…my friend Mrs. McG and I are on the same wavelength today. Below is a link to her blog and a post she wrote:
Link…
Filed under: General Stuff
On “Planning” Children**
I am not sure if you all have picked up that we are what some call “providentialists” when it comes to planning our family. That means, we do not, but God does. We do not do anything to avoid pregnancy, but we do not go out of our way to make as many babies as possible either. There has to be a lot of trust in God that He will not give us more than we can handle, but to also know that He will give us the graces, if we accept them, to handle all that he gives us.
This is a lot easier said than done sometimes. As I read in another blog a few weeks back, it is easy to be open to life during the day time, but in the middle of the night it is a pretty scary thought. Yes, I have doubts sometimes, I wonder “What will people say? Will we be able to support another child? Will I be able to endure another first trimester with four little ones? Can I handle another labor?” The answers to those are: “Who cares? Of Course! Yes! Yes!” However, I look outside and see the sun shining and my kids are getting along well. If I were posting this in the middle of the night or they were fighting, I would begrudgingly give the same answers.
It is in those dark times that I seek out wise women who have been in our place and saints who have addressed motherhood but most of all, God because without Him, I am nothing.
With all that being said, I have put together a few links and quotes for my reference and, if you like, yours also. (I have to thank my friend Suzanne for posting a few of these links and inspiring me to write this post.)
“That special power of loving that belongs to a woman is seen most clearly when she becomes a mother…Yet we can destroy this gift of motherhood, especially by the evil of abortion, but also by thinking that other things like jobs or positions are more important than loving, than giving oneself to others. No job, no plans, no possessions, no idea of “freedom” can take the place of love.” ~ Mother Theresa
Five Things That Are Worse Than Being in Debt
**Yes, I realize this post has the tone that an announcement may soon be made about the expansion of our family, no such announcement is forthcoming as of yet**
Monday Musings
Right now…7:00 pm, dark and cool outside. The dishwasher is running and Joshua is reading a book to the kids. Benedict is sleeping next to me on the couch.
This weekend..on Saturday we hung around the house, relaxing. I was supposed to fold laundry, but had no desire to do so. I am okay with that. I am okay with it sitting, clean in baskets. Instead of folding laundry, we conferred with a friend to set up a blog, more about that later! I did some searching for a Family Doctor for our family and found one via the One More Soul website. He is in Tallahassee, an hour and a half a way, BUT he does not prescribe birth control and knows the Creighton Model of NFP. We don’t chart or anything, but that is the NFP we learned when we were first engaged. I have to call tomorrow to set up a physical appointment for myself. I am so excited about find him.
Also on Saturday, I went to the craft store and picked up a crochet hook. I started to use it, but the video I picked on line to watch wasn’t very helpful. It started in the middle of a lesson. I was not able to look up another one though. We also cooked out on Saturday night, hamburgers!
Sunday was Mass then home. We came home, had lunch, then put away Christmas. Now the kids are asking if it is Easter, like every five minute! It is bare in our living room, but looks nice. I pulled out a few things to place on the piano, so it looks a bit more homey in here.
We also made our way through four of the Star Trek movies this weekend too, ’cause as you might know, we are all geeks!
Some plans for the week: Work on addition and subtraction with Karol, make a doctor appointment and work on things for Vianney Vocations.
Special prayer intentions: The men studying at the Pontifical College Josephinum, as they begin their spring term this week.
If I find a little time for myself: Practicing crocheting some more!
Something that makes me smile: A sleepy Benedict…I forgot to mention that he slept from 10-ish last night to 530 this morning! I was in bed by 11 and woke up just before he did.
For more musings, check out this Patch O’ Dirt!
Friday Dinner
Salmon loaf, mashed peas and oven rosemary potatoes paired with a Killians.
Pope John Paul II to be Beatified*!
Oh what wonderful, happy, joyous news! Our beloved Pope John Paul II will be Beatified on the Feast of Divine Mercy. Since Karol is named after our former Holy Father, we will most certainly have to have a big celebration.
Say it with me: “Juan Pablo Segundo te quiere todo el mundo!”
*Edited because I really do know how to spell Beatified, really*
Just for Clarification…
Karol’s birthday was last week and his baptismday was on Monday. Margaret was born a year later on the same date as his baptismday and her baptismday is today! It is a busy week for all of us!
Did I mention I forgot Karol’s baptismday until we were half way through celebrating Margaret’s birthday? All was good though, I was prepared for it, I just had forgotten that day.
Today we took the kids out to dinner. I am glad it was more of a fast food type place and it wasn’t that busy because my kids were horrible. I guess it had to happen sometime, they have been really good lately at most places. Note to self: Caecilia still needs to be in a high chair, buckled in.
Today was also Margaret’s first time riding in a booster seat. I better parent would have taken pictures, I was just proud that I had all the kids ready to go when Joshua got home from work, I didn’t even think about pictures.
And that list I had earlier, of things to do. Well, ha ha ha, I swept the living room three times today, as well as once around the rest of the house, I washed diapers and bathed Caecilia and Benedict. The dishes are still in the dishwasher, but that is not a big deal to me. I did make those neat montages of the kids for their birthdays (albeit a bit late)!
Now I am working on things for Vianney Vocations and hoping to head to bed in one hour and ten minutes.
…and we musn’t forget Karol
Karol is five now! Margaret was born on Karol’s Baptismday, what a wonderful day in our home.
Could it be?
Filed under: General Stuff
Long List….
…I have a long list of things to do today and absolutely no desire to do any of it. Does anyone want to come down to Georgia (highs this weekend will be in the 60s) and do some chores for me? Pretty please. I will even organize them for you, so you know what need to be done first!
1. Wash diapers (not as gross as it sounds, really)
2. Fold laundry that has been sitting in a basket for a week.
3. Sweep/mop kitchen floor
4. Sweep living room.
5. Unload dishwasher
6.Put sheet back on to the beds in the kid’s room.
This list really isn’t that bad, I may actually get it accomplished today as I won’t be making dinner tonight. (Zaxby’s is on the menu per Margaret’s request for Chicken Nuggets and French Fries for her Baptismday Dinner).
Monday Musings
Right now…10:06 am, rainy and cool. No, we have not gotten the snow and ice that I am sure you have all heard Georgia is getting. Nope. we are about 45 minutes south of where the jet stream is resting, so we have 42 degrees and rain. The town where our Parish is has a “Winter Storm Warning” for ice! Today is Margaret’s 4th birthday and requested watching Dr. Doolittle this morning. It is the old version and she loves it so much, so I put it on and we had breakfast while watching the movie. It is still on, so I am watching parts of it with them.
This weekend..was par for the course for the Facemyer family. We ran errands, rested, cleaned and watched movies. The only different thing added in was dinner with the Borja family. They live a few towns over and are friends of our friends the Shiekos, so we finally decided to get together and hang out. I am sure we overwhelmed them but we had a great time. There aren’t many Catholics in this part of the world, so meeting another young Catholic family is wonderful! (statistic, in the diocese of Savannah, there are 2.8 million people and of those people, 73,649 are Catholic, a small small number)
Our errands on Saturday involved buying a booster seat for Margaret! Yeah, no more carseat for her! We are going to retire her old one to the garbage as it is quite old and very ratty. It was a hand me down from Joshua’s sister and I think she used it with all of her kids, meaning it is close to 10 years old! I also found a new pair of dress shoes. My old ones are still functional and nice, but they are sort of dated, and my style of dress has changed a bit since I bought them too, so I needed something that fit more in with my current style. I will probably alternate between the two though.
We also looked for a new umbrella stroller. The wheels on ours are pretty much dead and it is so hard to push it. I also would like to find something that is a bit taller in the handles. I wonder, I am not that tall, but I have to hunch over to push each one that I have ever used, are there any made for tallerish people? Also, how do fathers push them?
On Sunday we organized the back room again. We don’t have a shed or much storage space in this house, so a lot of the extra things have just been tossed back there. However, that room is also the first room that people see when they come to the house, so, even though things were sort of neat in there, it most certainly wasn’t inviting. We set up another shelf and put a few things in bins, and while it isn’t perfect, it is much better. We made a sitting area out there too, with our patio furniture, so maybe that will be my quiet sitting area for reading.
Some plans for the week: To get back in to the swing of school. My goal is to be done with it by the end of March, so that we can enjoy spring here before it gets hot again.
Special prayer intentions: This week is National Vocation Awareness Week, so I am upping my prayers for the increase in religious and priestly vocations.
If I find a little time for myself: I would like to learn more about crocheting. Caecilia’s godmother made the cutest crocheted doll for her and I want to be able to do it. Mary (C’s godmother) also crocheted a wool diaper cover in like a day. A DAY! So I wonder, is it easier than knitting. I like to knit, but I am not one of those who can cast on, do a few rows then put it down, I have to concentrate about it and if I put it down, I have a hard time starting again. Then there is the issue of knitting needles and the kids loving to play with them. So I am going to read up about it. Perhaps a trip to the library is in order.
Something that makes me smile: watching Margaret dance in her seat while watching Dr. Doolittle.
For more musings, check out this Patch O’ Dirt!