Happy Birthday, Morgan Rose!

Our beautiful niece, Morgan (Nathan’s daughter), turns 2 today!! Happy Birthday, sweetheart – wish we could be there to help you celebrate!! May God bless you today & always. Feel free to add your birthday greetings here and we’ll pass them along . . .

Touché

Me, standing in front of the mirror without my shirt on: “Wow, I think I’m starting to get a six pack”

Jenny: “Ha, I’ve got a keg!”

What Do We Do All Day?

My favorite forward lately:

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, “What happened here today?” She again smiled and answered, “You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?” “Yes,” was his incredulous reply. She answered, “Well, today I didn’t do it.”

New Baby

Just thought I’d share what I read in my Baby Center email this week:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which she’ll need to regulate her body temperature once she’s born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you’ve been nervous about preterm labor, you’ll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

I will NEVER do that again!

Since it is “only” 97 and we hadn’t gotten to the mailbox in a few days and Red hadn’t had a walk in forever, I decided the girls and I would go fetch the mail and walk around the block with the double jogger – I will NEVER do that again!! I cannot explain the pain we were all in when we returned from our 15 min. excursion. It required multiple doses of popcicles followed by soda water with fresh limes to bring us back. We really do live on the surface of the sun – what was I thinking that we could survive out there??

World Youth Day 2008

The Holy Father has already arrived in Australia for World Youth Day 2008. My baby brother Zachary, (who is 19), is one of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims! I am so excited for him to experience this great opportunity to grow in faith, travel the world, make new friends and immerse himself in the truly “catholic” (meaning universal/global) nature of our Church. May you be blessed richly by your experiences, Zach, and may you share with all of us the gifts you receive!

For those of us back home, there is a great blog at Pope2008.com to follow along and those with EWTN can watch live (and encore) presentations of the major WYD events.

And for those unfamiliar with WYD, here is a little background (copied from the official WYD 2008 website):

World Youth Day (WYD) is the largest youth event in the world and will be held in Sydney from Tuesday 15 to Sunday 20 July 2008.

WYD is a week-long series of events attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the globe. It has become the largest single mobilization of young people in the world.

The week culminates in a Final Mass celebrated by the Pope on the last day (the actual World Youth Day). Typically, it is the largest event of the week and, overseas, has drawn millions of people.

Theme for WYD08

World Youth Day is an invitation from the Pope to the youth of the world to celebrate their faith around a particular theme. The WYD08 theme, received from Pope Benedict XVI is:

‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.’ Acts 1:8

This passage occurs after the death and resurrection of Jesus, just before his ascension to the Father. It represents the birth of the Church.

Key WYD08 Statistics

• Up to 225,000 registered pilgrims are expected to take part in WYD08 events each day, including 125,000 international visitors.
• 100,000 Australian pilgrims are expected, including 40,000 from greater Sydney
• An estimated 8,000 volunteers will assist
• An estimated 2,000 clergy will be present
• An estimated 700 Cardinals and Bishops will be present
• Between 3,000 – 5,000 media are expected to cover the event
• 3.5 million meals will be served to pilgrims
• 100,000 will sleep in 700 schools and parishes
• Up to 40,000 will be billeted as part of the HomeStay program
• Approximately 20,000 will stay in Sydney hotels. The remainder will make their own arrangements.
• Up to 500,000 people are expected to attend the Final Mass at Randwick Racecourse and Centennial Park (which is open to all)
• The four official WYD08 languages are: English, French, Italian and Spanish