Big Families with All those Souls

So a few posts back I talked about hearing that Mrs. Gau had passed away. The Roses are all around! We discovered over the weekend that some other friends had lost their matriarch. She was 98 years old. Her name was Evelyn Elder. She was the mother of 7 and had led a good life. Three of her children live in our neighborhood. We know them from Mass and her only son is our Realtor. We didn't know her well but the few times I spoke with her or her children I could see the love that this woman had for her children, their children and their children. I could relate to her in so many ways. She was a very strong Catholic wife and mother that cared for her children with her entire being. This woman leaves quit a huge legacy with her 7 children, her 44 grandchildren and her outstanding number of 117 great-children with 4 more on the way. Wow. Her daughter once told me that she loved each and everyone of them and prayed for all of them every day.

This made me think back to the past generations. I wonder how many of my distant relatives are sitting in the eternal bliss of heaven praying for me, my siblings, my husband and his siblings. I thought long and hard at Mass last Sunday about Mrs. Gau and Mrs. Elder. They were both strong Catholic woman that loved God by loving their families. I pray that they are now in heaven enjoying their eternal reward while still praying for their families.


I sat at Mass on Sunday, also the feast of All Souls, and prayed for my family. I asked God to protect my children and all of our off spring, generations to come. I begged God to keep each one close to him through out their lives. As I sat and prayed for my family to come, I also prayed for the family that has passed. I wonder how many generations are in heaven looking down praying for us. I know that my Mommom and Papa are there. The faith was so important to each of them and I am certain that they desire it to be a part of our lives as well. When I received Holy Communion I felt very connected. It was one of those rare times that I felt like I was part of the Communion of Saints.


My mind was on all of these souls as Mass ended. I thought of adults, children, siblings, grandparents. I thought of lost souls and future souls. I prayed for my family and for your family. After Mass the two couples behind us started telling us their story. As it turned out they were number 1 and number 2 of a family of nine. They said they loved watching us during Mass as we reminded them of how they acted growing up. Each one fighting over the baby. Each one loving that baby above all else. They said over and over again how wonderful it was growing up in a family of 9. The oldest sister and the oldest child starting telling Dani how she is still the second mom of the group and loves each one of them as much today as she did growing up. The oldest son (the second child) expressed how much he still depends of every single one of his siblings. Both of their spouses went on and on about how much fun the Holidays are.

As we started to head out they stopped us and asked us to wait just one more minute. As it turned out their mom and dad were in town and at this very Mass. They really wanted the mom and dad to see the young kiddos. The second child (the oldest son) had gathered everyone together the day before for his oldest child's wedding. Each aunt and uncle went on and on about how special that day had been. They had enjoyed it so much and it had started with a beautiful Mass. The other siblings and their spouses and grown children were making their way across the church to our location with the mom and the dad. As each one approached they started sharing stories. All of them wanted to tell me something and tell Jason something. They all talked at one time but with the utmost respect for each other, just like my own kids.

Each grown adult child found their counter part in our group. The first born found Pooker. Number nine wanted to hold Jumba. He whispered to him that he was the luckiest one of the group. I heard things like, "I'm number 5 who is number 5." And then after finding Moogie it was like a reuniting of old friends. Each one pairing up with the adult from the other family telling my children the joys of being who they were.

Then mom and dad made it over. The crowds parted like all big families do when mom and dad join the group. I stood face to face with a woman that I now felt very close to. She was clearly in her 70's, but I had no idea of her exact age. I could just see a joy in her eyes that shined as she grabbed my hand. The dad was ushered over to J and they greeted with a warm hand shake. All of the children around us started talking again. It was such a joyful sound. She held my hand and said, "You have no idea the joy that this life will bring you!" I smiled and noticed that she also had a tear flowing down her cheek. "The love will just continue to grow! You will have hard times, you will have sad times but you are so blessed!"

"As are you," I responded. "Your grown children are wonderful and a true reflection of your loving motherhood."
"I know!" She smiled, "I am very blessed!"

"I see in your children what I saw in mine. It is rare but wonderful. They really love each other and that will get you through all the tough times. It really is heaven. I just wonder how heaven could be any better than the wedding Mass was yesterday!" She said.

"It was a piece of heaven." I assured her.
We embraced in a warm mom to mom hug and promised to pray for each other and each others families. Parting with them was like saying goodbye to mom when you move out of town. We knew we had to leave but really didn't want to.

This mom and I were separated by 35 or 40 years. I have no idea if I ever even heard her name. We have different challenges. She had 6 boys and 3 girls and we are the opposite with 6 girls and 3 boys. Her children are grown and mine are still very small. Yet the bond was so strong. Just like I felt with Mrs. Gau and Mrs. Elder. Thank heaven for these wonderful examples of true love in the world.

God please bless and protect each of these large families and keep all of their offspring close to you. Please allow Mrs. Elder and Mrs. Gau to rest in peace and share that same peace with their children.

"The best Halloween Ever!" part 5

So I know it is hard to believe that our Halloween could be that wonderful, but I felt that it really was. I feel sad for my Christian friends that refuse to partake becaue they fear it is evil. I did my searches and discovered that our celebrations all precede the churches day for All Saints and then the day for All Souls. The funny thing is that no one believes that our celebrations on Halloween are church related but they are. We are so caught up in being Christian that we forget some traditions began in our Catholic faith. Trick-or-Treating is an Irish thing based on collecting for the poor. That is the history of the day. There was a reason to dress like ghouls and goblins. It isn't celebrating them as much as it is acknowledging they are there and are trying to steal your souls. You are supposed to acknowledge evil and understand that it is true. How can we fight a battle when we don't even believe the enemy exists? Here is a little summery that I found after I had researched it for hours. Baptized holidays

Anyway we did celebrate and had a wonderful time. This year the kiddos wanted to go out in a theme but couldn't decide what to do. At the last minute they decided Ninja and purchased black shirts for the bunch. We were so late in picking that we couldn't find any Ninja toys so that just some black streamer paper and tied it around their heads. Later Pickle told me that it was his favorite costume. It was simple and fun and everyone liked that they were all dressed alike. I used to push that and gave up years ago now they do it on their own. Pickle also pointed out that Pooker will not be here next year if she goes away for college. He was so upset by this! I love how close they are.

Pooker lead the adventure and all the kiddos left. J and I were left home to defend the fort and pass out candy. We put the fire pit in the front and waited. It was slow at first and then around 8:00 the older kiddos started to venture out. Groups and groups of high school aged kiddos came by. That was our favorite part of the evening. At one point a huge group came by that included a hot dog, a ketchup bottle and a Michael Phelps . Now the Phelps costume was great. The young man had on black sweatpants and then just a bunch of medals. Simple, easy and very cute. I told him that he won the prize as our favorite. That is when he shared that he was going to wear his speedo but his mom sent him back upstairs to put on sweat pants. Thanks mom. So this group moved on and about an hour later they were back with some new members in the group. They went from about 10 teens to about 25 teens. We gave the new ones their candy and then the ketchup bottle walked up to J and asked. "Sir do you have a Sharpie I could borrow?"

Now if you know my husband he takes his loyalty to his company a bit too far. "Hell no, I don't have any of that crap in my house!!!!" The kid turned around to the group and as he is walking away yells, "Yep you were right it is the T house!" Isn't that too funny. The teens know that they could tell if it was us by just asking J about a "Sharpie." J's Bic reputation must be huge. Sad isn't it?

Our kiddos came back by to drop off the younger ones around 9:00. We set up a movie after teeth brushing and clothes changing. They sat and fell asleep down stairs while the older kiddos continued to walk around the neighborhood. They met up with friends and visited other friends. They arrived back home around 11:00. We all had a blast. They were safe and had fun together. We all then sat around the fir pit talking. The last trick-or-treater stopped by the house at 11:35 p.m. They jumped out of their car, ran up to house and asked if it was too late. We teased them for still trying that late in the evening. They pointed out that they had just gotten off work and there was only one other house that people were still outside. I was glad that we helped those teens be a part of Halloween even though they had to work. We talked as we let the fire die down and finally called it a night around 12:15. Great great fun! I am so thankful for family, friends, our neighborhood and the joy of having a large family. We celebrated all of that while still saying prayers for the deceased.

"The best Halloween Ever!" part 4

The house looked great! We set up the fire pit on the front path and greeted every trick or treater than came our way!

We were told that we were the best one on the block. Really the decorations consisted mostly of pumpkins. You have a lot of them when you have a lot of children.

"The best Halloween Ever!" part 3

The final results were wonderful!!

"The best Halloween Ever!" part 2

The pumpkins are always a big part of our celebrations. This year is no different. We were carving late into the night on Thursday. It is an entire family affair. This year everyone got their own pumpkin. Decideding what to carve was not easy, as always.

This is such a family boding experience. We get dirty together, we work hard and we all get to show our personallities in the final project. I hope that all families got to spend that kind of quality time together using knives and getting creative. As always they did a great job. 10-30-08

"The best Halloween Ever!" part 1

Playing games at the neighborhood party 10-25-08

Those were Pickle's direct words. I agree with him. We did things a little different that added to years past and the outcome was wonderful. The celebration was so much fun and lasted until after midnight. Thank goodness we will be catching up on sleep the next night with Day Light Savings.

Princess as our favorite Teenager and not as a donkey! 10-25-08

Moggie as a star with her new best friend. 10-25-08

Goobers with Bagel as Buzz Lightyear 10-25-08

Pooker keeping a watchful eye on all her siblings. 10-25-08

Sugar walking to the party with the group. 10-25-08

Pickle as Woody 10-25-08

Bear with Jumba the Bumble Bee 10-25-08

It all started the Saturday before. J and I were going to an engagement party for some dear friends, Congratulations Mike & Shannon!! The kiddos decided that they still wanted to go to the neighborhood Halloween party. Pooker was staying home and she and Goobers could make it all happen. They got ready as we did. WE dressed up as they dug through the buckets to find just the right "stand by" costumes. Princess is much more aware of our political surroundings that I first thought. She caught Bagel putting on an Eeyore Costume and grew horrified. We didn't understand at first until she explained that all donkeys believed in abortions. She is smart little bugger that picks up on a lot. No Eeyore this year.

Caught you red handed!

It is always a pain to walk into the room and see that the dogs water needs cleaning. This seams to happen every hour in our home. I ask who did it, and it is never anyone present or big enough to clean up. If little Jumba wasn't so cute, he would be in BIG TROUBLE MISTER.