My Heart's at Home Daybook~ October 20

***

Outside My Window ...
The ground is covered with a fine layer of frost! There is a decided chill in the air - I really do need to find a way to get those pansies in the ground. Or to get those pansies at all;-).

***

Towards a daily rhythm ...
We are persevering in our newfound normal..

***

I am thankful for ...
prayer. There is so little I can do physically to support my family and to ensure the health of my baby, but I can pray. And I do. Almost incessantly. But it never seems like enough. That's when I remember all the reminders of your prayers, the notes and phone calls, and I am so, so grateful.

***

From the kitchen ...
 I miss my kitchen. I really do. I'm going to start making menu plans for January, just so one day I can remember how much I missed my kitchen and wanted to cook .
***

To live the liturgy...
St. John of Capistrano has a feast on the 23rd, which just so happens to be Mary Beth's birthday.
***

I am wearing ...
an ESPN hoodie and baggy pants.

***

I am creating ...
a baby.

***
Towards a real education ...
we've instituted a new tradition. At the end of every week, Mike reviews the children's notebooks.The little kids are thrilled with this and love to show proof what they've done. The big kids are much less enthused. For teenaged boys, there is no substitute for Dad when it comes to accountability. I'm finding it keeps me accountable too. It also gives the boys just a little taste of competition as they compare themselves and their efforts to each other. Competition is not a bad thing in my house. As a matter of fact, my boys are highly motivated by it.
***

Bringing beauty to my home ...
Lynn hung an autumn wreath in my bedroom. It's so pretty and so cheerful!

***

I am reading  ...
books for the Lewis and Clark list for Serendipity. Stay tuned..

***

I am hoping ...
for a healthy, happy, holy labor, delivery and recovery. Or at least a simple c-section:-).

***

Around the house ...
I have relinquished all illusion of control.

***
One of my favorite things ...
The way we've got the computer set up in my bedroom allows us to turn the monitor away from the bed. Christian likes to come in and pull up a chair and sit there with the wireless keyboard. He does all his school work there. He shows up around ten every morning and stays with me all day. He's the last to leave my room at night, after watching ball games or debates or such. He is such good company and I'm looking on this time with him as an exquisite blessing. It amazes me how attentive a hyperactive teenaged boy can be when his hyperactive mother is forced to be still.

***

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
An MRI tomorrow and a doctor's appointment on Thursday, followed by a flower fairy birthday party.

***

Here is a picture thought I am sharing~
 
   
This is a St. Anne chaplet I made a few weeks ago. I plan to write a whole post on St. Anne, but for now, it's just picture thought.

It's Not Over 'Til It's Over

We  turned off the TV and the light in the seventh inning. Poor Nicky was on the brink of tears. Admittedly, he also believed a comeback was still possible. But we sent him to bed. No one comes back from 7-0  in the seventh. Looked like the Rays had the title. Pretty much a landslide.
This morning, Nicholas came up to tell us the news: Red Sox won 8-7!
Perhaps coming back from apparent landslides will be a recurrent theme this fall.

Alabama Autumn Nature Tea

***

It all began when  great big box arrived at our house last week. It came from the land of Wildflowers and Marbles and it was filled with lovely brown bags.

***

We spread a tablecloth on my bedroom floor, snacked on cookies and apples and cheese, and drank cinnamon tea and hot apple cider. Our little friend Colin was here for the day and got to join in the fun .

***

Mary Beth opened the bags one by one after reading Jennifer's careful tutorials. She pulled out treasures like Alabama cotton.

***

One little boy was so impressed with the cotton plant and Jennifer's explanation of it that when he recognized that he wasn't wearing a cotton shirt, he went and changed.

 
***

There were labeled boxes with Alabama rocks inside...


***

Everyone was enchanted with a carpenter bee. Jennifer wrote that these bees are not aggressive. My children were pleased to hold them in their hands and amazed that Jennifer's children hold them even when they are alive.

***

Hickory nuts ...

***
And all sorts of seeds and pods ...

***

When we were all finished opening the treasure bags, Mary Beth took all the nature finds downstairs to the seasons table. If I were a really good blogger, I'd end with that picture. But I'm a mom stuck in bed and none of my children seems to know where the camera is ...

The Wisdom of St. Teresa of Avila

"It is most important that we have this [love for one another], for there is nothing annoying that is not suffered easily by those who love one another...If this commandment were observed in the world as it should be, I think such love would be very helpful for the observationce of the other commandments."

I would counsel those who practice prayer to seek, at least in the beginning, friendship and association with other persons having the same interest. This is something most important even though the association may be only help one another with prayers."

"Be gentle to all and stern with yourself."

"The soul is much more more than we can imagine, and the sun that is in this royal chamber shines in all parts. It is very important for any soul that practices prayer, whether little or much , not to hold itself back and stay in one corner."

"Pain is never permanent."

"God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person."

"Let nothing disturb thee; Let nothing dismay thee; All thing pass; God never changes Patience attains All that it strives for. He who has God finds he lacks nothing: God alone suffices."

"To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that."

"To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience."

"We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us."

"We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble."

"When you suffer often, praise God that He is beginning to teach you this virtue of patience and strive to endure...He gives it to you, and you do not possess it save as though on deposit."

"There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers."

"I complained to Him for consenting that I should suffer so many torments. But his suffering was well repaid, for almost always the favors afterward came in great abundance. I only think that the soul comes out of the crucible like gold, more refined and purified, so as to see the Lord within itself."

"It is here, my daughters, that love is to be found - not hidden away in corners but in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be incomparably the greater."

In spite of all her wisdom she asked the angel: How can this be? but after he answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you; the power of the Most High will overshadow you, she engaged in no further discussion. As one who had such great faith and wisdom, she understood at once that if these two intervened, there was nothing more to know or doubt."

"Let us look at our own faults and leave aside those of others, for it is very characteristic of persons with such well-ordered lives to be shocked by everything."

"Mutual love is so important that I would never want it to be forgotten. The soul could lose its peace and even disturb the peace of others by going about looking at trifling things in people."

My Heart's at Home Daybook~October 15

***

Outside My Window ...
The window is open and the morning air feels crisp.

***

Towards a daily rhythm ...
Our weeks and our days have taken on a somewhat predictable pattern. I've noticed that with one exception, my children are staying closer to me than under usual circumstances. My bedroom (and my bed) is usually a bit crowded these days.

***

I am thankful for ...
the generous outpouring of friends who are helping Mike and me to care for our home and family and the friends who are too far away to help daily but have found creative ways to send help and made time in their own busy lives for encouraging e-mails and phone calls.

***

From the kitchen ...
 patrick has big plans to do some freezer cooking with our friend Joe, who is a chef. since Patrick aspires to be chef if professional soccer doesn't work out, this could be the start of something for him! .
***

To live the liturgy...
Today we'll celebrate the feast of St. Teresa of Avila.
***

I am wearing ...
one of four new nightgowns my mother sent. This one is green with buttons all the way up the front..

***

I am creating ...
a Christmas list.

***
Towards a real education ...
Guess what? I know the answer to the perennial question, "How would our homeschooling look if I didn't have to cook and clean and drive people all over the northern Virginia region?" I don't cook and clean and drive. We get a whole lot of narrations done. I can sit here and let them dictate their narrations to me for hours on end and I do. I read aloud a whole lot, too. Without the daily driving and  dishes and dirt-sweeping routines, I am also able to adapt more of a delight-driven curriculum. I have the time to diverge from our Revolutionary War studies for the one child who has a burning interest in Pearl Harbor and desperately wants to stop and take a week for me to read two great books to him. In the afternoons, when everyone but Karoline, Katie and Christian have left for activities, Christian and I can read poilitical blogs and research to our hearts' content. This is my favorite way to homeschool and I do hope that I can keep some balance that includes plenty of it when many more domestic duties are demanded of me.
***

Bringing beauty to my home ...
Ever notice how beautiful a house becomes when Mama smiles? I have and I'm endeavoring to make my house so beautiful much, much more often.

***

I am reading  ...
Imitation of Christ. I think one of the marks of a great spiritual classic is that it holds a different meaning at different stages of one's life.

***

I am hoping ...
for a healthy, happy, holy labor, delivery and recovery. Or at least a simple c-section:-).

***

Around the house ...
It was Mrs. Kelly Weekend last weekend. My friend Lynn Kelly swept into my bedroom on Saturday and spruced it up. She focused on the windows across from my bed and added darling red and white checked valances. Then, she switched the bed to the fall/winter quilt and put flannel sheets on for the first time this year.It's so cheerful--she's got a great touch! And Cindy Kelly came up from Florida. She brought a decaf latte and lots of energy. Our schoolroom was suffering from "basket syndrome." The room didn't look terribly horrible (well, maybe it did) but it was terribly disorganized. All the books were in the wrong baskets and all the discarded paper was in no basket at all. Since Cindy is following the same curriculum we are, she knew exactly what went where and she restored peace and order. At least for awhile...

***
One of my favorite things ...
whipped cream. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream, apple crisp with whipped cream, fresh strawberries with whipped cream, chai lattes with whipped cream....

***

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
I think I'll just hang out in bed all week.

***

Here is a picture thought I am sharing~
 
   
This is the nook Mike and I created at my bedside. He has all the wires for computer, phone, cellphone, and such under the table. The actual computer is under the bed so that if something spills all is not lost.