Spring???

Wow! What a difference a week makes!!!! 70% of the snow has melted leaving a horrible muddy mess but we are warming up. Things are brown and muddy but there is an excitement in the air just knowing that spring is around the corner. I don't think we are out of the woods as far as snowfall. We usually get a good snowstorm in March so we will see. But at least we will be comforted by the fact that anything that falls will not stay around very long.

We got the kitchen cabinets and counter top installed and it looks great. Now we need to get the upper cabinets as soon as we can afford it. The boys got new bunk beds. We ripped the carpet up in that room and painted the floor. Now we are converting the old dining room/playroom into a big walk-in pantry and storage/mud room.

We are half way through Lent, Deo Gratias! Easter is not far away. Jeffrey will be home in 3 1/2 weeks. Life is good today!

Valentine's Day

I forgot to post the pictures of our Valentine's Day table. It was so pretty....and spring looking! Made one forget it was frigid and snowy outside. And it was a great kickoff to the sweets right before Lent.

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Getting ready for summer. We bought a YMCA and zoo membership so the kids will be doing a lot of those things this summer. We also will still go to the lake as often as possible. And I will be back in therapy at Madonna with Joseph. And.....ORDINATIONS! We have two families coming up for that and probably another one for the day. I can't wait for that! That is like our family reunion every year!!!!! So..... busy summer.

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Less than 5 weeks of Lent left!!!! Easter is around the corner. We will be having guests right after Easter and that will be fun. I feel, smell, and taste spring in the air.

Eyes on March

Yes, our eyes are on March. We are hoping and praying for a warmer month. March will be an exciting month for many reasons. Warmer weather, melting snow, and Jeffrey coming home for a visit.....Mary Clare turning 10....lots to look forward to. Above is Amy and Mattie at the pro-life march in downtown Lincoln. It was cold but not the coldest march we had attended. But....not the warmest either.

Jeffrey attended the March for Life in D.C. A photographer caught him in this shot as the St. Gregory boys were building two pyramids from which the top guys juggled back and forth to one another and then waved the St. Gregory flag. I was so excited when I did a google search and pulled this up! On the down side of things, Jeffrey broke out in chicken pox last week. He was very sick with them. He is doing much better now but says the ones in his throat are still causing him problems.

Mary Clare has joined the staff of the school newspaper and is enjoying going to her weekly journalism classes. She is the star of her class. Her teachers can not brag enough on her. Not only does she get top scores in all her lessons but her attitude and behavior has won all the teachers over. She loves writing but likes to draw as well.

Jerome has been enjoying going to the YMCA three times a week with mom. He goes to a daycare in the Y which he likes to call school. He, too, has won the teachers over. Some days when we have extra time he goes for a dive in the pool. I don't think he has ever even gotten his head wet! He runs around chasing a ball I throw him until he is good and exhausted then we head home. He has a nice long nap and mom gets a little work done. Works nicely!

The children had a snow day last week so what did we do? We ALL went swimming. Bernadette had a good time. She is a smart little whip. She loves to read. Read and color, color and read. She has also gotten a little on the feisty side. Hmmm, reminds me of someone else we used to call "warthog". Looks just like her too!

And the latest.....as of TODAY.......Mattie won 3rd place in the talent show at school. She played her violin and was wonderful! I thought she should have won but......guess that is why they didn't call me to judge. She was as proud as could be and I don't blame her. It was some stiff competition.

So tomorrow is the last day of February and we can look forward to warm spring days in March.....right? Snow melting......grass growing.....windows opened with a gentle breeze????? At least we can hope and pray. Until then, this is latest news from Terra Benedicta.

And it continues....

to snow and blow. Temps are staying below freezing and the snow is still covering the ground. The children don't want to play outside anymore. How quickly they become bored with the snow. And this year we went all out buying everyone a sled and ice brick makers.

Jerome turned 5. Hard to believe my baby is 5 years old. And the Saints won the Superbowl!!! I guess a few good things have happened over the cold winter months. Jerome got a Saints uniform for his birthday. He goes to the daycare a few times a week when I go up to the Y. He went in full uniform on his birthday. Then came home and posed for pictures. And I mean posed. He said "like they do in the magazines and posters".

And last but not least, Lent started. And God is always good to us during Lent. He never lets us go without suffering. So I guess the cold, the illnesses, the boredom, and the non stop running all over the state of Nebraska is a gift from God during the penitential season of Lent. Life is good! And it goes on.....

Out of Hibernation

After a long hiatus I'm back to blogging. It has been a very hard and complicated year. So many changes. So many ups and downs. I suppose I will start where I left off. With springtime......and then summer.


Summer was very mild this year. That sounds like a lovely thing coming from someone that hates the heat and humidity of the deep south. However, it is not a lovely thing when it comes to gardening. The garden did not do well this year and even had we had brilliant weather the garden probably would have suffered as my health was declining. The other negative thing about the summer being so cool is that we did not have a lot of pasture grass for the cows. So that was a struggle all summer long. We spent a lot of days at the lake. It was nice to bring the kids swimming while I laid in the sun reading. I was so tired and it helped to just soak up the sun.







The most difficult thing to deal with was Joseph. He seemed to regress all summer long. It got to the point where none of us knew what to do and how to deal with him. Since then so much has happened but so little has changed. I eventually had surgery in August. After a hospital stay of 2 weeks I came home weak and unable to do much. We decided to put the kids in school as the load of homeschooling with my health AND dealing with Joseph was proving to be too much. Jeffrey was offered a full sponsorship to St. Gregory's Academy in PA. It is hard not having him here but he loves his new life!



After I recovered from surgery we started intense therapy at Madonna Hospital. It is an incredible place! It's amazing what they can do with the most brain damaged people. It was discovered that the damage, or at least most of it, was on his right side because his left side of his body was not performing as it should. He has made great progress with his physical abilities but I fear we have made no headway in his behavior. He is doing great in school. But we still don't know what the future holds for him. But then again, do we know it for anyone?

Christmas leaves me speechless. All 8 of the little ragamuffins where home. We were totally snowed in for three days. But when all was said and done we made it to 2010 as a family still holding on to the faith and each other.


And here we are......2010......and life on Terra Benedicta continues. That should read continues to change. We sold the cow. We could not afford to continue feeding her. And the milking was getting hard. The winter has been VERY hard. Lots of snow, storms, ice, and COLD temps. Hard to deal with one cow in times like this. We have lost several chickens to the weather. I think we are going to just keep 10 chickens for us. And now we have three ducks.


So although Terra is falling apart as a mini farm she holds on as a looney bin! Life is always interesting.

Well, spring is finally here! There are days that I wonder if it will really stick around as the mornings can be very cool but we are seeing 70 degree days! And I have things popping up in the garden. We extended the garden a lot this year and even have some separate rows of corn.

The white is shredded paper on top of our potatoes.

The cows are doing fine. Britney, the milk cow, is now giving us almost 2 gallons of milk a day but she is not happy with the fact that her baby is roaming the yard and not with her. The baby, Annabelle, is weaned and is like a pet to everyone. She is really beautiful. We will keep her and breed her so that we will have 2 milking cows. Here she is under the crabapple tree.

The second milk cow we had gotten this winter did not last but about 2 weeks here. She was very hard to handle and would not let us milk by hand. Jeffrey still has his cow, Hazel, but will be selling her soon.

The chickens are giving us 3 dozen eggs a day. I sell them at the dairy and to church members. Not sure if I'll replace any of these this year but I will be buying meat birds soon and this will keep us busy most of the summer. We are adding guineas and ducks to our order this year.

And in celebration of the warmer weather we have started going to the lake again with and without the kids. We took them Sunday to ride bikes, roller blade and scooter. Joe will receive First Holy Communion this weekend. He is very anxious for this! Well, that is all the "terra" news. As to the other personal family news, email me! It would be too much to try to post here. Busy days ahead. Hopefully I will keep the blog updated now!

Christmastide

We have been enjoying a most blessed Christmas! Hope that yours has been as blessed and joyful.

We did not keep the cow. She was just too stubborn to milk. She was a dairy cow that had never been milked by hand. I was not comfortable keeping her here with the children out in the barn around the milk stall. So we gave her back to her owner and the deal was called off. Besides, we are all so attached to Annabelle. She is a good calf. She is gentle and trusting like her mother, Britney. So we will have two cows in the future that we know we can work with.

The winter seems to be over. I know this is too good to be true but it sure seems that we saw the worst for a few weeks in December and now it's over. We have not dipped into those subzero temps since before Christmas. Most of the snow has melted and there is not much in the forecast for the next week. Really strange for January. I kind of miss not having snow, sledding and building snowmen at this time of year.

We had our church Christmas play on January 4th. It turned out just as it always does....chaotic and hilarious. I think that my children were the cutest, of course. The girls were angels, and the boys a wise man and a sheep. My little sheep was the cutest of all. He came out on stage waving and dancing. He had all laughing. Here are a few pictures from that most memorable event!

Little angels.....are you sure??????

A wiseman....or a madman?

My little lamb....and I mean that one!

Now that Epiphany is over we are trying to get back into the swing of things like school. I'm getting around much better and realize that I have so much to catch up on. I wonder if I will ever be able to do it. Volunteers???? Anyone???? And with that I end saying, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"