Thank you Papa



All jokes aside we are so proud of having been a part of the Church under Benedict XVI.  He is an amazing man and we thank him for his continues service of the church and all God's people.  His humility will always be a beautiful example to all!

Love to Papa Benedict!

They are Home - Celebration

Adorable in Sugar's arms and Beautiful in Goober's arms

We were so happy to all be together again.  We went to Chuy's, our favorite Mexican restaurant and shared stories.

Will They Ever Get Back?

After two weeks we all were a little on edge.  We talked to the kids in St.Louis.  They stayed up there one more day to visit with everyone while we just sat at home and waited for them to arrive.  We missed them so much.

Beautiful reaches over to comfort Adorable

 This picture captures a twin thing that I am seeing more and more.  If one baby is crying the twin will reach to touch the other one.   They don't poke or pick at each other but hold hands a lot.  I love watching this develop.

Possible with Adorable

 Still the most fun we had was talking with the big kids.

 Pickle and Possible head to a Middle-School (Homeschool) Halloween Party as Indiana Jones and as an Officer.

Adorable - Beautiful

 The twins are still as close as can be while they wait for the big kids to get home.

.This last shot was what this crazy crew looked like on the other end of Skype.

Last Night in Rome

The last night in Rome the group was treated to a talk and time with the renown Cardinal. Raymond Burke is the current Cardinal  Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.  I hear that it was a great honor to meet this very holy man that happens to hold a position of great importance in our wonderful Church.  He is close to Fr. Tom and that is how the meeting happened.  I love that in this picture we are reminded that it is all about Christ as Cardinal Burke's Cross is shinning as the focal point it should be.  What a wonderful way to end this Year of Faith Pilgrimage.  

Wednesday Papal Audience

I hear that The Texas T group broke from their travel companions today and went back to the Vatican to be at the General Audience. I didn't hear any other details but I can't wait to hear their stories.  The pictures and quote are just pulled from the internet.  I just can't wait to get the scoop.

The Holy Father concluded in his words for the Wednesday General Audience for Oct 24, 2012: "The faith is a gift of God but it is also a profoundly free and human act. ... It does not run counter to our freedom or our reason. ... Believing means entrusting oneself in all freedom and joy to God's providential plan for history, as did the Patriarch Abraham, as did Mary of Nazareth".

Today is their last day in Rome.  They will get to bed tonight and wake early for their long ride home.  They will arrive back in the United States on Thursday.  My kiddos will visit with family in St. Louis and come home on Sunday.  Those of us that were left here in Houston to hold down the fort are really getting anxious to the rest of the family.  (Other than a missing them we are doing great.)  Please continue to pray that all the pilgrims arrive home safely.    

A Peek Into Their Pilgrimage

This is the Texas group that would include my family plus Kat and her dad and Mr. D and his son Greg all with Fr. Tom Keller.  They are standing on The Rialto Bridge in Venice over looking the Grand Canal.  

 Their view!  Not bad.

 This next picture is full of my most favorite people in the world.

I miss them all so much.  I am tearing up as I type this.  They look so beautiful and so happy.  I miss them all.  From what I heard they all enjoyed Venice but not enough time to see everything  in Padua.

Tomb of St. Mark

J's business life for the past twelve years has centered around C-Stores or Convince Stores.  He knows this in the US market, especially in the South, inside and out.   So when he saw this C-Store  in between Venice and Le Verna he had to grab a shot.  This Espresso bar caught his attention.

This is the site where St. Francis received the stigmata in LaVerna Sanctuary and Pilgrimage Site in Tuscany.

 This is the spot where St. Francis died.

 This is outside the church with the hills in the back ground.  So beautiful!!!!!  They had Internet at this point and were able to share a few photos.  No such luck after that so no more pictures.  That will have to wait until they return home.  I hear that they all loved Assisi.  My hubby says that we will get an apartment there one day and spend some time there.  After they arrived in Rome he said that he will see it all now and never wants to go back.  He has not loved Rome.  It is a dirty big city according to him.  I can't wait to hear what the teens have to say.

The canonization was super crowded and J hates crowds.  He says that "You would think after two thousand years the Vatican would be better at crowd control."  The ceremony was nice but he thought we probably would get more out of it watching it on EWTN.  Again I can't wait to hear the kids thoughts in contrast to J.  So the short of it is that I miss them all so much.  I will have more to share but not until they arrive all the way at home.  I ask you to continue to pray for their safety and their travels.  We can ask all the Saints of Heaven especially the 7 that were added to the churches official roles last Sunday to pray for us.  I humbly ask St. Kateri to guide these special Americans home and to continue to show God's love to each of them.  St. Kateri, Pray for us! 

They are off!

The time finally came for the gang to leave.  J and the big kids were headed to St. Louis to meet up with  the other pilgrims so they could go on their pilgrimage to Italy.  This was not something that made the younger bunch at all happy.  

 We knew that this crew was about to have the trip of a life time.  We got up early to wish them well as they set off.  J and I had not been apart for more than 10 days and this was going to be longer.  I missed them before they drove away.

 Lots of hugs and kisses, we even caught the big kids trying to sneak off with the twins.

Good bye guys, we love you and we will pray for you.

We head off early that morning and went to Mass.  I still took like a trip with my 7 small children.  I am always amazed that being out in the world with several young children is a site to many people.  We were feeling a little down and left behind so I also took my crowd out for a nice breakfast.  This was more than enough to shock everyone we saw at the restaurant.  One couple came up to us to talk about our family.  Then as we went to leave we learned that they had purchased our meal.  That was such a nice treat. 

Year of Faith Pilgrimage is HERE!

 The Year of Faith is finally here.  It officially begins October 11th.  This is a year in which the church is trying to focus on Faith.  I do hope that all Catholics learn as much as they can about this year of faith and work toward their own indulgence.  Please click this sentence to take you to a page all about this opportunity.   We are so happy that it is officially here, but for more personal reasons.

My Teens have worked and worked to earn all their funds for their big trip.  Remember way way back when our dear friend Miss Linda T passes away?  (almost 3 years ago)  The kids were supposed to go on a World Youth Day t.rip but that fell apart, more information about all that in this older post.  Everything has fallen into place, all the monies needed have been earned, and the kids are getting ready for this huge trip.

So this Friday J is taking Goobers, Bear and Sugar to St. Louis.  Pooker is also going.  WE are so thrilled that she was able to work it in also.  They will meet up with family and Fr. Tom.  Later in the weekend, Mr. D and his son G along with Mr. Larry (and Linda T)'s daughter Kat will join them and several others.  They will fly out Monday to Venice, Italy.  Fr. Tom and his good friend, Monsignor Breier have organized a wonderful adventure on what has become their "Year of Faith" Pilgrimage.  Click here to see all the wonder adventures that are ahead of the kiddos and their dads.

Everyone is looking forward to different things. I am so happy that they get to attend the Canonization Mass of Kateri Tekakwitha.  Sugar has always been close to this saint so I am  thrilled for her.

I have always had a devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, there is a copy of this in my home parish - growing up.  The children will get to visit the shine where they house the original.  I am so jealous of this one.  I just pray that Linda's desires are met,  she wanted the teens to go on such a life affirming pilgrimage that their faith would be secure for their life time. It would seam that this pilgrimage holds that opportunity.

I ask that you remember these pilgrims in prayer over the next three weeks.  Please pray for their safety and health.  I do worry about Sugar's allergies and being in a foreign country with a different language and different food preparation regulations.   We also ask you to share your prayers with us.  The kids will be printing off a list of prayers sent to this email address up until Thursday.  They will not have the names of who sent them just the prayers.  They will carry that list with them and offer prayers for your intentions.  Just email us by Thursday evening, deadline is midnight October 11th.   Send prayers to prayers2take@gmail.com.  Feel free to share this with anyone you know needing some friends to offer prayers for them.  

Fundraising and Every One Helps

So the "Year of Faith" Pilgrimage was in the works and our fundraising began.  We started with the big Easter Lily Sale.  As I said before this was a fundraiser that was guided and protected by Blessed Kateri, The Lily of the Mohawks.

My favorite part of these two weekends was that even though the travelers were going to be dad, Goobers, Bear and Sugar with Kat and another friend, all my kiddos stepped up to plate to help out.  To say that we created some memories would be a major understatement. 

We had many methods for the selling.  Door to Door, End of the block stands, emails, facebook, personal calls, walking through a parking lot with a box full of flowers, and then outside of the Masses at St. Annes Catholic Church.

This was hot work but they kept at it.  The little ones didn't give up and at times they showed more determination than the big kids.

At one house Possible and Princess had to wait for about 10 minutes for the lady to get to the door.  They saw her getting up through the window in the door so they waited for her.  She was a very old woman.  She loved the flowers.

Possible said that she wanted to cry when the lady said she couldn't afford the $10 per plant fee but she still wanted to give her $3 to the cause. 

Princess then said that she paused and made sure that they all prayed together.  The lady asked that God help with the fundraising and that each of the kiddos get all the money they need.

The kids left feeling so elated with having had that time with her.  That was the first Sunday afternoon.  After Mass that evening and dinner we secretly left a lily on that Lady's front porch.  That was so much fun!

 The second weekend we started more slowly than the first weekend and we were tired.  Goobers  got to drive the truck around the neighborhood with her dad and that helped motivate that group.  I took the others around in the van. 

 Dad and I found we were offering little competitions like the first one to get to 10 this morning gets a coffee, or the group with the most sales today gets a sonic drink.

Selling at church was still work and it was so fun to interact with the members of this smaller parish.  (more than any parish grew up in but much much smaller than our current parishes.)   Our friend the D family and fellow travelers are members there and we so enjoyed meeting there people.

 I loved that the whole family got involved.  We still giggle at some memories and I loved spending time with our friends. 

It is true that this adventure was blessed.  These kiddos earned quit a bit of money those two weekends and were able to send huge checks in to cover a good chunk of their trips.  We still have a long way to go but having reached that huge hurtle of starting with the money saving. 

If you were one that bought a lily or a few of them

        "Thank You for your Purchase"

These Texas Teens will be going to ItalyFor the “Year of Faith”Pilgrimage     https://sites.google.com/a/straphaelarchangel.org/test-web-2/

We would like to take your prayers with us to remember in the various churches as we travel    Oct 15-25, 2012.  Send your intentions to:         Prayers2take@gmail.com

Everyone is welcome to offer prayer requests.  Please remember these teens as they prepare for this awesome adventure!