Sacrament Prep

While preparing the girls for their Sacraments of Initiation this spring, I came across a great craft at a favorite Catholic Mom blog.   It was a color-by-number and was fairly intricate to color in, but Noelle and I were able to finish it in about an hour.

Folding it in a zig-zag was probably the most complicated part, but the finished product...wow!  When you view it from the left, you can see a monstrance...

but when viewed from the other direction, you can see Jesus Christ.

The object of the lesson is that when you receive the Eucharist, even though it doesn't look like Him and you can't see Him...He's really there.

Why I Chose To Homeschool

In cleaning out our homeschool library, I finally found both pages of a list I made quite a few years ago.  I can't remember now exactly why I made this list.  I think it was because of something I read in a book - Catholic Homeschooling / A Patchwork of Days .  A sample of the book, including the table of contents, can be found here.

Anyway, the author recommended making a list of the reasons why you are homeschooling, and keeping it in a safe place so that you can whip it out when you just can't remember why you ever decided to do this in the first place.  I was probably close to that place when I made my list.  Upon reading it over, I can see now that several of them are not so much reasons to homeschool as they are benefits of homeschooling.  Whether you consider these good reasons or lame ones, valid or invalid, here's what I put down:

Why I Chose To Homeschool

- I love spending time with my children

- They were frequently bored in regular school

- We are not "morning people"

- We can study our own interests and pursue them as far as we want

- We don't have to stick to someone else's agenda for a curriculum

- Much time in regular school is taken up with busywork

- To shield my children from too many negative popular cultural influences and child cruelties "in the name of socialization"

- Because I am learning right alone with them and it's exciting to re-educate myself

- Because I love the "light bulb" moments and I doubt that it would go off as frequently in regular school, and I wouldn't be there to witness it

- It forces me to cultivate patience and become more organized

- I am learning how to understand my children and the way they think even better

- We as parents can be their principal role models longer than usual

- Side benefit - the children are more pleasant and get along better than ever

- We are all learning together alongside each other

- Side benefit - many great books are finding their way into our home

- It's counter-cultural!

Lesson Learned.

There is a semi-ridiculous story circulating on Facebook.  

One version goes like this:

A child says to his mom "mommy, I colored your sheets with lipstick", with anger she starts to hit her child until he was unconscious . Then she regrets what she has done, and crying says to her child, "please open your eyes", but it was too late, his tiny heart has stopped beating. When she walked into her bedroom, the ...sheet said "I LOVE YOU MOMMY."

It's designed to tug on the heartstrings and raise awareness about child abuse.  And silly though it was, it made me cry.  Not because I've ever beaten a kid unconscious, but because it brought to mind vividly of one of my "bad mom" moments.

About 10 years ago, I purchased our first set of "fine" linens for our king-sized bed. Until then all we'd ever had to sleep on were relatives' hand-me-downs or bargain bin sheets.  But all the little midnight visitors kept crowding us out, so we finally upgraded to a king bed.  None of our relatives had a king, so there were no second-hand sheets to be had.  

I found a set of 450 thread count sheets at a pretty good sale price.  They were heavenly.  Silky-smooth and cool, with rows of satiny embroidered edging.  We were immediately ruined for life - from that moment on, my motto became, "Life is too short to sleep on cheap sheets."

Isn't it beautiful?

That year BD decided he wanted to be a thief for Halloween.  We already had a black-and-white-striped outfit, so all he needed was a mask and a loot bag.  I told him to take an old pillowcase - we had several - and draw a big dollar sign on it.  It could be a money bag that doubled as a candy bag!  Brilliant, right?

Not.  He came back shortly thereafter with this.  In case it isn't obvious enough, it's one of my pair of good pillowcases.  And that dollar sign was done in black Sharpie.

You saw that one coming, didn't you?

Boy oh boy oh boy did I flip.  I didn't hit him - I'm not the whupping kind - but he took a verbal beating that day.  He was always the type - still is - that just stood and took whatever verbal acid rain I poured out on him.  He wouldn't cry - still doesn't - but I could see my words pummeling him, and I couldn't stop myself.  Inside, he was beating up on himself just as hard - still does - and I could see his wincing eyes, but sometimes when I get on a roll, I don't know when to say when.

When I was finished thrashing him, he went away, probably to go feel worthless somewhere, and I still fumed.  Over a pillowcase.

I know I apologized later, and tried to explain why his choice had made me so upset.  But it's too late then.  Those words can't be taken back.  I don't remember if he used the offending pillowcase that year for trick-or-treat, or not.

Over the years I have tried to remember to take his stoic, sensitive nature into consideration when I am upset with him.  I don't always succeed, but I hope someday when he looks back at his childhood that there won't be TOO much to forgive me for.

In the meantime, I still like to sleep on finer sheets.  And I always include a special pillowcase when making my bed.

BD, I'm still sorry.  I love you.

In the Words of C. S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis once said:

"God's work in our lives can be painful, but His ultimate goal is to transform us into something better. "

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised."

"But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards."

"You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but he is building up a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself."

a dream

I found this on another blog, but it really hit me where it hurts.



In my dream I saw an absolutely beautiful wrapped present. (My favorite kind of present to get...I totally appreciate a good gift wrap!) However, as I looked at that present, complete with a perfectly tied wire ribbon, the following thoughts flooded my mind:

My home was like that beautifully wrapped present....lovely to look at and wonderful to make the box pleasing. HOWEVER, it became very clear to me that I needed to remember that the thing that made the present of value wasn't the nice ribbon or the expensive paper, or even the box. The treasure was the actual GIFT housed within the box. The contents of the box was what mattered! The bow would be untied and the paper eventually cast aside....but the CONTENTS of the box...MY FAMILY....was what mattered!

Two Inspirational Poems

Splinters From The Cross

Little headaches, little heartaches,
Little griefs of every day,
Little trials and vexations,
How they throng around our way!

One great cross, immense and heavy,
So it seems to our weak will,
Might be born with resignation,
But these many small ones kill.

Yet all life is formed of small things,
Little leaves make up the trees,
Many tiny drops of water
Blending, make the mighty seas.

Let us not then by impatience
Mar the beauty of the whole,
But the love of Jesus bear all
In the silence of our soul.

Asking Him for grace sufficient
To sustain us through each loss,
And to treasure each small offering
As a splinter from His Cross.

The Tapestry

My life is but a weaving between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily.
Oftimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver's hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

Irish Blessing

May those who love us, love us
And those who don't love us,
May God turn their hearts
And if he can't turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles
So we will know them by their limping!

This Day God Gives Me

This day God gives me Strength of high heaven,
Sun and moon shining, Flame in my hearth.
Flashing of lightning, Wind in its swiftness,
Deeps of the ocean, Firmness of earth.

This day God gives me Strength as my guardian,
Might to uphold me, Wisdom as guide.
Your eyes are watchful, Your ears are list'ning,
Your lips are speaking, Friend at my side.

God's Way is my way, God's Shield is 'round me,
God's Host defends me, Saving from ill.
Angels of heaven, Drive from me always
All that would harm me, Stand by me still.

Rising I thank Thee, Mighty and Strong One,
King of creation, Giver of rest.
Firmly confessing, God in Three Persons,
Oneness of Godhead, Trinity Blest!

~St. Patrick

A Lady Named Irena Sendler

There recently was the death of a 98-year-old lady named Irena Sendler. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an ulterior motive... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German). Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried, and she also carried in the back of her truck a Burlap sack, (for larger kids). She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids /infants noises. During her time and course of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs and arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it, and reunited the family. Most, of course, had been gassed. Those kids she helped were placed into foster family homes or adopted. Last year Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.... She LOST. But, Al Gore won for doing a slide show on Global Warming. Kinda warms your heart, doesn't it.

A Prayer for Today

A Prayer For Today

Teach me, my Lord, to be sweet and gentle in all the events of life
-in disappointments,
-in the thoughtlessness of others,
-in the insincerity of those I trusted,
-in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.

Let me put myself aside
-to think of the happiness of others,
-to hide my little pains and heartaches, so that I may be the only one to suffer from them.

Teach me to profit by the suffering that comes across my path. Let me so use it
-that it may mellow me, not harden nor embitter me,
-that it may make me patient, not irritable,
-that it may make me broad in my forgiveness, not narrow, haughty and overbearing.

May no one be less good for having come within my influence. No one less pure, less true, less kind, less noble for having been a fellow traveler in our journey toward eternal life.

As I go my rounds from one distraction to another, let me whisper from time to time a word of love to Thee. May my life be lived in the super-natural, full of power for good, and strong in it purpose of sanctity.


A Thought For Today
This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important because I’m exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it.

The Music of Marie Bellet

I can't say enough about Marie's music or how it has touched my heart, so I'll let it speak for itself. I own three of her four CDs and in my house they are all instant classics and perennial favorites. Her songs are so real that it's as if she peeked into my home and can see into my heart. Please look into it yourself!



Here is a link to a nice article with her about the release of her fourth album:
http://www.omsoul.com/MarieBellet