Hiding the Alleluia

 

Lots of people asking about this today. You'll find a tutorial here. And there are lots of Lent ideas and all those daily pray-fast-give prompts here and under the "Lent" tab on the toolbar above.

Daybook: Spring Hopes

 Outside My Window

The sun has just come up on what promises to be an truly beautiful day. I can hear birds singing outside the window. Spring promises. And I believe her.

{Nicky has just joined me in the front room. He sees a bluebird. We stop and watch together. Spring. Good, good spring.}

I am Listening to

those aforementioned birds. Sweet music.

I am Wearing

pajamas. Just rolled out of bed and want to use the quiet this morning to gather my thoughts. Then, I plan to click the computer closed until I get a bit of a writing session in a cafe later today.

I am so Grateful for

a husband who trusts. We've made some tough decisions the last few months. He's been steadfast in the trust department.

I'm Pondering

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." ~Marcel Proust

Someone sent me note cards with that quote on them. Isn't that charmingly perfect for a new gardening season where the focus is on gratitude?

I am Reading

on my Kindle: You Can Understand the Bible by Peter Kreeft. I dearly love Peter Kreeft.

on audio while knitting: One Thousand Gifts (yes, this is the third time through--the audio version is my favorite) and  Truth and Life Audio Bible New Testament. Both of these books are available on audio for free if you are new to Audible and sign of for a 30 day free trial. I had been listening to a different audio Bible but this one is endorsed by the Vatican with an imprimatur  and oh. my. goodness! it's exceedingly well done.

in book form: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Someone wrote to tell me yesterday that the audio version of this is really good, too.

I do love audio books. I like to tuck my iPod into an aprom pocket and listen while I clean. It helps to keep me on task. I'm much less tempted to wander off and check my email or get distracted by a catalog or otherwise stop working. As long as I'm working, I can keep listening and I do like to listen.

I am Thinking

That sometimes a little humor makes a serious point very well. The world is full of legalists and pharisees. Jesus spent an awful lot of time addressing them. He must have known we'd struggle with legalism, fueled by envy, until the day He comes again.

I am Creating

washcloths. Lots of them. I'm also helping Katie with her mittens and Mary Beth with her hat. And I'm about to launch into some serious Becky Higgins retro-scrapbooking with a big box of photos in the basement and the three nearly grown boys whose childhoods are held there.

This is exactly what I wrote last week. Still at it. Mary Beth has finished her hat. Patrick has requested a knitted hat. Why he needs a knitted hat in Florida in the spring and summer is somewhat unclear. He mumbled something about needing it to wear to breakfast...

Bedhead? Isn't that why baseball caps were invented?

 

On my iPod

Joel Clarkson. I'm working on a way to share this music on my blog. But for now, take my word for it: well done.

Towards a Real Education

Looking into high school co-ops for next year. There are several well-established homeschool co-ops or small schools that allow part-time homeschooler involvement. Several of the girls in Mary Beth's dance school attend them. Unfortunately, most have very exclusive statements of faith--that is they exclude Catholics. It's hard to see her grapple with exclusion.

A followup from last week: a couple people wrote to tell me about "statements of understanding." Apparently, some co-op will allow you to sign something that says you understand the statement of faith and won't argue or debate it. So, there's that possiblity. Also, I had a long conversation with a tutor at Classical Conversations who said she'd be welcome there. I'm not sure we want that level of intesity (nor am I sure it's in the budget), but she is going to shadow there next week. One thing is certain, homeschooling high school without a peer group for her and for me is not a good idea. She's my fourth. I know what has worked and what has not and I am determined to find some sort of group. 

Towards Rhythm and Beauty

We are doing "pre-Lent" in a big way this year. Patrick is home this week, but he won't be home next week, so I'm spending focused time with all my children discussing their plans for Lent and their walks with God. It's a good thing, one that I think will become a tradition.

We're having a Kind Conversation about

My sincere apologies to the good folks at Kind Conversation. I promise to check in soon. Gosh. Today, I promise.

To Live the Liturgy...

There are so many, many Lent ideas out there. I'm not reading them this year. One thing I'm doing to get ready for Lent is winnowing my time online to very little. So, reading Lent ideas isn't going to work for me. I'm looking forward to springtime quiet. And I'm so grateful that God has graced me with happy optimism about this spring. Happy, happy.

I am Hoping and Praying

for Elizabeth deHority. She is constantly on my heart and in my prayers. She needs you now. Please, please pray with me.

for these two darling boys who will be baptized this weekend.

 In the Garden

Patrick and Karoline worked hard to get everything ready for spring planting and blooming.

Around the House

all the windows are open!

From the Kitchen

chicken fajitas last night

grilled pork tenderloin tonight

pasta tomorrow night (soccer tournament and basketball finals--carbo loading)

steak and potatoes per Patrick's request before he goes back

lots of super fresh eggs from some very happy spring chickens

One of My Favorite Things

the smell of spring

Sarah Annie this week

her favorite pasttime is pulling a chair up to the pantry and opening the door. There, she finds shelves of  alphabetized spices mounted on the inside of the door. She likes moving them around. And now, she likes opening them, too. And dumping them. I have never--in nine kids--had kidproof latches. I'm seriously considering it.

And my vacuum smells awesome.

A Few Plans for the Week

Girls Club at the mission church tomorrow

Mary Beth and Nicholas both play in basketbal League Championship games Saturday. And Katie has her last game (which she is persuading everyone is a championship).

Stephen plays his first soccer tournament of the season

Paddy goes back to Florida on Sunday.

Nothing real notable for next week; we didn't get terribly behind on schoolwork this week, despite Patrick's presence, but we will work extra hard next week to make up for anything not done this week. 

Picture thoughts:

Yarn Along

I'm still stuck in my self-imposed washcloth place. I have to admit, I'm not enjoying it much. I did switch from the utterly unforgiving washcloth yarn to softer Cottontots yarn. It feels nicer, but I'm not sure it's going to make very good washcloths over the long haul. The colors are so pretty and the yarn feels nice; I sort of wish I were knitting a sweater. I just don't quite have the confidence to move on. Also, it would help greatly if I didn't pick up my knitting and find that someone around here has been "helping" me. I'm not accomplished enough to fix my helper's mistakes and they truly frustrate me. It's hard enough for me to accept my own mistakes; these ones that just appear when I'm not looking are bumming me out bigtime.

And, for a change of pace from the really heavy reading I've been doing lately, I have finally started reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. I'm not far enough in yet to comment, but it is a breath of fresh air. 

For more Yarn Along tales, visit Ginny.

Speaking of Lent...

 

Did you know that all those Lenten Fast-Pray-Give prompts from last year are included in the Small Steps for Catholic Moms Companion Journal?

There, you will find an essay for each of the virtues explored in Small Steps and directed study for you to use alone or in a group. But wait! There's more! You will also find special devotions for every day of Lent. Instead of the Think, Pray, Act format of Small Steps, we wrote short daily ideas for fasting, praying, and offering sacrifices. If you think this might be just the thing for you this Lent, and you order before Friday, I'll sign your copy and mail it Priority Mail, Friday afternoon, in order for you to get it by Ash Wednesday.

{I'm sorry, no international orders this time. And only while supplies last.}

UPDATE: Oh my goodness! We're all sold out of Companion Journals.You can still order here.

Mail leaves before Friday. Thank you!

Small Steps Together: Give up

In these days before Lent, we start to feel a little restless. Particularly when Lent is so late, we are ready to dig in and start to do the hard spiritual work. I've heard from several mothers who tell me that they are really ready this year, all set to go because Lent is late enough to give them a head start.

At Mass on Sunday, I was hoping to hear a homily about preparing to sacrifice. Instead, I heard a homily about what is paid for by the Bishop's Lenten Appeal. And the priest, bless his heart, warned that next week's homily will also be about the appeal for money. I get it. the Church needs money to do what it does. And the pastors are asked to ask for money. But I was bummed. This is the year of Matthew; most of the gospel readings this year are taken from Matthew. I love Matthew! I love the gospel of Matthew so much that my second son is named Matthew Christian. And Sunday's reading is probably my favorite scripture passage of all. It is definitely the first scripture I memorized. As a little girl, looking for some kind of instruction book for life, I read it under the covers at night, with the light from the hallway. I read Matthew from the Children's Living Bible, because that's what I had. And I believed.

Here, I've quoted from the New American Bible, as it was read in church on Sunday.

24

  "No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

25

  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

26

Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?

27

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? 

28

Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.

29

But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.

30

If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

31

So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?'

32

All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

33

But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.

34

Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.

So, what does any of this have to do with sacrifice? With Lent? More and more as I look toward Lent and ask God what He would have me do or not do, the answer is clear. What do you want me to give up, God?

Just give up.

Give up me. All of me. Give up worry. And all my illusions of control. Do I really want to be in control anyway? Wouldn't it be better for all of us if God were in control? What is worry anyway? Can I hold worry and trust in the same soul? If my soul is filled with worry, if I am anxious about the things of this world, can it be filled with Him? If I am worried, am I really able to seek God's kingdom and His righteousness?

When I was in college, I had friends who deliberately studied in the libraries of the pre-professional schools most likely to turn out the highest paying graduates. They weren't in those schools, but they wanted to marry someone who was. I remember thinking they were joking when they talked about marrying money. I remember being at a loss for words when someone dear told me that you can marry for love or you can marry for money, but she never saw it happen that you got both. Good grief! How do you do that? Marry for money? Marriage is hard enough work when you're madly in love! How can you possibly make it work if you didn't even marry in love to begin?

I didn't much care about money. These verses were etched deep in my heart. And besides, I was totally, head over heels in love. So, it worked for me, to blithely move through life singing "Consider the lilies of the field."

We did just fine, living on love. We did better than fine.

Over the years, things have crept in. We've had lots of opportunities and plenty of ... plenty. We know what it is to live with abundance. Somewhere along the way, amidst the plenty, I learned to worry. I worry about eating and drinking and yes, even clothes. Can worry add to lifespan? No, but oh, by the way, I worry about lifespan, too. And tied tightly to my tendency to worry is my attempt to control. Kids will do that to you. You want the best for them, to make their lives just so, and before you know it, you start playing God.

When I was a child, I believed that a good God was going to take care of me, that it would all be just fine, even good. Now, I'm a mother, can I believe that God is going to take care of my children? That He can do even more for them--for their good-- than I can imagine? Can I stop worrying about it all? Start trusting wholeheartedly?

Can I give up?

Let go?

Sacrifice my illusion of control for His promise of more?

It's time to try.

Have you begun to think about sacrifice as the calendar page turned to March?  How has Small Steps blessed, challenged you, encouraged you on your journey? Would you share your thoughts with us, let us find you and walk with you? I'd be so grateful and so honored to have you as a companion.