My 30th Birthday

I finally get to join the 30 year old club.  Yes, I have turned 30 years old today.  I have lived on this beautiful earth for three decades.  I got to celebrate my birthday today with many people.  It was a special one.  My cousin priest who has been travelling around the US preaching had stopped at our house before he went back to India today.  This cousin priest is very special to me.  It is through his prayers last year that I started to see things in life with a different perspective.  He taught me to embrace sufferings in life and to fall in love with Jesus. I got to celebrate my 29th birthday with him last year and this year again I got the special blessing to be in his presence while I cut the cake.

George's favorite achan (priest)

My day started with a knock at the door from my next door neighbor and she had in her hands a home made birthday cake for me.  Aww....I don't know how to express my gratitude to this family for bringing such joy into my heart.  Sometimes by seeing the kindness and love in others I feel like I have to improve myself so much more in the area of sharing love with others.  I don't know how they found out about my birthday.  We only see each other once in a while.  But this family just shows so much love through their actions by moving the snow from our driveway during heavy snow storms, offering food and now birthday cake.  Thanking God for this family.

My parents, Sony's parents and my cousin priest was with me while I cut the cake and a special prayer and blessing from our cousin achan. I had three cakes to cut, one which my neighbor brought, my dad bought me a nice cake and Sony's parents brought home made cake.  Lord is really telling me how much He loves me through all this.  My dad bought me a gift, a perfume..aww..it was so special.  How thoughtful of him to get me a perfume! :))  My brother, when he got back home from work brought me one of my favorite food, Char Broiled Chicken Sandwich from Portillos YUM... so sweet of my lit brother.

Now last but not the least my wonderful husband made sure to surprise me with a beautiful birthday gift two weeks ago..hahaha  he bought me a nice dress.  My Sonyji...what would I do without you :)

Not to mention all the calls, VMs, emails, FB msgs from family and friends made me feel like I am the most blessed person in the world.

As I write all this I see the mysterious ways in which the Lord works in our lives, how he makes sure we are happy by fulfilling even the smallest desires of our hearts and sometimes not.  This is just the little story of my life but if we really start paying attention to our daily lives we can see how sometimes everything falls in place, like that parking spot which we really needed and we actually got even in the middle of the crazy church feast celebrations, or the closest spot in the busy hospital parking lot, or making it to an appointment by not getting a single red light.  How about the times we didn't have anyone to share our problems with and a friend calls from out of the blue asking how are you, or how you so badly wanted your child to sleep for 30 mins and with no chance of a nap the kid just passes out because they are tired.  Isn't this all the work of our dear Lord??  If we see it with a different eye we discover there are more blessings in our lives than sufferings.  We just need to look at it from a different angle.  So we come to the point that we cannot complain about anything but receive everything with open hands from our God and just enjoy every bit of life knowing that it is a gift from God.

Life is a blessing and and let us make our lives a blessing to others.

St. Thomas the Apostle feast day festivities

Today is the feast of St. Thomas the apostle.  A very special day for us Syro Malabar Catholics.  We also call this day Dukrana being the day of his martyrdom according to tradition.  St. Thomas came to Kerala, India  in 52AD and preached and shared his life experiences with Christ to the Hindu people at that time.  Many were baptized and became Christians.  You could find more information here:  http://www.ewtn.com/library/homelibr/kerala.txt

Now you know why we celebrate it with such festivities.  If it wasn't for St. Thomas we would have never acknowledged Christ.   Our church here in Chicago is named after St. Thomas and the next three days are filled with feast day celebrations. 

We had a special feast day mass at our church today.  We were able to go to mass together as a family since Sony was off from work today.  I wanted to make this feast day special at home so that it is more visual for my very little children who cannot really understand the meaning of celebrating a feast day yet.  We read the passage about the unbelieving Thomas from the Children’s Catholic Bible.

I made some banana fry which is a traditional snack of Kerala (state in India) My mom made Idli (made of powdered rice) which is also a very traditional South Indian food.  I am assuming that St. Thomas might have had these when he was in Kerala.  I can only imagine the many adjustments he had to make in order to live in a completely foreign place all for the sake of Christ. 

You can also see St. Thomas Cross which is at the top of the traditional Kerala lamp.  There are six branches of the cross representing the appearance of God in the burning bush, while the central branch holds the cross, and the dove at the tip of the cross represents the Holy Spirit.  

The two small vessels which you see infront of the lamp are called Kindi and Para.  Kindi is a type of pitcher usually found in old houses in Kerala.  Para is a traditional measuring vessel also found in old hosues.  I just added that to show the kind of vessels used back when St.  Thomas arrived in Kerala.  You can also see a wooden boat in my picture above which resembles a traditional sport of Keralites called Vallam Kali, a traditional boat race in Kerala. 

        

We ended out small feast day celebration with a prayer to St. Thomas.  George couldn't wait to have some of the banana fry. 

"So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, " Let us also go die with him" John 11:16  

I pray that I will be able to grow into a stronger faith like St. Thomas, to be able to go and die for Jesus  in my day to day activities, in taking care of children,  in loving and being submissive to my husband, respecting and caring for parents and in the many other responsibilities God has given. 

Almighty and everliving God, who strengthened your apostle Thomas with sure and certain faith in your Son’s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

St. Thomas the apostle – Pray for us.  

Our Little Singer

This little guy sings all day, plays guitar whenever he gets a chance and drums on everything he sees.  Our house is a very loud one.  His favorite song is "His grace is enough" by the catholic singer Matt Maher.  He of course learned this from his dad.  If anyone asks him to sing a song this song will be his first choice.  The second choice is "Our God is greater"  by Chris Tomlin.  These are all his dads favorite singers and songs.  He learns guitar, drums everything from Sony.  I have so many videos like this but I picked this one because he is standing up on the coffee table just like a performer.  He also has an audience who is Sony who just got back from work and Anna who is waiting for few more months to get her chance to sing.  

5th Wedding Anniversary Surprises

On June 20th we celebrated our 5th year wedding anniversary.  We both still cannot believe that we have been married for 5 years.  I am not sure whether it is a good thing or bad thing lol.  It was a very memorable anniversary and due to that reason I want to record all of it here so that I can always cherish these lovely memories with my husband and children.  

Pic taken 5 years ago in Rome at the famous Trevi Fountain during our honeymoon.

Sony is not a person who buys gifts for birthdays, anniversary's or any special event like that.  We buy it for others but not for ourselves.  We might go to the city together or eat out but nothing beyond that. I am the opposite.  I love to buy cards and write long letters, or buy some surprises etc. (typical woman) See how God brings two completely different characters together!!  Anyhow for our 5th anniversary I was not planning to do anything except make a cake.  

To my surprise Sony went all out this time.  He took me to the mall and gave me a surprise Manicure and Pedicure.  He had me close my eyes while I walked over to the salon so that I wouldn't know where I was going.  When I found out where I was I resisted for a while but I did not want to make a big fuss in front of the people there. He dropped me there and took both the kids and the diaper bag and went to the kids play area.  How sweet of this man!!  I was very much impressed as I got to sit there and relax for a bit.  This is the first time he is giving me a surprise Manicure and Pedicure in our 5 years of marriage.  It was very very special.  He came back to pick me up with the kids and I expressed my gratitude for this special surprise and also for taking care of the children during that time.  I thought the surprise ended there and I was content.  I did not want anything more than that because I was very pleased by his act of love.  

Sony and George picked that color

Well, I was wrong.  He had other plans.  The next day was our anniversary and he went to work.  (teaching summer school).  Around noon a parcel comes for me. What??? A Parcel for me!!  Who would send me anything?  I know Sony will not send anything because he has never done this before.  But this man surprised me with beautiful flowers..  I don't know what to say about this.  Really words cannot explain my feelings.  This is the first time he sent me flowers.  Yes, we don't give flowers for valentines day or any other days..yeaa  I know =D  So the flowers were extra special because it was the FIRST time.  I was overjoyed seeing this. I quickly took it out and put it in the vase and placed on our dining table...it was beautiful.  

"in good ways and BAD" hahaaa

I know I would think that the party ended there but it didn't.  He came back home after work asking us to get ready.  He took us for dinner outside.  A great place, we have never been there before.  He treated us with great food and after that we went to the greatest celebration of all, Holy Mass.  We thanked our Lord for 5 beautiful years.  We went through smooth as well as rough roads but he was right by our side helping us get through every stage of it.  

All I could say was Thank You.  We cut the cake in the evening.  I had the sign of the Holy Spirit on the cake representing the role of Holy Spirit in our lives right from the beginning of our marriage. I walked the aisle on my wedding day to the World Youth Day 2008 theme song "receive the Power from the Holy Spirit" We wont be here without the third person who is the Trinity itself.  

I am so grateful to have such a great husband.  Thank you for all the great things he did to celebrate our 5th year anniversary and the things he keep doing everyday to make our family a happy place.  I asked him what is the reason why he went all out on this anniversary celebration.  He told me that it is the 5th year of our marriage and it is special that we have completed 5 years.  He also said not to expect anything like this until the 10th year anniversary..haha  My husband....he is amazing.  I am so glad that he does not do these things on a regular basis.  I know I will not appreciate or remember it as much as I did on this day.  I will always remember this day and I will look forward to the 10th one :))

Fun at the Park

We have been enjoying a lot of time at the park with both George and Anna lately.  I love taking them to the park and they love it too but there seems to be a big problem.  George enjoys being at the park but the process of getting ready and going to the park is a huge burden for him.  Isn't that funny?  So I have a 3 year old who does not want to go out and is more than willing to stay inside..lol  But I still managed to take them both of out for a walk or to the park.

He was very insistent on pushing that stroller all by himself to the park.  

He kept saying, "mamma I am a new big brother"  (he got that from the book that I read to him)

There lays our lit pumpkin

He friend joined him at the park

She has to do everything her brother does

Having way too much fun

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Its hard to get them to the park but once they get there they don't want to leave :)))  I wish this summer lasted forever!!  I know I will be saying the opposite in August when the heat gets unbearable.

Thank God for Motherhood

Today my younger brother asked me why is it that those who blog(especially moms) always write the good things and make everything look like motherhood is amazing??  I couldn't stop laughing when I heard that because I asked the same question and still ask when I read other moms blogs.  I told him I would rather  remember all the great and beautiful moments I had with my children than looking at the negatives of life and be sad.  I don't think any mother would say that motherhood is easy and fun.  It is NOT.  It is a lot of hard work and fully dying of yourself to give joy and love to all these little people God has blessed us with in our lives.  

this pic shows the reality of lit Anna's life lol

I once read that entering marriage means entering motherhood.  We are open to life from the moment we receive the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony.  This new life which comes forth as a result of our marital union is a gift from God and God gives us the grace to endure the hardships we have to go through in raising up these tiny little human beings.  Our job as a mother is to resemble Jesus who gave up His life so that we may have eternal life.  As a mother we are also following our Lord's way in giving ourselves up, starting from the 18 -20 hours of labor pain in bringing forth a child, sacrificing our sleep, our time alone, our hang out time with friends, reading a book, computer time,  watching a movie, taking a 5 minute shower rather than a relaxing 15 minute shower, delaying our bathroom breaks, skipping meals or eating in 2 minutes, controlling our anger and frustrations, and being able to just give, give, GIVE everything that we have to them so that they may see a glimpse of God's Love, so that they will learn to love others and appreciate others. 

My Younger brother 

So let us thank our good Lord for this call to Motherhood.  Aren't we blessed???  God has entrusted the most beautiful of His creation in our hands.  It is no small job.  I would say it is the best honorable position I can ever receive in my life.  I better enjoy it rather than being wimpy and complaining about it. Let us ask our dear Mother Mary to give us the grace to embrace this beautiful gift of Motherhood and love our children with all our hearts and minds.  As we celebrate Pentecost in two days let us also ask the intercession of the Holy Spirit and pray for the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit.  As mothers we all know that we really need them. right??  :))