Sacred Heart

Little One is fascinated by the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And with my desire to learn and pray more chaplets, I thought I would research and make a chaplet. In researching the prayers to be said for this chaplet, I have run across several versions, mostly regular rosary beads or chaplets with 33 small beads (and some number of larger beads). Most in red, which will make Little One happy since she likes red. A lot.

The chaplet starts with the Anima Christi prayer - one of my favorites:

Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from Christ's side, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints
and with Thy angels
Forever and ever
Amen

One each large bead say "O sweetest Heart of Jesus, I implore that I may ever love Thee more and more."

On each small bead say "Sweet Heart of Jesus, be Thou my Love."

At the of each group say "Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation."

Conclude by saying "May the Heart of Jesus in the most blessed Sacrament be praised and adored and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even unto the end of time."

The God bookstore

Little One's initiative to rename one of the local Catholic bookstores: the God bookstore. Very appropriate I think. The ladies in the store loved it. We purchased a nice illustrated book on saints that should last her awhile and a booklet on chaplets.

My latest creative venture (aka how to do something productive and/or creative with my little bit of free time) is to make rosaries and chaplets. I have the beads, but need to purchase middles, crosses/crucifixes, and medals. Little One wants a red one - she likes red.

More tomatoes

Silly birds (I assume) ate two of my four ripening tomatoes.

Tomatoes: the taste test

Wow! That was just about the best tomato I've ever tasted! Now I really wish we had a yard in which to plant a garden. Yum!

Tomatoes

We have tomatoes ripening on our tomato plant in our container garden! I could have sworn that I bought a cherry tomato plant, but these are the biggest cherry tomatoes I've ever seen. We'll taste test tonight.

We had one strawberry before it got too hot here, and two banana peppers with more on the way. Mint is doing well, although now that it is hot (REALY hot), I have to really keep up with the watering. Basil is once again hard to grow in Dallas, but does quite well down in Houston.

Out of the mouths of babes

Although we explained to our three-year-old that the baby was no longer in Mommy's tummy but in Heaven, I was a little surprised by the following conversation. I wanted her to understand why Mommy and Daddy were sad and wanted to make sure that she was doing ok.

Mommy: "Mommy and Daddy are sad because the baby isn't here. Are you sad?"
Little One: "No."
Mommy: "You're not sad? Why?"
Little One: "Baby is in Heaven with Jesus praying."

Well, there you go.

Our loss - and our gain in Heaven

Before Little One was born, we lost two other children through miscarriages. We recently lost another one. Yes, I struggle with "why", especially since I was on aspirin and progesterone (which worked once before). But I know this baby, along with two of his siblings, is in Heaven and that we as a family have three babies to intercede on our behalf always.

Prayer on EWTN from Mother Angelica:

My Lord, the baby is dead!

Why, my Lord—dare I ask why? It will not hear the whisper of the wind or see the beauty of its parents’ face—it will not see the beauty of Your creation or the flame of a sunrise. Why, my Lord?

“Why, My child—do you ask ‘why’? Well, I will tell you why.

You see, the child lives. Instead of the wind he hears the sound of angels singing before My throne. Instead of the beauty that passes he sees everlasting Beauty—he sees My face. He was created and lived a short time so the image of his parents imprinted on his face may stand before Me as their personal intercessor. He knows secrets of heaven unknown to men on earth. He laughs with a special joy that only the innocent possess. My ways are not the ways of man. I create for My Kingdom and each creature fills a place in that Kingdom that could not be filled by another. He was created for My joy and his parents’ merits. He has never seen pain or sin. He has never felt hunger or pain. I breathed a soul into a seed, made it grow and called it forth.”

I am humbled before you, my Lord, for questioning Your wisdom, goodness, and love. I speak as a fool—forgive me. I acknowledge Your sovereign rights over life and death. I thank You for the life that began for so short a time to enjoy so long an Eternity.

Because it was still early (first trimester), we had only told close family and Little One. Some may argue against telling a child, especially a small child. But we want her to know that every life is precious and cherished. And now she knows that the baby is in Heaven with Jesus.

We are doing ok. I'm a little nervous since I will be having surgery soon for the miscarriage, so please keep us in your prayers.