Our Visit to the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs

I was so happy that we were able to tag some extra side trips onto our recent vacation to Cape Cod.  We made stops on the way there and back, which helped to break up the car ride and afforded us some "bonus" vacation material during our week away.   One of these was a stop at the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY.   (also referred to as The Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs.) 

The 400-acre grounds in upstate New York are the site of the former Ossernenon village of the Mohawk Native Americans.  It was in this village that three Jesuit saints were tortured and martyred - St. Isaac Jogues (1646), St. Rene Goupil (1642), and St. John Lalande (1646).  A decade later, St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in the same village.  Her mother is believed to have been lead to Catholicism by the these and the other Jesuit missionaries.  It is also believed that the village was the site of the first Rosary prayed in New York in 1642.  And we were there!  

It was so beautiful to be there with our whole family and my mom.  We had been reading and talking about St. Isaac Jogues and St. Kateri in the weeks before our trip in the hopes that we would be able to make the extra stop at the shrine.  It was so good to be there, to see the shrine, to pray, to venerate relics, and to be in the middle of what felt like nowhere but to know it was the same ground tread by holy saints and martyrs.  

The photos are nothing spectacular except that they are the account of our visit to holy ground.  And it was beautiful!

Several of Isaac Jogues fingers had been mutilated by natives during a previous missionary journey to North America.  Once back in France, he had been given permission from the Pope to continue to celebrate Mass despite the fact that his hands were not intact because he had already sacrificed so much to spread the Faith

We did not pray our Rosary at Theresa's Rosary rocks but chose a shady spot near by

Venerating the relics of St. Kateri

St. Isaac Jogues, pray for us!

St. Rene Goupil, pray for us!

St. John Lelands, pray for us!

St. Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us!

The Thing About Vacation... (and The Thing About Vacation Pictures)

The thing about vacation, for a person like me at least, is that it's hard.  When I say, "a person like me" I'm not simply referring to the fact that I have young children and the logistics of young children away from home are infinitely trickier than the logistics of young child at home.  I'm primarily referring to the me that doesn't "go with the flow" very easily and gets overwhelmed when there's too much "different" all at once.  Sometimes on vacation I get irritable and hyper-focused on how we'll anticipate hang-ups and manage what comes next and other times on vacation I just sit down and stare into space - it has the appearance of relaxation but it's really just overwhelm-ation.   (Yes, I did just make up a word.)  I recall from vacations even in my youth that vacation has always been hard for me.

But the other thing about vacation is that the "hard' is worth it.  Not "worth it" in the sense that we all got tan, had ice cream cones, splashed in the surf, and sipped mojitos (which we did thanks for my youngest sister's bar tending skills! yum!)  I don't even mean "worth it" in the sense that we relaxed (because as my mother said at the end of the trip, "I think we all had a great time, but it wasn't relaxing."  That's the "young kids" thing.)  The hard work of our vacation was worth it because I was given the gift of "seeing" my family more clearly, and appreciating them more deeply, given a week out of our normal, every-day "habitat."  Being at home all the time, it's almost as if the kids and Russ can start to blend into the surroundings, but on vacation they're easier to "see" against the backdrop of someplace unfamiliar.  I saw how delightful and polite my children are because I got to see them interact with our extended family and other Cape Cod vacationers.  I saw how creative and interesting they are as they built backyard fortresses and ocean-side sand-castles.  I was grateful to witness their curiosity and interest in new things - whales, crabs, and outdoor showers :)  I was reminded how fun and fun-loving Russ is and how he thrives in social situations, how at ease he is in groups and how much he enjoys family time.  My husband and children weren't different on vacation, but I was able to better recognize the goodness in them that's always there but sometimes gets a bit blurred in the day-to-day of the 51 other weeks of the year.  

Vacation is hard.  But vacation was good.  

We spent our week at Cape Cod with my parents, my three siblings, my brother-in-law, our nephew, and my sister's boyfriend.  I've tried not to include them in the photos here because I never think to ask permission before I publish these things.  And the other thing about vacation pictures?  Usually people don't really want to see all your vacation pictures. They're sentimental and awesome to you, but not so much to everyone else.  View further at your own discretion ;)  (They got out of order, but since you probably won't look at them that closely, I'm not going to knock my brains our rearranging things...)

A Baby Doll Carrier for Clare (sewing project show and tell)

(hot on the heals of my post about baby wearing...)

(this little show and tell has been auto posted to entertain you while I'm off on vacation!)

Of all my kiddos, Clare and James have been the most frequently "worn" babies.  Clare doesn't remember the all the cozy times she spent spitting up down my chest, but she does see me wear James often enough.  And what I do with James, Clare does with Sally: nurse, dress, rock, bounce, sing to, toss off the play set.  (Oh no, wait.  I don't do that last one with James.)  Clare's two-year-old brain has even deduced that there are joys to baby wearing beyond the hair-pulling and shirt-soaking that we mamas endure embrace.  Lucky for Clare (and Sally!), a friend gave me some tips on sewing an Ergo-style baby doll carrier, and I picked up a simple pattern here via Pinterest!  

she's even got the hand-on-the-carrier stance :  

The pattern was perfect except that Clare is so tiny the straps were a little long.  I have to wind them around her a couple times :)  If you're interested in making one and the wearer is itty bitty, test out the straps before sewing them in so you can adjust the length if you need to.  Also, I didn't have any heavy weight fabric, so I used a medium-heavy weight fusible interfacing on the front carrier piece.  It turned out nice and sturdy :)

Thanks for indulging me in a little show and tell :)