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  • Thursday Thoughts

    Last Thursday night, I sat down to start the post for 7 Quick Takes Friday.  I had just uploaded the picture when my phone rang.  It was my dad.  He started with, "I have some bad news."  I was worried, but not too terribly until he said the words, "Erin is in the hospital."  Then I knew something was terribly wrong.  

    I drove down to Houston shortly after.  It's a really dark drive to Houston from here.  My brother and brother-in-law were driving in from Austin while my parents were coming in from Round Rock.  We arrived within 30 minutes of each other.  My first view of Erin was heart wrenching but I cannot imagine what Patrick was feeling.  We spent the night at the hospital waiting for her parents to arrive.  They must've been so frantic.

    I write this not to spill the beans about Patrick's business but to get it off my shoulders.  I've felt so sad and this is my place to do this.  I need to do this.  I hope he understands.

    It's hard to believe it's been a week.  Today we spent time running errands and making final decisions for the memorial service.  The service will take place at Ramsey Funeral Home in Georgetown, TX on Saturday at 3pm.  

    I debated with myself and discussed it with Ben.  The girls will be going to ballet that day.  We'll leave from the studio.  The curtains will be open Saturday.  I'm hoping that by watching the girls dance on Saturday that the rest of the day won't be too painful.  I'm hoping to keep occupied.  And, most importantly, I hope to make things as normal as possible for my oldest daughter who feels this loss so keenly and to have my son occupied so he doesn't fret.  He couldn't bear to see Patrick today.  It makes him too terribly sad.  Saturday will be hard on him as well, but I'm hoping to minimize the anxiety in the morning by keeping him occupied going back and forth from the studio.

    We will need prayers.  Lots and lots of them.

  • Erin Marie Kennedy Cho ~ Rest in Peace

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    I hate that I can't find any pictures of Erin from my photo library.  I snitched this from my future sister-in-law's Facebook photos.  I need to do a search from my other hard drive.  

    We are very, very devastated.  

    Please pray for the repose of Erin's soul and for Patrick, her husband, my brother. 
     

  • Something for the Newest Cousin

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    I think it will look wonderful on him.  I hope to finish it soon.

     

  • St. Paul Chong Hasang, St. Andrew Kim and Korean Martyrs

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    O God, you have created all nations and you are their salvation. In the land of Korea your call to Catholic faith formed a people of adoption, whose growth you nurtured by the blood of Andrew, Paul, and their companions. Through their martyrdom and their intercession grant us strength that we too may remain faithful to your commandments even until death. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

    Today is the feast day for these martyrs.  St. Paul Chong Hasang is our parish's patron saint.  To celebrate his feast, we are getting together with another family and having bi-bim-bap for dinner.  All is ready except for the rice.  I'll plug the rice cooker in and hopefully, remember to push the cook button before leaving for ballet.  

     

  • Milestones…

    Upon returning home from ballet, Brother asked Sister, how was ballet?

    It just made my day.  He never asks about someone's day or event.  Ever.

  • First Full Week

    Today marks the end of our first full week of school (for now we school 4 days a week and take the 5th for field trips and fun time).  We had started in August with math and religion.  

    I'm exhausted.  Who knew that the 4th child would be such a burden even with it just being kindergarten?

    I have get more settled and make a better schedule for us.  We also need to get to bed earlier and wake earlier.  

    Brother is in the 6th grade although in many subjects he is below grade level.  That's okay because this journey is a marathon, not a sprint.  Sister is in the 4th grade.  For the most part, she's a great and willing student, but math continues to cause many, many tears both hers and mine.  Honey is in the 2nd grade.  This year we are working on First Holy Communion prep.  Very, very exciting.  Pumpkin is in kindergarten.  How did that happen?  She's reading some on her own, but I tend to take a really relaxed view on learning to read.  I let it come naturally before reinforcing it.  I'll have to see how things go.  I will try to post some more detailed information on what we use, but I've been known to not get around to it.  

    And, with the children all having more and more school, our days are completely full.  

  • Never Forget…

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  • 7 Quick Takes Friday ~ Volume 96

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    ~1~

    We had a full 36 hours of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.  When the rain started early Tuesday morning, I woke Ben to turn the sprinklers off.  I suppose I could've done it myself, but I hate the garage in the best of times and at 5:45am, it was not the best of times.  I had no idea that Tropical Storm Hermine would even get near us, but boy, did it make an impact.  There was quite a bit of flooding in our area.  When I looked out the window at the front of the house, the whole street had water gushing down it.  It was literally a river (well, more like a creek or brook if you're from New England).  Our area received ten inches of rain in that period.  

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    ~2~

    Last week while driving Ben to the airport, we listened to a talk radio program.  They were discussing government workers and how general consensus is that government workers were lazy and underworked.  I took offense at that.  The men and women in the military are government workers.  They are some of the hardest working people in this country.  People need to take care when making such blanket statements.  

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    ~3~

    Someone on Facebook queried whether you would choose a personal chef, maid service, or a nanny if given the choice of one for a year for free.  I chose a chef.  I get tired of making meals.  I get tired of my meals.  I want variety.  And, for someone else to make it for me.  I did waver a bit over the maid service, but I would really like someone to cook for me all the time.

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    ~4~

    My small tabletop copy machine died on me.  I'm searching for another one right now.  I'm thinking of maybe buying a color copier/laser printer because I'm tired of buying the ink for my inkjet printer.  I think it's more cost effective to get the laser toner than to keep buying the ink that I buy now.  I make lots and lots of copies as well as lots and lots of printouts.  What to do?  Any suggestions?

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    ~5~

    I purchased the lifetime membership to Library Thing.  And, then I bought the CueCat so I could scan the ISBNs into the Library Thing data base.  I need either a whole afternoon or a teenager.  

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    ~6~

    The children and I attended the Chrismation of a dear family's sixth child.  It was beautiful if a bit long for the children.  The Byzantine rite is fascinating.  

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    ~7~

    Please forgive all my sky shots.  I love taking pictures of the sky especially when it looks so pretty.  The first and the fifth ones were taken the day before Hermine hit.  I should've known a big storm was coming.

    Check out more Quick Takes. 

     
     

  • 7 Quick Takes Friday ~ Volume 95

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    ~1~

    It's been a while since I've done one of these.  It's hard to get a routine going when Ben's home but that's okay.  We needed the break in our "routine".  We'll be starting back to a more normal life on Tuesday.

    ~2~

    Ben flew to Boston today to pick up a car his mother is giving us.  It is a very generous gift and we are blessed to be receiving it.  We will not be saddled with a car payment which is nice.  And, it'll be nice having a car that can carry more than one child.

    The children were not happy to have him go, but these things needed to be done.  Pumpkin is especially missing her father.  The older two cried when he left this morning.

    I was able to take him to the airport and even with Hurricane Earl threatening, he took off on time.  At the Austin airport, if you are military, you can go to the head of the line at the security checkpoint using the premium check in line.  It was great today since they were down one security checkpoint.

    ~3~

    Nutcracker season is just around the corner which means that Christmas is just around two corners.  'Nuff said.

    ~4~

    We started back to school three weeks ago, but not fully.  I still have to start complete lesson plans for the children.  School goes much more smoothly when each child knows what lessons to work on for each subject.  Just telling them to do the next one doesn't cut it.  And, they like to check the block.  I wonder who they take after.

    ~5~

    I have a new niece.  My brother's wife had a baby.  She was born on the 20th of August.  She's adorable.  I haven't met her yet.  I was supposed to go see her last week, but I came down with a cold.  I can't wait to get my hands on her.  She was tiny at 5lbs 12oz.  Now, you have to realize that this is from my perspective.  My smallest baby came out at 7lbs 15oz.  

    ~6~

    Ben's cousin Tom's wife (I can't figure out where the commas should go) had her baby last night.  A baby boy at 8lbs 5oz.  I haven't seen pictures yet.  I bet he's cute.

    ~7~

    I have a lot of knitting to do.  I need to post more pictures of my knitting.  I knit more than I post about.  I'm about done with my first complete sock.  I've started about 3 of them.

    I could probably go on and on with random things, but I'll stop.  Do check out more Quick Takes.

  • Time Flies

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    My beautiful ballerina.

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    A sweet sister bolstering her baby sister’s confidence.

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    A beautiful, sweet, loving daughter.

    Happy 9th Birthday, my dear girl.