I can't believe it's Sunday night already!

Below is Katie with Stephen Follbaum. They are on the same soccer team at homeschool soccer and they WON! :)
There's Hannah at her Canton Soccer game. She's quite the player!
Mary Therese can't visit Baby Bliss without walking out with something. She's sporting her new fall colors from Zutano. :)
Jackson borrowed his friend Joe Renfer's Superman costume. He has literally had it on for three days!

This weekend FLEW by! Lots of soccer, laundry, playing, nursing, diaper changing, and errand running.

We started off the weekend with Friday being a "double soccer" day. Soccer in the morning with the homeschooling group and a soccer game at night for Hannah. The Denja's came over and some of them went to help cheer Hannah on :) Hannah and Owen had soccer games bright and early Saturday morning. Hannah scored a goal which was doubly exciting because Mary Therese and I were actually there. I'm not usually at the games because I'm at home with Mary or running kids here and there. So God is good and I was able to see her score!

Today was an emotional day. It was Fr. John's official installation as pastor of OLGC. Brandon served with three other boys (one was our friend Dillon Stevenson). Watching Brandon walk in carrying the cross is one of those memories that will be burned on my heart forever. A) I haven't seen him serve in a long time. Since we've been parish hopping he hasn't really served anywhere. B) if you've ever seen the church layout at OLGC you'll know that they way the priest walks in is around the back, sort of. Anyway - it's quite a site and there was even a brass band. Of course the band wasn't for Brandon, LOL, but it was still wonderful. Bishop Boyea gave an excellent homily on the value of human life. He held nothing back and I commend him for that. It was refreshing to hear. I'm not sure if it's downloadable with Fr. John's homilies at http://www.olgcparish.net/ but it ought to be. And to read more about our bishops you can check out this website : http://www.aodonline.org/AODOnline/Meet+the+Bishops+12188/Meet+the+Bishops+-+Active+in+the+Archdiocese.htm

Tuesday marks the beginning of a 40 day prayer vigil outside abortion mills in the area. 40 days for life ( http://www.40daysforlife.com/splash.cfm ) is a wonderful organization. Fr. John will begin the adoration at the abortion mill in Ann Arbor at midnight on Tuesday (really Wednesday morning, I guess.) I do wish I could be there at midnight but it's not likely. I do plan to go to some of the events with Brandon that begin at 7pm at Christ the King Parish in Ann Arbor. For more info on this even check out the link above or feel free to email me (jekblad11@comcast.net) I do wish people could un emotionally look at this issue of abortion. Scientifically we know it is a life we are killing. Even if we did not know it 30 years ago, the advances in science surely tell us so now. Abortion not only hurts(kills) the baby but it scars the mother and the father for the rest of their lives. Most of you know that I was a teen mother. I got pregnant with Brandon when I was 17 years old. While society would have had me toss him out of the way and forget about it I did not do that, thank God. As I watched him round the corner today carrying the cross I thought "what if" he wasn't here. I am in no way condoning pre marital sex or teen/unwed pregnancy. Even in the best of circumstances those things leave scars of their own. At least they are scars I can heal from and still hug my child. Women have been fooled for all these years to believe that abortion is the answer. It is never the answer. It is my prayer that any woman/girl needing the love and support that crisis pregnancy demands will somehow find it. That they will find it at home, among friends, in a church, at a crisis pregnancy center, and in God. I am not able to be as active in the pro life movement as I would like to be. Someday, though, as I believe there is a season for everything. In the meantime please join me in praying for these unfortunate situations.

Thanks for reading and God Bless!

An Autumn Day at Greenfield Village

Want a "get your school done" motivator? Promise and afternoon at Greenfield Village (www.thehenryford.org) and then add "with the McInnis'" (our best friends). That'll get the job done and even get you some housecleaning! The kids whipped through their school work this morning in order to spend an awesome autumn afternoon at Greenfield Village. It's so beautiful there! We had a blast and even got *special* treatment from the workers. The village was slow today so we got extra long rides. We also enjoy touring the houses during this time of year but didn't have time for that today. We plan to go back in mid October (before the village closes for winter) to focus on the house tours.

Our week has been insane but we're getting into our schedule alright. It will all be shaken up again next week as Hannah and Owen embark on a 10 day trip with their grandparents to Texas (to visit Great Grandma). Mommy (me) is a little nervous about such a long trip. I am asking for prayers for a safe trip for them. They will drive and get to go through seven states on their trip. With math and Latin (and some good literature) they will surely get a great education along the way.

I went to the first in a series of "RCIA for Catholics" last night at OLGC. Fr. John is just amazing. We will cover things that I wished I would have learned in religious ed when I was a kid. Coloring dittos just didn't cut it for me. I can't wait to get to the meat of our Faith and learn new ways to explain and defend the Faith. Jesse is going along with me so it makes for a nice night out.

Well, it's been a long day and tomorrow promises to be just as long. The weather has been a little warm for my taste (I'm the summer Scrooge) but it's beautiful and praise God for that.

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Like Father Like Son.....

Jesse and Sammy playing Webkinz on the laptops. Sammy has become quite the computer expert (addict) over the last weeks. At the end of the day I think "oh, he didn't watch TV at all" but then I remember he was on the computer for a R E A L L Y L O N G T I M E !
Grandma Jackson got these outfits for the boys. They look so cute! They were perfect for the fall weather we had this past weekend. Thanks Grandma!
OK - I'm not feeling wordy tonight (can you imagine?) but we did go to a couple's prayer talk last night with our homeschooling group. Did you know 1:2 marriages end in divorce BUT if the couple reads the Bible and/or prays together then the odds move to 1:1000 ! I knew it was a better percentage but MAN! Anyway - many different churches are offering a six week couples prayer class right now (and in the future). OLGC's is in February 2008 (and we're signed up!). Go to www.coupleprayer.org to see more info and get other dates. You tune up your car and work out your muscles at the gym. Further, no one would ever let someone who doesn't have a real degree in medicine operate on them. But anyone can get married. People think they can just ignore their marriages and they will survive. They will NOT survive. In closing I'll post a prayer that we opened the meeting with last night. It's a lovely prayer that a friend sent to me.

Holy Family Prayer

Dear Holy Family we look to you for guidance as we go through our day so that everything we do will give glory to you. Strengthen our marriages so they can be a source of joy, hope, and help in our lives. Protect the innocence and purity of our children and keep them from evil. Please help us to always be charitable and ready to serve our neighbors and strangers alike. Help us to remember to go to You in prayer and scripture in our need instead of gossip and idle complaints. Thank you for the example you set for us and for all the spiritual gifts you send to us each day. Amen!

Katie is 7!

Katie turned 7 years old on Friday, the 14th. It was the beginning of a VERY busy weekend for us! A whirlwind of a birthday party, soccer, and general organization. Jesse was awesome and flitted from soccer game to soccer game with toddler in tow while I ran Brandon to Miles Christi and did general household maintenance. We had a "new member" mass and dinner at OLGC (http://www.olgcparish.net/) on Saturday night. It was very nice.

Thinking about Katie's birthday I thank God that He was able to send her to us. After we had Owen (our third) we were *done* having children. Not knowing (as we were never taught) that birth control was against the Catholic Church teachings we ignorantly assumed it was OK. It is NOT OK. Prayerfully discerning if you should use Natural Family Planning (http://www.ccli.org/) is *allowed* but birth control in temporary or permanent form is never allowable. It's not just to be mean. There is meaning behind this teaching. Much of this meaning can be found in Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body. There IS meaning behind this. Studies show that marriages in which the couple prays together and discerns their family size (every month!!) are stronger and last longer (forever). The teaching is not there so that every family must have 15 kids. It's there so that couples are open to life and are all accepting of each other. 100%. This teaching is not open for interpretation and is not optional. I could go on and on but will not because the kids need lunch. :)

God Bless and thanks for reading!

More Pictures and a Blog

The Pictures.......



Hmm - tried a different lay out and I'm not a fan. Anyway, above left is Mary Therese sporting her "Cradle Catholic" sweatshirt. The weather was perfect for it today.

Above right is Jackson and his friend Joe at the homeschool skating party today.

To the left is Hannah halping Jackson skate around the rink. What a great big sister!




And the blog.......

Well, day three of our first official school week is under my belt. I'm WAY tired! Totally fried. But I am enjoying it for the most part. This curriculum is requiring a billion books (have I mentioned that? ;) ) but I'm really getting into the literature. I'm learning a ton and I do really enjoy it. The kids are doing well adjusting to everything. With the flu over soccer is in full swing. Hannah had a game Monday night and was one of the "player of the game" girls. Katie had a game last night and they won.

It was chilly today so I brought up some of the winter clothes. We have a big tub with all long john pj's in them. Those of you familiar with hanna andersson (www.hannaandersson.com) stuff know how awesome their pj's are. I buy them each Christmas for the kids and then keep them all together in a tub at the end of the season. I've done this for many years so we've got quite the stock pile now. They hand down well without little "wear" marks or fading. I swear it's like Christmas when we bring them out each fall! The kids are so excited. They sometimes even make a little cheer sound. It's so funny! I swear I could wrap it up and call it Christmas right then and there. Kids are so easy to please (sometimes and when they are not 2 years old and named Samuel). I think if we just kept things simple our lives would be alot easier. You have to love kids that love hand me downs! All of my kids are like that and I'm so grateful. I am also like that. It's fun to have something *new* even if it's not really new.

Well, I'm burnt out and still have laundry and some dishes waiting for me. So I should run. Leaving you with a link to an article about a man that nominated his late wife for sainthood! What a guy, what a woman, and what an amazing story! It gives me courage to keep going.....

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07252/815934-85.stm

God Bless!

PS - when I asked Jesse if he was going to nominate me for Sainthood he nearly died laughing. I guess not. ;) Not that I deserve it!!

Lots of Pictures

Owen worked for several hours straight to complete this puzzle. He did a great job. Unfortunately for him I would only keep it around on the kitchen table for a few days. It's now back in the box waiting to be put together again. ;) Here's Brandon working hard on his first "official" day of school this year. He's in 10th grade.

Here's a beatle that the kids and I found while taking a walk the other day. They were very excited to see it eating on the flower.
Here's Brandon and Scarlet on Tuesday. We took a walk around our neighborhood. It was nice.
Here's Sammy being "the teacher" he wanted to be called "Mr. Ekblad" LOL!

No Time

Not much time today. I'm hoping to post a couple "first day of school" pics later. We shall see. Currently I'm nursing a very fussy Mary Therese. Just wanted to post a couple of links I came across today. The first is an article about Pope Benedict's recent ecofriendly youth rally. Us overpopulating Catholics can also respect the earth ;) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20548340/from/ET/

The second is one that is near and dear to my heart lately. Juggling everything has me wondering why I never got much "home ec" in school. I remember what little we did have (in Junior High) was very valuable. Unfortunately it ended there and the whole "women's lib" thing hasn't done me any favors. I learn as I go and am forced to basically reinvent the wheel. I have all the modern conveniences and still don't really do well. Anyway - I've a lot of support IRL (in real life) and online. Here's a site of the daughter of the secratary (got that ;) ) at St. Gerald's. I want homemaking to look like an art to my girls (even if it's a messy, bad art piece that would end up in a hotel room, LOL). I don't want them to think that staying home and taking care of your kids is something you do to kill time until the kids are old enough and then you go back to your *real* job. It's a lifelong commitment and sacrafice but one that can be made to look attractive if one knows how to do it. I even bought an apron this week and have been teaching myself and the girls to sew (as seen in my pictures) :) Anyway - here's the link. God Bless!

www.homemaking911.com

If you were a superhero who would you be?

Below is Brandon, the attached brother. He is so good to Mary Therese and frequently carries her, plays with her, and puts her to bed. She (and we) are so blessed to have him in our lives!
Mikey (in true Denja fashion) making sure to leave our home cleaner than when he arrived. Yes, the vacuum was really running. He vacuumed for quite a while and made good progress.
Despite the flu, Hannah and Katie worked on their first sewing project today. They are working through the book "Sewing with Saint Anne" (www.catholichomeschooling.com) . We shopped for our items last night and they wasted no time beginning today.

Mary Therese "watched" the Michigan football game with daddy today. Despite her fashionable Mai Tei baby carrier Michigan was defeated. :(

Boys love superheros. We've had many the superhero obsession in our home over the years. Currently Jackson and Samuel are into "Bibleman". http://www.familychristian.com/shop/product.asp?prodID=16982 It's basically Power Rangers with a Christian twist. Jackson can quote the Bible now, LOL, and it's something else. I'm not a fan of all the violence. I used to be so against letting them play guns and swords. Boys make weapons out of everything, however, so I figure if they learn some scripture with it then so be it. ;) Anyway - what superhero would you be? I remember loving the bionic woman when I was little. My brother was very into the bionic man and I think we went as the bionic man and woman for halloween one year. I was also very partial to aqua man and the wonder twins. I'm not sure what one power I would wish to possess now. I would love to have arms coming out my back. It would be perfect in my kitchen. I could wash dishes and cook at the same time! Now wouldn't that be something? Or how about the gift of bi location! That would be quite handy when two or three kids have soccer games at the same time. Alas, I have no superpowers. I don't even think I have willpower. The last couple of weeks have been really rocky. Alot of transitioning going on and then we got hit with the stomach flu this weekend. Hannah and Owen had to miss their first soccer games which was very sad. Monday starts our official first day of school. We're ahead already so that's a good thing. ;) I really think I'm prepared now but we'll see. Well, I'm rambling. As I said, it's been a long day. Please pray for Jackson. He still is not potty trained and is now peeing on the floor by the toilet instead of in the toilet. That child is going to be successful someday. He is God's way of teaching me a big, fat lesson. NEVER judge other people's children and think your child will never do A, B, or C. I know someday we'll laugh about this (and torture him with stories) but for now we are tired......

In other news - Colleen and her girls are at a baby/child trade show in Vegas. We miss them terribly though she's done an excellent job of keeping me in the loop. She's even let me go online and look at fabrics and toys and things and made me feel important (like she needs me to choose products. ;) ).

Mike Denja called yesterday and asked if he and the kids could stop by after school. As if that wasn't exciting enough he locked his key (and a sleeping Mikey) in the van so LA got to come over from work and unlock the doors. All was fine with Mikey (he slept through it all) and LA got to stay too!! It was really fun. I miss my busy friends something terrible.

God Bless and thanks for reading!

Suit up and Show up

Stupid, stupid, stupid is all I can say about myself today. The kids were anxious to start school like their friends so I reluctantly started today. D U M B ! I hadn't planned to start until Monday. Things were mostly ready but not all the way. Hannah and Owen had a field trip this morning, my mom is having surgery tomorrow so that's on my mind, and apparently our new curriculum (www.motherofdivinegrace.org) requires more books than a library. So I had MORE books to order. Ok - I love books. I love shopping. So why is this a problem? I guess just feeling completely lost freaks me out. My controlling tendencies don't lend themselves well to not knowing what comes next. And my "too much coffee A.D.D" doesn't lend itself well to sitting down and focusing on what I need so......there you go. I've had a couple things on my mind today. Somewhere between rushing to the field trip (I was late) and soccer, the grocery store, and other errands I managed to get the new book Mother Teresa Come Be My Light by Briean Kolodiejchuk, M. C. I've been hearing about this book for a while and thought about resisting the urge to purchase it. I've a million and one books that I've only read halfway (or not at all) and equally as many books on CD or my ipod that I haven't gotten to yet. Still, this book intrigues me and was made more attractive by the fact that it was hard to find. Family Christian didn't have it and neither did the bookstore in downtown Plymouth. Amazon could ship it in 3 - 5 weeks. Barnes and Noble had some so that's where I went. Here it sits, next to me, not being read, LOL. I did read the introduction over a late dinner of hummus and blue corn chips. The book has caused quite the controversy in the Catholic and other Christian communities. It contains letters written by Mother Teresa to different spiritual advisers over the years. It contains information that Mother Teresa had a "dark night of the soul" or many dark nights as the case may be. Some Catholics and Christians believe it will make it seem as though Mother Teresa didn't really believe in God at all. I disagree. I find her dark nights inspiring. If someone as amazing as Mother Teresa can struggle with depression and times of doubt then I feel OK doing the same. It shows that Mother Teresa was human and that it's OK to doubt. One caller to Teresa Tomeo's show this morning (www.avemariaradio.net) made a remarkable comment that will stick with me for a while. He said that Mother Teresa's doubt shows how we should "suit up and show up" regardless of our feelings. In a feeling driven society where we get the message that if it feels good do it and if it doesn't then don't we have lost our sense of moral responsibility. We've also lost a lot more than that. Children have lost parents and parents have lost children. Mothers are permitted by law to kill their unborn babies. No one has to apologize for anything because everything's "OK". We must all be politically correct lest we offend. It sickens me. That should probably be another blog, though. I'll leave you with this quote that's at the beginning of the book :

If I ever become a Saint - I will surely be one of "darkness." I will continually be absent from Heaven - to light the light of those in darkness on earth- ~Mother Teresa of Calcutta

I pray that Mother Teresa will light my way and yours. God Bless!

PS - the book is available from Amazon.com at an amazing price if you're willing to wait a few weeks for it. :)