The Look of Love

(Photography by: Pita Snaps)

A look. A glance. A shared, yet-simple, dance. The moments with you I treasure. They are graces God sends to inspire. Heaven is not far-off. No, it is here being lived in your love. I give God thanks. I open my soul. I ask Him to shower our marriage with graces of gold. May we always be united in spirit, in prayer, a look, a glance, or a simple dance. You are my channel of grace here on earth.

Precious in His Sight

Yesterday, our three treasures sat on the step near the backyard and gazed upward toward Him. We give you thanks, Lord, for your goodness in sharing these three precious lives with us. We thank you for the individual personalities you have blessed them with. We thank you for their sweet and wondrous ways that are so good, so sweet, so holy. It is no wonder that you say, "Let the children come to Me." (Mt. 19). It reminds me that so many times you see the goodness in each of us that so many times others do not see. And, you see the difficulties too, but you love us nonetheless. For this, I am grateful.

A song we love to sing as a family:

Lord, you are more precious than silver. Lord, you are more costly than gold. Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds and nothing I desire compares with you. And, nothing I desire compares with you.

Never too Young to Contribute to the Family

Thank you for being selfless, my three little helpers. I love you so much and appreciate your many contributions to our family. What a difference they make.





The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish. Pope John Paul II

The Little Boy Who Could Fly

Little Caleb has been enjoying being tossed into the air in the pool. Mares was able to capture some great photos of our little guy.

Happy Feast of the Holy Family!

(Drawing by Maddy, age 5)


Today we enjoyed "A Festa Beleza da Sagrada Família" with Holy Mass at the Cathedral in Brasilia, followed by a surprise from Daddy that he received a half-day of work (so, the rest of the day with us!), family grocery shopping, family swim, yummy pizza dinner, and cake decorating, with each of us having one small cake to enjoy.

Somos cinco!

We are so blessed to have the most beautiful and humble family to look at and celebrate and learn from day-by-day in the Holy Family. We give God thanks for our little family and our parents, grandparents and siblings who continue to inspire us to shoot for the heavens, where one day we hope to share an everlasting feast with the Holy Family. Saude!

(Drawing by Caleb and given to Mommy on Christmas day)

(Made by PaPa)

It was so enjoyable to wake up again this morning, sit with Caleb and say morning prayers with our girls nearby (and Little Caleb soon-to-awake) and know that we have the Holy Family's feast to celebrate. I look at the three of our little treasures and give God thanks, for I know that I did nothing to be blessed with such gifts, and that they are not ours but His to return. But, they are gifts. And, gifts are to be enjoyed, well-cared for always with a grateful spirit. I am grateful for family. We sat this morning and read reflected on Blessed John Paul II's strong and encouraging writing in the meditation of the Magnificat today (only in part below):

The Church is deeply convinced that only by the acceptance of the Gospel are the hopes that man legitimately places in marriage and in the family capable of being fulfilled.

Willed by God in the very act of creation, (3) marriage and the family are interiorly ordained to fulfillment in Christ (4) and have need of His graces in order to be healed from the wounds of sin (5) and restored to their "beginning," (6) that is, to full understanding and the full realization of God's plan...

(from Familiaris Consortio)

Where would we be without the family? Madge told us today on our way home from Mass how excited she was to hear Daddy was staying home. She said, "During Mass I was getting distracted from looking at Jesus, because I just kept thinking 'Daddy has to go back to work." Caleb told me later that during Mass Madge had her head on Daddy. How loved each person is in the family. Thank you, Lord, for your gift of life. May it always be sanctified.

__________________

So, Bring Us Some Cookie Pudding!

We have been singing Christmas songs around the house lately, trying to prepare ourselves for Christmas. 

Unfortunately--or fortunately--there are no radio stations here in Brazil with 24/7 Christmas songs. On the one hand, I miss some of the songs. On the other hand, there are lots of songs I've heard enough ("sir, I want to buy these shoes..."). Perhaps this dearth of radio songs has incentivized more singing ourselves. Madge has recently been enjoying the song, We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It's pretty cute: she has her own rendition that goes, so, bring us some cookie pudding, so bring us some cookie pudding... Mares and I think that it's so cute that we haven't wanted to correct her. I say let the world eat cookie pudding for Christ's birth. (Besides: I have heard some reviews that figgie pudding is overrated.)

Santa Picture at Park Shopping Plaza

We walked through Park Shopping Plaza on Saturday. There was a nice Santa Claus (from Minas Gerais). Maddy was excited to sit on his lap. Pita was looking askance at Santa the whole time and wanted to sit on my lap. Baby Caleb was pretty clueless. All in all, a wonderful Christmas memory. We topped it off with frozen yogurt at the mall: for toppings, Madge chose colored marshmallows, Pita chose gummy bears.

Breakfast with my Loves

This morning we were all up, except for the Prince, Mr. Cal-see-don, as Pita calls him. :) Pita asked for crepes, which are a breakfast treat usually left for the Saturday morns. But, what a treat it is to be here daily with my three little loves. These moments are treasures I need not wait to celebrate on the weekend, but to live, and live now, in the moment. (If I could only remember and raise up this great gift every second of every day.) Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to serve you, through Your little ones.

Generosity in Marriage

The NYTimes article The Generous Marriage pointed to new research that more fully describes the importance of generosity within marriage.  While I doubt it comes as a surprise to anyone, I always think it's interesting when research backs up common sense and expands on it. This is one such case. According to the researchers, the top three predictors of a happy marriage are (1) sexual intimacy, (2) commitment, (3) generosity.

Furthermore, the article states:

Preliminary findings suggest that children with more-engaged parents are more likely to be generous toward others, which may bode well for their future relationships — and their parents’ too.

As I was reflecting on the article just now, I realized that if I were pressed to encapsulate my spouse in one word, this would be it: generosity.  Generosity is the best word to sum up Mary, my spouse, my best friend, my companion on this journey of life.  Anyone who has met Mary will immediately sense this incredible generosity that she has.  Her generosity flows out to me as her husband, to our kids, to anyone who enters our home, to anyone we come into contact with, really.  Such generosity is a true boon for our marriage and is incredibly hard to come. Mares, thanks for your example of generosity.  You help me to break out of the self-centered bubble I all-too-frequently occupy. 

The Big Show

Madge and Pita put on a big performance last night, showcasing some of what they have been learning in the first quarter of their school-year. I was so impressed. Mares did an incredible job preparing everything: poems, recitation, songs, psalms, plays and more! They were awesome. Here are some of their performances. The girls were able to keep all the performance a secret over the past two months, a real accomplishment especially for our 3-year old Pita. (Madge is already an expert secret-keeper.)


First Performance: Bom Dia, Tudo Bom?



Song: 7 Continents



Madge's Poem




Pita's Poem



Aesop's Fable: The Fox and the Grapes



Aesop's Fable: The Dog and the Sow



Maddy's 50 State Song



Pita's 50 State Song



Pita Psalm 23



Pita's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom



Caleb Saying Cheese to the Camera

Our Homemade Water Slide

All of our things finally arrived from Virginia. It was the day before Thanksgiving. The girls promptly got out their bikes. They also wanted the slide set up. We jerry-rigged a waterslide for the girls in the backyard.

Thoughts

Appreciation. Simplicity. Love. Admiration. Hope. Joy. Tenderness. Realism. Fruitfulness. Abundance. Inspiration. Happiness...


I recognize all of these blessings when I am with you. I...WE love you! Thank you for being that channel of grace God desires you to be in our lives.

Baby Caleb Dancing

(Sorry for the fuzziness. The camera wasn't in focus. He's still a cute dancer, either way!)

Sisters

(Music: Wherever you Go, Pierce Sisters)

Her

"The Lord nurtured and taught her; he guarded her as the apple of his eye. As the eagle spreads its wings to carry its young, he bore her on his shoulders. The Lord alone was her leader." (Dt. 32:10-12)

Education

...always taking place at home and is the foundation for a lifetime of close relationships.


The other day, Madge had her reading books out and was sitting with Little Caleb reading (he loves the dog, Pat, in Jane and Peter, and says, "Daw-daw! Daw-daw!" as he points to the doggie-- and any birds he ever encounters.) As soon as Madge left to come to the dining room table for a lesson, Caleb squwaked... as if to say, "Where do you think you're going, biggest sister?" Madge totally got the message and wanted to be finished with her lessons just to get back to her best lesson of the day: sharing reading time with her little "Jr." as she calls Calsee. We love you, our sweets. You teach us life's best lesson: love.

The Recipe for Sweet Imaginations:

...Quiet

The other day my sweet girls had a royal getaway in the school room as they built their king and queen chairs. I love the fact that there is minimal noise in the house-- except for the smooth sounds of soft music--because I get to hear all of the chit-chat, exotic trips the girls take through imaginary play, and the love messages they share. How blessed I am to have them in my life. Royal chairs or not, you two are my sweet royal ladies!

Never thankful enough

Each day is exciting. There is so much room to grow, in a number of ways. But, one thing that makes me so happy to practice our Faith is that there are constant ways and helps to grow. Each month we try and focus on a certain virtue, with this month of November being that of Gratitude. Although I am thankful for so many things: waking up, drinking a cup of hot coffee next to Caleb as we gather for morning prayers that pave the way of the day, kissing our three treasures and intently watching their sweet faces and studying their little mannerisms that are just so much fun to watch and soak up, pounding the pavement in a fast-pace-run with jogging stroller in one hand and precious cargo within it, listening to the sounds of beautiful birds sing hymns to the Creator outsidem meeting a good friend, having a good conversation that is full of nothing other than love and care for another; I could go on, but, something, someone I want to say "Thank you, Lord" for today is... my dear husband, my rock here on earth, my channel of grace, my helper, my inspiration, my balance, my goodness in so many ways.


I love you.

Three Treasures

...no words are necessary. You say it all with your sweet faces. I cannot help, but say three things:
I. Love. You.

Pineapples and Perspectives

The other day as we were grocery shopping at Carrefour, our neighborhood supermarket, I noticed that there was a guy across the street with a wheelbarrow of pineapples. He was obviously a vendor, as he walked among the cars trying to sell his wares. He approached us as we were loading up all of our groceries into our two running strollers. Perhaps we seemed approachable because we weren't going anywhere fast or perhaps it was the novelty factor of seeing running strollers, or a family of blonds in Brazil. Either way, he came over.

He first asked where we are from. Finding out that we are Americans, he went on to say that he believes life is so expensive in the United States. (Mares and I have found the exact opposite to be true: living in Brazil (Brasilia, at the very least) is much more expensive than life in the U.S.) I told him how cars, electronics, groceries (seemingly everything) has been more expensive for us in Brazil. Not missing a beat, the pineapple vendor noted that pineapples are much more expensive in the U.S. than in Brazil. He did have a point. Pineapples here are like a half to a third the price of pineapples in the U.S. So, I suppose if selling pineapples is your livelihood, life in the U.S. is more expensive. It made me reflect on the reality that all too often we perceive and view the world from our unique prism, with our unique perspectives. The context can make all the difference. If selling pineapples is all you know, then life in the U.S. is expensive. It's all relative. Good thoughts that help me analyze my base assumptions and premises.