Today is a glorious day! I have so much to be thankful for. I have a warm fuzzy feeling going on right now and I’d like to capture it for you. It’s a very natural high I must say (just so you don’t get the wrong idea.)
Number one, the weather is gorgeous. It is morning right now and there is a crisp cool feeling in the air and the sun is shining bright with clear skies. I try not to let the weather dictate my moods but when it is especially beautiful I let it do what it wants to do to me and it is definitely doing me wonders right now. I am sitting here writing with a cup of coffee, windows open and my dear three year old Daniel playing nearby.
I went to mass earlier this morning because it is my son Cole’s eleventh birthday and I wanted to thank God mightily for him. While at mass I was reminded that it is also the Feast of Saint Monica. Saint Monica happens to be my confirmation Saint. I chose Saint Monica back when I was Cole’s age because, I’ll have to admit, I thought she had a pretty name. Oh how the Holy Spirit works….Saint Monica is the mother of Saint Augustine who lived away from the Church for thirty years while Saint Monica prayed for him. Saint Augustine turned out to be such a super Saint that he is now one of the Doctors of the Church…Wow!
I found myself wondering at Church today if I will have to pray for Cole in the future because he falls away from the Church? I stopped myself from thinking that by praying to Saint Monica to pray for Cole with me today and everyday. It is very comforting for me to know that I can rely on her to help me pray. She is such a powerful Saint.
Since it is Cole’s birthday today I just have to indulge myself to brag about him here. I try to only blatantly brag about my kids in my Christmas letters each year so forgive me if I go a little overboard, but I can’t help myself. I do hope you enjoy my wonderful story about Cole!
Cole came along eleven years ago today under a cloud of worry because our daughter Michaela was in the middle of hardcore chemotherapy at the time. He was a bright spot in our days and the timing of his birth turned out to be clearly planned by God. He was born about three in a half weeks before his due date via C-section. I found out two days before his birth that I would have to go in and have him to avoid complications from placenta previa (the placenta was blocking the birth canal). It was a Friday birth and he came out crying and thriving, weighing in at 7 lbs. I had to spend the rest of the weekend in the hospital to recover well enough from the C-section to go home.
During that entire weekend Michaela’s hair started falling out all over the hospital room when she came to visit. By Monday morning she decided, while at home, to go in her room and pull it all out because she was tired of the mess it was making. Before coming back to the hospital to pick me up and take me home Will forgot to call and warn me about the fact that Michaela was now completely bald. When she walked in all smiley and happy, and I saw that she was bald, it took all my strength to not break down and cry. But as I thought about it, Michaela didn’t care about her hair or any of her sufferings. She had a new brother to love and cuddle and hold, and she had him to take her mind off herself. Losing her hair that very weekend was a fabulous plan by God. Cole was such a blessing for us all.
Over the years Cole has surprised me with so many things. He is a very bright yet shy person. He also has a pretty strong obsessive compulsive personality. When he is into something he is full throttle into it for long periods of time. Currently he is obsessed with Michael Jackson. I hate to admit this but last spring we watched the Michael Jackson Tribute movie “This is It” one time and after that Cole became hooked on Michael Jackson. He started watching Michael Jackson videos on you tube and unbeknownst to me memorized the song and dance “Smooth Criminal”. He has now performed it for all family members that we have seen since he learned it. In fact the first time he performed his song and dance was for family in North Platte, NE last June. I was blown away with his performance. I had no idea he could do that until then. He is too shy though to perform it for school friends.
Some of his other obsessions have been, Batman, Spiderman, Star Wars, tornadoes and the weather, Husker football and legos.
My proudest obsession of Cole's has been his desire to become a priest. He has always been unusually drawn to Church related activities. Our family says a decade of the rosary every evening as part of our night time prayers. We usually talk about all the mysteries for that day each evening but because of the children being young we say just one decade. Cole somehow memorized all the mysteries of the rosary while in kindergarten. In kindergarten he also loved to find the songs in the songbook at church and by first grade he would follow along very carefully to the readings and prayers in the missal at each mass. In the first two months of second grade he read the entire Children’s bible during free reading time at school and in the same year was given a children’s mass kit along with vestments that fit him at Christmas time. He was happy to no longer have to use his spider man blanket to dress up as a priest. He has held numerous masses and benedictions in the living room and backyard along with his neighbor friend and little brother Eric. Currently we have a big thick bible sitting on a side table in the living room. Yesterday he had his nose in it for quite a bit of the evening.
As a fifth grader now, he still considers the priesthood seriously as a possible vocation. That and a rock musician…..or maybe a weather man.
Dear God, Thank You for Cole.
Dear Readers, Pray for Him.
Dear Saint Monica, Pray for Him!
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