Joy Battista

"Joy Battista" stands for the Joy of John the Baptist at the presence of Christ.

"And how have I deserved that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, the moment that the sound of thy greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leapt for joy." Luke 1:43-44

This blog is dedicated to all who seek the Joy of Christ's presence in their own lives.
This blog is also dedicated to the unborn, for John the Baptist was an unborn when he leapt for joy at the presence of Jesus who was also unborn at the time.

WELCOME!!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Eric Emanuel Varicak, Happy 9th Birthday


Eric holding his cousin and sitting with Daniel

June 10th is always a big day in the Varicak house, it’s Eric’s birthday. So…..I’m going to take this occasion to give you my complete unbiased opinion, because I’m his mom, that Eric is a totally cool kid!! He and all his coolness have turned 9 today!

Here are some totally awesome things I can tell you about my third child Eric: He loves Nebraska Football, probably the biggest Husker fan ever. He plays the piano, and is pretty darn good at it. He had his recital pieces memorized! He is on a baseball team with mostly older boys and can keep up, he made a good play at second base last game. He is at camp with Michaela now and she texted me that he was able to climb to the top of a rock wall and is doing really well and getting along with everybody. He is an impersonator of Michael Jackson and wowed crowds by dancing in the last two year’s St. Teresa’s talent shows and was a hit. He loves to eat donuts, ice cream, candy, pizza and any other typical kids food, but donuts top his list of all time favorites. I could go on and on about my Eric!!

But those are things Eric does, here is what Eric is to me: a surprise! He was when I found out I was pregnant and now he is one of those calm quiet kids at school that gets good grades but excels quietly and unexpectedly. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not perfect, he has to go to speech therapy and all and he can really get on my nerves some days with his persistent need for whatever it is from moment to moment about things that he wants to accomplish that instant, but I never could have told you that he would, be totally excited about babies, be a big helper with a two year old cousin, and I mean reliably so, take advantage of going to Confession whenever he can, and have as his favorite mystery of the rosary the “Coming down of the Holy Spirit.”

It is Pentecost weekend and I can’t help but to remember all those repeated times that Eric would point our entire family to the Holy Spirit. We have, for several years now, said a decade of the rosary every night at prayer time. While we may only say a decade, which is 1 mystery and 10 Hail Mary’s, for you non-Catholics, we review all the Mysteries that are usually prayed for on that particular day. And every evening we let one of the children pick which mystery we should do. I would estimate that when Eric was about 4-5 years old, that for about a year and a half solid, he would request that we pray the mystery that he called the, “Falling Down of the Holy Spirit.” This is the mystery of Pentecost. We didn’t always all pray it but I would encourage him every night to pray that one himself.

Pointing our family to the Holy Spirit repeatedly is Eric’s spiritual contribution to our family and I pray that the Holy Spirit will fill his heart forever with his guiding presence.

May Eric’s Birthday be a Happy One at Camp today. We will surely celebrate more in the days to come!!!

As I contemplate my blessing of Eric on his birthday today I also wish you all a Blessed and Holy Pentecost!!! May the "Falling Down of the Holy Spirit" bring you much peace and joy at the Love between the Father and Son our Lord Jesus Christ!!

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