I love how this family inconveniences all of the people who surround them. Inconvenience reveals the true nature and character of the people who are being taxed. This is also how a parent acquires patience, which is a learned virtue, and not recessarly an automatic personality trait.

*****

If your using birth control to simplify your life and expand your resources, your making a terrible mistake, and your decisions will effect the outcome of your eternity. 

 (Diary 1033). “When I see that the burden is beyond my strength, I do not consider or analyze it or probe into it, but I run like a child to the Heart of Jesus and say only one word to Him: “You can do all things.” And then I keep silent, because I know that Jesus Himself will intervene in the matter, and as for me, instead of tormenting myself, I use that time to love Him.” Mercy Minutes. - Sister Faustina

If you find yourself pregnant and alone -fall into Christ. He will save you and give you the strength you need and just when you need it..... I promise.

My steam punk children.

Our son said to me, "WHERE'S LUCY?! WHICH WAY IS LUCY?!  HURRY, WHICH WAY IS LUCY?!

I said, "What in the world are you talking about?  He said, Dad told me - righty tighty - lefty loosey so which way do I turn the wrench because I don't know my left and right.

Sadly, after about a dozen double "A's" the poor boy still  couldn't get his homemade train to work properly and not even after his brainiac sister Maria helped him.

*If you happen to notice the boys toe, he dropped a piece of wood on it when he was helping his Dad build a fire and naturally he didn't have his shoes on at the time. Later on he fell on his face and scraped  his nose   but no matter how much it hurts for me to watch, I'm not going to bubble wrap my boy.

Combating affluenza in the modern field. (The mall)

I took three of my teenage daughters shopping at the mall yesterday. We looked at and sampled perfumes, makeup and jewelery. We talked about what kind of fabrics were desirable and  about the style and workmanship of the items we had looked at and  then we ended our shopping trip with a visit to the "White house -black market" clothing store and that's where my trouble began. (Actually it began a few weeks ago when we ran out of good cheese and this teen of mine was pressed to eat Velveeta - but I'll try and stay focused here.)

While discussing the beauty and craftsmanship of a bolero jacket and how awesome the crushed satin roses were, my kid begins to tilt her head and stare at the ceiling when suddenly she has an epiphany and she says to me all glassy eyed with her mouth hung wide, "OH, MY GOSH!!" The stuff that we have at home is crap! And even our food is crap! (Referencing the Velveeta debacle and her brothers hot dog addiction.) I never knew! (Me thinking, "Yeah, so, welcome to the real world, it's been here waiting for you all along.") Those tweeds, herringbone, and houndstooth patterns with crepe silk roses have awakened within my daughter a disgruntled teen and the last time I 'd seen such an awakening was when Frankenstein came alive with a dose of electro shock therapy . (He turned on the person who had created him as well.)

Personally, I believe that in more cases than not, a person is asked  to chose between giving their lives to God and embracing a life with less or living a life lived for yourself and full of  "things". Of course this is a general rule and not a hard and fast one as I've known Catholics who can have it both ways though there aren't very many.

I have a few antidotes for affluenza, one is to fold your height in laundry at Catholic charities, two would be another road trip to see how people really live and three someone's gonna find herself working in a soup kitchen.

*Disclaimer. Our activity director has taken superb care of his family and we though we live simply, we're  happy -except for my one teen.

Our Children

We're counting down the last remaining days until our little angels have to return to school.

Their squabbling has been too much and they've worn their parents out.

We've been through a lot this summer having had  no air conditioner

 and a couple of unsuccessful coupe attempts - for real and speaking for myself I've had enough.

While I was chauffeuring our children around town I spoke to my six year old son Joseph about a construction site we passed and I said that construction is good because people need places to live and to work so that they can survive and take care of their families, then he said to me, "No, that's not true, the earth is more important than people!"

WTH?
Who poisoned my sons thought process?

Elizabeth - our daughter came up to me and was obliviously moved by something so I asked her what was going on,  she replied "Dad said he liked my hair and  usually  when I dye or perm my hair  he gets upset with me. It meant a lot to me that he said something nice about it." I said , "What are you talking about?! Your dad loves you and accepts you for who you are and he's always been nice to you." She said, "Yeah, I know but I want him to love and accept me for the person  who I "Want" to be and not just for who I am."

*Parenting isn't for wimps.