Prayer for the Blessing of Children

This blessing comes from the older Roman Ritualor Collectio Rituum from 1954. It has been revised since then, but the former one can still be used.

Prayer:

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord. R. Who made heaven and earth.

V. Our God is full of mercy. R. The Lord has care for little ones.

V. O Lord hear my prayer. R. And let my cry come unto Thee.

V. The Lord be with you. R. And with your spirit.

PRAYER

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Who, begotten in eternity, yet didst will to he born in time; Who dost love the innocence of childhood, and didst lovingly embrace and bless the little children who were brought to Thee: anticipate the needs of this child (these children) with Thy tender blessings, and grant that no evil may corrupt his (her, their) mind, but that advancing in age, in wisdom, and in grace, he (she, they) may live so as to please Thee always. Thou Who dost live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

R. Amen.

May the peace and the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son + and Holy Spirit, descend upon you and remain forever.

R. Amen.

Coveted First Dip of Peanutbutter

OK--one of our standing family jokes/conflicts/competition is who gets to open the new jar of peanutbutter and be the FIRST to insert the knife.  Brand new peanut butter looks so perfect and smooth, compared to a jar that has been shared with us five savages.  Last two times, my younger daughter won the task, and she was nearly tackled both times in an effort to prevent her from making that first swipe.

This morning, I noticed she was scraping the bottom of the jar of peanutbutter, but managed to get enough for her school lunch.  I had just purchased a two-pack at Sam's.  When everyone left the house, I--in all my maturity--carefully opened the multi-pack, lifted the lid, and used a toothpick to write a message.

"Too Late" was written with a toothpick.

I then sealed the jar back up without ever removing it fully from the package.

I placed the package back in the pantry and will wait to hear the shrieks when it is discovered what I have done.

Not sure why these loaded sideways--they are the right way in my computer file--hum?

Mom of the Year

My Mom-of-the-Year nomination story.   My daughter is now ready to get her driver's permit (she could have gotten it in July, but was not ready).  We got up early (first day of T-giving break!) to be there when it opened.  I got all the necessary documents and more . . . just in case.  I had both of our social security cards, our tax returns, our insurance cards, our mortage papers, her school id, an envelope sent to her at our address, and her birth certificate.  Or so I thought it was her birth certificate.  After the 35 min. drive to the place and ten minutes standing in the wrong line, we finally were where we needed to be.

The lady looked at our birth certificate--you know, that piece of paper we needed to get her registered in TWO different school districts, that we needed for taxes (I believe) at some point, and that we needed for life insurance policies.  Well, who knew the little foot print thing with a seal is not a legal document?  We had three kids in three different states--and the last one they told us we needed to do some extra "stuff" that we found weird.  I thought our poor children had two fairly intelligent parents with SOME common sense--now I wonder!

Long story shorter--two wasted hours, tears of disappointment, and paperwork to get into the mail so we can try again when the REAL birth certificate comes in.  Aaaahhhhgggggg!  Even then, it is ANOTHER six months before we can get the real liscense!  I'm going to be a taxi driver to my children forever!!!!