My little man is 3 today. Time for the annual post!

Lover of all things branded...Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, Cars, Angry Birds (yes, thanks Daddy), Spiderman, and Curious George.

Boy for all feelings...happy, sad, mad, concerned, loving, angry, anxious (oh, so anxious), excited, and jealous.

The little boy who can make any toy fit the purpose. The little people ambulance becomes the Mac Hauler from Cars and the nightlight (yes, removed from the wall) is Guido from Cars. The photo above is of him "tractor tipping".

This year was the one of the Tag Reader which was easily confused in a 2-year-old brain with a basal thermometer. It was the year of bikes, sandboxes, and helping daddy dig in the dirt. This year marked his first plane ride, his first batch of sugar cookies, and his first video game (Angry Birds).

He talks from waking to sleeping and I swear he uses some of my daily ration of words.

John Ross, may you never stop asking questions. May your love of all things action-packed sustain your imagination and may your sweet sleep keep your heart and mind well-grounded in your dreams.

Happy Birthday sweet boy. Mama loves you.

From Gratitude to Generosity

Now would seem like the most appropriate holiday to show you my completed art project. This is the wall in our dining room. Our family tree. Finally, this room is beginng to become uniquely ours as in our last.

I'm grateful for the each breath I take and the gift of each day I wake. I'm grateful for my husband who has become my second breath. I could not exist as the woman I am today without him. I'm grateful for my intelligent and energetic children who daily amaze and inspire me. I'm grateful for my sisters who will always know me better than anyone else (and for those women who've become like sisters to me and will spend the rest of their lives getting to know me despite myself). I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful for a warm home and the great joy of cooking tasty food. I'm grateful to live in a free country where I can work, live, and play for the benefit of my family.

But gratitude is not enough. These amazing gifts require more from me. Not only am I to accept them grateful, but I must nurture them warmly and responsibly, I must share them with love, charity, and justice, and I must seek to return them to God abundantly.

"What return shall I make for all the good the LORD has done for me?" Psalm 116:12

Questions Before 30: To Conceive or Not to Conceive?

Time for a new series. I will call it, "30 Questions Before 30". There are just somethings that one feels compelled to ask as they approach that middle-aged number and I think it is time to start asking them out loud.

Question 1:
To conceive or not to conceive - did I make the right choice to have my babies so young? Should I have seen the world and enjoyed my 20s with the rest of my peers before diving headlong into the first 18 years of parenthood?

Always in luck, today's answer came before the question. Here's a fascinating article for women who want to be mothers - don't wait to read it until you're "ready". While you may think that science is more on your side than the Church, it may not be...

Fertility math? Most women flunk, survey finds

A Miracle in Our Midst

For those of you who follow my family and their stories of foster care, check out this blog. It is the blog of the beautiful, holy people who adopted our precious little Luke. They arrived to pick up Luke this weekend and the video of their first meeting is posted a little ways down the page. Grab the tissues as we are truly witnessing a miracle in our midst.

http://aconcretewayoflove.wordpress.com/

Please keep Luke and his new family in your prayers as well as my family as they say goodbye.