The Ray Clan Ephemeris

Passover Lamb: a true story

2011-04-18T16:49:00.000-04:00

Contributed by Jesse Ray 4-18-2011
I arrived on the scene with my gun and stoically loaded in some self-defense rounds (although I was clearly not in danger). I did not lavish the idea of slaughtering a lamb, but my friend, Pat, called and sheepishly asked for some help. I guess he thought I was qualified since I had butchered last year's deer with the help of my family.

It took a while for me to prepare the surroundings, I had never killed something so large, at such close range. During these few minutes I had time think about the gravity of what was about to happen.

Of course my mind took me back to the Jews and passover. Remember, the Bible is not just filled with stories, but with accounts of historical events. These events that we are familiar with actually happened. The Word of God prescribed, no dictated, the killing of a lamb. For the Jews, the lamb was not just dinner. The blood of the lamb was spread on the horizontal and vertical wood of the door frames (of course we recognize this as a foreshadowing of Christ's blood dripping from His wooden cross).

Exodus 12:21-22
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel, and said to them, "Select lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood which is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.

We all know that the consequence of sin is death, yet today we do not always see or feel that direct connection. Before Jesus, the Lamb of God, came as our final sacrifice, a cute, woolly lamb <baaa>, had to die in expiation for sins. The Jews symbolically placed their own sins on the head of the lamb before it was killed in Leviticus 1. The male sheep was chosen from the flock for its spotlessness, just as Christ, sinless and perfect, died for our sins.

We Catholics are blessed with the sacrament of confession, a very quick and clean way of cleansing sins from our soul. Well, let me tell you there was nothing quick or clean about killing a lamb. If we had to go through this every time we sinned I would expect people would either sin less, or would carry more sins around on their hearts.

I tell the following story, not for the sake of gore, but because it was a very raw and spiritual experience. You should stop here if the thought of blood makes you queezy.

I was compelled to pause, and say a prayer thanking God for this animal and for the gift of it's life. At first it all happened quite fast: The the gun popped, a red spot appeared on the lambs head, the lamb dropped. I was glad that was over with.

What happened next surprised me. All living things try to avoid death, and even after the lethal blow, the lamb was not going to die without a fight. I apologize, for the detail, but far more blood than I expected began pouring out of the sheep's mouth and nose. The famous painting "Adoration of the Lamb" by van Eyck flashed in my brain, (of course in the painting the sheep is standing, but the flow of blood is clearly key in the comparison).

My friend Pat, the instigator of this whole event, took action (and large knife) holding the sheep down with the full weight of his body and slit the throat. As more blood emerged it was clear that the bloody descriptions in the old testament will never be void of imagery for me anymore.

PETA people refuse to eat lambchops or wear sheepskin because of (I assume) the violence of slaughter. (or maybe they just need some cause to distract them from the evils of abortion and euthanasia that many support). Before any scriptural lessons, I think seeing that this tasty protein-source doesn't start out in a styrofoam package at Meijers is good to know.

But seriously, what kind of a "merciful" God would order His people to do something so violent and base? The answer points to the Eucharist, and is so deep that we need to understand God's plan of salvation is exposed in history and recorded in scripture. Now we just need to know where to look.

My dad, Steve Ray, teaches about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and its Biblical foundations. He can speak for hours about the beauty and reality. Enjoy this audio sample about the passover lamb from a talk he gave in Ohio, April 2011. The whole talk, titled, The Eucharist: Christ Present to Us, can be found here, and is really a great listen.

Pictures of the Lamb can be found here, They are of the actual event and not the sanitized american-children's version.

Happy Passion Week everybody. I pray that you will all draw closer to our Lord and find joy in His Cross and Resurrection.

Great Big Chapstick

2010-11-10T08:29:00.002-05:00

Bella is great at taking off the tops of pens, bottles, chapstick and anything else that comes apart. We last night Bella found a glue stick...and to her it was a giant chapstick...and off came the top. Luckily her aim wasn't so good, it ended up all over her cheek, instead of her lips.

Wilderness Camping

2010-10-12T14:38:00.007-04:00

As we leave the Manistee National Forest to go home, I can't help but smile and thank God. Anna is an amazing partner in life, no matter where we are. She was cheerful the entire time. Even thriving in the sparse surroundings. No toilets, no running water...no problem.

For someone who never wilderness camped before she was right at home.
As we prepared to leave she dug a hole near a fallen log and said, "everyone go #2 in the woods so we don't have to use a gross rest-stop toilet on the way home." (that cracks me up, I love that we both find the outdoors cleaner than "civilized" toilets).

The kids did amazingly well, too! Eating all the camp-food cooked on our little stove. Maria even said she loved washing the dishes out in the woods with me as she cheerfully scrubbed and put away the dishes.

Bella loves being part of it all. She still scoots around on her bottom, which made the trip interesting, but the leafy ground was a fine place for her to scoot around and discover new sticks and things. Even though she can't say much she was the first to respond when I asked who liked camping in the woods, she said "ME!" and in the car she sits in her rear-facing car seat watching the kids behind her laughing at them.

Josh and Sam both loved the spears I made them from sharpened branches. (the spears are the only things we are bringing back with us, with daddy-sized spears duct taped to the roof racks). The pieces of moss and colorful leaves Josh collected kept his interest for hours. Sam loved the relative-safety of our cozy family tent, and being one of the first ones out of his sleeping bag even though it was frigid in the morning.

I like knowing that even as our young family grows, that we can take on challenging situations -- with all our kids -- that most people reserve for teens and adults alone. We can find and treat our drinking water, get through a thunderstorm in a tent, make it long hours on a car ride without movies or stopping for french fries.

We may be able to go without showers, toilets, other luxuries, but we can't go without each other, because we love being a family and going on adventures together.

Were you even listening?

2010-10-05T19:23:00.001-04:00

Maria asked, "has anybody seen my blue marker."
Samuel said, "I don't know what color is it?"

Where is my headband

2010-10-03T10:23:00.001-04:00

Arabella was playing with Maria's headband at church this morning when we got into the car to go home Maria said in a fearful voice "mom where is my headband", I turned to look at her and it was on her head.

2010-10-01T19:14:00.000-04:00

Joshua was afraid to go outside by himself because he thought there were coyotes, so Samuel said, "I'll go out with you I'm strong and brave... and violent."

Homemade Mango Ice Cream

2010-06-04T21:54:00.009-04:00

After it was all done, Anna said it was her favorite (and that is a big deal if you know how muchshe loves chocolate ice cream).
Every now and again we make something in the kitchen that turns out wonderful. After buying a box of mangos, which were half price since they were ripe, we knew that somethings special was going to happen. Charlotte suggested icecream.

We used 3 large ripe mangos. Blended them with about: 1 cup cream 1/2 cup sugar 2-3 tbsp fresh lime juice and a bit of Blue Agave Sweetener (its kind of like honey except cooler)
	After the blending we just poured it into the ice cream maker and waited for 30 minutes.
	What came out of the bowl was pure delight.

Night owl, or early bird

2010-05-22T11:40:00.002-04:00

This morning Maria told us that she is an Early Owl...because I sleep all night and get up early.

La la land (or Joshua doesn't listen)

2010-05-22T11:33:00.002-04:00

An hour after we ate lunch Joshua came out of nowhere and asked what was for lunch. Anna said its sitting at your place and probably cold by now.
Joshua: "Why didn't you tell me."
Anna: "I asked you to go outside and tell Sam and Maria that lunch was ready, did you do that?"
Joshua: "Yes."
Anna: "Than why didn't you come back in with them and eat lunch with us?"
Joshua: "I don't know..."

Happy Easter ("I feel Sick")

2010-04-04T07:32:00.003-04:00

After the Easter vigil mass and lots of late night candy and treats the kids woke up with sore tummies. The first thing out of Maria's mouth was "It"s EASTER, I feel sick."
Sam ran to the bathroom complaining of a sore tummy... We asked if he was "throw up" sick and he said, "sick like the bottom of my tummy is full if sugar."

Joshua: "help, eee, Bella attacked one of my egs and is spilling out the candy!!!"
Mom (sarcastically): " yeah, Bella is so vicious."

Pew Preserves

2010-04-03T19:41:00.001-04:00

At the Easter vigil when some people sat in the "Reserved" row right in front of us Josh asked, "do they know that pew is preserved?"

Sam can "rememberize"

2010-04-02T10:10:00.003-04:00

Maria is learning to read, and she read all the titles of the stations of the cross today. When she got to station 13# she said "Jesus' body is taken down from the cross." But Sam, who was sitting behind us, corrected her..."removed from the cross", he said.
Me: "Sam can you read?"
Maria: "NO, he just rememberized it!"

This is an Abortion! - Warning Very Graphic - Video - Catholic Online

2010-03-12T18:09:00.000-05:00

Dear God. I will pray for and end to abortion every day. I will never forget again after watching this video.
This is an Abortion! - Warning Very Graphic - Video - Catholic Online

Divine Mercy

2010-02-19T21:46:00.001-05:00

The Wolf

2010-02-07T15:50:00.003-05:00

Maria was telling Sam a story that he knew wasn't true.
He said "tell the truth or I won't believe what you say and a wolf will come out of the woods and eat you."

Christmas treats

2009-12-26T10:13:00.002-05:00

While eating a bear claw pastry Anna told the kids it has almond extract in it so it fasts a bit like marashino cherries.
Sam took a bite and said, "this doesn't taste like jalapeño cherries."

Pronounciation

2009-12-17T21:36:00.002-05:00

All the kids were telling riddles around the dinner table with their cousins.
Damian: What do you call an X that just got out of the bath tub?
Answer: a Kleenex.

Sammy has trouble making the "L" sound, and he but he quickly formulated this riddle on his own...
Sam: what kind of Queen has no crown?
Answer: A Queenex (but it sounded just like Kleenex).

Crossed over the 50 mile mark

2009-12-14T10:37:00.002-05:00

I crossed over the 50 mile mark today, one day ahead of schedule!!
This feels good.

Maria the risk taker

2009-12-13T19:16:00.002-05:00

Maria asked "why do we have to wear our seatbelts when we have never been in an accident?"
Anna: "if we did get in a car accident you would fly out the window."
Maria, banging on the side window: "but mom, I'm hitting the window and it doesn't break."

My dad invented that

2009-12-13T19:05:00.002-05:00

Maria has lost both her front teeth and has been enjoying all the attention that comes from missing teeth before Christmas.
Tonight her Aunt Catherine sang the "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" song. Maria then said: "My dad invented that song."

SIDS

2009-12-12T13:26:00.003-05:00

Emily was telling us that the father of one of her friends died recently, really sad. But as we were talking about Joshua asked, "Did he die of sudden instant death?"

Funny Updates

2009-12-09T12:54:00.001-05:00

I was wrestling the kids this evening before bedtime.
Maria said: you can you can't hurt me because I'm five, and you're almost dead.
Me: I'm not that old.
Maria: Yes, you're almost to the age of your death.

The other day Maria asked if we could use some of the money that we earn to buy toys. We responded with something standard like: you already have toys, and there are other things to spend money on beside toys.
So Maria said: well yeah, we need to buy food too, we couldn't live if we just had toys, toys, TOYS!

Up before the sun to play in the snow

2009-12-09T08:13:00.003-05:00

Everybody already know that our kids are crazy-awesome...but this confirms it. They woke up at 6:30 am, and were playing in the snow by 7:00 (long before the sun rose).

Then they made tiger, bird and dinosaur footprints in the snow.

Later when getting dressed for atrium Maria said, "this would be a lot easier if I was a paper doll."

I wish I had thought of this

2009-10-05T13:43:00.002-04:00

Real Men of Genius

2009-09-23T07:15:00.001-04:00

Can you control your self

2009-08-28T18:35:00.002-04:00

Maria has been a bit aggressive lately, especially when she is tired.
Today Anna asked her: "can you control your body?"
And Maria shouts "YES" and swings her arm hitting Anna in the head.

LOL

Who can you marry

2009-08-02T11:56:00.000-04:00

Damian was talking about marrying Maria but we told him " you can't
marry someone in your family."
Maria added, "yeah, you can only marry someone you don't know."

(that's right, arranged marriages are back)

Almost a Compliment

2009-07-09T23:17:00.003-04:00

In response to a suggestion I made, Joshua said "Wow mom, I would have never thought of that. You're almost smarter than me!"

Already Famous

2009-07-02T09:24:00.002-04:00

I overheard Joshua complimenting Sam on a picture he drew.
Joshua: "Sam, that is amazing, someday you are going to be a famous artist!"

Sam: "I already am a famous artist."

(infamous maybe, for not putting his art supplies away :-)

Watch this and your adrenaline will rush!!

2009-06-15T17:19:00.000-04:00

I am going to mail in my teabag.

Introducting Elizabeth Arabella Rose

2009-06-11T10:15:00.005-04:00

Born June 11th (on Jesse's mom's birthday) at 1:36am, 8 pounds 14 oz.
She is a real chubby girl and nursed right away. Big sister Maria was there for the birth. While holder her for the first time she confidently said, "She'swiggly, that means she wants to stand up."

Whoa, not so fast big sister, we'll let her just rest for a while.

Kid version of Go Fish

2009-06-09T22:19:00.001-04:00

Tonight we played go fish with the kids. Here's a few of the interchanges.

Joshua, "Sammy, do you have nemo?" "Yes". "Can I have it?" "No".

Maria, "Sammy, do you have squirt?" Sammy, picking up one of his pairs, "I have two, which one would you like?"

Also, all 3 of the kids just had to blurt out what card they had drawn each time they went "go fish".

Running lots lately

2009-06-05T14:24:00.003-04:00

I have been keeping track of everything on my livestrong.com account but I ran 6 miles today while pushing kids in the chariot and I am feeling pretty good about it. The iPhone follows my run with GPS on trail guru. I know that technology is annoying to many of you, but I think it is fun to be able to see the blue line on a map showing where I ran.

Emily ran the first 3 miles with me too. We plan to run a half marathon in August and my Dad agreed to do it as well. This will be my 3rd, Emily's 2nd and Steve's 1st! Who will join us next year??

Ran 6, the first 3 with Emily & kids; pushed Sam whole way (Running) | MI, USA

2009-05-07T18:42:00.002-04:00

We went to a reception following the funeral mass for Anna's Grandparents (more on that amazing story later).
Joshua has been really confident lately. As the reception was coming to a close a friend of the extended family that we had never met before came to me and told me that Joshua suprised her. He said in a very "matter of fact" way: "did you know that I am smarter than you?"
Thankfully she was a school teacher so she took no offense, she simply responded that he was probably right.

Update and Prayer Request

2009-05-01T11:05:00.002-04:00

We had a test of faith that we are being challenged with right now. The buyer's mortgage company sent an appraiser who gave them an appraisal that was fantastically low. $46,000 less than it appraised for last spring--over a 22% decrease. It is no use getting our own appraisal done because the mortgage broker does not have to accept it. Furthermore, the buyer works for the Mortgage Broker so he doesn't want to apply at another institution.

I am sure that God will take care of us...it is just difficult in the "now."

Photoshop not good enough for Obama Government

2009-04-28T09:53:00.003-04:00

Obama's team wanted a picture of Air Force One with Manhattan as the backdrop. I can't understand why. But lets assume it was for a sane reason...if I was given this photographic task I might have used photoshop to avoid scaring the heck out of the entire city. Can you imagine how many people fled their workplaces for the day?

I am no greenie, but what about the carbon footprint, jet fuel, and man power used during this presidential plane photoshoot! What a tremendous waste!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

In the Blink of An Eye

2009-04-14T19:34:00.005-04:00

Many parents tell their kids that "God always answers prayers," but then qualify it saying, "but sometimes he doesn't answer them the way we want, or as quickly as we'd like." Well let me tell you that while this is true and may protect against disappointment, that is not always the case. Sometimes God answers prayers fast...so fast that we cannot doubt His action.

Our story starts some time ago. Our goal was, and still is, to move out to the 52 acres in the country that our family bought together, but we have never had a clear time-line. We contemplated selling our house two years ago, and certainly the timing in the market would have been much better then, but the timing for our family was not. So it was not until last spring we put our house on the up for sale. Everyone would agree that this was the worst possible time to sell a house. Only 10 couples came to see the house over the entire summer of 2008, from that we got only one low-ball offer which we quickly refused. Our hearts were really not set on selling it, partly because it is a lovely home, and also because it is hard to sell a house for less than we paid for it. Part of us felt it would be better to hold off until the market made a recovery. So even when we prayed that God would help us sell the house over the last year, it is safe to say we didn't really commit our hearts to that end.

As you probably know, my parents travel a lot, and for the last 6 months or so we have been house-sitting for them and renting our house to one of Anna's sisters. The plan was to move back into our house before the new baby arrives in May. But surprisingly, my parents, and my younger sisters didn't seem too thrilled at the idea of us moving back to our house. Nonetheless, we began following our plan and taking some belongings back to our home in preparation to move back in. But neither Anna nor I felt peaceful about it.

The Saturday before Palm Sunday we talked to my parents and came to the decision that our ultimate goal of building a home on the land would be better served by staying at their house, saving money faster, and keeping my younger sisters company during my parents long absences. We really have enjoyed the situation here, and it is nice for the kids to get to know their grandparents a little better (when they are around:) So we all held hands together, including our kids, and prayed to God that he would help us sell our house quickly because we were ready now to move on to the next season in our life. There was nothing extraordinary about the words used, but there was something very decisive about the whole experience. It was as if we were saying, "ok God, we are done waffling in our own hearts, this may not be the best time to be selling our house in the world's eyes, but we are ready, and if you want us to take this next step please help us to sell the house quickly."

We do not get to pick which family we are born into, but had I been given a choice I definitely would have chosen my parents over again. This whole scenario would NOT be possible without their supreme generosity and the fact that they are great people to be around.

We began setting up an area in the house for the new baby, and unloading the car that was full of boxes that hours ago were slated to go back to our house. It was only moments later that we got three separate calls from the realtor's office asking to show the house. The next day, Palm Sunday, more people saw the house in that single day than had been to the house in months. One of those couples fell in love with the house and saw it again on Tuesday and again on Thursday, they put an offer in on Friday, we countered back and forth a bit and by Tuesday after dinner we had a deal.

I am sure if you have read this so far you don't need me to state the obvious, but I will for the record: this was a miracle. This was a true example of God answering a prayer moments after it was uttered. The neat thing about this whole experience was that God waited for us to be ready. Once we finally planted our flag and put ourselves in a position for Him to act, He did.

It is so amazing to have our children see prayers get answered in such a real way. I hope this blog will serve to remind them of God's active presence in their lives as they grow older.

Mutants

2009-04-13T21:16:00.000-04:00

At nearly 5 years old, Maria has been obsessed with babies and marriage lately. It would make sense to marry someone you know well, and who she know better than her brother? Anna and I tried to help her to understand why it was not allowed to marry relatives. A few days later we heard her interpretation of what we said:

"Sam, if I marry you my babies won't turn out right. They will have squiggly heads and squiggley arms and legs."

2009-04-10T13:54:00.002-04:00

Anna was explaining Good Friday to the kids and how we sort of re-inact the crucifixtion to remember it.

Maria asked?

"Who is gunna nail Fr Ed to the cross?"

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2009-04-01T23:47:00.000-04:00

All you Saints we don't know

2009-03-31T20:36:00.000-04:00

Part of our nighttime prayers involves singing a litany of the saints. Now Maria is the most musically inclined when it comes to singing, so she has pretty much internalized the pattern of saints we go through each night... many are the ones the kids got their middle names from: Thomas More, Faustina, Tarcisius, and also Anna and my confirmation saints. Typically after we get through these standard ones we open the floor to any other saints the kids want to add in. After these I’ll close it all down with Roger Holtz’s tune of “all you holy men and women pray for us.” Well this evening, Maria took the initiative and closed it down singing confidently: “All you saints we do know pray for us. All you saints we don’t know pray for us.”

Like Clockwork

2009-03-30T20:41:00.001-04:00

This phenomonon has been occuring nearly every morning and we have only now thought to document and share it. More often than not between 5:30 am and 6:30 am Joshua giggles in his sleep. It is quite funny to be around for, and it is so consitant that we are going to try to record it.

"What if she says 'no' "?

2009-03-30T20:25:00.005-04:00

Aunt Emily told us that one of her friends had three people ask her to prom. Well Joshua happens to have some romantic interest in this particular 17 year old girl, so he asked what prom was.

After our simple explanation he, wanted to know about dating, marriage, liking, loving and how it all works. The following is the discourse that we have NO IDEA where it come from ,but it had us all in stitches.

Mom: "if you like someone you ask them to go on a date, and if they like you back they say yes. Then you get to go places together. After a while if you start to love them ad want to marry them you ask them to marry you and if they say yes than you can get married."

Joshua: "What if they say no?"

Dad: " Than you can't marry them."

Joshua: " And you tell them to pay you $20 back."

Helping her brother out

2009-02-26T11:19:00.001-05:00

Maria finished her dinner last night much faster than the rest of us. Sam was hungry but dawdling--Maria sat next to Sam with fork in hand and said, "if we eat together we can beat Josh."

Either way they will burn you

2009-02-26T11:16:00.001-05:00

The hashbrowns were sizzling in the oily pan when I slid them onto the kids plates. I warned, "these are hotter than boiling water."
Maria blew on one and said, "they're not hotter than boiling water, they are warmer than boiling water."

From the mouths of babes

2009-02-19T11:19:00.002-05:00

Yesterday as Sammy was trying to get my attention he said, "Mommy." Mommy!" "BIG TUMMY!"

Well, for better or worse that did work to get my attention.

Home again, Home again, Jigity Jig

2009-02-18T01:29:00.018-05:00

Precisely two hours after my last blog post late Sunday night. I felt a rumbly in my tumbly, and spent the rest of the night getting to know the toilet better. I don't know for sure but I must have lost 10 pounds in four hours. I don't mean to be too graphic or anything, but I think I set a new record for tossing cookies the most times in four hours: 13.

Anna was the best, she made me a bed on the hotel bathroom floor with the extra pillows we had and I did not get up from this cozy spot until late the next morning.

(sorry no pictures, you'll have to use your imagination).

Luckily, it was only food poisoning from the Bean Burrito I ate at taco bell, so nobody else shared my agony. After a day in bed, Tuesday morning rolled around and I felt much better. But the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium had not been checked off Joshua's "Road Trip To-Do List" so even though there was a 10 hour drive ahead of us we went for it.

Boy was it fun: huge Sharks, giant Jelly Fish, jumbo Sting Rays, a big Sea Turtle and a little tiny sea shell filled with deadly poison (not kidding). Best of all everything was designed for maximum kid enjoyment.

We pulled in the drive way at 12:30am early Wednesday morning, just 31 minutes later than planned. The extra 31 minutes may have been the Italian dinner at Buca di Beppo we enjoyed in Cincinnati.

You know what? the it seems we have had some great chefs on our trip. The chef at Buca brought us out a free Calamari (out of the blue) so all the kids got to eat baby squids. Thanks to God for that nice touch: after looking at more sea creatures than you can shake a squid at we get to eat some too.

The Appalachian Mountains are Beautiful

2009-02-15T23:06:00.007-05:00

We got up extra early this morning, partly because there was an 8AM mass at St. Paul's in Seneca SC that we wanted to get to. But also because we could not wait to get out of our ultra crappy hotel room. It was what you would call a "dive" and it was abysmal...we now have both a good and a bad experience from using Priceline.com.

Our plan for today was to get from Seneca, SC to Gatlinburg, TN which google maps said should be about a 2.5 hour drive...it took us

10 hours.

We stopped at practically every spot to pull over and with the GPS set to "shorte

st" instead of "fastest" route we also found some beautiful back roads through the mountains, including some dirt roads with steep drops and no barriers.

We found breath-taking untouched land, an

d stumbled upon some of the most gorgeous building sites

with waterfalls in their ba

ck yard and mountain v

iews. And some of the scenic communities that we passed through lead me to feel

that I was in Switzerland

(except that everyone talked with a souther

n drawl instead of French).

The Smokey

Mountain National Park Road was the last park of our journey today. I cannot imagine taking the trip on a foggy or snowy day because mountain motoring

is so challenging on its own. Someday I would like to do this drive again in a Mini Cooper or Porsche with a stick 5 speed stick!!

Anna was a

real trooper through the whole trip

as she was not feeling good yet hardly complained that I was taking sooooooo long.

We are now safe at a comfy hotel in Gatlinburg. The kids went straight for the pool when we got here.

Maria has been pushing the limits of a 4 year old trying summer-salts under water, trying to touch the bottom

of the pool (5 feet down) and swimming with great strength across the pool and back many times with no assistance.

Samuel has no fear leaping into the pool, wanting to go completely underwate

r without plugging his nose, and only then can I lift him up. He is also very close to swimming on his own.

Joshua has a desire to swim, and he is overcoming his fears bit by bit. He was venturing out on his own where the water came up over his mouth.

We crossed strom thurmond dam onto south Carolina

2009-02-14T15:32:00.001-05:00

The Ray Clan Ephemeris

Passover Lamb: a true story

Great Big Chapstick

Wilderness Camping

Were you even listening?

Where is my headband

Homemade Mango Ice Cream

Night owl, or early bird

La la land (or Joshua doesn't listen)

Happy Easter ("I feel Sick")

Pew Preserves

Sam can "rememberize"

This is an Abortion! - Warning Very Graphic - Video - Catholic Online

Divine Mercy

The Wolf

Christmas treats

Pronounciation

Crossed over the 50 mile mark

Maria the risk taker

My dad invented that

SIDS

Funny Updates

Up before the sun to play in the snow

More stories

I wish I had thought of this

Real Men of Genius

Can you control your self

Who can you marry

Almost a Compliment

Already Famous

Watch this and your adrenaline will rush!!

Introducting Elizabeth Arabella Rose

Kid version of Go Fish

Running lots lately

Update and Prayer Request

Photoshop not good enough for Obama Government

In the Blink of An Eye

Mutants

Kids Say the Darndest Things

All you Saints we don't know

Like Clockwork

"What if she says 'no' "?

Helping her brother out

Either way they will burn you

From the mouths of babes

Home again, Home again, Jigity Jig

The Appalachian Mountains are Beautiful

We crossed strom thurmond dam onto south Carolina

A bright RED dirt road near Harlem Georgia

Okefenokee National Swamp

Joshua at the Georgia swamp entrance

38 bucks buys a night near Okefenokee

We'll have more Peanut Butter sandwiches now...

An Armadillo as we left Canaveral National Beach

Canaveral National Seashore is COVERED is seashells

Joshua's favorite: Comb Jellyfish - with flashing lights

Sea World was a Blast

Mary, Queen of the Universe

Crazy People Drive all night

The T-Rex display near Lego land in downtown Disney

Our room has a kitchenette and a livingroom! Yay

Arrived in Orlando@ 6:30 am; and they let us check in 10 hours early

Driving through the Appalachians at Cumberland

Sad to leave Nashville

How many chefs care this much?

The Miracle Hotel Room

Our miracle hotel room in Nashville, more on the story later

We're eating at the Aquarium Restaurant in Nashville: 200,000 gallons

Only 500 miles to find warm weather!

Maria's stripey tights - at Mammoth caves

Road Trip Links

Only 400 miles from home and it's 44 degrees already!!

Fun with glowsticks in Kentucky

Getting started early

Elizabeth Rose at 23 weeks.

A child's sense of time

Funny Apple Spoof

Happy New Year from the Rays

Nations's Wealthy Cruelly Deprived of the True Meaning of Christmas

How Many Days Until Christmas?