the Game of Life

The lads are into The Game of Life.  After setting up the game board with the spinner and buildings, they choose their cars and load 'em up with people.  Then they cruise around the game board path.  They may or may not stay on the path itself, and they may or may not take turns spinning to see how many spaces to advance.  Sometimes they just cruise.  Sometimes they designate which building is whose house and invite us over for dinner.  They don't mess with money or insurance or these weird tokens that came with the new edition of the game that I don't remember from my childhood.

The elder lad has informed us that his guardian angel's name is George. I'm fully confident that this duly charged angel is well-versed in the wiles and foibles of curious boys (and monkeys, for that matter).

The younger lad has adopted one of the dolls our lass received for Christmas.  He says he's the doll's daddy.  It's a wonderful thing to see, really: this young lad tenderly caring for the baby doll (as the bambini's dad cares for each of them).  It's a skill well-worth cultivating, we think, as developing compassion and concern for someone else can only stand to serve him well all his life in whatever vocation to which God ultimately calls him.  He's rather attached to the doll now.  Yesterday he woke up asking for her.  We searched the house high and low to no avail.  Finally just before bed he went into the hall bathroom and lifted the hinged lower step of the two-step stool placed there to facilitate easy hand washing access for the vertically challenged.  Lo and behold, the baby doll was inside!  Come to think of it, he had stashed the red spatula he received for Christmas in the same little cubby and discovered it just recently.  Now I know to check that "hidey hole" first whenever something's gone missing.

The lass must be getting ready to grow, as she has a near insatiable appetite.  She wants whatever we're having, and she doesn't mind letting us know!  She's a pretty good sport about her older brother taking charge of her baby doll.  We'll see how long that lasts...

I've been contemplating how to rearrange the car seats in our Bambini Ride to accommodate another one for our fourth child due this summer.  It's a bit like the Game of Life, traveling along the path taking life as it comes.  Though it might seem we are sometimes just cruising along, our faith tells us this is not the case.  God is in control. He invites us to cooperate with Him.  We can't see where the path will lead next, but we trust our guardian angels are along for the ride, and we have our sights set on what we hope and pray and strive to make our final destination (God willing): Heaven.

blessings

Every evening our family bedtime routine concludes with prayers followed by blessings.  Mine to each of my bambini goes something like this:

"God bless you, babe. May Jesus always live in your heart.  I hope you sleep well and have sweet dreams.  May the angels protect you and peace be with you.  I love you.  G'nite."

This is based in part on a blessing my dad would give -- and still gives -- to me at the end of the day when I was a child (or, now, when we depart each other's company; he'll also bless our bambini).  

My beloved gives his own blessings to the bambini.  It's a poignant, tender way of ending the day in peace.

Even more poignant are the spontaneous blessings our bambini now give to us and to each other.  To have them make the sign of the cross on our foreheads or even simply say "God bless you" to each other and to us is one of the most profoundly moving experiences of my motherhood.  Such times are infused with grace and peace, the very hallmarks of Christ's presence among and within us.  I live for such moments.

someone to watch over me

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Guardian Angels.   The time I spent as director of liturgy and music fostered within me a deep love of the Church's liturgical calendar, and it's something I strive to incorporate into my daily life -- the feasts of Christ's life and that of his mother Mary's, the lives of the saints, and the seasons of the Church year.   Today's Gospel reading makes direct reference to the guardian angels:

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”
-- Mt 18:10

 I've always had a sort-of latent belief in my guardian angel.  I mean to be more purposeful in this belief because, after all, our faith teaches us that "[b]eside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life."   Attributed to St. Basil; the Catechism of the Catholic Church #336. 

As a wife and mother, I recognize my guardian angel and those of my husband and children to be some of my greatest allies and helpers in the daily care of my loved ones.  I can't take credit for this realization; it came by way of a podcast I like to listen to hosted by a deacon of the Catholic church and his friend, a Catholic wife & mother (who happens to be a friend of one of my favorite bloggers, the Pioneer Woman, but I digress).  If only I can manage to call them to mind upon my waking in the morning (easier said than done, depending on how well everyone has slept -- this simply means I must continue to practice and pray) and enlist their protection of us all.  I know their protection is there regardless of my asking for it; my realizing this and believing in its actuality requires a deeper faith and surrender on my part. 

As part of my faith formation, my parents taught me about my guardian angel.  Since I've become a parent, we've had some conversations about the tangible help our angels can be to us in caring for our bambini.

My mom likes to tell me of a conversation she and my dad had with a longtime close family friend about the name of someone's guardian angel being the first name that comes to mind when you think of said person's angel.  I think my mom said something about not knowing her angel's name, to which our friend had a prompt and sure response: "Clare."

My mom didn't quibble with him. 

Angel of God, my guardian dear,
to whom God's love entrusts me here: 
Ever this day be at my side, 
to light and guard, to rule and guide.