We like to sing around here...

but put us in front of someone who is not in our immediate family and you will never hear a peep out of us. Oh, we sing all right. All day long we sing. Silly songs, Signing Time songs, Vacation Bible School songs (our most recent CD). But my children will not sing in front of anyone, besides Ryan and I, and sometimes not even us if put on the spot. My future theologian, J, told me that St. Augustine said that singing is like praying twice. Well, I like that. And I was happy when I checked my email and saw that there was a link to one of my favorite songs from the women's retreat I attended a few months back and a pdf of the lyrics. The song is called Hymn to Our Mother with the words and lyrics by John Gomez and performed by Raffy Urgino. I have good memories of this song. Enjoy! Here is the link:

http://www.jesusdivineword.org/files/HymntoourMother.mp3

And here are the lyrics:

Hymn To Our Mother
Words and Music by John Gomez

Lying still in your bed, when a light came shining through
You awoke and opened your eyes to find, an angel looking at you
You were frightened but you remained still
You had Faith and your heart was Spirit-filled
You are chosen, You are blessed, because to the Lord you said yes

REFRAIN:
Mother of Mercy, Mother of Hope
And to you we entrust our souls
You are the sweetness
that always purifies
Pray for us now ‘till the hour we die

You answered His call
And felt the pain unfold
And sorrow filled you up inside
Turning warmth into cold
A sword has pierced you,
deep within your heart
Holding Him, your world was torn apart
By His death, He gave us life
And peace through you mother of Christ

BRIDGE:
Body and soul you were lifted up
Crowned Queen of Heaven above
You shall reign forever
In unity and in Love (Refrain)

33

Today is my birthday. I am 33 years old. Ryan teases me and calls me his "old lady". I am 1 month (5 weeks!) older than him, and he doesn't let me forget it.

I'd like to review my past year. I like this blogging thing, because I'll be able to look back on all of this - this season of my life. Last year on my birthday, I was pregnant with B, my 6th baby. We enjoyed a full summer, much like this one is turning out to be. Spending a lot of time outdoors, camping, Park Quest, birthdays!!! The difference is last summer, I was having a difficult time walking, due to the pregnancy and yet I pressed on. Little E turned 1 last year and he quickly had to become big brother a month later when Baby B was born in September. Aunt J started coming over and helping us with our homeschool. Then we welcomed our new niece, baby D, shortly after in October.

Another autumn came upon us, another year of homeschool passed us, and a new year of homeschool began. We have settled into a nice homeschool co-op, and have met some wonderful families. I finally feel like I belong and my children can relate with other children doing the same things as them. For a very long time, I didn't know what kind of Mother I was. I didn't feel like I belonged in public school, I didn't agree with the teachers, among other things! I never meshed with Catholic school, either. I often felt that there were cliques and a sort of pettiness that I could never embrace. I finally feel like we are home with homeschooling. I am Blessed to have found other bloggers to learn from and who share a part of my vision for homeschool.

Advent and Christmas came and went, but with a newfound fire for our Catholic Faith.

I attended an interesting women's retreat and came home looking through different eyes. I can never go back.

We Marched for Life in MD!

We've become more active in our Parish with CHA Cafe, Elizabeth Ministry, Faith Formation, Weekday Mass, Blaze, and now lectoring and altar serving. We've gotten to know our Parish Priest, Fr. K, better and will continue to do so.

Lent was observed and Easter was celebrated.

We Cached across MD!!

All in all, it has been a Blessed year and I am looking forward to what is in store for this year!

The most important thing I have learned this year is that things don't happen in my time, only in God's time, and I find myself repeating over and over again what my homeschool friend and fellow blogger, Sam, says in her posts - "Thy Will Be Done!"

Unfortunately, over the years, I have learned what our culture has become and that is the desire for a quick fix and instant gratification. I am just now learning that only God knows when events will happen in my life and there are 4 things that I know that I will never be able to "check off".

The first is a routine. This is something that changes based on the children and their needs, especially my babies! As soon as I get a routine down, something changes, and luckily I can adjust but I know it is not in MY time.

The second is our future house. I can picture it, and pray for it, but only God knows when we will be able to move. The only thing I can do is pray, and make sure that this house is tidy and liveable for our needs.

The third is weight loss! I struggle with this and only God knows when it will be time to dedicate myself to this goal.

The fourth is my Catholic faith. Will I ever be satisfied to have my knowledge of my religion neatly tied up and topped with a bow? Will I ever be able to have "knowledge of faith" checked off? I think not. I hope not.

So, I just keep going. Keep learning. Keep living. I am grateful for my life.

Vacation Bible School ~ 2009

We had a wonderful week at VBS, and now we have to wait a WHOLE YEAR until we can go back. I finally took my camera on the last day, and was able to snap some photos. Of course, since I was in the nursery with my little boys, I have a lot of photos of them at "school" playing, singing, snacking, and crafting. I was able to snap some of J while she was making and eating her snack, but I didn't have time to get any photos of B and R, we never crossed paths yesterday! I was able to get some video (although terrible), that maybe Ryan can clean up and edit and post on here at a later date. As for now, enjoy the slideshow!

Small Successes~6/25/09

1. When we got home Sunday, I immediately threw all of our wet laundry into the washing machine! As of today, all camp laundry is done!

2. Vacation Bible School began on Monday. This one is a big success...let me tell you about it! I've been waking at 6 a.m. every day this week, getting the kids ready to leave by 8-8:15 a.m. We all have to wear a certain t-shirt that was handed out on the first day, so that must be washed the night before. R is helping with B's K group. He is a "camp counselor". (There is a camp theme this year!) J is in the grade 4 group. THEN, I take S, E, and B to the nursery and help out there until 12:15 or so.

3. Last night, I attended a meeting at CHA led by a group that is interested in having an "Amazing Race" for the middle-schoolers and high-schoolers in October. Ryan and I brainstormed beforehand and came up with a list of "challenges" that the children would be required to do. I can't reveal any, because I don't want R to see what some of the challenges will be!

Go check out more Small Successes at Faith & Family Live!

Ya Got Any Free???

Katie over at Blessed with Full Hands has a great give-away today! Go check it out!!!

Park Quest 2009 - Deep Creek Lake

From the Park Quest website:

Bears, Butterflies and Buffers?

What do these things have in common? Your Park Quest, should you choose to accept it, is to find out! This Quest will take you throughout Deep Creek Lake State Park via easy to moderate trails and will take about 1 ½ hours to complete. Using GPS technology, follow the coordinates provided and find the points that give you the clues to complete a puzzle. Find the pieces, complete the picture, and bring it back to the Discovery Center to finish your quest and earn your Passport stamp.

Our experience:

We camped for the weekend here at DCL and worked on this challenge in the late afternoon after visiting Swallow Falls and having lunch back at our campsite. We checked in to the Discovery Center just before 5 and the kids spent some time exploring this well stocked and informative nature center. Their favorite things to see were the live snake, turtles, and giant bullfrog. The center was closing soon but the staff member gave us the info sheets to use with our own GPS units. We planned on finishing the challenge then and returning the next day to get our passport stamped. We are a family of geocachers so we are familiar with finding our way with a GPS unit. The 2 big kids each had one and they led the way to the 4 marking stations. The hollow log at stage 1 and the Bear trap at stage 4 were cool. We were tired from a long day of Questing and Camping so afterwards we went back to camp for dinner and bed. We enjoyed our time here at DCL, and as usual the staff were friendly and helpful.

Pictures below are from our campsite and us working on the PQ challenge:

Park Quest 2009 - Swallow Falls State Park

From the Park Quest website:

A River Runs Through It

While completing your Quest at Swallow Falls State Park you will enjoy the park’s scenic beauty and learn about the history and ecology of this unique area. This Quest will require you to hike over a trail that follows a wild and scenic river and to answer the questions that may be found at the end of this web page. This moderately difficult trail is narrow at some locations with a stairway climb at the end, and there are rocks and other trail hazards you will need to be aware of and prepare for. The trail is approximately 1.15 miles in length and will take about 1 to 1.5 hours to complete. Along the way are trail signs and markers that will assist you in answering the questions that will help you understand why this area is so unique. Once you have finished your hike and answered all the questions, you can report to the Park Office and get your Passport stamped!

Our experience:

We visited Swallow Falls SP on Saturday while enjoying a nice camping weekend at Deep Creek Lake. This is probably our favorite park of all of the Park Quest Challenges so far! The waterfall was amazing and we really enjoyed hiking along the river seeing the smaller falls and the balancing rock. We got rained on towards the end of the hike but it didn't bother us as we were really enjoying our time in the park. Some of the challenge questions were simple enough for our younger ones to figure out and and the big kids solved the rest. This well maintained park made learning fun.

Park Quest 2009 - Western Maryland Rail Trail

From the Park Quest Website:

The Path of History

The Western Maryland Rail Trail (WMRT) begins approximately one-half mile west of historic Fort Frederick State Park and winds along the Potomac River for 22.5 miles, through rolling farmland, woodlands, and rural towns to its terminus at the southern slope of Sideling Hill Ridge. The trail is popular for hiking, biking, jogging and skating, and the easy grade and paved surface make this path ideal for families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities (the trail is very wheelchair friendly) to enjoy a trek outside. Your Quest on the Western Maryland Rail Trail is to bike (or walk) a section of the trail and to answer a series of questions and take rubbings of letters that you will later unscramble. This 9.2 mile round-trip journey will take approximately 1.5 to 2 hours for a family on bikes to complete.

Our experience:

This was our first time biking on the WMRT and we really enjoyed it. The staff at the Bike shop were very friendly and they got us set up with two adult bikes with tow-behind trailers for our 4 youngest and two kids bikes for our 2 oldest. The weather was nice but a bit buggy when we would stop to read the info boards. The big kids would race up ahead when the spotted the info boards and be ready to answer the question when we pulled up after them. It was neat learning the history of the canal and the long gone industries that used to thrive here.

Small Successes~6/18/09

1. Ryan and I had a kid-free 24 hours starting Saturday evening. We really couldn't decide what to do. Dinner and movie? Night out with the gang? (My gang=my cousins. Cousins: you are now my Gang.) Ryan actually had a kid-free 36 hours, because he had gone geocaching, and I met him for drinks with him and his geocaching buddies afterwards. We decided to meet the "Gang" downtown (that's Annapolis, folks), and have WAY too much fun. We ended up going on a date, sorta, on Sunday. The dinner? Turned into lunch with part of our Gang, J. The movie? A huge success. The 2 of us saw The Hangover, which is the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. Non-stop laughter. So glad we didn't wait for Netflix. All-in-all, fun was had. Thank you, M&P!

2. We have been preparing all week for our EXTREME CAMPING FATHER's DAY WEEK-END. I let Ryan take the reins on this one. It is Father's Day and all. This means 4 Park Quests and 2 nights of tent camping. EXTREME to the MAX. Dude.

3. We have been trying to implement a new school schedule, thanks to the inspirational talks I listened to at the IHM Homeschool Conference. One speaker in particular, Mrs. Virginia Seuffert, spoke about "Making Homeschooling Easier". She stressed that we must be on a daily schedule. So the past couple of weeks we've been starting our school at 9, stopping at 12 for lunch, and then school from 1-3 and we are done. There is more to it, and hopefully I can write a new blog post about it in more detail in the future. For now, we are cleaning the house so I can come home from EXTREME CAMPING to a clean (somewhat?) house.

Go check out more Small Successes at Faith & Family Live!

HERE I AM!

I've heard this song (Here I Am) on our local Christian radio station, and everytime the group, downhere, starts singing the chorus, I get very emotional. Listen to the video as you read the lyrics below!

Sometimes your calling, comes in dreams
Sometimes in comes in the Spirit's breeze,
You reach for the deepest hope in me,
And call out for the things of eternity.

But I'm a man, of dust and stains,
You move in me, so I can say,

CHORUS:
Here I am, Lord send me,
All of my life, I make an offering,
Here I am, Lord send me,
Somehow my story, Is a part of your plan,
Here I am

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans,
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands,
Are you not the closest when it's hardest to stand?
I know that you will finish what you began.

These broken parts you redeem,
Become the song, that I can sing

Here I am, Lord send me,
All of my life, I make an offering,
Here I am, Lord send me,
Somehow my story, Is a part of your plan,
Here I am

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness,
And the fear that I'll fail you in the end,
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,
I can't put this together but you can.

Here I am, Lord send me,
I wanna live my life as an offering
Here I am, Lord send me,
Somehow my story, Is part of your plan,
Here I am

Here I am, all my life an offering to you, to you
Somehow my story, Is a part of your plan,
Here I am

Small Successes~6/11/09

1. I registered my girls to play soccer in the fall! Yeah!

2. Yesterday, I took the kids out geocaching, to the park, and I picked up R's new glasses.

3. I went to a planning meeting/dinner for the CHA Cafe last night. We are planning our upcoming schedule for the next year. The cafe is a social gathering that is made up of anyone who would like to take part in discussing our Faith and fellowship. We gather on Wed. evenings while the children are at their Faith Formation classes. We have book clubs, listen to speakers on various faith-related subjects, or play a game of bible trivia. They have child-care available, too! Before I left the restaurant, I got my husband a to-go order and picked up a bottle of wine to have with his dinner!

Go check out more Small Successes at Faith & Family Live!

It's O.K.

Rifling through an old tote bag of "things": books on Faith that I haven't finished (will I ever?), a journal, several pens of different colors, a packet of prayers that I received on a women's retreat, gum, a rosary, a necklace with a single "calming stone" (I forget which!), tissues. "Things" that have become important to me, that have helped me grow in my Faith. I keep them in this old tote bag and it sits by the front door, gathering dust. Ready to go at a moments notice, when I can leave the house alone, without purpose. And it sits, another day gone by, another week, another month. And it's O.K.

The Simple Woman's Daybook~6/9/09

FOR TODAY 6/9/09...

Outside my window...
71 degrees, high of 86 degrees with scattered thunderstorms

I am thinking...
of all of the things I need to do today

I am thankful for...
better sleep the past couple of days.

From the learning rooms...
Still chugging along with our lessons.

From the kitchen...
Sausage sandwiches tonight, and 2 batches of brownies. 1 for us, and 1 for a Church family.

I am creating...
I would like to celebrate our Saints Feast Days more over the summer, so I am planning more books, picnics, and recipes with my daughters!

I am going...
to the dollar store with 6 kids today!

I am reading...
Magnificat and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I am hoping...
my Baby B gets all better soon. We took him to the dr. on Sunday afternoon and he has a cold, but he has also gotten thrush! He is taking a nasty medicine for the thrush.

I am hearing...
E stepped up on a stepstool, looked at me and said "Eh Big!"

Around the house...
I still need to incorporate Everyone's help with our spring cleaning list. This is difficult, with kids underfoot, and also trying to keep at our routines.

One of my favorite things...
A "date" with Ryan. Almost all of the kids asleep, one laptop plugged in downstairs with a new movie from netflix(there was a sleeping child in our bed, and the crib in our room, so we didn't want to wake them by turning on the t.v. in our room), and 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream (Mint Chocolate Cookie and Cherry Garcia).

A few plans for the rest of the week:
today I need to deliver a meal for a family from Church, tomorrow I have a Church meeting to go to (at a restaurant), Thursday is a Mom's night out at Sam's. Friday is a homeschool conference that I would like to go to, but I don't know how likely that is going to happen! I went to the same one 2 years ago, and came back renewed. Saturday is a Women's tea at Reynolds Tavern, that is being hosted by CHA, and we will be discussing a parishioner's new novel: Receive Me Falling! I know, it sounds like an unusual amount of "me time", but oh well! It just worked out that way this week!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Go check out more at The Simple Woman's Daybook!

Park Quest 2009 - Washington Monument State Park

From the Park Quest website:

It’s Monumental!

Your Quest at Washington Monument State Park is two-fold:

1. To explore this hidden little park located between Middletown and Boonsboro (on the crest of South Mountain on the Frederick and Washington County line) and solve a puzzle; and
2. To take digital photos that will be considered for use in the 2010 South Mountain Recreation Area Adventure Guide.

The very first monument completed in honor of George Washington is the crown jewel of the park; find out why the townspeople of Boonsboro picked the top of South Mountain to build a memorial to our first president on the 4th of July, 1827. Climb a spiral staircase inside the monument to get to the open air top for great views east and west, and remember to look up to spot hawks flying over. The Appalachian Trail, or the A.T. as most hikers call it, runs right through the park. This 2,174 mile long trail is America’s very first National Scenic Trail and links Georgia to Maine; we’re located at approximately the halfway mark. Remember, if you hike on the A.T., it is not a loop trail; you must turn around on the trail to come back to your car. You can stop by the park museum to learn more about the monument and the Battle of South Mountain, a Civil War battle that took place nearby. We can also give you directions for a driving tour of the battlefield area.

Our experience:

Birding at Seneca Creek took longer than we expected so we didnt get here until 4pm. The friendly volunteer at the museum let us give it a try anyway and offered to stay past 5 (when he was supposed to leave) if we needed some extra time and help. We were thankful for the short hike and the kids liked running ahead to collect the info from the sign posts. Dad and the 4 big kids plus the baby on his back climbed to the top to see the amazing view while Mom stayed down with our almost 2 y.o. to collect the remaining answers. We finished up and made it back down to the parking lot just before 5. We would of liked to stay longer but we really enjoyed the brief time we had here. We will definitely have to come back soon! Our camera battery died at Seneca Creek so we didn't get any pics of the monument, except for these three cell phone pics.

Park Quest 2009 - Seneca Creek State Park

From the Park Quest website:

Birding Trail

The Quest at Seneca Creek State Park involves a special bird watching expedition in our day use area. Park Quest participants will use binoculars to find wild birds in their natural habitats or, alternatively, to find pictures of birds that frequent the area placed in their natural habitats. These birds will be sought out from six different stations located in our day use area where participants will record and identify any live birds spotted. Your skills as a birder will be awakened and sharpened by this Quest, and you will discover Seneca’s great diversity of life that may lie just outside of your normal field of vision. Once you have visited all six stations and recorded the birds you have seen, remember to return to the Boat Center to get your Passport stamped.

Our experience:

This was our first time Birding, and we had a great time! This is a wonderful park that we got to enjoy on a nice day after the past few days of heavy rain. As usual the park staff was very friendly and helpful. We got a later start than we hoped for (getting all 6 kids ready and in the van is rough) so we pretty much missed the prime bird watching hours of the morning. But luckily for us the decoy birds were easily spotted and we had fun figuring out what kind they were. Besides the decoys, we also spotted the following real birds: Bluejays, Baltimore Oriole, Grey Catbird, Barn Swallows, and a Common Grackle. Thanks for introducing us to Birding!

7 down, 7 to go!

Small Successes ~ 6/4/09

1. Started tackling our spring cleaning list again. Monday we worked on our dressers. I had the children clean off the tops and wipe them down, while I dug out most of their pants and long sleeves to put away for a few months. I had 2 bags to give away, a bag to put up in the attic, and a small bag of nice things for our niece, D. I cleaned off our dressers, (aren't we cute? we share dressers) but still need to go through our clothes. It's hard to do when there are 1 or 2 kids napping in our room!

2. We had our Pastor over for dinner Tuesday night! Ryan cooked a dinner similar to this one, once again he outdid himself. He changed it slightly by making a blue cheese butter (my favorite!) to put on the MEAT. Thanks to Fr. Leo's recipe, it turned out so good. We had fed the kids before Fr. K got here, but they still swarmed around us while we were trying to eat and talk. He has been at our Parish for almost 1 year, and it was fun getting to know him outside of Church. We prepped the house Tuesday during the day for Fr. K's arrival. Among my usual cleaning, I also stacked the books neatly on the bookshelf. Although today you can't tell that I did that!

3. Last week I made appts. for eye dr. and dentist. We had 3 eye dr. appt.'s on Monday, and our 4 dental appt.'s are in July. On Monday, we found out R's left eye has gotten worse (he is near-sighted), so we ordered his new glasses and lenses. J's eyes are the same as last year, dr. said she is also a little near-sighted, and if she was in school, she would need glasses, but said she didn't need them for home, yet. B had her first eye dr. experience and although she did one of the air puffs, she refused to do the other eye. Just refused. Cried, sobbed. Even with the prize of Chuck E. Cheese, wouldn't do it. Dr. was nice and said she didn't have to do the other eye. Dr. mentioned she has a little bit of far-sightedness, but wasn't concerned unless she is complaining of headaches and squinting a lot while reading, which she is not. I'm glad Ryan was there, because I know nothing about eye stuff. And yes, we did go to Chuck E. Cheese afterwards.

Go check out more Small Successes at Faith & Family Live!

Park + Pop = Fun!