Wrap!

I have been wearing my babies since Karol was first born. I have two NoJo BabySlings, which are  great when the babies are small, but as they get bigger, my shoulders and back really take a beating, so I was looking for something that distributed the weight a bit more. While searching, I found out that Sarah had a sling making gig. I liked what I saw, so after a few emails, I ordered a wrap and I love it.

First let me tell you about the ordering process. Sarah has options for you  to choose from or you can tell her the fabric that you would like. I finalized my order on a Friday and had it in my hands by the next Wednesday! Now that’s fast service. Sarah also includes a DVD with instructions on how to wear your baby.

So, without further ado, I offer pictures of the awesome wrap:

Filed under: General Stuff

Conference Tips – Part One

As I said in a previous post, I am attempting to get to bed by 10 pm, sans computer, every night. I decided that Friday’s can be a “late” night and I can stay up until 11 pm. I doubt I will make that tonight and knowing that, I actually wrote my blog post on paper  during our usual causal Friday dinner. Yes, I did feel like I was in high school again.

So, as I have also mentioned before, the Homeschooling Conference I attended was pretty amazing. There were many segments of the conference including: The 4 Temperaments, Canon Law, Catholic Culture Revival, Family Cathechesis and, Home Organization and Maintenance.

This post is going to talk about the topic I needed to hear about the most: Home Organization and Maintenance.

This is one of the areas I struggle the most with. I am not a big fan of cleaning. I know, who is? (Oh, that’s right, Andrea is.) I like the end results, I just do not like doing what I have to do to get there. I am also not good at keeping a schedule if I am the only one who is really affected by it if it is not followed.  There were three talks this weekend that touched on Home Organization and Maintenance; below I have listed the suggestions I found most helpful make my life (and home) more organized and maintained.

  • Prayer Life = Very Important
  • Pray, fast and give alms for the intention of: The unborn, holy souls, and our priests and bishops
  • Observe, celebrate and honor the Sabbath and Holy Days
  • Make  a schedule
  • Set a goal for yourself
  • Set a goal for your children
  • Start with one thing (anything), master it, then add a second, master it, then add a third….

Yes, some of these things I already do or have done, without really thinking about it, for example, the last one, I have been doing for a long time. I started with just making dinner for my family (then only Joshua) without using a telephone or a drive thru, slowly over time, I was able to work up to making all three meals of the day, mostly from scratch, without much concern and time loss. (Big batches and leftovers, ladies, left overs.)  However, it is so very important to hear these types of suggestions over and over again.

I will break up the steps in to a few different blog posts so that I can focus on each of them without making a super long post. I promise to try not to be boring and to toss in quite a few Facefamily Adventures examples.

Filed under: Home Schooling

10 Facts About Me and My Better Half

You can share 10 things about you and your wonderful better half, by joining the party here.

1.

I met my husband while he was in seminary. No, we did not “get together” at that time, he was a seminiarian! I had no thoughts of that at all.

2.

We never dated. We saw each other again (after he discerned that he was not called to the priesthood) and knew that we were supposed to be married.

3.

The only time we argue is when I start it. Even then, it is usually one sided, with me doing all the talking. He is usually right, most of the time.

4.

We were married on October 2, 2004 in Lafayette, Indiana at the beautiful St. Boniface Church surrounded by our beautiful family and friends.

5.

Since our wedding day, we have had seven different addresses in four different states. We move an average of every 18 months. Usually while I am pregnant or nursing a wee one.  The last move was the biggest move, from Ohio to South Georgia and I was eight months pregnant.

6.

Joshua has no problem with coming home from work and making dinner. He doesn’t have to do this often, as I make dinner most nights. It helps out though on those few days I am too lazy/busy to make something.

7.

We are working our way through the Star Trek Series. We have watched all of Enterprise, The Original Series and  The Next Generation. We are almost done with Deep Space 9 and half way through Voyager. Yes, we are dorks.

8.

Joshua has “caught” each of our babies, at home.With Caecilia, he did it all on his own, as our midwife had not arrived when Caecilia decided she was not hanging on any longer.

9.

Joshua has no problems with helping me fold laundry, change diapers, wash dishes or vacuuming.

10.

Joshua is the best helpmate I could have ever asked for and he is doing his best to drag me to heaven.

Filed under: General Stuff

My Weekend Away

**I have been working on this post since Sunday Night. One of the goals I have for myself now is to be in bed by 10 pm, sans computer, so this cuts in to my blogging time. **

I had the best time this weekend. The homeschooling retreat was all I was expecting and more. I received so much encouragement and advice for my vocation! I took plenty of notes and plan on sharing them with you all over the next week or so.

In addition to enjoying a great conference, I enjoyed spending a bit of time by myself, a sort of mini retreat. I drove up early on Friday morning, made it through Atlanta traffic and arrived at the church in time for Mass. The first day of the conference was a temperament workshop, very very very informative. I will be doing further research in to my sanguine temperament.

After the workshop, we had a talk, then I was off to the hotel, checked in and hung out for a bit. I had a whole evening to myself, what was I going to do? Well, in planning my trip, I found an FSSP parish in Atlanta that had confession, stations and Mass, that evening. so I headed out. Twenty five miles away…one and a half hours on the road, but it was well worth it. Thankfully I left with plenty of time to get there, so I arrived with time for confession. I stayed for Stations and Mass (EF) then went back to my hotel.

Well, first I stopped to pick up a toothbrush and some toothpaste, and to pick up something to eat, as I hadn’t had anything since lunch at that point. I saw a Kroger store so I stopped, ran in and picked up what I needed. I also picked up some flour, as I knew we were out back home. (A buck fifty five. Flour here, is 2.50 and good luck finding unbleached. Heck, good luck finding anything that isn’t self rising.)

Oh and the ride back to the hotel? Twenty five minutes.

At the hotel, I ate my dinner then ordered room service for breakfast. I got ready for bed and laid there watching tv for two hours. First, did you know that there are young people on Law and Order? Did you know that guy from “Clueless”, the one who liked Cher, but Cher was clueless about it, is (was) on the show? And the guy from “Romeo Must Die”, who called Jet Li “Dim sum” is on it too?

Yes, it has been a long time since I have watched that show, a long time. The last time I watched it regularly, Lenny and Mike were the main officers. I remember watching it when I was in junior high. I cannot believe that it was still on the air up until last year!

I watched some bad (read: lame) reality tv, then went to bed. I slept across the king size bed, because I could. When my alarm went off the next morning, I could have slept for a few more hours, but knew that lovely room service was coming soon, so I got up and showered.

I headed back to the church where the conference was being held and went to Mass, then over to the conference. I promise to share with you all what I learned and tips I received, in another post or three.

After the conference was over, I headed out to Trader Joe’s to scope things out. Let me just say, TJ would be my grocery store of choice if there were one near us. I picked up Quinoa, couscous, bananas and butter. After checking out, I scooted over to Chipotle. I had planned on having it on Friday night, but I really wanted to share my Chipotle experience with Joshua, so I got two Bowls, some chips and guac and headed home. Yes, I transported butter,produce, flour and Chipotle from Atlanta to The Valley of Augustus’ City.

Joshua had bought for me, a year ago, a cd of a talk by Joseph Pearce to listen to, so I popped that in for the ride home. I learned a lot about Middle  Earth, a lot.

I left Atlanta, with a very positive image of the city. It is beautiful to drive through and the people there are so very friendly. No, really, I have never met such friendly people.

Like I said at the beginning, I plan to share lots of things from the conference, so keep your eyes out for future posts!

Filed under: General Stuff

It was a hallway sort of a night

I woke up shortly after 4 this morning to a raging thunderstorm. I said a quick prayer of thanksgiving because they were supposed to start around 2, so I got to sleep a bit more.

Anyway, I looked at the weather on my phone and saw TORNADO WARNING for our county. I woke J up and ran to get the girls (k had migrated to our bed at some point) and headed for the hallway. Joshua grabbed some blankets and the toddler matresses for us to sit/lay on and put the kids on them.

I grabbed Benedict and headed for the hallway to sit while checking my phone again. The tornado was north of town, about 15 miles from us, and heading away, but the storm was really heavy here.

When things started quieting down, I ended up taking B back to our room and laid down in my bed, soon to be joined by the other kids, leaving J to sleep in the hallway.

Thankfully we were not affected by the storm and the power is still on :).

The kids want to know all about tornados now. I wanted to show them a video but the internet is down :(.

Filed under: General Stuff

Pope John Paul II, of Happy Memory

Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of our beloved Pope John Paul II. In just a month we will celebrate his beatification.

I have a special place in my heart for our former Holy Father. I came back to the faith in 2000, the Jubilee year, wanting to fully live the life of a Catholic but not understanding many things the church teaches, it was kinda hard. I soon discovered the Theology of the Body and it was as if the scales fell from my eyes and I understood why Holy Mother Church, in Her wisdom held close the teachings that She did.

Pope John Paul II has such a special place in my heart that we gave our son the same name that Pope John Paul was given at birth, Karol Jozef.

Juan Pablo Segundo te quiere todo el mundo!

Filed under: Catholic

Thursday Chats, Downpour Edition.

*The skies opened up on Saturday afternoon and for the first time in two weeks (and only the second time this month) it rained. Since Saturday, we have had 3.01 inches of rain, 2.03 of that fell yesterday.

*With the rain falling, the kids got crazy, so yesterday we did a playdate with friends and had a good time. Cassie and I made fun of  a certain parenting magazine and talked about how relaxing it was to hang out. It also helps that our kids get along splendidly, really, no fights.

*Have I mentioned that I only have one kid in diapers now? Yep, I would like to announce that Miss Caecilia, The Wild One, is potty trained. She has not had a daytime accident in, oh, I have no idea how long! Night time is a bit different, maybe two a week, but no big deal, I just wash the sheets.

*How did we accomplish this with a just two year old? Prunes. Yes, prunes were her “prize” when she would go in the potty. Now she will announce a trip to the bathroom, take care of business, then walk out saying “prizy” and point to the cabinets with prunes. She only gets them now for #2s. Somehow, that just seems right.

*I purchased a wrap and I love it! I will tell you more about it in another post!

Off to Atlanta tomorrow! See you on Sunday!

Filed under: Thursday Chat

I Love …

…St. Josemaría Escrivá. While he had been on my radar of saints since shortly after my return to the Church, I had not read much about him or by him until 2009 ,when Joshua was preparing for the (in my honest opinion one of the best) Confirmation Retreat for the youth of our old parish. My job was to type up  passages from some of  St. Josemaría Escrivá’s writings. As I typed, I was amazed with what St. Josemaría said and the simple way he put things.

Soon after that, I found out a priest from Opus Dei came to Worthington, Ohio, once a month, to give an Evening of Recollection for men and a  Morning of Recollection for women. Since we were living in nearby Marion at the time, I made the trek when I could.

I miss those mornings. I miss my confessor and spiritual director. I miss the figurative swift kick in the pants I received from him each month, the gentle chastisement to do what I was supposed to do, the gentle, yet firm directions given to be holy.

While I do not have access to an Morning of Recollections here in South Georgia, nor are there any Opus Dei Priests or Parishes near me, I can and do read his writings, often.

Many times, when I have something on my mind, I go to escrivaworks.org, plug in a keyword and, more often then not, St. Josemaria has written on the topic. I read the passage and point my thoughts to heaven. The other evening, I had a few moments by myself, while waiting for a meeting to being, so I pulled out a copy of Christ is Passing By and found this:

“He that dwells in the aid of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven.” This is the risky security of the Christian. We must be convinced that God hears us, that he is concerned about us. If we are, we will feel completely at peace. But living with God is indeed a risky business, for he will not share things: he wants everything. And if we move toward him, it means we must be ready for a new conversion, to take new bearings, to listen more attentively to his inspirations — those holy desires that he provokes in every soul — and to put them into practice.

Since our first conscious decision really to follow the teaching of Christ, we have no doubt made good progress along the way of faithfulness to his word. And yet isn’t it true that there is still much to be done? Isn’t it true, particularly, that there is still so much pride in us? We need, most probably, to change again, to be more loyal and humble, so that we become less selfish and let Christ grow in us, for “He must become more and more, I must become less and less.”

We cannot stay still. We must keep going ahead toward the goal St Paul marks out: “It is not I who live, it is Christ that lives in me.” This is a high and very noble ambition, this identification with Christ, this holiness. But there is no other way if we are to be consistent with the divine life God has sown in our souls in baptism. To advance we must progress in holiness. Shying away from holiness implies refusing our christian life its natural growth. The fire of God’s love needs to be fed. It must grow each day, gathering strength in our soul; and a fire is maintained by burning more things. If we don’t feed it, it may die.

Remember what St Augustine said: “If you say ‘enough,’ you are lost. Go further, keep going. Don’t stay in the same place, don’t go back, don’t go off the road.” Lent should suggest to us these basic questions: Am I advancing in my faithfulness to Christ, in my desire for holiness, in a generous apostolate in my daily life, in my ordinary work among my colleagues?

Each one of us, silently, should answer these questions, and he will see that he needs to change again if Christ is to live in him, if Jesus’ image is to be reflected clearly in his behaviour. “If any man has a mind to come my way, let him renounce self, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Christ is saying this again, to us, whispering it in our ears: the cross each day. As St Jerome puts it: “Not only in time of persecution or when we have the chance of martyrdom, but in all circumstances, in everything we do and think, in everything we say, let us deny what we used to be and let us confess what we now are, reborn as we have been in Christ.”

It’s an echo of St Paul’s words: “Once you were all darkness. Now, in the Lord, you are all daylight. You must live as children of the light. Where light has its effect, men walk in all goodness, holiness and truth, seeking those things which please God.”

Conversion is the task of a moment; sanctification is the work of a lifetime. The divine seed of charity, which God has sown in our souls, wants to grow, to express itself in action, to yield results which continually coincide with what God wants. Therefore, we must be ready to begin again, to find again — in new situations — the light and the stimulus of our first conversion. And that is why we must prepare with a deep examination of conscience, asking our Lord for his help, so that we’ll know him and ourselves better. If we want to be converted again, there’s no other way.

St. Josemaría Escrivá  Christ is passing by/ The conversion of the children of God /Number 58

Happy Lent, everyone!

“He that dwells in the aid of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven.” This is the risky security of the Christian. We must be convinced that God hears us, that he is concerned about us. If we are, we will feel completely at peace. But living with God is indeed a risky business, for he will not share things: he wants everything. And if we move toward him, it means we must be ready for a new conversion, to take new bearings, to listen more attentively to his inspirations — those holy desires that he provokes in every soul — and to put them into practice.

Since our first conscious decision really to follow the teaching of Christ, we have no doubt made good progress along the way of faithfulness to his word. And yet isn’t it true that there is still much to be done? Isn’t it true, particularly, that there is still so much pride in us? We need, most probably, to change again, to be more loyal and humble, so that we become less selfish and let Christ grow in us, for “He must become more and more, I must become less and less.”

We cannot stay still. We must keep going ahead toward the goal St Paul marks out: “It is not I who live, it is Christ that lives in me.” This is a high and very noble ambition, this identification with Christ, this holiness. But there is no other way if we are to be consistent with the divine life God has sown in our souls in baptism. To advance we must progress in holiness. Shying away from holiness implies refusing our christian life its natural growth. The fire of God’s love needs to be fed. It must grow each day, gathering strength in our soul; and a fire is maintained by burning more things. If we don’t feed it, it may die.

Remember what St Augustine said: “If you say ‘enough,’ you are lost. Go further, keep going. Don’t stay in the same place, don’t go back, don’t go off the road.” Lent should suggest to us these basic questions: Am I advancing in my faithfulness to Christ, in my desire for holiness, in a generous apostolate in my daily life, in my ordinary work among my colleagues?

Each one of us, silently, should answer these questions, and he will see that he needs to change again if Christ is to live in him, if Jesus’ image is to be reflected clearly in his behaviour. “If any man has a mind to come my way, let him renounce self, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Christ is saying this again, to us, whispering it in our ears: the cross each day. As St Jerome puts it: “Not only in time of persecution or when we have the chance of martyrdom, but in all circumstances, in everything we do and think, in everything we say, let us deny what we used to be and let us confess what we now are, reborn as we have been in Christ.”

It’s an echo of St Paul’s words: “Once you were all darkness. Now, in the Lord, you are all daylight. You must live as children of the light. Where light has its effect, men walk in all goodness, holiness and truth, seeking those things which please God.”

Conversion is the task of a moment; sanctification is the work of a lifetime. The divine seed of charity, which God has sown in our souls, wants to grow, to express itself in action, to yield results which continually coincide with what God wants. Therefore, we must be ready to begin again, to find again — in new situations — the light and the stimulus of our first conversion. And that is why we must prepare with a deep examination of conscience, asking our Lord for his help, so that we’ll know him and ourselves better. If we want to be converted again, there’s no other way.
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Filed under: General Stuff, Quotes

Monday Musings – Last Monday of March

Right now… 929 pm, the sun has gone to bed and so must I….59 degrees and humid, humid, humid. We have had rain for three days now, I hope this is not the beginning of Humidity Season.

This weekend…we started with the celebration of the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. On Saturday we stayed home and hung around the house. I rearranged the bedroom as Benedict is soon to outgrow the cradle, so I needed a space to set up his crib or the pack n play, whatever I decide to use. I then went to  a friend’s house to pick up a chair she was getting rid of.

Sunday we went to Mass then home. Joshua has a K of C thing and I was at home with the kids. I had a major headache start just after he left and desperately wanted to sleep, but with the two older kids being awake I couldn’t. Thankfully Benedict and Caecilia were sleeping. My headache went away slowly over the evening, after we had a round of thunderstorms go through.

Some plans for the week ahead:

Tomorrow night is Founders Night at the K of C Hall, so we will be going to that as a family. The rest of the week I will be preparing for my trip to Atlanta for the Home School Conference. I am really looking forward to going!

If I find some time for myself, I want to…

Well, since I will have time to myself on Friday night, I have plans. I will be going to Trader Joe’s to check it out then possibly to Chipotle for dinner, then I will chill out at my hotel room with the Food Network and read a bit.

Prayer intentions for this week:

For those who are looking for employment, for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for our special seminarian friend as the end of the school year approaches, for an openness to life and the end of the use of contraception and for those who go without, that they are helped by those who are more fortunate.

Something that makes me smile:

Watching Benedict crawl around the house and smiling when he finds me.

Filed under: General Stuff, Monday Musings