Where is the blog?

    A few people asked me why the blog posts slowed down.  So I thought I would address that this morning since I've blogged more than ever the last few months!   I support two important activities for my children (outside of paying the bills and homeschooling): Blue Knights and First Lego League.

   Blue Knights is a boys evangelization effort I run with some willing and faith filled Dads.  I am the head coordinator this year for both our year groups, and my friend Les (John Paul's Godfather) runs the first years.  I am very happy to report three other friends are very excited and participating as well...one runs the before meeting games and the two new dads are digging into the program very quickly.   This effort is time consuming though.  We have one template meeting a month, and the second I have to brainstorm inside the program objectives.  Between the meetings my sons and I work on the evangelization questions, daily prayer, and a few craft projects.  The work is worth it when you see all the boys light up hearing about the great lives of our saints and teaching of our church.

    The second major activity is the Darebot First Lego League team.  Les runs this group, and I am one of two dedicated assistant coaches.  During the fall and winter we can meet two to three times a week for several hours to prepare for the competition.  I am helping build out the project and team building aspects of the competition.  Thankfully Les is a great coach for the kids, and I just have to keep up.

   For both activities I run separate Wordpress blogs.   You can view them and see all the fun events and activities yourself.  It is where life is on display, and some pretty fun street & documentary photography!  Here are the sights!  Darebots and St Michael's Blue Knights

   So the next time you wonder where are the pretty pictures trees, flowers, Americana, and grace you've come to expect regularly...just know they go on in two different venues.  I'll keep pushing on here the best I can as well!

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A New Servant for the Table of the Lord

    Today I found myself blessed to watch my son Kevin participate as an altar server at mass for the first time.  It is a moment which almost put tears of joy in my eyes.  Why?  I could see in his eyes and his deeds he wanted this moment with all his heart.

    Last night Kalen and I prepared Kevin by holding a practice mass, as conducted at RCA with Father Tran's preferences, twice on our deck.  Kevin impressed me with his memory of how the bells rung, the way people stepped around the altar, holding his hand on his chest and the procession in which he would accompany the priest to the nursery to deliver the Eucharist to those working there.  I already knew he memorized much of the consecration prayers, but this was pretty amazing for me to see first hand. For all of his daily eight year old distractions, he was paying attention every mass.

    Today two upper school boys, John Paul and Stephen, took Kevin over to the chapel to set up and do a final rehearsal.  This is something which endears me to Regina Caeli.  Our youth are normal youth, but we parents call them out a little more each year to live their faith.  At the end of a 15 minute preparation, Kevin came out tripping over the seam of the smallest cassock and stood with Father Tran and Stephen to enter the mass.

    He went down the isle with his serious face on, and nervously looked over to Stephen from time to time to make sure he was doing the right thing.  Stephen looked out for Kevin as a big brother should, and Kevin earned a smile from Father Tran.  Kevin sure made his Daddy proud.  It sounds silly to many, but I was proud because he entered the Army of Christ today at the altar of our Lord as a willing servant for the community.  it is a major step on the road to adulthood of life and faith.

    Thank you God for letting me see this day in the company of so many good friends!

-ehw

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Once Upon a Dream

    When you give my girl music, a dress and a light saber you get a whole new version of the Saber Dance!  She takes after her big sister who as I type is spinning in the kitchen as she loads up her breakfast cereal.   All children at some point need to enter the real world, but for now I love keeping them safe to dream and play in a wholesome way.

-ehw

The House of Cards to Live in

   Today's I want to challenge each of us to look at the house of cards we live in.  Are the cards built from God's playing deck or of man's?  This rather simple examination of our personal lives can save our souls.

    If I was to look at the United States right now, I would say our house definitely plays with man's deck of cards.  Here are three examples.  The continued promotion of abortion by elites means we pay to kill people at the rate of over one million a year!  With a birthrate in the US of native born below replacement levels, you can effectively say we are committing genocide to ourselves.  The continued promotion of Keynesian economics says we play God with money, making something out of nothing.  The debts racked up, and increased economic burden they place on the economy also mean we are placing a noose around our future capabilities.  Finally the rewriting of history to remove the need of God to keep order in society removes a key component to our national system of laws.  Our legal basis for existence in the Declaration of Independence states we must act under Natural law or Nature's God for final authority in what we do.  Yes this is a Christian concept, when discarded allows us to convolute any decision to meet our personal tastes.  This allows materialism to sweep the nation, selfish leaders, and promotes issues one and two.

    I am just a fallen man, but I would say the house of cards photographed above provides abetter example of living life well.  St Joseph, the chaste spouse who cared for Mary and Jesus through years of exile and threat of death by the King of Judea silently following the will of God.  St Peter, the man who's Holy Spirit powered faith sustained him through trial, torment, and the creation of a church enroute to his own cross of crucifixion.  St Sebastian, who guarded the Emperor until he received the choice to burn incense to a false God.  St Francis of Assisi who gave us a great example of working towards peace, and always knew God creates things from nothing not man.  St Augustine who's writings illuminated the scripture, and demonstrated why he needed to turn from sin filled life to become one with God's will.  Finally St Boniface, who demonstrated to Druids their trees served the one God's will when he cut their biggest down to make a church from the lumber.

    We have a choice of cards to build our lives.  If we want the life eternal, it is best to pick the cards God designed, and the examples of those who followed God to eternal life in heaven as role models.  Following the example of Margret Sanger, Keyes or Stalin, Mao, Hitler and current history rewriters only leads to a life which ends with death and self chosen life of separation from the eternal paradise.

-ehw

Thanksgiving For My Riches

    I will simply say last night was glorious.

    A day full with early diaper changes, management of an energetic three year old, four hours with 10-13 year olds working on Lego Robotics, too much work not done around the house, and a still recovering Momma ended in an evening of riches and thanksgiving to God.

    Why?  Because after years of fighting the thought I am finally putting nails, locks and fittings on the lid of the modernism heresy in my life. I still like fast cars, the best house, fast computers, new cameras and fancy dresses for my girls.  I just know the true rewards in a fleeting life meant to work our way to heaven are the moments where God's love shines through us.  I'll work hard to get the tools needed to survive, but not to the detriment of the mission of unity with God.

    So when John Paul fell asleep on my shoulder before dinner, just brining him to the table nestled there with the rest of the family was a joyful moment of God's plan for heaven peeping through.  I could almost imagine the four babies we lost with us at the table as well...the whole family was there in a moment of peace.  It is almost a moment one would hope could be eternal.

   I am finally following Jesus guidance by accepting in my heart, my true kingdom is not of this world.  This world is a passing moment in our eternal lives.  The eternal is the reward.  What a wonderful table that will be.

-ehw    

Remember 9-11 and Pray

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    Today I had the opportunity to attend the Blue Mass honoring and praying for all First Responders with Bishop Gregory at Christ the Redeemer in Atlanta.  Met many men and women who man the line and guard us from the terrors of the night.  Thanks be to God for such men and women.

    I pray our nation returns to God with respect for Natural Law and the life of the unborn so we can be the great nation our founders intended.

    -ehw

Where did the baby girl go?

    Just a month ago I had a baby girl roaming my house.  Today I have this little girl, who reminds me she is a big girl.  She puts in hair in ponies and tells me she is cute, and plays with toy horses with glee.  She chases her brothers with lightsabers with complete abandon, and swings with power a Sith could desire.  Oh where has my baby girl gone?

    The baby girl is now a determined little girl.  Her red hair, gleams in the sun and proclaims the fire of her will to set things right.  Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara-the quiet man) would meet her match in this little lady! This little girl keeps the boys on notice, and then smiles coyly at her Dad...keeping him wrapped around her still little finger.  Oh the Daddy knows the trick being played, and only prays the rosary harder begging for her to use that fire for the Lord all her days!  What a force for God she could one day be!

    My baby girl is now a little girl...and all is as it should be!

-ehw

Melting your heart

    These are the moments when a parent's heart melts just a little.  Between normal conflicts children have over toy ownership, using crayons on someone else's homework, songs being sung too many times, and a dozen other issues we occasionally have little moments where we catch a glimpse of parental heaven. Whenever your children find displaying the love of friendship (filia) for the fate of their siblings, you know something you are doing worked to get God's message through to your charges for at least a moment.

    If our parental hearts melt in joy with a moment like this, I can only imagine the joy in heaven when one of us reaches sainthood to go beyond the gates into heaven.  Angels of all types singing, saints of old grinning and reaching for our hand, and a parental smile on Christ after passing the test of our final judgement might be amongst the sights and sounds we'd see.  Oh the glories of such thought!

    Well for five minutes I saw my parental heaven walking before me again...I hope we all get to enjoy it in heaven as well!

-ehw

The Prayerbook made for you!

   Do you need someone to pray with you?  For you?  The prayerbook above is meant for you! 

    How did this happen?  (This is the hardest post I've composed over the last four years!)

    In 2014, after much introspection, I realized a need for more consistent personal prayer in my life.  Prayer with God needs to happen in good times, meditative times, times of discernment as well as times of need.  A year ago I failed in most of those areas by being hit or miss.  On cue, God sent my son to me with a book about St. Dominic and the rosary.  A year of growth started in earnest as I devoured the book.  As I wrapped up the first year of work, I noted progress in many areas and several continued shortfalls.

    Prayer from others literally kept me upright following our two 2014 miscarriages.  Since then I made it a point to let others in need know I will pray for them as well.  The opportunity to pray with others had two incredibly powerful moments this past year.  One with close friends as we prayed over their sick child in the ICU.  The other was with a co-worker recovering from a heart attack in a different ICU.  In the second case it was special as we prayed with his wife and another friend from work.  

    I know God was listening, and I am grateful he supported full recovery for both requests.  I don't want to sound crazy, but God's grace was so present in each moment I was shaking afterwards.  The realization God was amongst us in those moments, tending to his children, left me feeling rather meek.

     This year I wanted to be more consistent in fulfilling prayer requests as they came in.  So I picked up a spiritual diary to catalog the requests over the next year.

    I publicly announced this year's prayer campaign on St Dominic's feast day at John Paul's baptism. Current requests recorded so far include needs of friends for their parents, the manager of a transmission repair center fighting liver and pancreatic cancer, young men discerning their future vocation, our school's success at its mission, a friend's child with the same risks my wife had in pregnancy, a young priest at his parish, a new widow and her family, and two co-workers with heart ailments to mention just a few.   I also have some for people who never asked, but just have an obvious need for someone to requests God's intercession on their behalf.

    Each night I review the prayer requests, hold it close, and pray for those inside.

    Prayer is the only thing I can do for most people I know in need.  I have no worldly riches, and little spare time in my days to travel and be with the many I know in need. 

    So you can see, this prayerbook is for you.  Please help me direct my prayers to God to help you, and I what I pray will be our collective journey to sainthood in the Kingdom of God.

-ehw

P.S.  Reply to the post, shoot me an email or better yet give me a call!  I'll add you to the prayer rolls!

And the World Begins to Grow

    As with most newborn families, we continue spending time letting Momma recover and John Paul his rest.  We are now at the beginning of a period I look as magical.  It is the time a baby can see further than his fist, shapes take on meaning, and eye contact begets social reactions.

    In between common household chores with my four big kids, a quick reward trip for donuts at Mr. Dunkin's, and making an indoor BBQ we got time with the new son as his world expanded once again.  This is the reward time for Dad's and family members.  Facial gestures, words and coos get replies from this intelligent creature of God's creation.  I also find this is when we start to get a fuller assessment of a child's personality.

    So as we head off to church this is a typical slow, family oriented weekend in my home.  Yet it is one I am fully thanking God for, because this is what the rewards of putting family life first is all about.

-ehw

God's Viewpoint:"My Way Not Yours"

    On Monday, Father Tran provided a wonderful homily at the Regina Caeli Academy's opening day mass.  One very important thought Father wanted us to take home is a key step all of us need to take when building a relationship with Christ and the body of Christ.  It focused on reorienting our discussion reference points while talking with God.

    Most of us, myself as a sinner included, begin our discussions with God saying, "I am in need...I wish...I.....I....I...I"  Father challenged us to recognize this type of thought and language implies the little partner in the relationship, or the child, is telling God to look at the world through our eyes.  When you ponder the statement, you quickly realize the insanity of our normal position.  We mortals, of limited senses and knowledge, tell the almighty and all knowing to work towards our designs.

    After thinking through this situation for but a minute or two, most rational people will recognize we should really be walking a mile in God's shoes before we talk to the Almighty.  Rather than asking the Lord to make straight the crooked path ahead to ease our burden, maybe we need to ask the Lord for strength to correct the mistakes we made while making the crooked path ahead the day before!

    When we shift the thought process from our perspective to God's perspective, we can more readily accept the wisdom of God.  This will mean more time walking with him, and less time arguing with our own selfishness.  Just maybe that will lead us better on the path of salvation.  The very path he called us to from the moment he formed us in our mother's womb..  

-ehw

Enjoying Moments...a Large Family Blessing

    The vast majority of people outside our little homeschooling community think we were nuts for rejoicing on the possibility of a fifth child in our family.  I could not disagree more with the majority.

    The Bible described children as a blessing, and large families were a reward from God.  Nowhere in the Bible does a large family equal a curse.  I would agree having a large family however can present a challenge from time to time!  So far nothing I've faced is insurmountable, just a great set of challenges.

    With the arrival of child number five, good young John Paul, I look forward to enjoying one more round of moments like this one above.  I have the seasoning of parenthood four times before to know snuggling with my baby on the couch, in between diaper changes, is one brief moment in time.  The only moment in which I get to love my son with these cuddles.  In a few years, he will be all boy and want to wrestle the old man into submission!  

     I received five wonderful sets of moments like this.  I am looking forward more good times ahead, with the full knowledge valleys of darkness will exist as well.  It is all part of the large family blessing I behold day in and out.

-ehw

P.S. Photo credit to my favorite assistant Carrie Wojtkun who caught me sleeping on the job!  I did all the post processing for her!

Faith of our Fathers

    This past Saturday we had the privilege to baptism our son John Paul in the faith of our forefathers.  I am happy to know the faith in scripture and tradition handed down from the Apostles themselves resides in all of our children.

Acts: 38-39

38 'You must repent,' Peter answered, 'and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 The promise that was made is for you and your children, and for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God is calling to himself.'

    Now back to living the faith, and striving to be the example and teacher our children God needs me to be.   Thank God for family, friends, reconciliation, Holy Eucharist, and the Holy Spirit to help us meet the mission.

-ehw

P.S.  Yes it is hard to hand over the camera....but sometimes you have to live the moment. 

Go and Baptize...John Paul

    Matthew 28:19:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

    Today we fulfill our first of many parental tasks as Catholic parents, the baptism of our son John Paul.  The family gown gets one more run into the church, and we will celebrate the moment our son is washed clean in the water of life.  There are few moments as special to me as the first sacrament of a child's life, and the solemn promise a parent makes to provide a Catholic home.  These two thoughts humble me.  I would be overwhelmed if I did not know, the grace John Paul receives today is the same grace which sustains all of Christians when we submit our will to God's.

-ehw

Dad was I this small?

   Kevin: "Dad was I this small?"

    Dad: "Yes son you were once that small"

    The joy of teaching a culture of life to your children is that even when the baby gives a yelp, the older kids know this is part of respecting life from conception to death. You know you succeed in reaching their souls with with this understanding when they have such great awe for the new members of the domestic church...and all people created in the image of God around them.

    My older children saw the trials Mom went through for nine months to get John Paul to birth.  They understand more than ever the depths of love she had for each of them before they were born.  Each of our children, at the age of reason, now understands this baby was their baby brother from the moment of conception in the womb (even if they haven't had "the talk.").  

    The big kids will soon will associate what Mom suffered as part of her agape love for each of them, when only our God knew their name and destiny.  The older kids now also understand in a larger sense why abortion is decidedly agains the commandments of God. John Paul was never a bunch of harvestable organs and stem cells. John Paul was John Paul when two halves became one whole.

    As crazy as the calendar is now these are the good times.  As crazy as life will get it the coming days, months and years if we get the concept of agape in their heads and hearts I think we have a good chance of succeeding as parents.  I hope we raise children who fulfill the Lord's two great commandments: To love the Lord with all your heart mind and soul.  To love your neighbor as yourself.

   I pray to God we, and parents everywhere, achieve this noble goal as well.  For there is no other option than this if we are to form a civil society where peace can reign.  

-ehw

Boys by Fireworks

    Boys like their summers filled with wonder and awe...and this year both found fulfillment in home based fireworks over the Fourth of July!  If you remember your childhood, I bet it was moments like this you remember for a lifetime.  I know memories like this are seared in my mind!

-ehw

P.S. Always a challenging shoot when darkness is involved, and you will not use the flash.  The rewards for catching the special moment of light are immense.  

Pray-The Timeless and Priceless Tradition

    Today our parish celebrated four men from our parish, and are working their way through seminary discernment of their vocation.  It was a wonderful moment to see the men up there.

    One of the seminarians reminded us we were a parish of 4,000 families, and many more vocational discernments exist in a parish that size.  He asked us to pray for vocations from the men and women in the pews to continue filling our seminaries.

    I remembered what good priest told me about a year ago regarding discernment.  He told me all the hectic activities we do today divert both adults and children from prayer time.  Just think of the distractions we all face: secularized schools where God is forbidden up to ten hours a day, too many sports, too many dance classes, entertainment celebrating drunken and drug filled activity on every station and TV show.  Every marketing company seeks to get you attention with each second of your day to sell their wares though logos, tunes, and embedded messages on other media.  It creates a mess for forming individual prayer life.

   The challenge to each of us is to create the space and habit to pray in the midst of this clutter.  We need to pray in silence at first.  In a world filled with so much marketing this is actually the greatest challenge.  Adding sacred music and art in our prayer time later is a bonus, which when used properly, will draw our minds up to God.  From these mountains of life we can feel and see the glory of the Lord.

    When the valleys of life come our way (say a 3AM infant which does not want to sleep or the 3 year old having a really challenging day I am talking to between sentences) we can always fall back to our basic memorized prayers bring our daily life back to focus on God.  Using these prayers we still remain connected with God despite the noise around us.

    Whether we are young or old, we must learn the timeless and priceless traditions of prayer.  I am finally understanding this, at the age of 43. So there is hope for us all!  John Paul seems to prefer the early morning Rosary already...he made it a point to schedule me in three times already!  The boys have me each night for boy prayer time, and my big daughter seems to live her life as a prayer.  This is all just wonderful...and I hope a set of traditions we continue through thick or thin.

-ehw

P.S.  This photograph is a real challenge with my camera in one hand and three limbs trapped by a semi-sleeping baby.  Battery box attached to my forehead, changing apertures with a loose thumb...it was definitely not a textbook solution.   It worked though.