Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The View From Behind Home Plate: A Tantrum for the Ages and a PS to Ms. Rosen

The View From Behind Home Plate: A Tantrum for the Ages and a PS to Ms. Rosen: Here’s a peek into my non-working Thursday, a day in which I found out that Ann Romney, mother of five and wife of one who is in the news qu...

love it!
PS Dear Ms. Rosen,
Hi.  Most of the moms that I know – the full-time working ones, the part-time working ones, the stay-at-home ones, the wealthy, the middle class, the poor, the Democrat, the Republican – we don’t play that game anymore about disrespecting each other.

Organizing Your Homeschool Day for Grace {Not Pride and Your Own Agenda} | A Classic Housewife in a Modern World

Organizing Your Homeschool Day for Grace {Not Pride and Your Own Agenda} | A Classic Housewife in a Modern World:

'via Blog this'

Nice food for thought, though I am NOT a Type A.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Wednesday within the Octave of Easter

Wednesday within the Octave of Easter:

'via Blog this'

(had this sitting in draft so forgive me, how late it is...)
I can't tell you just how much I have learned in this Gospel...when I heard it, my heart did a flip...as if  MY OWN eyes were just opened to new revelation from Jesus, similar to this "road to Emmaus" experience.... the kicker:  "and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread."  WOW!!!  As if I never heard this  before!!!  EUCHARIST.  What was so important about breaking bread together, to Christ?  He taught this to his disciples immediately before his death, and immediately after.  It wasn't "just" the Passover meal anymore...it was so much more!  He was setting up His Eucharist....He was teaching his priests to say Mass.  He was showing us how His Sacrifice, while a once-happened death on the Cross and Life-giving, salvation-bestowing Resurrection....was an ON-GOING Continuous and WONDERFUL thing...a Mystery to us...just as the Feeding of the 5000, the miracle of the MULTIPLYING ...the fish and loaves..was a Mystery.  A Mystery now, to our understanding, yet...nevertheless a REALITY....and it is through HIS EUCHARIST, HIS Body and Blood "broken" and given to us that we then realize "he was made known to" us.  It is how He makes Himself KNOWN to us....every day, every week, .... and as soon as they "saw", he disappeared.  Why?  Because He wasn't gone.  He was showing them HOW He was going to be WITH them from now on.... amazing and wonderful.  Makes me want to run to adoration right now!!!!  Emmanuel =  God with us. He IS WITH US. :)  Okay...well, I hope you feel my excitement and share my joy.  :)  That is all for now.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

No flower-shaped soap here.

I guess I got my answer tonight to my "blog envy."  :)    Here is what I just wrote a close email group:   did anyone see this article?  well blog post.....   http://powerofmoms.com/2012/04/your-children-want-you/ 

i am boo=hooing now over it.  My kids are the same way.  all the time i spend on here, online, on the phone, whatever....or that they spend on computer/games/videos whatever.......they still CRAVE my attention and time....to hear their stories, their thoughts, their questions, or play a game with them.  And they love my voice and how I sing stuff, even if no one else does.   And Jillian will cry if she thinks I am downing myself or thinking myself a "bad mom" for something :(  ....she will still say (no matter my failing) that I am the best mom ever. :( ..........I was just bemoaning myself last night, not being one of these uber-bloggers....   http://alamomof5plus.blogspot.com/    but.......it's okay....maybe one day I'll get there...and maybe I won't.  But ...I NEED to focus on my kids.  MORE.   And just spend time making memories with them. 

 If God forbid, my memory is "slipping" at age 70 .....I at least want my daughters and son to have good memories of me as a mother.....I want to have years from now til then of closeness....of bonding...of trust ...of gentleness.....of TIME spent together....DOING and ENJOYING.  sigh....just my thoughts tonight.... We actually had a really good day today helping Dad plan the Catechist appreciation dinner and making food.  The two older ones helped me a LOT in the kitchen...finally getting to help me make brownies (a rarity) and stirring pasta salad (no pics though lol) and playing games with Mariam to keep her occupied :)  And the dinner went really well...we had more teachers (w/ their families this year) show up than last...and they are all good souls!  We really do appreciate them stepping up and saying "yes!" :)  God bless them (and bring them back next year! :)  

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Blog envy

Ah, everyone has such nice blogs...how do busy (home school) moms do it?  I know how to take a pic, edit it, and load it pretty quickly... but...I just don't sit here w/ the kids and think, oh, I need to take a picture of this and share it w/ the world in 2 neat little paragraphs.  LOL  Is there some kind of transition into that kind of life?  Some kind of tutorial?  I love to write, but during the day when the kids are busy LIVING out LOUD around me LOL ....I can't think well enough to have coherent thoughts.  Then, I have this late night "mommy time" or "alone time" and I'm too frazzled....or I just read everyone else's thoughts.

Well....anyway, I and my sweet little family have been pretty sick for the past 4 weeks.  I even had to miss Easter services all weekend due to my stomach bug :(  blech!  (We all cycled through a few different types of viruses...one week one of us would have a cold-like virus w/ fever, chills, congestion, then the next it was fever and stomach virus.) And today was our first AWAKE and RE-ENERGIZED day ....  I got up and fixed breakfast for the kids (Doug had been doing SO much of this stuff for days, bless that man!), then did a load of dishes and a load of laundry and showered and then fixed lunch and did some reading while the girls shared some videos together on the laptop before Mariam's nap.  Micah did some reading and some math on the coolmath site.  Then we all went up to the church originally to help Daddy w/ some work, but I had to meet w/ a guy giving me some estimates on kitchen appliances for our parish kitchen.  We are in the beginning stages of planning an update to the kitchen, and since I am the kitchen coordinator...voila.   Then we had our first committee meeting to discuss said remodel, and then I had a meeting with the other moms planning our brand new Frontier Girls group, woohoo!  Busy busy, but very exciting stuff! :)   Things are actually a tad slower now for us, now that RE classes have ended for the school year...but we still have tons of things coming up, including some really cool home school things.  So stay tuned.... but for now, here is a pic of Mariam, when we were all camping out in the living room during our sickness (it's become a "thing" w/ the kids every illness...and especially Doug had the stomach bug alone, in his room, and we all "just" had the cough/congestion/fever stuff.......or when we had the stomach bug, and he did not. LOL)

Amazing how much we love that little puppy (and little girl too :)....but even when Mariam and her go at it all day (Belle thinks Mariam is her little sister and she can nip at her during "play" argh) and still snuggle up together at night.  She's becoming the best little dog we've ever had....very smart, very loving. :)   Anyhoo......and here's a sneak pick at our Winter Family pics we had taken in December...just before Christmas...but we didn't have our "act" together enough to get them selected, printed, and sent out (when do I EVER have my "act" together? LOL  When do I ever mail out any kind of picture or card or letter??? :P )  Anyway....we were very blessed with this GIFT and beautiful photog. session from Letters from Home Photography by Kimberly Vega (who sadly moved away from the area, sigh) ......



Monday, April 9, 2012

The case for a seasonal education

I have always thought this.  Though down here, w/ summers SO hot from morning to night, I prefer to try to catch up....or rather "catch up" on our studies in the summer when our falls/winters/springs were so busy w/ activities and fun play outside etc.  Not that there isn't time for swimming and trips to the beach in the summer too :)

The case for a seasonal education:

'via Blog this'

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

obedience

Playing a Quiz game w/ the kids on Catholic teaching....and one question was:

Jesus learned obedience to the Father through __________.
A. fasting
B. studying
C. suffering

answer is C.  But it just struck me....wow....that is part of what I have gained through my faith in the Church....the idea of suffering = good.   It wasn't just that He suffered, so that we wouldn't have to.  No ..but that we can identify and UNITE our suffering to HIS, in a sacrificial way.   It's so beautiful.  Sure, it'd be nice....and easy...if He just took our pain away...and we CAN pray that He will.  He DOES and CAN perform miracles.  But in the mean time...it's a beautiful thing to offer up our suffering to HIM as a prayer....and "learn obedience."  Well, ...there's so much more I could say about that, and need to learn about that....but duty (children) calls...literally "Mom, mommy, mum, mummy, momma, mom, Amanda..." lol like Lois :p It REALLY is like that.  lol  P.S.  When I wrote this, I had no idea we had MORE "suffering" to go, with more stomach bug junk, ugh.  But then, when we watched the Passion movie together for Easter, as a family (which my kids were seeing for the first time and boo-hoo'ed through) ....it made my suffering pale so much..... anyhoo...)

Just Add Light and Stir

Oh wow, just love this....another good one from Sandra Dodd.   And just so relates right now to our dear Micah and his ever-changing pre-teen self. :)  We had another long emotional parent-kid talk last night with him and as hard as they are, I love that we are communicating.... I don't feel like I can get into depth about it, for privacy' sake, for any of my children, here....  But...I am glad to provide an environment for him to grow and be himself, and...just what this says here.... whole.


Just Add Light and Stir:

'via Blog this'

Be Docile in the Holy Spirit


A dear friend sent this to one of my email groups tonight.  I so needed it.  All of my daily worries, a stressful broken-promise laden Lent, our illnesses, etc..... but I just want to be "docile to the Holy Spirit."    Docile.   Aren't I a "docile" kinda gal?  ha!  Let's see:  

doc·ile

 adj 
\ˈdä-səl also -ˌsī(-ə)l, especially British ˈdō-ˌsī(-ə)l\

Definition of DOCILE

1
: easily taught docile pupil>
2
: easily led or managed : tractable docile pony>
— doc·ile·ly  adverb
— do·cil·i·ty  noun


OR, I like this better:  docile (comparative more docile, superlative most docile). Yielding to control or supervision, direction, or management

GEE....I sure could "yield control to the Holy Spirit".....read on (and please forgive my lack of editing ability tonight sigh).....


“Be docile to the Holy Spirit”
Our Lord Jesus wants it: we have to follow him closely. There is no other way. This is the task of the Holy Spirit in each soul, in yours too. You have to be docile, so as not to put obstacles in the way of your God. (The Forge, 860)

Let us describe, at least in general, the way of life which will bring us to deal in a familiar manner with the Holy Spirit, and together with him, the Father and the Son. We can fix our attention on three fundamental points: docility, life of prayer, and union with the cross.

First of all docility, because it is the Holy Spirit who, with his inspirations, gives a supernatural tone to our thoughts, desires and actions. It is he who leads us to receive Christ’s teaching and to assimilate it in a profound way. It is he who gives us the light by which we perceive our personal calling and the strength to carry out all that God expects of us. If we are docile to the Holy Spirit, the image of Christ will be formed more and more fully in us, and we will be brought closer every day to God the Father. “For whoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God.”

If we let ourselves be guided by this life‑giving principle, who is the Holy Spirit in us, our spiritual vitality will grow. We will place ourselves in the hands of our Father God, with the same spontaneity and confidence with which a child abandons himself to his father’s care. Our Lord has said: “Unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” This is the old and well‑known “way of childhood,” which is not sentimentality or lack of human maturity. It is a supernatural maturity, which makes us realize more deeply the wonders of God’s love, while leading us to acknowledge our own smallness and identify our will fully with God’s will. (Christ is passing by, 135) [Top] 

http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=16897

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Overflow: Laughing with God

Overflow: Laughing with God:

'via Blog this'

I just gotta say,....it is as if she is ME writing this post....same exact kinda days here. LOL  Of course, at least she got around to writing about it....I still don't know how moms do it.  At least on blogs, publicly :)

Monday, April 2, 2012