Triple Threat (3 of me, no photoshop)

Triple Threat
Originally uploaded by kc0lex (Matthew)

On the left is the me that goes to work. In the middle is the me that does all the chores around the house and on the right is the me that rolls around and does the fun stuff with the family. Now, if I could just get them split apart and all working at the same time.

Well, I guess that isn't going to happen so I will have to be satisified with continuing to do the best I can all by myself without clones.

If you are wondering, this picture was taken with light painting. The long and the short of that is taking a picture in a dark place, long exposure, and a flashlight. You can move the object being taken, the camera, both or just the light source. You can write words in the air, highlight part of the photo or replicate part of the photo.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

St. Raffle, pray for us!?!

My kids have found a new archangel, in fact it is their favorite archangel. This archangel is St. Raffle, and is invoked exclusively at parish functions such as fun night. Fun night, that night of mystery, excitement, junk food and candy. The most exciting thing though has to be raffle tickets. These are small holy cards that are received after making a donations to the Church as a remembrance of your generosity in helping Church fundraiser.

The interesting thing is that as a sign of devotion you can go around to various displays around the community room and insert your St. Raffle holy card into a box and at the end of the night one card will be drawn. If your St. Raffle holy card is drawn, you are the winner of whatever is in the display.

My 3 oldest children went to fun night with Grandma and Grandpa and placed their St. Raffle holy cards in front of the slumber party fun altar, I mean table. This has to be every little girl's dream contained on this table: 2 pink sleeping bags, 2 pedicure kits, bag of makeup, box of makeup (with bath products and gel), 4 DVD's, Microwave popcorn, Jenga (GirlTalk edition), 4 piece purple luggage set (this is actually a really nice set), 2 purple fluffy pillows, memory board, candy, "Not Now" door hanger, Pink Cold Beverage Tub (I bet I will never be able to see if I can fit two cases of fine imported beer in that), a twelve pack of generic grape soda, Pink Embellished Bed Canopy, Purple Fuzzy MP3 speaker cube, and coupons for 12 personal cheese pizzas. I think that is all that was on this table of dreams. Of course my three daughters' cards ended up in this box not at the table with the John Deere collectibles, Hunting/Fishing Supplies, or the coveted Imported Beer collection.

Ok, so every little girl that was at the place did the same thing, I had only 3 chances in what must have been a metric ton of St. Raffle Holy Cards of having to deal with all of this stuff. I wasn't worried in the least. I was already having to deal with St. Raphael, setting up a small tank for the feeder goldfish my 2nd oldest had already won and lovingly named Teresa Avila. I was safe.

Then the call came. They won, I now have all of this stuff sitting in my house. I was just reading from the blog, June Cleaver after a Six Pack, because it plays great music while you listen and is fairly funny and right next to me is a purple speaker with Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield coming out of it. Some people spend money at Fun Night and just come home with a cake from the cake walk. I will have a reminder for years to come of the fun my children had with grandma and grandpa while my wife and I went out to eat.

St. Raffle, pity me!

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

Tons of fun

Before you ask. . .
Originally uploaded by kc0lex (Matthew)

It was a great blast having friends from out of town take a trip back home. We were able to spend several hours visiting and eating pizza. Oh, and the first of what I am certain will be many, "Catholic-Midwest-I have my homeschool stuff with me-what are you doing this year-what are you thinking about doing next year-can i see your stuff-that is sooo cool" mini-homeschool conferences took place during this visit. I was also ecstatic that it only took 45 photos taken on the digital camera in continuous shoot mode to get 2 good photos of all the kids standing together. Well, that and Dawn holding Clara who wasn't the most happy in the world.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

Dawn's crack dealer had a sale. . .

Dawn's crack dealer had a sale. . .
Originally uploaded by kc0lex (Matthew)

. . . and she got all of this for just 8 dollars, a mere $0.20 a book. My wife isn't addicted to drugs, she is addicted to books. I am proud of her, she went through and got all the books she was interested in and thinned it down until she had just 40. The really scary part is that she spent three hours going through just the kids books, she never made it to the adult books that were on sale. The bonus was that it was for a good cause, benefiting our children and the proceeds from the sale go to help our local library system.

The one book that I am really excited she got is Maria by Maria Von Trapp. It is the autobiography and the real story of The Sound of Music. I am looking forward to reading it if I can PRY it out of Dawn's hands.

Speaking of that, I think she used one of Charlton Hesston's lines, "Not but from out of my cold dead hands!" Just kidding, but she does love her books.

And I love her.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

You are planning on giving his Holiness what?

That's right, in the long standing tradition of finding things to give the Pope that will either be thrown in a closet (hopefully never to be seen again) or donated to someone in need we have now found out that the Pope will be receiving a skateboard when he comes to the United States.

Sigh, so many things I could say.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

Silhouette

At times things we see aren't as they appear. Is this a shadow or a sillhoutte.

It is easy to tell here because the water is rippled and the silhouette is smooth but other times it could be more trouble depending on perspective. Perspective is something that is the basis for the decisions we make, it can make alot of difference in the outcome of a situation. Different lighting in a picture can make a world of difference. Is this a duck or a goose in the picture above?

How tall is little Clara? Makes a difference in how you look at it. We should all remember to be careful in how we look at situations, take the time to evaluate, look at things another way and see if we can plan out our course of action based on our values before we just react. It will make the world a better place.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

I am done eating. . . .

I am done eating. . . .
Originally uploaded by kc0lex (Matthew)

At times as a father you just run across a special moment. One of those moments that you never want to forget. What you are seeing is something that is just adorable to me and very memorable.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

Catholic Carnival #168 is up.

Well, it's time to head north of the border and visit "The DuctTape Guy" for Catholic Carnival. I haven't had a chance to listen to all of it yet, that's right, listen to it. This week's Carnival is not only a blog post but it is a podcast.

GO CHECK IT OUT!!!

Easter vigil is coming

Just waiting for the Sun to go down and the Son to come up.  

Hope everyone has a Blessed Easter.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S.

Maundy, Maundy

Tonight we went home to the parish my wife and I attended as a young couple. It is a very traditional/non-traditional parish in that their is a pipe organ, perpetual adoration, chant, more young people than old, it is a non-territorial parish, you can belong to this parish in addition to another and it is also the Catholic student union at Wichita State University here in town. The St. Paul Parish Newman Center is the Church that my wife entered the Church 9 years ago this coming fall. Here are two pictures from this evening, one of the main altar in the big chapel after it has been stripped at the conclusion of the Mass of Lord's Supper and the second is from inside the Adoration Chapel that had Adoration until midnight so we could all spend time with our Lord in the Garden and in His Agony. It was good to go home, it is only a trip across town but it was that I am glad we made tonight and we will make it again two more times in as many days.

(Last night after posting this I lay in bed thinking how lucky I was. Think about it, I was laying in bed and a long time ago Jesus stayed up all night last night getting hauled around Jerusalem, accused of all kinds of bad things. I wonder how the exact time line worked out through the night?)

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

p.s. for those who appreciate good (well, at times that is debatable) humor, take a look below the pictures.

I hope the Mamas and the Papas will forgive me but I am baptizing their only number 1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100.

Bah-da bah-da-da-da
Bah-da bah-da-da-da
Bah-da bah-da-da-da

Maundy, Maundy, so good to me
Maundy mornin', it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Maundy mornin', Maundy mornin' couldn't guarantee
That Maundy evenin' you would still be here with me

Maundy, Maundy, can't trust that day
Maundy, Maundy, sometimes you just get betrayed
Oh Maundy mornin' you gave me no warnin' of what was to be
Oh Maundy, Maundy, how could you leave and not take me

Every other day, every other day
Every other day of the liturgucal year is fine, yeah
But whenever Maundy comes, but whenever Maundy comes
A-you can find me cryin' all of the time

Maundy, Maundy, so good to me
Maundy mornin', it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Maundy mornin', Maundy mornin' couldn't guarantee
That Maundy evenin' you would still be here with me

Every other day, every other day
Every other day of the liturgucal year is fine, yeah
But whenever Maundy comes, but whenever Maundy comes
A-you can find me cryin' all of the time

Maundy, Maundy, can't trust that day
Maundy, Maundy, sometimes you just get betrayed
Maundy, Maundy, won't go away
Monday, Monday, it's here to stay
Oh Maundy, Maundy
Oh Maundy, Maundy

Catholic Carnival #164: Holy Week Edition

Is up and ready for the browsing, but no time for me to read now as I have to get to bed. Will take a closer look tommorow.

Head over to Aggie Catholics and take a read.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

Tractor pulls

At times parenting feels just like being in a tractor pull without the tractor. Sigh, have you ever tried to get a kid to do something they were bound and determined to do? My oldest can stubbornly refuse for hours to do something. At times I wonder how she can be so stubborn and then i realize that she is my daughter.



Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

Something about this is just wrong

but just in case you were wondering. . . . .

33

Entry for Photo March Wichita Flickr Contest

FlickrMarch
Originally uploaded by kc0lex (Matthew)

You will need to click on it to get a good look at the picture but I thought it was an interesting way of showing "Vantage Point" that is this month's challenge.

Ben Stein is Expelled

This is a new Ben Stein movie coming out....takes on Darwinism and the atheists out and about.

Closing time. . .

No, not for this blog, but just for the end of my day. It has been a long several weeks and many things have been racing through my mind at random. I am a father to 5 children. That is the thought that keeps coming back and forth into my mind. I have four beautiful daughters that I love dearly and get to see daily. I have one daughter (my wife and I's decision on gender) that was taken from us in an act of mercy. We don't know why we had the miscarriage but we do know the simple fact that we did.

It is not a mercy in the nice politically correct way of looking at things but more in the respect of Sheldon Vanauken's, "A Severe Mercy" or C.S. Lewis's "Shadowlands". The mercy is in the loss and the pain. My wife told me she was suprised that this miscarriage was something that affected me so much. She has told me that she thought it was something that women dealt with. However, I can't help but look on this miscarriage as the loss of my child that I swore to care for before her conception. Something that is part of my being as a man demands that I am a knight for my children, present and God-willing future. They are my charges, given to me from God.

This miscarriage has caused lots of different emotions and reactions to come into my heart and mind. Part of me is excited because I have a child that is a Saint in heaven. Another part of me struggles with feeling robbed. This is my child and I will never get to hold her, watch her first steps, teach her to ride a bike, give her away on her wedding day, watch her profess her vows in the convent, or any of the other things that are possible with my other four daughters.

However, I feel guilty for feeling robbed, this isn't about me, it is about my child. She is in a better place than I am. She is part of the Church triumphant and I am still on my sojourn. My children are a temporary gift for me to be a steward of during this short time here on earth. They are not something for me to control and possess. I am to raise, form and shape them to know, love and serve the Lord. They are not tools for my happiness but an extension of who I am in essence that will, God willing, lead to my ultimate fulfillment as a being.

My wife told me something she heard, I don't remember if it was from another blog or from a friend. It was a simple statement that is a good frame for all of us as parents. When dealing with your children and the seeming interruptions in your day remember, it isn't "Now I have to do _____" but instead it is "Now I get to _____". Total change of perspective on how I deal with my current children. My children being in my life is something that I can never take for granted. They are here as a gift for me. Not for me to own or possess but for my benefit, to make me into a better person.

I know that the raising of my oldest child is stretching me into a better person. I come from a household with just my brother and I. We both have our own personalities and my father does. My oldest daughter is not unlike me but she is also unique in her own special ways. She is requiring me to move out of how I was raised and my cookie-cutter mentality of how a child is to be raised and realize that it is more about connecting in a realtionship with our children.

If you think about it realtionship is the very basis and being of the parent-child relationship. Terms like father and daughter are realtional. You can't use those words without them automatically implying a relationship. That is the biggest thing that I have learned. I have five wonderful children to thank for that and a very beautiful wife as well. My heart is moved by all of them.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

Only the state is good enough

Basically, that is what California is saying here when they basically limit schooling to state certified professionals. It is really disturbing to me that the State of California thinks that it is to be normative for the state to determine what children learn. The parents of a child are the ones that have that right naturally. We have a term for states that take control of private thought and natural rights away from people, they are called facists. Well, either that or just people who think it takes "The Village" to raise your kids, instead of taking a whole community.

I am just glad that Governor Schwarzenegger understands that this is a huge violation of the natural order and is standing up and fighting the good fight. God bless checks and balances.

I have been thinking alot about schooling versus homeschooling. If you think about it when we send kids off to school we basically take our kids out of the every day reality of the world and create an artificial reality filled with people that aren't mature enough to function in the real world. This is a potential recipe for danger. I like the fact that my kids are part of the community and have more interaction with adults than students in an institutional school setting.

I also like the fact that someone else doesn't control what they learn and know.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

When will it be warm again

IMG_4863
Originally uploaded by kc0lex (Matthew)

I can't wait for it to be warm again outside. Now that we have gotten through our major training and no one is sick anymore maybe, just mybe I can start exercising regularly after a month off. I just hope it is warm enough for rock climbing, oh, and I need to plan a camping trip or two.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

Photography Challenge

I am on the photo sharing website Flickr for uploading my photos onto the internet. It has an element of Web 2.0 in groups with specialized interests. One of them that I participate in is the local Wichita group. This month's challenge involves the same subject for everyone, a statue in front of the local art museum, with the challenge being perspective. The thread with a variety of different pictures is found here. One of my enteries is here:

My daughters love cowboys

That's right, they are big fans of Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Gene Autry. They love their boots, saddles and riding down happy trails. My father bought them 20 hours of old Roy Rogers shows on DVD for them to watch. They are able to watch them on the computer and they love the old fashion fight scenes. Today they found out that one of the episodes is in color, they were stoked.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

What are you eating?

IMG_5078
Originally uploaded by kc0lex (Matthew)

"A bw-rown-ie"

I love you little Lucia.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

P.S. special thanks to the wonderful person that made those brownies for us.