Kids Art - Winter Owls

Our kids have the blessed privilege of taking art classes from one of the teachers at our local Catholic school.  She comes in once every two weeks to our homeschool co-op and guides our kids through many amazing techniques to produce masterpieces that we had no idea could come from our children!  If you visit Divine Mercy Catholic School, examples of her instruction can be seen lining the walls.  She is an amazingly gifted teacher, and we are so fortunate to have her come work with our kids.

Unplugged

Following the lead of my three favorite bloggers (Rachel at Testosterhome, Sarah at Clover Lane, and Kelly at In the Sheepfold), I decided to make a list of our favorite unplugged activities.  Truth be told it is quite ironic, because while almost every day around our house is unplugged (electronics are not a given on any day, and quite often we go entire days without any screen time. When we do allow screens, it is usually in controlled doses of no more than an hour, once a day).  As I am writing, our kids are all parked in front of the TV with a friend having a games day.  I don't mind that once in a while, particularly given our general lifestyle without screens.  This is a rare treat to be enjoyed, something to keep little (and not-so-little) boys occupied on a dreary and rainy day, and to foster community within our neighboorhood.  We're all present in the same room, and everyone can enjoy the fun even if only a few are playing at a time.  It's all good fun!

The Untroubled Heart

Sometimes life can be difficult.  We cling to this false notion we have of peace, that the peace of Christ is in everything that He is in, and when we lose our peace it can be quite disconcerting. No more so, I am coming to learn, than in relationships.

Throwback Thursday - Perspective

My oldest son (almost ten) reminded me that it's Throwback Thursday, and that I should put up an old blog post.  How fun is that?  Though he doesn't actually read my blog (except when I'm typing and he's reading over my shoulder, and that's only until I shoo him away because I really can only take so much of that!) the truth is I think he's really interested in it, which is a good thing.  I don't kid myself, it's not because I wrote something, but because I wrote something on the Internet!  He loves technology, and I kind of like it, because I do to.  I hope he can use it in many good and holy ways, to glorify God with his life and share his gifts with many people.

Hardest Number

I did a post a few days ago about how six is my magic number, and well worth every bit of work it takes raising them.  So often people say things like, "I don't know how you do it", and "I only have two kids and I'm swamped!"  But I'll let you in on a secret.  For me, two was definitely harder than six.  In fact, of all my children I found two to be the hardest of all.

What I Do

I had a moment about a month ago when it hit me - this is what I do. It was early morning, I had just finished dressing the baby and was still in pjs myself, trying to motivate my kids to get dressed and do their morning jobs, and thinking that I needed to make sure I threw in a load of laundry before the school day started.  For the first time in my ten years of marriage, when I weaned my baby (at sixteen months old) I was not expecting a new one. And it occurred to me that this is the most steady my life has been in a long time. For so long I had been in constant change-mode: baby on the way, mat leave, getting ready to go back to work, baby on the way, home again, work again, home for good, baby again!  Now however, I find myself in the unexpected place of being able to settle in just a little bit.  Not too much of course, because if there's one thing I know as a Mom it's that things are always changing.

Throwback Thursday - Families at their Best (my very first post!)

Before my husband and I were married, I spent many of my late teen and early adult years sharing my faith on a youth ministry team.  We married in 2003, and embraced a new ministry as domestic church.  I longed to share my faith, but involvement in youth minstry was no longer a possibility.  I deeply missed the community I had in those years, and remembered a dear friend and her "teapot ministry" as a young Mom.  She simply opened the door of her home to friends and neighboors, and shared her faith with anyone who happened to pop by for tea.

Timothy's Five-Year Post

I was doing some thinking after my little girl turned five and I wrote the usual five-year post, that it was high time I post my oldest son's five-year post to the blog (I had written and published it on Facebook, since it was before my blogging days).  As I scrolled through my blog archives though, I couldn't find one for my second son.  Even though I had been blogging for a year by the time his fifth birthday rolled around, I could not find it.

Joseph's Five-Year post

When my oldest son turned five (almost five years ago now - Wow!) I started doing these "Five Years Ago" posts.  That was before the days of my blog, and I posted simply as a note on Facebook.  For old time's sake, and for the purpose of having my memories together in a central location (which is the main reason I keep a blog in the first place) I thought I would take a trip down memory lane, and bring you all along for the ride.  As this little boy prepares to turn ten this summer, here's a look back to this milestone birthday.

Magic Number

Sunday morning I was home by myself getting ready for Mass.  Jeff was working but set to meet us there, and on his sound advice I started getting the kids ready long before we actually needed to go, so that time wouldn't creep away on me.

Knots

Oh tattered knots that twist and rise
Then fall again and draw our eyes
Away from truth and into lies
From things we love to what's despised

Rend Our Hearts

At our school of community this evening, some friends and I read Pope Francis' Ash Wednesday homily.  In a school of community (a gathering affiliated with Communion and Liberation), the intent is to do a reading early in the week, and use it as prayer as you go about your week, mindful of the opportunites to meet Christ in your circumstance (and hopefully the reading offers some enlightenment, a new way of looking at things).

Good That We Should Be Here

In Dark Night of the Soul, St. John of the Cross speaks about how the soul can become so burdened with meditation that it allows itself to be distracted from God.  It spends so much time and effort in constructing a particular image in its mind that it misses the Lord truly present in its midst.  Nowhere has this proven more true for me than during the rosary, and particularly the luminous mysteries.

Makeover

I love the picture of my kids in the flowers in the header of my blog. I added it a while back when I was nominated for a Sheenazing award, anticipating a few extra visitors.  But ever since it's been there, I've noticed how much it didn't match the rest of my blog.  Since I love the photo so much, I got playing around and decided to make the blog match the picture.

The Greatest Gift I Could Never Give

One thing I am not shy about doing is calling a priest to make an appointment for confession.  There is often discouragement of such things in favor of the appointed times for confession in parishes around the city, but but in our city the appointed times tend to be the same for the few parishes that offer them (and sadly, they are not many), and most often fall on Saturday.

Cheek-to-Cheek

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday.  It's also March Break, and so we had planned to have a friend visit for the afternoon.  It started off as a nice relaxing day, but quickly went downhill.  My husband has been battling a terrible sinus infection for the past few days, and I had started getting it earlier in the week.  When we were at Mass, it really started to hit me.