Truth Can Now Be Told - updated June 29 2008

UPDATED NEWS BULLETIN

REPORT OF A BIRD STRIKE

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL REPORT OF A BIRD STRIKE

APPROXIMATELY 1045 ON 29 JUNE 2008

NORTHBOUND ON I-635 EXITING TO I-30 EAST IN DALLAS TEXAS

WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY WITH VISIBILITY 10 MILES CEILING 2000 FEET AND 80 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT TEMPERATURE

VEHICLE 2005 FORD 15 PERSON VAN SIXTY-ONE PAPA WITH V-10 ENGINE KNOWN AS BIG BLUE MIRACLE

MILEAGE 60700 MILES

OWNER OPERATED

13 ADDITIONAL SOULS ON BOARD

SPEED APPROXIMATELY 60 MILES PER HOUR

DRIVER NOTED TWO BIRDS DIVING IN FRONT OF VEHICLE APPROXIMATELY 5 YARDS AHEAD

NO EVASIVE ACTION TAKEN DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINTS AND ROAD CONDITIONS

LOWER AND FORWARD BIRD STRUCK LEFT FRONT GRILL OF VEHICLE

OTHER BIRD CLIMBED CLEAR OF VEHICLE

FEATHERS NOTED PASSING UP FROM FRONT GRILL OF VEHICLE

NO LOSS OF CONTROL OF VEHICLE

NO DAMAGE TO VEHICLE UPON INSPECTION AT COMPLETION OF MISSION

THIS REPORT HAS BEEN GENERATED AS A SAFETY MESSAGE TO ALL WHO MAY BE DRIVING VANS

WE WILL CONTINUE MONITORING THESE INCIDENTS

DAD WITH NOISY KIDS




This describes me:



Boring is good.

Feast of Corpus Christi

In brief:

1. Mass.

2. Eucharistic Procession around the property - kept Wifeofdadwithnoisykids inside to keep cool. I kept my cool until we came into church for Benediction. Then the tears started to flow, thinking about how one of ours is gone.

It hurts to stop counting heads at eleven. There should be twelve.

My tears doubled with the thought that Theodore is happier, far more happy, where he is now than he could ever be on earth with us.

Thinking that no matter how many times I failed my son, he loves me and wants me to be with him in Heaven.

I am no longer self-conscious about crying in public. Maybe because I don't have to worry about makeup running down my face?

Every day brings a new cross and some new consolation to us - somehow associated with Theodore's life and death.

3. After the procession, I cooked steaks for the adults and 'tube steaks' for the Noisykids. While I enjoyed the breeze that tempered the 90+ degree heat and humidity, I noticed some folks looking over the air conditioners. It turns out there was no air conditioning in the building. I was cooler standing over a hot grill than sitting in the cafeteria.

4. On the way home, we stopped by Theodore's grave site. The flowers placed there a week ago were dead, and someone had left a toy airplane on the new sod. We talked about gravestones and benches, and cried a little. The rest of the Noisykids spread over the cemetery, looking at other graves. We sprinkled holy water on some graves. There is a story that the holy water will ease the suffering of the poor souls in Purgatory.

5. Wifeofdadwithnoisykids did not feel too good. Morning sickness with her is an all day affair, and she is the only person I know who rejoices with every little tinge of nausea that accompanies pregnancy. I am amazed that she would willingly go through so much suffering just to bring another Noisykid into existence, and humbled to think that she picked me to be the father of her children.

6. I wrote a bad poem about Theodore a while ago:

Asperges

Just seeing the font

brought tears to my eyes

knowing there was no

large little child there,

the end of the pew,

waiting to dip hand

into the Water

meant for Asperges.

SMD

5.25.2008

7. Fifteen dollars in my pocket is burning a hole in it. This is money we placed in Theodore's folder, probably money from birthday cards. I still have to distribute the two dollar bills my grandparents would send to my children. Theodore had ten in his folder. I shall distribute them to his siblings. I even found two savings bonds which I shall have to cash in. Theodore never had any use for money, and now he needs it even less. While trying to think of something to do with the fifteen dollars, I was reminded of a line from A Canticle for Leibowitz(sort of reviewed HERE):

"That was the year of the unprecedented torrent of rain on the desert, causing seed long dry to burst into bloom....the year that the monks of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz buried an abbot and bowed to a new one. There were bright hopes for tomorrow."

Our house is a domestic church, and Theodore is the first member of the family to die after walking on this earth. As the temporal head of this church, I have to see to the distribution of Theodore's possessions, beginning with his body and ending with his death certificate. Fifteen dollars is just a small thing to dispose of.

Our own torrent of rain and a few weeks without mowing have given us a lawn full of little yellow flowers which open in the morning, follow the trajectory of the sun, and close as the sun sets.

Blog Update

While St. Simeon Stylites the Younger(died today in 597 A.D.) hangs out on top of his column, contemplating the Blessed Mother holding the Infant Jesus, let us contemplate the changes in the blog:



First, the picture of the Noisykid Family, circa 1998('Couple ignoring population crisis') has been moved to the side bar.



In its place at the top of the blog column, we have installed a 'Feto-meter.' A Feto-meter is a widget that will chronicle the progress of the next Noisykid due in January, 2009. Once we know the gender of the 2009 Model, we shall change the border from green to blue - or pink.



I have added a memorial to my son Theodore on the sidebar. If you click on the picture, you will be directed to all the blog entries which pertain to Theodore. The picture, by the way, was taken on his 15th birthday, November 25, 2007. This reminds me of a 'Theodore' story:



Theodore always liked to keep a list of things he wanted, and he would make extensive lists of toys he wanted for whatever the next holiday was. These lists consisted of letters in no particular order except for the letters designating aircraft - for example, a string of nonsense letters would suddenly be punctuated by 'F-16,' or 'IL-2,' 'U-2,' or 'SR-71.' Of course, he would come up and say 'toys, airplanes, toys, tanks, toys, boat, toys, jet, toys aircraft carrier,' and so on. On his last birthday, after opening his last gift, he reached down under the couch and pulled out a list and started by saying 'Christmas' before launching into a recital of everything he wanted for Christmas.



Finally, this blogger from across the pond maxed out her space for pictures - all 1024 megabytes of it! So she has started a new blog, sort of a 'part 2' blog and requested a new link. I have complied. Just for some perspective, I have only used 4% of my space for pictures.



Good night, and more videos of piano playing Noisykids next week.

Antics of the Noisykids

Two of the Noisykids slide down a stream bank.

Here is my oldest daughter Noisykid contemplating life in midstream.

A Little Chemistry and Music

One of the joys of home schooling is that all members of the family get to participate in the daily lessons of the children. In fact, sometimes what the children study serves as a reminder of some of our favorite classes.

As an old chemistry major and president of the college Chemistry Club, nothing is more exciting to me than doing a little chemistry experiment in the home.



Take, for example, chromatography. This is a way to detect various chemicals in liquid by seeing how they react with agents which are embedded in a piece of absorbent paper or cloth. All one does is dip the absorbent paper into the liquid, and look for the colors to appear on the paper.



Of course, the details are a bit more complicated, but this is all one needs to understand when doing the chromatography experiment shown in the picture below:

Not bad, eh?

Kinda makes me want to break into song:

Yup! There has to be a REALLY good reason to put a Paul Anka video on my blog.

Seriously, God has blessed us again with another little Noisykid in the making. We thank God for His generosity and for His Love, and we ask for your prayers that this pregnancy will bring us a healthy child.

Our thoughts and emotions are a mixture of exultation and profound sorrow - joy at the thought of a new life in the making, and sorrow at the loss of one of our other children.

Deo Gratias!

A Musical Break

Oldest Daughter Noisykid Plays Kuhlau's Sonatina in C-Minor.

LET'S GO SHOPPING!

Yup, friends and neighbors, bloggers and readers of blogs, it is time to start shopping for a gravestone for Theodore.

Wifeofdadwithnoisykids wants a bench.



I want a Celtic cross, but now that I found the above monument, I shall have to reconsider....

Perhaps I could put this quote from C.S. Lewis' book The Silver Chair on the gravestone:

Though under Earth and throneless now I be,

Yet, while I lived, all Earth was under me.

Irena Sendler, R.I.P.

Polish Catholic Saved Thousands of Jews

Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic who helped save thousands from the Nazis, died [May 12, 2008]at the age of 98.

Between 1940 and 1943, Sendler and other members of an underground organization smuggled Jewish children—from infants through teens—out of the Warsaw Ghetto. Sendler worked to give these kids a chance at survival by passing them off as Catholics. She kept detailed records so they could one day be reunited with their families. Despite enduring arrest and torture at the hands of the Nazis, Sendler never revealed the location of these records.

In 1965, she was honored by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial for her life-saving efforts. Her story was recently made into a play by Kansas high school students impressed by her selfless service to others, and she received official honors from her native Poland just last year.

Despite these accolades, Sendler never considered herself a heroine, and said, “We who were rescuing children are not some kind of heroes. Indeed, that term irritates me greatly. The opposite is true—I continue to have qualms of conscience that I did so little.”

It is unfortunate that Sendler’s faith is not mentioned in the otherwise fitting tributes to her life that were released today from the Associated Press and Agence France Press. It is all too common for news stories to make note of a subject’s Catholic faith if the subject of the article is cast in a bad light. Furthermore, the Catholic Church is often unfairly and inaccurately maligned for not doing more to help Jews during the Holocaust. It would have been appropriate for these two major news outlets to recognize the Catholic faith that one brave Polish woman held so dear.

Lifted from the Catholic League Website.

Commentary:

I heard about Irena from one of my old Air Force buddies. Apparently Irena was being considered for a Nobel Prize. She was not picked, but Al Gore was. I am not sure if they were in the running for the same Nobel Prize, seeing as how little value the world puts on human life when compared to the welfare of polar bears.

I post this on the same day that polar bears were added to the 'endangered species' list for the United States.

Mother's Day Thoughts

Happy Mothers Day!

A bit late, but it is worth mentioning.

This day was bittersweet for us, as we celebrate this day with one of our own gone.

In the middle of watching a presentation about pilgrimages to Lourdes - something I never would have considered doing if Theodore were alive - that thought made me cry. Thankfully, the light in the room was dim, and I could attribute it to 'allergies' stirred up while mowing the grass yesterday. But Wifeofdadwithnoisykids could tell, and kept rubbing my shoulder and discreetly hugging me.

By the way, this recent heartbreak has taught me to cry in silence, because the noises I make(or made) are/were so disturbing that I would just have to stop crying right away. Imagine if a male elk or moose suddenly appeared at your elbow, calling for a mate. You would button your lips in a hurry, too.

So, in the midst of dabbing the tears out of my 'allergic' eyes, the thought came to me that even though Theodore is in Heaven, he still would honor me as his father and he would obey me just as he did on earth. The thought continued, that I could ask for his intercession for anything. I shared this thought with my wife(who already knew this fact), and she started reciting a list of things she has asked Theodore to take care of.

Historical landmarks, one year later

Check out what happened today 21 years ago, and 74 years ago.

I wrote about these events a year ago.

I thought I had a picture of me being commissioned an officer, but I shall have to look for it.

HERE IS THE MAY 8, 2007 BLOG ENTRY.

Three Comments

Life Goes On/Celebrating Lives:

April brought several birthdays to the Noisykid household. The loss of Theodore has made us cherish our living children so much more.

We celebrated the 18th birthday of Histor the Wise, otherwise known as the Oldest Noisykid, the Oldest Son Noisykid, and affectionately referred to by his little brothers and sisters as their big brother. We praise God for giving us such a wonderful and loving son. God bless you, Son!

April also was a milestone for Noisykid #6, also known as the youngest Michigan Noisykid. He turned 12 on the same night that featured our oldest daughter singing how she could do without Professor Henry Higgins.

Since Noisykid #6 turned 12, he joined our home school youth group, so look for him to perform in the near future at one of these Broadway Night features. God bless you, Son! We thank God for such a wonderful son.

The icons below are of the saints that Noisykid #1 and #6 are named after, in no particular order:

Such a sweet and loving smile on the face of St. Vincent de Paul!

The Other Hour of Mercy

From The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien:

‘Are you in pain, Frodo?’ said Gandalf quietly as he rode by Frodo’s side.

‘Well, yes I am,’ said Frodo. ‘….The wound aches, and the memory of darkness is heavy on me….’

‘Alas! There are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured,’ said Gandalf.

'I fear it may be so with mine,’ said Frodo. ‘There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?’

Gandalf did not answer.

I find myself awake a lot more throughout the night, especially during the hour from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. I started keeping a Rosary, one with big beads on it, on my nightstand so I can use it to pray the Rosary. Nothing induces sleep like praying the Rosary - just ask the wife and kids.

Nowadays sleep doesn't come as easy, and I sometimes complete five decades before sleep overtakes me. I figure that God is granting me a special mercy to pray for my living children NOW rather than when they are dead and gone. Either way I must pray for them; I would prefer to be proactive.

More than anything else I want my children(and my wife and I, and the whole extended family) to die a holy death.

Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to pray with You in the middle of the night, the other Hour of Mercy.

Freaky Friday Mass Incident

Yes, those of you who have read this blog for a while may recognize the little pink pig at the top of this post, and how she only appears when I report on strange behavior - on or off the altar - at Friday Mass.

In this case, the Mass was on a Saturday - the first Saturday of May, last Saturday(how many times did I overuse the word 'Saturday' in this last sentence?). In particular, this Mass was the vigil Mass for Sunday, which will always be referred to in the United States as 'Ascension Thursday Sunday.' This is a Freaky thing in an of itself, as it shows the hardness of so many hearts in our country, where Catholics can't find the time to go to Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation because it falls on a weekday. They apparently don't have the time.

Ask them who got kicked off 'Dancing with the Stars,' and they can tell you....

...but I digress. What made this Mass Freaky was the music. It was awful. It was so awful that none of the parishioners joined in. So we got to listen to the man in the choir loft sing solo songs by such writers as Dan Schutte - a Jesuit who seems to have forgotten his vocation.

I can't put this kind of garbage on my blog, but HERE IS THE COMMUNION SONG WE HEARD. What is missing is the line containing the words 'devil on your back' which we heard right before receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist. Very distracting.

Thankfully the priest launched a pre-emptive strike for the recessional hymn, as we all joined in singing 'Regina Caeli.'

Another Musical Presentation

Oldest Daughter Noisykid sings 'There is a Reason' while someone operates the 'Vomit-Cam.'

Psalm 142 from today's Night Prayer:

A Prayer in Time of Trouble

Lord, listen to my prayer:
in your faithfulness turn your ear to my pleading;
in your justice, hear me.
Do not judge your servant:
nothing that lives can justify itself before you.

The enemy has hounded my spirit,
he has crushed my life to the ground,
he has shut me in darkness, like the dead of long ago.
So my spirit trembles within me,
my heart turns to stone.
I remind myself of the days of old,
I reflect on all your works,
I meditate once more on the work of your hands.
I stretch out my arms to you,
I stretch out my soul, like a land without water.

Come quickly and hear me, O Lord,
for my spirit is weakening.
Do not hide your face from me,
do not let me be like the dead,
who go down to the underworld.
Show me your mercy at daybreak,
because of my trust in you.
Tell me the way I should follow,
for I lift up my soul towards you.
Rescue me from my enemies:
Lord, I flee to you for refuge.
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.

Your good spirit will lead me to the land of justice;
for your name’s sake, Lord, you will give me life.
In your righteousness you will lead my soul
away from all tribulation.