Embrace the Ordinary – Link Up Here During Lent!

Posted on February 21, 2015February 21, 2015 by Amy

This week, and for the rest of Lent, I will be hosting the link up for Gina’s Embrace the Ordinary series.

“…there is something holy, something divine hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.” St. Josemaria Escriva, Passionately Loving the World

I love the idea of trying to really embrace the ordinary moments and the holiness within them, so I’m so excited to be temporarily hosting this series.

This week actually hasn’t been all that ordinary. We had Mardi Gras, and a birthday, and Ash Wednesday, and a road trip, and we’ve been visiting my husband’s family, watching the Iowa high school state wrestling championships. It’s been quite full of things that aren’t part of our ordinary lives. However, there have been plenty of lovely, ordinary moments in there too.

^^ Birthday feast on Fat Tuesday

^^ No-meat road trip meal of pierogis (one of Miss’s favorites, since it was her birthday) and cheese quesadillas, for our travels on Ash Wednesday.

Wrestling:

^^ A cousin reunion

More cousin time:

After a busy day of watching wrestling yesterday:

We have one more day of wrestling, and then we’re heading home. I have happy girls enjoying big family time.

This is my first ever attempt at a link up. Share one (or more than one!) way you embraced the ordinary this week.

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Musical Reminiscing and Songs to Listen to When Cleaning House (5 Favorites)

Posted on February 19, 2015February 19, 2015 by Amy

A while ago, my husband and I began talking about music and the memories that can be associated with certain songs or artists. It’s a fun topic. I love thinking about how hearing a certain song can instantly transport me to another time and place in my memory.

Ben and I are both big music lovers. I have always been awed by the ability of a song to capture a feeling or experience perfectly, through its lyrics or arrangement, or both. I learned about my husband’s love of music the first time he came to visit me when I was in graduate school. He pulled out his guitar within minutes of his arrival and began playing and singing “Pencil Thin Mustach.” We’ve had a very musical relationship ever since.

A few weeks ago, he and I got to talking about the music of our childhoods: the music our parents listened to, and when we got a little older, the artists we chose and songs we loved.

My mom had an 8-track player. The artists I remember her playing the most were Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Barbara Streisand, whom I called Barbara Susanne Stripe because of this album cover (which doesn’t look anything like I remember it):

And Johnny Mathis at Christmas, of course.

My husband has vivid memories of his mom playing the “Beaches” soundtrack. And of course:

As I got older and began making my own musical choices, I grew to love Michael Jackson, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and of course, the scandalous Madonna. My mom tried to shelter me from unsavory influences, so I wasn’t allowed to watch MTV or listen to the “hard rock” radio stations. I got a clock radio for Christmas one year that had a “Sleep” button so I could listen to the radio when going to bed at night. It turned off by itself after 30 minutes, which seemed sooo high tech back then. I was only allowed to listen to the “soft hits” station at night. I don’ t think my mom knew that that radio station had a Dr. Ruth talk show on every Sunday night, right at my bedtime, which made for some interesting listening for an eight year old. . .

Anyway, Ben and I were discussing the music from when we were kids and also the music that our daughters will remember, hopefully fondly, from their own childhoods. Now with digital music, and iTunes, and playlists we don’t usually listen to specific albums from one artist straight through. So our girls might have a bit more eclectic experience of music than what we had as kids.

Right now their favorites include “Achy Breaky Heart” (which Lass calls Knacky Bracky Heart), “Yellow Submarine,” “Red Solo Cup,” “Fishin’ In the Dark,” “Sweet Dreams,” and “Love Shack.”

One day last week we rocked to Love Shack in the car, upon request, and they all yelled the “Bang, Bang, Bangs” right on cue. Then Lass said, “Mom, I think in the love shack they make lots of Valentines. And give lots of hugs and kisses, right?” Yes Sweetheart. Yes, that’s what they do.

It makes me smile that my girls love music and dancing as much as their Dad and I do.

In my opinion, music makes all things better. Especially housework and home improvement projects. I love to put on my headphones, select my playlist of girl songs, and rock out while cleaning or home-improving. My favorite songs are those I can sing at the top of my lungs that lend themselves to dancing with a vacuum or using my paintbrush as a microphone (I’m sorry for the unfortunate visuals). Yes, I do sing at the top of my lungs while wearing headphones. My kids love it. Fortunately with my headphones on I can’t hear them whine-yelling, “Mo-om, stop singing!”

My favorite songs for this purpose? The top five, right here

5. All I Wanna Do – Sheryl Crow

4. Papa Don’t Preach – Madonna

3. Miss You Much – Janet Jackson

2. Love is a Battlefield – Pat Benetar (anyone else love the old shimmy-walk move?)

1. Cool Rider – Michelle Pfieffer

I used to really, really want one of those jackets.

Anyone want to take a guess at how old I am from this list? Haha!

I’m linking up with Call Her Happy today for Five Favorites! What are your favorites?

Embracing the Ordinary – Including Some Fun News

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Amy

I’m linking up with Gina again and embracing the ordinary today.

The past week was lovely, but nothing exciting (except for a little birthday excitement yesterday).

I made one of my favorite sandwiches from childhood for my girls to try.

That’s a pickle in there with the peanut butter, in case you can’t tell. They all thought it was okay, but the only one of them who actually liked it was my anti-sandwich girl:

We did lots of Valentine stuff in school this week.

Lass was having some trouble with her reading lessons, so I took her to have her eyes checked. It turns out she needs glasses.

She’s pretty excited about getting them and I can’t wait to see how she responds when she can actually see well.

The girls played in their future backyard for the first time.

We helped the Super Friends move a few things to their new house and then had a house-leaving party with pizza and Star Wars and Euchre. Super Friend and I smoked the husbands in cards, in case you were wondering. What a great way to spend Valentine’s Day.

Yesterday, we had a birthday party for my big girl, who is turning six on Wednesday.

What a grace-filled, ordinary week.

And here’s some fun news: Gina, who hosts this lovely link-up, isn’t going to be doing it during Lent. But she’s letting me take over until Easter! I’ll be doing my Embrace the Ordinary post every Saturday, starting this coming weekend, and the link thing will stay open for a week. Check out Gina’s post and link up this week here (it’s still open until Saturday!) and like her Facebook page here, as she’ll be the one sharing these posts during my Lenten Facebook break.

Thoughts On and Plans for Lent – 7QT with Lots of Links

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Amy

Last year was my first time observing Lent. I really loved the experience of simplifying, paring back, and making sacrifices for the purpose of preparing to be received into the Church at the Easter Vigil and to grow closer to Christ. Each time I felt a small amount of suffering as a result of one of the penances I took on, I just thought about Him. It was pretty awesome.

So this year, I’m truly looking forward to Lent again. Here are Seven Quick Takes on my thoughts about and plans for Lent 2015:

First of all, I have to provide a link to a great article from Daniel Bearman – Acts of Idiot Praise. It’s about what to do on Sundays during Lent. It clarified for me the concepts of fasting and abstinence and penance and how these relate to what we’re doing during Lent and what we’re supposed to do on Sundays.

For my penances, I’m giving up a few things and taking on a few things.

What I’m giving up:

Facebook. Though I love Facebook for keeping up with friends and family far away, it has become far too much of a time drain for me (if you usually follow my blog via Facebook, you can follow me with Instagram, Bloglovin’, or Twitter instead, or you can subscribe in the sidebar to get posts emailed to you, which is my preferred way of reading the blogs I follow).

Spending. I imposed a spending ban on myself in the fall, which was needed and it was great. I have a tendency to get far too much homeschooling stuff that we don’t need and Amazon Prime is my best friend/worst enemy. I lifted the ban for Christmas, but I will be taking it back up for Lent. I’ve been doing all of my birthday and Easter buying in advance (Miss’s birthday is on Ash Wednesday and Sis’s is in March). I’ll be limiting spending to necessities like groceries (see below) and gas and such.

What I’m taking on:

Pantry and freezer cooking. In an effort to simplify and be less wasteful and more frugal, I’ll be limiting my grocery buying to primarily perishables like fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. I got this idea from Kendra, and since we have a pantry full of food and a freezer full of pork and other stuff, I’m going to use it up. Wish me luck.

Lenten journal. I already do the daily scripture readings and devotions from Blessed is She. I got their Lenten journal too, and I’m excited to do it.

What we’re giving up as a family:

Ice cream. We did this last year too, and it was a great, basic thing for the girls to experience giving up something specific for Lent. I let them choose what to give up this year, and they chose ice cream over chocolate (a nearly impossible choice, in my opinion). We’ll have a big ice cream party on Fat Tuesday again, and include brownies this year in celebration of Miss’s birthday on Wednesday.

What my girls are giving up:

I asked each of the older girls to give up something in addition to ice cream, and I love what they came up with, with zero guidance from me, I might add.

Miss chose to give up coloring. This is actually a big deal for her, as it’s one of her very favorite activities.

Lass chose to give up asking for toys. She’s in this phase where she asks to have everything she likes. I repeatedly remind her that she can’t have everything she wants and that if she really wants something, she’ll have to wait until her birthday (which is in August), so I’m super happy she chose this.

Other stuff:

Last year we did the Lenten calendar from Catholic Icing to count down the days of Lent, and these printable cards from Team Whitaker to pick acts of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving each day. This year we’re combining these activities and doing this calendar from Traci Smith. We’ll put stickers on it as each day passes and we complete the activity to make it a fun countdown. I printed out the blank one she offers on her site, so I can choose the things we’ll be doing, using a lot of the ideas on the already prepared one. We’ll have various penances, prayers, and almsgiving activities to focus on for each day of Lent.

Yes, I know I need to get going on this!

We’re doing the bean jar for Lenten sacrifices. I’ll let the girls put a bean into the jar for each little sacrifice they do, and then on Easter morning they’ll be replaced with jellybeans.

Awesome Lent-related links:

Lent Cometh: Perhaps Everything You’ll Ever Need to Know to Have the Best Lent Ever – By Kendra from Catholic All Year – Kendra has so many good posts with ideas for Lent, and this one has links to all of them.

Simple Lenten Traditions for Families (With Little to No Prep Work) by Lacy from Catholic Icing

9 Ideas for Observing Lent with Kids by Haley from Carrots for Michaelmas

Walking Through Lent with Small Children by Sarah from Two Os + More

The Lenten Season in Our Catholic Home by Jessica from Shower of Roses

Or you can check out my Lent Pinterest board for a few more ideas.

What are you doing for Lent?

I’m linking up with Kelly for 7 Quick Takes today (a day late).

Baby Catholic Answers All the Things, Volume 8 – Orthodoxy

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Amy

Wow. It has been a very long time since I wrote my last Baby Catholic Answers All the Things post. This was supposed to be a regular feature! I’m sorry.

Here’s what happened: I got a question from my friend Liz that threw me for a loop a bit (back in, *ahem*, August). I kind of knew the answer, but I wasn’t sure if my answer was the whole answer, and Google was not helping me find the whole answer very easily, and then once I did find the whole answer, I couldn’t manage to get the post written in a way that I liked. And I didn’t want to write it wrong, because referring to myself as the Baby Catholic who Answers All The Things is a lot of pressure!

So I didn’t write it at all.

And even though I sent a message to my friend Liz giving her the answer, I felt like I shouldn’t just skip it and keep doing other BCAATT posts without answering it here too (though I did do a few posts after getting THE QUESTION). So. Radio silence from Baby Catholic for (*gulp*) four months.

How’s that for a lengthy explanation?

Anyway. In spite of how long it took me to finally get around to it, I am not one to shy away from a challenge. This question and this post have been in the back of my mind for months. Today, I shall answer the question that derailed me for a while, but will not defeat me.

What was it you ask? This:

“What is the difference between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox? Or, when people refer to Orthodox Catholics are they simply implying more devout Catholics (like Orthodox Jews)?”

Now, you may wonder why this stumped me. I think most Catholics, including me, know that the Orthodox Church is a different thing, separate from the Roman Catholic Church but similar. Often referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, though it is also called the Orthodox Catholic Church, it split away from Roman Catholicism in the East-West Schism of 1054. I learned about this in RCIA last year and also by reading Catholicism for Dummies.

Easy answer, right? So why in the world did this fluster me so much?

Well, I thought I remembered reading something in Jennifer Fulwiler’s memoir, Something Other Than God about how she and her family had found an orthodox Catholic church to attend that they felt was a good fit for their family. I looked through the book, but I couldn’t find the page to reference. However, she mentions in this post her comment to her husband during one Mass, “I think we’re orthodox,” and then she received help from a reader to find an “orthodox parish” to attend. Anyway, because of all this, I was pretty sure that the answer to Liz’s question was “The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are separate but similar, AND “orthodox” is also a way of referring to more strict Catholics.”

However, when I tried to learn more about orthodox Catholicism, I came across the Orthodox Catholic Church of America, which is a whole different thing, not affiliated with the Roman Catholic or the Eastern Orthodox Churches. I couldn’t find much about orthodox Roman Catholic practices. I was frustrated.

Finally, I managed to string together the right phrase in a Google search to find some of what I was looking for. From my results, I read about the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement, led by some priests who didn’t agree with the changes made to the Mass and the Church after Vatican II. There were many changes that came after Vatican II, and I don’t know all of them, but a big one was the way the Mass was celebrated. Before Vatican II, the Mass was almost always celebrated in Latin, and the priest stood between the congregation and the altar, consecrating the bread and wine with his back to the people of the parish. This is called the Tridentine Mass or often just the Latin Mass.

Now, here’s where I get a little unsure. As I understand it, the powers that be in the Roman Catholic Church say that it’s fine to still perform this Latin version of the Mass, and I assume this is considered an orthodox practice. I’m not sure if there are other Roman Catholic parishes that would be considered “orthodox” but don’t conduct the Mass in Latin. My guess is yes, but I could not find any definitive information about just what makes a parish “orthodox,” or if there even are any rules. It seems as though this is not an official label placed on any segment of the Catholic Church. I suspect that orthodox parishes are more conservative and hold more strictly to the laws of the Church.

Just thinking about the parishes in my town, I can say that there are some that are likely considered more orthodox than others. Our parish for example sometimes includes more modern music in our liturgy, especially at the teen Mass. And up until a few weeks ago, we did not have a tabernacle in the main sanctuary of the church (it was in a small side chapel). Our church also looks more modern, and sometimes at the end of Mass the people involved in planning parish activities come up to the front and do silly skits or wear costumes while making announcements. Probably not terribly orthodox, but lots of fun for our family, and never going against any Church rules. I’ve never been to a Mass at a different parish in our town (other than Miss’s school Mass), so I can’t say for sure, but I’ve heard that some of the other parishes tend toward being more old school, though I don’t know if that’s orthodox or not.

So, what I’ve come up with for a final answer is this:

1. The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox (or Eastern Orthodox) Churches are similar but separate.

AND

2. There are also some Roman Catholic churches that are more orthodox in their practices, though I am not sure exactly what would constitute calling a given parish “orthodox.” Perhaps they have the Mass in the Latin Rite. Probably their music mostly consists of traditional hymns, sung by a choir. Maybe parish members dress more conservatively and some might even wear chapel veils for Mass. Most likely they didn’t have a woman dressed in Mardi Gras garb dance up to the front of the church to announce the parish’s Mardi Gras dinner event next Tuesday in a weird accent (intended to sound Cajun?). Or maybe it isn’t really any of these things but simply a more firm adherence to all the teachings and rules of the Church and the pope (if anyone knows a better answer to this part, please share it!).

In my opinion, we are all part of the same church family, whether we attend an orthodox parish or not, whether we prefer the Mass in Latin or English. I love being Catholic, and I like seeing all the ways our Faith is practiced in accordance with the laws of the Church and under the guidance of our pope.

I’m sorry it took me so long to write this post. Send me more questions, and I promise I won’t take so long next time!

What’s in My Bag?

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Amy

I don’t need a diaper bag anymore. But I do love a pretty and functional handbag. Nell is hosting a link up/giveaway today for a Lily Jade bag, which is probably much too big for my needs, but you never know. Maybe someday. . .

Sooooo,

Aren’t you just so interested?

Ready?

Prepare to be dazzled:

Carpet samples for our basement
A pack of hand wipes
Some paint sample cards
A pack of tissues
Two lipsticks (why??? I don’t even wear lipstick)
Lotion
Two rosaries (the silver one is mine from my husband, the blue one was given to the girls by a nice lady at church on Sunday)
A bunch of paper = receipts, coupons, and a coloring picture from Sis’s gymnastics class on Tuesday
More paper (pink) = three copies of the Children’s Worship Bulletin from church on Sunday
A business card from a car salesman
My wallet
A Decision Point CD that our priest gave me yesterday

I would just like to note that all of the paper items went straight into the recycling after this little exercise.

Want to play along and try to win a bag? You don’t even have to have a blog, you can use an Instagram or a Facebook pic. Check out Nell’s bag and the link up here, and check out more Lily Jade here.

Good luck! (notreallyIwantthatbag)

The Kindergarten Birthday Party Dilemma

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Amy

Miss’s sixth birthday is in about two weeks. I’ve been thinking about what to do for her party for weeks. Okay, months.

There are so many different philosophies out there about how to handle kids’ birthdays and birthday parties. They range from family-only small gatherings with no presents to all-out huge bashes with party planners and dozens of guests (and gifts).

Of course, there’s not just one right way to do it. We’ve never really set a firm birthday policy in our house, but mostly just determined, with each birthday, what seems like the best thing to do. When Miss was little, since we always have a trip to Iowa planned on or around her birthday, we’d just do the family-only party, and she was always thrilled with that. In fact, last year, for her fifth birthday, was the first time we’d ever done anything beyond the family birthday party for her by having a gathering at our house. She had a Brave-themed drive-in movie party, and it was really fun.

I’ve discovered that I like putting together birthday parties for my girls. I enjoy getting into the theme and decorations when we have parties at our home. I like combing Pinterest for ideas and coming up with creative things myself. I know it’s not necessary for them, but I have fun doing it.

As for the guests? For previous birthdays, I’ve never been in a situation where I felt the need to invite many other people to our parties. Until this year, our girls didn’t go to school, so there was never a question of inviting lots of kids. Except when we have parties in Iowa and invite all of my husband’s family, we never have more than two other families come to a birthday at our home. For Lass’s zoo party, only the Super Family could make it, and that was just fine.

Since my girls didn’t attend school, I’ve never had to think too much about whom to invite, and my girls have never felt that their parties were anything but wonderful with the few close friends we included.

But now, with Miss having part-time-away-from-home kindergarten this year, things have changed. She has been invited to the birthday parties of at least five of her classmates so far. For all but one of them, all of the little girls in her class were invited (and one even had all the boys too!). I have mixed feelings about having a huge party, so I’ve spent far to much time debating what we should do for her birthday this year.

Do we invite all the girls in her class? This seems a nice way to go so that no one feels left out, but that’s a lot of kids. She has 11 other girls in her class, plus we will always of course invite the Super Family, along with the sisters of one of the little girls in her class whose family we are friends with. And she also wants to invite the little girl who lives across the street. Lots of kids = lots of presents, which I feel kind of weird about.

Do we keep it small and only invite a few friends? If we did this, there would be a few more people invited than we’ve done in the past, because she does have some new friends from school, but it would still be considerably smaller than if we invited all the girls in her class.

I went back and forth about this in my mind for quite some time. Initially, I thought we’d just invite a few close friends. Then I thought it was important to teach her to be kind to all the other kids and invite them all. Then I thought it’s unrealistic to tell her she needs to invite all the girls if she doesn’t want to, since she’s not going to be close friends with all of them, and she might not have much in common with some. Then I thought we should really invite all the kids who have invited us to their parties, since it’s rude to not reciprocate. Then my husband pointed out that she shouldn’t feel pressured to invite anyone if it’s only for the reason of reciprocating an invitation. . .

I worried about having a lot of kids because that means a lot of presents. I’m cool with birthday presents, because we pretty much only get our kids new toys on their birthdays and Christmas, and a few things on Easter. But I’m uncomfortable with them getting a lot of presents. If all of the girls in her class came to the party, plus the Super Family and the family across the street, that would mean she’d get about 13 presents, not even including those from her family! Not only do I not want that many more things in my house, that just seems so excessive to me. We went to one party where I watched the little birthday girl open present after present, announcing the contents of the package, and then literally tossing the gift aside to move on to the next one. There were barely any “thank yous,” and none that involved eye contact and sincerity. I was cringing inside the whole time.

So what will we do?

Ultimately, what we decided was to ask Miss what she wanted. I was kind of hoping she’d choose to have her party here at our house, so I could really have some fun with decorations, crafts, and games. But she chose to have it at the gymnastics center where she takes lessons (and she’s attended two other birthday parties in the past month). She wanted to ask all of the kids in her class. I told her she could only invite the girls (I could not handle the idea of that many more presents if all the boys came too). She chose, no surprise, a “Frozen” theme for the party.

For this year, this first year of school experience, I’ve decided I’m okay with the big party. The gifts make me a bit uncomfortable, but I’ll just make sure we have a discussion about the importance of saying “thank you,” making eye contact with the gift-giver, for each present. And of course we’ll have her take the time to write thank-you notes afterwards as well.

I know this isn’t the one “right” way to do a party. But after much (over)analysis of the issue, it feels like the right way for us this time. We’ll probably change things again next year, but for this year, a big birthday party is fine.

I still remember the birthday party I had when I was in kindergarten. It felt like a big deal.

I also remember that after that one party in kindergarten, I didn’t have big parties anymore. I had outings with a few close friends or cousins, or sleep-overs when I got a little older. Maybe that’s how we’ll do things after this year. I’m sure I’ll start thinking about it around October, so I’ll let you know.

I’m Back! (7QT)

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Amy

Whew! I’m back to blogging after a week of trouble with my site. I woke up last Sunday morning to find that everything I have done on the blog since the end of August was gone. Everything. Gone. It took almost a week and many communications with my hosting company to finally get things back in order. I lost my post from last Saturday, in which I embraced the ordinary with Gina of Someday (Hopefully) They’ll Be Saints, and one repost from the other day. But happily everything else is back.

Mid-week, I reposted an oldie about the fun stuff we did for Groundhog Day a few years ago. I didn’t want to post anything new in case it got lost in the process of recovering the missing data from my site. It’s a good thing I didn’t post any new material, because I did lose the Groundhog Day repost, but if you’re interested in the original post, you can find it here. We have done several of the activities already this year, and the girls seem to enjoy them just as much as the last time.

My husband was on vacation this week. Instead of traveling to someplace warm, which we usually try to do around this time each year, we decided on a stay-cation, with the intention of getting some work done around here to get our house ready to put on the market. My husband and I painted the entire main room of our basement (okay, he did most of it). We let the girls help with the priming:

We haven’t done a painting project like this since we lived in our old house in North Carolina. My husband pulled out all of our old tools and brushes, and I felt quite nostalgic as I held my trusty old angled Purdy brush. “I love this brush,” I said to my husband. “Look, here’s some paint from our old house still on here. Here’s the dining room color, and the living room. . .” I was reminiscing happily as I began painting closet doors. I was thrilled to remember my old technique for making sure that the brush strokes are all laid-off nicely. This lasted for the first 30 minutes or so. By day two I was not so chipper. My husband and I both grumbled about how the darned “one-coat, primer-included” paint that we paid extra for was a sham. We remembered that painting doors sucks. We got paint on our arms and legs, and I got it in my hair. But it was nice to spend the time together, even if much of it was spent in commiseration. And we got the biggest part of the project done (we have one small side room to do still).

Another project we got done today, that I have been putting off and putting off, is this:

Somebody got a big girl bed. This bed used to be Lass’s who got to move into the bigger converted-crib full-size bed. We now have no more crib-sleepers. *Sniff*

I have wondered once or twice whatever happened to the opossum that lived under our deck a few winters back. My dogs have been bringing gifts to our back door on a regular basis:

And I’m pretty sure I now know the fate of the little guy.

My girls really wanted to save the skull to put in our science box in the schoolroom, so I ran it through the dishwasher. Homeschooling is glamorous, I tell you.

We have started reading the Harry Potter books to our girls every night before bed.

I wasn’t sure about it when my husband suggested it, but it has been so fun. The girls really love the stories (we’re on book two, now), and I think it’s really good for them to hear the stories read aloud and have to listen without pictures to look at. It makes bedtime quite a bit longer, but they are (usually) eager to get toys cleaned up and teeth brushed more quickly with the motivation of more time for Harry Potter. Win.

Remember when I posted that I have a goal this year to be more organized? I said I had ordered Kelly’s planner, The Best Laid Plans, and I had big expectations for it to be a planner that I would actually use and to magically transform me into an organized person.

Guess what?

It’s working! I’m using it. And I’m organized. It’s fabulous. You ought to get one. Click the image of the book or the link above to go to Kelly’s site and order one. You’ll thank me.

Speaking of Kelly, I’m linking up with her for Seven Quick Takes with this here post. Go here to check it out!

A Spiritual Funk

Posted on January 21, 2015January 22, 2015 by Amy

We are about 5 months into RCIA this year, with a little over two months until the big day (Easter Vigil).

Monday night at our weekly meeting, this question was asked by the instructor: “Where are you in your faith journey compared to where you started this process?”

She went around and many of the candidates answered the question. Then she turned to me and one other woman, as the new sponsors who just went through the process last year, and posed the question, “Where are you in your journey now compared to where you were at this time last year?”

^^ Me. Last year. ^^

Though I didn’t want to admit it out loud, my response was basically to say that I’m floundering a little bit this year. Right now, I’m not living my faith as zealously as I would like to. I told the group something like this:

“Last year at this time, I was on fire. I was devouring all the Catholic reading I could get my hands on, I was spending lots of time in prayer and reading my Bible. I was learning so much and loving every minute of it. This year, though my faith hasn’t declined, my fire seems to have.”

I hate to admit this. I hate that this is so. I’m striving to get back to the place where I was. Or maybe even to a new place that’s even better. But I don’t quite know how.

One of the things I have struggled with in particular is prayer (this is not a new struggle for me). I feel like my prayers are boring and repetitive. Though I don’t say the exact same things every day, and I do add in new things or people to pray for as they come up, I am almost always praying for many of the same intentions, day after day. I’m asking for forgiveness of the same sins, day after day. I pray for my husband, and my children, and my godson, and my family, and my friends, and people I know who are pregnant, and people I know who are trying to get pregnant, and people I know who are sick, and the pope, and so on and so on. There are more things, and they’re all things that are important to me, but I feel like I just keep saying the same things over and over. My prayers are heartfelt, truly, but they also kind of bore me.

Ugh. What a horrible thing to write! But it’s true, and as a result my prayer time has diminished. This makes me feel so sad and a little lost.

Monday in our RCIA meeting, our young Associate Priest happened to be sitting in on our class. After my admission, someone asked him of how he deals with the ebb and flow of faith and zeal and energy for his vocation. For me, his response boiled down to one statement, “We are not the same today as we were yesterday. Things are not the same today as they were yesterday.”

I thought about those words all the way home and how they relate to my troubles with prayer. I realized that, no matter how much my prayers seem to be repetitive, to be the same day after day, they aren’t. They can’t be.

When I said my prayers this morning, I was not quite the same as I was yesterday, or the day before. I was a little bit different. My prayers were a little bit different. And the situations and people that I prayed for were a little bit different.

Although I pray often for the same intentions day after day, it is not the same prayer every time. It is a new prayer. It is a new conversation with Jesus. How can that ever be boring?

I am actively working to pull myself out of my little spiritual funk. To reignite my zeal. To spend more time in prayer and study again. Everything is definitely better when I pray more.

I think maybe it’s normal to have periods of being relatively less “on fire.” But I want to be on fire again. I do not want to be lazy about my faith and my relationship with Jesus.

I need to remind myself of this:

“Prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed toward Heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.” – St. Therese of Lisieux

Amen

Sheenazing!

Posted on January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 by Amy

Last year around this time I learned of the Sheenazing Awards. Each year, the lovely Bonnie of A Knotted Life (yep, the same Bonnie who helped me revamp my blog), organizes this fun and fabulous award thing for other Catholic bloggers. She does this in honor of Venerable Fulton Sheen (if you haven’t read her story, you must). When I checked out the Sheenazing Awards last year I found a list of wonderful Catholic blogs, many of which have since become some of my favorites (like Catholic All Year and Carrots for Michaelmas). There are tons of great blogs to check out again this year. And guess what? Motherhood and Miscellany was nominated in two categories!

If you haven’t voted, you really should go do so. Here are the categories and my thoughts on some of my favorites (though I’m not telling whom I’m voting for).

Funniest Blog

This Ain’t the Lyceum and Mama Knows, Honeychild are two blogs that make me laugh out loud on a regular basis.

Best Looking Blog

I was nominated for this one. And while I love the new look of my blog, I have been checking out some of the other nominees for this category and they are just beautiful: To the Heights, In the Heart of My Home, House for Five, and all the rest. I’d like to say, “It is such an honor just to be nominated…”

Most Inspiring Blog

Passionate Perseverance, Molly Makes Do, Carrots for Michaelmas… There are many unknown-to-me blogs on this list, so I’m excited to check out some new ones. I can always use more inspiration.

Best Lifestyle Blog

I’m going to go back on what I typed above and just to tell you, I’m voting for Catholic All Year for this one. I have gotten so many ideas from Kendra for everything from Liturgical celebrations to recipes to homeschooling. I steal her ideas all the time.

Best Under-Appreciated Blog

I’m nominated in this category too!

Smartest Blog

This one is going to be tough with Mama Needs Coffee, Carrots for Michaelmas, and Amongst Lovely Things in the running… Again, I’m going to need to check out the other blogs on this list that I’m less familiar with too.

Coolest Blogger

I can’t even. . . I don’t know. There are so many fun nominees in this group, Kate, Dwija, Hallie…

Miss Congeniality

This is another fabulous list, but I have to say, from personal experience, Nell from Whole Parenting Family. Hands down.

I am not familiar with most of the remaining categories. I don’t really listen to podcasts or watch vlogs. I don’t know any of the Non-Catholic blogging nominees (yes, I do read non-Catholic blogs, just not any of those nominated!). I do like Daniel Bearman: Acts of Idiot Praise in the Best Blog by a Man category.

** Edited to add that I somehow missed Blessed is She in the Best Blog with Multiple Contributors category. Love me some Blessed is She.

Anyway, the list is impressive and I’m looking forward to finding some new blogs to read. Thanks to Bonnie for hosting such a fun event! And thanks to everyone who nominated me. You’re the best.