more from Disneyland...

There are a few people who I don't mind touching my belly (after they ask)... One is my dear friend Amanda ~ part of the family 20th anniversary tour!


Here we are with my brother and sister-in-law at Goofy's Kitchen - lots of great food!

Goofy and Goofier - haha - Goofy and Dad

My dear husband and I ... He's got a mint julep in his hand (one of his favorite treats from Disneyland) and I am holding a little sign that you can see better in the next picture...


Here's us in front of the Peter Pan ride holding our little sign - DAY 5 - it was our fifth day in a row at Disneyland! So much fun!

last creature post for the fall (probably)

ok, so I know that some of my blog readers do not particularly like my "creature" posts... but I have a couple pictures that I haven't put up yet, and since It's almost winter and the creature sighting are getting fewer and farther between (Praise God!!)... I wanted to get it over with! :) I promise that the next pictures will be from Thanksgiving or Disneyland or the baby or something else more fun!


So, here's a blue-bellied lizard. Yes, its in our house... why? because it thought the laundry room closet would be a nice place to play. (This is my dear husband's hand holding the lizard - I don't think I will ever get to that level.)


Here's a snake. Yep, its pretty big. In this picture its in a black rubbermaid tub. Wanna know where my dear husband found this snake - yep - in our garage. Yeah, that's right, the garage that is ATTACHED to our house! ... I'm so glad he caught it.

Here's my dear husband - in our garage (pardon the mess) - he's got his snake boots on because he was catching the above-pictured snake and was not quite sure if it was a rattlesnake or a gopher snake or what, so he wanted to be safe. In this picture he is keeping an eye on the snake in the tub, while surfing the internet to find out what kind of snake it is. - He determined it was a gopher snake and released it farther down on our property.

Nope, this isn't the same snake - its ANOTHER gopher snake found on our driveway at some point... thank God it wasn't a rattler.
(thanks for sticking with me through the creature posts)

Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it. It is vain for you to rise before light, rise ye after you have sitten, you that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to his beloved, Behold the inheritance of the Lord are children: the reward, the fruit of the womb. As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken. Blessed is the man that hath filled the desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate.

Psalms 126:1-5 Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible

"There are not 100 people who hate the Catholic Church; But there are millions who hate what they believe the Catholic Church to be." - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Thankful

Things I am thankful for, in order:
1) God & the Church
2) my dear husband
3) our baby growing inside me
4) our families
5) our friends
6) all the blessings the Lord has bestowed on us

"All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven." Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030


One of the things I love doing most is cooking/baking for my dear husband... well last night I was able to make two dishes for him to take to his office Thanksgiving potluck. I made a sweet potato casserole and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
Here is the recipe for the cookies - we think they turned out pretty well!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups white sugar
1 cup shortening
15 ounces pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
about 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream the sugar, shortening, pumpkin and vanilla together. Mix until light and well combined.
3. Mix the flour, baking soda and ground cinnamon. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture. Mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes or until set. Let cookies cool on a rack.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

The Family Reunion - Our 20 Year Anniversary

So... for nearly twenty years now my family (mom, dad, me, brother) have been friends with another family (mom, dad, brother, sister, younger brother)... most of us have lived in different states for all but four years of our friendship, but we still love each other, still miss each other, and still have a BLAST when we are all together!!! - here's the clan (plus the spouses and kids) at our last day together in Disneyland last week.



What do you get when you mix a pregnant Sarina with her two mothers... lots of hands on the belly!!

where have we been for the last week???

HERE:

my Halloween (All Saints' Eve) present

My dear husband picked me up from work on October 31st with these in his hand.

He loves me :) and I definitely love him!!

video

check out the video below ... My dear husband and I watched it together right now and he was cringing at some points because it looks fairly uncomfortable, but when it got to critical moments, my good coach-in-training started saying "push, push" :) this is definitely going to be an exciting experience!!!

Childbirth!!

3D Medical Animation of Normal Vaginal Birth

flour & sugar

Just in case you were wondering... this is what I keep my flour in. Here my flour is, nice and happy, sitting on our island in the kitchen. I also have one for my sugar. Why? several reasons, the main ones being:

1. I bake and cook a lot - our bread/cookies/cake/everything is from scratch.

2. As discussed many times before - we live a looong way away from any grocery store, so I need to be stocked up all the time.

3. You never know when your dear husband might NEED some chocolate chip cookies.

4. Its cheaper to buy in bulk most of the time.

5. The big, clear containers make it so I always know how much I have left and they are completely sealed to keep out any creatures that may want to find their way into bags of flour or sugar.

** My dear husband did the research on the best containers and these were the winners!! I really appreciate his diligence! :)

Just yesterday my supplies were being used up making brownies, lemon bars, and pumpkin cookies for our office pot luck today.

ALSO: if you are new to reading our little blog - make sure to scroll to the bottom and on the right side, click Older Posts to see more of our adventures!

Lamentations 3:21-25 Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible
These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.

(emphasis mine)

All Souls' Day

John 11:25-26
Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"


Today is All Souls' Day - The commemoration of all the faithful departed is celebrated by the Church on November 2nd. The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine that the souls which, on departing from the body, are not perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past transgressions, are debarred from the Beatific Vision, and that the faithful on earth can help them by prayers, almsdeeds, and especially by the sacrifice of the Mass. We pray for the souls in purgatory.
From the beginning, Christians have prayed for the dead and have undertaken works of penance on their behalf. There is scriptural basis for this intercessory prayer for the sins of others and for the dead in the Old Testament. Job's sacrifices purified his sons (Job 1:5); and Judas Maccabeus "made atonement for the dead that they be delivered from their sin" (II Macc 12:46).
The tradition in the Church of having Masses said for the dead began in the earliest times. The pre-Christian Roman religion, which held that some form of life continued after death, gave votive offerings to the gods for the dead at three specified times: the third, seventh and thirtieth day after death. This practice of praying for the departed on these same days was adopted ("inculturated") by the early Christians -- and continued in the Church for nearly 2000 years: the Church offered Masses for the deceased person on the third, seventh and thirtieth day after death.
Beginning in the year 998, All souls -- the "faithful departed" -- were officially remembered in the Church's prayers on the evening of November 1st, and with Requiem Masses, Masses for the dead, on November 2. All Souls Day is now a feast of the universal Church.
We pray for the faithful departed, those who have been baptized, but who need to be completely purified of all stain of sin before they come into full union with God in Heaven. In other words, most of us. The Church's teaching about Purgatory, the place of purification, is explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (§1030-1032).

Requiem Æternam
Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine,et lux perpétua lúceat eis.Requiéscant in pace. Amen.

All Saints' Day

On Thursday, November 1, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints. Instituted to honor all the saints, known and unknown, this celebration is an opportunity for the faithful to give thanks for the holy example of the saints in our lives today. Originating in the 4th c. Eastern Feast of All Martyrs, and attested to by St. Efrem (+373), Pope Gregory IV established this commemoration for all the Roman Church in 835. Originally celebrated on Easter Friday, it came to be held in Rome on May 13th; later, in the 9th century, it was transferred to November 1st, the date of its celebration in Ireland where it countered the Celtic pagan feast of the Druids.

The Feast of All Saints is one of the greatest of all the feasts because it celebrates what could have been impossible. The cross is a tree that bears fruit. This is the feast of its harvest. The celebrations of the mysteries in the life of Our Lord are glorious and there is no detracting from them. But He was God on earth. Aside from all the lofty things to be said about the saints and to the saints on this day, we want our children to understand in the marrow of their bones what the principal idea is: "We are so glad for you. Now pray, so we'll be there too!" And they must add to this and to every feast an endless: "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for making it possible."

Kyrie, eleison. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison. Christe, audi nos. Christe, exaudi nos.
Pater de coelis Deus, .. miserere nobis.

Fili Redemptor mundi Deus, Spiritus sancte Deus, Sancta Trinitas unus Deus,
Sancta Maria, .. ora pro nobis.

Sancta Dei Genetrix, Sancta Virgo virginum, Sancte Michael, Sancte Gabriel, Sancte Raphaël, Omnes sancti Angeli, et Archangeli, Omnes sancti beatorum Spirituum ordines, Sancte Ioannes Baptista, Sancte Ioseph, Omnes sancti Patriarchae, et Prophetae, Sancte Petre, Sancte Paule, Sancte Andrea, Sancte Iacobe, Sancte Ioannes, Sancte Thoma, Sancte Iacobe, Sancte Philippe, Sancte Bartholomaee, Sancte Matthaee, Sancte Simon, Sancte Thaddaee, Sancte Mathia, Sancte Barnaba, Sancte Luca, Sancte Marce, Omnes sancti Apostoli, et Evangelistae, …. orate pro nobis.

Omnes sancti Discipuli Domini, Omnes sancti Innocentes, Sancte Stephane, .. ora pro nobis. Sancte Laurenti, Sancte Vincenti, Sancti Fabiane et Sebastiane, .. orate pro nobis.

Sancti Ioannes et Paule, Sancti Cosma et Damiane, Sancti Gervasi et Protasi, Omnes sancti Martyres, Sancte Silvester, .. ora pro nobis.

Sancte Gregori, Sancte Ambrosi, Sancte Augustine, Sancte Hieronyme, Sancte Martine, Sancte Nicolae, Omnes sancti Pontifices et Confessores, … orate pro nobis.

Omnes sancti Doctores, Sancte Antoni, .. ora pro nobis.

Sancte Benedicte, Sancte Bernarde, Sancte Dominice, Sancte Francisce, Omnes sancti Sacerdotes et Levitae, .. orate pro nobis.

Omnes sancti Monachi, et Eremitae, Sancta Maria Magdalena, .. ora pro nobis.

Sancta Agatha, Sancta Lucia, Sancta Agnes, Sancta Caecilia, Sancta Catharina, Sancta Anastasia, Omnes sanctae Virgines et Viduae, … orate pro nobis.

Omnes Sancti et Sanctae Dei, intercedite pro nobis.