I set this blog up back on a snowy February night. Things got busy and it is August. Here's my second post. Alot has transpired in 6 months. In April we found out we were expecting. In May we lost the baby. Some say it wasn't a baby....I differ in thought. Mark and I had visions of a Christmas baby. Number seven to arrive just after our 7th wedding anniversary. I was especially reminded of the gift Mark is tonight...when he navigated all 6 through teethbrushing. It is this love - 7 people in a 6 foot by 10 foot bathroom - all spitting - that shows what a great man Mark is... It is also proven by this past week's dentist visit. Five kids with teeth going for visits and only one cavity in the bunch. We made Dr. Cynthia very proud. She remarked at how calm I was in the face of 5 kid dentist visits in a day...
p.s. You can't see him but Simon, the youngest is there - in front of Mark - with all 3 of his teeth.
Ironic that sleeping legions allow for my second post on the anniversary of the day Mark asked for my hand in marriage. Its a meaningful day for us in multiple ways - since in the Catholic church it is also the Feast of the Assumption. Mary has been in our relationship from the start. We were married on a Marian feast day and our first born twins share a birthday with the BVM. Our fourth child was born on the feast of Joachim and Anne - grandparents to Christ.
The past six months have been marked in many ways - beyond the loss of our 7th child. My sister and her husband will move soon to North Carolina for a job promotion for him. It is a terrific opportunity which will allow my sister to stay at home with her 3 boys (all under age 5 I might add). It's an opportunity I would love, but God in His wisdom has not allowed in my life. I'm learning alot about God's wisdom - which is a folly for me. In the last month, a good friend lost his 17 year old beautiful, athletic and talented daughter to suicide; a great aunt has been diagnosed with breast cancer and a former colleague was killed in a car accident leaving her two adult children and her 15 and 10 year old daughters and 4 year old son without a mother.
So I've been struggling with what is God trying to tell me? Plenty. My days are not my own. My children are on loan from him. They are not a possesion I can keep or shape for my own purposes. God is reminding me that I'm called to lay down my life for them - in agape - a total self giving. A tall order to fill; one which I can only as God for the grace to fulfill.
p.s. You can't see him but Simon, the youngest is there - in front of Mark - with all 3 of his teeth.
Ironic that sleeping legions allow for my second post on the anniversary of the day Mark asked for my hand in marriage. Its a meaningful day for us in multiple ways - since in the Catholic church it is also the Feast of the Assumption. Mary has been in our relationship from the start. We were married on a Marian feast day and our first born twins share a birthday with the BVM. Our fourth child was born on the feast of Joachim and Anne - grandparents to Christ.
The past six months have been marked in many ways - beyond the loss of our 7th child. My sister and her husband will move soon to North Carolina for a job promotion for him. It is a terrific opportunity which will allow my sister to stay at home with her 3 boys (all under age 5 I might add). It's an opportunity I would love, but God in His wisdom has not allowed in my life. I'm learning alot about God's wisdom - which is a folly for me. In the last month, a good friend lost his 17 year old beautiful, athletic and talented daughter to suicide; a great aunt has been diagnosed with breast cancer and a former colleague was killed in a car accident leaving her two adult children and her 15 and 10 year old daughters and 4 year old son without a mother.
So I've been struggling with what is God trying to tell me? Plenty. My days are not my own. My children are on loan from him. They are not a possesion I can keep or shape for my own purposes. God is reminding me that I'm called to lay down my life for them - in agape - a total self giving. A tall order to fill; one which I can only as God for the grace to fulfill.
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