Friday Photo Favorites

This little boy has found an new friend.

Manic Monday Week #11

Last match up in Round 2

"PARTY"

"Hay Hoo Up High"



Friday Photo Favorites

This was my favorite picture from the airshow.

Because Moving Isn't Enough...

Adding an Arrow.

I put on a pair of shoes the other day and immediately suppressed a gag reflex. The shoes reeked of the old bakery where I worked while pregnant with Paul Thomas over 4 years ago! Yes, I sent Philip out right away to purchase a test. There have been other signs as well, such as not longing to be pregnant any more, but becoming teary-eyed and almost crazy when I see a newborn.  It is particularly hard to control myself Mass. I fight a serious desire to walk, bounce, coo and kiss every baby I see.

So, we are indeed expecting our third little blessing in June. We have been waiting and prayerfully discerning this little one for awhile now, so our joy seems doubled as does the "morning sickness."

Please keep in prayers my sanity as I try to ready our family to move and also please pray for Philip as he now has taken on the role of dinner prep as well as much of the evening obligations. He is a trooper and I am a blessed wife.

You know it's bad when your three year old is constantly asking, "Mommy, do you feel yucky?" "Oh that's right, because growing a baby is hard."

Who wouldn't want another?

Manic Monday Week #10

"Down by the River"

"Zoo Ballet"



Friday Photo Favorites

Kind of Dreamy

The Sound of Freedom

On Saturday, we took a trip with a visiting GeeGee and PaPa and Uncle not-enough-homework-to-do Tim to the Ft. Worth Alliance Air Show, which only narrowly beat out the other option for the day's activity--the Dallas Pumpkin Village (for those of you in Rio Linda, no, the decision was not at all difficult at all, especially with a 3 year old who transforms any semi-flat object into a fighter jet). What better way to spend a beautiful, late fall day than with 100,000 Americans and a few less, but just as exceptional, peices of American engineering? The sunburns and 90 minutes spent navigating an exit from the parking lot were a small price to pay for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The stunt planes redefined the word "flying" for me. I always thought there was an amazing force called "lift" created by the air moving over and under the wings of the airplane. Aparently, I have been lied to all my life, because these pilots were keeping the aircraft in the air going sideways, backwards and at complete standstills.

No, I cannot take credit for the pictures. As always that goes to my awesome wife.

Early in the show, a motorcade with full escort made its way to a "private area" of the airport. We were all convinced that, since he lives in Dallas, W and his family were there. I wondered if there would be a safer place for the former president to be than at a military air show with all branches of the military present... and in Texas?

The highlight for PT, I think, was the chance to go "inside the belly of a tilt-a-rotor."

There were plenty of old and new aircraft on the ground to explore, which created a few more photo ops.

Yes, that is the 50mm gatling gun on an A10 Warthog pointed at Dad's head.

None of this, however, prepared us for the last 2 hours of the show, which featured a F-16 Fighting Falcon, an F-22 Raptor and, of course, the Blue Angels. I CAN claim credit for these videos:

Standing in the near vicinity of this F-22 monster, one cannot say that he has "heard" it fly by, but that it impressed itself onto every sense besides taste. At this low altitude, the smell of jet fuel is awesome, too.

This display of seven decades of global air superiority sent a tingle down my leg.

Finally, not that any video can afford them justice, but this post would be sadly lacking without including some frames of the Blue Angels.

Just a few more reasons why I'm thankful I'm not Taliban.

Champions of Faith.

All Saints day is one of my favorite feast days in the Church. The depth and richness of our faith is really displayed in our saints. Today we celebrate their courageous lives and are reminded that we all are called to sainthood. 

Some of our family's favorite saints are:

 

St. Joseph!

I have always admired the great humility in this man and the sincere love for Mary and for ethics as he struggled with how to handle the out of wedlock pregnancy. During my sophomore year in college I was finishing up a novena to St. Joseph when on the last day Philip ask me out and our relationship began there. The funny thing was that I was merely praying the novena as encouragement with another friend who was struggling with a desire to be in relationship that would lead to marriage. A relationship at that time was not on my radar. My friend? She joined the Carmelites.

St. Monica.

She personifies motherly perseverance and total trust in the Lord. Even though her son went astray for many years she never gave up on his soul. All she had was prayer to aid her in the battle for her son's soul and she wielded it long and hard. As I look back and some erroneous decisions I made growing up I realize what a delicate place I put my mother in and how grateful I am that she never gave up on me and that she too was on her knees. (No, mine was nowhere near Augustine's story, but there could have been better choices made on many occasions.)

St. Thomas Aquinas.

He is frequently sought since Philip has returned to school. He is also Paul Thomas' namesake.

St. John Viannay.
Matthew, seminary, need I say more?

All the Saints in Heaven: Pray for us!

Who are some of your own Catholic Heroes?

Manic Monday Week #9

More from Round Two.

"Zoo Jazzercise"

"Just Can't Help It"