In Sickness and In Health

In sickness...

For the last several weeks Paul was waking up in the middle of the night coughing for about a half hour, which woke up the rest of the family. Then we would hear him again around 5:00 am and one of us (okay, mostly Kevin) would go and spend the next two hours with him in a half coughing/half sleeping mode. After three weeks of this without Mary Clare picking it up, we knew it wasn't just a cold.

We went to an allergist thinking perhaps it was dust mites, but good news, Paul has no allergies, bad news, we don't know what is wrong. The doctor's next suggestion was asthma or at least infection induced asthma, so now Paul is on two different medications and using a nebulizer twice a day. A nebulizer is the funny mask you see in the picture below, basically Paul breaths in a vapor medication through it. Surprisingly Paul doesn't mind the treatments and we've only had to use the "you'll get to watch a movie if you sit still" card three time.

Luckily Paul has been sleeping without waking up to cough, but he still has a cough during the day and a snotty nose. Both of these get better each day, but he is currently on a steroid, so we will see what happen when that runs out. We go see the doctor again in two weeks, please say some prayers for our little guy!

There is a smile behind that mask!

We thought Paul's penguin humidifier looked like he was using
a nebulizer, so we gave him the mask, Paul thought it was hilarious!

In health...

This morning Mary Clare went to her first official dentist appointment and even with all the poking and prodding inside her mouth she didn't complain once. On the way home she asked when we would go again because she had a lot of fun. Fun at the dentist? We were very proud of her. It was a great report for all Cotters today with a zero count for cavities, hooray! Tonight Mary Clare declared that she was tired and wanted to go to bed at 6:45, this is a rare request for the first born. I was able to pull out of her that the reason was she just wanted to brush her teeth. Once we did brush her teeth she brought me her floss and then had me look into her mouth to make sure we got all of the food. She spent the rest of the evening analyzing her new dental tools and asking questions about teeth, she even asked if drinking water would be cause for brushing them again. This could be a great start to healthy dental habits, but I'm guess her enthusiasm will last one week tops. I'll keep you posted.

Mary Clare in the big chair at the dentist ready
for her 1st cleaning!

Feast of the Archangels

The Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are celebrated in the Church today and consequently the Cotter home. We decided to celebrate each Angel in a different way.

Because St. Michael is often depicted defeating the devil, as he does in the book of Revelation, we decided to make a devil's food cake for our St. Michael (painted by Mary Clare) to defeat, hence him standing on top of the cake. He makes it look so easy, although conquering a cake probably isn't as difficult as conquering satan. 

I asked Mary Clare why St. Michael was blue, and she said
"because he is a boy and blue is a boy color".

I've decided that the safe alternative to licking the beaters is eating the crumbs
from the bottom of the pan after the cake has been baked, the kids were okay with that one.

For Gabriel we pulled out the nativity puppet set and puppet theater made by my mom, who is quite a talented seamstress. Mary Clare and Paul put on a lovely rendition of the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary at the Annunciation. For our family rosary tonight we meditated on the Annunciation.

Paul was Mary, his lines were "I'm Mary" and "Yes".

The theater fell on them as I was taking this picture.

Finally for Raphael we took a journey, like Raphael took a journey with Tobias, but we went to a park, not to the home of a relative where Paul found his spouse. For the full story read the book of Tobit.

Happy Feast day, 1 down 4 to go over the next 6 days, plus Paul's 2nd Birthday and the anniversary of my Dad's entrance into eternal life... big week!

FOCUS vs AI Football Frenzy

Every so often Kevin come home announcing that he has been "voluntold" (that's our word for being asked to volunteer for something that you could say no to, but it'd be much wiser to say yes) for something. Sometimes it's something simple, like an airport run or bringing a dish in for a potluck, but about a month ago it was a big one... hosting the annual FOCUS vs. Augustine Institute flag football game. To host the game means you open your home to 85 guests for Mass before the game (Jesus at your house, yes, awesome) and for a meal after the game. We have a deep love for both organizations, so this was a fun thing to be voluntold for. Kevin received his Masters in Sacred Scripture from the AI and I worked there while he was in grad school, and after graduation Kevin began working for FOCUS, so our entire marriage has involved these two organizations. 

It was a win for FOCUS this year with a final score of 34-7 and I missed the interception Kevin ran back for a touchdown by 2 minutes, but he's got a pretty sweat astroturf burn to prove it.

Jumping

Running

Breaking

The Augustine Institute "Hippos" breaking through their sign.

To prove they actually played football and didn't just run through taped up sheets of paper.

Projecting the Broncos game in our garage at the after party, pretty sweet.

Mass in our backyard before the game... yes the neighbors were curious.

The sign Mary Clare painted to let everyone know where our house is,
she did pretty good and I felt like I was back in high school painting signs
for an upcoming pep-rally. 

Was the craziness worth it? Absolutely, now if I could just catch the last of the 14 files that crashed the party and get people to claim their leftover Tupperware and water bottles.

Mission Monday 9-27-10

This week I continue my work on the Bible study, Living Gospel. I am researching some specific passages by reading commentaries on the Gospels for this project. Works include Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch's Ignatius Press commentary, the Ancient Christian Commentary Series (Early Church Fathers on the Scriptures), N.T. Wright (or Tom Wright, an Anglican Bishop) and Richard Bauckham—all favorites from my grad school days. Also, I'm getting ready to send out a newsletter and preparing for a donor trip to Kansas City in October.

We "Finished" the Basement!

The finished basement!

Over the past few months I began to notice that the kids toys, particularly large plastic toys like little people buildings, were taking over my living room, so I began to brainstorm my options.

1. I could get rid of the toys... but then I pictured my kids sitting on the couch in the middle of winter with sad faces and nothing to do.
2. I could commission my husband to finish the basement... but then I pictured my husband (not handy) spending his weekends staring at tools and not knowing what to do.
3. I could hire a professional to finish the basement... but then I pictured myself on the phone all day talking to contractors and then at home all day while they worked and my kids didn't nap.
4. I could "finish" the basement myself in my typical thrifty manor with at $250 budget in one weekend... but... well, nothing, it was the perfect solution.

So, here is what I did:

First I measured the wall space that I would be covering (we split the basement in half, the other half is for laundry and storage), then I bought flannel fabric from Joannes when it was 50% off for $78.53. I then cut the fabric, hemmed it and made a loop for a pole to go through.

Next, I went to Walmart with my measurements and bought skinny curtain poles and mug hooks ($42.18) to hang the fabric with. We (okay, Kevin did this one, isn't he handy?) screwed the hooks into the beams of the unfinished ceiling and hung the poles with the fabric on them.

Finally we found some new carpet and a pad on craigslist for $100.00, then cut it to fit the area we needed and volia! we had about 200 new square feet for the kids to play that didn't require my living room to pose as a plastic wear house for a grand total of $220.17... about $30 under budget!

Mission Monday

Mission Monday is all about giving you a weekly update on my (Kevin’s) work with FOCUS on a weekly basis. We were in Kansas City last weekend for a wedding, so this first Mission Monday is coming to you on Wednesday. This week I am working on improving our men’s discipleship and focusing on writing a new Bible study called Living Gospel. The study goes over the essential aspects on how to live out the faith. It is my big project for the next month or so. I have brainstormed the topics and passages, now it is time to write!

A Wedding, a Princess Party and a Visit to Atchison

This weekend we made our way to the Kansas City area for three great events!

First was the wedding of a former FOCUS teammate of Kevin's, Tami to a fellow St. Thomas Aquinas High School graduate of Lisa's, Brett. The homily was given by Deacon Vince, the groom's best friend since 5th grade and former T-ball teammate of Kevin... talk about a collision of worlds! All but one member of Kevin's FOCUS team at BC were there to celebrate along with many friends from Benedictine. The reception was at the family farm in the barn and under a big white tent, it was beautiful!

The reception in the barn

Second, we headed to cousin Allison's 5th birthday party, where Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty came to celebrate with the little princesses. It was quite the event including a trifold princess worthiness test, a treasure box filled with princess treasures and a princess who had perfected the giggle... it was as if Princess Giselle from Enchanted fell down a well and landed in my sister's living room. You may be wondering, "Does Mary Clare wear anything else besides a pink leotard and plastic jewels?", well the answer is no, at least not this week, but perhaps next week we will reintroduce her to civilian clothes.

The Birthday Princess, Cousin Allison.

Mary Clare spent the beginning of the party
a little unsure about the Princess Aurora gig.

Warming up to the idea by moving away from Grandma Sue
and at least standing near other little princesses.

Bubble popping with their wands to pass the
"make something disappear" test.

Passing the silly test... notice all the other little girls are wearing princess
dresses, Mary Clare didn't want to wear one, so we went with the ballerina attire.

Third we took a trip to Atchison, KS, home of Benedictine College and my home during 6 of the past 9 years. Kevin missed out on this one because he was playing in the anual seminarian golf tournament with his dad, Deacon Vince and Deacon Vince's dad, which means yes, he was a the princess party. As we arrived in Atchison Mary Clare kept asking "is that the house we used to live in?", pointing to a regular house. When we pulled up to our old dorm she didn't quite agree with me that we used to live there. She also didn't remember the caf, which she ate breakfast in almost everyday for 2 years. Just when I was losing hope of her having any recollection of living on campus she perked up when we went to the Student Life Office and declared "oh, the Mickey Mouses', I remember those". Sandi, the wonderful woman who keeps the office running, has a massive collection of Mickey Mouse items that Mary Clare would play with when I came in to pick up mail or make copies and THAT is all Mary Clare could remember from Benedictine, sad.

We had a great time catching up with students and former colleagues, as well as checking out the ever changing and growing campus. In particular I wanted to check out the new Marion Grotto that is a replica of the Grotto in Lourdes. I forgot to get a picture of it as this whole actually taking pictures thing is new to me. While we were in France in May we brought back a stone from Lourdes to be placed in the Grotto, it was neat to see it in it's new permeant home. 

Visiting with Mary Clare's buddies, Thomas and Fulton. Sarah, their
Mommy, is a dear friend of mine and we were Hall Directors at BC together.

The BC campus is alway so beautiful! 

We went to ice cream with Elizabeth and Ruth,
two of my former RAs, Mary Clare DID remember them,
they were some of her favorite people on campus!

The Family Garden

Straight from the garden, minus the onions,
which should have been mine.

The finished product

For the past three summers the Cotter's have grown their own garden, but this was our first attempt at it without the assistance of the Benedictine monks in Atchison, KS. You see, when I say we grew our own garden with the assistance of the monks, what I mean is, they tilled the land, we used their fancy tools to plant the seeds on their amazingly rich soil and then we visited the garden to see how well the monks were doing at tending our garden. My original goal was to LEARN how to grow a garden, but being a young mom, they didn't want to burden me with silly things, like fertilizing and pulling weeds, so sweet elderly Br. Anthony called in the young novices to do the work for me. And when things didn't work out, like the time deer came in the middle of the night and stole my corn, they just gave me corn from their own harvest which was protected by electric fences. So my first attempt with just a shovel for tilling, bare hands for planting and little weed control went... okay. No animals attacked the harvest, but bugs did. The spinach and green beans did fabulously, but the bell peppers and onions didn't produce a thing. Everything else was average, but hey, for our first attempt, I'll take it. As the harvest comes to a close I have still been able to pull off a few side dishes and some zucchini bread. For now, I'll be doing some more research on gardening without monks.

First Ballet Class

Today was a big day for our little Mary Clare, her first ballet class. For a long time she wanted to be a dancer when she grew up, but that recently changed to an astronaut after a visit to the Science and Nature Museum. At any rate, we signed her up for lessons. The night before the big class she wanted to try everything on to make sure she looked enough like a ballerina. It was decided that she needed her ring and crown to make the outfit complete, however tights were NOT desired. I took the opportunity to take some pics in the front yard.

Eventually Paul joined in...

Ballet class went well today and the teacher said Mary Clare did a great job. On the way home she declared that she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to ballet anymore because her head hurt from wearing her crown. I assured her she could just not wear her crown next week, so she agreed to continue going to ballet, even although she is going to become an astronaut.

Tuesday = Bible Timeline

Every Tuesday morning Mary Clare's 3-4 year old friends come over for what we call "Bible Timeline Class". Basically we are walking through the story of how God saves His people, or Salvation History. So far we have covered Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and today Joseph and his coat. It is loosely based on The Great Adventure series, but when I say loosely I mean very loosely. The kit doesn't come with a curriculum, so I had to create my own, but fortunately I found Hooked on Phonics Bible Stories at a consignment sale for $10.00 which has helped out the creative process a ton! Each week we read the story, do some activities, have a snack and create a craft. It is a highlight of our week, even when I discover that Paul has been dipping his rainbow craft fruit loops in the glue and eating them, instead of putting them on the paper.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Living liturgically (living with the cycles and celebrations of the Church) is one of my favorite things about being Catholic. I've found it teaches our kids three main things:
1. It teaches them about the faith and what we believe
2. It teaches them to love the faith, Jesus and his family
3. It teaches them the natural cycles of highs and lows in life

We try to highlight special feast days in our home with thematic activities, food and prayers. Today's feast is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the day in which we remember that the Holy Cross is the instrument of our salvation. To celebrate we made and decorated cross sugar cookies, prayed the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary and FINALLY hung up a crucifix in the kids room.

"For inasmuch as our first parents sinned beneath the shadow of a tree, God has deigned to accomplish our redemption on the wood of the Cross" In Conversation with God

For Starters

After many months of talking about starting a blog, thinking about all the fun things we could post on a blog and debating about which host to use for a blog, we have finally landed ourselves here... the "With Hope in the Divine Will" Cotter Family blog. It seemed an appropriate title, as it has been the theme of our family since before marriage and the ancient Irish Cotter family motto is "While I have breath, I hope". We hope you enjoy what is to come as we share with you the unique life of our Catholic missionary family.