It's Time to Speak Up
/I've no time today to cut and paste and such. Read my new column here. Please:-)
Daybook~Beautiful Days Edition
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Outside My Window ...
it's raining again. I'm so glad! there's much work to be done here at home today and if it were as beautiful as it was on Saturday, I'd be tempted to skip school and go back to Bull Run today.
it's raining again. I'm so glad! there's much work to be done here at home today and if it were as beautiful as it was on Saturday, I'd be tempted to skip school and go back to Bull Run today.
***
I am listening to...
birds chirping. They are very loud for this area of the house. I think they might be nesting in the chimney.
***
birds chirping. They are very loud for this area of the house. I think they might be nesting in the chimney.
***
To Live the Liturgy...
Today, we'll have a tea in honor of Mercy Sunday. We are also going to use Kimberlee's Stations of the Cross idea to make Stations of the Light. I think I will use Kathryn's pictures for this project. I'll make more cards to use as three-part learning tools.
***
To Fit and Happy...
Last week, I got lots of physical exercise outdoors. It's so nice to walk and lift and carry out in the world. Sarah Anne is blooming before our eyes as she discovers a big "playground" out there! We will return to bull Run when the weather brightens and hike the bluebell trail at least a couple more times before the flowers fade for the year. Rainy days will be double T-Tapp days--the Basic workout in the morning and the Walking workout in the afternoons.
Oh, and I'm happy to report that all the Easter candy is gone.
Today, we'll have a tea in honor of Mercy Sunday. We are also going to use Kimberlee's Stations of the Cross idea to make Stations of the Light. I think I will use Kathryn's pictures for this project. I'll make more cards to use as three-part learning tools.
***
To Fit and Happy...
Last week, I got lots of physical exercise outdoors. It's so nice to walk and lift and carry out in the world. Sarah Anne is blooming before our eyes as she discovers a big "playground" out there! We will return to bull Run when the weather brightens and hike the bluebell trail at least a couple more times before the flowers fade for the year. Rainy days will be double T-Tapp days--the Basic workout in the morning and the Walking workout in the afternoons.
Oh, and I'm happy to report that all the Easter candy is gone.
***
I am thankful for ...
a fat, happy, healthy baby
the kind souls who welcomed Sarah Anne and I back to our parish yesterday
a week or R&R in the woods last week
the promise of a beautiful new season in the life of our family
***
a fat, happy, healthy baby
the kind souls who welcomed Sarah Anne and I back to our parish yesterday
a week or R&R in the woods last week
the promise of a beautiful new season in the life of our family
***
From the kitchen ...
I really need to go grocery shopping. There are more bluebell picnics to plan.
I really need to go grocery shopping. There are more bluebell picnics to plan.
***
I am wearing ...
soft knit shorts and a big soccer t-shirt--standard summer sleeping attire.
soft knit shorts and a big soccer t-shirt--standard summer sleeping attire.
***
I am creating ...
lesson plans. It's that time of year again and I'm shifting into creativity overdrive. some of my favorite collaborators are due to have babies in the early summer. They have nesting instincts that always includes curriculum. I'm all in for that. Let's get it planned!
lesson plans. It's that time of year again and I'm shifting into creativity overdrive. some of my favorite collaborators are due to have babies in the early summer. They have nesting instincts that always includes curriculum. I'm all in for that. Let's get it planned!
***
On my iPod...
Easter music from the Basilica.
***
Towards a real education ...
around this time of year, we always move into a new rhythm. We will have one or two nature days a week from now through the fall. This is when our nature study happens in a meaningful way. We'll go to nearby places and we'll also go to outlying farms in order to pick whatever's in season. Strawberries are up first in a few weeks.
When we are at home, we are working on our Native American unit, coming to the end of the Alphabet Path, and double-timing through math in order to finish up.
***
On my iPod...
Easter music from the Basilica.
***
Towards a real education ...
around this time of year, we always move into a new rhythm. We will have one or two nature days a week from now through the fall. This is when our nature study happens in a meaningful way. We'll go to nearby places and we'll also go to outlying farms in order to pick whatever's in season. Strawberries are up first in a few weeks.
When we are at home, we are working on our Native American unit, coming to the end of the Alphabet Path, and double-timing through math in order to finish up.
***
Bringing beauty to my home ...
this time of year always makes me want to redecorate. I want to paint all the walls a soft wash (Waldorfs walls, anyone?) and replace all the fabrics with Heather Bailey pinks.
This year the urge is irrestible. I will redo a room around these beautiful photos of my favorite people in my favorite place.
this time of year always makes me want to redecorate. I want to paint all the walls a soft wash (Waldorfs walls, anyone?) and replace all the fabrics with Heather Bailey pinks.
This year the urge is irrestible. I will redo a room around these beautiful photos of my favorite people in my favorite place.
***
***
I am hoping and praying ...
that my poor husband feels better soon. Things are really no better for his back.Won't you say a quick prayer, too?
that my poor husband feels better soon. Things are really no better for his back.Won't you say a quick prayer, too?
***
Around the house ...
today will be devoted to cleaning out the van and the foyer and the mudroom--we seem to have brought a great deal of bluebell mud home with us. Oh, Lovely Mud! I think I'll play Mrs. Wishy-washy today.
***
One of my favorite things ...
the smell of my church during Easter week and the incredible visual feast of the altar after a barren Good Friday.
today will be devoted to cleaning out the van and the foyer and the mudroom--we seem to have brought a great deal of bluebell mud home with us. Oh, Lovely Mud! I think I'll play Mrs. Wishy-washy today.
***
One of my favorite things ...
the smell of my church during Easter week and the incredible visual feast of the altar after a barren Good Friday.
***
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
lots of nature study; laundry; baseball and soccer practices; dance; a friend of Mary Beth's here to plan a little crafting; more soccer and baseball on the weekend.
lots of nature study; laundry; baseball and soccer practices; dance; a friend of Mary Beth's here to plan a little crafting; more soccer and baseball on the weekend.
***
Picture thoughts
I cannot tell you how grateful I am to Lori for mucking about in the woods with us and capturing my children in such beautiful images. I will treasure these photos forever.
Be sure to visit Peggy for links to more daybooks.
While I appreciate the beauty, the materials and some of the methods of Waldorf education, I am not a follower of Rudolf Steiner, his educational philosophy, or his religion. I am a practicing Catholic who is very clear in teaching the faith to her children. Please see this post for any further explanation of incorporating methods or materials that might also appear in Waldorf schools into your home. Take inspiration from what is good and what in in harmony with the true faith and leave the rest. If you can't discern, then leave it all alone.
The Best Day with You Today
/
It's been an old-fashioned week here this week. I blogged Monday morning and set several posts to auto-post. Then, I mostly backed away from the computer, save a couple of quick two-line posts. I've read two novels while nursing and "marked as read" several hundred posts from Google Reader without reading them. This was not a plan, but rather a serendipitous constellation of events--both happy and distressing. The distressing events all centered on my dear, sweet husband who has badly injured his back and has needed me to help him do the most basic of tasks.
It's been a strange bedrest role reversal.I am rarely at the computer when he is home and he's been home all the time. I wrote a column and sent it to the Herald and it felt like old times, when that was all I published regularly. Then, I gathered my precious children and headed outside. I now understand those pangs of guilt Mike felt when he left me alone in our room on beautiful days last fall to take our children on grand adventures.
I have spent the week adventuring on the banks of Bull Run and Cub Run, in old familiar places and sunny new spaces.I've heralded a new baseball season and a new soccer season. I am sunburned and tired to the bone--in a very good way.
I sat in dappled sunlight with three good friends today. We watched our children play together and remembered seasons past when the big kids were little enough to skinny dip and the little kids were just-hoped-for whispers of fervent prayers.I smiled and smiled and smiled. In all honesty, the days defy words. I'm so glad, though, that for part of the time, Lori Fowlkes joined us with her camera (do click--it's a sweet shot). Oh, what pictures we will share in the next few weeks! For now, Mary Beth has some pictures from our family camera, set to music she thinks captures the day just right.
Divine Mercy Novena~ Day 7
/Today bring to Me the
Souls who especially venerate and glorify My Mercy, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed
most over my Passion and entered most deeply into My spirit. They are living
images of My Compassionate Heart. These souls will shine with a special
brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I
shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death. Most Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love
Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of
those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of Your mercy. These
souls are mighty with the very power of God Himself. In the midst of all
afflictions and adversities they go forward, confident of Your mercy; and
united to You, O Jesus, they carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls
will not be judged severely, but Your mercy will embrace them as they depart
from this life.
Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls who
glorify and venerate Your greatest attribute, that of Your fathomless mercy,
and who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls are
a living Gospel; their hands are full of deeds of mercy, and their hearts,
overflowing with joy, sing a canticle of mercy to You, O Most High! I beg You O
God:
Show them Your mercy according to the hope and trust they have placed in
You. Let there be accomplished in them the promise of Jesus, who said to them
that during their life, but especially at the hour of death, the souls who will
venerate this fathomless mercy of His, He, Himself, will defend as His glory.
Amen.
