Melt your Heart

   Clare's 8th birthday party--oh, I love 8 year olds!  They are so sweet and confident at the same time.
Here are 12 giggling girls, laughing at the wind blowing out the birthday candles:

So precious!  I pray that Clare has a blessed year!  God be with her!

Kimmy's Cabinet

    I bought this unfinished china cabinet 13 years ago--when I was pregnant with Jacob.  It has taken me all this time to paint it!  But finally, this was my chance.  So the girls and I grabbed it!  Four colors later, it turned out--it is more turquoise than this picture shows.  I love it!  It is next to AB's painted cheese board--I love AB.  On the other side is a chalkboard that I got in downtown Covington--my favorite spot on earth.  I love Covington and all my friends there!
    As we painted, I offered it all up for Kimmy, who is going through a challenging situation.  To me, it will always be "Kimmy's cabinet," the physical presence of my ongoing prayer for God to triumph in Kim's life and in all her endeavors!

Impressionists

Here are four masterpieces in the works!
     A Renoir. . .

    A Manet. . .

   A Van Gogh. . . .

   And a Mickey Mouse!

Leigh Loading the Dishwasher

   Here is Leigh's first attempt ever at loading a dishwasher:

     I'd hate to see all the broken pottery if she had actually run it like that!
     And this is the sink, after she announced that the kitchen was "clean."

 
She really is trying, though!  She has a great attitude!

Leigh's Growing Up

    Leigh is growing up.  A year ago, I was remorseful that she would--she was so darned cute.
    But I am entirely surprised--she is all the more delightful as she gets older.
    Yesterday the girls and I pained for hours.  At the end of it, I announced that I was done for the day, and they would have to finish their masterpieces tomorrow.
    I knew that Leigh would have preferred to keep painting, but nevertheless she declared, "Well allll-right, then!  Thaaaaaaaaank you, Moooooom!!!!"  Her adult matter-of-factness was a shocker, and it melted my heart.
    She is also the most earnest of all the kids in evening family prayer.  She really waxes on quite adamantly: "THANK YOU, SO much, Lord, for AAAAAALLLLLLLL that you DID for us today!!!"  Gosh, it is sweet.
 

SAT phones

     Satellite phones, or SAT phones, can place a call from any spot, no matter how remote, on the earth.
     My dear husband needs one of those--give him five minutes, and he has hit a wilderness trail!  He is off with Jake, taking him on a "coming of age" 12th birthday trek through the Sangre de Christi mountains.
     I made him get a SAT phone, or something like it, so as to be able to call a ranger or emergency help, if one of them gets injured.
     I do not know whether to be excited and proud of them, or terrified!
     Regardless, I will spend the week at home with the girls painting, gardening, going through photographs, preparing for homeschooling, and writing.  I love times like these!

Sisters and Brothers

   Sisters are so important!!
   So good to see Kimmy today!
   Ken went on a run with Ken this morning--which promptly put Ron back in bed! :)  They are training for a marathon together.

   What a blessing they are in our lives!  Boy, I love ALL my sisters and brothers.  Goodness, how important they all are to me!

Lisieux

    The real reason we went to France was to go on pilgrimage to Lisieux.  We got to go to the monastery in which St. Therese of Lisieux spent her years as a nun.  We spent the day there, praying and talking with the kids about her.
    We named Annie "Anne Therese" because of Therese of Lisieux.  Therese is a doctor of the Church.  She is acclaimed as having stated wisdom that far exceeds normal wisdom.  Her main message is that what God appreciates and values is not great things, but rather even the smallest of things, done with great love.  This is a statement, reflecting and exposing the heart of the Gospel, that has profoundly shaped my life.
    Therese also states things in a most extraordinary way.  She talks about loving Jesus in a way that takes my breath away.  It would be scandalous if it were not so perfect.  She says, for example, that Jesus wearies of hearing our cries and then watching us walk away.  Instead, she wants to be the person who loves Him better than anyone on earth.  So, she says, she will love Him, take care of Him, and not dump her miseries on Him.  She will be a person whom He can take comfort and repose in.  This is almost wrong to my mind--but the truth in it is more than profound.
    Years ago, Ron and I wrote our own novena to Therese, asking for the job at the University of Dallas.  The job was unlikely to get, by a long shot.  When Ron got it, we have always thanked God and attributed Therese's prayers for us as the probable cause.
    Furthermore, the University of Dallas is what brought us to Rome.  We would never, ever have made a trip like that except for it being a work trip for Ron.  So, to say thank you both to God and to Therese for her prayers that made all this possible, we traveled to Lisieux.  Oh, what a joy!!
   For me, it was a powerful prayer experience to be there.  It was shocking--they say that to go on pilgrimage, blessings can be given by God to the one who has labored to arrive at the holy site.  Goodness, this proved to be true for me.  My prayer life has been quite transformed by the visit.  A huge block that I had has been removed, and peace of a certain kind given.
    God wants us to have good friends, holy friends.  God wants us to stick close to His people.  They rub off on us, and we become like the company we keep.  Being friends with Therese is one of the best things about our life.  It is the smartest thing we can do for ourselves!
    Thank you, God, for your holy people who show us how to love you better!
    Happy Feast of Mt. Carmel (one day late)!

More Highlights from the City of Lights

Notre Dame--"Our Lady" at the center of the rose window, and at the center of the city!

St. Andre des Arts, my favorite street.

St. Chapelle--my very favorite!  It would be worth buying a new camera lenses just to photograph this chapel!

Ron included street art in his art/literature class this summer--and we saw Space Invader two times, both on the Seine!

I love the mussels in the brasseries!  But we usually ate baguettes and ham that we carried around in Jake's backpack.

Cotton candy at the Eiffel Tower--Ron took the older ones up at midnight one night!

The Musee d'Orsay, in an old train station.

We spent plenty of time in trains of the underground sort!

Ron and I took our honeymoon in Paris.  Here is where we stayed--now back, 15 years later with five children!

     That says it all, in a way.  Where are we in life?  What have we done, and where are we going?  This week we got a glorious chance to have this highlight, celebrating our family's life and growth, our love of God, each other, and this extraordinary world in which we live.  May we contribute to it, enrich it, pray for all that is in in, and give thanks for it!

    We were there on Bastille Day--what a birthday for Clare, to be there on that day!!
    I took her and Mary to the parade on the Champs Elysees--what we mothers do for our children (I loathe parades)! :)
    The fireworks at the Eiffel Tower were truly amazing to watch, since it was for us a once in a lifetime event!
    We took Clare to the Galleries Lafayette and got her some casual dresses.  It was a BLAST.  She loved it.  Many of us also got parisienne hats and a pair of shoes from street vendors.  That was really fun.  So by the end of the day, Clare was decked out in a hat, dress and shoes!  She was positively adorable!
 

Who wouldn't want these as their birthday cake??

A birthday of a lifetime!

Happy birthday, Clare!!!!!!  We love you!!!!!!

Art and Pleasure in Paris

    We went to the Musee D'Orsay.  Oh, what a highlight of my life!  I told the kids I would give them one Euro for any painting that they could identify, either by name or by artist.  There were a surprising number of Euros earned!
    As we walked through, I explained the occasional painting and artist.  Short and lively descriptions.  A mother and child asked if they could tag along because the girl liked the explanations!  I thought I could make videos for children--that would be FUN!!
    By the end of the tour through the museum, our kids were actually describing to me their favorite paintings and what they saw the artist doing.  It was positively wonderful, seeing them engage with the art in an active, intelligent way!
    Oh, the bookshop!  The postcards!  So much fun.  This museum visit encapsulated so much of what I wanted to accomplish as a mother.  I saw it right before my eyes!  After a dinner in a brasserie, I could have gone home happy!

Paris

   When we made our plans for the Summer Rome Program this year, knowing that it could well be the last year of the program, we decided to fly into Rome but out of Paris--so that we could make a visit to Paris and show our children France.  Since going from Rome to Paris seemed something like going from Oklahoma to Idaho, it felt smart to take that one chance to give our kids, and ourselves, such a great gift.  As it turned out, it was a little bigger of a deal than going from Oklahoma to Idaho--and going anywhere with 5 kids and lots of bags is a big deal in an of itself!--but it was well worth it and the trip of a lifetime!
     We took an overnight train from Rome to Paris.   There was an arrest of a man just 2 berths down from us at the border for not having his documents!  Very intriguing!
     We canceled our hotel reservation --the cheapest we could find was still quite expensive--for an apartment you could rent by the week.  The apartment was just like the apartments Ron and I had in the Bronx for grad school--they even smelled the same.  It was quite a savings--but at the expense of having no phone, no internet, no concierge, no help getting things like taxis to the airport or shampoo.  But the apartment was literally next to a metro station, and so we had excellent transport into town, and it had a kitchen, and so we saved a bundle on making lots of meals for ourselves.  If i had to do it over again, I would do the same, except get international phone service on cell phones so as to be able to use them.
     What fun it was--gaie Paris!

Leaving Rome Today

We have had such a wonderful 6 weeks here!  Oh, what a blessing for our whole family.  God, thank you for building our family up in this most extraordinary way!

Porto Santo Stafano

   We just took a vacation on an island off the coast of Tuscany called Monte Argentario.  The port town we stayed in was called Porto Santo Stefano.  It was dreamy!

   The port town--so quaint!

Our favorite beach--Aqua Dolce!

So relaxing to be there as a family.  

This is how we all felt! 

Jake is such an outdoors guy.  

Such a beautiful sea town.

Beach kids, par excellence!