YES!

Today started out as a NO day. As in, Pia and I were at odds with each other. I found myself repeatedly saying no to her-

no candy for breakfast, no throwing your food off of your tray, no unpacking my boxes, no taking out all the clean clothes, no constant nursing, no coloring all over yourself with a pen!

Eek! She in turn said no to me repeatedly-

no eating breakfast, no putting away laundry, no addressing an envelope, no getting dressed, no checking email.

Eek!

Finally we found something we could both agree on-a walk outdoors! And the presence of the pink balloon made it even more enjoyable for both of us.

We ventured out and found a bus (she moves her hands in circles as we do when we sing "Wheels on the bus"), several planes, a dog ("ruf"), a couple trains, the snow-plow, the park, and some fish. We climbed and swung and laughed and slid and explored. (check out that nicely decorated hand!)

On the way back home, she insisted that she get out of her stroller and promptly started going back. "Where are you going?" I asked her. "Blub, blub, blub" she responded, because that is what fish say. Back to the fish we went.

Now we're home and she is sleeping. As she fell asleep, I smelled her little head. Not the usual Johnsons baby shampoo smell, but the smell of the outdoors and of a child who has been out happily playing for a couple hours. The day is going better...

The Beautiful Desires of Her Little Heart

Ever since it got cold, my little girl's heart has been longing for the outdoors. Sometimes I would find her staring out the window at the hose, and know that she was remembering summer.

The desires of her heart are a BIG DEAL in this family! So when it was lovely yesterday, we headed outside for some serious play-time. Armed with the new froggy boots from Grandma, we splashed in puddles, walked to the park, chased some geese, climbed, slid, and swung. Our time was cut shorter than we wanted after she fell into a puddle. What fun.

The House, part 3

(a tree in serious need of pruning, which I have been told will be lovely, + part of the house)

As I was working on the house this weekend, I was thinking about Fr. Tom. His guidance shaped me to be who I am more than any other single person. My first year as a FOCUS missionary, I went to spiritual direction and began grumbling to him..

"Virtue! Who wants to hear about virtue? I hate virtue! People need to experience Christ and His love for them-then they will be set on fire! Why does FOCUS talk so much about virtue? Chastity, sobriety, excellence...grumble, grumble, grumble."

(soon to be tulips, we hope)

Fr. Tom listened and understood my heart. Why would anyone want to be virtuous without having the love of Christ, the desire to be perfect in order to attain Heaven, and the knowledge of the peace that virtue brings (eventually?) to motivate them? It's a lot of work, growing in virtue. And painful. And very grace-full.

(I love virtue now, by the way. Maybe I'll do another post on virtue later).

(this stuff used to be here:)


He wisely said,

"Growing in virtue is like arranging the furniture just right, so that you can begin to dance with Christ. Once it's arranged, you dance. You live. Until it's arranged correctly, you crash into a lot of things."

(taking down the wall-paper in the bathroom)

Yes. And once it's done-once you have developed those habits-you don't have to redevelop them all the time. Some slight tweaks here or there. Maintenance. Fine tuning for the rest of your life as you strive for perfection. But lots of dancing!
(can't wait to paint over this color!)

My poor little house, it's still in the rooting-out-serious-sin stage of growth. I can't wait until we get to the furniture arranging and then, the dancing! The living! The joy.(some of us have already made ourselves at home)

The House, part 2

We knew from the beginning of Ron's time in graduate school that we would be poor upon his completion. We would have a baby, and I would be staying at home to watch her. We felt called to live close to our families, in an expensive area. These were the facts of our life, and we began to have lots of conversations about how to survive on one income with lots of children (we hoped) in an expensive area. Apartment life was not floating my boat. With a zillion loads of laundry each day that I couldn't do by myself since the laundry room was down some steps and across a parking lot, we frequently had HUGE piles of dirty clothes (shocking, I know). With no backyard, I couldn't grow the garden that I had been dreaming about. We couldn't really decorate, there wasn't much space.

"A house is what we need!"

I declared. My husband, the accountant/economist/engineer made some spread sheets.

"It will take us a while to save for one."

Of course, he was right. But I refused to give up, and my desire to have my own home kept growing and growing. I had an idea. "What if we stay with my Mom for a while, to save some money and pay off our student loans?" He agreed, and we did it. It was pretty hard, not because she isn't lovely, but because melding two households is hard. As Fulton Sheen said, "The fast before the feast." We were making the sacrifice of our privacy, our traditions, our freedom (in a sense) for something greater.

We began looking for someplace of our own in August. A condo, we thought. It was a compromise. Out came the calculator and a strict budget. We looked, and realized-NOT a good time to buy a condo. No go.

One day at the beginning of October, we were driving around looking at houses.  Pia was sleeping, and we were trying to give her some extra time to nap before a family gathering. Ron's sister Sheila had found a house that was having an estate sale. The family was willing to sell it for a great price. We were driving around trying to find it, and at the same time, we were grabbing fliers from all of the houses we saw that were for sale-to get an idea of the prices of the area. We had realized that we were suddenly in a position to buy a house.

1. Great mortgage rates
2. First time home-buyers tax credit
3. Some savings for a down payment

We drove past a little house, and I jumped out and grabbed the paper.

"No price. A bust!"

I muttered as I handed the paper to Ron. Plus, Pia woke up from the noise of the car door. Double bust. Ron called the number and found the price of the house. It was a short sale (so that means that the sale will take a short amount of time, right? no, wrong. VERY wrong). We called our real estate agent and she took us to see 5 houses in our price range.

We ended up putting an offer on that little house on the feast of St. Margaret Mary. It's a three bedroom ranch with two bathrooms. A great yard. Admittedly some funny colors. We waited for that house for over four months before the sale went through. Patience, patience. Saving more money. Missing the high utility bills from the winter months. God's will.

Finally, on February 25th, we closed on the house. It's ours. Strange....in an amazing, can't believe that actually happened, this is wonderful sort of way.

The House, part 1

(My good husband just got home from working on the house, so this long overdue post will be *much* shorter than I planned.)

My friends, God in His goodness has given us the opportunity to buy a house!

Come visit.

It might have funny colors right now, but soon it will be beautiful and cozy. We have been hard at work washing every surface possible,
filling in holes, taking down wall-paper and closet doors, and painting. The essentials are there.
Soon we will be there. Soon. And hopefully, you will be, too.

"As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord."