Conversation with a 4yr old

I praised the Superhero (4yrs) and the Tornado(3yrs) for the way they are including the Blubbernugget (1omths) in their play.

Superhero: "Mum, when can we have another baby?"
Husband: choke, splutter, "Well, I don't think we..."
Mum (me) "Well, I don't know darling. We will have to consider that."
Superhero: "But God has lots more twinkle's in His eye doesn't He? Can't He give us another one?"
Mum-thinking quickly! "I think we will have to pray about that and ask God what He wants to do."
Superhero: "So we could have another baby?"
Mum. "God might decide He wants to give His twinkles to other people now..."
Superhero: "But we could have another baby."
Mum (weakly) "Possibly."
Superhero nods and runs off.

My poor, and at this point rather pale, husband felt I should simply have said "No" and not offered hope like that. But I pointed out that although it seems as though the obstacles to us having any more children are MASSIVE at the moment- God can do whatever he likes.

Trying to work out what He wants and what is right thing to do...now there's the challenge!!

We need a miracle for this one I think...

Sometimes it is very difficult to know what God wants. Up until recently my oldest son who is 18 wanted to be a priest. In fact he has wanted to be a priest for as long as I can remember-then off he went to Oscott for the day and came back cured of the desire. Part of the problem I think is that for a whole day being offered to all young men with a desire for the priesthood only ONE young man turned up; my son.
While everyone was very nice to him-the day was too intense and he has simply said no way.

Meanwhile he is looking at going to America. Now, I cannot begin to tell you the HUGE difficulties we have faced over this. His trip to EWTN fell through and now he is concentrating on his hope to go and visit Franciscan University Steubenville in the late Spring and he wants to apply to go there.

I would love him to go there. It has strong links with my beloved Maryvale, which is about the only truly orthodox Catholic HE we seem to have in this country.
But the cost for him to go there is astronomical. It's just impossible as things stand for us to see how on earth we could fund him through uni over there. It would be difficult enough to assist him to do a degree here.

I really want what's best for him and his interest in Catholic media would hardly find an outlet here in the UK-but I can't see, right now, how we are going to do this.
So my friends get out those beads and slide a few through your fingers in our direction; that we find God's will in this and that if He does want my oldest to spread his wings in Ohio, that He drops a bucket load of dosh this way.

The importance of family

MY children got out a couple of DVDs to watch, Flushed Away and 'The Pursuit of Happyness'. We watched the latter film over the last couple of nights. It is based on the true story of Chris Gardener and his son. Dad is doing his utmost to keep his family together and take proper care of his son, but their dreadful financial situation leaves them on the streets. They have to sleep rough until they are rescued by Rev Cecil Williams (who plays himself in the film). He runs a Church and a shelter. According to Mr Gardener that church serves a million meals a year to those who have nowhere else to go.

Gardener gets himself an internship-unpaid- at a stock brokers and works his socks off, eventually gaining that happiness for himself and his son.

When the film came out the media here in the UK - like the BBC were quick to call it a 'rags to riches' film. It isn't. It is a film about one man's utter commitment to his son. He spends a lot of the time running-always trying to fit everything in around his son. His son's needs are paramount.

But one of the things that struck me more than once as we watched this film was just how alone Mr Gardener was. He appeared to have no friends and no family willing to step up to the plate when things became so so difficult for him and his 5yr old. Where were they?

His wife leaves.

He never knew his own father and the film gives the impression he has no mother to speak of either although the real Mr Gardener speaks well of her. She apparently tells him "You can only rely on yourself." A sad and lonely sentiment and yet very true for so many people.

He is determined to do for his son and be for his son, what his own father had not been to him.

Family is important. Parents have a duty to their children for the whole of their lives, offering love and support. Children have a duty to their parents and to their siblings.

As Christmas approaches I think 'family' is on my mind more and I wonder what it is that makes some people so unwilling to give of themselves, to share within their families. My sister has phoned me recently struggling with her bitterness I think as she meets grandparents who are so proud of their children and grandchildren-who babysit and help out.

Chris Gardener worked hard and he has made a life for himself and his children. I hope that life includes taking good care of each other.

Connexions give me the creeps

Got a knock on the door this morning, and there stood two ladies flashing their Connexions badges and clipboards at me. They wanted to speak to my 16yr old. They said they were merely doing a follow up and that the Govt demands that all young people are 'followed' in this way.
Parents are not involved in this process at all. I had no idea they had my son's details on their data base and am appalled that they are supposed to keep a file on him.
They wanted to know about his work and college commitments and seemed uncomfortable with the fact that his mere mother was so suspicious of them.

I told them bluntly that this felt like interference in my son's life.

Why should the Govt mandate that an organisation be able to go behind a parent's back and keep files and 'follow' our children. Connexions has done NOTHING to assist my two older teens in getting work, planning courses...anything at all.
And I certainly do not want them offering 'health advice' thank you.

Rant over.

My Birthday day out

Yesterday was my birthday and we had a great family day out. My sister-in-law just happened to phone in the morning because of the postal strike and so we invited her to come along too.

We went to Blists Hill Museum near Iron Bridge in Shropshire.

It's a great place where you get to see how people lived at the turn of the century and learn a little about the coal and iron works that were so much part of that area. The little houses have been transplanted along with their history to the site and someone is there to tell the story. There are real shops selling the kind of stuff you could really have bought back then; traditional soaps, china, ribbons and pins. There's a baker selling beautiful fresh bread still warm from the oven, and a candle maker.

They have a pub with chickens kept in the garden and a cottage with lovely Tamworth pigs in the garden.

An old Clydsdale trots around pulling a cart that people can hitch a ride on and there's a tea shop where my dd and I had tea and scones while the others walked along the cut (canal) to the incline plane.

The place is just great fun.

We came home to a lovely birthday cake made by my daughter with the help of the smalls- who tested the mixture to check it was okay. I knew what the 'secret' cake was made of because they both had ample amounts of it around their faces! LOL

I had a great day and I am getting used to be year older already

Evoked Potentials

Thank you to everyone for your prayers.

I spent Friday afternoon at the hospital having evoked potential tests done. It was quite interesting. The first test was a visual test. A number of wires were glued to my head and attached to a computer and I was sat in a chair facing a small TV screen with a red spot selotaped to the middle.

I had one eye covered at a time and had to watch the red dot while a black and white chequerboard was flashed on the screen.

You would be surprised at how difficult that was to do! I got the hang of it though-or at least I think I did.

After that they moved the wires slightly and put on my arm just beneath the elbow. Then a two prong thingy was used to put an electric pulse to the median nerve until my thumb twitched.

Then the same was done on the other arm. I was quite surprised that on my 'bad' side I didn't feel much, but it actually hurt on my good side.

I then had to lie down and the same was done to my legs and then I had to wear some ear phones and listen to clicks in each ear.

They are measuring the time it takes for the nerve to take the response to my brain. If there is a difference it can show damage to the nerves, that does not always show up on MRI's.

I have to wait for the results now. The neuro man said about two weeks-but this is the NHS so I am not holding my breath.

The doctor I have at the moment is a locum and he is very good-I hope he stays around for a while. Neuro problems are long winded and long term. It makes life more difficult when no doctor stays around for more than six months!

I am hoping for a proper dx at last...but I know that is not always possible.

This is an area in my life I find very difficult to pray about as I tend to get a bit angry with God over it. I try to remember the wisdom of Blessed Margaret of Castello on these occasions and accept that although God loved her very much-He did not heal her and back then she would not have had the comfort of a diagnoses and treatment either.

I am not unhappy and I do not feel sorry for myself (most of the time), but there are days when it is a bit of a challenge.

Anyway that's evoked potentials for you- electric shocks to make the jelly babies in my brain (as the kids insist I have) jump about.

And hopefully the jelly baby responses will tell the docs why I'm a crip.

Evoked potentials - say a prayer

I'm spending this afternoon at hospital having evoked potentials tests; visual, brainstem and sensory.
Say a quick prayer for me please.

I can drive!!

WHEY-HEY! I went out for a 2hr driving lesson in a crip-adapted car today. The instructor said I was a good driver (thank you very much) and that I should not have any problems.
It does feel pretty weird driving with just a left foot and left hand, and I was tempted to use my right foot a couple of times, but I soon got used to it. Being an automatic, I found the lack of clutch a bit odd-but again I soon got used to it.

I haven't driven for nearly 5 yrs since I became disabled and I thought I would have forgotten how, but the instructor told me, "Once a driver, always a driver," and it soon came back to me.
I've booked another lesson in Oct just be sure though; cautious as ever.

The car goes into the garage (a specialist place just north of Leeds) on 22nd Oct for the special adjustments to be made and then I'll be driving!

Light blogging

It's a busy week. I have just set up a new blog for the home school group I belong to.

I have my youngest one's Christening to prepare for-please keep her in your prayers as she will be baptised at Mass on Sunday.

I am timetabling and prepping for the new Home ed term.

And I have loads of crab apples that need to be turned to jelly before they go bad.

So I wont be blogging much this week.

Greenbelt

We're off to the Greenbelt Festival tomorrow at Cheltenham Racecourse.
It is supposed to be a "Christian" Arts Festival but *sigh* it is really just a political agenda driven get together.
We attended every year back in our protolic days, but as we both got to understand the faith and faced more and more at Greenbelt that ranged from not quite right to downright awful we stopped going. But dh wants to maintain some kind of friendship with his protestant friends from the past so we will go for the day and meet up.

The children enjoy the stuff to look at and the space to run and we get to see some good stuff about overseas charities.
They don't have any pro-life stuff there even though I once asked them about it. No one is interested in dead babies and anyway they support Christian Aid which is into...how do they word it?...reproductive rights.
They have seminars on being gay and how to be a Christian medium. So the kids are banned from seminars-although they roll their eyes at the very idea of wanting to hear that stuff spouted at them.

Rowan Williams has attended and doesn't seem to mind the less than Christian stuff that goes on there.
Recently they were going to allow smoking of cannabis but as a lot of families attend there was such an outcry they decided it was best not- and the police were less than enthusiastic about the idea.

Anyway-Greenbelt plays a rather strange roll in my re-version story. More on that soon.

You gotta love Northumbria

We are back from the beautiful lands of Northumbria and I miss it already-especially Lindesfarne (or as my 4yr old calls it Linda's Farm).

We attended Mass at the tiny church of St Aidan's in Seahouses. Father said that Lindesfarne or Holy Isle as it is also called gets around half a million visitors a year. Many of those must be pilgrims I believe. In fact while we were there I saw a lady who looked African approach the statue of St Aidan and make the Sign of the Cross.

I'll post some photos and some brief stories about the place soon.



It's God's own country around there and we wish we could live up there. We are looking into it and if God wills-it may just happen.

I am not a city girl and despite 20yrs in a city I am still NOT a city girl-so moving up there would suit me fine. I also like the fact we would be near to the Scottish end of the family who we love dearly.

Anyway, it might never happen-but we are looking at the possibility.

Anyone live that way?

My parish priest visited today.

My PP popped over today out of the blue. We had a chat and he is very open to the Motu Proprio and is already thinking of introducing a TLM at our church. Whey-hey He said rather ruefully that he never felt it was right to say the Eucharistic prayers in English. He always preferred the Latin.

I did open my big mouth and offered to help with some basic catechises and working with marriage prep couples teaching NFP. LOL. I think God made me.

I am potty training my two year old daughter at the moment-

AND THE WASHING MACHINE IS BUST!!-

My older daughter is using this as a golden opportunity for her child development folder-so she is officially in charge of the process.

She has made a chart complete with stickers and has a tin of sweets.

She reads stories while the little one is on the potty and she gets plenty of praise and encouragement.

It seems to be working reasonably well.

There are loads of books out there about how to potty train. I've never read them so I have no idea what they recommend.

I do listen to Dr Ray though via Ave Maria radio. I'm sure he's done a few things on the subject-but I can't remember what. LOL.