Speaking of Legos.  This week's assignment was to fill a baggy with 30 pieces you'd like to build with ...  then ... pass it to the fella on your left.  Our buddy Josiah's spaceship won the mini Kit-Kat bar.  

"Did you know 'Lego' is short for 'LEg GOdt,' or 'Play Well' in Danish?  It also means 'I put together' in Latin," Haven said as he tripped over the baby gate.

I made him show me the book where he read that.   And sure enough ...

Winter Games

So these won't be forgotten:  

1.  Suitcase:  Put your brother in a suitcase, zip it shut.  Wheel it around while the other brothers kick it.

2.  Chicken Poop:  Push all the covers on your mother's bed on the floor, jump on them and yell "chicken poop!"

3.  Evie:  Take apart the humidifier.  Carry around the blue lid.  Call "her" Evie and pet her.  Dress up like a ninja and a cowboy.  Draw maps, carry swords.  The mission is noble.  Save Evie.

Yes, this winter is growing long.  So long that I've resurrected my blog.  My apologies ahead of time.  

Happy Annunciation!

(I wrote this for a competition & didn't win & had to put it somewhere)

In My Hand

A Verse for the Annunciation

Lentils strewn

across the wall

in a dusky wave

These things I remember

Mid-day hunger

we had an onion

so the stew smelled rich

I filled my bowl to the brim,

heard a rustling,

like leaves

or the tops of juniper trees

swaying in the wind

And turned

"Hail, Full of Grace ..."

Light broke 

with a voice

terrible,

but sweet

I could see him

yet through him

he was golden,

white and blue --

with silver specks

sparking off his skin

like moonlight on water

And the lentils,

they flew

from my hand

when I jumped

and gasped

and grabbed my throat

to find it silent

Only the sound

of a wooden bowl,

clattering across stone,

and his words,

"Be Not Afraid,"

filled the room

As strong and as real

as the fire beneath my pot

As strong and as real

as the cold beneath my feet

As strong and as real

as the waft of lentils

for which,

I was no longer hungry

These things I remember

I hold them in my hand

like the same wooden bowl,

now cracked on one side,

my finger finds the line often

and traces it

like a scar

Especially when I feed

my Son of the Most High

lentils or pottage or goat curds,

His favorite,

and He squeals and smacks and splats

them on His face,

in my hair,

on the wall

I laugh at the Child's dancing brown eyes,

but words spoken over Him

grip my heart all the more

as He now reaches

to grip my hand

"And of His Kingdom there shall be no end."

Yea, be it done to me according to thy word.

Pope John Paul II, Pray for Us

I read this today and had to write it somewhere:

"Following Jesus as Redeemer means accepting the practical way by which he achieved the salvation of humanity. This way is the Cross. The present economy of salvation passes through the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus; it passes through the Paschal Mystery. Therefore, being a Christian means accepting the logic of the Cross in one's own life; it means following Jesus carrying the Cross."

-- Pope John Paul II

June 25, 1989

King Henry

Henry the Brave

I'd gladly slay a fire-breathing dragon,
Crawl bare-kneed across Antarctica's shores,
Swim though mud motes the size of Wisconsin

To behold you,
if only for a breath

King Henry, to you I bow

Honored

Honored

Honored

to be your Mom

***

Announcing: Henry Joseph Johnson
Born: April 9, 2010
6 lbs 4 ounces

"Henry" (Germanic) means "Ruler of the House" and is the name most frequently used by kings in recorded history. "Joseph" is Hebrew and means "God will increase." We chose Henry simply because we like the sound of it and for its meaning; Joseph in honor of St. Joseph.

Thanks to all who prayed & helped out during Henry's stint in the NICU. He's doing very well and is finally home.

Our joy is now complete.

* * *

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. --Isaiah 12:2

We Are Living Our Dream

I was handing him his lunch,

or maybe stepping out of the shower

when the new day's light

crossed his face

in a way

that made me realize

we were living our dream.

So I told him,

and he smiled at me

the way he does

when something

is perfectly

good,

right

and

true.