September in Review

We had a busy September here.  We began homeschooling, Phil entered formation for becoming a deacon with the Diocese of La Crosse and we took a family trip to San Diego for my brother's wedding (which entailed my flying alone with the three kids).  All three were major (and some even life changing) events for our family and required a lot of preparation and time.  Of course every day with three little ones goes by quickly;  I feel like I blinked and September was gone!  Before any more time gets away from me - here's an update from our family:

Major Event #1: We officially began our homeschooling!

Getting ready to go to Mass on our First day of school

William and Miriam began kindergarten and preschool respectively at Sancta Familia Academy (our homeschool) on September 6th.  We began our day with Mass at St. James Catholic Church which is the closest church to our house. I feel like I've been preparing for this day since before William was born so it was so exciting to actually officially begin formal homeschooling though of course the learning never ends.

Miriam in front of the work boxes that help organize our school day.

Look for a post soon that describes a "typical" home school day for us.

Major Event #2: Phil begins formation for the Diaconate for the Diocese of La Crosse

Car packed and ready to go

This one is going to require a separate blog post to explain the discernment journey up to this point but in the mean time you can go here for more details. Technically, Phil began his formation as a deacon aspirant in August.  However, in September we packed the whole family up, including the dog, and went on an overnight trip to La Crosse to participate in a retreat at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe for men in formation to become a deacon and their wives.  It was an exhausting but grace-filled trip for our family and God took care of all the details for us, including helping us find someone to house all of us including the dog and a babysitter to care for the children for part of the retreat.  If God is truly calling Phil to the diaconate now at this stage in our lives-and it sure does seem that way- this is definitely a life changing journey and we are learning to surrender to God's plan for our lives as we walk this path.  

Major Event #3: A Family Trip to San Diego for Uncle Steve's Marriage to Aunt Rosie

Luke traveling in style through the airport

This is Phil's busiest time of the year at work but since my brother was getting married it was time to head to San Diego.  Since I wanted to spend at least a week with my family - who knows when we'll be back again - it meant traveling alone on an airplane with three little kids (ages, 5, 3 and 1).

William puts car stickers on his tray race track

 Thanks to many people's prayers and a little bit of preparation the traveling went very well.  The only major mishap was I lost my drivers license on one of the flights.  We had an amazing time in San Diego.

The kids enjoying Uncle Steve's Pool

  The wedding was beautiful,

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Gomez

and we have some amazing memories from our time with my family.

A huge blessing was spending time with my 101 year old grandfather.

I am so grateful that my children could get to know all their family in San Diego and I hope we'll be able to go back again soon. We miss everyone already!

All the Grand-kids together