"My soul doth magnify the Lord"

The feast of the Visitation, which we Catholics celebrate today, is a feast for expectant mothers, or at least it should be. What a joyful meeting that must have been between St Elizabeth and Our Blessed Mother, both pregnant by special Divine design! The one bearer of the forerunner of the Messiah, the other bearing the Messiah Himself. Both unexpected, yet joyfully accepted pregnancies.

While listening to our priest's homily this afternoon during Mass, a new thought struck me. Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, had waited years and years without the blessing of children. Otherwise successful, honoured, faithful Jews, this is their one black mark. Society would have viewed them as somehow having neglected their duty to God and incurred His disfavour. Then suddenly, in their old age, when they are far beyond dreaming of the possibility of children, God promises them a child.

Today, as a society, we have exactly the opposite problem from the one we see in the Gospel: we (thankfully) do not judge couples who are unable to conceive children as having brought down God's wrath, yet many times children are not viewed as a blessing to be desired, but rather an inconvenience (or a blessing under just the right circumstances). I was struck by the truth that many couples put off having children, not until their old age, but until a so-called opportune moment. Conversely, in this Gospel story Elizabeth and Zechariah would have dearly loved to have a child during their prime years.

Recently, I was reading a news article that cited how common it is for couples to put off having children into their mid-late thirties. Oftentimes, the author quoted a study, these same couples end up having to turn to extra-ordinary means to achieve pregnancy. The author pointed out that the success of these other un-natural means is highly overrated compared to actual rates. Another study recently pointed out that although many women believe that as more mature, settled women they will be better mothers, the reality is that younger women learn better the ropes of motherhood.

Seems we, again and again, rely on new science to rediscover what we should have known already from past cultural experience. Accept children as the blessings they are. Don't put off having children until some culturally perfect moment. Perhaps I'm preaching to the choir here, but we could all do with cultivating belief in the blessedness of children. 

Almost Here!

Something you didn't know about me:

during the winter I check the starphoenix.com several times a day, everyday, hoping they post an article about the Roughriders. Any news or story I can get on the Riders, I'll take! I just can't enough of the Riders!

In fact, Becca and I have decided that our future house will look something like this:

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited that training camp will be opening up in a few short days! This year's team, I think, will be pretty good by season's end. Both lines have received significant upgrades, as has the coaching staff. There have also been some tweaks with the receivers and DBs. The only concerns I have are with running back and linebacker. But they are bringing in so many guys to audition for those spots, I'm sure it will be ok. The thing is, though, it's going to take several games to gel as a team. You can't bring in that many new faces and not expect some growing pains. So we'll have to be patient. The other thing is, the other teams in the West are pretty well stacked. However, if Calgary and Edmonton have quarterback issues, which I think they will, then I predict a playoff birth. And once in the playoffs, you never know.

Hope springs eternal at the beginning of a new sports season.

Here's hoping we get off to a smokin' start!

7 Snippets: What's New With Us

1.

Daniel Joseph Millette, B.A., B.Ed. Congratulations to my dear husband who graduates from Teacher's College today! As you may have noticed from his previous post, he doesn't think it's that big a deal. But we (Joseph and I) think he is a pretty big deal! And we are so proud of him for sticking with it through thick and thin.

2.

Joseph's new digs. We bought a great new-to-us jogging stroller off Kijiji for $50. It's awesome, even if slightly used! The wheels are bigger than small bicycle ones and it runs like a dream -- well, you get the idea, I really like it! And, it's perfect for the dirt road or off-roading. 



3.

We're sick. Again. I've had a nasty cold all week and Joseph, poor boy, is plagued by a recurring ear infection. But, Grandma is picking up some supposedly no fail ear oil today, so we're hoping we might get some more sleep in the coming week.

4.

Toilet training. Yep, you read that right. Our 8 month old is toilet training. Or rather poop training. About two weeks ago Joseph was clearly distressed while trying to have a poop. Dan jokingly suggested I put him on the toilet. Thinking he was serious I said, "great idea". Well, it worked and he's had all his poops since then on the toilet. No dirty diapers, just a quick flush! I hope this doesn't embarrass him in the future, but I couldn't resist adding a pic we took. I love his face!

5.

Gotta love dirt roads. We had some rain this week. A lot of rain, in fact. The dirt road hasn't held up too well in one or two areas, specifically one short stretch going over a little marshy spot where the culvert seems to be giving way. We drove all the way around to get to Nipawin a few times in the last week. The township has dumped a load of gravel there a couple times, but they're going to have to take some serious action sooner or later. On the brighter side, our new stroller could probably go through the mud, even if our van can't make it!

6.

Little Climber. Joseph is not only crawling everywhere, he's now attempting to climb up things too. Sometimes, though, he'll get halfway up a drawer or stool and let out a pathetic little whimpering cry because he's stuck and can't figure out how to stand up or sit back down. His favourite spot to practice is on the tv ledge. I found him 5in. from the tv watching the hockey game!

7.

Pickles. Dan and Joseph bought me a book for Mother's Day: my favourite, never fail to bring a laugh-out-loud comics. Did you know, the author of Pickles has been married for nearly 40 years and has 7 kids? Cool! Needless-to-say, we've been LOLing quite a bit. (I'd add a funny one, but a little boy just woke up here :S).

Graduation

Tomorrow I graduate!...

...again.

Ah graduation day. I plan on getting up early, putting on those special clothes I haven't worn in a while, and getting myself ready for a busy day. The day will be long. It will have its ups and downs. I will get to hang out with a group of people that I've gone to war with over the last while. People that sometimes I disagree with, but generally we're there for the same purpose. Yes, good ol' graduation day.

Yep, I'll be at the Co-op, of course. I'm going back to the lumber yard to work a day or two each week. So I must dig out my old uniform, make a lunch, and get ready for the day ahead.

It's sort of fitting that I will be at the Co-op during my Redeemer B.Ed. graduation (in Ancaster, ON). In a real sense, the Co-op has put me through university. I've worked there 7 full summers. In that time I've managed 2 and a half degrees, 2 years as a registrar, 1 wife, and 1 baby. The place has been good to me. I get Sundays and evenings off. I get to work outside after 8 months of studying. The pay is not bad. And the work is by and large not stressful (though difficult at times).

How did I get this job? From God. Really.

After my first school year at the Academy I returned home to work at a local gas station. The pay kinda sucked. It was evenings and weekends. I was tired of working there. Anyway, as I returned to work there, thanks to being at the Academy, I really noticed that there were bad magazines on sale. I just couldn't, in good conscience, sell those terrible, sinful, family-breaking magazines. Not after all that I learnt in the past year. What a hypocrite I would be!

So I quit. Just like that. And it was hard. I didn't have a backup plan. But I knew working there wasn't the right thing to do.

Just as I quit... I got a phone call. It was from a lady I know whose husband was the lumber manager at the Co-op. She told me they were hiring, and that she'd put in a good word for me. So I drove over to the Co-op. The manager asked me why I quit my job at the gas station. I told him why. He said: "when can you start?" I didn't miss a day in between my gas station job and the Co-op job!

It goes to show that if you do the right thing, even when it is difficult, God gives you even more than you ever could have expected. I was able to get a solid job that put me through all this schooling.

And so, somewhere in Ancaster tomorrow my name will be announced at a special ceremony: "Daniel Joseph Millette... absent..." That's ok. I will be in the right place. Instead it will be: "Daniel Joseph Millette... go to the treated aisle..."

Sigh.

p.s. I also just realized that tomorrow will be the first time Joseph sees his Daddy goes to work. Yikes!

Rip it out! Burn it!

Do you remember the Ashleys from the cartoon Recess? "Ohhh, I'm like shaking in my $90 pumps!" And, of course, their famous girly phrase: "scandalous!"
I was just thinking about something that happened during my final placement (grade 5, Catholic school). I was flipping through the Born of the Spirit religion textbook, which I affectionately shorten to "BS" textbook, looking for anything good to teach the kids for religion. I don't usually prepare religion lessons. I just find something and launch into it. Well good stuff is hard to find in the BS textbook. Often I will look for the word "sacrament", or something like that, and then just teach about the sacraments. Well on this particular day I flipped to a lengthy section that appeared to have some boring story about a Canadian priest, or was it a bishop?, whom I never heard of before. My teacher, who was there, told me I couldn't teach this lesson. She then told me that once she turned to this page, and then had all the kids write down this priest/or bishop's name and research it online. The next day the class was to come back and discuss his life. Well, wouldn't you know, the next day all the grade 5 kids came back with notes from their parents wondering why they were told to research a sexual predator. I guess the kids were in for a shock when they started looking this guy up online. The teacher, needless to say, was also shocked. But there this priest/bishop's profile is, still prominently in the BS textbook. The BS teacher's manual has since added a little note saying to skip this lesson.

Why do I recall this story? Well, last week ex-Bishop Lahey (not the same guy that kids researched on) of Nova Scotia was officially removed by the Pope from all sacerdotal (priestly) functions. He is no longer able to perform any of the sacraments, dress like a clergy, or do anything at all that represents the Church. This shouldn't be hard, since he is in jail at the current moment. Yes, Lahey was the one caught with hundreds of sick child pornography images and videos on his laptop.

This story is old news, but what really riled me up last week was a further revelation I didn't know. Lahey claimed, in the story, to have been in a homosexual relationship with a man for 10 years prior (while still a Bishop)! Further, Lahey stated he was going to return to this relationship once he got out of prison!
This is a very sick-minded man who needs our prayers.

Now, to connect the scandalous textbook story, you may not know this but... Lahey has an introductory letter, representing the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), at the front of most BS textbooks throughout each grade. There's his letter, triumphantly proclaiming what a good book it is, how it will save the world, blah blah blah. It's truly sickening.

Or how about this? Have you ever opened the Catholic Book of Worship III to the beginning? What's there? That's right, a letter from Lahey.

It's sickening.

Lahey was sort of the poster boy for new liturgical movements amongst the CCCB. Basically, he's had a hand in pretty much everything in this country. His influence is all around. From our church music, to how we educate our children in the Catholic faith, to how we handle sexual abuse settlements. I dare say that the fruits of his work are showing. Children do not know their faith, the music at Mass is generally awful, many bishops refuse to take hard stands against the sin of practicing homosexuality...

And so I say: rip 'em out! burn 'em all! Give them to Joseph to rip up! I'm talking about Lahey's letters at the front of each book (though I wouldn't mind if the BS textbooks and CBWIIIs were all burnt as well... did you know famous CBWIII composer Dan Schutte SJ also came "out" several years ago). Enough of this scandal! I don't want to see Lahey's letters anymore, anywhere!

Let's pray for him. Let's hope he converts, and doesn't return to his prior relationship. But in the meantime, let's not pretend nothing happened, and that everything is ok. Everything is not ok. Why, because as the Ashleys would acknowledge, the situation is "Scandalous!"

Cousinly Love

You might be thinking by now that we've forgotten we have a blog. Well, sometimes we just seem to have nothing to say or it just takes us longer than usual to get to saying it.

How's your long weekend going? We got back yesterday from a great trip to Humboldt and Saskatoon to visit with Joseph's Millette and Rogal cousins. Oh yeah, their parents were there too.

We were so excited to meet our new little niece, Sophia Faustina Millette, who is three months old now. She's a little cutie and, to my delight, still happy to be cuddle (Joseph was never like that!).

I got to try out being mom to four littles for about 15 minutes and thanked the Lord that they only come one at a time. Joseph got clunked over the head with a book and started crying, then Sophia let out some wails and wasn't easily consoled. I ended up holding the two of them at one point, but in the end had to put a disconcerted Joseph down to settle the littlest. Thankfully, everything was quiet and calm when Momma Roxanne came home!

Marie (6), Claire (4), and Andrew (2) kept us laughing with whoopee cushions and charades. Andrew would tell us "turtle", then proceed to act out a very slow turtle and get very excited when we guessed correctly. Gotta love those little kids! Joseph and Andrew played some mini-sticks together and had a little fight (see above). A sign of things to come, perhaps?!

In Saskatoon we visited with our lovely god-daughter and niece, Catherine. She's about two and a half months older than Joseph and "chatting" up a storm while she walks along behind her toy baby buggy.

Joseph and Catherine had a blast together, reading books, grabbing toys from one another, and shoving each other around. I think Joseph had the worst end of the cousinly love, as Catherine's favourite pastime was hitting him on his little bald head.

But Joseph got her back in the tub with his exuberant splashing. Catherine was a little surprised at first, but quickly joined in the fun! 

All in all, a wonderful long weekend!

Dedication of a New Cathedral

I'm told that the new Cathedral in Saskatoon had its grand opening today. This place of worship has finally been realized, after several years of fundraising and hype. If you're not familiar with the beautiful building, here are some pictures.
First, the exterior:

Whoops. I uploaded the wrong church. Let's try again here...

...My fault again. Maybe this is the right file:

Ok.

True, the exterior isn't quite as nice. But you should see the inside!

Sorry, that's from my Montreal files. I got a picture somewhere!...

I think there's a flattened look here:

And some of the stained glass that was to be installed:



Alright. You see where I'm going with this. And don't say to me beauty is in the eye of the beholder either. Metaphysically speaking, beauty is a transcendental found ultimately in God Himself. Thank you Aristotle and Aquinas.

Just a brief story. I once took a course called "Christian View of Place." In it we spent a great deal of time talking about church beauty as found in Scripture. The prof went to great lengths to describe how God, in the Old Testament, commanded Moses to have the Ark of the Covenant and temple area built. The designs for the worship area were given directly from God, and can be found in the Pentateuch. In it God commanded the church be built in the shape of a rectangle, to symbolize the (literal) march of the pilgrim Church towards the promised land. The High priest would lead this charge, specifically in the sanctuary. All worship was directed in the same direction, towards God. The end of the temple plans included the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest could enter. The Ark of the Covenant was commanded to be made in an extremely intricate, detailed, and beautiful way.

The theology behind the building of the Biblical worship area is stunning, perfect, awe-inspiring, and beautiful... for it comes directly from God. For two thousand years the Church has followed this theology, and produced stunning places of worship. In the middle ages generations of people would work to build these great spaces of worship, with some churches taking up to four hundred years to build. Modern architects marvel at how the designs fit together so perfectly... yet also acknowledge that these designs are also contained in Scripture.

Here's the kicker to the story, that prof who spoke so well on the subject... was protestant.

I took that class at Redeemer (2007).

I pray that we (yes even us Catholics) can someday get back to our roots and rediscover the meaning of true, objective, God-inspired, beauty.

7 Snippets: A Grateful Heart

1.

Dairy Queen. Dan and I went out to Dairy Queen earlier this week for some long-awaited Blizzards. Strawberry cheesequake is so good!

2.

Washingmachines. Let's just say we did a LOT of laundry this week. With Joseph throwing up all over himself, me, and a bed or towels multiple times, we were so thankful to have a washer and dryer in the same building as us (and not to have to pay for it either!).

3.

A hot shower. I had five minutes of blissful hot showering this morning after changing out of my puked on clothes. Joseph was hanging out with Daddy - yay!

4.

Cuddles. Joseph is not much of a cuddler, hasn't been since he was really tiny. So I enjoyed the many cuddles we had this week while he was under the weather.

5.

Grandmas. My wonderful mother-in-law just whisked Joseph away and took him for a long walk. Gave me time to go for a run and shower. And my mom called at just the right moments to give advice and check in on us!

6.

Sunshine. We had some gorgeous weather (mixed in with some windy, rainy days too). I loved just sitting in the sun soaking it all in (while our sick boy was sleeping in the stoller outside)!

7.

Crawling. Yep, our little man started crawling at eight months to the day! It's just so cute. He can go very quickly when he wants to. This video does not do it justice, but check out how he does the downward dog stretch to begin :)

Cancel that

Cancel the Expert Parenting Advice. The truth is, we're not even close to expert parents.

Poor Joseph is quite sick. It's a combination of an ear infection and fever. He's thrown up several times today, and is just so sickly. It's going to be a long long night for him and Becca.

Yes, he's sick. He's actually been off since we got here last week. This means that we haven't really slept much. Which in turn means we chickened out of the March for Life. Which also means we're bailing out on our weekend trip to Saskatoon. In other words, one sick little boy consumes our lives. I'm sure you experienced parents are laughing at us right now.

Today I didn't get much work done (on my M.A.). I was helping clean up after throw ups, or giving Becca a brief break from Joseph, or just whatever... Basically it takes the two of us to care for him when he's sick. I'm sure we'll get better. But for now, we meekly try and get by.

Still though, I've never gone to the March for Life (in Regina, or Ottawa for that matter) and thought that this would be the year. I assume every year from now on I will be teaching... so that's that. Unless of course I somehow organize a class trip to the event... Now there's a thought.

Expert Parenting Advice

I would never say no to Joseph.

How could I?

How could I look him in the eye when he's crying and clearly in distress and tell him anything other than yes?
Parenting, I believe, is all about acceptance and making children happy, as they feel is best.

I mean, how could I look at him and say: "NO Joseph! You CAN'T do that!... NO!"

So if Joseph told me that he wants to, say, become a girl, how could I say no?

Ok, I was just writing that to make Becca's eyes pop out as she read it.

No, parenting is a struggle. Clearly parenting involves things like discipline, sacrifice, love and, maybe the most important, common sense. I'm an expert on the topic. I've been a parent for 8 months and 4 days now. It's super tiring. What amazes me most is that we only have one child. What will happen when we have twelve? (again, Becca's eyes are popping out... or maybe not... maybe not at all...).

I guess the main thing is to learn from mistakes. By the seventh child most of the parenting problems should be corrected. Children numbered eight through eleven should be angels. Number twelve is the baby of the family (they are always a write off anyway). Four out of twelve good kids isn't a great percentage, but if you look at it positively you could say: "Dear Lord, I have given you four beautiful God-fearing children." How could God say "no" to that?

"So how was the trip?" "Well, let me tell you!.."

The trip was.... kind of uneventful. Which is good! Very good.

I left Monday at 5am, mainly to avoid heavy Toronto traffic, and made very good time. I decided to call it a day at 7:30pm in Nipigon, ON, which is roughly 109 km east of Thunder Bay. I could have gone farther, but driving around Nipigon is pretty intense with all of the hills and curves in the road. I was tired. The sunset was in my eyes. There was a hockey game on TV. I had to go to the bathroom...

Hockey game? That's right, I stayed at a motel. There was absolutely no room for me to sleep in the van, so I bit the bullet. I ended up in a luxury suite (for the price of a regular room). The room had carved log chairs, couches, two large beds, and a nice big T.V. But alas, all the material luxuries in the world seem kind of lonely without Becca and Joseph there.

The next day I left at 4:45am and drove like mad. By 6am I was in Thunder Bay. 9:30am in Dryden (8:30 CST). 1:00pm in Winnipeg. And finally, 7:45pm at home (Saskatchewan time). The trip took just under 32 hours. A new record! No, I didn't speed. There were cops everywhere. Instead, the traffic was light, the wind was from the East, and there was relatively no construction. Godspeed indeed.

The most I paid for gas was 147.9 c/L (Wawa and Nipigon). The cheapest was 122.5 c/L (Winnipeg). I saw one moose (Archerwill) and one fox (Dryden). I lost my temper at other drivers three times (Toronto, Sault Ste. Marie, Yorkton). The hardest part was driving at 5am to Thunder Bay in the dark without coffee while looking for moose. The best part was listening to a CD of Fr. Lucien Larre giving a parish mission. Trip number 14 is over.

                                                            Sudbury, ON... so inspiring

Nipawin, SK

The move we talked about and planned for more than a year is over. We've arrived safe and sound in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. And it wasn't even as bad as we thought it might be.

 After packing for two days, Dan left bright and early Monday morning to drive for the thirteenth time across country. Do you think he's sick of that drive yet? Everything was in his favour: wind at his back, no construction, little traffic. He cut time wherever he could and ended up making the normally 36hr trip in less than 32hrs. We thought he'd get here the day after Joseph and I, but he made it to Nipawin a day earlier than expected and before us. What a trooper!

After spending a couple last days with Grandpa Bear and Grandma Mombourquette, Joseph and I flew out on Tuesday night. We were so happy to have Dan's siblings Rheanne and Stephen with us. Joseph serenaded all the travelers in the airport during our whole 2hr wait. He is a super flyer and was so good the whole flight. Sorry, WestJet, we ripped up your inflight magazine, but it was for April so we thought it would be ok. 

We had one little adventure: We were expecting Joseph's near-weekly poop on Tuesday (yep, didn't we tell you poop is one of our most common words?). It was my biggest fear that he'd fill his diaper mid-flight and I'd somehow have to fit him on the teeny-tiny change table. But, Joseph waited until the captain told us we were beginning the descent and the seat-belt sign would stay on for the rest of the flight. We tried to mask the smell under his blanket and took him straight to the family bathroom when we landed. That was an adventure in itself (poop everywhere), but maybe I shouldn't embarrass the little guy. Let's just say I managed to wash him up and we departed with a clean baby in pj's. 

Joseph seems to be enjoying himself so far. There's a feisty dog, a couple cats, and a kitten for him to follow around. Or eat, as the case may be. Oh, and he's 8 months old and crawling, but more on that later.