En Pointe

"I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of man-- the landscape of his soul." ~Martha Graham 

"To leap becomes, while it lasts, heart pounding, breath hurting, the deepest, the only joy." ~Denise Levertov

"On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined." ~George Gordon, Lord Byron

"When you do dance, I wish you a wave o' the sea, that you might ever do nothing but that." ~William Shakespeare 

{photo credit: Mr. Sasha} 

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Katie got her very first pair of pointe shoes yesterday. We all might have been a little giddy:-). Local folks, I can't say enough good things about Heather's Dance Boutique in Manassas. They were so patient and they made it the special occasion that it was. (And no, I'm not being compensated to say that; I just genuinely wish for every little dancer the experience Katie had yesterday.)

Notes to Self

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{All photos are a GIFT from my friend Nicole. I was afraid to take my camera to the beach. }

I have a dozen or so blog posts running through my head. I'm pinning notes to myself here and hope to follow up later this week.

::noticing God's glory: 

 Mike helped me in the garden this week. Actually, he began the task while I was at the beach and we finished up together when I returned. It's been so wet that there was a riduculous amount of weeding and pruning to do. I'm so grateful for his help and his company!

::listening to 

Silence. It's crazy early, but I have to grab it while I can get it. It's going to be a very rare thing very soon. 

::clothing myself in 

These shoes. Several people have asked about them. I love them. I wear them every day, everywhere. Skirts, shorts, jeans. They're awesome!

::talking with my children about these books

We're wrapping up our Shakespeare studies with Christian. Actually, we're wrapping up all our studies with Christian. This is a bittersweet time, indeed. We shall continue our Shakespeare Fridays in the fall.

::thinking and thinking

about how I think the Internet is the modern day Tower of Babel. It's amazing how people come together and completely misunderstand one another!

::pondering prayerfully

"There is a small lack of humility in wanting to be Mary before having worked with Martha." ~St. Teresa of Avila

::carefully cultivating rhythm

Well, then. Some pruning happened in the garden, but some even more significant pruning happened in our planning. I think I might even have a sense of peace about our rhythm. More on this one later.

::creating by hand

There is a lovely bunch of ten-year-old girls who have squeezed into ill-fitting jazz costumes for the last time. I promised them all that we would make them into headbands after the last show. The time is now. Going to try to fit that into a very full week.

::learning lessons in

letting go. Here we go. It's August. Countdown to the Great Leaving. This time last year, all nine of my children lived in this house. In nine months time--from December to August-- the oldest three will have flown the nest. All boys. The dynamic of this household is definitely changing. Christian leaves in three weeks. I've never been away from Christian for more than six days. 

Ahem.

Moving on...

::encouraging learning 

I'm very excited about plans for the new term. The absence of the big boys and some pretty drastic changes to our rhythm will yield very fruitful days, I hope. Not that the big boys disrupted our rhythm. 

Well,actually, they sort of did.

I'm super excited about plans this year, which is a lovely surprise. For the younger three, t's going to be a Storybook Year, heavily dependent on these lists (browse the lefthand column--there aren't enough days in a childhood for the treasures here). For the older three (and the younger, too, actually), lots of fresh inspiration from these thoughts:

Nature Deficit Disorder

Teaching Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day

The Four Language Arts

Nurturing Competent Communicators

Fairytales and the Moral Imagination

::begging prayers

Please continue to pray for Shawn, for Elizabeth DeHority, for my friend Carmen, and for my mother-in-law, who soon begins radiation treaments.

::living the liturgy

 Daily Mass: critical to the new rhythm.

::keeping house

Last fall --actually all last year-- I prayed a very specific prayer for our house renovations. I prayed that this place would beautifully reflect the living of God's will as a Christian family. I had visions of ladies' Bible studies and a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Perhaps, in time, that will happen. But last night, I had a rare flash of insight, kind of a Holy Spirit pat on the back. 

Patrick has come home very frequently since leaving in January. He has never, ever come home alone. Always, he brings someone along. Last night, after he won a National Championship in Richmond, we got home around 1:00 AM. We rolled in with eight of our children and five extras. One of the girls whom Patrick invited sighed a happy sigh when she walked in and said, "It smells like home. It's just so nice." If my mission these days is to be home away from home for homesick college students, I'll take it.

And be very grateful. Not what I imagined. Better than that, right now. 

::crafting in the kitchen 

I learned a thing or two at the beach last week. Only the girls and Nick came with me. Cooking for six, when five of them are female? Much. Less. Food. I overpacked. I had leftover spaghetti three meals! This fall, I might just make a recipe or two as written, instead of automatically doubling or tripling. Weird. 

::loving the moments

when they are reunited. Karoline was literally giddy upon seeing Katie after being separated for a week. She missed her so much!

::giving thanks 

for going and coming home again. All last week, it was just Karoline, Sarah, Mary Beth and Christian at home. Everyone else was off on an adventure. They all had a grand time. They're all glad to be home.

::planning for the week ahead

I had so much planned for last week. Only four at home, I was going to finish school planning and dig out the basement and deep clean closets and on and on. Instead, I had a whopper cold that completely leveled me for the entire week. The upside is that with so few children home, I didn't get way behind being sick. The downside is that I didn't really get to relish the week the way I'd hoped. 

This week is crazy busy. The pre-season intensives have begun. There will be much driving hither and yon. All the beds are filled and there were yoga mats and sleeping bags on the floors as well last night. Tomorrow is a Big Day in the Life of Katie. Her very first pointe shoe fitting:-). Wednesday, we are looking forward to a visit from a Colorado family on Wednesday. And I hear there is a plan for date night on Friday. 

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iPhone pics, all mine.

Have a beautiful week, friends!

Lord, Hear Our Prayer

The internet is a formidable force for bringing the comfort and consolation and hope of the Lord to all of us. It can be an incredibily powerful medium for community. There is an unfathomable resource for prayer here. We have on the 'net the privilege of praying for people and of being witness to the miracles brought forth when fervent, faith-filled people pray for one another.

Let's be that community of hope and faith for one another.

How about this idea? What if I pop in here every weekend, share Sunday's gospel and talk a wee bit about how we can live it and pray it in our homes? And then you tell me how we can pray for you that week? Deal?

{And please, do return and let us know how prayer is bearing fruit.} 

Gospel

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,
“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” 
He replied to him,
“Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” 
Then he said to the crowd,
“Take care to guard against all greed,
for though one may be rich,
one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Then he told them a parable. 
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. 
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. 
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
But God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”

Think

It should be observed that the perfect love of God consists not in those delights, tears, and sentiments of devotion that we generally seek, but in a strong determination and keen desire to please god in all thing, and tho take care, as far as possible, not to offend him, and to promote his glory. ~St. Teresa of Avila

Pray

God, please inspire me to be faithful. Help me to seek you even when I don't feel all those sentiments of devotion. Strengthen my resolve to devote my heart to prayer and then my hands to your service. 

Act

How is your quiet time lately? Set your alarm for fifteen minutes earlier than ususal. Fix a cup of something hot to hold in your hands and keep you awake. Give God the first moments of your day, and watch what he gives back to you.

This week's Think-Pray-Act is taken from Small Steps for Catholic Moms, available now for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

How can we pray for you this week?

with needle & thREAD

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I had lofty plans for this week!  Due to comings and goings, there are only four children at home this week and I thought this would be the perfect time to deep clean the house and make drapes and a quilt for Mary Beth's room and finish planning the next semester. Oh! so many, many things long planned.

I have a cold. It's just a cold, but I'm sharing it with everyone left here at home. We're all moving in slow motion. I did manage to finish sewing the blouse I cut for Katie ages ago. Voile is such lovely fabric, light and silky and perfectly perfect for hot summer days. It also slips like crazy, frays and tears easily, and is not at the top of the list for practical fabrics for 10-year-old girls. Still, it makes a lovely top. It still needs a button and clearly should be ironed. And I think it might be too short, but Katie isn't home so I can't know for sure. I hope she can wear it for the rest of the summer.

I've been reading in fits and spurts. I borrowed this slim volume from Patrick's desk and it's just perfect for a little reading before dozing. Lessons for Living is so aptly named--lovely nuggets of wisdom for life.

Life is a talent entrusted to us so that we can transform it and increase it, making it a gift to others. No person is an iceberg drifting on the ocean of history. Each one of us belongs to a great family, in which we each have our own place and our own role to play. ~John Paul the Great

What are you sewing and reading this week?

Homeschooling Mom Dropped in Danceland

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"Looking around the convention center, absorbing images of scantily clad girls wearing heavily applied makeup and false eyelashes, I feel as if I’ve been swallowed up by a reality television script. “Home-schooling Mom Dropped in Danceland”: Everyone come watch while she tries to reconcile two seemingly disparate worlds."

Please read the whole column here.