Empty Fridge

 

Proof I'm a real Carmelite

My favorite holy card on my fridge--St. Teresa of Avila reaching to the Infant Jesus. (This image smacks me in the head because I'm usually NOT in a good mood when I open the fridge to feed one of my starving children. I see this card and then I remember sheepishly "Oh yeah, kid X is the infant Jesus in my life...)

Why I Bring My Young Children To Mass

This is the new stain glass window that is next to the pew that my family regularily sits in at church. Tess, my 18 month old daughter, looked at this beautiful Nativty scene and said "Baby no kuku" (Kuku is our family's nickame for a pacifier.) Of all of the hardships of Jesus' birth, I'd never thought of him being stuck without a pacifier! But to my toddler, this is just an inconceivable hardship. She gets it in a second, that the baby Jesus had it hard on earth and she generously wants to share her own kuku. This same discussion has happened a few times so far. I'm determined to go buy some nice pacifiers someday and donate them to babies in need--all in honor of my soft-hearted Tess.

New Stain Glass Windows at My Parish Church

 

Hospitality On The Go

Our church's social hall is close due to remolding this summer. So we had a free lemonaid / pink lemonaide cupcake stand in the church parking lot! It went great! I'm really hopeful that we can repeat the experience at soccer games and swim meets.

We joke that hospitality is a dying art. It's so hard to get busy people to accept our dinner invitations, so Jon decided to simply bring the party to where the families are located. Hospitality on the go!

This is my future baker and current "cupcake princess." Mimi was bummed we didn't use the cool Target moneybox last weekend, but I explained that we don't charge "for family.' We don't charge Hannah and Alex when we make cupcakes for them. We don't charge our church family for cupcakes either. "Free to Jesus" is always a good motto!

Happy Feast Day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

View of the back wall of my new parish church in Hedgesville, West Virginia

How Jesus Romances My Heart

For the past year, I celebrated Mass in a former restaurant. It was depressing for girl with an artistic eye who used to think nothing of driving to the National Basilica in downtown Washington D.C. My new mission church had tile floors and metal chairs. Unconfined by a solid pew, by toddler used to screeeeeeech the chairs against the floor as she hopped from one lap to another.

Then the new church came.

With beautiful stain glass windows from an old church in New York City--and what we were told was a painting of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. I pictured the building committee buying something sweet and familiar and about 2 feet wide. My parish is very poor and very small.

Imagine the dramatic intake I breath, I had when I saw the new painting for the first time! It was over 8 feet tall! It wasn't dear old St. Francis and St. Clare.

Instead, it was Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

The most amazing painting I've seen online or in person in my years as a Carmelite. I knew it was a very special love-note passed from God's hand to mine.

My Personal Carmelite Love Note!

 

Missed Retreat

I felt so strangely peaceful and happy today. I mean it was other worldly. The colicky baby spent the entire day sleeping. Life was so calm, I went out and weeded the rose garden that I inherited with our new house. I assembled a giant rosary for VBS out of pool cues. Jon and I found time to do our full morning prayer session. Then he ironed out a passage in Mark for me that was hopelessly wrinkled in my head.

Only at 8:00 at night did I remember, "Oh, it's Carmel retreat weekend." All of my dear friends are at Mount Saint Mary's praying--probably specifically for me!

Thanks guys! I surfed the fumes of your deep prayer session and fell deeper in love with God today. (It was nice to know that even though I didn't make it to the retreat, His rest found me. God is good!)

Monday is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. If you haven't gathered yet....

I LOVE OUR MOM!

Mary is the greatest! Her brown Carmelite mantle is the outfit I most love to see her wear. Leave me your prayer requests for Monday, please.

Update

Power got restored to the Benjamin house after 11 days! Hurrah! Internet and phone will be out until at least July 20th. Lots to write about but curiously, 2 year olds and newborns do not like to hang out patiently at coffee houses with free wi-fi connections! Hope to write again soon!

Signing off

Checking out of a hotel today... and losing my internet wi-fi connection. The phone and the electric wires to my house might take 2 to 3 weeks to repair. Catch you up on the flip side!

Still praying tons! Leave a pray request in the comment box and I'll find it on one of my trips to the  library.

'Derecho' Storm Ravaged Washington Area - ABC News

'Derecho' Storm Ravaged Washington Area - ABC News

Caught Up In Epic Storm

Friday night, my husband graciously gave me the emergency diaper run saying "you've been with Miss Chilipepper all day! Leave her with me and take a break from her for five minutes!" So I'm in Wal-Mart at 10 PM when suddenly they announce that a tornado has been spotted.

My cellphone had a dead battery. So I sat down on the floor in the boys clothes section, took out my rosary, and started to pray. A young man next to me said "I  bet you never expected to be stuck in a tornado at 10 o'clock at night when you woke up this morning... right?"

I looked at the rosary in my hands. I looked at him. I had all of these thoughts in my head. I didn't even know where to start... Something like "Well, actually I'm a follower of Jesus....and today is the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul....and even on more a usual day when I get up in the morning, I never know what is going to happen to me by 10 o'clock at night, only that its going to be an adventure... so actually the surprise of a tornado doesn't throw me all that much...."

I couldn't explain any of this in a coherent way, so I just smiled.

There were two women who kept pointing me out while I was praying the rosary. They kept mentioning to other people "we should be siting down, like her!" I don't think it was that I was sitting cross-legged on the floor that surprised them. I think it was that I was praying, and had some measure of supernatural peace. I'm not even a big prayer of the rosary. I just happened to have my trusty plastic beads in my purse and I thought "what else am I going to do during a tornado warning"? That interaction was a real reminder how rare it is to see someone pray the rosary in public, and how needed it is in the world.

My prayer to Mom was "You know I'm the only one in my family who takes these warnings seriously and gets everyone into the basement. My poor husband probably doesn't even realize what is going on. Since I'm away from my family right now YOU have to move this tornado away from Martinsburg!"

After 30 minutes they let us out of Wal-Mart. The drive home was actually the most scary part-worse than the tornado drill. The rain was intense. There were trees down all over the road. There were flash flood, which you couldn't see because the street lights were out. I parked my car at a gas station a block from my house. I had one free hand so I grabbed the box of size 6 diapers which could fit both my little girls. I giant tree fell across the street, so even the side walk was blocked. Out of nowhere a guy came off a porch with a flashlight to help me navigate his yard. I walked home the extra block in the freezing rain.

Never was there a home-coming more sweet!

After the storm ended we looked outside, a tree had crashed in our backyard!

In the morning, the sight was even more amazing. My husband had sat in our first floor bedroom with our five kids during the storm. The tree had missed this room by three feet. In a St. Boneface move, the tree should have fallen on our house. Instead, the tree "somehow" fell at perfect 90 degree angle missing our home completely. This massive tree fell perfectly between my house and my garden in my tiny 12 foot backyard. When I saw that the tree had cleared by precious basil plants by exactly 2 inches, I said "Man, She's good!"

Even my secular neighbors said "I don't understand how that tree didn't fall on your house. The crack shows that it should have fallen this way, and even now the tree trunk is leaning towards your house!"

That would be the power of the rosary!

I'm writing from a hotel room in Martinsburg. Life with 5 kids, a dog and a cat during now 90 hours without power during a heat wave has been a bit of penance. Thank heavens we are a family who goes camping. We had lanterns in our basement and kids who were used to playing UNO by candlelight.  On Sunday, I almost cried during Mass. The Church had finally gotten power back on and we have a new priest who is a 3rd Order Carmelite. Then we went Bob Evans and I had my first cup of hot coffee in 48 hours. Later, we went to a movie for air-conditioning. God bless my local Target. We hung out for over 4 hours with other "refugee" families at the eating area on Monday.

Enough power finally got restored in Martinsburg, that we were able to finally get a hotel room last night. I'm in a King Suite, but it's like a frat part this morning. It's crushed Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew can instead of Bud Light cans, but tired bodies are asleep every which way on the floor this morning. Everyone is so happy to be sleeping in cool comfort at last. Electricity is not a right, but boy is it a delicious luxury!

For anyone who knows me in real life, I'll have spotty communication for another one to two weeks The tree ripped out all of our phone and power cords and did damage to whatever machines connect them to the house. It will be a major project to get everything reconnected again.

Yet we're all cheerful! Its hard not to be when you see what powerful protection the Lord rains down on his beloved.  May you feel his love in your hearts as you wrestle with all the aftermath of the storms.

Fortnight for Freedom Film - Archdiocese of Washington

"The Leader of the Little Girls" (Mimi's new nickname)

 

Alex's Backstroke Is About On Par with My Current Prayer Routine--Messy

 

Why Will We Win? Because of Technique!

This is the first year my nine year old and seven year old kids are on Swim Team. This is their first activity that has made me realize that my formerly tiny babies are now huge! It seems like just last summer when I fished them out  of the deep end, worried about them drowning. Now my babies strap on goggles, jump off a starting block, and swim 50 yards to get a second place ribbon! It's astonishing! 

Last night, my blue collar town had a swim meet against a flashy Maryland city. (We lost. But we lost with honor!) To get the kids psyched up before the meet, Coach Nick kept calling out "What are we going to do?" The kids would answer back "Win!" Then he'd say "Why  are we going to win?" The kids would scream out "Because of technique!"

I thought this cheer was so perfect for me to internalize as a Carmelite. I'm not going to win my heavenly reward based on my powerful speed, great wisdom, or brilliant good works. I'm little. I'm puny. I'm weak. 

But I can count on winning heaven based on my technique.

Stay little. Stay close to Him. Let Jesus do all the heavy lifting in my life!

Signs of Growth in a Carmelite Vocation

In a measure of progress, my law school alumni magazine no longer inspires feelings of envy. Instead, I flip to the back and start reading its "In Memorium" section for new prayer requests.

Please join me in praying for the soul of Professor Jane Larson. It's hard when a young professor, who was very well loved when I was a student at the University of Wisconsin, has an obituary that highlights her pro-abortion casework and a popular legal treatist that argued "lies are not an inherit part of the sexual revolution."

Professor Larson, I hope you are in heaven. I'll be nursing my Miss Colic girl in your honor this week in case you need help getting out of Purgatory. That Devil has a nice pack of lies going about the whole "sex is without consequences" thing. He once mucked me up real good too!

Mary Magdalene, pray for us!

Prayer Works: The Case Study of Dominic G.

Last week, I started praying hard for a NICU baby named Dominic. Just like my daughter Tess, he had a small hiccup in his fetal development in the womb which lead to major complications. He's missing a bone in his face which caused his brain to become displaced. The doctors gave this Catholic Mom dire predictions. Her son was either supposed to die in the womb, or at birth, or a few days after his birth.To the secular mind, this was a case were abortion was totally justified.

Instead, Mr. Dominic emerged from the womb "kicking and screaming." Rocky II got a 9 on his APNAR. He's off oxygen. He's eating from a bottle. He is expected to go home on Thursday! Can you imagine?

His Mom wrote a post saying there was a sign she wanted to put around her special needs kid's neck:

This child is fiercely loved; please respect him.

This child has not made me sad, in fact, he has brought more joy than I could ever imagine.

This child is a true gift, not less of a gift in any way because of his health problems, he is an absolute gift.

I am not burdened by this child, in fact he lifts me up to a higher place than I ever imagined. 

Do not feel pity for him or our family, you have no idea what he brings to our lives.

I am not sad about my child, I am so grateful God saw me fit to be his mother, I am honored.

I love this child so much...

The NICU is such a special place. It's the heart of the cross. Please join me in pray for my brother Dominic and his family. During this Fortnight of Prayer, please be encouraged. One mother's act of obedience, one pro-life witness, one heartfelt prayer can turn our country around. Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

PS Dominic's Daddy's eyes at the birth of his son are arresting. I hope to see joy like that in heaven some day!