so me and my 'connectedness'

so me and my connectedness....

although we did not pick our 2 children's names based on their meaning....it's no coincidence they are named what they are....


The meaning of Garyn is WARRIOR.  I mean....pretty sure there isn't a better name suited for this little boy!

The meaning of Gianna is GOD IS GRACIOUS. The name is sometimes used in honor of Saint Gianna Molla who died in 1962 because she had a dangerous pregnancy.  Again...no coincidence!  If you know my pregnancy story with her....you will believe our God has His hands in everything!


Anyways....just thought I would add this since we are talking names.


oh and one more thing...

Ryan means Kingly (ha ha ha ha- can't stop giggling)
Natalie means birthday of Christ.


"An excellent way to bless your children through prayer is by finding scriptures that pertain to their names, personality traits, gifts, and character qualities (both the qualities they already have and those you'd like for them to develop)  Names are important to God, so they should be important to us."
- Prayer Warrior Mom

the name game....

so....

Ryan and I rarely let ourselves do this....

but....

we are thinking of names.


we will name our child and he/her will carry his/her Ethiopian name as their middle name...


top winners are:

Boys:

Graydon- call him Gray or Grady
- meaning: pleasant


Girls:

Georgia- call her Georgie
- meaning: Earth- worker


There you have it.

...

Sometimes my life takes more than I can give.
That's when I gotta go

Where no one's around
But the silence and the sound
Of "Three Little Birds" for company.
I got a sip of something strong,
A secondhand "Old Man and the Sea",
Out here with me,
Me and Marley,
Me and Marley

God knows I love my life and I thank Him every night
But sometimes I feel the knife of responsibility.
And the struggle and the strife, what's wrong and what's right
Has got me searching for the light and my place of peace.

small things vs. big things

sometimes when the going gets tough, it's hard to keep things into perspective.  if you are ever around me when i am parenting, you may hear me tell my kids (especially if they are mad, sad, or frustrated- like in the middle of crying) "let's look at the problem- is this a big problem or small problem."

well- someone needed to remind me of that this weekend.  i was frustrated because our dossier is still sitting in my dining room, i hate seeing my little girl sick, and then.....it finally hit me!  i came home saturday morning from an 8 mile run and crashed!!!  i slept for 2 days straight... i was emotionally and physically spent!

i was mad, sick, grouchy...sad that our holiday plans were all screwed up.

but then what i always tell my kiddos came right back to me

...small things vs. big things...

GARYN MATTHEW SANFORD reminds me everyday, but especially on this weekend how fragile life is and how important it is not to get so 'hooked up' on the little things.

4 years of good health!!!  that is something to cheer about!  this time 4 years ago we were faced with a

'big thing' a VERY ' big thing' but with the knowledge of physicians, medicine, and prayer...Garyn came out stronger than ever!

4 YEARS STRONG!

MY KD SURVIVOR...

Rough Day

it was a rough day...

started perfectly.  2 kids in tow, all documents state sealed without any problems...in fact, i was told 'thank you' for having everything done so perfectly...

flying on high...

just a few things to copy and one fed ex envelope...we would be done!!

-------

and then,

just like that, in one moment, my day was ruined!

-------

the kinko's employee decided NOT to listen to me...
and she took the staples out and then re-stapled the documents without my permission.

------

in short, our dossier could not be sent because that 'small' mistake is now considered tampering.  the 3 documents (luckily I had additional copies) are now having to be resent and resealed from the state of pennsylvania.  and more waiting...


it was a devastating day.  only one who has completed a dossier (or 2 like us) before can fully understand...

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so my baby, my sweet baby....
lucky for you, you have some pretty awesome grandparents who live in pennsylvania and they are working hard behind the scene to get these papers completed as soon as possible.

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when you are ready, we will be ready, i promise!

Crazy Love

8 years ago today, I married my soul mate.

8 years later, I am still madly in 'Crazy Love!'

8 years ago at this time, I was dancing with my new husband!

8 years from now, I will still be dancing in love!

Happy Anniversary Ryan!


Mark 10: 5-9

But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment.
But fromt he beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.
Fort this reason a man shall leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife],
and the two shall become one flesh.'  So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, no human begin must separate."

6

Today's reading...

Reading 1SIR 2:1-11

My son, when you come to serve the LORD,
stand in justice and fear,
prepare yourself for trials.
Be sincere of heart and steadfast,
incline your ear and receive the word of understanding,
undisturbed in time of adversity.
Wait on God, with patience, cling to him, forsake him not;
thus will you be wise in all your ways.
Accept whatever befalls you,
when sorrowful, be steadfast,
and in crushing misfortune be patient;
For in fire gold and silver are tested,
and worthy people in the crucible of humiliation.
Trust God and God will help you;
trust in him, and he will direct your way;
keep his fear and grow old therein.

You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy,
turn not away lest you fall.
You who fear the LORD, trust him,
and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the LORD, hope for good things,
for lasting joy and mercy.
You who fear the LORD, love him,
and your hearts will be enlightened.
Study the generations long past and understand;
has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed?
Has anyone persevered in his commandments and been forsaken? 
has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?
Compassionate and merciful is the LORD;
he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble
and he is a protector to all who seek him in truth.

Commit your life to the Lord, and He will help you

Mark 9:35-37

“If anyone wishes to be first, 
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” 
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, 
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”

Run

And that is exactly what I did today.......

My Baby....

Working hard for our baby!!!!

This is for you our sweet baby 'opia....although we do not know you yet, we are so very confident God is watching over you, protecting you.  So while we continue to wait just a little longer...we will continue to pray!!  It will not be long now.... I can feel in the depths of my heart!!

We are working hard so we are ready.... and when they call us, we will be jumping with love!!!!
Waiting for the day....

This is ALL for you my sweet baby!

My Peanut Butter Pickle

I can't believe the end of another school year is in just 3 days.... and furthermore, I can't believe Gigi is finishing her last few days as a preschooler!  In just a few short months, my baby girl is going to be in kindergarten.  I am definitely not ready for her to be away from me everyday!!!!

She has grown so much this past year...it is always so much fun to watch the littles perform at their end of the year program!!!

Sweet Shots:

We are so proud of you Peanut Butter Pickle!!!!  Now it's time for SUMMER FUN!!!  I can't wait ...

Connectedness

It was no surprise that one of my top 5 strengths is connectedness...

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I have so much faith in the links between all things.  Coincidences, not so much....I firmly believe God has a given us a purpose and path!  Every event has a reason...

I can see this everyday in my life, especially when I look back at the past.

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In short~ words will not justify how grateful I am that Ryan and I were 'listening' to our Lord when he opened the road to St. Joan of Arc!!!!  The people we have met at St. Joan of Arc are now our family, and they help us everyday by showing us ways to grow in our Faith, Service, and Community!!!

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Now to the point of this blog, we were with a few of those people last night.  We were chatting about our kids and and one of our friends mentioned something and (because of my connectedness) I can't help but think about it ALL day today!

This friend is incredibly knowledgable in scripture and religious teachings....anyways, we were talking about Garyn and a few things he has mentioned in the past...and he looked at him and said..."His hair reminds me so much of St. Peter."  

I say this all the time, God has place this boy on this Earth for a very special reason!!!!  I think this friend is 'connecting' Garyn with big things too!!!!  ...and not just because of the curly hair  ;)

26.2

goal:

26.2 in 4 hrs.

oct. 19, 2013

#Catholic

(#catholic) “God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.

He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work.

I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.”

― John Henry Newman

It's a good morning...

It was a beautiful Friday morning on Penn!!!

Lynx

When I look back and try to remember my 1st grade experience, the things I remember are sitting at a round table learning to read short words.  We would fold a paper into a book and on the back there would be 3 short words: pig, run, hop.  Ok, you get my drift....

So let's fast forward 28+years....

The last quarter of 1st grade for Garyn is SLIGHTLY different.  This week he completed his research project and presented it through a power point presentation to his class.  At the beginning of the quarter, they had to pick an animal to research.  They had 5 questions to answer plus had to include 5 other interesting facts about the animal.  Once this was completed, they took every Wednesday in technology (love how the classes work together) to prepare a power point presentation.  Garyn took his writing and type it onto power point slides.  He included pictures too.
The creative part of the project was to complete a mobile, diorama, poster board, etc for a visual for the report.

Well....let me tell you!!!  These children are so far above from pig, run, hop it's incredible!!!!  We had the honor of going to his class to watch him along with his classmates present their power points.  Each child did an OUTSTANDING job.  We learned about horses, lions, whales, the lynx.  Each child stood in front of the class so proud and excited to share what they learned.  Each classmate listened with excitement!  They all offered questions and compliments!

Thank you Miss Scheidler!  You have fed these little (or should I say BIG) minds with so much knowledge and more importantly confidence.  We love you!

words from Gus Lloyd

so quickly.....
Gus Lloyd, one of my favorite Catholic Christians.  Read what he had this to say about yesterday's Gospel reading... I think I never want to forget it, what about you?

Here it is:
www.GusLloyd.com

Open Ears, Open Hearts

In Acts 16 today, Paul and Luke find themselves in the city of Thyatira, where they meet a woman named Lydia. More on that encounter in a moment. In the Gospel from John 15, Jesus talks about sending the Advocate, the Spirit of truth. He says, “I have told you this so that you may not fall away.” Even with the coming persecutions, the Holy Spirit would keep them strong.

Lydia was “a worshiper of God.” As she listened to Paul, “the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.” What an interesting concept, this notion of the Lord opening her heart. Of course, the Lord is God, so He can always open our hearts. But don’t we play a part in all this, too? I think the key here comes from what Lydia was doing just before the Lord opened her heart. She was listening.

How wonderful it would be if more people in the world were better listeners. I think this is a skill that is all but lost these days. We are all so hell-bent on being heard that we seldom listen. But I believe that God rarely opens our hearts when we’re talking. It is only when we are listening that we become open to hearing God. That’s when the real heart-opening can really take place. Have you ever heard the old axiom: God gave us two ears and one mouth and He wants us to use them in those proportions. How true.

Father, help us today to be better listeners. Help us to listen to one another, listen to your Word and allow you to open our hearts today. Amen.

Bottom Line-- listen more, talk less!!!