"Who is not carried away to hope and confidence in prayer, when he looks on the crucifix and sees how Our Lord hangs there, the head bent as though to kiss, the arms outstretched in an embrace, the hands pierced to give, the side opened to love, the feet nailed to remain with us." -St. Bernard
"'Come, my dove, in the clefts of the rock' (Cant. ii. 14) It is in the wounds of Christ the Church builds its nest and waits, for it is in the Passion of Our Lord that she places her hope of salvation." - St. Thomas Aquinas: De Humanitate Christi
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Silence
I apologize for the very long silence this past week. I have been sick with a nasty cold and have just not had the energy to post much. I lost my voice over the weekend, which made Rose Marie very happy because she wasn't able to hear me say, "No!" Anyway, I am on the mend now and regaining my energy, so I will be posting once again! For now here are a couple pictures:
Rose discovered sidewalk chalk this weekend:
Some snuggling nap time:
Running shoes!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
These are the Moments:
1) Waking up to soft tiny hands pushing the hair out of my eyes and "whispering," "Shhhhh....Mommy sleep!"
2) Hearing, "Mama, happy much," from my grinning, pony-tailed girl about to slide at the park.
3) A long, slow bubble bath with a good book.
4) Romantic cooking-dinner kisses with my husband.
5) Family pig pile on the living room floor, complete with blanket and Bud Bud and belly laughs.
6) A little head laying in my lap, while her beautiful blue eyes smile into mine, and she says for the first time, on her own, "Mama, I yuv you!"
Life doesn't get much better than that!
2) Hearing, "Mama, happy much," from my grinning, pony-tailed girl about to slide at the park.
3) A long, slow bubble bath with a good book.
4) Romantic cooking-dinner kisses with my husband.
5) Family pig pile on the living room floor, complete with blanket and Bud Bud and belly laughs.
6) A little head laying in my lap, while her beautiful blue eyes smile into mine, and she says for the first time, on her own, "Mama, I yuv you!"
Life doesn't get much better than that!
Monday, March 3, 2008
It Could Happen To You!
Imagine...a father's worst fear...
Let me set the scene. My wife and I just got home late at night after a 2 hour road trip. We are both exhausted. We get our little darling out of the car, who is dead asleep, and put her down snugly in her crib. She barely makes a peep. As a father, I like to make sure that all the ones I love are safe and sound for the night so I lock the doors, check Rose's room, and shut off all the lights to go to bed with my wife. And then it happens...
At 11:45pm, my cell phone rings next to my bed. I open my sleepy eyes and reach over to answer it, in case it was an emergency, when I noticed that on the caller ID, it said Jessica. That's odd, I thought to myself. But then again, maybe Jessica left her phone at her parents house and they were calling to let us know. I answer, "hello." Nothing. "Hello." Nothing again. I hung the phone up and set it down, looking at it strangely. Two seconds latter it rings again, once more showing Jessica's name on the caller ID. Jessica asked who keeps calling. I replied, "you are." I answered the phone, "hello." Nothing. "Heeeelllllooooo." Nothing but silence was on the other line. I hung the phone up and almost immediately it rings again. Jessica's name appears. Holding the phone, I asked Jessica where her phone was. She stated that she had left it in the car when we got out for the night. I immediately jumped out of bed and looked out our window to see if I could see our car. Unfortunately, we had to park our car down the street because of no parking, so at best, I could only see the tinted windows. What are you suppose to think in a situation like this...? Had someone broken into our car and stollen the phone? Are they calling from outside? How do they know to call me? My phone rings again. This time, I don't answer the call. They leave a message. I listen to the message only to hear static on the other line. My phone immediately rings again, and again, and again. In fact, it rang almost constantly every other minute for 15 minutes. No answers but static, the other person was quite as a mouse.
(A few notes in case your wondering...Jessica has a flip phone. There is no way it could get stuck and just keep calling my number. SOMEONE had to keep purposely dialing my number and then sit there on the other line and listen to every word I was saying.)
I frantically check the house to make sure everything was OK. Rose's monitor showed that she was still sleeping. 12:10am I call my dad to ask if I was over reacting. While I was on the phone to him, Jessica's phone called again. My dad asked to be put on conference call so that he could hear the other end. We both listen in silence. NOTHING but silence. My dad asked for a response...nothing! He told me to sit tight, that he was on his way in to my house to check the place over with me. As my heart was racing a hundred miles a minute, I look out the window again to see the car, my phone rings. I don't answer it. Two seconds later, the worst fear imaginable...I hear voices in Rose's room. Was the mysterious caller in the house...and still worse...in Rose's room???!!! This scares Jessica and I immensely! What do I do now? I call my dad, now pulling into the drive way, who tells me to hold tight. He's at the door! I hurriedly opened the door and the first thing we do is run into Rose's room ready to fight for our family's life...
Running into Rose's dark room, ready for anything that was to come our way, we see a little blue light shinning on the face of an angel. Rose Marie, sits up in her crib, holding a phone, and says... "dada"..."see me call dada!" Yes, it is true. Our daughter had Jessica's cell phone and had consistently called only my number (Speed Dial #2) for the past hour. She did not whisper one word, as she was suppose to be sleeping and she did not want to wake mommy and daddy. The voices in her room were not imaginary...nooooo...she some how managed to put the phone on speaker, so that when she called my phone and got the voice mail, it replayed the options for her out loud so that dada could hear them in her room. How does a 19 month old baby get a cell phone in bed? Easy, you pick-pocket mommy before she puts you down in the crib for the night, all while acting as if you are asleep!
It is easy to laugh at this story now, but I am telling you from a father's point of view, this was the worst night I have ever experienced in my parental life. The fear that someone has the upper hand on your most precious jewels. I just thank God that it ended as a practical joke from my 19 month old daughter.
Let me set the scene. My wife and I just got home late at night after a 2 hour road trip. We are both exhausted. We get our little darling out of the car, who is dead asleep, and put her down snugly in her crib. She barely makes a peep. As a father, I like to make sure that all the ones I love are safe and sound for the night so I lock the doors, check Rose's room, and shut off all the lights to go to bed with my wife. And then it happens...
At 11:45pm, my cell phone rings next to my bed. I open my sleepy eyes and reach over to answer it, in case it was an emergency, when I noticed that on the caller ID, it said Jessica. That's odd, I thought to myself. But then again, maybe Jessica left her phone at her parents house and they were calling to let us know. I answer, "hello." Nothing. "Hello." Nothing again. I hung the phone up and set it down, looking at it strangely. Two seconds latter it rings again, once more showing Jessica's name on the caller ID. Jessica asked who keeps calling. I replied, "you are." I answered the phone, "hello." Nothing. "Heeeelllllooooo." Nothing but silence was on the other line. I hung the phone up and almost immediately it rings again. Jessica's name appears. Holding the phone, I asked Jessica where her phone was. She stated that she had left it in the car when we got out for the night. I immediately jumped out of bed and looked out our window to see if I could see our car. Unfortunately, we had to park our car down the street because of no parking, so at best, I could only see the tinted windows. What are you suppose to think in a situation like this...? Had someone broken into our car and stollen the phone? Are they calling from outside? How do they know to call me? My phone rings again. This time, I don't answer the call. They leave a message. I listen to the message only to hear static on the other line. My phone immediately rings again, and again, and again. In fact, it rang almost constantly every other minute for 15 minutes. No answers but static, the other person was quite as a mouse.
(A few notes in case your wondering...Jessica has a flip phone. There is no way it could get stuck and just keep calling my number. SOMEONE had to keep purposely dialing my number and then sit there on the other line and listen to every word I was saying.)
I frantically check the house to make sure everything was OK. Rose's monitor showed that she was still sleeping. 12:10am I call my dad to ask if I was over reacting. While I was on the phone to him, Jessica's phone called again. My dad asked to be put on conference call so that he could hear the other end. We both listen in silence. NOTHING but silence. My dad asked for a response...nothing! He told me to sit tight, that he was on his way in to my house to check the place over with me. As my heart was racing a hundred miles a minute, I look out the window again to see the car, my phone rings. I don't answer it. Two seconds later, the worst fear imaginable...I hear voices in Rose's room. Was the mysterious caller in the house...and still worse...in Rose's room???!!! This scares Jessica and I immensely! What do I do now? I call my dad, now pulling into the drive way, who tells me to hold tight. He's at the door! I hurriedly opened the door and the first thing we do is run into Rose's room ready to fight for our family's life...
Running into Rose's dark room, ready for anything that was to come our way, we see a little blue light shinning on the face of an angel. Rose Marie, sits up in her crib, holding a phone, and says... "dada"..."see me call dada!" Yes, it is true. Our daughter had Jessica's cell phone and had consistently called only my number (Speed Dial #2) for the past hour. She did not whisper one word, as she was suppose to be sleeping and she did not want to wake mommy and daddy. The voices in her room were not imaginary...nooooo...she some how managed to put the phone on speaker, so that when she called my phone and got the voice mail, it replayed the options for her out loud so that dada could hear them in her room. How does a 19 month old baby get a cell phone in bed? Easy, you pick-pocket mommy before she puts you down in the crib for the night, all while acting as if you are asleep!
It is easy to laugh at this story now, but I am telling you from a father's point of view, this was the worst night I have ever experienced in my parental life. The fear that someone has the upper hand on your most precious jewels. I just thank God that it ended as a practical joke from my 19 month old daughter.
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