I found this in an old country cookbook, and I LOVE it, so I thought it worth sharing.....
Recipe For a Happy Marraige
1 cup Consideration
2 cups Flatter, carefully concealed
2 cups Milk of Human Kindness
1 Gallon Faith in God and eachother
2 cups Praise
1 small pinch In-Laws
1 reasonable Budget, mixed in with a generoud dash of cooperation
3 tsp Pure Extract of "I am Sorry."
1 cup Contentment
1 cup Confidence
1 cup Encouragement
2 Children, at least
1 Large or Two Small hobbies
1 heaping cup Blindness to Others' Faults
For extra flavor, add recreation and a dash of happy memories. Stir well and remove any specks of jealousy, temper or criticism. If you like a sweeter product, add a generous portion of LOVE. Keep warm with a steady flame of devotion. Never serve with a cold shoulder or a hot tongue. Add to the recipe the presence and love of God and you will have quite a home.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Out of the Mouths of Babes....
So, Buddy has been asking - a lot lately - if I am pregnant yet. I have to keep telling him "no, honey. Mom and dad are waiting just a little bit so the babies can get a little older and mom can lose some weight to make sure she has a healthy pregnancy." Of course, we always add the "but you never know what God has planned for us...." Well, apparently that is not good enough for him... Two nights ago, during family prayers, when it came to his turn, after saying what he was thankful for, he decided to ask God for another baby brother....
O boy!
Well, with no sustainable income for 12 months and me being seriously overweight, and having a 2 year old and an 11 month old.... I am certainly not going to say no to whatever God has planned for me BUT I really am hoping that He does not have another blessing of the baby type planned for any time withing the next 12-18 months.... I am so very thankful NFP is 99% effective - for postponing pregnancy as well as for couples trying to achieve pregnancy....
Saint Michael, your heart was filled with great charity for God and man.
Our Lord returned your love and allowed you to exchange mystically your heart with His.
Pray for all whose hearts are afflicted with illness, fear, or loneliness.
Teach us to be resigned to God's will in all the trials and sicknesses.
Help us to live as you lived - to do good now and for eternity.
Amen
O boy!
Well, with no sustainable income for 12 months and me being seriously overweight, and having a 2 year old and an 11 month old.... I am certainly not going to say no to whatever God has planned for me BUT I really am hoping that He does not have another blessing of the baby type planned for any time withing the next 12-18 months.... I am so very thankful NFP is 99% effective - for postponing pregnancy as well as for couples trying to achieve pregnancy....
Saint Michael, your heart was filled with great charity for God and man.
Our Lord returned your love and allowed you to exchange mystically your heart with His.
Pray for all whose hearts are afflicted with illness, fear, or loneliness.
Teach us to be resigned to God's will in all the trials and sicknesses.
Help us to live as you lived - to do good now and for eternity.
Amen
Friday, April 16, 2010
It's been awhile...
OK, I know I have been slacking a bit here with my blog entries.... I have started a secondary blog - which seems to have become my primary blog. I am - how do I say this? - overweight, fat, obese... There are many words to choose from, but the bottom line is I need to reduce my bottom line. As of a week and a half ago, I weighed over 300 pounds. My other blog is chronicling my weight loss journey... Really, it is more of a conversion to a healthier lifestyle.....
So why am I writing about that here? It occurred to me that us moms are so busy caring for the other members of the family, we frequently forget (or just plain fail) to take care of ourselves.... When you take a flight anywhere and the flight attendants go through their little safety ditty, the one thing they say when talking about the air masks is to make sure your own mask is on and secure BEFORE you assist others in securing their mask. That's because they have to remind us that if we're not conscious, we cannot take care of others.... I'll take that to a not-so-obvious level.... If we fail to take care of ourselves, how can we be in a condition to handle whatever life throws at us?
1 corinthians 6:19-20 tells us:
19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
While the verse is specifically referring to sexual immorality, that is not the only way to read it. If our body belongs to God, and we are to honor Him with it, then ANYTHING that is harmful to our body should be avoided. If our body is HIS, we MUST take care of it and treasure it as the wonderful sacred gift it is.... Overeating, or being overweight to an unhealthy extent is failing to to do just that...
No more excuses. I am going to take care of me so that I can take care of my children, and hopefully have enough health and life to play with my grandchildren!
Lord, You invite all who are burdened to come to you.
Allow Your healing Hand to heal me.
Touch my soul with Your compassion for others;
touch my heart with Your courage
and infinite Love for all;
touch my mind with Your Wisdom,
and may my mouth always proclaim Your praise.
Teach me to reach out to You in all my needs,
and help me to lead others to You by my example.
Most loving Heart of Jesus,
bring me health in body and spirit that I may serve You with all my strength.
Touch gently this life which you have created, now and forever.
Amen.
So why am I writing about that here? It occurred to me that us moms are so busy caring for the other members of the family, we frequently forget (or just plain fail) to take care of ourselves.... When you take a flight anywhere and the flight attendants go through their little safety ditty, the one thing they say when talking about the air masks is to make sure your own mask is on and secure BEFORE you assist others in securing their mask. That's because they have to remind us that if we're not conscious, we cannot take care of others.... I'll take that to a not-so-obvious level.... If we fail to take care of ourselves, how can we be in a condition to handle whatever life throws at us?
1 corinthians 6:19-20 tells us:
19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
While the verse is specifically referring to sexual immorality, that is not the only way to read it. If our body belongs to God, and we are to honor Him with it, then ANYTHING that is harmful to our body should be avoided. If our body is HIS, we MUST take care of it and treasure it as the wonderful sacred gift it is.... Overeating, or being overweight to an unhealthy extent is failing to to do just that...
No more excuses. I am going to take care of me so that I can take care of my children, and hopefully have enough health and life to play with my grandchildren!
Lord, You invite all who are burdened to come to you.
Allow Your healing Hand to heal me.
Touch my soul with Your compassion for others;
touch my heart with Your courage
and infinite Love for all;
touch my mind with Your Wisdom,
and may my mouth always proclaim Your praise.
Teach me to reach out to You in all my needs,
and help me to lead others to You by my example.
Most loving Heart of Jesus,
bring me health in body and spirit that I may serve You with all my strength.
Touch gently this life which you have created, now and forever.
Amen.
Monday, April 12, 2010
2 year olds are amazing
I do not know if it is because we homeschool or if he is just really a bright kid (little of both, maybe?) but Taz is amazing us daily. Today, he looked at the fall scene on my husband's laptop and said "orange", and kept saying it until we acknowledged him. I have never taught him his colors. When he wants a particular crayon, we tell him the name of the color when we hand it to him, but he rarely ever wants orange. Usually blue and red are his preferences.... He also knows most of his letters by sight and sound.... Obviously, I have no illusions of him putting the letters together to make words at this age, but I am amazed at what he knows with no 'real' instruction....
Unfortunately, it does not stop there. He can also work around almost any child-proofing. It was quite frightening when we were moving and he took out the outlet covers and tried to find out what would happen when you put a screwdriver in an electrical outlet.... We have gone through 2 lazy-susan cabinet locks... (They're not cheap, either) and the child could still get breakfast for himself if we were inclined to let him. He loves Cheerios and the Kix.... And he loves to be helpful and give them to the baby.
I think it has just been so long since we have had a 2 year old in the house, I had forgotten how amazing they are. They are little parakeets, repeating everything - especially seeming to repeat those things you wish they hadn't heard at a time when you wish they wouldn't speak... Our oldest had a moment when we were out at a restaurant with my parents and brother and sister. She dropped something on the way to the ladies room and said "Oh, shit". When no one heard the first time (other than me - very thankful that no one else heard), she turned around and practically shouted it.
Another reason I believe in the Classical Education method of educating our children, and ourselves.... At such a young age, our brains are like sponges, just waiting to soak up every thing we can. It isn't until we are older and can see how the things we learned connect and relate that things begin to make sense. My husband and I are actually considering taking Traditional Logic, Memoria Press's basic logic course. Ultimately, I want to take Logic I and II as well as Rhetoric. I know how to argue (debate) a point rather well, but I want to know the terminology and linguistics when I am refuting an invalid point..... Since my oldest won't be ready for logic for 3 more years, I figure it is good to stay ahead of her - she is already a world class debater and negotiator.... Also, it will help the kids to learn to think, and see fallacies in media and not fall prey to propaganda... Hopefully.....
Unfortunately, it does not stop there. He can also work around almost any child-proofing. It was quite frightening when we were moving and he took out the outlet covers and tried to find out what would happen when you put a screwdriver in an electrical outlet.... We have gone through 2 lazy-susan cabinet locks... (They're not cheap, either) and the child could still get breakfast for himself if we were inclined to let him. He loves Cheerios and the Kix.... And he loves to be helpful and give them to the baby.
I think it has just been so long since we have had a 2 year old in the house, I had forgotten how amazing they are. They are little parakeets, repeating everything - especially seeming to repeat those things you wish they hadn't heard at a time when you wish they wouldn't speak... Our oldest had a moment when we were out at a restaurant with my parents and brother and sister. She dropped something on the way to the ladies room and said "Oh, shit". When no one heard the first time (other than me - very thankful that no one else heard), she turned around and practically shouted it.
Another reason I believe in the Classical Education method of educating our children, and ourselves.... At such a young age, our brains are like sponges, just waiting to soak up every thing we can. It isn't until we are older and can see how the things we learned connect and relate that things begin to make sense. My husband and I are actually considering taking Traditional Logic, Memoria Press's basic logic course. Ultimately, I want to take Logic I and II as well as Rhetoric. I know how to argue (debate) a point rather well, but I want to know the terminology and linguistics when I am refuting an invalid point..... Since my oldest won't be ready for logic for 3 more years, I figure it is good to stay ahead of her - she is already a world class debater and negotiator.... Also, it will help the kids to learn to think, and see fallacies in media and not fall prey to propaganda... Hopefully.....
Sunday, April 11, 2010
What to do.....
I am looking ahead for our homeschool curriculum... I am in a quagmire....
I strongly believe in following the classical model of education. I have just discovered a wonderful book called "The Latin Centered Curriculum" by Andrew A Campbell. It explains the history of classical education from the Ancient Greeks through its present revival. It also has curriculum suggestions. I am reading it and Crunchy CONS simultaneously, and am only in the beginning of this book. I have most of what we are doing for next year, but I am stuck for a writing program.... I love the approach of Classical Writing. Their method seems solidly classical. I also like IEW's Teaching Writing and Student Writing Intensive.... I am not even sure where to go for good comparisons. I have heard rave reviews and IEW's writing program, but the book I am reading recommends Classical Writing. Now I do not want to be a lemming and use that just because a book recommends it. That being said, I respect the author of the book as knowledgeable, and the people I know who recommended the book to me. So do I really want to try to reinvent the wheel? Anyway, I am leaning towards the Classical Writing as of now..... We'll see..... I suppose some time, and praying for guidance, and things will sort out. Either way, the program I choose, I am going to be with it for at least 2 years.... It's a big decision....
I strongly believe in following the classical model of education. I have just discovered a wonderful book called "The Latin Centered Curriculum" by Andrew A Campbell. It explains the history of classical education from the Ancient Greeks through its present revival. It also has curriculum suggestions. I am reading it and Crunchy CONS simultaneously, and am only in the beginning of this book. I have most of what we are doing for next year, but I am stuck for a writing program.... I love the approach of Classical Writing. Their method seems solidly classical. I also like IEW's Teaching Writing and Student Writing Intensive.... I am not even sure where to go for good comparisons. I have heard rave reviews and IEW's writing program, but the book I am reading recommends Classical Writing. Now I do not want to be a lemming and use that just because a book recommends it. That being said, I respect the author of the book as knowledgeable, and the people I know who recommended the book to me. So do I really want to try to reinvent the wheel? Anyway, I am leaning towards the Classical Writing as of now..... We'll see..... I suppose some time, and praying for guidance, and things will sort out. Either way, the program I choose, I am going to be with it for at least 2 years.... It's a big decision....
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Crunchy CONS
I am reading a very interesting book called "Crunchy CONS" by Rod Dreher.
I am only on the second chapter, but I am liking it. In a nutshell, it discusses some of the hypocrisy of those who label themselves conservatives and discusses the thousands of Americans who live the "crunchy con" life. 'Crunchy' here refers to the slang term for earthy, you know, granola.... The book discusses how typically, being crunchy is seen as leftist, when it in fact can flow from true conservatism.
One of my favorite quotes (page 12-13). "Too often the Democrats act like the Party of Lust, and Republicans the Party of Greed. Both are deadly sins that eat at the soul, and crunchy cons believe that both must be resisted in our personal and communal lives. Mainstream liberalism and conservatism, as the agrarian essayist Wendell Berry said, are "perfectly useless" to combat the forces in contemporary American society that are pulling families and communities apart...."
As a 'conservative' who makes our own homemade bread, sometimes using our own ground wheat and/or rye berries. Over the last couple years, I have developed a bit of a loating of pre-packaged, processed foods... Also, I have been more and more drawn to hormone free and free range meats.... Unfortunately, they are also more expensive, but very worth it. Had we not moved, we were going to join a local farmers co-op for fresh fruits and vegetables... I have always been very conscious of recycling and reusing and tryting to do what is right for the environment. My husband and I take the kids to the local park with rubber gloves and a garbage bag occasionally to pick up trash... If it were solely my decision, we'd not own a TV. As I delve further into the earthy life, and find people who are like minded in that regard, many tend to be very stereotypically 'lefty'.... Reading this book has been a bit refreshing. I know that there are others out there like me that are too conservative for the Democrats but do not really fit into the Republican camp, either.
I am finding it a very interesting book. And I love the subtitle: "How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardners, evangelical free range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of coutercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party)" oh, and I also love that the author is an eastern rite Catholic who's wife homeschools the children... Now, I am going to go read another chapter :)
I am only on the second chapter, but I am liking it. In a nutshell, it discusses some of the hypocrisy of those who label themselves conservatives and discusses the thousands of Americans who live the "crunchy con" life. 'Crunchy' here refers to the slang term for earthy, you know, granola.... The book discusses how typically, being crunchy is seen as leftist, when it in fact can flow from true conservatism.
One of my favorite quotes (page 12-13). "Too often the Democrats act like the Party of Lust, and Republicans the Party of Greed. Both are deadly sins that eat at the soul, and crunchy cons believe that both must be resisted in our personal and communal lives. Mainstream liberalism and conservatism, as the agrarian essayist Wendell Berry said, are "perfectly useless" to combat the forces in contemporary American society that are pulling families and communities apart...."
As a 'conservative' who makes our own homemade bread, sometimes using our own ground wheat and/or rye berries. Over the last couple years, I have developed a bit of a loating of pre-packaged, processed foods... Also, I have been more and more drawn to hormone free and free range meats.... Unfortunately, they are also more expensive, but very worth it. Had we not moved, we were going to join a local farmers co-op for fresh fruits and vegetables... I have always been very conscious of recycling and reusing and tryting to do what is right for the environment. My husband and I take the kids to the local park with rubber gloves and a garbage bag occasionally to pick up trash... If it were solely my decision, we'd not own a TV. As I delve further into the earthy life, and find people who are like minded in that regard, many tend to be very stereotypically 'lefty'.... Reading this book has been a bit refreshing. I know that there are others out there like me that are too conservative for the Democrats but do not really fit into the Republican camp, either.
I am finding it a very interesting book. And I love the subtitle: "How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardners, evangelical free range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of coutercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party)" oh, and I also love that the author is an eastern rite Catholic who's wife homeschools the children... Now, I am going to go read another chapter :)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Function and Dysfunction
Ok, so these musings are going to just be my rambling.... Warning: the are completely counter-cuntural. You may become upset. Read on at your own risk.....
I have heard a startling statistic in the last 2 weeks. Twice in as many weeks, from different sources, I have heard that 87 percent of American families are dysfunctional. What does it even mean to be a "dysfunctional family"? According to Wikipedia, "A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions." That being understood, the rate of dysfunctional families is 87% - Seriously?!? Why the rate is so high? What is the difference in percentage from 10 years ago? 20? 50?
I question the source of the statistic, but I have no doubt that it is very high number... Much higher than in years past. I think it is for 2 primary reasons - and a slew of reasons that flow from the two main ones.... (And here I open myself to possibly scathing comments)
1. "Sexual revolution"
2. "Women's liberation"
The sexual revolution started before I was born. Back then, marraige was sacred and families stayed together. They know that eventually the passion and the "starstruck lovers" phase of any relationship ends and they knew how to make love work. They understood that love was a choice and did not equate love with sex. Love is a choice, sex is an act. The sexual revolution trivialized the most sacred communion - both physically AND spiritually - a man and a woman can share. It made a sacred union into a purely physical act. From this, eventually, over the course of many years, flowed a more tolerant attitude of sex, anywhere with anyone for any reason.... With that kind of misunderstanding about the nature of the act and so few people waiting until marraige, why get married? It seems now people tend to equate love with the pleasure derived from a sexual relationship with a person. When the passion dies, so does the relationship - time to move on to the next "love" of our life. Relationships stop being about working through things and making the choice to love "until death do us part" and become more about "What can you do for me now?" It becomes more of a contract to be terminated at will than a covenant to be lived. This attitude has severely affected the divorce rate in our country, as well as our attitudes of what the dynamics of relationships should look like. Our attitudes are no longer about what is in the best interest of the family and what can I do to help/support/show my love for my family. It has become about what am I getting from my family? What do I get out of this relationship? When we start thinking that way, there would logically follow a propensity a mistreat the other members of our family - thus leading to the depressing label of "dysfunctional"
2. Women's liberation was also before my time. I am thankful for the right to vote. I am thankful to the women who blazed trails so that my generation can believe that they are receiving equal work for equal pay. Unfortunately, it seems that our "liberation" has created a generation of slaves who now have no choice but to work. When women joined the workforce, the job market was flooded and no one needed to pay employees as much as they might have with half the available workers.... Now, most women are not in a position to easily stay home. Just my theory, I could be wrong...
Also, I have heard it argued that you can be a great mom and a great employee. I beg to differ. Best case scenario is that you could be great at one and mediocre at the other, worst case scenario is that you think you're great at both when you really suck at both..... Before you argue with me on this point, just think about this: You have an important meeting/presentation/whatever scheduled at work today and your child wakes up coughing with a stomach ache and a fever. You do not have family or friends able to watch said child for you, or take them to the doctor for you. Do you take the day off work to take care of your sick child or do you send them to school/daycare and go to work? One makes you a bad employee, the other a bad mother. It is not possible to be 100% at both.
Anyway, with women's lib, we were told that not only could we do it all, we SHOULD do it all, and expect to be great at doing it all. In the process, we have delegated the raising of our children to daycares, sitters, nannies and employees of our government in the form of public school "educators".... No one has a more vested interest in our children and our families than we do. No one loves our children through their strengths like we do and no one wants to help them overcome their weaknesses like we do. We are also being told now that no matter what, we should not do anything that might be seen as possibly being maybe damaging to the way the children see themselves... This includes especially disciplining them. Without discipline, we lose sight of what is right and what is wrong. We lose sight of how people should be treated, and - more importantly - why. So, let's revisit the Wiki definition of a dysfunctional family - "A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions." Without discipline, there tends to be misbehavior, likely "continually and regularly" misbehavior.
I could be wrong, but I think that a serious rethinking of the importance and roles of families in society, and our attitudes about them could help reverse the alarming trends of divorce and dysfunction............
A Prayer for families from Mother Theresa of Calcutta:
Heavenly Father, you have given us the model of life in the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Help us, O Loving Father, to make our family another Nazareth where love, peace and joy reign.
May it be deeply contemplative, intensely eucharistic, revived with joy.
Help us to stay together in joy and sorrow in family prayer. Teach us to see Jesus in the members of our families, especially in their distressing disguise. May the eucharistic heart of Jesus make our hearts humble like his and help us to carry out our family duties in a holy way.
May we love one another as God loves each one of us, more and more each day, and forgive each other's faults as you forgive our sins. Help us, O Loving Father, to take whatever you give and give whatever you take with a big smile.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
I have heard a startling statistic in the last 2 weeks. Twice in as many weeks, from different sources, I have heard that 87 percent of American families are dysfunctional. What does it even mean to be a "dysfunctional family"? According to Wikipedia, "A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions." That being understood, the rate of dysfunctional families is 87% - Seriously?!? Why the rate is so high? What is the difference in percentage from 10 years ago? 20? 50?
I question the source of the statistic, but I have no doubt that it is very high number... Much higher than in years past. I think it is for 2 primary reasons - and a slew of reasons that flow from the two main ones.... (And here I open myself to possibly scathing comments)
1. "Sexual revolution"
2. "Women's liberation"
The sexual revolution started before I was born. Back then, marraige was sacred and families stayed together. They know that eventually the passion and the "starstruck lovers" phase of any relationship ends and they knew how to make love work. They understood that love was a choice and did not equate love with sex. Love is a choice, sex is an act. The sexual revolution trivialized the most sacred communion - both physically AND spiritually - a man and a woman can share. It made a sacred union into a purely physical act. From this, eventually, over the course of many years, flowed a more tolerant attitude of sex, anywhere with anyone for any reason.... With that kind of misunderstanding about the nature of the act and so few people waiting until marraige, why get married? It seems now people tend to equate love with the pleasure derived from a sexual relationship with a person. When the passion dies, so does the relationship - time to move on to the next "love" of our life. Relationships stop being about working through things and making the choice to love "until death do us part" and become more about "What can you do for me now?" It becomes more of a contract to be terminated at will than a covenant to be lived. This attitude has severely affected the divorce rate in our country, as well as our attitudes of what the dynamics of relationships should look like. Our attitudes are no longer about what is in the best interest of the family and what can I do to help/support/show my love for my family. It has become about what am I getting from my family? What do I get out of this relationship? When we start thinking that way, there would logically follow a propensity a mistreat the other members of our family - thus leading to the depressing label of "dysfunctional"
2. Women's liberation was also before my time. I am thankful for the right to vote. I am thankful to the women who blazed trails so that my generation can believe that they are receiving equal work for equal pay. Unfortunately, it seems that our "liberation" has created a generation of slaves who now have no choice but to work. When women joined the workforce, the job market was flooded and no one needed to pay employees as much as they might have with half the available workers.... Now, most women are not in a position to easily stay home. Just my theory, I could be wrong...
Also, I have heard it argued that you can be a great mom and a great employee. I beg to differ. Best case scenario is that you could be great at one and mediocre at the other, worst case scenario is that you think you're great at both when you really suck at both..... Before you argue with me on this point, just think about this: You have an important meeting/presentation/whatever scheduled at work today and your child wakes up coughing with a stomach ache and a fever. You do not have family or friends able to watch said child for you, or take them to the doctor for you. Do you take the day off work to take care of your sick child or do you send them to school/daycare and go to work? One makes you a bad employee, the other a bad mother. It is not possible to be 100% at both.
Anyway, with women's lib, we were told that not only could we do it all, we SHOULD do it all, and expect to be great at doing it all. In the process, we have delegated the raising of our children to daycares, sitters, nannies and employees of our government in the form of public school "educators".... No one has a more vested interest in our children and our families than we do. No one loves our children through their strengths like we do and no one wants to help them overcome their weaknesses like we do. We are also being told now that no matter what, we should not do anything that might be seen as possibly being maybe damaging to the way the children see themselves... This includes especially disciplining them. Without discipline, we lose sight of what is right and what is wrong. We lose sight of how people should be treated, and - more importantly - why. So, let's revisit the Wiki definition of a dysfunctional family - "A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions." Without discipline, there tends to be misbehavior, likely "continually and regularly" misbehavior.
I could be wrong, but I think that a serious rethinking of the importance and roles of families in society, and our attitudes about them could help reverse the alarming trends of divorce and dysfunction............
A Prayer for families from Mother Theresa of Calcutta:
Heavenly Father, you have given us the model of life in the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Help us, O Loving Father, to make our family another Nazareth where love, peace and joy reign.
May it be deeply contemplative, intensely eucharistic, revived with joy.
Help us to stay together in joy and sorrow in family prayer. Teach us to see Jesus in the members of our families, especially in their distressing disguise. May the eucharistic heart of Jesus make our hearts humble like his and help us to carry out our family duties in a holy way.
May we love one another as God loves each one of us, more and more each day, and forgive each other's faults as you forgive our sins. Help us, O Loving Father, to take whatever you give and give whatever you take with a big smile.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
When life hands you lemons
Pray, pray, pray......
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Rejoice always;
pray without ceasing;
in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
My husband was laid off almost a year ago. 29 days before the birth of our youngest, in fact. He is still looking for employment. We moved 3 months ago to a small town where we have no family, and are 90 minutes from all our friends since the cost of living was more suitable for our situation. It is a nice area, but we are far from our support network and from those we love. We found out today my husband has skin cancer. That was a tough pill to swallow. Fortunately, it is basal carcinoma. The 'better' one to have. Not likely to metasticize. 'Easy' to treat. Also, it was a dreary, rainy, grey day outside, and I tend to get a little down anyway when there is no sun or moon visible.....
Homeschool did not happen today. We read another chapter of our current read-aloud - The Return of the King by Tolkein (Lord of the Rings Trilogy finall book). That was it. Really, that was all I had it in me to do.
I KNOW God has a plan, and I fully accept His will for me and my family. It's just that sometimes I wonder what this is all going to lead to... We went from a 6 figure salary to below the poverty level... Looks like this Lent is going to last just a little longer.....
Praise God for all His wonders and blessings. No matter what your situation is, He loves you! Every cross is a blessing - our crosses are our opportunity to share in Christ's passion. We can share in His act of salvation through a free acceptance of our own suffering. Paragraph 272 of The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes seem to be absent and incapable of stopping evil. But in the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the voluntary humiliation and resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil. . . . " Suffering can be sanctifying. I am so very thankful to know this...
Tomorrow is a new day. Praise be to God for giving me a tomorrow to look forward to! I am going to go kiss the kids and get some sleep! God Bless you!
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Rejoice always;
pray without ceasing;
in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
My husband was laid off almost a year ago. 29 days before the birth of our youngest, in fact. He is still looking for employment. We moved 3 months ago to a small town where we have no family, and are 90 minutes from all our friends since the cost of living was more suitable for our situation. It is a nice area, but we are far from our support network and from those we love. We found out today my husband has skin cancer. That was a tough pill to swallow. Fortunately, it is basal carcinoma. The 'better' one to have. Not likely to metasticize. 'Easy' to treat. Also, it was a dreary, rainy, grey day outside, and I tend to get a little down anyway when there is no sun or moon visible.....
Homeschool did not happen today. We read another chapter of our current read-aloud - The Return of the King by Tolkein (Lord of the Rings Trilogy finall book). That was it. Really, that was all I had it in me to do.
I KNOW God has a plan, and I fully accept His will for me and my family. It's just that sometimes I wonder what this is all going to lead to... We went from a 6 figure salary to below the poverty level... Looks like this Lent is going to last just a little longer.....
Praise God for all His wonders and blessings. No matter what your situation is, He loves you! Every cross is a blessing - our crosses are our opportunity to share in Christ's passion. We can share in His act of salvation through a free acceptance of our own suffering. Paragraph 272 of The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes seem to be absent and incapable of stopping evil. But in the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the voluntary humiliation and resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil. . . . " Suffering can be sanctifying. I am so very thankful to know this...
Tomorrow is a new day. Praise be to God for giving me a tomorrow to look forward to! I am going to go kiss the kids and get some sleep! God Bless you!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
They do the darndest things......
My 2 year old, Taz, is certainly a handful. Today at Mass after Communion, when the communion hymn was over and the congregation was all quiet, he was in the pew (front one, mind you... we sit up fron so the kids can see) singing Know Your Enemy by Green Day. I am so thankful that his little two year old mouth cannot articulate so well. It could have been a little more embarassing. As it was, people just thought he liked the hymn som much that he continued singing..... Thankfully, he was also singing all of the other songs, so that was plausible...
We listen to the classics. I have the Music Masters Cds as well as Leonard Bernsteins Young People's Concerts but I also let them listen to things like Green Day, which they, of course, prefer.... We discuss the songs, and I love that the kids will remind me to turn off a song they know has a bad word in it. That being said, my 7 year old has a very strong preference for hard rock. He knows what button on the car radio that station is, and he asks me to stop on that one before he even hears the song that's on it..... And I know the kids don't really listen to the words, they just like a good beat - like I did until I was about..... um..... well, I guess I still do...........
Sometimes I wonder if I am corrupting them with a bad "diet" of music. I suppose the bottom line is as long as their music diet is balanced, and they feel like they can talk to me about things, we're in pretty good shape............ Now I need to go try to plan for tomorrow a little before bed.
HAPPY AND BLESSED EASTER!!!!
We listen to the classics. I have the Music Masters Cds as well as Leonard Bernsteins Young People's Concerts but I also let them listen to things like Green Day, which they, of course, prefer.... We discuss the songs, and I love that the kids will remind me to turn off a song they know has a bad word in it. That being said, my 7 year old has a very strong preference for hard rock. He knows what button on the car radio that station is, and he asks me to stop on that one before he even hears the song that's on it..... And I know the kids don't really listen to the words, they just like a good beat - like I did until I was about..... um..... well, I guess I still do...........
Sometimes I wonder if I am corrupting them with a bad "diet" of music. I suppose the bottom line is as long as their music diet is balanced, and they feel like they can talk to me about things, we're in pretty good shape............ Now I need to go try to plan for tomorrow a little before bed.
HAPPY AND BLESSED EASTER!!!!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Finally... One on Homeschooling
OK, so this will be quick, but I was perusing through some old magalogs and articles I printed out to determine which ones I need to purge, and which to keep because one or more of the articles 'speaks' to me. The unfortunate (or fortunate?) thing is if I kept it in my file/pile, it already 'spoke' to me and thus I was loathe to part with it.
Anyway, after Mass tonight (Happy and Blessed Holy Week and Easter, by the way!) I was reading through an old issue of Magnum Opus (November 2008 issue, the article was "How to Think") and came accross a gem of a quote that hit me square in the face..... "Great teaching isn't based on knowing how to ask good questions, but rather in training students to ask themselves good questions."
I LOVE this quote. I hope to chew on it frequently.... As frequently as I may lose sight of the truth it offers. My children are 10, 7, 2 and almost 1. I do NOT want to raise lemmings. One of my foremost goals in the education of my children is to arm them with the tools necessary to know HOW to think and to learn. To that end... I am following the classical model of education and doing my best to instill a love of learning... And praying - A LOT!
Anyway, after Mass tonight (Happy and Blessed Holy Week and Easter, by the way!) I was reading through an old issue of Magnum Opus (November 2008 issue, the article was "How to Think") and came accross a gem of a quote that hit me square in the face..... "Great teaching isn't based on knowing how to ask good questions, but rather in training students to ask themselves good questions."
I LOVE this quote. I hope to chew on it frequently.... As frequently as I may lose sight of the truth it offers. My children are 10, 7, 2 and almost 1. I do NOT want to raise lemmings. One of my foremost goals in the education of my children is to arm them with the tools necessary to know HOW to think and to learn. To that end... I am following the classical model of education and doing my best to instill a love of learning... And praying - A LOT!
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