Some years, we go to Mass on Christmas morning, and on others, we go to “midnight Mass” late in the evening on the 24th.  This year, we went to midnight Mass.      What I realized this year is how fundamentally important and special it is for me to go to the late…

      God rushes to be in the presence of the poor of heart: those who are meek, lowly, and humble.      What is so confusing is that shame, fear of speaking the truth, and self-hatred are not the same as humility and meekness.  Shame, fear and self-hatred are a perverse sort of…

    NYC at Christmastime is so beautiful!  There are musicians on every street corner playing carols; there are lights, trees and decorations in every store front.  You can feel the spirit of hope among the people.      On the subway yesterday, a group of loud young people got on our car.  They invited…

      We are celebrating an early Christmas with Mom and Dad–a blast of a trip!  The cutest thing that happened on our first day was Mom announcing that, although she is not Catholic, she has put together her first Advent wreath, and has just learned what the “O antiphones” are.  It sounded like…

   Oh, how happy I am that we made it through the fall semester!  Today we are THROUGH!   Jake is testing for two schools in January, and so I have worked him like a DOG (which has worked me like a dog) beefing up his spelling, dictations, vocabulary, and grammar.  It was been a wonderful…

     Dallas has had an ice storm that lasted about four days.  What a blast!  Thankfully, we never lost power, and so we had a great time.     I took out the quilting project that I have had in the attic for over a year.  We finished Mary’s quilt top, and we have begun…

   We had a wonderful time with the Underwoods when they visited Texas.  We talked and talked and talked.  They are our new friends, indeed!  We love you, Underwoods!

    While we were away for Thanksgiving, we had a fire in our house!  It was a chimney fire.  6 fire trucks were in front of our house on Thanksgiving afternoon!  The neighbor was kind enough to track us down and contact us in Louisiana, and said that there was smoke billowing out of…

   Ron, the kids and I had such a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We were visiting our friends who feel like family in our home away from home, Louisiana.  We had Thanksgiving with the Hayses, and the following days with the Baglows–what a TREAT!!!!  I just LOVED getting to talk for hours with my dear friends!!!