I Have A Say Thanks to My Mom and Dad!!!

Being the oldest of 11, I am so thankful, especially now, for my Mom and Dad saying "yes" to life! Growing up, we never had a ton of money. My Dad was a high school chemistry teacher and my parents decided from the beginning that they wanted to have one of them home with us. My mom gave up her teaching career, and raised me, followed by 10 others! My Mom also taught all 11 of us at home for part of our childhood before we would head off to Nativity Catholic Grade School. My Dad worked long hours, eventually earning other degrees so that he could first become dean, then principal, and finally, when I was a sophomore, he was named Roncalli High School's first president. My Dad and Mom both sacrificed SO MUCH for us.

I remember, even as a young person, getting stared at by people, and I remember the comments they would make. I can still hear a dental receptionist asking my Mom "Are these all yours? You know how children are made right?" followed by a real insidious but ditzy chuckle, followed by a secretarial gum crackle. My Mom and Dad were always tight budget wise, and I'm sure at times ached with a desire to not have to take bags of clothes from other families so that we could have clothes. I'm sure my Mom and Dad had desires to simply go to Nordstrom and buy us and give us all our own new clothes and Gameboys and Reebok Pumps etc. I'm sure they at times really wished they could just get a new car and not have to drive a fifteen passenger van around. I'm sure at times they wanted really badly to just go to a restaurant and sit back and enjoy a big expensive meal instead of having to cut coupons and craft together economic meals on the stove.

But they chose life for us, and they chose sacrifice for themselves.

I often think about that ditzy secretary now when our family gets together almost every weekend for dinner to laugh and hang out. Some of the siblings might be out of town or busy with other obligations, but inevitably, all weekend long, every weekend, our family gets together. Sometimes, when we're out at a restaraunt, I see the couples who are alone with each other. They hardly talk to each other and the loneliness is palpable. A part of me feels bad that we're having so much fun with our 8 tables shoved together, telling stories, laughing good hearty and healthy laughs. Sometimes I wonder if one of the couples sitting in the restaurant quietly and solemnly is that dental secretary - who now has piles of money and can eat wherever she wants, but doesn't have hardly anyone to share it with. My heart breaks for the people who are alone, especially the ones who are alone because, when they could have been having children, they instead bought into the contraception lie and lived for themselves only.

I have a say today, and so do my ten younger brothers and sisters, because my parents chose life. Mom and Dad - thanks a million!!!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Marnie Falcon

I am a woman. I am the oldest of five. God blessed us with parents that taught us the important things in life. The first was to love God with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul. Then they taught us to love and respect all people we came in contact with. We were lucky as all the families around us were big families and we fit right in.

After many years of discerning my vocation, our Lord let me to married life. I was ready for a big family. My husband and I were open to life and very soon our home was blessed with a baby boy. The day he was born, like Hannah, I gave him back to our Lord if his will was for my little one to serve Him at the altar. Years have passed and my husband and I are still open to life. The Lord has chosen not to bless us that way, but He has blessed us with a child that is in love with Jesus and his Church.

I can't help but feel sorry for those who are so closed to life and the joy that children bring. I feel sorry because no matter how they spin it, selfishness is at the core of their argument. That's no way to live and that's no way to die.
I have a say, but so does He. His say trumps mine, His say trumps yours Cecile!

Thank you so much Father John and thank you for shepherding the faithful at your parish, but also those of us so geographically far away, but so close in the Truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pax Christi,
Marnie Falcón

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