Finally...

Finally, our best friends are in town from Ft. Worth, Texas, and we couldn't be more excited! They came in late last Christmas night. They spent the night at our house and we didn't go to bed until about 3am. My poor husband got up at 7am to go to work. I hope he is doing good today. It was just like old times except there is a new baby. He is absolutely adorable!

Here are some pictures from last night and this morning. They are just the cutest family, don't you think?

Baking with Oma

This is my Oma (German for Grandma). Oma makes the best Christmas cookies ever. They are a work of art and they taste delicious. Every year on Christmas Eve the family will go to Oma and Opa's for our traditional Gehachtus dinner, that's steak tartar. Those of us who do not like Gehachtus, eat ham instead. Then we all gather around the Christmas tree and open presents. Later, Oma would bring out her famous cookies for everyone to snack on. To be honest, as a child I wasn't to fond of the cookies. They looked nice and all, but they were too dry and not enough sweet. But now, I think they are better than any traditional American Christmas cookie.

I wanted to keep the tradition going by learning how to make these delectable treats, so Erin and I went to Oma's to learn how. Here are some more pictures...

This is Opa.

Oma would talk about how good it was that someone took interest in learning these recipes to keep the tradition going. She was so happy to have us over that she wanted to continue to get together and bake every year. Iwould love to Oma. There is so much I want to learn from you.

Back by Popular Demand

Several people have told me that I need to post another blog. I didn't know I was so popular.

The latest is that I am recovering quite well from my surgery in October. Today marks 6 weeks exactly from when I had surgery. As most of you know, I went to PA. to have major surgery in order to hopefully (God willing) conceive of a healthy child. This Fri. marks the one year anniversary of the ectopic pregnancy I had, which resulted in an emergency surgery late that Thurs. evening. The surgery went into the wee hours of Fri. morning. We named the baby Ambrose Mary. Ambrose for The Feast of St. Ambrose on Dec. 7th, and Mary for The Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8th. The name was Fr. Lutz's idea who was there for us every step of the way. Father baptized Ambrose Mary that night at the hospital. Thank you so much for everything you did for us Father! I remeber it all. We are so blessed to have a little saint in heaven. We buried our baby on the evening of Dec. 28th, The Feast of the Holy Innocents.

I remember all of our friends praying for us and supporting us in any way they could. We have such wonderful friends! I don't think I could have gotten through the pain without them and my dear husband (who suffered along side me).

It is still hard to think about what could have been, and it is especially hard with the anniversary right around the corner. Please say a quick prayer for me and my family. That we may not empower the devil, who is trying so fervently to bring us down, through our mourning of the loss of a child, and through the inability to have more children. It is my prayer and hopefully yours, that The Lyons Family will soon be a family of 5 (including Ambrose Mary of course).

The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture with Lyrics

Funny mom video! Enjoy! Thanks Dawn.

Oh So Sad

I'm oh so sad!

The above picture shows an intact shelf with my beautiful tea cups and saucers displayed on it. Not to mention the pictures and other trinkets.

Today after going on an enjoyable walk, with a good friend, on a brisk fall day, we came home to discover this beautiful display scattered all over my kitchen floor. Broken cups and saucers everywhere. My question, is this the work of one of my mischievous kitties, or was it that the hinges on the shelf or the nails in the wall, were just not sturdy enough? Although, the shelf held up for an entire month before crashing to the floor. Fortunately all of my pictures and trinkets made it through the fall in on piece, as well as one tea cup and matching saucer. Two saucers made it OK, but their counterparts did not.

It was the pride and joy of my kitchen. Maybe a little too much pride. I do realize there are more important things in life, but I will be sad for a little while. Oh well, life goes on...

Prayers Please

Please pray for a dear man, Wally Wallis, who passed away suddenly yesterday afternoon. Wally was a beloved man by all who knew him. He was a parishioner at our church, Holy Family. He was a retired teamster who volunteered much of his free time at Holy Family. Wally and his wife Shirley were co-adorers with Erin and myself from 10-11am on Thurs. mornings for adoration. We have been co-adorers for over a year, and in that time we have gotten to know both Wally and Shirley. I also got to know more about him from attending RCIA classes with my dad last year. Quite a coincidence, Wally and my dad go way back to when they attended high school together.

I am heartbroken by this sudden news. I pray that Wally was prepared for an eternity with God. Let this be a reminder to all that we must never live in mortal sin and we must always be prepared for our judgement day. Please pray for Wally and his mourning wife Shirley. Thank you! Love and prayers to you all.

Bufo

My husband found a toad last night. He wanted to keep the little critter, so we decided to call him Bufo, which means "toad" in Latin. As I write, my husband is on his way to PetSmart to buy more little critters to feed this guy. I'm not too thrilled about Bufo, but my husband would like to have some aquarium animals. Bufo will have to do for now.

If you ask me, any aquarium animal is to much work. We had a Russian Tortoise named Herman, who was very sick when we got him, which we of course were unaware of. He died about 2 months later. Erin was so sad. He was actually a birthday present for her. Before Herman we had a Guinea Pig, belonging to Erin. He lasted about six months and died of dehydration. Apparently he couldn't get any water from the dispenser. Erin and I were both devastated. Now we have Bufo. I'll tell ya, I'm not much for little caged animals. I would like to just stick with dogs and cats. We have one large dog and four cats. Haven't killed one of those yet.