Oh, Job, how did you do it?

Oh, Job, how did you do it?

Did you ever have a moment where someone very wise said, "well, God must have a better plan" and you said, "Well, I think God's plan is stupid!!!" And some little voice from the back of the van says, "Mom, we don't say 'stupid.'" oh, right... "Well, I think His plan is just ... (stifled grumble of words you're unable to say) ... silly!"

Ever experience something like that?  Well, that was me on Sunday.  And what was the 1st reading at Mass about, but trusting God even if we don't understand His plans.  Nice.  phoey!  This still ain't no kind of fun!

And what was this morning prayer's reading (from the divine office - there is a FANTASTIC app btw for the divine office - it has audio! beautiful hymns and prayers read out loud to you - LOVE it. I got the iPhone at first just for that app! Thanks to my dad's recommendation of the app - hi, dad, if you're reading this!)... anyway, the reading?  Here it is:

READING Job 1:21; 2:10b

Naked I came forth from my mother's womb,

and naked I shall go back again.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;

blessed be the name of the Lord!

We accept good things from God;

and should we not accept evil?"

I want to be like "NO, WE SHOULD NOT!"  But then I had a 2nd take.  I thought of God's plan in our life.  There are so many instances, but here are a few.

- Peter took his junior year in college abroad in Belgium and when he came back to UST, they only accepted half the credits and so he wasn't able to graduate on time.  He was aggravated and disappointed, but then saw the Rome program and decided if he had to spend another semester in college, he might as well spend it in Rome.  I was also on that Rome program.  We fell in love in the eternal city - that semester.  It never would have happened without the disappointment of the university not accepting his credits.

Here are Peter and I in December 1999, during the semester in Rome when we first started dating.  Don't we look cute? (And young! sheesh! I'm getting old...)

- When Peter and I got engaged, I had chosen to leave a christian community I was involved in to work more directly within the Catholic Church,but I had no idea what that meant.  My prayer time normally a source of consolation became a desert - dry, barren and lonely.  For months, I just went through the motions, so full of doubt, so full of feelings of confusion.  But then, the following March, we were at our holy hour together and at the same moment I realized we needed to go back to Rome to study I was flooded with consolation.  It was so intense (especially compared to the 10 month desert I had been enduring) that there was no doubting it was God's will.  Had I not gone through the desert, it would not have been that clear and something as crazy as moving across the ocean would probably have been doubted and rethought.  But it was crystal clear and we followed through, God opening every door along the way.

Pete and I in Siena, Italy during during the month we house sat for my cousins in Florence. (Hi, Alsups, if you're reading this!)

Because we DID follow that moment of inspiration/ consolation, we had the very great BLESSING of having our marriage blessed by Pope John Paul II!  God is so good! (And how fun to get to where your wedding gown again!)

- Fast forward to when we moved back to Minnesota three years ago.  After 7 years of living in other places, we had finally gotten back to my hometown of New Orleans.  When we began debating the offer to move north, I was so frustrated.  We finally finally! got back to my home and now we are going to leave it again? Why, God, why?!  Yet, I knew it was God calling, so we moved.  Little did we know that not only having a job in the exact field we wanted, but moving north was the key to healing our Louis.  Louis suffers with an extremely rare condition, which had been mis-diagnosed up til that point.  He was still having nighttime vomiting 3-4 nights a week from 2 am - 9 am, constant hives, stunted growth, and the medications the doctors in New Orleans gave him did not seem to be helping much.  When we moved north, we switched his care to Mayo Clinic and they finally diagnosed him correctly.  He got the correct medication (a daily injection) and can actually begin to live a life of thriving instead of just surviving.  If we hadn't followed God's prompting to move north due to my desire to stay close to my family, Louis would still be dealing with extreme daily suffering.

Louis holding his baby brother Damian.

- And finally, our home.  We were ready to place offers on three other houses and each time someone beat us to it.  It was frustrating and disheartening.  Finally, we found this place and within two weeks, we had bought it!  As we look back, all of the other properties paled in comparison to this one and this was the least expensive.  Despite our lack of foresight, God did know what He was doing!

Our beautiful country home!

So, I come back to present day.  Okay, okay, I get it.  Your ways, Lord, are not our ways.  And I don't understand the "why" and I'm not that great at accepting it, but give me the grace to accept it Lord, so that we may also cry out with great faith another verse from the Book of Job:

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

And at the last He will take His stand on the earth." (Job 19:25)

It's the Little Things ...

It's the Little Things...

As we play the waiting game to find out more about baby Damian's health, we're just taking one day at a time, one minute at a time.  We talk it through when we need to (mostly it's the mama that needs to!) and then just put our trust back in God. 

And just when you feel overwhelmed and think you cannot handle it, it's the little things that make all the difference...  We (finally!) put up our holy water fonts.  Then Leonardo informed me that he was going to bless himself all day long.  (I guess it can't hurt!)  And Louis tells me last night (after blessing himself), 

"mom, remember how we had quiet time last year and talked to Jesus and read the Bible and stuff?"
"Yes."
"We should do that again. I'm going to do that tomorrow."
"Okay, honey, that's a great idea!"
"Yep, things change."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, just putting the holy water up, it's a change."
"Yes, it's a good change, right?"
"I guess it's a good change, but I was going to say it's a God-change."

#heartmelts

Thank you, Jesus, for the little things!

7 Quick Takes - Lego Movies, Brotherly Advice, Two-Yr Old Kingdom and more!

1. This is our first Martin 7 Quick Takes Friday!  We think that's pretty cool! We'll see if you agree - ;-)

just a moment with boys and a snake

2. Two Year Old Kingdom.  We say it's the "Terrible Twos" because they don't listen, go potty everywhere, throw temper tantrums, throw toys, scream "NO!" at you unceasingly, and create more destruction than the average hurricane. But I realized recently it's not true, well, not entirely.  It's true from our point of view, but from his?  Life is his kingdom!  He has no sense of correction nor restriction nor responsibilities.  He laughs constantly and bosses everyone around.  He is completely free to do whatever he pleases (in his mind) and rejoices in life. Life is fantastic when you're the 2 year old king...

3. Legos are a boy's best friend...that and mommy's camera and sweet editing skills.
In case you missed it, here is Gregory's Hobbit Lego movie again:

4. And what goes better with Legos and boys than ... COMPETITION!  For the VERY FIRST TIME, here is Louis' Star Wars Lego movie. And remember, he had to set up every scene, every frame-one photo at a time. It took him a loooooong time, but he did a GREAT job too! Check it out:

Yes, I know. Almost every scene ends with someone in pieces.What can I say?  He's all boy! :-)

5. Sweet school surprises.  Leonardo entered Kindergarten this year - and much to my surprise, he gets it.  All of it.  He's whizzing through math, counting? baby stuff. coins? done. figuring out change after buying something? owns it. reading a clock? oh man, can you challenge me, mom? Okay, reading? done and done. Colors, numbers, left-right, religion, science?  What else can I do, mom?!  I'm exhausted trying to fill his desire to work, he burns through every task so quickly!  And especially after pulling my hair out trying to get someone else to do their work ... this is a GREAT problem to have!  Give some cheer for the K grader!

6. Damian is 3 months old!  Can it be possible?  My sweet, precious, cuddly, chub-a-licious angel is 3 months old?!! Apparently so. :-)

Helping daddy with laundry. :-)

7.  Brotherly advice.  This was one of the highlights of my week.  Advice from Louis (loo-ee) the 6 year old to the 3 month old. I heard it and had to catch it on camera, but tried to hide it, so I didn't quite get it all and you will need to turn it up a little because it's quiet, but here you go.  Soak in the sweet, amazing, gentleness of brotherly love...

Have a good weekend!

a punch to your shoulder,

the Martins

Gregory's Lego Movie

This truly is a FAMILY blog! :-)

Here's a post from Gregory, 8 years old!

His first movie...and just to give you an idea of all the effort put into this - every frame he set up and took a photo, then moved slightly and took another photo, then again, then again. This movie is made of hundreds(!) of individual photos!

ENJOY!

precious right? um ... I mean 'totally awesome'!  Yeah, AWESOME. ;-)

Great job, Gregory!

Damian Joseph Martin!

Well, he almost 3 months old now - so it's about time we post some photos :-)

I hope to usethis blog a little more often ... for better or worse!  Life with 5 boys is something else!

Mmmmm Baby Love...

Got any room for more cuteness??

(by Theresa) I didn't think I did; thought our life was all filled up - to the brim with adorable! But then I saw this little one, oh so precious!

We are delighted - overjoyed - overwhelmed!  To be trusted with FIVE BOYS, is not an honor given to very many ... we embrace it; we are grateful for it; and we rejoice in such beauty as new life can bring ... indeed our God IS an awesome God!

Our First Remodel Project

It's hard for me to believe it, but we've been in our new house for almost two months now.  We've done all sorts of little things to make the house our home, but nothing really big... until now.

One of the things that our house is lacking is a front door... the only entrance into the front of the house is through the garage, which isn't very welcoming.

Theresa had a great idea: to build an entrance in through the side of the garage.  It'll all make more sense when it's done, but the initial steps are completed:

This is the current "front door" (as seen from the inside of the house looking out to the garage).

Walls will be built around the floor I just built; the current front door will be removed; a new updated front door will be added to the exterior wall of the garage; and the old front door will be used as an entrance from the garage.

It will all make more sense when it's finished, but this new entrance will give us much needed closet space.  Right now when the boys come in the house, the coats and shoes basically just go on the floor:

This works for the adult coats, but the kids coats basically end up on the floor...

I hope to build a proper closet for coats and then add something like this for the boys:

This would certainly help with the clutter... we'll just have to train the boys to use it!

As you can imagine, we have a lot of projects planned... we'll try our best to update the blog... it's more for us... the blog makes for a nice "picture album".

Why I don't need TV (part 2)

That last post of mine was missing two videos...Let's see if I can get them to upload this time... they'll be well worth the watch.  Our boys are great sources of entertainment!

Gregory was gracious enough to play both Goldilocks and Daddy Bear.  He maintains his masculinity at the end by beating up and chasing off Goldilocks with a stick (who is now imaginary).  :)

Finally, there's Emmanuel.  He's such a sweetie!

Here he is playing his favorite game on his Mommy's phone.  

We absolutely adore how he tries to mouth the words!

Why I don't need TV...

As you can see from my previous post (yes, it's Pete again), I recently uploaded pics from our digital camera... well, I found a few darling videos as well.  They all reminded me of how blessed I am to be father to such darling boys and the proud husband of such a wonderful mommy/wife!  Here's one of the videos I found... (more later if Blogger cooperates).  Enjoy!

Is he trying to light the candle?  It appears so... he's so cute!  (This was taken after the famous Childrens' Mass video.)

Closet transformation

--This post was written by Pete.--

Apparently lots of people have "that one closet" that they're always afraid of going into because of the amount of clutter that has built up... I had a closet like that, but I hated it more for it's uselessness... It was far too deep, you'd have to crawl up into it to get anything into the way back and plus the doors were so narrow that I always felt claustrophobic.  In sum, it was a waste of space and it soon became "that one closet"... we'd just throw things into it that we couldn't find a space for.

Here are some before pictures:

You can't see the doors because they're hidden.  (Yes, I'm being sarcastic).

The doors weighed a ton and the magnetic release thing didn't work correctly, so opening the closet was already a pain.  It was the type that you were supposed to push in and then the spring would push the doors out and they would be released... well, I'm not sure if it was the weight of the doors, the '70s carpet that was rubbing the bottom... or just the fact that the doors were no longer square to the frame.

Regardless of the fact that the doors didn't open well, I just didn't like the closet... I wanted to get rid of the whole thing, but Theresa didn't like my idea of eliminating the whole thing (that might be noticeable).

What she suggested was just make the doors wider and so...

Several hours of labor later and way more dust than I anticipated, and voila!  The space was transformed from a closet into...

An office!  OK, so it's not ideal to have an office in a closet, but when you're an amazing mother of four little boys who works from home, this comes in handy!  The desk fit just perfectly!

Anyway, I much prefer the use of space now.  Would I do it again knowing what I know now?  Probably... I'm a sucker for projects.

Melt in Your Mouth Pancakes!

Well, since I'm on a roll...

Eating plant-based does not have to be LIMITING!  That's why I've been inspired to share a couple recipes here.

We don't use butter; we don't use eggs, we don't use milk.  

So are things like pancakes off limits?  Not at all!  

You just have to be willing to be adventurous!

Melt in Your Mouth Pancakes!
(recipe created by me! based on a couple pancake recipes I've used in the past and adjusted to fit our new plant-based style.)

Before you begin any breakfast recipe, you must have the right liquid refreshment...this morning's choice to sooth my throat is hot tea with a splash of almond milk. :-)

You'll need 2 mixing bowls.  Plus 3 bananas (or 4 if you don't have applesauce), 1 cup of applesauce, stone ground whole wheat flour, baking powder, dash of salt, almond milk, 100% pure maple syrup, dash of cinnamon and extras if you want: carob chips or dark chocolate chips or blueberries or raspberries or whatever!

Start by mashing your bananas in the small bowl.  I didn't have applesauce so I mashed 4 bananas.  Started mashing bananas at 7:20am.

Be aware, you might want to keep little pieces of a banana out to keep the natives from getting too restless!

Cute little native :-)

 In the large bowl, place 3 cups of stone ground whole wheat flour, Hodgson Mill is SO TASTY!

Add 2 Tbs baking powder and MIX.

Add mashed bananas & 2 cups of vanilla almond milk! Stir well.

 Okay normally you want to blend 1 Tbs of ground flaxseed with 3Tbs of water and then add it to the mix.  (Acts as egg replacement, but flaxseed has been found to be great for regulating hormones - so good to add to any meal! Even has been known to increase a woman's libido...no, really!)

  I'm doing this step differently by just adding the flaxseed and water right in, oops!  Not to worry, it'll still taste good!

 Without applesauce, it might not be as sweet as you or your family likes.  To sweeten healthfully, add 1-2Tbs of 100% pure maple syrup. 

 Just a dash of cinnamon, mix and we're ready to cook them!

It's now only 7:32am!  Quick and EASY!

Adding blueberries or chocolate chips (or carob chips), makes the pancakes fun! 

 (But don't add them until the pancakes are poured onto the pan or else it will make the batter grey and the pancakes grey too, which isn't the biggest deal - just not as appealing.)

 After you pour batter in the pan, drop the chips or blueberries onto each pancake...

 Flip!

 Breaking little bits off to feed the natives and keep them at bay while you finish the batch helps tamper down on the number of uprisings...

 Serve and ENJOY!

Cream of Broccoli Soup!

Whose HUNGRY for Yummy-Healthy?!

Hi! So, we haven't posted on this blog for a while...oops! looks like over a year! lol! Well, I'm changing that! (This is Theresa posting now.)

Here's a recipe I recently posted on FB!

How to make plant-based Cream of Broccoli soup!

yeah, I know I look goofy, but I got my new Forks Over Knives cookbook today!!! Over 300 recipes for great plant-based eating!
And I'm going to walk you through one of our family favorites: Cream of Broccoli Soup!

Okay! you need some potatoes, fresh broccoli, onions, bell peppers, garlic, cashews, carrots, celery, thyme, salt free veggie broth, black pepper, dash of salt.
1st - skin and cube potatoes! The way I see it, eating plant-based is not about what you canNOT eat but what you CAN! If you like potatoes, put extra in!
started prepping potatoes at 5:45pm

Okay, I missed the photo but blend 1 cup of cashews and 1 cup of broth - until smooth, set aside.
Here are the onions and celery (and I didn't have carrots, but you're supposed to)

in just 1 cup of broth, cook onions, celery (& carrots) for 5 minutes over medium heat.

stirring occasionally ;-)

while that's cooking, chop garlic & bell peppers. After the 5 minutes is up ADD peppers, garlic and potatoes and continue to cook for 2 more minutes.

Then ADD 4 more cups of broth and chopped broccoli!

plus 2tsp of thyme ... hmmmm that's about 2 tsp right? Lol! I'd drive the rule followers nuts in my kitchen!
Plus! 1/2 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp salt. SIMMER and cook until potatoes and broccoli are soft - at least 10 minutes. (I usually have to go 13)
While cooking, I read part of a book, checked FB, had a drink...

Here is my blended nuts (I was out of cashews so I used almonds! Don't be afraid to bend the rules!)
And I've just tasted the potatoes, perfect! Mix the blended nuts into soup!

Stir them together well!

Then you will blend half the soup in the blender, but in small increments. So, you scoop it out carefully and blend. 

Then add the blended mixture back to the soup and stir!

ENJOY! When we were taking our first bites it was 6:40pm. Fast and healthy!!!
Your family might be a little hesitant at first...

But one bite and they LOVE it!

Gregory was licking his bowl clean!
I dare you to find any leftovers with this yummy plant-based cream of broccoli soup!

Welcome to the family, Emmanuel!

Emmanuel Philip Martin - Born March 21, 2011 - 7lbs, 11oz, 19 1/2in. long.


He's the sweetest baby!

Our very belated Christmas Letter...

2010, Where To Begin?

To be honest, we weren’t going to do a Christmas letter this year. It seems that there is always some curveball that gets in the way, however, after reading some of your Christmas letters, we were inspired to share our crazy life with you again.

It indeed has been a wild year! Yes, we are at a new address (again!), but I’ll get to that shortly. Let’s see, Gregory turned five this year, learned to read and write and attends kindergarten. He loves it – and although it does come with more runny noses and some potty humor, his mom loves it too because some else can have a turn answering all his questions! The child really has a mind like a trap – for example, we were speaking about my aunt (his granddad’s sister) and we reminded him that he met her when we stopped to visit her on the way to New Orleans from Maryland. “Oh yeah” Gregory said and I thought he didn’t quite remember, but Pete asked, “what movie did we watch at her house?” (Who in the world would remember that? He was only 3!) “The cat one!” Gregory said…sure enough, Artistocats…it blows me away how much he remembers and he amazes us like that all the time. He is our treasure, our big helper, and our instigator of all things rascally!

Louis turned four this year, and has had quite a year. Finally diagnosed last year with Mastocytosis, we have been working hard to help fight the symptoms and the disease in order to allow him to live as much a normal life as possible. He and his mom even took a trip to Tucson, AZ for the Mastocytosis Society Conference and while there met with a renowned microbiologist/ nutritionalist. Long and short of it, we have to do a lot of monitoring of external and internal triggers to keep the symptoms at bay. We have a caring bridge site you can visit to learn all about his wonderful, tender, painful, and heroic little life: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/louisfm Also a fundraising site was launched by his uncle Paul (my sister Grace Marie’s husband) to support Louis: www.helpLouis.com

Leonardo is an amazing two year old. He can verbalize better than either of his brothers could at that age and he has such a sense of humor! It is such a blessing that he can speak so well, because we get a remarkable peek into the mind of a two year old. He is so carefree and lively! He doesn’t really seem to have any fear (not even of getting in trouble), but if we start the countdown he will usually obey (although reluctantly!). He also has an excellent memory and can keep right in step with his big brothers. He is joyful, rough, funny and lovable – delightfully surprising all he meets!

Theresa is full of life, literally! We are expecting baby #4 in late March – and yes, it is another BOY! We laugh at God’s humor and are delighted to help build up another man of God. Theresa also continues to have success in her Mary Kay business this past year, having earned her 3rd Mary Kay Career Car! She is a leader in the Mary Kay world and an inspiration to all the women she meets. She also created oil paintings, worked with Pete in marriage ministries, and continues to write on life (and has been a guest contributor to the Office of Life for The Courier, the Diocesan newspaper).

And lest we forget the pater familias! Peter completed his Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) in Studies of Marriage and Family at the John Paul II Institute in December of last year. He continued to work from home and together we did marriage ministry for our parish. To make a long story short, in September, Peter was offered a position as the Director of the Office of Life for the Diocese of Winona, MN. After refusing in the past to even consider it, something was different in September and we both truly felt this was God’s will for us. So, Pete boldly works on the front lines, carving a fresh, new and yet, faithful outreach to engaged and married couples, pro-life ministries, teaching true human freedom in dignity and sexuality, and directing the Safe Environment program protecting children. What a remarkable blessing indeed! We are humbled by God’s constant generosity towards us.

So, here we are in Winona, MN! Ready to start a new year and embrace whatever it is God has in store for us this year! Living for God can be confusing, trying, uncomfortable, unsettling and sometimes painful, but one thing about it is that it is never boring! And more than that, despite all the difficulties in doing so, placing yourself completely in God’s hands, you are supported, you are strengthened, you are loved…

May God bless you! And we pray you had the most Blessed Christmas and that you experience an amazing, adventurous New Year!

Minnesota Living

Well, we've been here over a month and a half and we just had our first big snow. It is beautiful here in Minnesota and the people are really nice. I (Pete) love my job and I am grateful to God for this opportunity.

Theresa is doing well... in case you haven't heard, we're having another boy and he's due March 21st. She continues to be super mom as she takes care of the boys and keeps up her Mary Kay business.

Gregory loves his new friends in Kindergarten and we all love his teacher... she is teaching him so many songs!

Louis and Leonardo enjoy being home together. Louis recently went with Mommy to Tucson, AZ for a Mastocytosis Conference... you can read more about it here.

Here are a number of photos and a couple of videos for your enjoyment! For the videos you will have to click on it to play it... there are three.

The Great Move North

For those of you who haven't heard, we've moved! (Well, almost). I (Peter) got a job with the Diocese of Winona in Minnesota and we moved out of our house in Louisiana three weeks ago. We spent a week and a half with Theresa's family in Louisiana and took three days to travel. We took a day and a half off in Kansas where we spent time with Theresa's relatives and we got to see Uncle John and Aunt Kristen too! We arrived in Wisconsin about a week ago and we will move into our new home in Minnesota tomorrow!

I'm posting all the pictures I had from the last several months. We've not been real good about keeping up with the Blog, but we'll attempt to do much better.

Welcome Summertime 2010

We just wanted to share with you a selection of pictures from the past few months. Enjoy! (You'll see a small icon in the bottom left if it is a video... clicking on that picture will start the video in another window.)