St. Joseph

This week, I buried a Saint.
Not your typical Lori-post, huh? Well, before you pick up the phones to start notifying the authorities, I'll tell you I went to a Christian Book Store this week and bought a 4" statue of St. Joseph.

According to http://www.st-josephstatue.com, "Saint Joseph was Jesus' earthly father, and raised Gods only son together with his wife, Virgin Mary. St Joseph is known to be the saint of handcraft and home protection. He is also commonly expressed as "The home Selling saint" in folklore."

Here is the history behind Saint Joseph.
The history behind the tradition to bury a statue of Saint Joseph is hundreds of years old (A.D. 1515 - 1582). It began in Europe with the nuns at a Closter needed to expand their land, and as a prayer to St. Joseph they buried medals of him in the ground.
After a short time they found out that their prayers had been heard and they got more land. This old story has lived on until today but on the tradition has changed from burying medals to burying statues.

St. Joseph was the husband to Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus of Nazareth.
We don't know a lot about Joseph, except that he was a skilled craftsman and a good father. He became a Saint for workers and it is very common to pray to him to get help his with house sales and many other things.
The reason he been made a Patron Saint is that he taught Jesus the craftsman's trade and made sure that Jesus always was well housed. That is the reason why he always help people to find a house they are looking for and in that way helping the people who need to sell their homes.


So today, people buy a small statue of Saint Joseph and actually bury him in their front yard...close to their "For Sale" sign. He is buried upside down, facing the house.
I have to admit, I felt almost sinful burying a Saint in my front yard. (I was a bit curious what the neighbors would think.)
Tom and I have been praying together every night. Perhaps our challenge in selling the house is actually intended to bring us closer together in prayer with our Lord. I know He has great things in store for us. :)

If you so desire, please join us in our prayer:
Dear St. Joseph, head of the most perfect household, foster father of Jesus and guardian of His mother Mary, I confidently place myself and all my concerns under your care and protection. I ask that, through your powerful intercession with God, you obtain for me all the help and graces that I need for my spiritual and temporal welfare and in particular, the special favor I now ask to help our house sell profitably and quickly so we may begin to build our family in a new house we can call our home. Good St. Joseph, I know with confidence that your prayers on my behalf will be heard by God, and if it is His Will, it will be done. Thank you St. Joseph, for having responded to my call. Amen.

Five...

Five Years. Five years used to be a long time. It was almost a whole elementary era. It is longer than I was ever in Junior High, High School, or College. The key word though, is "used". It USED to be a long time. Not anymore. The past five years have flown by. I'm talking Lightening McQueen, Speed Racer, To Infinity and Beyond SPEED! How in God's good world can by baby boy be FIVE????? I'll admit I've already gotten teary eyed just thinking about Kindergarten. (Yes, I'm going to be one of THOSE moms.)

Brock has learned his birthday and we've been counting down the days. He doesn't get his birthday party until Saturday, 2/20, so I couldn't let my boy be disappointed when the 16th got here and there was no fun celebrations! We woke him up singing "Happy Birthday" and surprised him with his new bicycle! A BIG BOY BIKE!

Mommy took the afternoon off and we had a Brock/Mommy date. We went to see the Princess and the Frog (which was great!) and then we went to Target to pick out a bike helmet.
Upon our arrival home, this Mommy tried something only a Daddy should try! Assemble the bike! The directions may as well been in Portuguese. What in the world is a clamp bolt?!?! And, after screwing one pedal in quite successfully, I nearly threw the other pedal through a window or wall! (That probably wouldn't have helped the house selling process!) I had texted Tom that he may need to get a new bike on the way home (as this one might be damaged to pieces) but he arrived home in time to pick up the pedal from across the room, and say "oh, it's a reverse thread" and screw the darn thing in! Um, hello! Has anyone ever heard, "tighty righty, lefty loosey"???? There was no tighty lefty where I came from!!!
The rest of the night was spent playing with friends, trying out the new bike (of which we need a little practice) and enjoying each other!

Happy Birthday my dear Brock! Daddy and I love you so very very much! This is going to be a big and exciting year for you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone had a very happy valentine's day! I had a wonderful weekend with my kids, and especially with my very favorite Valentine, Tom!

Best Friends

In my last post, I tried to think of all the great things that have happened in this house. I didn't put the most important one there. Friendship. There's so much more I'd like to expand on this subject, but this picture tells most of the story. Brock & JP. Best Friends Forever. Rumor has it, JP would like Brock to live at his house. :-)

Brock & JP happen to be really GREAT Wii Mario Kart Racers too! I love these boys!!

Wishing and Hoping

and thinking...and praying. Planning and dreaming...this house just might SELL.....one day.

Since Charla asked, and since all we ever think about is keeping the house clean and ready for a showing, I figured it deserved a post of it's own.

We've had our house on the market for a year now. An anniversary I wish I didn't have to celebrate.

The house looks good. The feedback we've been getting is positive in the sense there is nothing we can change. Either they want something bigger, newer, older, different layout, fireplace, etc. Another tidbit of information from our realtor is the other houses are just killing us right now. We are priced low, but when you have neighbors practically giving away their houses due to foreclosures or other "must-move" scenarios, that doesn't work out in your favor. But we're in a good area, a good district, priced very well in terms of what the property is worth, and just waiting for "THE RIGHT" buyer.

We are pretty sure we have our next house picked out. With the very nice bonus our company got this year, it seals the deal on a good down payment, and for that I'm grateful.

While I'm so very ready to move out of this house, I must think back and remember the very good memories we've made here.

* It was our FIRST HOUSE of our very own! (and MY! don't we look YOUNG!)


* It was the house where we brought home our first baby boy!


* Tom built his very first retaining wall and made a very nice area for our huge swing set.


* We housed family for a month or so during their big move back to Texas!!
(And so happy they came back!)


* We tried our hand at various home improvement plans. Well, my plans, Tom's hands. ;-)
- laminate wood flooring

- bathroom makeovers & window sills
- deeper sink & new faucet
- new carpet
- new & enhanced light fixtures

* It was the house where we brought home our little baby girl!

But until the right buyer comes along, we will just keep Wishing, and Hoping. Thinking, and Praying (a LOT). Planning, and Dreaming...and of course, CLEANING!