Wedding Morning

My sister is getting married today.  I prayed hard for her last night.  I considered whether it is allowed to make a morning phone call to a bride on the day of her wedding.  As I'm her sister and also because this is my daily routine, I gave her a call. Everything in me awaited the tone of her voice. I'd know by what she said and how she said it how she was really doing.  The phone rang.

Her voice was a clear spring morning and a fresh breeze. She was peaceful, happy, confident.  Thanks be to God! His grace is with her, sustaining her. My prayer is that this is just the beginning.  God is faithful.  He has been faithful to my sister, and He is a tremendous lover.  She has walked the path to calvary with Him, carried her cross with Him. I pray that today is an Easter in her life. I believe it is.

Thanks be to God for His Church, our Mother. With wisdom and mercy she has arms for her children in every situation. My sister was in an abusive marriage for 5 years. She has two beautiful daughters.  With the annulment came healing.  With Mike there came a chance to again be in a full vocation: married! Wife and mother.  Family. The sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Thank God for His grace and for the sacraments which bring His grace to our souls.

My kids are out playing in our neighbor's yard, getting sweaty and muddy. I have to round them up and throw them into a sudsy tub. My girls get their hair done at noon. Then we throw on our finest and drive to the church. Wish me luck (especially with no A/C in the church, a nursing baby, and (gulp) I have to wear spanx with my dress! aaaah!) Say a prayer for my sister and her new husband as they begin their new life together!

Midsummer Musings

I was sipping my morning coffee and chatting with my husband when he kindly said, "I'm sorry [for interrupting], but I have to point this out to you." There was a fawn nestled in the leaves on the edge of our lawn where the forest begins. It looked just like the scene from Bambi when the "little prince" is born and all of the forest animals are excited to meet him. So darling! As the day went on, the little prince would get a little perky, stick up his head with his ears upright and look at his world around him. This morning the Mama doe was laying in our woods, nursing her baby.  I felt a kinship with that beautiful and graceful mother. We both had babies to feed.  I think we both enjoyed the quiet morning, looking out at the world, with our sweet babies nearby.  Then she had to go off and forage for 8-10 hours.  I had beds to make and dishes and laundry and shopping.  But we'd both be back and tucked in with our nurslings again.  Motherhood makes for beautiful rhythms like that.  I'm glad to take notice, because those peaceful moments of beauty are all too fleeting.  If we're attentive, though, we'll find them cropping up again and again.  My 9-year-old boy just ran past my window in his roller blades, on the grass, actually, on the muddy hill-side of our house, huffing and puffing. Now there are earsplitting shouts from the front yard.  My other children are enjoying the warm summer sun, and each other. It can fill your heart with joy, if you will sit a moment, and let it.  There really is so much to delight in!