Saturday Link:

Scripture: If you call the sabbath a delight, and the Lord's holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways,...Then you shall delight in the Lord. Isaiah 58:13b, 14a

Activity: Make whatever preparations are necessary so that you can keep holy the Sabbath day tomorrow.



Sunday Yellow Link:

Listen closely to the readings at Mass. Spend some quiet time alone even if just for five minutes and listen.

Start Here
Week 1
Breaking the Chains of Sin

Friday Link

Scripture: This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:...Sharing your bread with the hungry. Isaiah 58:6a, 7a

Activity: Share bread as part of your family's evening meal. If you can, give food to a neighbor in need or to a food pantry.

Tonight, it occurred to me that readers of my blog are probably Catholic, have young children and may not have any idea how to make the 40 days of Lent relevant to their kids.

So I thought I would share one of our Lenten activities that is quick and simple enough for the whole family to enjoy.

Breaking the Chains of Sin

The Angel of the Lord "tapped Peter on the side and awakened him saying, 'Get up quickly.' The chains fell from his wrists." Acts 12-7b

When Saint Peter was bound by chains in prison it took the appearance of an angel to free him. Most of us will never have to experience being literally bound in chains like the Apostle Peter. But, in the figurative sense, we are enchained by our bad habits and sins and we need to call on the freeing Spirit of the Lord to help us break the chains of selfishness that keep us from loving God and others as we should. Lent is a special time for freeing ourselves from the chains of sin that enslave us. Each day we are breaking links from a paper chain as a symbolic gesture of our desire to free ourselves from sin. Each day during Lent I will post what the "links" from our chain tell us.

I hope you enjoy following along with us.


I made a paper link chain with the first link being grey (Ash Wednesday) followed by purple colored paper for the other days of the week except Sundays which I am using yellow colored paper. Use a red colored paper for the Good Friday link. And end your chain with a decorated white link for Easter.
Have family members take turns breaking the links during Lent as a countdown to Easter.

Ash Wednesday Link:

Scripture: For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Activity: Kneel before a crucifix. Thank Jesus for giving His life for you, and pray that Jesus' love would fill your heart.

Thursday Link:

Scripture: If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23b

Activity: On a colorful piece of paper write the words "What would Jesus Do?" Ask yourself this question when you need to make a decision.

*Copywrited by Church of Saint Paul reprint permission granted by "Catechist Magazine", Feb. 1987

#6


1.

Planted 60 impatients (while keeping my patience with the little girls) in my garden and planters and cleaned up our patio areas so that we can enjoy the beauty of that space right now, which is the best time of year here.

2.

Read through, organized and prepared all the Lent activities we will be doing as a family..now the implementing should go smoothly...right?

3.

Going to bed an hour earlier leads to waking up naturally before being woken up, and that is nice.


Go to Faith and Family Live and see other small successes and play along too.

Lent 2009

Usually it catches me by surprise. But not this year. The beginning of the 40 days has been resting on my heart for a week. I haven't done anything in way of preparation save maybe including a meatless meal in my weekly menu.
But, I feel like I am beginning from a new place this year. I am not looking ahead toward what sacrifices will be made, those happen planned or not. Instead I am looking, eyes wide open just today, now. Calling Christ's presence forth into the light of my daily doings. And living that way is how I will focus my Lenten journey. I am blessed already by what this means to my day. So many opportunities to give thanks for all that I've been given. So many opportunities to pray.

Today I am grateful for the new impatients thriving in my garden, Ana's enthusiasm to recite the Hail Mary, the exuberant love I feel in my heart for my family and my husband, and for graces received.

Yahweh
*Music and lyrics by U2

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticize
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

At this point in my life "Pampered" means newly diapered, not spoiled.
So the name Pampered Chef makes me smile inwardly every time I hear it.
Anyway, as someone who loves to cook and bake, I do love their products.

Even if some of them seem a little ridiculous..I mean who really needs an egg yolk separator when fingers work oh so much better?!!

And for some reason I never get invited to a Pampered Chef party when I really need something culinary so I was very excited when my oldest friend sent me a link to her personal website. Now I can buy another no melt spatula whenever I melt one. (Yes Kris I actually melted one!)
And they do make great gifts for new brides, new graduates, mothers, sisters, and husbands that cook. So I am sharing a link to her website in case you ever find yourself shopping for me, er, I mean, in need of anything for the kitchen!

I am also putting it on my sidebar under People I love.

Random things

I just figured out today that 1/2 & 1/2 (the stuff I put in my coffee) is called that because it is half milk and half cream.
Seriously, I always wondered why it was called that. Duh. I only figured it out because I was reading the carton while waiting for my coffee to brew this morning.

I went grocery shopping today with Bono. Not really, but I did take my ipod with me to the grocery store and What.a.difference! It was awesome. I was bopping to great music and smiling at all the snowbirds. It totally changed the way I will shop now.

When you go to bed early like 10pm getting up for 6:45 am Mass is not so bad.
Cade had to alter serve this morning and with Doug doing a camp in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend I had no choice but to round everyone up and just do it. So I went to bed early and getting up surprisingly was not so bad after all, and we survived.


If I throw in one coveted article of clothing per laundry load the clothes magicaly get switched over to the dryer without me having to ask.

A week ago the days started stacking on top of one another before I could fully work out all the events unfolding in them while also keeping up with what our family requires.

And as a result I started building a fortress around my heart. I don't do this on purpose, in fact I don't like that I do this but it is how I am able to cope with stress. Just lay down the heavy bricks, one by one. The bricks here being thoughts of helplessness, hurts, disappointments. I somehow believe the walls going up will protect me somehow ..not from the past or even the present but the future maybe? The walls will hold in my heart and hold out the light.

Then three girls all get the stomach bug in a row on the weekend reserved for love and birthday celebrations and all of a sudden plans are canceled and sick, weak, bodies need so much of me, my arms, my care , my love. But where is the heart? Oh yeah...it is hidden in the dark where I left it, behind all that yuck, and yet there are still holes because pain is still seeping inside and vulnerability burns.

It is hard work building walls. It takes an inner concentration that turns a deaf ear to offered help and all that is good. The body keeps moving, performing but the soul is hard at work listening to the darkness that has spread beyond the heart. And then angry words spill out toward the least deserving. Mean words really meant for another time, another hurt come crawling out into the same home where I pray every day for the Holy Spirit to dwell.

But it is ironic because words cannot do justice to how my heart feels because if the truth came out it would ride on a wave of tears. So the truth hides behind the mask of mean.

I lay in bed feeling all shame. Pick up familiar beads and begin the simple prayers that bring so much peace. Grace slowly rises like the sun in the morning. I pray for enough of it to say what I really mean. Truth is hard but it is the only way to free the heart.
So I finally let the words rise to the surface and bravely I allow them to and I let the tears rinse them out. It feels good..the heart grows.
I pray for more grace.

Tita crosses the country again despite the mean words and the pathetic apology. And I learn so much. Her heart understands. She loves anyway. Despite logistics, what others think, and how much it depletes she loves anyway. Meals are prepared for today and tomorrow. Balm for this tired, worn down mother, balm for skinny girls just off a stomach bug, balm for a growing, insatiable 10 year old boy, balm for a busy coach. Balm especially for a mother's heart that is trying, struggling to learn how to love like Jesus.

The sun warms my face and slowly I smile and laugh even. As we quiz Ana on what all our "real" names are and what her middle name is and she says "banana". Love is here again. It was always here, it just gets beat up a bit and it doesn't look like we expect but it is here. And soon all the walls have melted away in it and my heart feels whole again.

The sun is setting as we all pile into the car to take Tita back to the airport where she will cross the county again in 36 hours and it is the sweetest goodbye. She says, "please remember why I did this" and I say "I will". I really mean it, she probably doesn't realize she left me a lot of her legacy early.

I am fully restored.

I whisper a prayer for her safe return and protection. And a blessing for her, for all that she is to me. To all of us.

1.

I have prayed a rosary every day at 3:30 pm since last Wednesday for a personal intention. And today Ana asked, "Can we say the Hail Mary's? I like those". Yes baby we can.

2.

In planning for our Garage Sale Sat. I went through all our closets to purge what we do not use.

3.

I maintained my inner peace throughout a very hard week.




Life is in the details the small stuff. Join in over at Faith and Family and share your small successes because we are all just trying to do the best we can day to day.

Some bits from the weekend...

Me: "Momo do you wave at flags because they wave back?"
......my musing during our walk.

Cade: "I know, right"
Replying to my, "I want to be you" comment after I caught him laying on the couch eating pretzels in the middle of the day wrapped in his new afghan.

Ana: "Mom how come you have two bubbles"
Yes she is referring to my non nursing breasts. Bubbles ...I never thought about them like that...cute

Camryn: I can't wait for tomorrow...
It is her birthday after all...

I haven't posted in awhile because sometimes when I am thinking something out I need only to be in my brain for awhile. Ok, my brain and a few blogs that are really remarkable. Like finding a buried treasure I have dug into these blogs and found some really beautiful words, perspectives and inspiration.

One is a AZ mother of three who survived a plane crash with her husband.

Another is a farmer's wife and mother of six in Canada.

Just writing these brief descriptions about these women just shows how inadequate I am. After lingering a bit in their world I started to feel like I couldn't even attempt to articulate a single thought. I became intimidated by their strength, faith, poetry and beauty.

Then, yesterday Cade needed help with an assignment. He showed me the questions he needed to answer and I was helping him but after awhile it became clear that he wanted to use my words instead of his own. Slow down he kept saying as I was describing what I wanted him to consider. I asked him, "are you writing what I am saying"
"Yes" he said.
"Why" I asked "Your teacher wants your answer not mine"
"But you say it so much better" he answered.

And there it was. Someone always says it so much better.

"Cade, your teacher and me for that matter are interested in what you have to say" I explained.

I remember my freshman year of college I had an English teacher tell me that finding my voice was the most important thing I could ever do. As an undecided major, I quickly decided that finding my voice was exactly what I wanted to do.

And I never looked back. Don't get me wrong this "voice" of mine has been on many occasions obnoxious, wrong and completely out of line. But it is mine and I pray that it has been encouraging, poetic and honest too.

Are we not all fascinated with other people's "voices"? Isn't that why you are here right now reading these words?

If I teach my kids one thing, (besides their faith) I hope it is the courage to find and use their voice.

This is #3...wow time flies.

1. I avoided TV this week to focus on talking/reading with the kids
2. Camryn and I prayed a rosary.
3. I successfully avoided the plate of left over brownies and chocolate chip cookies from our superbowl get together (that was no small success).