I Haven't Even Looked at You Today

I woke up today with a migraine.  I ended up sleeping late because of it, and getting a really slow start on the school day.  Mercifully it subsided by lunch time, but I spent the rest of my day playing catch-up with the school work and the housework.  My baby, at 3 1/2 months old, is an absolute gem.  He's just starting to sort out the daytime/nighttime sleeping, which is great at night but not so great in the day.  He has yet to really establish a daytime napping routine, favoring instead to nurse himself to sleep and wake promptly as soon as he hits the crib (or nurse so long that he wakes up!)  In the mornings he's still pleasant from his full night's sleep, and very easy to put down on the floor or in his jumper while I buzz about my duties. But as the day wears on the lack of sleep starts to take its toll, meaning more time spent in my arms from about suppertime on.

Hold up the Spiritual Head of the Household

We just finished our family rosary.  It's one of the things I always envisioned doing all together every evening, ever since I first met a big family in my late teens who did that with their family no matter who was there.  My experiences with that family were always that Mom and Dad were present with all their children, and many of their children's friends.  No matter what you were doing or who you were, if you were at this house at 8:00 pm, you said the rosary.  It was beautiful.

New Look (Again!)

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you may notice that I've made a few changes.  I loved my old logo but it did not include our newest little boy who was born earlier this year, so it needed updating.  Alas since that cute flower cutout is not located in the same city as me, I had to retire my old friend.  Here's one final look at the logo that has served me well for the last two years, and inspires me to think of Mother Teresa every time I see it:

Yes, My Hands are Full

Any parent of more than one child has likely heard countless times the classic line, "you have your hands full!"  It is one of the most commons things I hear out and about with my brood, and it used to drive me crazy!  The first few times I struggled with how to respond, because I never want my family life cast in a negative light (as much for the sake of my kids, who hear every comment sent their way and have started making comments like, "everyone says that!")  Moms of many talk about how to respond lovingly, and I tried one of my favorite lines - "yes, but so is my heart", but it always felt more like a Halmark card than something I would actually say.  And then one day, quite by surprise, I just answered what was on my heart, and it was so freeing.

Poverty

One of the things that really touched me reading about Mother Teresa was that her sisters live in complete poverty.  A vow of poverty is not out of the ordinary for religious, but there are different ways different orders live them out.  Most often even if the individuals take a vow of poverty the order does not, so the order can own property, accept donations, and acquire goods and finances for the ongoing expenses of their ministry.  Not so with the Missionaries of Charity.  They do not keep anything - and the reason for this is that Mother Teresa wanted to rely completely on God to provide for their needs.  One section of the book I read recounted how Mother Teresa taught her sisters to not worry about anything beyond the present.  She said that if her sisters thought about the work that lay before them tomorrow, they'd never be able to sleep.  They took care of thousands of the poorest of the poor every day - fed them, bathed them, sheltered them, administered medicine.  All of that takes a lot of money.  Yet they never accepted anything beyond what they needed for the moment.  She would always tell people that she didn't worry about it, that wasn't her job.  Jesus was the one who wanted this work - He's the one who needs to worry.

Contemplative Motherhood

I just finished reading a book about the life of Mother Teresa.  It's the first time I've really delved into her story and, naturally, it had a profound effect on me.  Probably the thing that struck me the most and that I want to make my own way of life is her saying, "All for Jesus."

Ball and Chain

We've all heard the old saying about marriage being like a ball and chain but that's not what I would attach that description to. Instead what I think is a much more worthy contender for such a title is something I find myself quite often tethered to for most of the day.  Something so small you'd barely notice it, except for the crazy amount of time I have it in front of my face.   Something that has become a lifeline in many ways, for better or for worse, and that is almost constantly on my person. That something, you probably guessed, is my cell phone.