The trees (and a quasi-announcement)

Not a great picture, but gives you a sense of the tree out front. The little white orb close to the top is a work in progress, according to Dave. Getting it closer to the top will take Herculean strength, but all in the name of perfection, right?

Loving the tree in this space, not to mention the pine scent, which seems to be morning sickness-friendly. I guess I haven't officially announced I'm pregnant on the blog yet, so here it is! Baby Cook is due June 10th.  Likely everyone reading this already knows, but just in case there's someone who doesn't.  We're counting down to week 16, when the nausea usually abates for me. In an effort not to waste suffering, though, let me know your prayer intentions and I'll keep them in mind over the toilet bowl!

Giving thanks

We're thanking God for another year filled with his blessings. We celebrated by frying a turkey for the first time. No explosions, and a tasty bird: success! The back-up roasted one (in case of catastrophe) was equally delicious. Aunt Hilary's pies were a hit, especially the pumpkin ginger crunch and coconut cream. And we may have started a new tradition with collard-green dolmades. 

We seem to have begun a yearly tradition of buying our "Advent tree" (which we've renamed to keep our heads on straight that it's not Christmas yet) the day after Thanksgiving. It fits beautifully in our new space. Dave and Lolo spent the rest of the day stringing the huge evergreen tree in our front yard with LED lights. It now stands as a neighborhood beacon, and the spectacle of Dave scaling this mammoth of a tree from within attracted several neighbors. One neighbor, a history buff, informed us that a Civil War skirmish took place in our back yard. Lo and behold, there was indeed a historical event called "Action at Annandale" that took place on the land behind our house, part of which we own. Dave can't wait until next Halloween scare the girls with stories about the ghosts lingering from the skirmish.  

The Advent wreath is ready for lighting tomorrow. We begin the season of expectation, preparing our house and our hearts for the sweet Child who changes hearts and saves souls. Happy Advent!

All Hallows Eve

Boo! Rose's work of art

The crew getting into character for their big night.

We have three princesses (Aurora, Cinderella, and Elsa), a cat, a bat, Dorothy, and a wicked queen. I think Maria could be the tooth fairy with her glittery gold dress?

Rose (on the right) with her look-alike friend Cara, who goes to our church and lives up the street. 

The loot. 

The morning after. See the flying pancake? Uncle Dave's specialty. The "three second rule" is based on science, right?


The cousins had a fun Halloween, trick or treating with our neighbor friends up the road and coming home together for a sleepover. Shout out to Aunt Natalie for leading the pack until Dave could catch up from work. I stayed behind to hand out candy, only to greet one 3 year old princess. I wish I had given her more goodies! Now I know not to buy three bags of candy next year. Aunt Natalie, feel free to post your pictures too. Happy All Saints' and All Souls'!

A little family baking

Francesca finished her tennis season today with semi-finals and finals (in Reston, which is not close...not sure I'm on board with traveling for sports). I'm embarrassed to say I don't know who won of the teams. But she did great personally, winning two matches and losing one (to a couple girls who looked like 6th graders). Very promising foray onto the sports scene. We'll see if she sticks with it. 

Dave left for Chicago Wednesday for a Catholic Stewardship Conference. He got back today and we're all very happy and relieved to have him home to relieve the monotony of life with mommy safe and sound. Teresa and David were bent on a baking project yesterday to ease the boredom of Saturday without Daddy, so we made dinner rolls. The results were surprisingly bread-rolly, given all the handling.

Count-down to Halloween with the cousins!

Lessons in gratitude at CVS

One of our favorite portraits by Rose. "Daddy" 

Very helpful, very Frankie.

The tennis team.

Today I went with David and Rose to CVS to get flu shots (not even a whimper from them, to the nurse's and my utter amazement) . On the way out, after latching Rose in to her carseat and turning the corner to get in myself, I became aware that an elderly man in the car next to us was talking to me and gesticulating. I got out and approached.

He was likely in his 70s, and his legs were awkwardly sticking out of the car as he sat in the driver's seat, crutches leaning against the open car door. In a thick southern Virginia accent, he said "They're quite a challenge, aren't they?" For a moment I was confused before realizing he was talking about David and Rose. I smiled and laughed. He went on, "You don't expect how it gets when you have grandchildren. I have an 11 year old grandson who went to..." He scratched his head a moment remembering. "Kindergarten! When he was in kindergarten they realized he was reading at a 4th grade level. His little sister who's 8 will be just like him. She called me up the other day and said 'Pop-pop, I love you'. I never knew I'd like being a grandparent." I smiled and said that's wonderful and agreed that the grandparent/grandchild relationship is indeed special.

He continued, "I had a bad knee and the doctor took it out. Don't have a knee now. Then he took out some of the bone up here," pointing to his femur, "and really messed me up.  I had an infection that cleared up, and he should have put the knee back in, but he wouldn't. I don't know, I think that doctor's in court now. But you know, it could be worse. Could be cancer." Looking at his mangled leg I saw that it was indeed without a knee and much shorter than the other one. It washed over me how much this man had suffered, and how he was simply resting in his car before beginning his trek into the CVS and wanted some company.

I told him how awful, what suffering. He changed the subject. "How do you like your car? Is that a Dodge?" We spent a short time talking about our van. I asked if I could help him get out of the car. "Oh no, I'll be fine." I told him it was nice talking to him, and that I would pray for him. I meant it. He smiled and said "Thank you. I appreciate that."

As I was pulling away, I watched him as he figured out how to lift the bad leg up over the curb. He made it. I'm still pondering the lesson this fellow human being, having suffered so much and seemingly without someone to help him, taught me about cheerfulness and gratitude. Whenever I have a trial I'll think of him, and that is a gift.  

Chiara Corbella Petrillo

Have any of you heard the story of Chiara Corbella Petrillo? I just devoured her biography, which apparently came out last month. It's the story of a young, joyful, ravishingly beautiful woman in Italy, her courageous husband, and their astonishing approach to suffering and death- both their children's and Chiara's in 2012.

There's something both irresistible and troubling about the lives of the saints. Their self-forgetfulness, charity toward their fellow humans, and love for God are mesmerizing. But their sufferings, which they view as their means to heaven (Jesus tells us the cross is the way), make us uneasy. How is it possible to suffer so much and remain not just faithful, but joyful?

If you're like me, you feel a little spiritual jealousy, realizing your disinclination to view each pain in life as a "kiss from Jesus" (Mother Teresa's words). And yet, I think we find that stories like Chiara's are the antidote to a fear of suffering and death that is particularly Western. Those being persecuted for their faith as we speak would likely not be as shocked by Chiara's story as we are. I would imagine joy and complete dependence on God in the face of poverty, death and destruction come more naturally to those who experience it regularly (witness little Miriam and her song).

We, however, who are privileged to have safe neighborhoods, access to doctors, good food, warm homes, jobs, loving families, etc., whenever we need them, would benefit enormously from reading how a fellow privileged Westerner heroically embraced tremendous sufferings and ultimately death instead of running from them in fear or falling into despair.  Chiara's story provides a beautiful template for those of us struggling to joyfully emulate Christ in our sufferings. I think it will also draw in many non-believers who are captivated. I'm confident we have modern-day saint on our hands here. St. Chiara, pray for us!

Chestnuts and such

We have a huge, beautiful Chinese chestnut tree in our back yard...

...and the lovely fruits have begun to fall in droves (some roasted below).

Any good recipe ideas (aside from stuffing) for what to do with them? They're not bad on their own, but it would be nice to find a good soup or dessert recipe.

Frankie had her first CYO tennis lesson today. She did well apparently. Hopefully Lola can give her some pro tips!

Going all-out on game day with "Irishopoly", chili and fried cornbread.  Go Irish!

David and Rose's act

Barnum and Bailey will pay a pretty penny I'm sure.

Helpful spiritual nudges- 2Minutes2Virtue

The Diocese of Arlington has started a weekly series of 2 minute videos (of priests we know and love) that tackle short, specific ways to grow in virtue. Ordinary time in the Church year can be a little stagnant spiritually unless we're really making an effort, which I why I love the idea of this series. Here's one by Fr. Searby that I thought was helpful.

Hi

I'm back. We've got a lot of ground to cover since Easter, so without further ado...

Natalie and George got married April 11th.

The beautiful bride and groom reside in Arlington, and just returned from a safari honeymoon in Tanzania. When Nat sends me pictures of the giraffe giving birth while running, I will be sure to post.

Meanwhile, the Cooks spent spring and the beginning of summer packing up their house (where's Waldo?), gratefully getting ready to take up residence with Grandmommy and Pop-Pop after selling the house, and trusting that God would direct them to the next Casa Cook. 

Francesca, Julia, and Gracie received their First Holy Communion together on May 15th. Fr. Juan Puigbo was the perfect celebrant, getting these little girls' hearts ready to receive our Lord for the first time.

Beautiful little souls!

One of our last pancake breakfasts before Mass in this house!

We said good-bye to Donna Lane forever on June 19th, heading to Manassas, and then to Bethany Beach.

The July 4th that will go down in infamy...we waited for hours for a baseball game (which we couldn't see) to finish so the fireworks could start. We headed home around 10:30...no fireworks.  It was fun to wait in expectation though!

Our new house on Cherry Lane! Pop-Pop found it on Trulia, the first in a chain of many providential events. We went to see it, fell in love, and St. Joseph took it from there. The owners chose our offer over another higher one, the house fits so many little requirements I entrusted (and some I never even verbalized) to St. Joseph when we started our search, the owners left us a host of useful pieces of furniture, we're still 7 minutes from school and Dave's work, we're on a quiet street with lovely and welcoming neighbors, we're across the street from our library...seriously, the list goes on and on, and Dave and I are constantly pinching ourselves.

Celebrating our arrival with well supervised (ahem) fires...

...and fun kick-ball games in the yard (keeping the deer at bay).

The men-folk enjoy a shared birthday party every year, this year at our new place (the kids dining in our awesome retro breakfast nook). Many happy returns to Jackson, David and Pop-Pop! 

First day of school for our 1st and 3rd grader.

Whew! The short version in a nutshell. Dave and I owe a debt of gratitude to our parents for providing SO much aid to us as we sold our old house and bought our new place....beyond generous financial support, giving us a place to live while we looked for a house, taking Frankie and Teresa for a memorable stay in Cleveland while we settled and moved in. You are truly our heroes, and we pray God rewards you for so generously providing for your children and grandchildren. Thank you! 

Alleluia, He is risen!

Happy Easter to all! Congratulations to Jeff and Kate, who are celebrating their first Easter with their new little Easter bunny! We miss you all- sending lots of love your way. The birthday girl has a fever, but feeling the excitement of the day (and having gorged on nutella crepes and jelly beans), she's happy nonetheless.  

Holy Wednesday egg dying...

...to be eaten at our seder meal on Holy Thursday.

Rose's Easter birthday cake! It's nice to turn three on Easter Sunday. You get cake and ice cream, AND chocolate and jelly beans.

The spread. Fried rice not pictured, but included.

That's a big mouth.

Frankie looking elegant with her hair curled.

Love this pale purple dress from the Philippines. They don't make them this cute in the U.S.!

Graham's first Easter! It gets better, little guy. One more year until chocolate eggs.