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)

Thankfulness

A lot has been happening in our family life right now.  A lot that is STRESSING ME OUT!!  A lot of "really God?  really?!?!" moments for me.  I started a "whiney Wednesday" post (a few days early) but as I listed my "whines." I realized I had a lot to be thankful for.  So I'm going to make a Thankful List here to remind myself of all the good things God is doing and continues to do for us.

Although this is not really Miriam's CUTEST picture.  I actually think I see a little of me in her face in this picture.  It makes me happy.  Thus, I am putting it here.

Thankfulness List

1) I just had a baby and I feel GREAT.  Seriously, I remember feeling good for a few days post-birth (while the hormones are still raging) with most of my kids, but then after those first two or three days, not so much.  But this time, wow!  I am really floored.  I am ALMOST tempted to add some more physical activity, but I started that too early with my last babe and then it took EXTRA LONG to recover.  Still the housework and running after the kids is really a low-impact work-out most days as it is!  :)

2) Miriam is a fairly easy baby (so far).  She eats ok, she sleeps ok (as long as tucked in near a person -but I've come to expect this from babies, so it really does not bother me to keep her close while she naps).  I think maybe she likes me :)  I am way pumped to start "wearing" her more in my Moby Wrap.  But every time I think, "now would be a good time to put on the moby and wear Miriam," she falls asleep waiting for me!  Such a sense of humor this child has :)

3) I feel like I should be freaking out to have so many children, so young, but it is really not a big deal for me.  (Must be those happy "mothering hormones" I have flowing through me right now :)  We went to the museum today and I was very calm.  Other than Paul pushing the panic button on the van keys (that he ninja'd from the stroller when I was not looking) from the Discovery Room (3rd floor up - but has a window over the parking lot) and having to make a speedy exit to try and tame the noise, it was an enjoyable adventure.

4) Gordie seems to REALLY like his new position at work.  He is a trainer.  And the people he trains generally have good stuff to say about him.  I think he might have found something he actually enjoys!  (A real answer to prayer as he has never been all that crazy about his jobs before- they paid the bills, that was all.)

5) I have actually gotten some of my ever-growing "to do" list done.  I figured I would be barely surviving at this point, but with Miriam being so affable I am kinda thrown in flux here.  I keep expecting to not be able to get anything done and then find myself sitting around kinda bored.  So this afternoon I actually tried to be productive and wow, it worked!

6) Our air conditioner broke yesterday.  It was nothing too major, but it was a little overwhelming.  I put something on facebook out of sheer desperation (for pity more than anything else - as this was definitely one of those "really God?!?  really?!?!" moments).  No more than 3 minutes past from posting and I get a call that one of my friend's husband could help us out.  Today he and Gordie did a little work on it and so far it has been working fine since.  This definitely turned into a "WOW!  God really DOES answer prayers sometimes" kind of moment :)

(I know, I know, He ALWAYS answers prayers - we just sometimes know not what we ask for, but I have a poor memory when it comes to how good God is - all the time :)

"O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures for ever."  - Psalm 107:1

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.

Prayer Update

In my last post I shared our growing prayer habits.  Well, they have grown even more!  Ok, first off, a slight tangent. . .

"Anyone who does not breathe dies of suffocation; anyone who does not accept with docility the grace that God constantly gives us ends up dying of spiritual suffocation." - R Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Vol. 1  (Tangent inside a tangent: This comes from In Conversation with God which I plan to address in my next post.)

"For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away." - Mark 4:25 (NRSV)

What this quote and this passage from Scripture enlighten for me is how God's grace is so much more than we can imagine.  As we open ourselves to it, it is like a faucet on full-blast!  And there is no turning it down.  It is on or off and when we manage to get ourselves to stay put in the flow - oh my, it is amazing!

I feel like this is what is happening with our family prayer time.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I did "pray about it" as I know it is really important and I just felt like I was not doing it justice.  It felt like an insurmountable task to try and conquer and our minor attempts seemed so pathetic.  To add to it, I have a degree in Religious Education.  I am TRAINED to teach this - you would think I could handle helping grow the spiritual life of MY OWN FAMILY!!  Sheesh, I certainly felt like a failure I must say, but God has been showing me that it is not me (surprise, surprise), it is Him.  And man, when I step back and follow His inspiration, He does a pretty darn good job I must say.

But enough with the tangent.  Back to the main point of this post.  I mentioned we were reading Prayers for Each and Every Day.  And we still enjoy that book, but it has become clear my children are hungry for more.  The other day we finished our short "reading" and they asked for a bible story.  So I broke out the Bible and it has become a tradition now.  I love that they enjoy Scripture!  Some days I pick up the regular Bible  and other days we enjoy a more structured approach such as 365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories.  This is nice as it starts at the beginning and you can just read it from cover to cover, but it is simplified and sometimes my hungry young minds want two or three of the stories, but I'm not really complaining.

So there you have it.  I will keep you updated as we progress further.  On a side note, but related, I have started praying Night Prayer from The Liturgy of the Hours with my oldest child, Rebekah (almost 7-years-old).  The words are BIG and often above her, but she knows it is a sacred prayer for the Church and she enjoys praying it with me.  (On a side note: Night Prayer is only on a weekly rotation, instead of the four weeks of psalms for Morning and Evening Prayer, so it is a bit more familiar.)  I have no doubt it is helping her vocabulary grow and when the time is right she will have an even greater understanding of the spiritual aspects it contains, as well.  I'm also working through

The Mass book for Children and Little Acts of Grace with her as she will be turning seven soon (the age of reason!!!) and God-willing, receive her first Reconciliation and first Communion.

 

So there you have it.  Yay, God! :)

Family Prayers

Prayer is very important to me and I KNOW it is important to pray as a family, but it is definitely one of my challenges.  In any case, lately I have stumbled up on some ideas that ARE REALLY WORKING FOR US!!!  So I thought I'd share.  But first, I want to give a shout out to my good blog-friend, Monica.  A while back she posted about her family's Morning Prayers and I was awed and amazed and inspired (and possibly a little jealous) by what goes on at her house.  In any case, I have prayed and stewed over the notion of family prayers, trying this and that, but this past Advent I have finally struck gold with my clan.

The secret I believe is the candles.  My kids REALLY enjoy having candles lit and even more, blowing them out.  The minute a candle is lit, they are quiet and their full attention is on it.  In addition, knowing they are going to get to blow that candle out keeps their attention on the task at hand.  So, for Advent, they were LOVING the Advent wreath. (especially once we reached the fourth Sunday so they all could blow out a candle - rather than having to take turns - and then even more once we got to Christmas so Mom could blow one out, too!)

For Advent, I put our wreath on a large platter so I can move it from the top of the bookshelf to the table for meals and then back up for "safe-keeping."  Once the Christmas season ended, I put the Advent wreath away, but kept the platter out.  I found four candles and

some green cloth (ok, they are pot holders, but they ARE green for ordinary time) and a nice cross that stands up.  Now I move our "sacred space" from the top of the bookshelf to the table for every meal we eat together (sometimes breakfast, often lunch, and normally dinner every night). 

I found this really neat book called "Prayers for Each and Every day."  It has a morning and evening prayer for each day of the week.  It also has some special prayers in the back.  It is scripturally based with some poems and reflections, too, but in a fairly kid-friendly way.  So we use that and then sometimes we discuss what I read or ask for petitions.  We then conclude with a few prayers from "My First Prayers for my Family" or "Daily Prayers" or another little prayer book of some sort.  The kids like to look at the pictures and my daughter can now read some of the prayers on her own (which she LOVES to do).  Eventually I imagine they will have most of these prayers memorized (as they memorized our Advent and Christmas prayers (from My First Prayers for Christmas, which I highly recommend, by the way).  Then we each blow out a candle.

We, of course, still say our regular blessing of the food before meals (well, I say "regular" but for us, we usually sing it in various ways - such as to the tune of Gilligan's Island, or we chant it - yes, that is one of our favorites - or sometimes we sing the "Johnny Appleseed" grace), but this gives us a bit more opportunity to be prayerful together and if nothing else, I find it to be a great breath of fresh air.  The kids seem to enjoy it as well and I can only hope we are planting seeds during this time to help them grow into spiritual giants, able and willing to following Jesus in whatever He asks of them.

P.S. I really would like to show a picture of our "sacred space" but you can refer to my last post for an update of why that is not possible at this time.  For now these images will have to satisfy my need for visual description.