Feast of the Annunciation celebrates a Proud Mary

My friend Fr. Alixis Vinogradov sent me this link to a great NPR commentator speaking on the feast of the Annunciation and Mary.

Click here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9145469

Happy Birthday ASHER!!

Well, our little Asher John is now 3!! It is hard for me to believe that he is moving from being our baby to being our little boy. The big day was actually on the 9th, but I am just now getting around to posting some pix. We were headed out of town the weekend of his birthday so we decided to keep the partying simple. It actually ended up being a blast to have our little family celebration. We got up that Friday morning and Justin ran out to Dunkin Donuts and got some yummy chocolate frosted donuts. He occupied the boys while I arranged them into a lovely donut pyramid with THREE very tall candles atop. We sang "Happy Birthday" and he was delighted to blow out the candles on his tower of donuts. We ate our fill of donuts and milk (and D&D coffee for Mom and Dad) and then we opened presents. It was stress-free and we got to stay in our pajamas. Could this be a new tradition in kids' birthdays? I sure hope so. Here are a couple snapshots of Asher on his big day.


SAY CHEESE!


Here you can see the remnants of his chocolate donut feast!


AARRRGH! A pirate's life for me!

Love to all,

Jodi

TENNESSEE!!

Well, the good news is we have a contract on a house ... The bad news is that we can't move tomorrow. Honestly, I will be doing my best to make the most of what little time we have left here at St. Vlads. Our friendships and deep spiritual and familial growth have been worth these past three years. Our house is great, or at least Justin keeps telling me. No really, it looks fabulous from the photos I have seen. You see, he spent most of last week visiting in person many of the places we had been viewing in cyberspace. And with the help of our delightful "Southern" real estate agent, he accomplished the great feat of scouting out and buying a house for his family without his wife ever stepping foot on the property. My greatest assurance in all this is first, that God is in control of this move. It also helps to know that Justin is actually probably more picky about his environment than I am. However, the nesting bug has a death grip on me right now and I am looking forward to my own space!

Speaking of nesting, I am five weeks out from my due date and am getting anxious to meet this next little guy! We are still praying about a name for him. We honestly are having a hard time coming up with it. Perhaps we will just have to see him to know what to call him!

Also, this week my "baby" Asher is turning three!! He keeps reminding me that he isn't a "little guy" anymore. Here are my little men with the Tennessee shirts Justin brought them and here is their Mom with a very large belly!

Love to you all!

Jodi