So, guess what? We are more-than-officially past the halfway point in Lent! Can I get a "Woohoo!" I don't think I have ever been so relieved to see the finish line on the horizon before. This has been just such a "Lent-y" Lent. Translation: I have never felt so physically run down, while simultaneously denying myself the usual comfort measures (caffeine, some kind of baked good, etc...) So, does this mean that my Lenten practices are being effective at helping "mortify the flesh?" Or is it not doing anything mortifying in the least, since all I can focus on is the "mortifying" part and not so much the "spiritual closeness" part? (The jury is still out on this one.)
In any case, I'm taking today to remind myself that even though I'm not quite meeting all the plans I had for myself (like those Friday-Stations of the Cross-picnics? Hasn't happened yet.) this doesn't mean that I'm a failure - and it CERTAINLY doesn't mean that God loves me any less. (And we of course, also know the flipside would be true too: if I *was* meeting all my plans for myself, God wouldn't love me anymore for it either).
It's kind of like an incident that happened at Mass today. After the presentation of the gifts, Father was trying to open the decanter and he just couldn't. He started like normal...
"Blessed are you..."
*yank*
*yanks harder*
*starts to chuckle*
"OK, I'm having a hard time here..."
*pullllllllls*
He was just about to give up, when the altar server got up and pulled the stopper out for him.
(Girl altar server, FTW!)
We were all laughing at that point. It was just too good. Of course, with the decanter freed, we continued on as normal - til the end of Mass, when Father had another surprise for us:
Gotta love our church. Even Father said it (and I'm paraphrasing here), "You know, I could try and keep things serious here, but that just isn't Holy Spirit parish." Which is true. I mean, we're Catholic - beautiful liturgy, statues, holy water and all. But we also have pink flamingos in the pond next to our meditation garden. *shrug* What ya gonna do? I guess, we just can't be bothered to take ourselves too seriously.
So that's where I'm at, at this point in Lent. Still fasting, praying and giving - but not beating myself up for all the other ways of fasting/praying/giving that I'm not getting done. Lord willing, I'll attempt them before the season is up but regardless, I will rest in the love that He has for me. I hope and pray that will be the "better choice."
I hesitate to say, "I'm back!" but it has been quite a while since I contributed anything to ye ole blogosphere - so here I be to remedy that. The top 7 things that have happened since my last 7QT!
- 1 -
The Spitfire started preschool! This was such a hard decision for me to make... almost as soon as we enrolled her I started researching homeschooling in earnest! What can I say? I love my little girl. But I see quite clearly how she is getting so much out of the experience. If nothing else, her desire to paint huge sheets of paper is getting satiated - and that is definitely something that doesn't happen at home. So I'm sure for her, it is worth it. :)
- 2 -
Before and After
Little dude got his first haircut! Props to the lady who (attempted to) cut his hair. She did her best to get a few chops in while he was playing at the table pictured above, but he really wasn't very cooperative. And now of course, since it has been nearly 2 months since this picture was taken, he's overdue for another go round. Maybe this time it will go better? (ha!)
My first overnight away from the kiddos! (I realize everything here is exclamation points, but I can't help it. These have all been pretty big deals. Especially this one.) I was quite nervous about leaving the little ones to head down to Pasadena for the Setting the World on Fire: An Instruction Manual event. I knew my kids were in good, capable hands (hi, honey!). I just didn't know how the kids would take it. But as it turned out we were all ok! More than ok really, because I got more than 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep! And I got to meet some wonderful, amazing women, and be encouraged to give and live generously.
Ok, a little bit out of order here - but a week before the conference my little sis and her hubby welcomed this little man into the world! Precious bundle whom I can't wait to snuggle. The little guy has got quite the personality already, as you can tell. :)
- 5 -
Lots and lots of time with these goofballs. (Commence Photo Dump!)
- 6 -
Another retreat! This time with Sarah Hart - a singer/songwriter from Nashville, who's sung for Pope Francis (!), and has also written songs for Amy Grant and (my favorite) Audrey Assad. She was great. Made us laugh, got us sharing (which made me cry - good tears), and was truly refreshing. Frankly, I amazed that someone of her caliber would come to our neck of the woods! But I'm so glad that she did because I left encouraged and grateful for the reminder of how very much we are loved.
- 7 -
Grammy and Poppy came for a visit! So well timed too, what with my husband going on a 2 week business trip at the same time. Can I just say I love my parents? I do.
Their visit kicks off a whole season of family visiting - Grandad comes soon, and our other new nephew arrives with his parents not long after that! So I hope it won't be as long as a wait before I get on here again. It really is good to get stuff written down, out of my head. And believe me I do have a lot of stuff rattling around in there!
Well, I'm amazed you're still here reading! If you're looking for more, head on over to Kelly's. I heard she was sick and could use some get well soon cheer...
Should I get to posting this today, an astute reader might ask, "But isn't St George's day tomorrow?" To which I would respond, "Great question, astute reader! I'll answer it shortly, but first, I must genuinely ask... who are you?? Because I noticed my blog has received over 3000 views since I've started it - and I know my sisters and mom can't possibly be logging in all that many views. Maybe you'd like to leave a little comment at the bottom? They're always nice." (By the way, hi Mom and sistahs! xo)
But yes, St George's day is tomorrow (or the 23rd, depending on when you read this) and the only reason why we're celebrating today is because we will have a very full day tomorrow that won't allow us to celebrate in our (now) traditional way. Yes, that's right, this is the 2nd year that we have celebrated Georgie's day so I think we can call it a tradition. Here's how it went down:
- 1 -
Woke up this morning and realized, "Nuts. We're supposed to be celebrating St George's day today" and quickly printed off some colouring (coloring) pages:
Maybe next year we'll actually finish one!
This year, the Spitfire was somewhat interested in actually colouring said pages! (And she also wanted to trace some letters of the word 'dragon'! I didn't even tell her that that was what the letters were there for! #proudmom)
- 2 -
We also had my niece over for a little bit this morning since she had no school. This resulted (as it so often does) in an impromptu dance party. Our soundtrack included America's "A Horse with No Name", the Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin'" and ABBA's "Dancing Queen" - and lasted right up until Little Dude's morning nap.
(The Astute Reader now asks, "How does this have to do with St George?" Patience, dear reader.)
On finding all these songs on YouTube, it occurred to me that there might also be St George cartoons to watch as well! And there are! First, we watched this one - which is oh, so cute because children. With accents. (God bless you, wee Millie!)
But it wasn't received all that well (especially by the soon-to-be-9-year-old). So we found this one, which was liked *much* better:
However, I think we may have watched it one too many times, because tonight as Paul was putting the wee girl to bed she asked him, "I don't have to dream about the dragon do I?" "No, honey, you don't have to dream about the dragon." "I can dream about planes?" "Yes, sweetie. You can dream about planes instead." Bless her heart.
- 3 -
And that was that! Til dinner time, when I began to make our (now) traditional Cottage pie (not Shepherd's because we didn't use lamb, we used ground beef). I made a few changes to the recipe this year that I really liked:
1. added 2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables (a tip well-received from Under Thy Roof)
2. swapped out the onion for a leek
3. used gruyere in place of the sharp cheddar
Little Dude (when he finally decided to try it) made an absolute mess of himself gobbling it up - and the Spitfire required some coaxing but eventually choked it down. So... win! (Someone please tell me the feeding children thing gets easier...)
- 4 -
Normally, while cooking, I like to listen to a Pandora station I call "Mambo Italiano" but for some reason, it really didn't seem appropriate for today. (ya think?!) So instead I quickly typed in the most English thing I could think of... "The Beatles" and that did quite nicely. But I also did a google search on "Music for St George's day" and surprisingly, there were a few hits! I'll have to look at them more closely for next year, methinks.
- 5 -
Table decor is not usually my thing, but this year I remembered I had red gingham cloth napkins (George is the Red Cross knight) - so I pulled those out. And earlier today I had seen on Pope Francis's Instagram that St George's day is his name day (Jorge == George, duh Sara!). So I quickly printed up a page of "Our George's" to hang by our table. Grandad, of course, topped the list. :) We lit our candle and said our prayers for them tonight.
If I really had my game on, I would have gotten a white candle. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.
- 6 -
Gotta love Cost Plus World Market to bring us all the comfort food from home! Blackthorn cider, McVities' digestives, Jelly Tots, PG Tips tea, a nice glass of Zin... (OK that last one was from Costco).
- 7 -
And last, but not least, in another thanks to Instagram - I learned that there is actually a Novena to St George:
Paul and I have been praying it since the beginning of the week - and I have loved it. It has really tied everything together for me - why we live liturgically, why telling (and re-telling) the stories of the saints matters, what this life is about. While the story of St George and the Dragon is clearly a fiction (the dragon part, at least), his virtues are not. And those are the virtues that I want my family (and myself) to strive for - or as another mama put it: I want my children (and myself) to have the courage to strive for the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. God bless us all as we seek to follow Jesus Christ - our highest good, truth and beauty!
Triduum = Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday - the last three days of the holiest week of the year.
Holy = sacred, set apart
This week...
... Well, this week has certainly been "set apart" but not at all in a sacred sense. Maybe it's the weather, the sick kids, or just that end of a long Lenten season that doesn't ever feel like it will end... But whatever it is, I have had the hardest time keeping to those Lenten promises that I made back in February. Life's "stuff" has kept me from my devotional, anger has been rearing its ugly head, and I've been tempted like never before to just open up Facebook and vent about it/scroll away. I'm not at all proud of myself.
I feel like I'm not alone in this though. Just chatting with the woman who does my hair today, we commiserated that this week has felt like the hardest in the whole of Lent. And after reading this from Whole Parenting Family, and this from Fountains of Home I'm encouraged that even some of the Catholic mommy bloggers I admire the most are having a rough-go of it. No one is getting off easy here.
It also occurs to me that maybe, just maybe, this could be a spiritual attack. I mean, wouldn't it just make sense that the devil would pull out all the stops to attack and distract and discourage Jesus's followers during this holy week? The devil doesn't have to distract those who don't care. And as Carolyn from Svellerella so eloquently put it, "especially during the holy days of the Easter Triduum, everyone the world over is saying the same prayers, contemplating the very same events in Jesus's life, all while offering our own prayer."
A photo posted by Carolyn Svellinger (@carolyn_svellerella) on
Well, with God's help, I'm not going to let discouragement keep me from continuing to honor God with what I can offer - my life, my little sacrifices, my self. And I'm certainly not going to let discouragment separate me from God's love and the knowledge that I am secure in my relationship with Him. Easter happened for such a time as this. I pray you won't either.
May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless us all as we seek to honor Him with all that we do. And may God be especially honoured when we give grace to ourselves and others when what was planned does not come to pass - when we are merciful as the Father is merciful. Amen?
Pope Francis waves to the crowd at the end of Mass at Madison Square Garden in New York Sept. 25. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
The Catholic Guy said "What you take away from this week with the Pope says more about you than it does about Pope Francis."
Well, if that's true, then I'm not sure what to think about myself exactly.
First of all, I really wanted to pay attention more this past week. I wanted to listen to the mass where Father Junipero Serra (now St Junipero Serra) was canonized. But I missed it.
I really wanted to hear his address to congress. But I only read it online.
I didn't even know he was addressing the United Nations!
And I only just caught the end of his homily at his last mass, as well as his final blessing, before leaving the United States.
Put all that together, and the phrase that comes to mind is the one about "good intentions". (And a road. That doesn't go anywhere particularly nice.) Maybe that's why I have been close to tears all day.
It started this morning in mass. The "spitfire" was actually doing quite well - she sat with us (mostly) and minded us (mostly). But during the "Our Father" both her and her brother started acting up: he, by pulling on my earrings and trying to make out with my chin (The slobber!!); she, with the incessant coughing and dropping her Duplo blocks on the tile floor. (Note to self: Even 4 Duplo blocks are too many for a toddler in a church with tile floors.) We got to the part about forgiving trespasses and I just about lost it laughing. We had to look ridiculous - what with me getting my ear yanked off, and the husband reaching down four times in a row to confiscate each noisy block that had "fallen". I giggled the rest of the way through the prayer (my saving grace being that we were singing the prayer today so no one could me).
But then, during the celebration of the Eucharist, we sang a song that brought me to tears. I had never heard it before yet the melody so perfectly fit the words, that I had it in my heart for the rest of the day: "I know there will be a day of peace... for this, let us all work and pray." It was this thought of working and praying for the day of peace that we know will come... it so beautifully evoked the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus spoke about as both "present" and "not yet". As I held my little girl, my heart was filled with longing for this day to be realized for her sake. The song became my prayer and my tears (I hope) baptized it.
I think it fit in well with Pope Francis' message while he was here. It seemed that with every speech and action, he communicated volumes on the dignity and worthiness of each human life. Every baby kissed, inmate spoken with, political figure greeted, 'common joe' waved at - it all said the same thing: "I see you! I *want* to see you! We only have a moment... may we bless each other in it!" I have no doubt that his care and smiles and blessings and exhortations were genuine. This, I believe, is what moved me to tears as he pronouced his final blessing at the mass yesterday- I felt loved and humbled and encouraged to love better.
And then, he was gone! Well, from American soil that is. And that was when I nearly cried again. This time I was on my way to the grocery store and listening to "Pope Radio's" sign off (Sirius XM's Catholic Channel coverage of His Holiness's week in the US). One of the hosts, Jennifer Fulwiler, shared that she was also teary eyed at that moment, so I felt in good company. But I was surprised at myself. Like I said, I didn't pay attention to his visit nearly as much as I had intended (or, one could argue, barely at all) - so why I should have felt so much emotion at his departure baffled me at first. But now, after a bit of processing, I can see that it's love. I love this man of God who has such a heart of compassion! I'm so grateful that he came to the U.S. and said the things he said, and did the things he did. He has blessed us and exhorted us to continue in the work that he is also doing: to love all, especially the poor, and to work for that "day of peace". I think that is good and true and right and I hope I will be able to live into that example that he left.
And... Lord willing, I also hope to see him in Dublin in 2018!
