Happy 5 months, Sweet Penelope!

You are a smiling girl, a little laugher who giggles after tickles. You love to be held facing outward so you can see all that is happening in life before you, especially in your family with your siblings in-action. We love you and cannot even think back to times without you. You have always been a part of our family, as God created you to be.We are so happy you are here. We look back to the moment you became, once again, God's girl, through Baptism, on December 22, 2012. Why do we love you? Because. (Your song plays in the background.)

Quiet Triduum

A quiet Triduum at home:

We have enjoyed just being with each little one of ours and incorporating these quiet times into ourselves so that we go through our own metamorphosis. How good God is to give us a real example of this spiritual-physical-emotional-psychological change that can take place any day, any hour, any minute, but so focused in this time of Lent.  Here in Brasilia is the time of the caterpillars-- so many are out and about. But, they must soon change. And so, they are. We are grateful to watch this change, in this season of Lent, as the caterpillars wrap themselves into their cocoons for a while, before becoming the "blue-print" versions God created them to be: beautiful butterflies (see Fulton Sheen's The World's First Love, excerpt below). They have created their cocoons around our home, and we await their exit. These past weeks have been fruitful. Thankfully, God's grace goes beyond our biggest desires and plans and puts us where we need to be. All thanks to His mercy, constant love, and total selflessness.

            

A Little Bit of Wagner in Your Life

This evening we just got back from the National Theater of Brasilia where the local symphony was performing some pieces from Richard Wagner.  The symphony played an excerpt (Siegried) from his Ring Cycle, which when played altogether, is 16 hours long! Needless to say, the kids were mesmerized for an hour at 8pm on a Tuesday night. Nice. Mares had packed great little candy bags for each of them and they had their eyes glued to the performance. Some additional pieces by Mendelssohn followed. I believe the girls were inspired by the violin soloist, who was off in a stratosphere of his own!

Castles, Knights and Damsels in Distress

As a part of my birthday celebration, Mary came up with the marvelous plan of building a box house-castle. Fortunately, there is a nifty store in the city that peddles nothing but cardboard boxes, the perfect ingredient for our project. (Some friends told us about the find, since there is no way we would have ever found the little whole-in-the-wall store.) As a family, we created a great castle, that features doors, windows, a jail, a [Rapunzel] tower, and many other fun things. We painted it a week or so ago. The kids have been loving it, playing in it everyday. My initial idea was to put it outside on the patio, where it would be covered from the rain but outside. However, with the rainy season upon us, it undoubtedly wouldn't have lasted long and so Mary had the great idea of having it in our living room.

Here are some pictures of our knight and our damsels as they pose in front of their castle.

Here are some pictures of the construction phase:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

... Four little Leprechauns:

At the Big Ball Game

Shortly before my birthday, I had the special experience of sharing a game of basketball with Madge and Pita at the stadium in Brasilia for one of Brazil's National Basketball Association's biggest rivalries: Brasilia vs Rio.

It was a great game. Yes, Brasilia won. But much more important than that was that it was fun to watch the girls doing the wave, see them taking in the game through the binoculars and enjoying the aura. We had a wonderful time. The fans were really into it. We returned home around 11pm, two tired girls and a happy dad.

Trust Him

Trust Him when darkest thoughts assail thee; trust Him when thy faith is small; trust Him when to trust is the hardest thing of all.

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"No matter how heavy your cross, if you just say, 'Lord, I'm having a hard time bearing this, I fail often, I want to be like you. I fail often but I shall try again.' You know that prayer pleases God." (Mother Angelica)

___________________

From Pope Benedict XVI - "Father - with this word I express my certainty that someone is there who hears me, who never leaves me alone, who is always present.  I express my certainty that God, despite the infinite difference between him and me, is such that I can speak to him, may even address him familiarly as "thou" (German du).  His greatness does not overwhelm me, does not reject me as insignificant and unimportant.  Certainly I am subject to him as a child is subject to his father, yet there is such a fundamental similarity and likeness between him and me, yes, I am so important to him, I belong so closely to him, that I can rightly address him as "Father". My being born is not a mistake, then, but a grace.  It is good to live even though I do not always perceive it.  I am wanted; not a child of chance or necessity, but of choice and freedom.  Therefore I shall also have a purpose in life; there will always be meaning for me, a task designed just for me, there is a conception of me that I can seek and find and fulfill. When the school of life becomes unbearably hard, when I would like to cry out as Job did, as the psalmist did - then I can transform this cry into the word "Father"  and the cry will gradually become a word, a reminder to trust, because from the Father's perspective it is clear that my distress, yes, my agony, is part of the greater love for which I give thanks." 

O Pequeno Principe

____________Enjoying the theatrical performances in Portuguese here in Brasil. :)___________

 (Pita and Caleb with The Little Prince after the performance.)

(Waiting for the show to start. :)

                                               



Yesterday evening we enjoyed an outing as a family as we went to watch the theatrical production of " Pequeno Principe. We had first spotted a display of books/movies about The Little Prince during an outing for Daddy's birthday at our favorite bookstore in Brasilia, "Livraria Cultura." I thought of our "Little Prince" aka Little Caleb, and wanted to see the movie.
                                                              


So, we planned to watch the movie of The Little Prince for this past Friday's movie night. It took two nights for us to watch it all, but we finished just in time for Sunday's hour-ling production of it. Everyone enjoyed it, even Little Penny in between nursing. :)

Our date...makes Monday a HAPPY one!

This morning after Mass-- thank you, Madge and Pita, for suggesting that we go to Mass this morning!-- we went for a date, just the 5 of us-- thanks to Dad's suggestion before we brought Daddy to work. What a lovely time I had with 4 sweet treasures. I had such a good time seeing what each of you chose and the little ladies and gentleman that you are as always. What a treat for me just to BE with you. Thanks for the honor of being your Mommy. I love our moments together.

I think Daddy's birthday weekend was a success...

We were all TIRED Monday morning. :)

Happy Birthday!

 

We love you!!