You too can make your own, learn how, here. Make sure you have a tall glass of milk to wash it all down!
No pictures…
…however, Benedict stood up today. He was cruising around the floor when he found a plastic tote we put toys in, over turned on the floor. He put both hands on it, slipped his feet under him and stood up!
I was reaching for my phone when he fell over, tears, tears and more tears, but fear not, he is all good. I am sure Joshua will want to have him try it again tonight, so I am sure I will have pictures then.
For the record, he is six months, two weeks and two days old.
On Veiling
I veil as a sign of modesty, humility and love for our Lord.
Yes, I wear a mantilla anytime I attend Mass or am fortunate enough to spend time before our Eucharistic Lord in adoration. I have owed one for six years, but have not worn it for a few reasons, mainly because I was afraid that I would cause a problem within the parish or give the impression that I was trying to be, or thought I was, “holier” than those around me. I assure you, I do not think I am holier than those around me.
When we moved to The Valley of Augustus’ City, I decided to veil again. I could no longer cause problems by veiling, as we were not prominent members of a somewhat liberal parish. I put my veil back on during the move down here and have not looked back.
The first Sunday was easy, we attended mass at the Chapel of Divine Mercy, where many of the women wear veils, so I did not stick out like a sore thumb. The next Sunday was not so easy, as we were new to the parish, I was heavy with child and we had three other children in tow, a recipe for people staring to begin with, add a mantilla and I could feel the stares from those around us.
When we decided to attend Mass at the parish we now are happy to call “our parish”, I was again uncertain about veiling and getting the stares. To my complete surprise, there were three other women wearing veils that day, three! I said a quick prayer of thanksgiving as I bobby pinned my veil in place.
I, surprisingly, have not had one person, at any parish we have attended and I have veiled, ask me why I do it. Here are some links regarding veiling and why it is no longer practiced in most parishes, but why it is something that can, and maybe should, be practiced .
Head Coverings in Church – EWTN
Will you mantilla with me? – Full of good information about veiling
Modesty Veils – More thoughts about modesty and veiling.
1 Corinthians 11: 1-16 – From usccb.org
Monday Musings Second Week of Lent
Right now… 1045 am, sunny and 68 outside, crazy kids inside. I should send them out.
This weekend…we celebrated the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, starting with Vespers on Friday night. We watched a movie on Friday night and enjoyed a chocolate snack, the kids were thrilled. On Saturday I took Margaret out for some new shirts. That child has a really long torso and is now in to the girls department for shirts. This makes clothing shopping a bit more difficult. We found four shirts for her, three were from this really neat second hand store I stopped in to. In addition to the shirts, I found two really cute dresses for church AND an Easter hat and glove set for the girls! (I will write another post about the whole cloth shopping experience when I get a chance).
Margaret and I also stopped to get a coffee at Star Bucks. The SB in our town does not have a menu listing drinks. No, I am not making that up. I haven’t been for a while and I always go through the drive thru, which has a menu. What is up with that? Margaret got a compliment from another customer about how pretty she is. Margaret just hides behind me when she hears that sort of thing. I think she is embarrassed by it. (That too will be another post)
When we got home, there was an email waiting for us from Rev. Br. Basil Nixen, OSB. He was ordained a deacon on Saturday. There were pictures which we enjoyed! I put them in to a quick slide show as a surprise for Karol and he loved it. He does love his Br. Basil very much.
That evening we went to confession then to dinner. We went to the Smok’n Pig, and it is the second best barbecue I have ever had. The best was during the Mud Bowl 2009, made by a seminarian at the PCJ. We drove around a bit after dinner, enjoying the hot winter day. We stopped and looked at a car for Joshua. We shall see what comes of that.
Sunday we woke up late but still made it to Mass with time to spare. The rest of the day was spent lounging around. Joshua took a nap for a bit and I read. The kids must have been well behaved, because I do not recall anything. For dinner I made a chicken pot pie, for the first time and it turned out pretty good! (Yet another post, here and on FamilyHearth.)
Some plans for the week ahead:
We might go to the Okefenokee Swamp this weekend, so I need to clean and do my usual Saturday things during the week. That is about it.
If I find some time for myself, I want to…
Continue reading the book I am reading for Lent.
Prayer intentions for this week:
For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for a certain young man who is discerning his vocation, for patience on a certain matter and for those who are away from God, that they open their hearts to His calling and make their way home.
Something that makes me smile:
For more musings check here!
Toys!!
Solemnity of Saint Joseph
Today, March 19th, all the Catholic World celebrates the Solemnity of Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph was the man chosen by our Father in Heaven to be the foster father of our Lord on earth. Our son, Karol Jozef, celebrates, in a special way, today’s feast, as he was, in part, named after Saint Joseph. In addition to being the patron of our first born, Saint Joseph is also the patron of fathers, the dying, carpenters and the Universal Church.
Tonight, when our family prayed Vespers together, we sang together this hymn:
Look down to us, Saint Joseph,
Protector of Our Lord,
Who followed you through deserts,
And gave you blessed reward;
Our foes are yet about us,
Be strength now at our side,
Be light against the darkness.
Saint Joseph, be our guide!
We venerate your justice,
The gospels praise your name,
You are the saint all humble,
Who gained eternal fame;
In your devoted family
Our souls in trust confide,
Direct our way to heaven.
Saint Joseph, be our guide.
Melody: Dutch Melody 76.76.D
Music: Holland, 1539
Peoples Mass Book, 1966
Text: Michael Gannon
For Real!
The Homeschool Mother’s Journal
In my life this week…
I spent a good amount of time adjusting to DST. I have a hard time with that, do you? I think I finally am adjusted. I am dealing with a strong willed two year old too, and that hasn’t helped. Coffee hasn’t worked either!!!
In other news, our little green car is dead. We have had it for eight years and it has served us well. We have put quite a bit of money in to it over the past three years and with this last repair, it is just time to replace it. We were looking at used, but realized the used car market is pretty expensive and we can buy a new one for the same price, or close to it, so we are praying about that right now.
In our homeschool this week…
We focused on Karol mostly, because I want to finish Kindergarten before the end of Lent so we can celebrate the Resurrection and take a break for a few weeks after that, before we begin first grade!
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Tomorrow is clean up day at the K of C Hall and I know Joshua is going. He is talking of having the whole family go, I am not sure about that. I might have Karol go with him. We are thinking of doing a tour at the Okefenokee Swamp, but I am holding off to see if Kroger has a better sale next weekend. (Waycross has the closest Kroger to us and I do love Kroger, so if we go to a town that has one, I stop and shop.)Â I am making Karol an eye appointment, as one of his eyes sometimes looks like it is not in line with the other. He doesn’t seem to have any problems, but better safe than sorry.
My favorite thing this week was…
Having Karol help with chores. Oh, the kids have things they are expected to do around here, but I added emptying the dryer to the list of things Karol does. He loved it. He even moved things over from the washer to the dryer. (gotta love front loaders!)
What’s working/not working for us…
Staying consistent!
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…
I have read that Southern Mamas do schooling in the summer time because it is just too darn hot to be outside. I plan on doing that this summer with Karol for first grade work. We have a big trip coming up in August, so I will take time off for that (well, from book work, we will do on the road education then) but I figure for the rest of the summer months, we will just plug along at school work.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
I got nothin’ people, well I have something on my laptop, but it went kaput yesterday and Joshua is working on it for me. 🙂
Help!?!?
Today I post, asking begging for advice. I have a sweet, wonderful, funny and charming two year old girl, who is very strong willed and inquisitive. Right now, I am sitting on one end of the couch, while she is tucked in at the other end of the couch, for her daily nap. Except she isn’t sleeping.
I can hear you now, put her in bed, not on the couch. Well, that is where she normally naps, but the past few weeks, she has decided not to nap but to removed all items of clothing from the dressers, removed sheets from the bed, take mattresses off the bed and lock herself in the closet or, she is walking through the house looking to play with someone/thing. I check on her every three to five minutes, and sometimes, this damage was done in the time it took for me to take a bathroom break. Yesterday, I sat with her for a bit and she fell asleep pretty quickly, but I was unable to monitor the two older kids. Today, Benedict was still awake, so I made the bed for her on the couch.
I have also put her in bed with a swat on the well padded behind, which lead to tears of great sorrow…which only last the time it takes me to walk down the hallway, then she is back to “having fun”.
I am honestly not able to get much work done around the house in the afternoon because of this and am somewhat frustrated by it. I also will admit, it is nice to have 10 minutes to sit and relax in the afternoon, which with her lack of a nap, doesn’t happen. If I let her stay up, we have major melt downs around the time I start making dinner.
In addition to the naptime situation, there is the inquisitive side of her nature, the one the finds her in the bathroom, climbing on things (like from the toilet to the sink, to open the medicine cabinet and play), all done in the time it takes for me to start a load of laundry. I honestly have to keep my eyes on her every.second.of.the day and it is getting old.
She is child #3 and the other two were not so trying. I have tried giving her activities, letting her watch a special movie or putting on soothing music to keep her occupied, but she is drawn to dangerous or bad things.
So, veterans mamas, did you have a two year old like this? What did you do?
Monday Musings – First Monday of Lent
Right now…9:56 am, the sun is shining, the temp is 54 degrees, heading for a high of 82 today! The older kids are chasing each other around the house and Benedict is on the floor spinning wheels on the wooden dog.
This weekend…we cleaned the van, well the inside of the van. Joshua took out the seats and vacuumed then steam cleaned everything. It looks and smells much nicer in there. I took a Magic Eraser and a multi-purpose cleaner to everything and wiped everything down, but forgot windows, oh well. That took us all of Saturday afternoon, but it was certainly worth it. After that we cleaned up and went to the K of C Family Social for dinner and visiting with a few people.
Sunday and the time change. We got up and made it to Mass on time. 🙂 Our friends, the Spotswoods joined us too. I hope to see them more often there. We came home, made brunch, had the kids take naps and hung out. Karol doesn’t nap, so he was playing outside and I sat with him, upon his request. Joshua joined us too, it was a most wonderful day.
I dragged myself inside to make dinner and clean things up from brunch. I managed to get dinner on the table by 630, which wasn’t too bad and adjusting for the time change, the usual dinner time.`
Last night I made a lemon roll cake. I made the cake last night to celebrate the baby we lost about six years ago. Each year we celebrate our short time with her and this year, I made a cake.. Karol is very interested in his sister in heaven. (We don’t know if the baby was a boy or a girl, but I always felt girl, so we named her Gianna Maria, after St. Gianna and our Blessed Mother.) He talks about her a lot and wants to know what color eyes she has. He often talks of Heaven and wants to be good so he can go there and meet his sister.
Some plans for the week ahead: I would like to put together a Stations of the Cross booklet for our family, using this.
If I find some time for myself, I want to…do some spiritual reading. I picked up Frequent Confession from the parish library to read this Lent. I hope to be able to read a bit of it this week, without interruptions.
Prayer intentions for this week: For our clergy, that they may fully and faithfully live the duties of their vocations, even when it is hard and/or unpopular. For an increase in priestly and religious vocations. Finally, for the people of Japan.
Something that makes me smile:
Discovering this writing by Fr. John Hardon, SJ
For more musings check here!
Right now…835 am, the sun is shining, the weather a bit chilly, 46 degrees. Birds are chirping outside and the fish tank is gurgling behind me. The girls are playing and Karol is reading a book at my feet.
This weekend…we cleaned the van, well the inside of the van. Joshua took out the seats and vacuumed then steam cleaned everything. It looks and smells much nicer in there. I took a Magic Eraser and a multi-purpose cleaner to everything and wiped everything down, but forgot windows, oh well. That took us all of Saturday afternoon, but it was certainly worth it. After that we cleaned up and went to the K of C Family Social for dinner and visiting with a few people.
This weekend…we cleaned the van, well the inside of the van. Joshua took out the seats and vacuumed then steam cleaned everything. It looks and smells much nicer in there. I took a Magic Eraser and a multi-purpose cleaner to everything and wiped everything down, but forgot windows, oh well. That took us all of Saturday afternoon, but it was certainly worth it. After that we cleaned up and went to the K of C Family Social for dinner and visiting with a few people.
Sunday and the time change. We got up and made it to Mass on time. 🙂 Our friends, the Spotswoods joined us too. I hope to see them more often there. We came home, made brunch, had the kids take naps and hung out. Karol doesn’t nap, so he was playing outside and I sat with him, upon his request. Joshua joined us too, it was a most wonderful day.
Some plans for the week ahead: Make the covers for the couch cushions, to protect them from little kids. We also have Mass on Ash Wednesday. I hope to go out to our little parish for Mass and hit the seafood market out there, but I am not sure if Joshua will have the day off. If he doesn’t, we will go to Mass here then. I also plan on making it Stations of the Cross during the whole of Lent with our family. The local parish has them at 730 on Fridays, so that would work perfectly for us!
I dragged myself inside to make dinner and clean things up from brunch. I managed to get dinner on the table by 630, which wasn’t too bad and adjusting for the time change, the usual dinner time.
Last night I made a lemon roll cake. I made the cake last night to celebrate the baby we lost about six years ago. Each year we celebrate our short time with her and this year, I made a cake.. Karol is very interested in his sister in heaven. (We don’t know if the baby was a boy or a girl, but I always felt girl, so we named her Gianna Maria, after St. Gianna and our Blessed Mother.) He talks about her a lot and wants to know what color eyes she has. He often talks of Heaven and wants to be good so he can go there and meet his sister.
If I find some time for myself, I want to…do some spiritual reading. I picked up Frequent Confession from the parish library to read this Lent. I hope to be able to read a bit of it this week, without interruptions. I also would like to put together a Stations of the Cross booklet for the kids.
Prayer intentions for this week: For our clergy, that they may fully and faithfully live the duties of their vocations, even when it is hard and/or unpopular. For an increase in priestly and religious vocations. Finally, for the people of Japan.
Something that makes me smile:
For more musings check here!