Message from Christchurch

Christchurch, 29 May-

Thank you for putting this on your Blog.

I have just come from the Procession and it was amazing. There were about 400 - 500 people.

A thank you to Bishop Jones for leading this procession and Consecrating Christchurch to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

A special thanks the Father Rizzo FSSP and Brother Paul Mary FSSR and Brother Xavier Mary FSSR for the help and support they gave Father Rizzo. Without them it would not have happened.

Finally a great big thanks to the Carmelite Sisters for repairing the Statue of Mary (Our Lady of Christchurch) after is was broken while it was being recovered.

God Bless you all
Lenore

Procession for Our Lady of Christchurch

Our Lady of Christchurch.

Our Lady of Christchurch.

Today in Christchurch, New Zealand
there will be a special procession in honour
of
Our Lady of Christchurch.

While the earth heaved
and all this was happening,
while all that wasn't,
and most of what was,
cemented down
was smashed to the ground,
Our Lady of Christchurch
turned to face Her children.

Our Lady of Christchurch
stood in the left tower...

... and can be seen in this picture
at the window of the upper level
just below the devastation.

While towers and great domes fell about Her
while the earth cracked beneath Her
and glass smashed before Her,
Our Lady stood, Stabat.
Stabat Mater.
Stabat Mater dolorosa... lacrimosa...
Our Lady of Christchurch, pray for us.

During the calamitous February 22 earthquakes
that blitzed the city
the statue that had been in the bell tower of the Cathedral
remained serenely standing
and turned 180 degrees to face out through
the bell tower's broken window
as the
Comfortress of the Afflicted.

a bit of 'lo and beholdness' in the shed...

do you recall a certain lovely thrift store blanket?

no need to fret about your recall skills, nor mutter under your breathe

"blimey Tif, i can hardly recall what i had for dinner last night, let alone your thrifty finds"

for i have provided an image to help, i know its friday and the week has been long so i do not wish you to have to mutter under your breathe because of me.

actually i can recall what i had for dinner last night, a rare occurrence indeed. not 'having dinner', the recalling it bit. it was a meal of orange with a hint of green. it was completely home cooked and surprisingly appealing looking, therefore worthy of recall in my mind.

however it is not about my culinary delights today, no sirree! it is all about Mille and her crocheting kindness.

upon finding my lovely thrift store blanket, then gifting it to another i continued about my life.

then one day Mille appeared, she told me how the blanket had inspired her to make one for herself and as she had trouble finding a pattern for it, very cleverly (i am thinking) worked it out from my blanket! this had me very delighted and even more so when she wrote up her 'something pretty' pattern and was happy to share it with us. thank you so kindly Mille for inspiring me to pick up Mr Hook again and others i am quite sure.

i am totally in love with Mille's use of colours, this is so often where i trip up but not today, for today i am riding high, higher than i have ever ridden in my short history of crochet riding...

for you see, thanks to the brilliant Mille, a small miracle came to pass last night in Mossy Shed.

as i sat, pondering her pattern with Mr Hook in hand and a ball of gray (see what i mean about colour), i established two rounds of petals and instead of doing as i was told and finishing up with a round of granny square to complete the one petaled square, a little voice whispered in my ear.

that little voice tempted me to do another round of petals, it questioned if indeed i could perhaps go another round or two after that. it was daring me to aim for a circle of crocheted goodness. i made a silent promise to Mille i would come back to her squares after i had ventured off with my little voice

never in my short span of crocheting career (do i have one) have i managed a circle of muchness. but i was feeling reckless, i was in my new snug, cozy, crafty hangout upstairs tucked out of the way of my clan, i was feeling anything was possible at that moment in time. the world of crocheting was my oyster.

and so it would appear the crocheting circle gods were in line, for row after row of petals and hour after hour of me sitting there listening to the early morning show on Radio 2 had me believing that miracles do happen. as i stood to go to bed, a little achy and creaky, well past my due date of hitting the sack, i laid my crocheted circle offering down and right there and then, a chorus of angels appeared, (singing quietly cause it was late) and glory shone down on me.

a crocheted circle of 'lo and beholdness' had been born and not an ounce of 'colour iffyness' about it.

she is wishing you a bit of 'lo and beholdness' yourselves this weekend ~ Tif

Sleepless Nights and Endless Days

See this face?

 

This is the face of a little boy who has decided that sleep is overrated. After STTN from week 7 to 13, this little darling started waking up at 1 a.m., 4 a.m., 5:30 a.m. and for the day at 7:30 a.m. You can guess how tired his momma is. 

He wakes up, nurses and goes right back to bed no questions asked. So at first I thought he was just hungry. That this was just a growth spurt. Six weeks later this is no growth spurt. And last night, he fell asleep on the boob after three minutes which tells me the kid is also not hungry. He's just awake and doesn't know how to put himself back to bed. And we've played the back rubbing/paci game. It solves the issue for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. Then we're back up with a crying baby. 

 

He needs sleep, I need sleep, his daddy needs sleep. The only one that's sleeping is his sister. TWELVE HOURS she can sleep. My little angel baby. Her halo shines extra bright in my sleepless state.

I'm sure part of this is my fault, although some have commented that this could be our four month wakeful. Who knows? We don't really run by a set schedule and it seems to work for one twin, it even used to work for Ryan. 

The babies wake for the day around 7:30, nap around 9, 1 and 4 - sometimes they take a very short nap around 7 p.m. (I've tried putting them to bed at this time and they end up awake 45 minutes later no matter what I do). Depending on how long the 4 p.m. nap lasts and whether they snooze again at 7, bedtime is anywhere from 8:30 - 9:15.

This weekend we're Ferbering. I don't know how I feel about it, but our pediatrician recommended a modified Ferber at our 4 month WBV. I know we have to commit to doing this for three days, hence why we're starting tonight. I have back up through the three day weekend. And hopefully by the time Joe goes back to work on Tuesday, we'll have our other angel baby back. Our pediatrician said that, given Ryan's weight and age, he should be able to sleep 10 hours without eating.

We're moving Reese into our room in the PNP while this goes on so she isn't woken up by him fussing and one of us is going to sleep in the guest bedroom (which is next to the nursery) to be on timer duty.

 

{ what mommy, you don't like hanging out at 4 a.m.? }

Joe's MBA program started back up and he's been working super long hours. My tank is empty. I'm so exhausted and run down lately that I actually came down with a fever earlier this week. Nothing like taking care of two infants and burning a cool 101. Death warmed over. Suddenly letting my kid cry for three and five minute intervals doesn't seem so bad.



Has anyone tried Ferber with success? Any advice you have, I'm completely open to. Thanks in advance!