Thursday, January 31, 2008

Sometimes It Takes All Day

Yesterday, it took me all day to clean the master bathroom. Of course, I was really cleaning it this time. That includes the bathtub and the shower, which don't make it into the regular bathroom cleaning. I started out cleaning the shower while taking a shower during Joseph's short morning nap. Unfortunately, I couldn't even finish that before the other kids came running in to tell me that Joseph was crying. So I stopped and got out, got dressed, and went to get the baby. I comforted him and got him settled on the floor just outside the bathroom with a whole basket of toys, which normally keeps him occupied for at least 15 minutes. I got back to my cleaning, only to have Mr. Grumpy Baby Boy be just that - grumpy. I managed to get a little more done and then I had to abandon it all together.

So Joseph and I went to read stories to the other 3, who had been behaving fairly well this whole time. Then it was lunchtime. After lunch, I was intending to clean a little more while they got their crazies out before naptime, but nope, nothing doing. So, it was naptime for all the kids. You might be thinking, oh now is the perfect time to finish the job. It would have been, except that Joseph takes a nap on our bed and I was not going to take a chance on waking him by cleaning on the other side of the door.

So, I had to wait until after naptime. Then it was time for a snack for all. I found something for everyone to do and quickly went to work. This time I had success and I am happy to report that the job finally got done, 8 hours after it was begun!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

So Literal

Mommy: "We have got laundry coming out of our ears today!"

Catherine, touching her ears: "I don't feel anything coming out of my ears. You're crazy, Mommy!"

Maybe so. MAYBE SO!

Friday, January 25, 2008

A Mother's Love


A woman faced with terminal cancer was given 2 choices: 1) Kill your unborn baby so you can start chemo which may extend your life up to to years before you die, or 2) Don't kill your unborn baby and don't start chemo until your baby is born, and die sooner rather than later. She chose life for her baby.

How many women these days kill their unborn babies simply because it might be an "inconvenience"? They should read this story. This story sounds similar to that of St. Gianna Beretta Molla.

By ANDREW LEVY
Last updated at 14:20pm on 25th January 2008
read original article here


A mother made the ultimate sacrfice by refusing cancer treatment to give birth to a healthy baby boy. Lorraine Allard was told four months into the pregnancy the devastating news that she was in the advanced stages of cancer. A further blow came when doctors advised her to terminate the foetus, which was 23 weeks old, and start chemotherapy straight away.
Instead, she insisted on waiting long enough to give her unborn son a chance to survive, telling her husband, Martyn: "If I am going to die, my baby is going to live."

A Caesarian section was scheduled at 26 weeks but Mrs Allard, 33, went into premature labour a week before and Liam was born on November 18.

She then began chemotherapy but passed away on January 18, having left her sickbed a handful of times to cradle her son in her arms beside his incubator.

Yesterday, Mr Allard said: "Lorraine was positive all the way through. She had strength for both of us. I can't begin to describe how brave she was. Towards the end we knew things weren't going well but she was overjoyed that she had given life to Liam."

Mr Allard, 34, an oil field technician from St Olaves, near near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and his wife already had three daughters, Leah, ten, Amy, eight, and Courtney, 20 months, when they learned they were expecting their first boy.

"We were going to have the full set and didn't plan to have any more children after that," Mr Allard said. But in October last year, Mrs Allard started getting stomach cramps and tests at James Paget Hospital in Gorleston revealed her liver was riddled with malignant tumours.

It is believed the disease spread from bowel cancer that had been growing unnoticed for years. Mr Allard said: "The doctors said they couldn't do anything because she was pregnant. She told them straight away they were not going to get rid of it. She'd have lost the will to fight."

His wife went into labour just a couple of weeks after the diagnosis and gave birth at the Norfolk and Norwich University NHS Hospital in Norwich.

"He was so tiny, just 1lb 11oz, so the nurse grabbed him and allowed Lorraine to give him a little kiss before he was taken to an incubator," Mr Allard said.

"She was so emotional. She had been so determined to give him the best chance and was happy that he had been born naturally, which meant she wouldn't have to recover for a couple of weeks after a Caesarian before beginning the chemotherapy."

The course began almost straight away and Mrs Allard spent her time recuperating at home, apart from four visits to her newborn son.

The first time was when he was two weeks old, during which a treasured photo of her cuddling him was taken.

Liam has responded well to his care and it is hoped he will be released from hospital in early March. But his mother's health began to deteriorate just before Christmas and a CT scan on January 17 revealed the tumours were still growing. She died the following day.

Mr Allard said: "The doctors had said the cancer was no longer curable, although they were trying to shrink the tumours which they thought might give her a couple of years.

"On the day Lorraine died she hadn't eaten for two weeks and couldn't drink. I laid beside her and she was gripping my hand quite tight. We were like that for about half an hour.

"I could feel against my chest that her heart was slowing down. She just slipped away after that. It was very peaceful."

He added: "When Liam is old enough, I won't tell him that Lorraine gave her life for him but I will say she made sure he had a good chance of life. She told me she didn't want him to feel bad about it."

Mrs Allard's father, Tom Berry, said: "I was overwhelmed by the way Lorraine took it. She lived for her husband and children. She was a big personality with a heart of gold."

Dozens of friends and family will say a final emotional goodbye to Lorraine at her funeral on February 4th in the same Hopton church where she married Martyn, her partner since she was 16.

DailyMail.co.uk

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Conversations at Our House

At the breakfast table this morning:

Dominic: "Eddigighter, eddigighter!"
Mommy: "What???"
Dominic: "I eddigighter."
Mommy: "Do you mean alligator?"
Dominic: "Yes! I owwegator!"
Mommy: "Okay, everybody, let's be alligators and eat up our breakfast!"
Anne: "I not a addedator! I Anne Tare Bundart!"
Catherine: "No, Anne, you say Anne Cware Bwungardt!"

(Mommy and Catherine are the chief translators in our house.)

I spent the rest of the morning singing, "Eddigighter, eddigighter."

If I start typing gibberish, you will know why.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

If Only It Were Real!

Yesterday afternoon while I was sitting at the computer, the kids were playing nearby. I heard Anne making some funny noises and pretty soon she came over to me and said, holding out a cup and saucer, "Mommy, I made you a cappucino!" I "drank" it all and asked for more. Do we have some high-falutin' kids or what?

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

35 Years and Nine Months Ago

35 years and nine months ago I was born. I often think about what might have happened if it was a year later with a different mom and a different doctor. My mom had a serious infection while pregnant with me and then they told her I was dead. My mom remembers the nurse telling them that it was probably a good thing as I would likely be seriously damaged had I lived. Her doctor let her go home to "let Nature take it's course." You cannot imagine the joy quickly followed by anxiety when my mother later felt me moving.

At that point, what if it was a year later, when abortion was legal? What if my mother's doctor had been quick to suggest abortion when there could be a problem with the baby? What if my parents hadn't been faithful Catholics who trusted in God? The outcome of the story might be different and I might not be writing this today. As it turned out, I was born, completely normal and healthy (my husband might debate the normal part, ha!). And then, nine months later, came Roe vs. Wade.

Now, 35 years later, 50 million babies have been destroyed. The number is almost too staggering to comprehend. Abortion is the number one cause of death in the world. I sat watching the coverage of the March for Life Rally earlier today surrounded by my 4 innocent children. How on earth could our country come to the point where it is legal to destroy babies in their mother's womb when in just a few short months and years they look like this? All I have to do is look into my little 8 month old baby's face to see the horror of abortion.

As a doctor, I cannot comprehend how doctors, who take the Hippocratic Oath pledging to first do no harm, can perform abortions. I personally have been privileged to have the opportunity to counsel pregnant women at our local crisis pregnancy center and to offer them sonograms. Almost invariably, they stare transfixed at the sight of their little baby's heartbeat and movement. They know they are looking at a baby and the majority of the time, an abortion becomes unthinkable.

It is easy to get complacent about abortion when it is ever present and seemingly never-ending, and I know I am guilty of this at times. Let us support each other to continue the good fight and to above all, pray, pray, pray, and to remember to offer up our sufferings for an end of abortion. May it soon become unthinkable to this country and the world.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Random Story

One day I was at the store and I paused by the egg display. As I opened the boxes to find one without any cracked or broken eggs, the woman beside me complained loudly, "Have you ever seen such small Large Eggs?" Not knowing if I was supposed to answer and not ever having thought of checking to see if my Large Eggs were the right size (and what is the right size, anyway?) I brilliantly said, "Oh." Then I put the non-cracked, small Large Eggs in the cart and walked away.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Doctor Death to Speak at University

Doctor "Death" Kevorkian to Speak at Florida University for $50,000 Speaking Fee
Brother of Terri Schiavo spearheading petition effort to stop event



I suppose if the Iranian president can speak at a university in the USA, so can Dr. Kevorkian. I don't know which is more scandalous!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Doing What She Was Born to Do

A classic call-in on The Rush Limbaugh Show:

Original article
Doing What She Was Born to Do
January 16, 2008

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Jean in Harvard, Illinois, glad you waited. Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program.

CALLER: Hi, Rush.

RUSH: Hi.

CALLER: Thanks for taking my call. I've been listening to you for just about forever. I first heard you in the barbershop when I was there with one of my kids, and that was before you said that you endorsed Clinton.

RUSH: So that's a little bit before 1992.

CALLER: Yeah. Anyway, I'm 54 years old. I got married in '74, got my bachelor in science in nursing in '75, and I worked in OB until I caught it, and that was early in the legal abortion era.

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You worked at OB?

CALLER: I worked in obstetrics --

RUSH: Oh, oh.

CALLER: Not in abortions, but they did some on my floor.

RUSH: I see. I got you.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: (laughter) I understand.

CALLER: I'm calling because of those population controllers that are saying that the only reason people have kids is because they don't have access to abortion.

RUSH: Or contraception.

CALLER: Or contraception. Now, I want you to know that since then my husband and I have had ten lovely children, they're age 31 to nine, and when I stopped having kids, we started having grandkids. We have six grandkids ages eight to two.

RUSH: Wait just a second. I need to get my arms around this. You have ten kids, the oldest is 31, the youngest is nine?

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: That means, I'm assuming for most of these 31 years, you have had an infant --

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: -- in your house?

CALLER: Oh, yes.

RUSH: How in the world have you done that?

CALLER: We enjoyed it. We wanted these children. We would have more if we could, and we know all about contraception, and we've rejected it. And these population controllers, they go and no matter what the demographics are of the country, they say, "You need to reduce your population." They want contraception in Africa. They're dying of AIDS, and they say, "You need more abortion and contraception."

RUSH: You know, that is an interesting point about this. When I did these numbers in the first segment today, I forgot to mention that all these environmentalist wackos are out there trying to suppress population to save the planet and so forth. That probably is one of the reasons why they're upset about the US birth rate increasing.

CALLER: This Baby Boom is wonderful. Now, these kids that are having kids now, their parents are like my age, and they've been, you know, got tricked in the sexual revolution.

RUSH: Can I ask -- this is a personal question -- you don't have to answer this.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: But how old were you when your youngest child, the nine-year-old, was born?

CALLER: Forty-five.

RUSH: Forty-five.

CALLER: I'm 54 now. She's nine, yeah.

RUSH: That's right.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: I could have discovered this without asking. So 45 years old when you had your youngest child.

CALLER: I had one at 40, one at 42, and one at 45. I didn't have my first child 'til I was 23.

RUSH: Yeah. You got started late and you kept going.

CALLER: Yep. But these kids that are having kids now, they see what's happened with small families. You know, they don't have a whole lot of brothers and sisters, a lot of them, and they want to have children because they finally figured out that contraceptive sex is a lie and that the purpose of sex is having children. And I support them in that. You know, it's a good thing. And my kids are all giggling in the background.

RUSH: Well, how many of them still live at home?

CALLER: Right now four. I have three of them in the car with me and four sons in high school. I home school the youngest three.

RUSH: Oh, man, this is a heartwarming and wonderful story. You sound genuinely happy.

CALLER: I am. You know, it's hard work, but what's life if it's not hard work? I'm doing what I want to do.

RUSH: Well, then that's fine. You know, that is absolutely -- I think you're also doing as I. I'm doing what I was born to do. You are doing what you were born to do.

END TRANSCRIPT

Imagination Time, But Not For Mommy

Yesterday, the three older kids were running around pretending things and when I asked what they were playing, they said "Little Red Riding Hood." Catherine was the Grandmother, Anne was "Riding Hood," and Dominic was "Bad Wolf." This is a game they love to play and they made it up on their own. Catherine is the director and tells them all what to do.

Daddy has made it into the cast of characters and is now the Woodcutter. I asked who Baby Joseph was, and after thinking about it for a while, he was dubbed "Baby Bad Wolf." Even Anne's dolly (Pink Baby) has a part. She is Red Riding Hood's baby sister. So then I asked who Mommy was and again they thought and the answer was...

"I don't know."

And off they ran to play!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Read at Your Own Risk

Why is it that when you have children, your sense of humor becomes warped? Why does your baby burping or tooting really loud strike you as hilarious? Kids are definitely an endless source of amusement.

The other night we were eating dinner, which was bacon, egg, and cheese on toast. Dominic had bacon in one hand, egg in the other, and started choking on some bacon he had already stuffed in. As I watched closely, he gagged and then proceeded to vomit what he had eaten into his bib and over his plate. (I told you to read at your own risk!)

He waited only long enough for me to take off his bib and wipe off his mouth, then immediately stuffed in the bacon that was in his hand!! The look on his face was funny. He was hungry and he wasn't going to let a little choking and puking get in the way of a good piece of bacon! The rest of the kids didn't pause in their eating, either.

Be forewarned if you come to our house for dinner. You never know what might happen!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Hillary Rodham & Barack Hussein Obama

I am just wondering how fickle the democrat/independent voters in NH could be if what the pundits are saying is true. Hillary chokes up (did anyone actually see a tear?) and all of a sudden she gets the votes needed to win the state.

I should be happy she won. She has such high negatives that a Republican would have more of a chance of beating her than Barack Hussein Obama.

Sadly, based on what I see from the field of Republican candidates (Duncan Hunter being the exception), the conservative movement appears to be in the final throes of death. Would the Church allow a cloning exception if the cloned person was Ronald "Ronaldus Magnus" Reagan?


When Chelsea Clinton asked a returning US Soldier about fear, he said that there were only three things he was afraid of: “Osama, Obama, and Yo’ Mama.”

Posted by Dan

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Sr. Mary Elizabeth, CP

Here is the latest "sound bite" of my sister's vocation story. I thought these write-ups about her vocation stopped a long time ago!

From the St. Louis Review

Sister Mary Elizabeth Brungardt, CP, entered the Passionist Nuns monastery in Ellisville in 1995 at age 27 after earning a master’s in human resource development and working as a college recruiter for two years. She made her final vows in 2003. Like her fellow cloistered nuns, prayer is her main ministry.

The native of Victoria, Kan., for several years worked in her order’s altar bread department before recently being placed in charge of monastery meals.

"I was in the fifth grade. There was this old Sister I knew. She wore the full habit. I remember how everything she wore was worn, but that was what attracted me. I thought then if I ever was going to be nun, I wanted to be like that.

I had always wanted to be a wife and mother. Later I began thinking of a career in business. In college, I went to a Marian peace conference. It was a vocation awareness weekend, and all these people were telling vocation stories. That’s when it became a real strong calling for me.

Which brings me back to the habit thing. I did a little research. I found Sisters with habits, but they were mainly cloistered, and I never even imagined cloistered life. I was just pretty overwhelmed. But I knew Jesus wanted me some place, so I just asked him. I was praying on the way home from work, and I was crying, asking Jesus to show me. I got home, and my mom hands me Our Sunday Visitor to read. The paper was folded, and when I opened it, there’s this little vocation ad from the Passionist Nuns — the only ad there. You know when God strikes you with something. So I knew. I wrote, and the superior wrote back. I came to visit, and I knew after that week."

Read the whole article here