If I can do it...

We've had a very special guest staying with us for a couple of weeks. She's a couple feet tall, wears a blue mantle, and sits high on our mantel.

As I mentioned in a previous post, a traveling Our Lady of Grace statue found its way to our home recently. And she couldn't have come at a better time, which shouldn't surprise me in the least.

The kids were very excited to have her and I decided to start saying one decade of the Rosary every night with them while she's here.

Let me first say that as much as I wish we were one of those families who says a family Rosary, we are not. I think maybe we had previously said it a total of two times together with the kids, and that was before they were toddlers because I have no memory of trying to contain them during it. And I'd remember that, let me tell you.

But I have always loved the sound of it. We're about to say our Family Rosary....We say a Family Rosary....Once, during our Family Rosary...

Bedtime prayers were enough for me. I always think how if a non-Christian neighbor happened to be listening in on me during our nightly prayer time, it'd probably be enough for them to never convert. Stop that right now and tell Jesus you love him!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure I come across as a poster-child for the faith.

So a part of me probably thought I had lost my mind when I decided to start saying a decade a night. It's hard enough doing bedtime on my own (Ryan works evenings) with a boy who hates sleeping, but to add this into the mix? But I think that was key - we'd say just a decade. It's manageable. The perfect amount of time. And we'd light candles. Oh, the candles. I knew that I'd get them with the candles.

And I was right. It's not just the lighting, but the promise of blowing them out at the end. Like a mini-birthday every night. But only if they sit nicely and pray (there's a LOT of wiggle room in that, though.. usually as long as they engage in a couple prayers and don't do anything naughty, they get the big reward).

It's been amazing. Crazy. There's still some yelling to be heard. But amazing.

They're supposed to stay on the couch due to the candles. That usually lasts 30 seconds.

I really think they like the ritual of it all. Pulling Mary down, setting up the candles, lighting them, picking out their Rosary. They look forward to what's coming. And I discovered that first night that they know the Apostles' Creed. I don't even have that memorized! They must have learned it from their favorite videos, or else have been sneaking that copy of the Baltimore Catechism we don't have in our house. No, I'm not on the company's pay roll, I swear, but seriously. I'm not kidding when I say I never learned that prayer by heart. And my TWO-year-olds know it. Clearly, TV isn't all bad.

Sorting out Rosaries, a constant task during prayer time

Don't get me wrong, they're not perfect angels while we pray, but they are surprisingly well behaved. And by "well behaved" I mean only sometimes does Luke use the Rosary as a weapon. And by "weapon" I don't mean the spiritual kind.

I truly believe they are receiving graces from it. I think we all are. It happened to coincide with a time when we really stepped up our prayers for a specific intention having to do with our possible adoption, and I believe it helped. Luke has also been going to bed better since we've been saying the Rosary. Sure, it might be a coincidence, but maybe not.

My kids have always had a devotion to Our Lady. They talk about her, they are excited to see images of her, and ask about her . I didn't do anything to start that, they just have always been that way, especially Luke. Now, when we start talking about bedtime, they immediately ask, "Are we going to say the Rosary?" Or, during the day, Luke will spot her up on the mantel and beg to get her down to pray. It's awesome. And I really hope it lasts. Which is why I want to help foster it now.

He told me he was "skating" for her here

Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can. I have little patience when it comes to praying. I'm not sure why, I have just always been that way. It's hard enough to concentrate on my own, let alone trying to wrangle two toddlers to pray with me. But now that we pray the Rosary, my patience is growing. Amid the chaos, I love our nightly Rosary time. I look forward to it. We say it even if it's late. I don't feel the need to rush. And I always feel great after.

And even though Our Lady of Grace will be leaving us soon, we're going to keep up our nightly decade. I don't think the kids would let me stop.

I swear we don't pose for pictures with her all the time

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Turning two

Two, already? 

In many, many, many ways it seems like he's been two for at least six full months now. But in other ways, it is just so hard to believe that two years have gone by since that Thanksgiving night I laid awake in a labor and delivery room anxiously anticipating my 4 a.m. wake up call to start the induction. 

Two years later, that Black Friday baby is a crazy little bundle of sweetness, silliness and strong-will, all wrapped into one red-haired boy. 

To celebrate his second birthday, Luke asked for a train cake. And a train cake he received. 

He just had the best expressions today.

In keeping with the train theme (which is kind of the theme of our life right now with two toddlers), his big present this year - because apparently the two-year birthday is the wooden-refurbished-Craigslist-find birthday in our house - was a train table.

I stalked Craigslist for weeks until I found just what I was looking for - an old, classic, sturdy, solid-wood table for a very cheap price. This one cost me $30.

I sanded it down, painted the table white, and then painted a map of Richmond onto the removable top.

There's still a reverse side I could do something with (original plan was to use chalk-board paint but I've scrapped that idea for now), and the table itself is just a great table even when the top is off. All in all, an awesome Craigslist find at a fraction of the cost of a new table.

It's safe to say Luke was pretty thrilled with his present.

The trains and track I bought off of Craigslist too, at more than half-off the original prices. Have I mentioned how much I love that site??

Someone else is also pretty into the train table. In fact, they played with it every waking moment today.

Clara even snuck out of her bedroom late tonight and unlocked Luke's door (the lock is backwards) and I found them playing inside his room. I'm glad they love it, but that's not exactly what I had in mind!

Crazy bed time aside, it was a perfect day, with a very happy two-year-old.

He even waited until 8 o'clock tonight to eat his train cake that he had been dreaming about all day.  After his first bite, he declared, "Mmmm, so good!" Just what a mommy wants to hear.

And, even better, when he was face-timing with his aunt and uncle today, he was showing them the cake and he proudly told them, "Mommy made that for me. Mommy made that for Lukie." Aw. What's better than that? It makes yesterday's all-day cake baking/decorating extravaganza (in which I swore off of sugar for the rest of my life) completely worth it.

Happy birthday, sweet Lukie!

Today was also a big day for our potential upcoming adoption. We don't know anything official, but we were counting down to this day for a long time and we think it's good news. Sorry to still be so vague, but we so appreciate your prayers and would love if you could keep them up on our behalf. Thank you!

Update and signs from Our Lady

Thank you so, so much for your prayers for the situation I posted about last week. I knew it would be powerful to get you all on board, all around the country, praying for this intention. But I had no idea we would get wonderful news the very next day. We're still not out of the woods just yet, but the news we got, though unofficial, was surprising and very promising.

That means we are moving full-steam ahead on our home study. We were matched for a possible adoption prior to having done one. Yes, God works in VERY mysterious ways! I should know by now that He builds our family according to His time and will and sometimes that is in ways that were just not on our radar at all. After all, that is how our first two children came to us. While we hoped and prayed for them for many years, we still couldn't have guessed they'd come when and how they did. God definitely likes to keep us on our toes.

So while we always talked about adopting again, we weren't thinking about starting the process this Fall. We actually had no timeline whatsoever for it. Honestly, I had built it up in my mind to be such a long, tiring process (the home study) that who knows when we would have gotten around to starting it. So, yes, God gave us the kick we needed to get going. Thankfully, we listened. And thankfully, my husband has been on board 100-percent.

It turns out that the home study is not the big ordeal that I remember it being. I think the first one is always harder because you are collecting documents for the first time. This time we already have some things, like our marriage certificate, all ready to go from before. Three of the four of us are getting our physicals today (I went early this morning...a HUGE accomplishment for me, since I completely dread going to the doctor) and hopefully our home visits will start soon. We are expediting the home study, so we could be done with it in a month.

If this situation does not work out, then we will at least be home study approved. But, of course, we are praying, praying, praying that it does. Along with praying to St. Kateri, I am also praying for the intercession of Our Lady of Grace. I've had a couple things happen that lead me to her and she's been helping already. As someone recently reminded me, she is always with us. I have definitely felt presence her the past few weeks.

I appreciate any prayers you can offer for this whenever you get a chance. Like I said, it is not set in stone by any means, but it is all in God's hands. I feel such a sense of peace when I think of that. For me, it is easy to really trust that God's will is the best when it comes to adoption. We want what is best for this baby and if that is not with us, then we know that God knows best. My prayer is that His will will be done.

*******

I had already begun a devotion to Our Lady of Grace for a few reasons. One, being she was an eye-witness to our first adoption. If you have followed this blog for a while, you may remember we took a large statue of Our Lady of Grace with us to Louisiana to pick up Clara. It was completely by chance that we had that statue - which moves from family to family - at that very time. So along she came.

Well, the woman in charge of that statue, who I hadn't spoken to in almost three years, called me completely out of the blue the other day. This woman, while I have oddly never met her in person, is one of those people who just exudes holiness. She was so sweet and calming to me on the phone and promised to pray for this situation. I asked for the statue once again, and we will hopefully be getting her in a couple weeks.

Then, I googled Our Lady of Grace and discovered that Our Lady came to St. Catherine Laboure as Our Lady of Grace, and that is the image of Our Lady that is on the Miraculous Medal. I never knew this before the other day, and not only do I wear a Miraculous Medal, but my mother has always had a strong devotion to her, and that is the statue of Our Lady that we have on our mantle.

Just now, I once again googled Our Lady of Grace and came across the image below. It turns out St. Pio had a devotion to her. The description below the image was on the website with it, and I absolutely love it. "...His Mother's milk, which represents grace." Ahhh, I love it. I can't tell you how meaningful that is for me right now. Just another reminder that Our Lady is with us, no matter what happens.

Thank you again for all your prayers. You are all amazing!

  

This image of Our Lady of Grace is painted on the front wall and ceiling behind the altar in the church at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, where St. Pio lived.  In this image, the Baby Jesus is trying to give us, also children of His Mother in the order of grace, His Mother’s milk, which represents grace.  In Naju also, Julia saw a vision in which the Blessed Mother was giving abundant quantities of her milk to her spiritual children to nurture their souls and heal their bodies.  The water from the Miraculous Spring in Naju is believed to represent the Blessed Mother’s milk. This reference to the Blessed Mother’s milk as the grace for us is in conformity with the traditional teachings by the Church Doctors and other Saints that the Blessed Mother is the Mediatrix of All Graces.  As Christ, the author of all graces, became incarnate through the Blessed Mother, she is the channel of all the graces that we receive from God.