Our crazy room situation–will one day seem like a fond memory 🙂 Ah, the blessing of the passage of time–dulling the memory of the aches and pains of daily life! Actually, it has been very sweet–our family feels to me like a little bit of heaven on earth. Leigh was just showing me the contents…

    After centuries of paintings and illuminations of baby Jesus being depicted with hands blessing the viewer, or pointing to the Father or making a sign of “Logos” or “Peace,” the inevitable happened.  With one master painter named Giotto, art changed course toward realism.     Here is the first such Madonna and Child:…

Here are our roses on the campus of Due Santi!  Not exactly planted by St. Francis, but they ARE adjacent to a well at which St. Paul and St. Peter reputedly met on their way into Rome (Hence the name of the campus, “Due Santi” or “Two Saints”)!

St. Francis planted these very rose bushes at this monastery at Subiaco belonging to Saint Benedict! This is a fresco in the background of St. Francis giving the gift of the roses. The monastery is shocking: it is built from a cave that is on a vertical incline on the steep side of a mountain…

     Clare had started to argue with her siblings.  She simply hates being crammed into a dorm room for 3 people, but is actually packed with 5 (unfortunate rooming situation).  Someone is always touching her, stepping on her pillow, snoring in her ear, walking in on her when she is changing.  Oh, the groaning,…

We were about to say family prayers, but had “Mandatory Sunset Viewing” before we began!  Annie did not behave during prayers.  🙁     Then in a REALLY reverent moment, Mary took this photo of herself minutes before the opening “Our Father.”  

   We had one overnight in Assisi, which was a big experience for me.  There is a lot of grace in that place–it is holy ground.       Our group hit it off well with the monk who led us through St. Francis’ basilica–I actually think it was Jake and Mary who got him…

1) Every sunset 2) Mary and Jake acting as surrogate parents to Annie, without any prompting at all, whether we are in the pool, on a bus, or in our rooms.   3) Clare playing with a 3 year old child on campus, Iola, for 9 consecutive hours, acting as an excellent caretaker, and often…

    Per our tradition, Mary and I had special time in Rome!  We had it with Suzannah and Gracie: two mothers and their oldest daughters!  What a delight!!

    Here is a beautiful fresco of Mary and the angel Gabriel in the Jesuit church in Rome, the Gesu.  The interesting thing about this fresco is that Thomas Aquinas and a Cardinal are in the scene.  They are present because through his writings, Thomas Aquinas had helped the cardinal understand the meaning and…