Gingrich to Convert

Laugh with me this morning:
When one of my children saw the headline "Gingrich to Convert" at National Catholic Register, she said, "To WHAT? Liberalism?"

I convulsed in giggles. And she said, "No, seriously, what is he converting to?"

My children see Newt Gingrich at church all the time. Last Christmas Eve, they were at the Basilica way before time for midnight Mass. They bumped into (literally) a familiar silver-haired gentleman in the cafeteria. He chatted with them for a few minutes and they wished him a Merry Christmas. Then, Stephen turned to Christian and said, "Don't I know him from somewhere?"
Nicky (rather loudly) replied, "Yeah, he's always on Sean Hannity! He must be important if he knows Sean Hannity."
Mr. Gingrich smiled.

Newt Gingrich always sits in about the same place in the Basilica. His wife sings in the choir, and so my children all assumed he already was Catholic.Imagining that Newt Gingrich is Catholic is not a far reach for my family and we look forward to going to the Lord's Table with him (maybe Easter?).

Imagining him converting to liberalism is another thing entirely;-)

Small Successes~7

1
I wanted to post that I had done a deep cleaning in my bedroom--the first of the Lenten spring cleaning. Instead, I'm reporting that my desk and dresser are very clean and orderly. That was the first thing I saw this morning. That's my small victory. The rest will happen, no?

2
I woke up in the morning after a very bad day and was reminded once more that God grants grace sufficient for the day. Every Single Day. My success lies in being open to every last bit of that grace.

3
At her insistence, I played the "gem game" with Katie for hours on a Saturday morning when I really had so many other things to do. She thinks I'm the "best Mommy in the world."Good to know. I'm tucking the declaration away for when she's an early teen.

~

What are your successes this week? This is a great exercise in holding ourselves accountable and patting ourselves on the back. Mothering and homemaking don't have built in performance reviews and bonuses. The  internet can be a source of support and encouragement. Let's encourage one another in our small successes. Share them at Faith and Family Live! 

Lent Day 8

Fast: Ifit doesn’t build you up and strengthen you in your vocation, why read it, why listen to it, why do it, why bother?

Pray: Remember that work can be prayer too. Give God your most gruesome task today. Do it with diligence and love.

Give: Think of the kind of person your husband was when you were dating. Love and serve that person today.

Lenten Prompts

When Danielle and I decided to run our daily Lenten prompts again this year, I  Patrick changed all the dates from last year's posts so that they would run on the right days this year. I guess that Google Reader doesn't see them as new posts, because they aren't appearing there. I don't see spending the time to cut and paste and completely re-post. So, if you rely on your Google Reader to tell you what's happening in the Heart of My Home, you're going to miss the Lenten prompts. But, you can still get them on your Reader if you're subscribed to Faith and Family Live.

 And now for my confession: I totally forgot to check the prompt today and I missed doing the blog/board fast. I'll do that tomorrow (and I think we should add Twitter and Facebook too, huh?). I'm looking forward to a more silent day--today's prompts were some of my favorites last year. I'll be pondering and praying what Ann has said about silence here and what Amy has written about how the habit of writing makes us more aware of the  sacred.

Lots to Chew On...

Marilyn has a thought-provoking post up with lots of links. She has us thinking about how we affect our daughters' self images for life, particularly with regard to their bodies. In part, she writes:

Watch What You Eat, Yes. But Also Watch What You Say and Do Around Your Daughterwhere Jennifer Huget talks about how our daughters are influenced by the signals we send out about our views of our bodies - that we are the role models for our daughters and will influence their body image. There is a quote that struck me: "But Chadwick notes that we all learn our self-image lessons from our own mothers (and grandmothers) and have to work hard not to pass damaging lessons on to our daughters". The author is talking about Dara Chadwick's new books, You'd Be So Pretty If . . .: Teaching Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies-Even When We Don't Love Our Own

and

An Innocent Word Can Be A Heavy Burden where the author states how a mother's comments can cause a daughter to have a poor body image, and set her on the path of eating disorders. Quote: "Not all eating disorders are triggered by parents, but experts increasingly recognize the dangerous role of thinness-obsessed adults".

A healthy body image is an invaluable gift our daughters take with them into adulthood. Click over and read the rest.