Help us pray for Vocations

On Sunday at Mass our family was given the Vocation Chalice to bring home for the week. The Vocation Chalice program is designed to encourage families to pray together for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. It has been neat sharing information about vocations with the boys and hearing them pray for priests.  Please help our family pray for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life.  Also here is a prayer you can use to pray for your own children's vocations.

Parent’s Prayer for Vocations 

Dear Heavenly Father, You have blessed us with children. We sometimes forget that they are not ours but Yours, and that You have asked us to bring them up in Your ways. O gracious and loving God, we pray that our children will discover and respond enthusiastically to Your desire for them, whether it be to the vocation of single, married, ordained or religious life. Please help our children to have open hearts and minds to hear Your call. Help us to support and encourage our children to seek Your will in choosing a vocation. We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus through the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I couldn't let the day go by with out also posting about Joshua.  Today Joshua would have been four months old.  In someways I feel like it was just yesterday I was holding him in my arms and in others I feel like it has been an eternity since I have seen his face.  Everyday we feel the void of Joshua in our lives.  Everyday James tells us how much he misses his brother and asks us what we think he is doing in Heaven.  James and John Patrick both go to sleep every night holding Joshua's prayer card with his picture.  Every night they ask Joshua to pray for them and kiss their prayer cards.  Most recently the boys have been asking Joshua to pray that God will give us another baby.  Nathan and I pray also that God will bless us with many more children, however because of the damage done to my uterus after John Patrick and the fact that I have already had 3 c-sections they doctors are asking us to wait.  Please continue to keep our family in your prayers.  Prayers of strength and hope of one day being reunited with Joshua in Heaven and prayers of patience for God to add to our family.  We know that each day is a gift and we are not guaranteed tomorrow.  Nathan and I are so blessed to have the opportunity to raise James and John Patrick and to be parents of a Saint in Heaven.  We pray that when God's timing is right God will bless us with many more beautiful children to raise here on earth.  For now we will wait.  A song that multiple friends have given to us as a song to hold on to is "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller.  Thank you to all the amazing people who are helping us walk this walk.  Love to all.

 

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.  Psalm 40:1

 

Found at Beemp3.com

Max's 3rd Birthday Party

This morning we were invited to a super cute Train birthday party to celebrate Max turning 3.  We got to the train station at 9:15 and boarded the train for a train ride, then had story time, grilled cheese (shaped as trains), and birthday cake. 

When we arrived they served breakfast while we waited on the train.

 The boys were so excited to get going on the train

 Max's mommy is a women of my own heart.  Half way through the train ride we all stopped for a photo shoot.  I don't have the picture of us all but I'm sure it was so cute!

 Most of the kids

 Story time (Love it)

 Birthday Boy

 After the party we took the opportunity of being in town to go check out the new dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science.  The boys had a blast!

Happy Birthday Uncle Jeff

Uncle Jeff's birthday was on July 12th. To celebrate him turning 28 we all went bowling at 300. James and John Patrick had so much fun pushing the balls down the lane and watching the pins fall.

4th of July

This year we spent the 4th of July at home.  This morning the boys and I checked out our neighborhood parade.

Ready to go!

 We met Aunt Taryn, Uncle Kenneth and Felicity.

When Nathan got home from work we meet some family friends at HCS for some BBQ and to watch the Tomball Firework show.

Mr. Matt let the kids do poppers in the parking lot!

Mr. Justin went next door to Dairy Queen and bought ice cream for everyone!

Pointing to the fireworks!

Campus

 On Monday on our way home to Houston we decided to take the boys by campus.  James and John Patrick LOVE the tower and the stadium and they were both so excited. 

We told the boys this was as close to the field as we could get.

About that time a nice stadium manager came by with a key to this door and let the boys run around on the field.  It was a chance of a lifetime and the boys could not have been more ecstatic.  (I only worry that now they will think that this what we get to do every time)