Finding joy in Mexico

This will probably be my last posting of the month since we will be down visiting my husband's family in Mexico until January. I will try and update if we have any internet connection. Otherwise, I will be back in January with photos of our trip to share.

Prayer requests:

Safe trip
That we ALL find joy in the Mexican sunshine (even the teen)
That everyone gets along
That the baptism of the two littles goes well
That God brings us closer together as a family and to Him
That we would all be healthy

I pray for all of you this advent season- a season of peace, rejoicing in the birth of Christ and love. May the new year bring prosperity and happiness that only God can provide.

St Nicholas- joy found in the generosity of others

I decided this year, with our slight change to our our Christian faith (the conversion to Catholicism) we would celebrate St. Nicholas of Myra. I, for one, have never done "Santa Claus" with my kids, but we have played the game that when they wake up in the morning there were gifts that were not there the night before. We would also fill stockings full of goodies, but I had no idea where this tradition came from.

At Generations of Faith (family night at church) we learned a bit about St. Nick and since I did not have a book we decided to read together as a family from the official St. Nicholas website: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/. We also watched a small video on YouTube since it was late. I did buy the Veggie Tales St Nicholas movie for them to watch but since it was 45 minutes long, I decided they could watch it today-- on the actual day of his feast.

When they went to sleep I filled their shoes with traditional gifts (oranges, chocolate coins, and a candy cane) and I also gave each of them something fun for traveling. The teen got a kitty cat clock- he helped me pick out the original gifts and decided he could not live without this clock so we bought that, too. I put a picture of the teen's St Nick shoes on facebook but did not capture one with my Nikon as he is off to school long before I wake.

This was such a joyous morning- with simple gifts. Oh, and another small joy-- I got the gifts at Rite Aid where I get 20% off year round with the rewards and just found out that will go through 2012! Score! I hope you all have a wonderful day today.

Do you have any special traditions that you do for the Feast of St. Nicholas of Myra? I would love to know what others do since we are rather new to these traditions.

Sleepy Boys

I have been practicing with my camera settings and just found out that I will be taking a mini class in January to learn how to use my camera off of the "automatic" settings. I am so excited- but meanwhile, you can take a peek at my sleeping babes. The teen, of course, was playing x-box, I swear they never sleep. There is much joy found in a peaceful, quiet, sleepy night.

Birthday Party

Happy birthday, Minnie!!!

Happy birthday, David!!!

This past Sunday we had a party for my sister. It was a small family gathering but it was sooo much fun! We had curry coconut soup, caprese salad, dairy free artichoke dip with gluten free bread, and of course, Dad brought over some chicken strips and Jo-Jo's. The dessert was a delicious vegan pumpkin pie cheesecake and there was champagne and pinot grigio flowing. What a lovely day!!! Happy birthday, Minnie-- I love you so much and am so blessed to have you as my sister!! Also, Happy Birthday, David!!! :)

Grandpa D and A.
Mom giving Lobo some lovin'.

Goofy faces-- you will see that this is a theme. :) Minnie and Russell.

No party is complete without a game of twister!

Crazy faced me and my handsome husband.

Crazy faced sisters... this happens whenEVER we get together. The good news is that we did not watch YouTube this time. Otherwise, you get crazy faces and uncontrollable laughter!

Russell brought over some champagne to celebrate-- it was delicious. I really want to learn how to take great photos with my Nikon D5000 and get it off of the automatic settings, but meanwhile- this is what I can create.

Cheers!!!

I look waaaay too happy in the picture, but Kim and Dad look great so I thought I would take one for the team and post it anyhow.

Things l love today

During this whole month of November I have been writing thankful posts on Facebook. Since we are at the last day of November I thought I would recap some of my favorite things that I am thankful for:

~my health (I was very sick the entire month of April and never want to take my health for granted again).
~my family (my husband, the kids, my parents, my sisters- both bio and chosen)
~my friends
~having employment
~ability to go on a month long vacation with my husband and all of the kids (this was no small feat!)
~my new-found love for the Catholic faith that has made my relationship with Jesus so much more rich than it was
~knitting- I haven't had much time for this, but I LOVE knitting and I love organic yarns, nice knitting needles. I am so proud of myself that I have rarely purchased extra skeins and have even been blessing others with fancy yarn instead of feeding this addiction.
~Good books: some of my favorites right now are The Divine Hours and the Book of Common Prayer for Common Radicals (I think I got that name right). I am so thankful for reconnecting with Erin (and old friend from a forum years ago) who introduced me to these books. They are so enriching and I love the sacred tradition of praying at specific hours.





~Pinterest. There are so many projects and ideas on that website. It makes my heart happy, especially considering that I have actually MADE some of them!!
~New lipstick, new highlights and a new haircut. They just feel good!

What are you thankful for this year? Anything you hope to change next year? I am sure come January I will be posting resolutions as I have done in the past.

First day of finding joy

I have decided to start this blog to record and remember my journey towards faith, family and everything in between. I will start by introducing myself and the people most likely to be talked about on this blog. I am a 33 year old mother of 3 boys (T- almost 16, A- almost 8 and J- 4 years old). I have been married to my husband E or lovingly referred to as DH for 8 years and we have been together for 9 years. I work as a Registered Nurse part time, mostly working as a STAT nurse but also do Labor and Delivery, as well. I have recently decided to convert to Catholicism (that will be a post for another day) after being a Protestant (or a heathen, depending on the season ;)) for the majority of my life. I love to knit, read, spend time with my kids, and travel. We own a dog, 2 chickens and 4 goldfish. Here's to a great blog about my journey to a greater love of God, my family and simplicity.