Lenten Reflection

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  (2 Corinthians 12:9)

I was recently reflecting over Lent as it is Holy Week and THE END IS NEAR!!  I feel that I put forth a valiant. . . ok, maybe not quite valiant. . . I feel I put forth a decent effort.  Maybe I could have pushed harder. . . but I definitely did really try.  Some days were better than others as far as keeping calm.  I think it did get a little easier.  We did our Lenten Cross and that went better than I expected.  Unfortunately we never got to the Stations of the Cross matching which makes me tremendously sad as I was REALLY looking forward to this.  But I got hung up on coloring the pictures to laminate them.  This was a bigger project than I realized (and coloring 14 stations twice, NICELY, takes more time than I could find).  Likewise, I wanted to pray the Stations of the Cross with my kids, at least on Fridays.  I even bought a special book I was so pumped about and have we done it yet?  No.  It was this final reflection that made me think I should blog about this. 

My initial reaction to it all, FAILURE!!  But within seconds I realized that exempt from Mortal Sin, failure is not a big deal unless I make it one.  Ok, so I did not get the stations matching game made up in Lent.  Should I give up and move on?  NO!!  We can still pray the stations even when it is not Lent!!  Every Friday we are to recall the passion and offer special sacrifice.  So I ate some sweets once or twice after giving up sweets for Lent, does that mean all of my attempts and sacrifices were for nothing?  I would like to think not.  What it does is keep me humble and I can tell you I can definitely use a good dose of humility now and again!!  So if you are in my boat (feeling a bit like a failure), then lets go wake our sleeping Jesus (Mark 4:35-41) and have him calm the storm so we can smooth sail the rest of this amazing season.  And maybe tomorrow I will break out that book and pray the Stations of the Cross with my kiddos.  Get up and keep going.  When we are weak, he is strong.

Journal #10

Out my window:

Nice and sunny, but still a bit cold (around 30 degrees).

Clothing myself:

Jeans and gym shoes, NEW anniversary black t-shirt.

Around the house:

Miriam is crawling and cruising all over so of course all the "little stuff" we own seems to be showing up EVERYWHERE.  But hopefully a good sorting/tidy-up today will help curb this problem.  (I have been focusing on other things a bit much and need to catch up on the housekeeping some this weekend.)

 

The Baby:

 

She is working on her two top teeth.  They are amazingly close to breaking through her poor little gums.  She is taking it fairly well (fussy and sleeping worse, but not the end of the world).  Since the doc basically ok'd all foods (other than honey and eggs) I have been giving her bites of pretty-much everything we eat and she seems to enjoy it.  Her favorites are still cheerios, bread, mashed potatoes, and homemade yogurt.

 

The Kids:

Paul has mastered #1 of potty training, but is still lacking in figuring out #2.  I changed his big brother Jacob's poopy underwear, once a day (at least) for six months.  So far Paul is following in Jacob's footsteps. . .  But I am hopeful he will figure it out sooner.  Paul is quite precocious. 

As far as naps. . . Paul skipped it one day with no melt down so I tried going without for a few days.  It seemed like this was the end to naps, but then he had a melt-down day.  I'm not sure if he needs naps again or is just a little under-the-weather (we had some coughing, sore throat stuff here).  I tried to get him to do "quiet time" - aka stay in his bed until the music stopped.  One day that resulted in a nap, the next he was out of bed within 10 minutes and sneaking upstairs when I was not looking.  Hopefully this issue will resolve itself quickly.  At this point I am ready to hope he is just done napping (and can handle being awake all day) as getting him back on a napping schedule (after such a break) seems like a lot of work.

In the Kitchen:



I do not have much to report about the actual cooking, but I am doing something new for our grocery shopping.  We are giving Azure Standard a try.  I did not order EVERYTHING we could possibly need, but several items were cheaper than at our local grocery stores with the same or better quality.  I am hopeful and will surely let you know how it goes when I actually get my goods.

Crafting:

I have not even picked up my knitting needles in months now.  Mom's scarf sits unfinished and somewhat forgotten. For some reason I just have not had time!!  I guess it will be a gift for next year.

Learning:

I just blogged about this yesterday, but I will include it here.  I made these fun charts to help with Samuel's reading vocabulary.

 

Otherwise it looks like we are fairly on track to complete our homeschool curriculum (aka all the books I planned to work through).  I have already put a lot of things on the list for summer, too, but I think the kids are up for it.

 

 

Our Lenten cross is looking good.  I am surprised how easy this project is this year and how much the children seem to get out of it!  Some of the Scripture verses are over their head but I muscle through the reading of Scripture (often using a my International Children's Version bible) and then try to give good explanations.  We also review the symbols that are already up there.
 

Reading:

I just finished a fictional novel, recommended by a friend, called Wife 22.  Although the ending was cheesy and predictable (unfortunately - I kind of wished it were different, that would have made it deeper), it was an enjoyable read about a troubled marriage.  It also gave me reason to reflect on my own marriage (which I would not classify as "troubled" btw :) and be grateful.

I recently stumbled upon this introduction to Scripture book, Bible Basics for Catholics, and it is proving to be most enjoyable.  A good "big picture of Scripture" book.
 

Bringing me joy:

 

+My husband.  He brought me a rose for no reason the other day.

+The baby.  Her smiles are just the best and her cuddles, too.

+Exercise.  A good work-out is worth so much!

 

Thinking about:

 

How it is difficult to think on little sleep - seriously, I have been going through life in a bit of a fog lately, not able to focus well or remember things!  Ugh, hopefully I can catch up some this weekend.

 

Bible verse:

 

Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  (Luke 12:32)

Pictures to share: