Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving and the weekend that follows have changed so much over the past 15 years. There have been different seasons of our lives that have changed our traditions. Thanksgiving used to be at my mom's house with all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. The food was unending as my mom's side loved to cook and associated love, family and socializing with good food. I am continually telling my kids cooking stories about my family. I've actually told two this past week. 1) My Aunt LaVonne used to make Red Food Coloring Cake, which is Red Velvet Cake in it's original title. My aunt always called it "cancer cake" because at that time a certain red food coloring was known to cause cancer. I'm sure the name was changed to save face for that very reason. 2) When I was very young, my Aunt LaVonne made a tuna noodle casserole that I just loved. I asked her what it was called and she told me, "Horse Poop Casserole." Sorta like a lady responds to a compliment on a dress: Oh this ol' thing?! Anyway, that is what we all called it ever since. I even have a recipe card with that title, which I showed the kids recently when I made it and they said, "Wow, this is good, what is it?" They wouldn't believe me until I showed them the recipe card.

After my mom passed away, it wasn't the same. Then my sister moved to Colorado. So, we started having a small, but nice and peaceful thanksgiving at home with just us. I'm sure my mom would just have a fit because I use instant mashed potatoes in my Thanksgiving dinner...my kids won't eat the real thing, so why bother!

Again circumstances change, and last year we had John's mom and his brother, Bill, join us for dinner. This year it didn't quite work out and the whole day was just plain Unthanksgivingy (nice word). My green bean casserole was horrible and I forgot to make 7 layered salad. My menu never changes: Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green bean casserole, 7 layered salad, pumpkin and apple pie. Also, some of our traditions have not come to pass yet, such as, we usually watch My Life the night before. This is a real tear jerker that makes you realize that you have plenty to be thankful for. But others are underway, such as decorating the house for Christmas and taking the yearly family Christmas picture. I always write our family Christmas newsletter by Thanksgiving and list all the things we are thankful for. Putting it in writing makes you realize that life isn't so bad after all. There really is so, so very much to be thankful for.

We are rethinking our traditions and are going to try a few new things next year. We are entering a new season of our life: our children are getting older and we need to accommodate new interests and attention spans. I love Thanksgiving and can't wait to try again next year.

Facebook

I started Facebook when my oldest son went off to AIT for 5 months and he didn't want to miss out on my youngest daughter's "firsts." I put pictures and videos on there of her for him to see, but that is about all I used it for. Almost three years later I have over 200 friends and I spend more time hiding games and crap I don't want to read, than I do reading anything worth while. I finally unfriended a bunch of people that I really didn't know or didn't know that well, because I didn't have the time to read everything about everyone. I am almost to the point of completely getting rid of facebook because people are so rude to each other and to certain groupings of people. I love being a part of it all and seeing what my family is up to, but I am not sure it is all worth my time. Am I any better for spending time on there? I'm not so sure I am. I would much rather be typing on my blog, whether anyone looks at it or not. On my blog I can be myself and not worry about being attacked because of what I believe and what I stand for.

Commentary taken from Daily Gospel Online

Commentary of the day :

Saint Symeon the New Theologian (c.949-1022), Greek monk
Catecheses, III, 19 (©Friends of Henry Ashworth; cf SC 113, p.165f.)

Believing in Jesus today


Many people never stop saying - I have heard them myself - "If only we had lived in the days of the apostles, and been counted worthy to gaze upon Christ as they did, we should have become holy like them." Such people do not realize that the Christ who spoke then and the Christ who speaks now throughout the whole world is one and the same... The position now is not the same as it was then, but our situation now, in the present day, is very much better. It leads us more easily to a deeper faith and conviction than seeing and hearing him in the flesh would have done.

Then he appeared to the uncomprehending as a man of lowly station: now he is proclaimed to us as true God. Then in his body he associated with tax collectors and sinners and ate with them: now he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and is never in any way separated from him... Then even those of lowliest condition held him in contempt. They said: «Is not this the son of Mary, and of Joseph the carpenter?» (Mk 6,3; Jn 6,42) Now kings and rulers worship him as Son of the true God, and himself true God... Then he was thought to be mortal and corruptible like the rest of humankind. He was no different in appearance from other men. The formless and invisible God, without change or alteration, assumed a human form and showed himself to be a normal human being. He ate, he drank, he slept, he sweated, and he grew weary. He did everything other people do, except that he did not sin.

For anyone to recognize him in that human body, and to believe that he was the God who made heaven and earth and everything in them was very exceptional... It is certain, therefore, that anyone who now hears Christ cry out daily through the holy gospels and proclaim the will of his blessed Father, but does not obey him with fear and trembling and keep his commandments: it is certain that such a person would have refused to believe in him then.

Scanning Slides

Look, my first day of kindergarten. My son Michael bought a Canon CanoScan 5600F a while back. Well, I've finally conned him into hooking it up to my computer for a while because it can scan slides!!! So, I am sitting at my computer today scanning all the slides from my side of the family. There are hundreds of them, but boy do they bring back a lot of memories. It is amazing at the quality of the pictures that this scanner can make with these old slides. I also, have inherited the slides from my Aunt Emily Bluedorn, so I will be scanning in those along with all the slides from my husband's side of the family. This is a many month job, which will give me plenty of time to spend on the computer checking email, Facebook, writing on this blog and in my book and whatever else I feel like doing. It is actually quite exciting! I plan on giving all the relatives CDs with all the pictures on them for Christmas.

What a Busy Day!

I took my mother in law to Hy-Vee and Walgreens and then we went out to brunch. I was telling her about my Wednesday. She insisted I write it down because it has got to be a record...well, I'm not sure if it beats everyone's busyness, but I hadn't ran around like that before. I'm not really into writing down boring stuff like this, but who knows maybe some day I'll want to recall it. So it begins:
I got all the kids up and at em, and the ones who go to school out the door. My daughter Caity had a submerged tooth that needed pulled so we all went to the Dentist, afterwards we stopped at McDonald's so she could eat a shake. After McDonald's we went home. I put Michelle down for a quick nap while I worked in the kitchen. Woke her up and we went to a Doctors apt. On the way home from there I picked Andrew and Lisa up from school and brought them home. Made sure all was good and went back to do the Middle School car pool. After I dropped all the kids off at their homes, I picked up Joe and took him to the dentist. After the dentist, I dropped him off at his babysitting job and then I went to have some blood work done. After the blood work I picked Caity up from dance along with a neighbor; took the neighbor to choir and then went home. Everyone quickly ate dinner and I took Joe to play practice and then I was back out at 8:15 to pick him up. I can't wait until I have another driver in the house, that would make things so much easier! Luckily not every day is like this.

Thee Family Tree

I decided to actually sit down and write my book on family. I've written the preface and decided to put it on my blog:

My original intent of writing this handbook was to pass on many family “jewels,” traditions and recipes to my kids in the form of a keepsake. As this book went through my head over the years, a friend encouraged me to write to a bigger audience. She thought what I had to say, many could learn from. For some people, raising seven kids gives me credibility and makes me an expert in several areas such as organization, communication, frugality and discipline. There are many moms out there who have raised more children than I who could have, just as easily, written this book. So, what else gives me credibility? Could it be my family background?

My husband is from a family of 9 and his mom has 30 grandchildren and as of this writing 5 great grandchildren. His family tree is a perfectly shaped triangle. I come from a family tree that looks like a web designed by a spider on caffeine: 2 parents, each with 3 marriages, 17 children between them, 32 grand kids and 15 great grand kids. The experiences I can pull from within my extensive family is wide and varied with many visibly present lessons for the kids to learn from. I would call this a type of comparative research. Hmmm…..could credibility come from my education and work experience?

My degree is in Organizational Communications with a Business option. My business career was very short, only four years in the Industrial Relations department of a large corporation. I spent those four years traveling factories auditing EEO policies and practices, training management in Teamwork, Behavioral Interviewing, Active Listening, and Franklin Time Management. When marriage two began, the career ended and my family career began. I have 7 children and all the experience that goes into raising them and homeschooling them. My children find me credible, but I still wonder how one achieves credibility?

As I contemplate credibility a few things come to mind. 1) We are a very successful family. Don’t get me wrong, there is screaming, and fighting, and chaos at my house, too, but for the most part my marriage is awesome and my kids are all great friends to each other, they are caring and joyful, they love God and they are successful at what they do. 2) Over a short period of time we have experienced much sorrow and many struggles in our family. Our strength can be found only in our strong faith in God. 3) We have had the opportunities to be very generous. We have also been on the receiving end of great generosity. All of these experiences have taught us that obedience, gratitude, love and humility will bring so much joy and peace. I guess on the outside, looking in, how we have handled ourselves in these situations, and how we are living our life and our faith, and being examples to our children, is also setting examples for others. Our example is credible. Our example has to be credible…it must be credible.

My “new” goal of this handbook is to pass down to the next generation the importance of family, which seems to be not only losing its importance, but also losing its meaning.

Generational Healing

We always go to John's mom's house every Sunday for the family rosary...along with his other intown siblings. At the end of the rosary, chaplet & intentions, we say the following prayer. After the prayer, I have included one of todays readings, which makes me question if there is such a thing as generational sin. Hmmmmm.

PRAYER FOR HEALING THE FAMILY TREE
Rev. John H. Hampch, CMF

Heavenly Father, I come before you as your child, in great need of your help. I have physical health needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs,and interpersonal needs. Many of my problems have been caused by my ownfailures, neglect and sinfulness, for which I humbly beg your forgiveness, Lord. But, I also ask you to forgive the sins of my ancestors whose failures have left their effects on me in the form of unwanted tendencies, behavior patterns and defects in body, mind and spirit. Heal me, Lord, of all these disorders.

With your help I sincerely forgive everyone, especially living or dead members of my family tree, who have directly offended me or my loved ones in any way, or those whose sins have resulted in our present sufferings and disorders. In the name of your divine Son, Jesus, and in the power of His Holy Spirit, I ask you, Father, to deliver me and my entire family tree from the influence of the evil one. Free all living and dead members of my family tree, including those in adoptive relationships, and those in extended family relationships, from every contaminating form of bondage. By Your loving concern for us, heavenly Father, and by the shedblood of your Precious Son Jesus. I beg you to extend your blessing to me and all my living and deceased relatives. Heal every negative effect transmitted through all past generations, and prevent such negative effects in future generations of my family tree. I symbolically place the cross of Jesus over the head of each person in my family tree, and between each generation. I ask you to let the cleansing blood of Jesus purify the blood lines in my family lineage. Set your protective angels to encamp around us, and permit Archangel Raphael, the patron of healing, to administer your divine healing power to all of us, even in areas of genetic disability. Give special power to our family members' guardian angels to heal, protect, guide and encourage each of us in all our needs. Let your healing power be released at this very moment, and let it continue as long as your sovereignty permits. In our family tree, Lord, replace all bondage with a holy bonding in family love. And let there be an ever deeper bonding with You, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, to your Son Jesus. Let the family of the Holy Trinity pervade our family with its tender, warm, loving presence, so that our family may recognize and manifest that love in all our relationships. All of our unknown needs we include with this petition that we pray in Jesus' precious Name. Amen.

Book of Ezekiel 18,1-10.13.30-32.

Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, what is the meaning of this proverb that you recite in the land of Israel: "Fathers have eaten green grapes, thus their children's teeth are on edge"? As I live, says the Lord GOD: I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among you who will repeat this proverb in Israel. For all lives are mine; the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine; only the one who sins shall die. If a man is virtuous--if he does what is right and just, if he does not eat on the mountains, nor raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; if he does not defile his neighbor's wife, nor have relations with a woman in her menstrual period; if he oppresses no one, gives back the pledge received for a debt, commits no robbery; if he gives food to the hungry and clothes the naked; if he does not lend at interest nor exact usury; if he holds off from evildoing, judges fairly between a man and his opponent; if he lives by my statutes and is careful to observe my ordinances, that man is virtuous--he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD. But if he begets a son who is a thief, a murderer, or who does any of these things lends at interest and exacts usury--this son certainly shall not live. Because he practiced all these abominations, he shall surely die; his death shall be his own fault. Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Turn and be converted from all your crimes, that they may be no cause of guilt for you. Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord GOD. Return and live!