All About Us

Several years ago, our marriage began to unravel.  I still do not know or understand why. I still believe in us, so though we are now civilly divorced (it hurts even to write it), I continue to believe in God's promises of restoration and healing. And we are still married in the church, so...

I am the wife of an amazing man.  We met during a study abroad program in college and began dating in a tiny and lovely little mountain town in Austria. 

 Chris is steady and strong. 

 He is realistic and reasonable.  He is logical and confident. He is calm and creative.  

I am outgoing and impulsive. 

 I am bubbly and expressive.  I am imaginative and passionate.  

We have 4 beautiful, adventurous girls and 1 rambuncious sweetheart of a boy.  

Our oldest is Kayla Cecilia.  Kayla was literally the ONLY name that Chris and I could agree on for a girl during that first pregnancy.  We had known since we were dating that we wanted Cecilia to be part of our first daughter's name because we both love music and St. Cecilia is my confirmation Saint.  

Kayla is 10. She is full of adventure and spunk.   She takes ballet and tap and loves climbing trees. She has a love of learning and a great imagination.  She is in 5th grade, reads avidly, and loves all things space and astronauts. 

Our second girl is Elise Marianna (pronounced Mari (rhymes with starry)-- Anna (rhymes with sauna).    She is our "namesake baby" because we covered 3 grandmothers and  both our mothers with her name.  We brought a bit of Chris' French side in with our choice of Elise, which we thought was like a French version of Alice (my dad's mother).  Marianna (spelled with only one n is also the name of some Italian ancestors of mine, but more importantly it is a combination of Mary and Anne (She's named for the Blessed Mother and St. Anne!) It has parts of both Chris' grandmothers' names (Anny and Marcella) and also parts of Chris' mom's middle name (Ann) and my mom's middle name (Diane).  As if the name didn't cover enough wonderful people in our lives, she is also named for my mom's dear friend, MaryAnn, who was like a "second mom" to us growing up.  

Elise is 8 and a total goofball.  She makes funny faces and uses funny voices.  She's a bundle of emotions and loves rhythms and beats.  This sweet girl loves to snuggle, build with magna-tiles, and ride her bike.  She loves animals and looking at books about them. 

Our third daughter is Ava Chantal.  We don't choose names for their meanings specifically, but after we agreed on this name we were elated to find that her first name, Ava means "bird" (or course, it's also very close to Ave which means Hail as in the Ave Maria).  Her middle name is an homage to St. Jane Frances de Chantal (an amazing French Saint whom my MIL introduced me to) and Chantal means "stone" but has become associated with French 'chant' or "song".  She is our little bird song and does indeed love singing and flitting about the house. 

 Ava is 7 and full of smiles and hugs.  She is sensitive and shy, but has a lot of spunk once she opens up and lets out her personality.   Ava will once again take tap dancing with big sister, Elise, this year.  She loves dress-up, card games, dancing with her sisters to The Greatest Showman, and backpacking with Daddy. 

Our fourth daughter is Sophie Rose .  She is somewhat named after me (Laura Rose) and as such, is also named after the 4th and last of our grandmothers (my mom's mom, Dolores Rose as well as her mother, Rose).  And of course she is blessed to be named after a few great Saints like St. Madeleine Sophie Barat (St. Sophie, a popular French Saint) and St. Rose of Lima.  

Sophie is 4 1/2.  She is a bundle of laughs and giggles and loves to be tickled.  She is attached to a "blanket" (an old nightgown of one of her sisters) and her thumb.  Sophie learned to ride her bike this year and is a whiz at it.  She will begin a beginning ballet, tap, and jazz class this year and she is beyond excited.   

Our first and only son is Kolbe Christopher.  He is named for St. Maximilian Kolbe, a polish priest who was sent to Auschwitz during WWII.  While in the prison camp, he was a witness to true and authentic love and gave his life in place of another becoming a "martyr of love".  Chris and I visited Auschwitz during our semester abroad and it was an incredible and moving experience to see where St. Maximilian Kolbe died.  His middle name is his Dad's first name-- a Bissonnette family tradition--the firstborn son (Chris is) uses his first name as his firstborn son's middle name.  

Kolbe is 3 and is all boy.  He loves all things cars, trucks, planes, and anything else that makes noise and goes.  Kolbe also loves to tag along with his sisters and can sing The Greatest Showman tunes (and has some amazing dance moves) with the best of them.  He loves to tackle, growl at people, and pedal his tricycle like a maniac around our neighborhood, smiling and making silly faces.  And he is also the sweetest snuggler and loves to shower us with kisses and hugs.  

I am a cradle Catholic and I love my faith.  I have a special devotion to Our Lady, Theotokos (God-bearer, Mother of God).  I am striving each day to be more like her and lovingly embrace the crosses and joys in my life.  When I was in Europe I took part in a Byzantine prayer called the Akathist.  It is a lovely prayer to Our Lady and to this day I am still looking for a musical rendition done the way I heard it in Austria...

Other things I like are sweets, baking them, reading, writing poetry, hiking, and laying on the beach.  Some of these happen often, some hardly at all in my current state of life...

Thanks for stopping by.  It is my hope that little by little, I can become more like Our Lady and give all the glory to God in all aspects of my life: as a wife, as a woman, as a mother, as a teacher, as a friend.