Andrew's Mission

Thank you for donating if you are able (and for those who already have!) and even more importantly, thank you for your prayers for this mission trip!  From Andrew:

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all doing well! I wanted to share with you that I have been blessed with the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Arizona with a group from Franciscan this upcoming spring! The trip will take place during Franciscan’s spring break and the mission itself involves running retreats at a Catholic elementary/middle school filled with kids who cross the border everyday to go to school. These kids certainly live less fortunate lives, yet they are so joyful and they look forward to this group from Franciscan coming every year. I am so excited to help serve them for the first time, as it will also be a great opportunity for me to grow stronger in my faith as well. As a part of this mission, each of us are required to raise $1900 for flights, food, lodging, etc. I would be extremely grateful for any donations, and the GoFundMe also has a video that has more info about the mission. Thank you so much and God Bless!

Week in Review: High School Fall Sports are Over! And Other Things.

Last Friday evening, I brought a meal to my friend who just had a baby and I got to hold him and it was EVERYTHING.  That little baby was so warm and cuddly, and though I was afraid I may have forgotten how to hold a baby, it came back in an instant!  I did have lots of baby-holding practice between the years of 2003 and 2017, but it feels so far away now.  My friend is a full-time ER doctor and now the mother of nine and is just amazing.  I think moms of big families can easily get classified as women who aren't smart enough to figure out how not to get pregnant, so I just love when that stereotype is so obviously broken.  We just love babies and big families, m'kay?

While the Martin girls were attempting to steal the baby somehow, the Martin boys were at the school's Halloween Dance.  This year we had a Mad Scientist and a Commanders player:

Mad or Evil?

On Saturday, we took Brendan to his swim meet in Rhode Island, where we hung out for 4 hours for him to swim about 4 minutes:

The most unflattering of all sport uniforms

When we got back home, I overheard Declan asking him if he did anything fun with Mom and Dad, and Brendan reported that he got to eat at McDonald's and we went on a walk in between races:

JP Gets a (Short) White Coat

Duquesne held their White Coat Ceremony for the medical school on Friday.  The school actually just changed their name upon receipt of a huge donation from the Nasuti family so it is now officially called the Nasuti College of Osteopathic Medicine.  

The speakers kept mentioning this Class of 2029 and I realized that we will have a med school graduation, a college graduation, and a high school graduation all in 2029, God willing (maybe we can get the gift of bilocation by then??).

Phil and I couldn't attend BUT JP invited Phil's parents to come from Maryland, and Andrew and Eamon drove over from Steubenville, so he had a nice fan club with him.  Of course, good old Mom and Dad were watching from home with hearts bursting with pride on the livestream, as caught in this photo Maggie took.  Haha, I was videorecording and Phil was taking photos.

Nana and Gramps took JP out to a really nice dinner at the Grand Concourse after the ceremony, then hung out with Andrew and Eamon the next day at Franciscan - getting tours and watching Andrew's soccer team play.  Everybody seemed to have a really good time, and I am so grateful for family who steps in when we couldn't be there.

JP - you have made us so proud already with this big step in your journey to becoming a physician, and I can't wait to see you in the long white coat one day!

Week in Review: Homecoming Weekend, 45 Years Young, and Fall Sports

Last Friday night, we went to the high school Homecoming Football Game where all Senior fall athletes walked out at halftime with their families to be recognized and have a photo taken:

And then there were six

The high school posted some photos from earlier that day and I spied 2 Martins:

Maggie not mine + Maggie mine

Xan the Fresh-Man

The Homecoming dance was the next night, and I was able to get a quick pic of my Senior and my Freshman before they went in the building:

Not on purpose, but they both wore navy.

Maggie got ready at a friend's house (she wore this dress) and they took lots of pictures:

Such sweethearts

Besties for the Resties

Volleyball Caps

Week in Review: Senior Photos, Free Hugs, Last Meals, Legal Sons and Apple Picking in New England

Maggie asked me to pull out my real camera (dang those got expensive!) to take some Senior photos of her at sunset at a little private beach in town.  How could I say no to that sweet request?

I had ordered the black dress for myself but it didn't fit me right so Maggie took it.

Maggie had actually straightened her hair, but it was so hot and humid (IN OCTOBER PEOPLE) that it restored back to factory settings.  She's still so cute no matter what!

Maggie had a home game last Saturday, and every game was so close and they won in three!  There's my Senior Captain #8 who played her heart out in that game and got great stats:

Maggie texted me from an away volleyball game that "all she wanted for her birthday are Drizzalicious" which I had never hear of, so we bought some and they are GOOD.  I got the individual packs as a treat for only 90 calories.

Week in Review: Former Press Secretary, Former Cottage Days, Former Cat Names

 One day I'll have more time and energy to post more than just a weekly wrap-up, but for now these are scratching the motherly itch I have to document our family memories and milestones.  Good enough is good enough, I suppose.

Lucy Doodle patiently waiting to start our evening walk so I can link up to Elisabeth

Last Friday, Phil and I attended a fundraiser dinner for the Mass Citizens for Life and we got to hear from former Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnaney, who was awesome.  She's a brilliant Harvard Law grad, with great stories that show how spiritual she is.  She was friends with Charlie Kirk and spoke about him and his mission for a good ten minutes before she started her planned talk.  She just had her third baby 3 months ago, and was starting a new morning show the next day.  What a woman!

We also heard from a young woman who was able to use the resources from MCFL to get help with an Abortion Pill Reversal (when a woman takes medication for a medical abortion, regrets it, and can take another medication to reverse it).  That baby she kept is now four years old and "the best thing that ever happened to her" after what she thought was "the worst thing that ever happened to her".

Mom and Dad

We went with our pastor and friends from our parish, and it was a really fun night.  OH!  I was recognized by someone who reads my blog!  She was very kind to stop me and say she knew me and I was thoroughly embarrassed and delighted.  Now I can't remember her name but HI!  

When our pastor and seminarian walked in I looked at them in their black outfits and made the comment about how nice it must be to always know what you are going to wear to any event.  Our pastor shared that my boys had served Mass that morning, and Father had asked them if we were excited to go out to the dinner that night.  Declan and Brendan decided to share *in detail* how many dresses and shoes I had tried on the night before to see what fit and finally pick one out.  There are no secrets when you have kids!

We all ended up in Black and White