7 Quick Takes. . . Lent check-in

1) We are REALLY liking this book we are using (that I mentioned before) called A Family Journey With Jesus Through Lent.  The stories are all told first-person by a child, who mentions their name and their siblings and such.  They live in a time and place where Jesus was and either go see him, or talk about their parents or other family members seeing him.  And it is all the Gospel stories and parables and such.  And then their are the bible verses to help remember the stories.  It is a little rapid-fire with a verse for every day (Saturdays included, but not Sundays) but the kids are taking it well.  I'm not having them memorize the verses, but I am still putting them on the wall for them to read over and refer back to.

2) Our "Sacrifice Jar" is getting some use.  Rebekah is always asking if she can put in a token for something or other and often comes up with some really awesome stuff!  I have put a few in, too.

Yes, those ARE pom poms we are using as "tokens". . . apparently we do not have any beads in this house.  And I should add that it is a bit fuller now, this picture was from a few weeks ago.

3) One of my sacrifices was going to be to wear a pair of shoes that did not fit quite right.  Well, go-figure, those shoes are actually getting broken-in pretty well now!  They are still not my most comfortable shoes ever and I would not brave them to do "serious exercise" in (as I think they would give me some "serious" blisters) but for everyday-around-the-house-out-and-about stuff, they are no big deal.  Great for me and the shoes, but bummer for my penance, 'eh?  :)

(Don't worry, God gives me plenty of other "physical troubles" to offer up, fairly regularly.)

4) Our church is doing a soup and homemade bread supper (for a free-will-offering, NOT A FUNDRAISER - the money just goes to buy more soup and bread fixings for the next week and any left over at the end will go to the food pantry) every Friday during Lent and although my children are not very fond of soup, I am enjoying taking them.  It is nice to not have to prepare a meal one evening and it is nice to see our friends from church (which we normally just visit with on Sundays).

5) The Stations of the Cross is said at our church (after the above-mentioned soup and bread supper) every Friday and we have taken the kids the past two weeks.  They actually did fairly well.  The second time I took Miriam into the cry room for most of it.  She can be quiet mostly, but then squeaks or jabbers pretty loudly at random and it can be a little disturbing.  I left the "big kids" in the pew alone (as Gordie was the cantor) and they did good.

6) I've done pretty-well getting in my bible and reading the daily readings (part of my Lenten resolutions) but I also have been trying to avoid desserts and have DEFINITELY failed on that one a few times.  (Dessert is my comfort some days. . . I admit it.)

7) I've been really thinking/praying about forming my conscience.  I think I've been "in the world" so much lately that I've been letting it get a bit lax.  If you have tips/ideas/suggestions on how to form my conscience better, I am open to those!  I read up about forming one's conscience in the catechism and it spoke of prayer and scripture so I'm trying to soak that up and see where it leads, but that seemed a little vague.  But God always answers prayer. . . in His time, so perhaps some patience is in order.

Happy Lent everyone!

7 Quick Takes. . . beginning of Lent

1) My dryer has officially been broken for over two weeks, but the repair men are here RIGHT NOW working on it (for the second time - with a second part, as apparently the first part was broken, but they did not know this part was ALSO broken until they fixed the first).  So let's all pray this ends well as I really miss this convenience right now!

2) Our "Sacrifice Jar" is getting some use.  This makes me happy and hopeful that we can keep going.
Fun Related Story Tangent:  The other day I told the kids we would have a special snack (left-over goodies from my Catholic Motherhood meeting the night before) once they reached a certain point in their schoolwork.  Well, they were taking FOREVER so I finally gave in and let them have the snack, even though they had not finished their work.  They both enthusiastically proclaimed I should get to put in a sacrifice token for this - haha, oh children! :)

3) Everyone seems to be enjoying A Family Journey with Jesus Though Lent.  The memory bible verses that go with each day are fun, too.  Perhaps next year I will type them up so the kids can cut them out and past them like they do our regular Memory Bible Verses.  As of now I am just writing them on note cards and sticking them on the wall with poster puddy.  (We are real "high class" around here.)

4) I am REALLY starting to feel (and look) pregnant.  No hiding in baggy clothes now :)  I'm nearing the end of the second trimester and trying to stay calm as I know the ride just gets rougher from here.  All in all I am quite happy that I am still able to exercise fairly well - even though it requires a bit of additional "gear" (like support pantyhose and pregnancy belts).  I have still been running some on the weekends and this makes me EXCEEDINGLY happy, but I think I might give it up soon as it also leaves me with some lingering pain afterward.

5) I have recently concluded that Miriam is quite possibly the smartest baby I have ever encountered.  She impresses me almost constantly with what she picks up on and what she wants to do (EVERYTHING everyone else does).  This morning she was grumpy because her chair was too close to the table so she could not get down with her cereal bowl, to go put it in the kitchen.

6) I made fajitas for the first time and my husband liked them a lot. . . and even ate the vegetables!!  Unfortunately I tried a similar dish the next day with green chilies instead of peppers and he was not impressed.  One step forward, two steps back. . . 

7) I REALLY like our new (to us) van.  It just drives like a big pick-up truck.  And there is SO MUCH ROOM!!!  Parking it has been going ok, too, so far (granted I have been quite careful - often parking further away).  Unfortunately, the Hubby now thinks the van CANNOT fit in the garage (apparently the back sits higher than the front - so he has pulled it "mostly" in, but thinks the back will rub).  I think he should take the trim piece off and try again (as it is SO CLOSE - and that half inch could make all the difference!!) but he does not seem eager to try this.

Side Note: I had every intention of "peppering" this post with random pictures (as we all know those make life so much more fun) but now I cannot find my camera cord (sad face) so I stuck in what I could find on the computer (not as fun, but you get what you get some days).

Lent 2014

It is the night before Ash Wednesday and all through the house. . . Mom cannot find the Lenten cross.

I'm admitting defeat of "my plan" to do our traditional Lenten Cross (which we have done for a couple of years, now).  Although it is frustrating to be looking for something and not able to find it (as is the story of much of my life - my mom used to ALWAYS be losing things when I was a kid and I thought it was just because she had Multiple Sclerosis, but. . . now I know better.  It is a genetic trait and I have it, too!!) I am slightly relieved to not be doing this particular Lenten practice this year.  It is just so big and the Scripture verses can be long and difficult to explain to my younger children.  Really I wash each verse and picture had more of a mini-homily to go along with it and maybe a timeline or some way to connect all the parts would be nice.  (Honestly, I like this practice, but if I were to make it "perfect" and all. . .  :) )  Anyhow, since I cannot find my actual cross or the laminated pictures that go on it, I'm planning to use a book I picked up a couple of years ago, but was above my children at the time.  It is called A Family Journey with Jesus through Lent.  It looks pretty neat, now and I think my older kids will really get into it.  I figure we will put our candles (white ones now, to keep things simple) on the table and light them while I read it so the little ones have something to look at.

We are also doing a sacrifice jar for the kids to put a token in for each sacrifice they make.  (That would be the big empty jar in the picture above.)  In the past we have done a paper cross on the wall before and put flowers on it for "good deeds."  I also have made a crown of thorns out of dough, with toothpicks that we removed before, but again, removal was granted through "good deeds,"  and I have since run into trouble defining "good deeds," especially for multiple ages of children.  So this year we are using "sacrifice" as our terminology to help keep them focused in the right direction.  I think they have a general gist of what that word means.  I will leave it up to the kids to define it specifically, but here are some things I have in mind:

1) Giving up a toy for the day
2) Skipping a treat, or snack
3) Giving in to a sibling (letting them have a toy or choose the game, etc)
4) Work sacrifice (doing a non-required chore for no reward)
5) Prayer sacrifice (praying for someone or a special cause)

I plan to join them, in "sacrificing" in this manner. I figure this is kind of like a day by day resolution that is always changing.  I hope it will keep things "fresh."

I have some additional personal resolutions in mind, but I cannot seem to choose one or two or even three, and I'm sure there are too many for me to do them all every day, so I'm thinking I might list them all with numbers and roll dice to pick three or so a day.  (And being a "gamer" I have dice with up to 20 sides, so no worries about there being too many - hehe)  Here are my ideas for personal resolutions:

1) Limit facebook time (using a timer)
(I must add it is simply not feasible for me to cold turkey away from facebook.  Being home all day with the kids, it is my connection to other adults and the outside world.  Likewise, since I do not have a cell phone, it is often a necessary tool to connect with friends - and even my husband on important matters.)
2) Read the daily Mass readings for the day
3) Say the Office or Morning or Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours 
4) Write a letter to a friend or relative
5) Wear a pair of shoes I do not like
6) Say a decade (or all) of the Rosary
7) Pray the Stations of the Cross
8) Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet
9) Go to Adoration
10) Sing a Lenten song
11) Spend 15 minutes doing Spiritual reading
12) Spend 15 minutes reading my Catechism
13) Avoid sweets/chocolate/dessert of any kind

We are also doing this Lenten track from Catholic Icing.  We have done it every year.  A couple years ago I gave each child their own to color, but last year we just had Rebekah color one on the wall for everyone to look at.  Assuming their are no objections, we will have Rebekah color this one - or let her alternate with another child if there is any interest.  Having one for each child is simply too tedious to keep track of them all and keep them all "up to date."

Finally, I am looking forward to listening to this Lent at Ephesus cd a friend recommended (and was kind enough to send me, thanks Monica!!).

I will close with a few catchy lines from the "Lent" track of our new FAVORITE cd by the Dogma Dogs. 

It's Lent, Lent, 
time to repent, 
because it's Lent, Lent, 
our wheels they get bent, 
by what we've done or failed to do
but ask for mercy, He'll give it to you. . . 

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.

Here Comes Lent!

I am really looking forward to Lent this year.  I'm not sure if it is because I really feel like I personally need a good solid "detox" from worldly thinking, acting, eating, and just living in general, or because I am looking forward to Easter!!  The resurrection, the climax of our love story with God!  Joy that I desperately need this time of year when sickness is running crazy, cabin fever grows, cold weather lingers, and life just looks bleak.

In any case, ready or not, here comes Lent!!  So, what is the plan in our household, you might ask?  Well, read on and I will tell you all about it.

First off, check out my calendar.  After much deliberation, I concluded that construction paper taped to the bottom of my number pockets was my best bet for now.  I just do not have time do to anything more elaborate.  It is not fancy, but it works!  The kids can look and see that now we are in Lent!!

(Side note, this picture was taken last week - we are not that far behind in our calendar-keeping-skills :)

Secondly, the "Prayer Platter."  This concept came from Advent a couple years ago.  With young, curious children, I needed to move the Advent wreath off the table after use, so to make it easier, I put it on a platter.  Then I realized that lighting candles helped my kids focus on prayer, so when the Christmas season ended, we changed up the platter to reflect ordinary time and have been using it ever since (changing to the appropriate season, of course).  I try to have at least four candles (one for each kid to blow out) and the correct color (or close) for the liturgical season, and then whatever I can find to fill in.

As for the prayer part, we usually do a reading from this devotional (mostly for the little kids - although the big kids enjoy it, too).  Then we do some Scripture.  Sometimes I read from this Read-Along-Bible.  Other times I use the daily Mass readings (which I now get on my kindle from The Word Among Us - and am very pleased with I might add).  Then we usually do some sort of catechism lesson.  Sometimes I read from the "school" religion book (Religion 1 for Young Catholics, from Seton Homeschool), or we read a seasonal devotional,such as This Pamphlet, or we might even just read part of an educational children's book (such as Living the 10 Commandments for Children or Beatitudes for Children).  We close by saying our Morning Offering:

Good morning, dear Jesus, this day is for you.  We ask that you bless all we think, say, and do!

a Hail Mary (because that is Paul's favorite prayer), an Our Father (Samuel's favorite prayer), and a St. Michael prayer (which they all love).

Sometimes I also read a prayer from My First Prayers for My Family or My First Prayers With Mary, either before or after our formal prayers.  When we get back to studying the Rosary we will do the mystery for the Scripture and catechism part and then pray that decade (with our Scriptural Rosary book) instead of the formal prayer.  (That is what we have done in the past, anyhow.)

I should add that we usually do our "prayer" at breakfast.  But in a pinch, any meal will do - or snack for that matter.  The Morning Offering can easily be adapted to "Good afternoon, dear Jesus. . . " or even, "Good evening, dear Jesus. . . "

Up next is the Lenten Cross. We tried it a couple years ago, but I was not really properly prepared and the kids were a bit young.  The youngers are probably still too young, but I think Rebekah will get something out of it and possibly Samuel.  It has taken a bit of work to get it "set up" but I hope we can enjoy it for many years.



Here is what it will look like on the last day of Lent.

 I have a great 8x10 picture of Jesus with the crown of thorns and his head bent in prayer that I wanted to put here but I cannot find it. I used this frame to keep the spacing when I made the cross. Then, the only picture I could find to put here was this little postcard, so I left the frame up, but I am really not all that happy with it. Another bit of suffering I guess.

For the cross, I got a piece of fleece fabric and cut it into this cross. That was tough for my perfectionist nature as my hands are not crafty enough for what my brain thinks it should look like, but I sure tried.  Then I copied the symbols, colored them, laminated them, cut them out, and put velcro on the back so they would stick to the cross. Here are a couple close-up examples of the symbols and verses for each day.





I want to focus on the Stations of the Cross and I'm in the middle of making up a matching game for the stations as mentioned here.  I would show you a picture, but I'm not quite finished.  I'm hoping to pray the Stations of the Cross on Fridays.  We have the Stations of the Cross for Children book and I think it will work well for the kids.


This year we put our Lenten resolutions on crosses and put them up on the wall.  I did mine (Remain Calm, No Sweets, and Prayer - just to remind me of the prayer habits I am trying to continue and add to) and then Rebekah came up with her idea ("If one of my brothers wants something I have, I will give it to them.")

 

Return to the Lord, your God.  For gracious and merciful is he.  (Joel 2:13)

Lent 2012

Lent is here!!  I had hoped to get this published before but I have just barely finished preparations for us to begin today.

 I will begin with perhaps my favorite lent activity.  I put this big cross up on the wall (made from brown construction paper). Each day, as we do good deeds, keeping our lenten resolutions and such, we get to put flowers up on it.  (See picture below for the flowers my daughter will hopefully be cutting soon - as she is old enough to be really helpful like that now and does not seem to mind so much.)  I believe I found the idea through a blog called Catholic Icing last year.  (Tangent: Catholic Icing has LOTS of good stuff, for Lent and for all the time.)  The direct link, however, is here.

As you can see in this second picture, I added a few "suggestions" for lenten sacrifices.  They are the Spiritual Works of Mercy and the Corporal Works of Mercy.  Now I don't anticipate us doing ALL of them, by any means and the words are BIG for my kids (Admonish the sinner, etc) but I'm hoping I can link some of their deeds to these such as to forgive offences willingly, or to comfort the afflicted.  At the least it spurs discussion and explanation, I hope.

I also have my hand there with my own personal lenten resolutions.  Last year we did hands for the whole family, but the younger ones just don't seem to "get it." And I don't want to push them.  Maybe as the season progresses they will show more interest.  Rebekah, however, has her hand there, as well.

The three charts with the sun in the background we got from church.  They came with a set of stickers.  There is a numerical sticker (a cross or a lamb or a cloud, etc) for each day of lent that the kids can each stick on their respective chart. Then there is an empty tomb and Jesus for Easter.

 We also have one Lenten Countdown page.  We did these last year, but having one for each child was a bit much as the younger ones really were not so into it.  I almost skipped it this year as we have the sticker charts, but I thought they might enjoy being able to see how much is left.

Above the Lenten Countdown we have our memory verse.  This is a concept I borrowed from my friend, Monica.  It is the responsorial psalm from Sunday.  Well, it is supposed to be, anyhow.  For Ash Wednesday and the rest of this week I chose the responsorial psalm from Ash Wednesday: Be Merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.  (Psalm 51).

 Next up we have our crown of thorns that loosely corresponds with the flowers on our wall cross.  Each good deed done means the child gets to pull out one of the thorns.  Last year I baked my crown of thorns and I think that looked a little better, but I was running low on flour and time this year, so I tried making it out of play dough.  I'm not overly impressed with the result, but it works.  I should have put in less blue and probably took a little more care in rolling.  Also, as it dries, it is starting to crack, but it still works.  Our candles are rather humble, but I had to fit four (as you may recall from my earlier post, our prayer time REQUIRES four candles so each child can blow one out) and these were the four I could fit.  I would like to add a small cross to the center but as if yet I had not found/made one.

We light the wreath when we say our prayers. I posted earlier about our Family Prayer Time that is really working for us.  For Lent we do pretty-much the same set-up, but with a lenten reflection from Welcome Risen Jesus.  I'm trying to get us all up earlier so we can pray that reflection in the morning, before school, and have all day for the action part.  It worked today, but I imagine getting up early is a battle to be fought one day at a time.

Finally, I am eager to read The Story of the Cross again as we discovered it last year and enjoy it a lot.

That's all I have for now.  I hope your lent is fruitful and leads you closer to Christ!

Create a clean heart in me, O God.

-Renew in me a steadfast spirit.

Over half way there. . .

Lent is in full swing and our cross is filling up.

Create a clean heart in me, O God.

-Renew in me a steadfast spirit.

Lent is here!

So I have been running a little behind lately and I just cannot seem to catch up!! But ready or not, Lent is here so we are jumping in. Here are some of the things we have going on in our house.

I really enjoy the Stations of the Cross. It is one of my favorite prayers. This book does an amazing job of giving some background for the Stations and then going through them. Plus the pictures are beautiful and it has great kid-friendly prayers. We are going to read this book many times this Lent, I am sure.

This is the Traveling Chalice from church. A different parishioner (or family) takes it home every week to pray for vocations. It is our week. We have been doing our best to further vocations through prayer.

This is our crown of thorns (pre-baking). Every time someone does a good deed or sacrifice, that person gets to remove one of the toothpicks. In this way, we unite our small works with Christ. The crown will find a home on a platter with a purple cloth beneath (if I can find one), a candle (because my kids LOVE candles), and a small bowl to hold the thorns. The platter will reside on a bookshelf during the day and come down to the table during dinner for daily thorn removal. For more on a crown of thorns like this (and tons of other Lent ideas) check out Catholic Icing.

This is our Lenten Cross. This idea came from the book Lent and Easter in the Domestic Church, which I highly recommend. Every day of Lent (not Sunday's - those are extra) we have a symbol we put on and a reading from Scripture to go with it. I am not so good in the crafty department. I enjoy doing crafts, but I'm no amazing artist in any sense. But fortunately, kids are forgiving and do not mind my giant cross here made from cardboard and purple sticky notes. We are going to glue each of our symbols to the appropriate sticky note (as the sticky notes are stuck with tape). I went ahead and put the day number and the bible verse at the bottom of each note so we just need to add the symbols. Maybe next year I will be able to start my Lent planning a little earlier and come up with something that may last, year after year (such as my friend Monica did - yes, Monica, I found this idea on your blog and thought it was so awesome I bought the book and we are doing it as well - thank you dear friend!).

This is a close-up of the empty sticky notes (with the day number and verse at the bottom), awaiting their fulfillment :)

Here is the cross I mentioned in a previous post. As we do good deeds and sacrifices, I will write them (and the date) on a flower (which I still need to cut - no good deeds or sacrifices allowed yet! :) and then we will tape or glue it to the cross. I'm thinking we will do this throughout the day and then at dinner we will look back over the cross and have everyone pull out the appropriate number of thorns from our crown.

Also, at the foot of this cross we have our hands with the sacrifices we are planning to make for lent. (I say "planning" as I think we need to be open to where the Holy Spirit is leading us - in directions we had not anticipated. I also say "planning" as sometimes things come up and we are not able to do what we meant to for whatever reason and I believe it is important we don't get so hung up on not being able to do that particular thing at that particular time -if that makes sense.)

So there you have it - May your Lent be meaningful and come to fruition as we celebrate together on Easter!

Blessings!

'Yet even now,' says the Lord, 'Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your clothing.' Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. -Joel 2:12-13

Rebekah put Jesus on the Cross

So, I put up this paper cross on the wall in preparation for Lent. I figured that every time we did a good deed or sacrifice, etc, we would take a paper heart (which I have yet to cut), write the deed or what-not on it and glue it on the cross. Sounds, great, yes? Well, I put up the cross yesterday morning after Rebekah went to school, so we had not had a chance to talk about it yet. When she got home, we had company and we were celebrating Nana's birthday and everything was a little crazy, so I figured I would wait and tell her about it on Tuesday. But she apparently did not want to wait that long. My first words upon glancing up to see her attacking the wall, marker in hand:

"Rebekah, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!! YOU DON'T JUST DRAW ON STUFF WITHOUT ASKING. . . oh, you are putting Jesus on the cross. . . oh. . . well, ok, you can finish, but next time, ask ok?"

Oh the innocence of youth! On a humorous side note, I'm not sure if you can tell in this picture (the lighting was bad and the angle was not so great either, but I was parked with the baby when I took it so I did not have a lot of options) -Jesus has a smile on his face. But then again, maybe it is not so humorous, Jesus is happy to do anything for us - He loves us that much! It is not recorded that He died with a smile on his face (and judging from what He endured a smile would not be likely for a typical human) but maybe it is not so much of a stretch. He beat the devil - He won, for us - it is definitely something to smile about. Thank you, dear Rebekah, for reminding this mamma of that!