Living
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Video Games and Guardian Angels
Video Games. Don’t you just hate them — or maybe you love them — whatever the case may be, video games are something every parents needs to think about at least once in their life. More likely than not, if you have a few kids, the subject will come up regularly — so might as well take a moment to think about it now — because this is important stuff, people! Recently our son went on a mandatory two week hiatus from video games. A funny thing happens when you let your kids “get bored” — they actually find lots of creative things to do with all that free time. At first he complained about it, but eventually…
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7 Quick Takes: Happy Easter Edition
Happy Easter! How’s your Easter going? Mine has been really lovely — and as it’s 8 days of Easter and then still more weeks of the Easter Season — still plenty of time to celebrate Easter in the next few days and weeks. I just love that the Church gives us days and weeks to celebrate. If your whole family ends up with the stomach bug on Easter Sunday or you’re inexplicably crabby after a late night Vigil celebration, it’s consoling to know you still have plenty of time to do it up. Woot! Woot! Anyway, I had to take a breather after a very intense Triduum and Easter celebration. I’m still a bit brain-dead,…
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Donkeys, Lent, and Holy Week (Part 2)
Yesterday I shared a little bit about a prayer that I find myself praying on a regular basis. The prayer goes a little bit like, “Lord I’m an ass — but please let me be the ass that carries you into Jerusalem.” To understand where the inspiration for this prayer came from, read more about it here. But there is a part two to the story of the donkey. I have always been puzzled by that second donkey in the scripture, “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” Matt 21:5 KJV. I was always bewildered by the concept of…
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Donkeys, Lent, and Holy Week
About 20% of my spontaneous prayers begin with the words, “Lord, I am an ass”. I hope that’s not shocking or offensive — it is, after all, a biblical term — so I figure it’s an okay way to speak to God. And God knows I don’t mean to be disrespectful when I say these words to Him — they just seem to me to be the only words that can fully express exactly how I am feeling in the moment. They are some of the truest prayers I have ever prayed. And more often than not, I have found myself saying this prayer on a Sunday morning, as I look…
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Are You Too busy? Figuring Out the Non-Negotiables in Your Life.
Right now life.is.crazy. I am currently in the process of a career change. That’s right, I’m moving into the exciting world of graphic design. So, yay for me! Actually, the truth be told — I naively took on the job of re-designing my husband’s website — after which time, I will gladly retire from the world of web design and return to part-time blogger and full-time wife and mother. The thing is, my husband is an amazing designer. His web site used to reflect that, but we’ve been busy with life, and work and all the craziness of having six kids — only to realize that our website is beginning to look a bit outdated. It…
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Halfway Through Lent and Other Thoughts…
We have reached the halfway point in Lent — yay us! Lent has been just what it should be — difficult and beautiful and really, really long. I know it has been good for me, how about you? Well, on to the takes… ~1~ It’s My Little Sister’s Birthday! My sister is hilarious. She really is. She’s got 8 kids, plus one in heaven, and she is one of those people who puts you at ease because she’s just so darn real. The stories she can tell about her crazy life — she should be the one writing a blog! When we were growing up, she used to run to me when any…
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Life Lately: Lenten Edition
How’s your week going? We have lots going on at the moment, including celebrating St. Patrick’s Day — Yippee! So, on to the Quick Takes: ~1~ Frater, Momento Mori I’m happy to announce our power is back. We had great moments of bonding and family adventures — but thank God for electricity. It’s the best! While the power was out, most of our days were filled with accomplishing the basics: preparing food, keeping heat going, and clean up. But now that it’s back, I have been left with the thought, “I have been given this free time back, now what will I do with it?” The truth is, most of us living in the West have much more “free time” in…
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When We Fail to Catch Our Kids
Last week we were out of power for 5 days. No lights, no power, no running water, no toilets — and no idea when it would be restored. This wouldn’t have been so bad if the temps didn’t drop well below freezing most nights, but we were managing — and I dare say — we were actually enjoying all of the quality time spent by the fireplace and camping out in our living room. By the 4th day, we had actually found a rhythm to this simple life. We had eaten dinner and cleaned up the house before the sun set. We had this “no power thing” down! And as we sat down…
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7 Quick Takes: Lights Out Edition
How’s your Lent going? I’m making it through. I hope you can say the same. I’m writing this in the public Library as my baby naps away — so this might be a brief one. Hopefully I’ll make it to #7. So, on to the Quick Takes… ~1~ Children Waiting Everywhere Lent is about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving — and I have the perfect way to take care of the Almsgiving portion of your Lent. I must tell you about a woman who is doing amazing things for refugee children fleeing from S. Sudan and the Congo. I wrote a post earlier this week about current fundraising efforts focused on…
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Children Waiting Everywhere: Living Simply So Others Might Simply Live
There was a recent in-depth study on giving, and it found that those who give to others are actually much happier than those who just spend money on themselves. Of course, we shouldn’t give to others in order to be “happy” — but there’s no denying that one of the “side-effects” of generosity is happiness. The truth is, when we live according to how we’ve been created — we experience greater happiness — and this study supports what Christians have known for centuries: we were created to give ourselves to others. This call to generosity is clearly conveyed by Jesus in Matthew 25. It is a call to conversion — to cut unhealthy ties to…
