Our Crazy Trip!

     Day 1: All 7 of us fly to NYC.  Papa Harville and Granny take the 5 kids to their house.  Ron and I fly to D.C. for Ron's theology conference.
     Day 2: Ron is at the conference, and I have a day at the National Gallery--heaven!
     Day 3: Ron and I fly drive to NYC in a rental car and meet the family.
     Day 4: After a brunch on Riverside with Leah and Hunter, the 7 of us go the Kennedy airport and board a plane to Rome.
     Day 5: We arrive in Rome!  We eat lunch at Sor Campana in Gandolfo and see the Hattlies and Scott Crider.
     Day 6: We spend the day in Rome: we go to Mass right under the window of the Holy Spirit in St. Peter's basilica; the family buys me a pair of shoes for my birthday. :)
    Day 7: We go into Rome again with Scott.  Ron and Scott prepare their walking tour, while the kids and I trek to the Trevi fountain,  the Pantheon, the KLK store where I buy a scarf, Sopra Minerva where we see the tombs of Fra Angelico and St. Catherine of Siena as well as the Michelangelo statue of Christ, the Gesu, the church of St. Ignatius, and the Spanish Steps.  That night we have a forno party with the president, the Reedy's, the Osbornes, the Hattlies, and so forth.
    Day 8: We all go to Nemi, where Scott, Ron, Jake and Clare trek to the temple of Diana, while Annie, Leigh, Mary and I shop at the lavender store and eat strawberry tarts and drink peppermint tea.   That night we go to Buci's with the Ripon folks.
    Day 9: We have a quiet day at the campus and I decide to go with a Catholic publisher instead of going main stream, as well as deciding to try to teach a class at UD next spring.   Our family eats Chinese food in Albano--very intriguing!
    Day 10: The students arrive and the program begins!

Feedback on Metaphysics of Motherhood

Hooray!  My spiritual director. Fr. Jerome, has read the whole manuscript and was so encouraging!  He said that it was a much needed text, very insightful and conversational, drawing the reader in.  He said that the parts on St. Teresa of Avila were accurate and engaging (he teaches Teresa regularly; he is a Carmelite).  He asked if I was ready to send it to a publisher--he said he was sure that it would get "scooped up" very quickly!
    So nice to hear!  That made my day!

Getting Excited!

   Somehow it just hit me: I got so excited about the little baby on the way!  It is always hard during pregnancy to imagine the actual baby; I am just living with all the symptoms of pregnancy.  But suddenly, it dawned on me: I am going to ADORE this little person!
   

Graduations Galore!

    Ron went to graduation at UD.  His semester will be over when he turns in his grades.
    The kids and I completed our school year on Friday, ending with the May Crowning for the Homeschooling Families of the Sacred Heart.
     And Ron bought me a graduation present--we keep talking about the baby's upcoming birth as my "graduation" from child-bearing.  He got me my gift early!  It was a real mood-mender: a car!
     It was the most lavish, impractical thing he could have done!  Before we were expecting, I had kept joking about how I would like to one day get a small car, like a Mini Cooper or some such car, just for me.  Then we found out our sixth child was on the way--so long, car!
     Well, the pregnancy has been very, very hard, both physically (so tired! so nauseous!) and psychologically (really, really hard to not be able to move forward with some of the things I had been wanting to do outside of child-bearing, rearing and education).  It felt like a real "Sacrifice of Isaac."  I cried A LOT.
    Then, lo and behold, Ron shows up with a CAR!  It spoke volumes.  I love my husband.  He is so incredibly loving.

Our Last Week of Homeschooling

   We are having such a great school week!  Even though I am more than ready to be finished, I am enjoying seeing ALL OUR PROGRESS!  We are having final tests in geography, math, and so forth.  I can hardly believe where we were last fall, and where we are today!  Hooray!

We Love Our New Church!

    We are so happy having moved to St. Rita's church in Dallas.  I finally realized why it is such a good fit for us: Ron and I spent such an important time of our lives at Fordham University, and St. Rita's is very much like that environment: Jesuit culture, excellent homilies, high liturgy and music, care of the poor, and lots of faithful, orthodox, pious Catholics sprinkled in among the more liberally-minded.  Not every person, and not every viewpoint, is my cup of tea.  But I find my niche, and the environment as a whole is just so familiar.
    Even though it is more of a drive for us, we are there almost every day--sometimes twice!

Leigh's First Communion

Horsepower in Motherhood

   It has come time for me to write and produce materials that might help someone else.  I feel such a strong need to do that!  The baby?  That has been a bit confusing: is having a baby going to slow me down?  Did God want that?  And so forth.  I've had lots of questions.
    I have finally come up with the answer that sits really well with me: God has given me lots of horsepower in my writing.  But He must want for me always to have even more horsepower in actual motherhood!  He gave me a new baby, just to keep actual motherhood at the forefront!

 

Metaphysics of Motherhood

    It has been a delight to get to bring my manuscript, Metaphysics of Motherhood, to a complete draft!  It has been a year in the making, and 10 years "in the praying."  I'm giving it to a few people now to look at, including my spiritual director and our priest.  What a relief to get that "done"!