Ann's Gratitude community today is about Redemptive beauty....."give thanks for a thing, even the ugly, exasperating, painful... makes it a gift."

Is that just awesome? I need to remember this everyday.

Because don't you know, I have more than my fair share of "ugly" to give thanks for...

25 our sandy, crumby, dirty floors

26 clothes piles..... on the living room chair, the bedroom floor, the rocking chair, the hallway, the garage, the bed....

27 heads that need haircuts

28 insatiable appetites

29 dusty shelves

30 hidden dirty dishes

31 sweaty coach embraces

32 toys, balls, sidewalk chalk, bases and bikes scattering lawn and driveway

Him in all things....even here in our mess

-join me on my journey to 1,000 gifts

Reminder

Sometimes I'll find a corner bent down in an old magazine of an article that taught me something that I wanted to remember. Or my eyes will fall on the spine of a book and the title reminds me of the story and the beauty of that truth I found inside. And those reminders redirect me in a way. Redirect my perception, shift what I see and how I act or react.

Sunday dinner all of us together eating and I speak up. I felt ragged. All the things we try to squeeze into those two days leaves me less than rested. I speak words to all those here. "We are a family. And sharing this space requires everyone and that it is a service to the family not to me." They listen. Heads nodding in agreement.

Tuesday comes and two girls have running fevers and noses and want to be held close to mama all day. When older kids roll in with late afternoon, I ask and instruct their help. It is met with fits and protest and I say go. Gathered around family table for dinner again I remind. What happened to the family unity? What happened to all that was agreed on two days ago? Coach enters conversation, asks, "why did you not help?" And blame turns form one to the other before we cut them off. I remind them again. Of our expectations and what being a family is. Sacrifices. Helping. Work. When we all do our part we all benefit not as individuals but as a family. Because what are we if we are all just living for ourselves? Living as a family is hard. Especially in this world we are in. Where we are fed a constant diet of self serving. But family is "others" serving.

Reminding. I need to be reminded to remind. Not to nag and shout and punish. Remind because we all need a reminder to reset, refresh reboot our thinking.

Today we all stayed in. I was cooking dinner listening to an older brother read stories to his two youngest sisters and I hear him say this is my favorite story.

And I think how can I remind myself of this years and years from now?

Grateful for Gifts Received

14-arguments that have resolutions

15-Son including sister

16-a cleaned out garage

17-spontaneous lullaby singing to sleepy girls (words coming out of a memory I didnt know I had)

18-waking up to a shining sun...extra time

19-the way the candle makes me feel like it is Fall

20-the offering

21-tears at Mass: the Spirit making contact

22-grace in holding it together

23-persistent friends

join Ann's gratitude community with me and start your own journey to 1000 gifts of gratitude.

Halloween we were invited once again to our friends the Murphy's for trick-or-treating and fun.
What a difference a year makes..Momo ran up to the door with all the other kids and held out her bag for treats and Ana was not shy either. We had such a nice time and we are so thankful for our friends.

Madi and Ana 4 years old
Momo lost her dropped hot dog to a dog. Tried to take another kids hotdog which ended in tears...and then finally got another one..all is right again in the world.

Fairy Princesses

At the close of last night, the last night of October I was looking up at that big harvest moon in the dark sky.

For some reason the works of Mercy came to mind. Maybe because I had thought about the hotdogs my friend Lisa handed out to some hungry trick-or-treaters. (Give food to the hungry) It lead me to think about how I as a mother am called on to live these works of Mercy every day in my home and life. To be honest, thinking of these works of mercy is actually an answer to prayer. Because lately I have been exhausted by my life. Exhausted by all that needs to be done and exhausted by the needs themselves. I think God wanted me to see with a different perspective why those needs are actually bigger than what they seem to be. Kind of like that big glowing moon in the dark sky.

Feed the hungry : planning, buying and preparing 3 meals a day and snacks.

Give drink to the thirsty : how many sippy cups do you fill a day?

Clothe the naked : this includes collecting, washing, drying, folding and putting away the naked people's clothes

Shelter the homeless : and try to keep that home clean and organized

Visit the sick : especially late at night..to clean up puke or sit in a steamy bathroom, keep vigil over a fever or just hold and rock and rock and rock.

Visit those in prison: prisons of misunderstandings and loneliness count too

Bury the dead : dead arguments, wrongs and mistreatment

Convert the sinner: me included

Instruct the ignorant: explaining over and over and over why why why

Counsel the doubtful: Trust me I do have a little more experience than you. Learn from my mistakes

Comfort the sorrowful: Hurts of the flesh and hurts of the spirit ....wounds that are so hard to heal...

Bear wrongs patiently: "No its really ok you worried me so sick about you"...."I'm sorry you don't like the dinner I prepared you...""Sure I wont embarrass you in front of your friends"

Forgive injuries: Pray for the living and the dead: always my life line I don't know what I would do without prayer.

See why I am exhausted? It seems like such a tall order as soon as my feet hit the floor every morning. But every act counts for something. Whether we feel like it does or not.

Every act an action of Mercy.

A good friend's facebook update this week:

"if life were easy heaven would be a tough act to follow"

Words that remind me to embrace this life and keep up the fight.

Then at Mass today, remembering all my family and friends that have passed yet still with me renewed my hope again that I am being prayed for even as I feel I am failing. I am being lifted up. A light in a dark sky.

God Bless you all and Happy All Souls Day...

Flip Flops

I know most of you are not in "flip flop" mode because your weather is all crisp and cool. But here in Florida it is always flip flop weather.


I have mentioned my friend Virginia here before, she is the talented creative woman from Brazil that brightens my Tuesday afternoons. Today, she brought some of her handiwork to show me and I liked them so much I asked her if I could tell everyone about them.

Of course she agreed.

Take a look.

These are all hand beaded by her and I think they are so cute. I have the blue ones.

She is selling them for $25.00

-if you want a pair of these one of a kind flip flops leave me a comment.

Our wonderful Weekend with Marvin the Monkey

Ana brought Marvin and a big smile home on Friday afternoon.

It was a perfect weekend for us to have Marvin stay with us because it was homecoming and we had a very busy weekend planned.

The first thing Ana did was take Marvin on a ride on her new Princess bike. He fit in the basket perfectly.



I think Marvin had a great time crusing with Ana. He really liked Ana's baby sister Monica (Momo).

Next we were off to the Homecoming football game. Marvin met the King and Queen and they even agreed to take a picture with him!

Marvin had a great time hanging out he hula hooped....hung out with friends and was good luck at the game.

The Stallions won 61-7.

On Saturday morning after french toast we headed to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.

We had so much fun at the Pumpkin Patch. Marvin was a great sport he let us take so many pictures of him.










After the pumpkin patch Marvin wanted to watch some college football with Ana's brother Cade. Who knew Marvin loved football so much!

Ana wanted to show Marvin around so she took him on a car ride around the house.


Later that night we took Marvin to a Haunted House at our Church and he had a great time playing games and winning treats. He even went in the Haunted House with Ana's sister Camryn. but Ana waited for him outside...she wasn't as brave.





Sunday Morning Marvin had pancakes with Ana then it was off to Church.
He took turns sitting with everyone.

Then we enjoyed Sunday Dinner with Marvin.

After baths we read books and got ready for bed.

We sure hope Marvin had a good time at our house. We sure will miss him. He fit in so well with our family. He is welcome to stay with us anytime he wants.

Prevent Swine Flu - Good Advice

I got this in an e-mail and it is some of the best advice I have heard.

I wish I would've gotten this to my sister...all four of her kids got H1N1. But thank goodness they are recovering well. Pass this on you can link to it and send in e-mails or post on your blogs. Also, I am a big believer in the Juice Plus me and the kids take. They are like eating 7-19 servings of fruits and vegetables a day which translates into antioxidants and nutrients our bodies desperatly need to have the ability to fight disease.

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):


1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the- face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap a mosquito).

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.

5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablet s, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.