Blessings of the Week - vol. 33

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Advent by Candlelight. Last Sunday night, our parish hosted the second Advent by Candlelight evening for women. It was beautiful. The speaker, Sr. Carla Mae Streeter, was engaging. The food was delicious. Everyone's tables were gorgeous. The conversations flowed easily. And, most importantly, it was a prayerful start to Advent.

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Getting Back into the Routine. After taking Thanksgiving week off school (and work, for DH), it was nice to get back to the routine this week. Albeit, Monday was slow-going. But, by Tuesday, we'd found our groove once more. The kids tackled their school work with a little more fervor. We filled in the afternoons with special Advent treats and activities. All in all, it's been a good week.

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Watching My Kids Be Siblings. Sometimes, I think, it's easy to focus just on the ways my kids annoy each other (and me), fight with each other, pick on each other. But, really, most of the time, my kids get along really well. BigBro is especially protective of the younger two. When Princess got her ears pierced yesterday, BigBro admitted to feeling nervous for her, and was right by her side, patting her on the back and telling her that she looked really pretty. What a blessing to step aside and watch them caring for each other (and not just tearing at each other!).

*****

How has He blessed you this week?

She Did It!

For about six months, Princess has been asking, off and on, about getting her ears pierced.

Whenever we talked about it, she would get scared and decide not to do it.

Earlier this week, she announced that she was ready. From that point on, she's been asking repeatedly to get earrings.

We went this afternoon. In the car on the way there, she said she was nervous. There were a few tears as the earrings went in, but she's nothing but smiles now. She's so proud of herself... and I think she looks adorable!

As if my little jewelry hound needs any more excuses! (Though, you know, I love any excuse to enjoy my little girly-girl!)

Cookie Observation

I can't tell if it's just an age difference, or an age and gender difference, but the amount of decorating sugars you need seems inversely proportional to your age:

LilBro:

Princess:

BigBro:

Of course, they all taste really yummy, no matter how they look!

Enjoying the Waiting

We are having so much fun this Advent!

Last year, St. Nick brought me a wooden Advent calendar, filled with Hershey's kisses (enough for each child every day til Christmas). This year, the kids have bags of leftover Halloween candy (one piece for each day of Advent) and have been given 2 chocolate-a-day Advent calendars. So, refilling the wooden calendar with chocolates, as the good Saint did, seemed a bit... over the top.

Instead, I filled it with slips of paper, each detailing a family activity for us to do that day.

We've made Christmas crafts, written letters to Santa, and learned a new Christmas carol. And it's only December 3. Some of the activities are more prayerful. Some are service-oriented. Some are just plain fun.

We still do our short family prayer service every night around the Advent wreath. It's particularly sweet this year: the kids really know the process. We sing "O come, o come, Emmanuel," read a short passage from the Bible relating to that day's Jesse Tree ornament, share the prayer intentions from our prayer chains, and end with an "Our Father." The whole thing takes about 5 minutes, and has become a real tradition in our family... something all five of us look forward to.

We're having so much fun this Advent, Christmas can take its time in coming.

Found: Geocache!

We did it! After weeks of talking about it, we went geocache hunting yesterday afternoon. It was an absolutely gorgeous day... a real treat for December 1. We were supposed to go to a homeschooler game day at the library, but none of us could bear to be stuck inside.

Princess suggested a hike at the sculpture park. BigBro said there were many geocaches hidden there. A quick internet search brought us to some clues, and before we knew it, we were hiking in the woods, following directions, searching for... well, we weren't exactly sure what.

We only found 1 cache yesterday, but the kids were really excited. BigBro took a Pokemon card from the cache and left a little green alien toy in its place. There was a stamp inside it, so each of the kids got their hand stamped, too.

As we wandered around the rest of the park, we bumped into a photographer from the newspaper. He was looking to get some photos of people enjoying the park, and asked if we would mind him tagging along with us. I explained the geocache hunt, answered a bunch of his questions about homeschooling, and he stayed with us for awhile.

We never uncovered any of the other ones... but we've got a better idea of what we want to put in our own caches now. And, when we get that rare nice day this winter, I think I know exactly what we'll do to enjoy it!

A Quiet Morning

We are quiet here this morning. I am home from Morning Prayer and mass. DH took LilBro to school. BigBro is curled up next to me on the couch, the final pages of the 5th Harry Potter novel keeping his full attention. Princess (yesterday morning's mass companion) is still asleep.

I just read the loveliest email from a close friend. She always inspires me with the depth of her prayer life. She rises about 4am everyday, to spend an hour with the Lord before she exercises and gets ready for her day. This morning, she spent some of that hour re-reading a witness I had written in January of this year for the retreat team I was heading at that time. This morning, she found some wisdom, some strength, some inspiration in those words... and she wrote me to tell me of it.

After reading her email, I went digging in my Word files for the paper that had touched her. It took me three tries before I found it. It's been a while since I've opened those files. Reading through it, I was struck by a few thoughts.

1) How inspired the scripture choices were. These certainly didn't come from me; they were too spot-on.

2) There's something in Titus that I need to hear. I think I need to spend some time with that book today.

3) How similar and how very different I am than that woman who wrote those words nearly a year ago.

4) Grace abounds... everywhere. We just need to open our eyes to it.

So, on this quiet December morning, I am offering a prayer of thanksgiving for all the Grace in my life... and especially for the Grace that surprises.

May you notice your Grace-filled day, too.

Happy Advent!

We've started our Advent in a wonderful way. Friday, I got most of the decorations out and up, and our Advent plan in place.

This morning, after mass, we visited the "Santa House," where we listened to a story, watched a puppet show, got a warm, chocolate chip cookie from Mrs. Claus, and spent a few minutes visiting (and posing for pictures) with Santa.

Then, we came home, ate lunch, and lit the first purple candle on our Advent wreath. BigBro read to us from Genesis. The kids tore the first link off their paper chains and shared their prayer intention for the day. We prayed together. Then Princess put the first ornament on the Jesse Tree and LilBro snuffed out the candle.

Tonight, I am hosting a table for our parish's Advent by Candlelight celebration. The speaker is Sr. Carla Mae Streeter, rumored to be a dynamic speaker. I am looking forward to delicious food, an inspiring talk, and warm conversation with good friends.

I hope your first day of Advent is as filled with big and little blessings.

Blessings of the Week - vol 32.

The Thanksgiving Edition:

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Our Parish Community. We attended mass on Thanksgiving morning. It's the first year we could attend, as we usually have a houseful of guests expecting entertainment (and a much larger turkey needing longer cooking time). We were up, and decided to begin our day thanking God. What an absolutely beautiful experience. The church was packed. The offertory included a procession of donated food and other items that covered nearly all of the sanctuary in front of the altar. Several times, DH and I were brought to tears by the abundance of faith, hope and charity in this community. Pastor ended mass with a blessing of our donations and of rolls he bought from a local Italian bakery. Then, instead of a processional, both priests and both deacons stood in front of the church, passing out blessed rolls to everyone. Finally, we all helped carry the donated food out to the "Little Yellow Bus" owned by our St. Vincent de Paul Society, so that it could be delivered to food pantries. The biggest blessing: DH, BigBro and Princess all said they want to make Thanksgiving mass a permanent part of our holiday routine. We shall... no matter who is visiting or how large the turkey is.

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Our Priests. We are so very lucky to have the two priests we do at our parish. Father is my spiritual director and our good friend. This week included an hour or so of direction, followed by him joining us for dinner and sticking around late into the night, talking, laughing and debating. Our Pastor is an incredibly generous and kind-hearted man... who helped us out of a real bind this week, and then laughed off our thanks, sharing similar episodes from his life.

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A Full Table. This year, our Thanksgiving table was a little smaller than in years past. We lost my mother-in-law's dear friend in April. Family from my side weren't able to join us this year. But we had a wonderful time all the same. We sat around the table for hours, talking and laughing, recalling old memories and making new ones. It was a truly blessed Thanksgiving, in every way.

Blessings of the Week - vol. 31

The late November edition:

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A Good Week. This week was a very busy one, but productive and fun all the same. The older kids and I painted some pottery one day. I got paid to eat ice cream one night! We had dinner with friends on two different days. It was a full and blessed week in ever so many ways!

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Thanksgiving Break. We are officially on break... all 5 of us. DH takes off Thanksgiving week every year (not a bad trade: a whole week of vacation for 3 days). After the fall-full-of-travel, it is just glorious to have him all to ourselves for 9 uninterrupted days! And it's just as wonderful to have a break from the book-work and daily grind for me and the kids. There are movies to be seen, family pictures to take, a turkey-and-fixins to cook, and some quiet family time to be enjoyed.

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Organized and De-cluttered bedrooms. My kids' bedrooms tend to become the black holes of our house. Stuff disappears in there forever, and the mess never seems to be more than contained. But this week, we spent a few hours decluttering, getting rid of the never-played-with, filling a kitchen-sized trash bag, and organizing all that remained. The end result: each room now has a little reading nook, the tops of dressers are cleaned off and neat, and the kids have been enjoying their rooms and toys a lot more. Inspired by the visual peace of their rooms, I tackled my nightstand/bookshelf and the creeping mess of books and magazines that spread out from there. In less than an hour, I transformed my bedroom from ok to sanctuary. (Now, if only I could convince DH to do the same with his side of the room... hmmm.... a Thanksgiving break project?)

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As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, won't you join me in thanking Him for all the blessings He's bestowed on you?

Have a blessed and fun Thanksgiving!

Taking My Own Advice... Or Not, As The Case May Be

Ok, so a few weeks ago, I admonished the rest of you not to try to do it all in preparing for Advent this year... and then I completely ignored my own words, and tried to do it all.

In addition to DH's travel (he's gone again this week), buying a new car, and negotiating with the network over the reality tv thing, I'm still homeschooling, laundry-washing, grocery-buying, and so on. Oh, and yeah... I realized just the other day that Thanksgiving is next week... and we are hosting DH's family.

So, I freaked. It's bound to happen, right?

I've spent the past few days getting organized. The kids' rooms have been cleaned and de-cluttered. The house has been picked up again (at least the main level is still in pretty good shape, just needs the daily maintenance). I've bought everything we need for Thanksgiving, and nearly everything I need for Advent by Candlelight (the Sunday after Thanksgiving). I've been shopping online and made a significant dent in my holiday list. And I've started the master list designed to get me through these next 6 weeks without freaking out (again).

I am scheduled to go to Vision of Peace on Sunday afternoon, and stay until late morning on Tuesday. Originally, I planned to bring all sorts of projects to work on. Then, I planned to spend part of Monday Christmas shopping, using Vision of Peace for my home base. But now, I think I'll do neither. What I most need right now is quiet, solitude and prayer. Especially prayer.

I have several books waiting for me to read them. I know I need a nap or three. And my poor, neglected body is craving the feel of pavement and the rush of cool air... so I'm certain there is a run or two in there. And that's about it, I think. My calm before the rush of the holidays.

And hopefully, the rush of this week, the master list, and all that I am accomplishing now will allow me to enter prayerfully into Advent and to take that season more gently, more rightly-focused, and more patiently than I've tackled November.

One can always hope, right?

Blessings of the Week - Vol. 30

The Dear Husband edition:

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DH's Fishing Trip. He had 6 days of gorgeous weather, biting fish, and lots of laughter. His annual trip with the guys was blessed by good weather and good times. It's a blessing that he was able to go, and that he had such a wonderful time.

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DH's Return. He returned on Wednesday afternoon, to a very worn-out and happy to see him wife, thrilled to see him kids, and a new car. What a blessing he is to me... and how wonderful to recognize just how much I need my best friend/husband/partner.

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DH's New Car. When DH's car died last week, I optimistically thought we might be able to survive as a one-car family for a month or two. But when faced with needing to be in two different places at the same time this weekend, in the midst of other stresses and single parenting, I couldn't handle it. A quick Craigslist search brought up the car of our dreams (and my prayers)... literally, the elderly lady who drove it to church, the doctor, and the grocery store. The car is 4 years old, but has only 9,000 miles and is in pristine condition... and cost exactly what we had saved to buy a replacement car. Truly, this car came to us as a real blessing this week.

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Care to join me in praising God this week?

Progress

Before I started running, I would see people running as I drove down the street and think,

"Well, you're just nuts."

After I started running, I would see people running as I drove down the street and think,

"Good for you!"

Yesterday, I saw a person running as I drove down the street and I thought,

"Oh, man... I would give anything to be out there with you right now."

The mental transformation is complete. I am a runner. Even if I am not getting the time or the mileage I did all summer, I am still a runner.

Who would have ever thought it possible???

Thursday Morning's Smile

Princess to me this morning:

"Mommy, when I'm a grown-up, are you going to look old?"

God willing, sweetie. God willing.