Random Thoughts of a Catholic Husband, Father, Physician, Licensed Commercial Septic System Operator, Driving Instructor, Tractor Mechanic, Gardener, Deliverer of All Foods Carry-out, Amateur Book Reviewer, Neo-Texan, Novice Chicken Rancher, Beekeeper, and Writer of Really, Really Bad Poetry. I try to live up to Chesterton's observation that 'a thing worth doing is worth doing badly.'
July 1, 2008 is the 19th Wedding Anniversary of dadwithnoisykids and Wifeofdadwithnoisykids!
For better or worse,in sickness and in health,for richer or for poorer,'til death do us part.
These past 19 years have been filled with graces from God.
We have seen the birth of twelve children and eagerly await the arrival of the 2009 Model of Noisykid.
We have migrated around Southeastern Michigan, moved to San Antonio, Texas, and then moved up to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Our home has grown from a 700 square foot efficiency in married student housing to a 12 acre slice of Texas soil.
We have survived medical school, internship, residency, fellowship, military service, and private practice - so far.
We have suffered the loss of two children by miscarriage, and lost our third child, Theodore, this past April.
The strength to stay together in the face of so many trials is truly a gift from God; the graces of the Sacrament of Matrimony, as well as the Eucharist and Confession, have held us up tremendously.
Give Thanks To God.
That is Theodore in front of the picture of Divine Mercy.
All of these experiences have just made me love my wife more and more; with each day, my love for Wifeofdadwithnoisykids grows.
Tonight we went out to Nick & Sam's for our Anniversary Dinner. I was sitting at a table where I could see all that was going on in the kitchen. Being a man who is distracted by shiny objects, I kept on looking at the chefs as they hurried around the kitchen. At the same time, I kept thinking about how deeply I love my wife. As my wife pointed out to me, love is an act of the will, and can be expressed in various degrees.
For myself, I love my wife deeply, sincerely.
Thoughts of love blend with visions of chefs at work.
Here is the latest picture of the 2009 Model Noisykid:
You can see the head, on the right, followed by the upper limbs, followed by the umbilical cord, and finally the lower extremities. It looks very much like the picture on the Feto-Meter.
Thank you, Lord, for granting us this special child, this gift from God!
How about a musical moment from Weird Al Yankovic:
....but still a thank you. This was originally posted to the Catholic Dads blog.
To those of you who sent messages of condolence, prayers, and Masses following the death of my son Theodore,
Thank you!
The past two months have been filled with a combination of sorrow and consolation for our whole family. In so many ways, Theodore's death has been the occasion for an outpouring of grace upon our family as well as our extended family and friends. One of the greatest gifts we have received is a new baby on the way, due in January! - but you already knew that, if you are a frequent reader of the blog and are distracted by the rotating Noisykid seen in the Feto-Meter.
Still, there are days that are filled with sadness, such as today when I stopped at a monument company to inquire about purchasing a gravestone or marker for Theodore's grave site. It still seems so wrong to be buying a gravestone for a child of mine.
I sometimes wonder what Theodore would tell me, if he were allowed to say anything to me. I imagine he would tell me to love his brothers and sisters more than I loved him, for their time with me is so fleeting, and their destination requires all the prayers and sacrifices I can give to them.
Theodore's picture of Divine Mercy at the Airfield
For your edification, I have added a selection of music to the sidebar for your listening pleasure. I have set it up so that you must activate this widget yourself rather than having it start blaring 'The Girl from Ipanema' at you whenever you land on my blog.
Enjoy the music.
Noisykid #11 and #10 several years ago at a piano recital.
Today we mowed some grass on the back part of the property. The grass was rather long despite a lack of rain for a couple of weeks, so I figured this would be a good time to cut it to keep it short as we get closer to a drought. This cut may suffice until the Fall. A 'burn ban' in the county is sure to come into effect soon.
Funny to write about a drought when folks along the Mississippi are getting flooded...
Anyway, one of the tractors got dry grass clippings caught around the mower deck, and the friction started a fire under the body of the tractor. We quickly put it out, but I shudder to think what would have happened if the tractor were at the furthest point from the house. At the time it caught fire, it was next to the house. Thank God this didn't happen:
Tomorrow is Father's Day. All fathers are in my prayers tonight.
More importantly, tomorrow is the Feast of St. Germaine Cousin, the Patron Saint of Victims of Child Abuse.
Here is an article about her, stolen from the Catholic Online website:
St. Germaine Cousin Feastday: June 15 Patron of victims of child abuse
When Hortense decided to marry Laurent Cousin in Pibrac, France, it was not out of love for his infant daughter. Germaine was everything Hortense despised. Weak and ill, the girl had also been born with a right hand that was deformed and paralyzed. Hortense replaced the love that Germaine has lost when her mother died with cruelty and abuse.
Laurent, who had a weak character, pretended not to notice that Germaine had been given so little food that she had learned to crawl in order to get to the dog's dish. He wasn't there to protect her when Hortense left Germaine in a drain while she cared for chickens -- and forgot her for three days. He didn't even interfere when Hortense poured boiling water on Germaine's legs.
With this kind of treatment, it's no surprise that Germaine became even more ill. She came down with a disease known as scrofula, a kind of tuberculosis that causes the neck glands to swell up. Sores began to appear on her neck and in her weakened condition fell prey to every disease that came along. Instead of awakening Hortense's pity this only made her despise Germaine more for being even uglier in her eyes.
Germaine found no sympathy and love with her siblings. Watching their mother's treatment of their half-sister, they learned how to despise and torment her, putting ashes in her food and pitch in her clothes. Their mother found this very entertaining.
Hortense did finally get concerned about Germaine's sickness -- because she was afraid her own children would catch it. So she made Germaine sleep out in the barn. The only warmth Germaine had on frozen winter nights was the woolly sheep who slept there too. The only food she had were the scraps Hortense might remember to throw her way.
The abuse of Germaine tears at our hearts and causes us to cry for pity and justice. But it was Germaine's response to that abuse and her cruel life that wins our awe and veneration.
Germaine was soon entrusted with the sheep. No one expected her to have any use for education so she spent long days in the field tending the sheep. Instead of being lonely, she found a friend in God. She didn't know any theology and only the basics of the faith that she learned the catechism. But she had a rosary made of knots in string and her very simple prayers: "Dear God, please don't let me be too hungry or too thirsty. Help me to please my mother. And help me to please you." Out of that simple faith, grew a profound holiness and a deep trust of God.
And she had the most important prayer of all -- the Mass. Every day, without fail, she would leave her sheep in God's care and go to Mass. Villagers wondered that the sheep weren't attacked by the wolves in the woods when she left but God's protection never failed her. One day when the rains had swollen the river to flood stage, a villager saw the river part so that she could cross to get to the church in time for Mass.
No matter how little Germaine had, she shared it with others. Her scraps of food were given to beggars. Her life of prayer became stories of God that entranced the village children.
But most startling of all was the forgiveness to showed to the woman who deserved her hatred.
Hortense, furious at the stories about her daughter's holiness, waited only to catch her doing wrong. One cold winter day, after throwing out a beggar that Germaine had let sleep in the barn, Hortense caught Germaine carrying something bundled up in her apron. Certain that Germaine had stolen bread to feed the beggar, she began to chase and scream at the child. As she began to beat her, Germaine opened her apron. Out tumbled what she had been hiding in her apron -- bright beautiful flowers that no one had expected to see for months. Where had she found the vibrant blossoms in the middle of the ice and snow? There was only one answer and Germaine gave it herself, when she handed a flower to her mother and said, "Please accept this flower, Mother. God sends it to you in sign of his forgiveness."
As the whole village began to talk about this holy child, even Hortense began to soften her feelings toward her. She even invited Germaine back to the house but Germaine had become used to her straw bed and continued to sleep in it. There she was found dead at the age of 22, overcome by a life of suffering.
With all the evidence of her holiness, her life was too simple and hidden to mean much beyond her tiny village -- until God brought it too light again. When her body was exhumed forty years later, it was found to be undecayed, what is known as incorruptible. As is often the case with incorruptible bodies of saints, God chooses not the outwardly beautiful to preserve but those that others despised as ugly and weak. It's as if God is saying in this miracle that human ideas of beauty are not his. To him, no one was more beautiful than this humble lonely young woman.
After her body was found in this state, the villagers started to speak again of what she had been like and what she had done. Soon miracles were attributed to her intercession and the clamor for her canonization began.
In this way, the most unlikely of saints became recognized by the Church. She didn't found a religious order. She didn't reach a high Church post. She didn't write books or teach at universities. She didn't go to foreign lands as a missionary or convert thousands. What she did was live a life devoted to God and her neighbor no matter what happened to her. And that is all God asks.
Prayer:
Saint Germaine, watch over those children who suffer abuse as you did. Help us to give them the love and protection you only got from God. Give us the courage to speak out against abuse when we know of it. Help us to forgive those who abuse the way you did, without sacrificing the lives of the children who need help. Amen.
Today, we celebrated the birth of Noisykid #7, who turned 11 years old today!
Below are her patron saints, in random order.
Noisykid #7 has a few distinctions, which may some day show up in a game of Trivial Pursuit.
First, she is the oldest Native Texan in our family. While it took me 32 years to get here, she will always be considered a Texan rather than a transplant.
Noisykid #7 is my first and oldest Air Force Brat. That means she was born while I was on active duty in the Air Force. The first six are technically not Air Force Brats because I was in the inactive reserve when they were born.
Noisykid #7 is our biggest(to date)baby, weighing in at 11#, 4 oz. at birth. Why? Once again, the obstetricians in the Air Force were extremely hesitant to induce anyone, so this sweet little girl was born on her due date rather than a week or two earlier. Most Noisykids can't wait to get out of the starting gate and begin terrorizing the planet.
Noisykid #7 broke a string of 4 boys in a row, being the second daughter. Here she sings 'What Child Is This:'
Wifeofdadwithnoisykids is feeling that 24/7 morning sickness. She is happy to be pregnant, even nauseatedly pregnant.
This concludes this blog entry. In accordance with the rules of blogdom, we shall end our blogging day with the National Anthem. Please rise.
Here is a snapshot of The 2009 Model Noisykid, at approximately 7 weeks. If you compare this picture with the rotating 'Feto-Meter' above, you will notice the resemblance between the two pictures. I recommend that you look at the two pictures from across the room while squinting; remove glasses if you wear them. Imagine the picture above is spinning and there you are.
We cannot begin to describe the joy we are experiencing right now. The video, which is too big for YouTube, showed a heart beating strongly.
Our youngest ex utero child pronounces pregnant in three syllables: preg-a-nent!
Today I came home to find Wifeofdadwithnoisykids crying her eyes out. At first I thought it was because she was so happy to see me, but then I noticed the cards and letters we received after Theodore's funeral lying all about her.
She had tried to start writing 'Thank You' cards, and she had gotten through a grand total of FOUR before losing it.
I have been hesitant to take up this task as well, partly because I don't know what to say, and partly because I know I'll end up in tears just like my beautiful bride.
The 'thank you' notes will be coming soon. I know that people don't write condolence letters and Mass cards just to get a return note, but it still needs to be done. For those who put something on the blog, I shall try to send y'all a note on your own blog. Watch the Feto-Meter tomorrow, as Wifeofdadwithnoisykids has an OB appointment in the afternoon. If possible, there will be pictures! Scorpion Stalking Duck, 2007
Man hurls hedgehog at teen, pays fine Spiny critter hits 15-year-old boy, punctures his leg; man's motive unclear
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A New Zealand man accused of assault with prickly weapon — a hedgehog — has been fined by a court and ordered to pay most of his fine to his teenage victim.
Whakatane District Court was told Thursday that W.S. picked up the hedgehog and threw it several yards to hit a 15-year-old boy in the North Island east coast town of Whakatane on Feb. 9.
Police told the court the creature had hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks. The teen did not need medical treatment.
W.S. was convicted of common assault and offensive behavior following a defended hearing. He had pleaded innocent to the charges.
He was fined a total of $545 and ordered to pay $389 to his victim.
The more serious charge of assault with a weapon, namely a hedgehog, was dropped. The maximum penalty for that charge is five years in prison.
It remained unclear whether the hedgehog was dead or alive at the time of the attack, but Senior Sgt. Bruce Jenkins said earlier that it was dead when collected as evidence.
While using a hedgehog as a weapon in an assault is uncommon, Jenkins said people often got charged with assault for throwing things at other people.
Mary my mother, take my hand today, and all days. Lead me away from all occasions of sin. Guide me in fulfilling your last words in the Gospel, "Do whatever He tells you." Amen.
I used to have a section here where I listed some of my interests, but I was saddened to see that it linked my site to folks who had, well, behavior not really in line with that of a Catholic working hard to be a good dadwithnoisykids.
We have 12 living children, and their ages are: 21, 19, 17, 16, 15, 13, 12, 10, 9, 7, 5, and 2 years old.
Our third child, Theodore, passed away on April 3, 2008, at the age of 15.
That is Theodore in front of the picture of Divine Mercy.
