pretty, happy, funny, real...

{pretty}

I cannot believe that it is almost time to prepare the house and kitchen for Lent. In one month's time we will be in this penitential season and I feel like I am still in the midst of Christmas. 

This is what you will find at the end of our dining room table. I love this statue of Our Lady. I love the texture of the wood, the colors she is painted. It evokes simple beauty to me, and every time my family sits down for a meal she is there to greet us. So pretty. 

{happy}

There were a few happy events that I got to share on Facebook recently. My husband was published for the very first time in The Journal of Military History. This has been a dream of his for a very long time and I am absolutely gobsmacked that he has finally achieved this goal. So proud of this man. So honored to walk with him through life. 

I was thinking the other day about happiness and contentment and how for an extrovert like me, I find the greatest joy in spending time with other people. Sharing and caring for dear family and friends. My best friend of the last 12 years, Christine and her brood are like a second family to us. Her kids call me and my hubby "Aunt" and "Uncle" even though we do not share the same blood. It is such a gift to watch our children care for one another and to see the many blessings that God has bestowed on this friendship over the years. 

This photo makes me very, very happy. 

{funny}

Me circa 1988, three months before I married my beloved. What's funny is that if I were still that size I could wear that same outfit today (without the cream stockings) and be perfectly respectable. Ahh how I love timeless pieces of clothing. Too bad I couldn't get that skirt over one of my thighs let alone two. LOL!

{real}

Do you see the name of the book? Yes, my friends you read it correctly. After much prayer and discernment, along with a pretty  direct call from the Good Lord above, Jerry has begun the process of applying to the Permanent Deaconate program in our diocese. 

I beg your prayer in this matter. IF he is accepted to the program, he would begin five years of study in the fall of 2014. This is not something he has chosen to enter into lightly and we are just at the beginning stages of the application process. So please pray for him, and his crazy wife who is not not even close to being holy enough to be a Deacons wife. We will need them all. We are both at peace with the choice and pray God's will be done.