for cute shoes.” She admitted.  ”... Read more

#2, our 11 year old, woke up last night yelling something about aliens and bright blue lights.  It was 4 AM and I’m not too interested in alien life forms that don’t live in my house, so I was a little slow to respond. His sisters met me at their door as I passed by and asked sleepily, “What’s going on?” “Apparently the aliens have come to eat our brains or something,” was my reassuring reply. “Okay,” my eldest yawned.... Read more