Drawn to Service

During these troubling times I keep coming back to the idea of service. As though I am being drawn to it like a moth to a flame. There are so many difficult things happening in our life right now. Really hard things, some which I just don't want to go into here and others like my parents new home flooding and loosing nearly everything from a lifetime built together. It simply breaks my heart.

How can life be so unfair? Why do good people have to go through so many struggles? These questions run through my head so often on a daily basis? Why does God test us so much? 



As I scroll through social media and see images and videos like these it makes me feel like we are forsaken. Is that what God wants for us? As I sit here typing this in tears, I can emphatically say NO! NO! He does not! Our Lord Jesus Christ died for us and he would not want for us to feel lost, forgotten or alone! He is our anchor. So why do we not seek others out more? Why in times of need like this do we not bind ourselves to him and to each other? 

I am a firm believer in giving our FAITH FEET! For we can not truly live as Christ wants us to if we are not willing to live as he would! This means reaching out to one and other and DOING for each other when we and those around us are in times of need. It doesn't always need to be something tragic like a terrible flood of a lifetime or a terrible illness. We need to do more for each other all the time. In big and terrible times of need and in the smaller moments too. Moments when we see a mother with her hands full and struggling with a door, or when we see someone asking for help. We need to remember to treat each other as though we ARE the gift from GOD that we each ARE. 

This can mean many things, to many different people. But if God came as man (Jesus) to teach us how to treat one and other, which I truly believe that he did, then we must know that we are meant to live a life of service. 



The people, like those in these boats rescuing mothers, fathers, children and animals in need and doing what they can to help their neighbors are SO amazing. They are living their faith and to me that is so wonderful!

I certainly can be better at this. I know that I can do more and be better! Over the last week I have felt such a pull to go to eastern North Carolina to serve as I know Jesus would want me to. I want to go and pull up soaking wet carpeting and floor boards and help mothers go through all their lost precious mementos. I want to help the Churches that lost everything rebuild. I want to DO! I hate sitting here and doing nothing to help all these people rebuild their lives. 

If I could do anything, I would GO and do, but it isn't always that easy. I have a family and a job and responsibilities here at home, but missionary service is something that I feel my heart pulling me to do. As a Catholic, we do not require missionary service, but it is something that I feel my heart calling me to do, more and more.

As I go through difficulties I remind myself of the lyrics in this Matt Redman song, 10,000 Reasons. 

"The sun comes up

It's a new day dawning

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass

And whatever lies before me

Let me be singing 

When the evening comes.

...

You're rich in love

And You're slow to anger

Your name is great 

And Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness

I will keep on singing

Then thousand reason

For my heart to find."

It's Been A While

Hey there! It's been almost 10 years since I posted and so much has changed. I have decided to start back blogging personally mainly for me as a journal and if you'd like to read along that is great! I started by updating the look of this blog and cleaning it up a bit.

I don't even know where to begin and I have so many things to say. Do you ever feel like that? Let's see...

One big change is the kids aren't little ones any longer! Allie just turned 13, I still can't believe that! How is it possible that the baby that made me a mom is growing up so quickly? She is in 8th grade, loves her cats (some things do not change), Irish dances, is an amazing student and a wonderful friend!

Jackson is no longer my squishy little snuggle buddy that he was 10 years ago. He just turned 11 over the summer and started 6th grade! WHAT?! He loves baseball all year long and basketball in the winter. He completed Cub Scouts and is now on to Boy Scouts and loving it! I really can't say how proud I am of both of them! They are both really amazing kids!

I have also gone through a lot of change. I stopped teaching in public school eight years ago (I could write a whole post about that and some day I will) and ran my own photography studio for many years, which I loved! I am now the K-5 Director of Religious Education at our Parish. This is my second year doing this and I have to say, I really enjoy it quite a bit! I love having a positive impact on the faith of the children in our parish. One of my favorite things is to teach them how to give their faith feet and as Catholics if we can do that it gives us a reason to be in the pew each week!

Wilmington River walk at Sunset! So beautiful! This summer, I fell in love with Wilmington, NC and the surrounding area. My brother moved to the area a couple of years ago and my parents moved there this spring. Early this summer they purchased a new home and I flew down to help them unpack and settle in! Needless to say, I LOVED it there. Beautiful location, family and friendly people, what more can you ask for?

I am really looking forward to documenting more and writing more. 

Random Weekend Thoughts

*Warning* This weekends random thoughts are especially random! My thoughts are all over the place! So here we go!

1. Even almost a week later, I still can't wrap my head around all the has happened in Haiti! My family has a special tie to Haiti, my mom is the Executive Director of Haitian Ministries and she travels there numerous times a year. In fact she was scheduled to be there this past week with a group of UCONN students and the trip was cancelled because my dad needed foot surgery. Thank goodness for the angel that was watching out for my mom (and the group!) The mission house in Port-au-Prince was destroyed in the earthquake and they had three staff members trapped in the rubble and their daytime guard is still missing! The three staff members were rescued after 3 other staff members dug through the rubble by hand!

2. Did you know:

*For any child in Haiti older than 18 months of age, this is the 5th natural disaster that they have survived!

*38% of the population in Haiti is under 18 old!

*10% of children in Haiti are restaveks (slaves!)

*Before the earthquake there were an estimated 400,000 orphan's in Haiti; a nation of orphans!

*Operation Pedro Pan is a possible operation to bring Haitian orphans out of Haiti to the United States to be adopted. It is formatted and named after the same mission performed in Cuba.

*May GOD bless the littlest victims of this tragedy!

3. Okay, I told you I was all over the place, so switch gears! I am sitting on the couch relaxing trying to relax and looking through the recent Pottery Barn getting a major case of Spring Fever! I am NOT a fan of winter and I especially don't like the wintry mix that we have been getting this winter!

4.Yesterday I finally took down all of Christmas, except for the Tree! Tomorrow I will tackle the tree and have Matt take it down when he gets home next weekend.  I have had fun rearranging and sprucing up the house! I am also trying to be a little more minimalist in what I put out. I am liking it, a lot *grin*!

5. This week I launched my new Sialia Photography website I am so excited about it! Don't get me wrong, I loved my old website, but it was time to update. Check it out, I would love to know what you think!

6.Time to switch those gears again! Have you ever thought of adoption? We have been, don't think I am crazy and this isn't something that we are rushing out the door to go do, but it is something that we are giving a lot of thought to. We are especially thinking of Haiti, this has been the country that we have thought of for a while (because of my moms involvement.) We'll have to see how things go.  There are some things that we would like to have in place before we do more.

7. We are thinking of moving back out towards where our families live.  Right now, we are an hour and a half from family! It is too far! Matt has been researching homes in the area where our family lives and I can't believe how much the cost of housing has come down in that area! I just hope that our house hasn't taken too much of a hit!

8. I don't have a green thumb! Just ask my mom, she'll tell you! But this winter I am trying my had a forcing some bulbs. Mainly sparked by a parent at school who gave me one already started.  Tomorrow I am starting some paperwhites and hyacinths.  I just wish that there was a way to keep them from bending towards the light!

9. A couple of months ago, we switched Jack to a Toddler bed and it has been going great! Until this last week and he has been waking up a couple of times a night and coming into our room and getting into bed! Ugh!!! So, the other night I set up the pack-n-play and he has been sleeping in there.  I hope that this is just a phase and that I will be able to transition him back into the big boy bed sooner than later, but I just can't take getting up during the middle of the night!

10. Okay, now that I have given you all whiplash, I am done! I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

i ♥ faces ~ Hillarious Outtakes

This week over at i ♥ faces it is "Hillarious Outtakes" week. When I first heard this weeks topic, I knew just which pictures I wanted to use! It had to be the pictures from when I tried to get the kids pictures for our Christmas cards! I had tried before and it was a disaster. Their clothes didn't fit and I need to put it off. Well, I put it off until the very last possible minute and the weather wasn't great outside and I needed to shoot indoors on a backdrop, which isn't my favorite or older kids. So here are the outtakes. If you want to see the ones that made our card, then go here.

Now, that you have checked out my outtakes, make sure you head over to i ♥ faces by clicking on the above button and see all the others!

Our Christmas Cards Have Landed...

So, at this point I know that our Christmas card has landed, so I wanted to share it with you and wish you ALL a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Front

Inside Left


Inside Right

Back

Big Snow... That Wasn't

So, this past weekend, we were under a weather alert for BIG snow. It was supposed to be a Nor' Easter with the shoreline getting the brunt of the storm at 2++ ft and we in the hills who usually get more were supposed to get 6-8 in. and we ended up getting a measly 2+ inches. But, no matter how much we got, the kids loved playing in it and it was one of those wonderful fluffy western snows! Now, my parents on the other hand who are on the shoreline they got 24+ inches!

So here is the story of our day in photos.

Jack loved stomping the snow off of his boots!

No fear! Sledding down our steep hill with Daddy on the big kid sled!

Ugh! You mean I have to walk back up that hill!

Allies turn down the big hill! Notice her eyes are closed!

She loves to go down, but only with her eyes closed!

I just love this smile!

Helping Daddy shovel!

Jack the Big Boy!

Jack is such a big boy! This past week we have started switching Jack into a "big boy" bed! I am happy to say that it has gone really well! The first couple of nights we had him sleeping on his crib mattress on the floor next to his crib. It has been going great, so yesterday when I was at Once Upon a Child dropping off toys to resell and found a toddler bed, I bought it for him. So as of last night he is now sleeping in a big boy bed and for now his crib is in pieces in the kitchen, until I can bring it down to Once Upon a Child to resell it.

Allie's Winter School Concet

Allie had her Winter Concert on Thursday and I have to admit, that it was SO cute! She has been talking about this for weeks and practicing all the time. They sang 4 songs and then they had CAKE! Allie was just as excited about the cake as she was the concert itself! I also took video and I will put the video up here as soon as Matt can get it ready for me. I hate to admit it but I don't know how to get the video off of the FLIP without messing it up first.