Elena 
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1. I have discovered the truth – teens and older children require much more attention than babies and toddlers – especially if you are homeschooling! Everytime I sit down to blog I can think of at least 10 other things I should be doing instead (preparing lessons, cleaning house, taking a child hither or yon) so the blogging suffers. Such is life right now!
2. I shot straight up from bed the other night with the realization that my November is going to be busier than September and October – at least on the weekends. I have two weddings and three concerts. So much for rest for the weary. Sam and Gabe are just as busy. This weekend they will be playing guitar and drums for the youth mass and then doing the early Sunday morning mass with the parish choir. At least they are versatile.
3. It is starting to look like autumn. I have been feeling a little sad this week. Raphael’s birthday is next Monday. Maybe that has something to do with it. When our dead baby was born, on All Saints Day, I tried very hard not to traumatize my other children. I recently asked them what they remembered about the event. Izzy and Noah do not remember the funeral although Noah remembers sprinkling incense on the incense burner at the funeral mass. But they all remember the great “party” after the funeral, and they think of it as a fun time. I have to thank the love and support from my family and friends for making that special memory for my children.
4. My 21-year-old, Calvin, has been taking my 13-year-old son, Noah, running. They ran 6 miles together last week. Yesterday they ran 4 and it was because Calvin was tired! I asked Calvin if it was okay for him to run with Noah or if he felt Noah was holding him back.
“Mom, if anything, running with Noah is pushing me! I don’t want to slack off in front of my little brother!”
Noah later told me that running with Calvin was pushing him too, because he wants to impress his big brother. So it’s all good.
5. So with that in mind, I suggested to Calvin that he might be a good confirmation sponsor for his little brother next year and he turned me down flat. “Mom, I’m not even going to church any more. I can’t be his sponsor.” Well actually my hope was that by being Noah’s sponsor he would be drawn back into the church. On the other hand though, Noah deserves a sponsor who will support him in the faith – not one that he has to draw in kicking and screaming. I don’t know who Noah will pick but I know it won’t be Calvin.
6. It is heartbreaking to have your child not practicing his Catholic faith. I feel that Mr. Pete and I really tried to do the right things with raising him in the faith, and maybe this is just a form of his independence to be away from it. So now I start my St. Monica season of life – praying for a wayward son.
7. My task today is to get a costume together for Noah. We are going to an all saints day party and he wants to go as G.K. Chesterton. I realize Chesterton is not a canonized saint, but he was a prolific and influential Catholic writer. It should be interesting, although I think Noah only agreed to this because he wanted a monocle. Turns out he doesn’t wear a monocle- but those glasses are unusual.
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