Living
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Lent Begins and Other Thoughts
How’s your Lent going? I know it’s only been two days — but it feels like it’s going to be a looong Lent. Oh well — only 6 weeks to go. Yay for us! 🙁 Did you get your ashes? Check out this guy — I saw a humorous chart analyzing different ash patterns on the internet and I believe this one would fall under the category: Father’s Revenge. Poor guy! Anyway, my parents are in town, so let’s get right to the 7 Quick Takes: Lenten Thoughts Edition ~1~ Yay for Surviving the 1st Strict Fast of the Year! Though I’m posting this on Friday, I am actually writing this post early…
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Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for Tomorrow We Die… to Ourselves :(
My parents are in town, so I am allowing for another light week of blogging so I can spend some time with them. I don’t take for granted the fact that I am blessed to still have my parents around — they’re in their 80’s — everyday we have with them is a gift! I must admit, I always miss writing when I take little breaks, but — priorities — always a balancing act! As it’s Fat Tuesday, I thought I’d share a little “inspirational” image I made to express my hopes for us all before tomorrow rolls around. Oh, this fasting thing is hard for me. All you people who tend…
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Best Lent Ever — or Not — It’s Up to You.
Ah, life — always a balancing act! This week blogging took a back seat to all the work that’s been piling up. 🙁 Anyway, I thought I’d share a few thoughts on Lent. I can hardly believe the time is upon us — but here we are stuffing in those last Paczki’s — and before you know it, it will be Ash Wednesday. Where has the time gone? Lent is usually something I just try to get through. But this year, I want to try to do more than survive it — I actually want to find myself thriving in it. How about you? So, without further ado, I offer you my 7 Quick Tips for Preparing for the Best.Lent.Ever…
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That Time We Went to Positano… (Part 1)
It’s a sludgy, gray day in the Midwest — can you tell winters aren’t my favorite? I thought rather than dwelling on the fact that I’m working hard to love all the seasons — and currently failing 🙁 — that it would be a good time to finally share about that time we went to Positano. Maybe you’re in the midst of equally horrid weather — or just plain sick of all the political posts in your news feed — if so, I hope this will be a cheerful break from reality! I know I always love looking at pictures of far off places and dreaming of being there. How about you? Actually, it’s the first…
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Washington, D.C. (With Kids)
Well, it’s been an intense week. Time to lighten things up a bit, shall we? I thought I’d offer you my tips on visiting D.C. with kids. Obviously, it’s a worthwhile place to visit — for so many reasons — but it is also a very child-friendly city, and we really enjoyed it. So don’t be afraid to bring everybody along for a crazy family road trip. Here’s a few tips and and tricks to make for a more memorable trip. ~1~ The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception I have said it before, but we have found making at least one spot on your journey a pilgrimage site tends…
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Random Thoughts: Keep Marching Baby
The March for Life was amazing! I gotta say — it was definitely worth the 18 hours of round-trip travel time and every other chaotic moment that comes with traveling with 6 kids. So glad we went! It was such an impactful experience that it’s hard to put my mind around it all — but I’m gonna try. To gain better perspective on the reasons for the March, you might like to check out last week’s post Why We March. But for those of you who’d don’t mind a few random thoughts here or there — I offer you my “Random thoughts on the March for Life”. Enjoy. First Random Thought: Preach it. Pope John Paul II got the importance of…
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Why We March…
My mother is one of the founders of the March for Life — in fact, she was pregnant with me during that first March — and the story of how it all came about is an interesting one. A few years prior to the March, my mother found herself in a convent in the South. Though the “nun” thing didn’t work out, this time did help her to gain insight into the plight of the African-American living in the South at the time. Having a heart for what they were suffering, she decided that she was going to help black men and women register and exercise their right to vote. She marched with Martin Luther King,…
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The Cry Room: A Parents’ Guide to Survival
Okay, we’ve all been there — we’ve all been in the cry room. That awful, horrid place were children and parents are left to live sad, lonely lives — spurned by the families with well-behaved children. That room where all your hopes and dreams have been dashed to pieces amidst the cheerios, that awful diaper smell, and the other equally pathetic parents who find themselves there. That room where you are will ultimately find yourself asking questions like, “What is wrong with me?” “Why can’t I get it together?” or “Where did I go wrong? ” Well I’m here to tell you that you are just fine — in fact, you are more than…
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Blue Monday — We Got This!
Blue Monday is a name given to the day in January (typically the third Monday of the month) reported to be the most depressing day of the year for those in the Northern Hemisphere. So, according to my calculations, today promises to be the most depressing day of the year for most of the people reading this post — yay for us — not really. 🙁 You know, the Church foresaw Blue Monday way before Wikipedia made it a thing — it’s called Ordinary Time — and coming off of the highs of the Christmas Season can be hard for all of us. The parties are over, family has returned to their…
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Readjusting to Ordinary Time :(
Welcome back to ordinary time. 🙁 I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to get back into ordinary time. I mean, couldn’t the Church have come up with a better name than “Ordinary“? Ordinary time just sounds so — well, ordinary. And who likes ordinary? No, we want a life of adventure and excitement — so why does the Church have to bring us down with all of it’s talk of ordinary time? I’ll tell you why — because life can’t always be one high after the next — it has highs and lows and there is a natural ebb and flow to life and maybe the Church knows better than…
