Sunday, June 23, 2019

You are what you eat!

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, in Latin, Corpus Christi.

Our Parochial Vicar had a wonderful, wonderful homily. I'm hoping, by the time you read this, he has it posted HERE. If not, hang out, read some of his other great homilies and check back in a day or two. He's the one I borrowed the blog title from and he's the one who gave us a whole day full of family discussion during our drive and dinner.

The Mass, as always, is a wonderful start to the day. This day, however, had an extra special ending to the Mass...a procession! Catholics do enjoy their processions and, for whatever reason, they seem to be popular in this area more than others. Corpus Christi processions, when Christ, present in the Monstrance, is carried through the streets and to the people, are a moving occasion. If you've never taken part or don't know what I'm talking about, check out this article (which I think is EXTRA cool, since the seminarians holding the canopy are the ones we just saw Ordained in DC...Ahem!)

Our tiny parish had a similarly tiny procession, no stops or altars, but it remained the beautiful witness it was intended to be.



Christ is food for our journey. How wonderful to be fed then journey along with Him!

After the procession and Benediction (another extra blessing on this special day!) we had an ice cream social. Again, it was small but that is my favorite when it comes to having a treat and talking with one another. We were blessed to have both priests on hand and available to chat, along with a priest from the Diocese of Sydney, Australia, who teaches at Oxford! It is such a blessing when the kids get to interact with priests from other places in the world - it really brings home the universality of the Catholic Church!

We helped clean up, jumped in the car, and headed North. Another Corpus Christi tradition (and Holy Week, which would be beautiful!) is the making of Sawdust Carpets (read more HERE and HERE). 
I've known about the tradition for a while but this is the first time we've gotten to see it in person - kind of an amazing tradition - and wonderful to see in progress.





Amazing talent - all for the Glory of God!
We stopped at the cemetery to water the flowers and pray for our dead, then out for a family dinner.

I love special Sundays like this. I love faith and family from day until night. It was a wonderful day to remember the sacrifice that God made for us - sending us His Son as our Savior and equipping us with the food that will nourish and heal us for Eternity.

We are blessed.

Monday, June 3, 2019

A DC Odyssey...part 2

A few weeks prior to leaving for our trip, we worked and worked and worked to get our old house ready to list. There were ceilings to tear down, and floors to refinish (we didn't do that) and painting (we didn't do that but should have...it took for-ev-er). Finally, the day before our departure, the photographer arrived to take some amazing pictures and the house listed on Friday around noon. It was up a few hours before we left because we spent about an hour watching the numbers on Zillow...kind of interesting for the kids to see - they've never sold a house before.




I'm still kind of amazed at how well it turned out. I wouldn't keep living here but I think we did the best we could to make it a great place for someone else to buy. This last one is my personal accomplishment. I tore up all the carpet and picked out the paint. I'm sure I missed my calling, lol.

So, we left around 3 PM on Friday and started to drive. Along the way, we received texts from our agent...three showings that evening. First said the kitchen was too small, the second put in an offer 20K below asking. Reached the hotel, went to sleep.

The next morning came a cash offer slightly above asking. Then another for asking price. Then came the "escalation clause" from the first bidder. (it's basically when you put out your highest willing to pay price and it increases to that whenever someone else has a higher bid). Now we're at 15K over asking. The second bidder raised theirs to meet the escalation clause.

At this point, it's time to head to Mass, which was good because, frankly, this isn't something that makes me happy - all this back and forth. That, and my heart was troubled because, ultimately, I wanted to see kids in the house....like our kids. It was a good place to raise little people to mid-sized people.

Out of Mass, yet another offer pending but not sure of the specifics. What we do know - it's a young couple with two small kids. So, as we sit in DC traffic, we ponder how much less than the current offer we would be willing to take if it meant having kids in the house (plenty of time since there was a motorcycle parade and most of the streets were jammed solid).

Image result for rolling thunder dc 2019
Ultimately, I gave up on the traffic. I pulled off the highway at the Alexandria exit and tried to regroup. We saw a sign for The Basilica of St. Mary and figured we'd go and see if Our Lady could provide any guidance. Mass had just started so we went outside to the grotto, said our prayers, and headed back to the house.

Sometime later that evening, the young couple's offer came in and it was the highest to date. Wow, that's quick service! The clincher was the letter they wrote, talking about their 5-year-old son who fell in love with the house that "we never would have dreamed we would buy" but, since he was so smitten, they were as well. It was cute because I can see our #5 saying something like that - cute little boys.

I still felt somewhat badly for the #2 couple (they are middle age and described the house as a "childhood dream" because it resembled their grandparents' home) but the young buyers seemed to be a direct answer to prayer ( I should know I'm never the person God speaks to directly...there is usually some lesson to learn).

So, once we agreed to the deal with the young couple and the house went contingent, the older couple put in an offer that would take effect if the first offer fell through. That happened Saturday, the day after we returned home. It's kind of an amazing thing and not at all surprising..not to me anyway.

On Friday, we did some sightseeing and headed home...quickly...because the Mass for my Consecration to Jesus through Mary was happening that evening at home. We tried so hard but the DC traffic is a nightmare and nothing seemed to be going right. Thanks to God (and Our Lady, of course) I had mixed up the time and we had an extra 30 minutes so we made it in time...in our highly disheveled state (think riding in a car for 6 hours and thinking you had time to change before going to Mass). Grateful for Mary, her Son, and the wonderful people making the Consecration with me, we made it and went home to bed.

So, as I said, this backup offer arrives about 8:30 the next morning. Out of no where. Uninvited and seemingly unneeded. I was too tired to worry about it so we just said, "of course!"

Fast forward to today when the first buyers terminated the contract "due to the results of the inspection" with no other commentary. They didn't do two of the tests they said they required, just walked away. Hmmm. I guess you shouldn't buy a house based on the whims of a 5-year-old.

Guess what, we really did need that backup offer after all (ahem). I'm not sure it will even go through as it is now but I do know this, whatever it is, the Blessed Mother will see to it that it works out the way God would want. She is constantly with us, watching over us, and He...well, He always knows what's best for us...even when we have no idea.

So, we will go back to the man in charge of home sales ;0)
Image result for st joseph home selling meme

We are blessed.

Sunday, June 2, 2019

A DC Odyssey

odyssey

 noun
od·​ys·​sey | \ ˈä-də-sē  \
Definition of odyssey
1a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortunehis odyssey from rural South to urban North, from poverty to affluence, from Afro-American folk culture to a Eurocentric world of books— J. E. Wideman
2an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest

Let's start with definition #2.

We headed down to Hagerstown, MD on Friday afternoon to stay in our very favorite hotel room...the "triple" at Homewood suites. Three rooms, three king beds, and three bathrooms! It's really extravagant but it was free with all the points we racked up during our CA trip and I knew it might be beneficial to start the trip with a good night's sleep. 
An excellent thought because the next morning we were up early and headed to DC...specifically the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
I love it here...the side altars with all the different names of Our Lady, the main altar with "angry Jesus" lol...Jesus is back and He's not amused. But, this day, it was even more exciting...we were going to see 6 men dedicate their lives to serving God through the priesthood. It was Ordination day for the Dominicans. We have been blessed to have a man studying with the Dominican order from our home parish and, since we were going to DC anyway (ahem), we figured it would be a great opportunity to witness the ordination of a new order (having already seen and Oratorian and Diocesan ordinations). It was so moving, as they always are, to watch these men pledge their lives; especially in today's climate of religious intolerance. When the mother's took up the offertory gifts...sniff.  May God bless and equip these men to do His will - now and always (Fr. Joseph Martin is third from the left in the front row - St. Bernard's native son!)Oh, yes, did I forget to mention...The bishop who presided...BISHOP ROBERT BARRON!!! That was a great surprise when we found out and it was a blessing to hear his homily. The best part? He let the new priests distribute Communion up front to their family and friends and he walked back and back...and stopped at our section. Yes, we received the Eucharist (and G got a blessing) from the good bishop himself. Super, extra, fantastic...God is so good. 
Patron of our other home parish

This may be our new homeschool motto - after all, God knows best where we belong

After the Mass, we waited in line to receive Fr. Joseph Martin's blessing as a brand new priest. More on that HEREWhile we waited, we chatted with one of the priests from our home parish. It is always an amusing time to talk to this priest. We allowed him to go in front of us to receive his blessing and I'm thankful we did...what a moving scene...a brand new priest conveying a blessing on his brother priest. Beautiful.
We were next and Father was kind enough to split us up into kids and married couple...the blessing for our kids was so perfect - all about their vocations and following God. So important for them to hear. 
Finally, our turn. It's always a welcome thing to have extra graces extended. The vocation of marriage is a great gift but like the priesthood, not without its challenges.

What an amazing way to begin our journey! Full of graces and blessings, we headed south to what would definitely be closer to the first definition above. We are blessed.