Living
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Advent is Coming!
Hello all, Advent is coming! I feel like this entire year has been an advent, in many ways — which is why I can only imagine that God is going to be pouring His grace into the hearts of His people in a special way this Advent. Today, I thought I’d share some posts from Advent past — very Dickens if you ask me — so click on the images below and it will bring you to the original posts with all the lovely images that go with them! Happy Thanksgiving, and may God bless our Advent!
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21 Years and Counting!
Today, John and I celebrate 21 years of marriage!💛 It’s strange how time can fly by and feel like it hasn’t has passed at all, all in the same breath. Marriage is often the extraordinary sprinkled in with the everyday things that fill our lives — it possesses the perplexing quality of being both exhilarating and downright frustrating — and often at the same time😂! John and I have had to fight through A LOT in our early years of marriage, but recently, we’ve discovered we worked through a lot of those things — or maybe it’s just that we’ve learned to accept that some things won’t change about the…
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Hooray for Awesome Priests Helping Us Form Our Conscience in Confusing Times
Hello everybody! Today, I thought I would share a few videos to help you break through all the confusion and allow your conscience to be formed by some amazing priests. Can I just say how grateful I am for the amazing priests that we have in our Church? Sometimes we tend to focus on the “bad ones” — but perhaps more fruitful is to pray for all our priests and to highlight the good ones, ya know? There are so many amazing priests I have encountered throughout the years, and I am so grateful for each and every one of them! They have helped to shape my conscience in the…
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What My Zombie Apocalypse Experience at the Mall Taught Me About Filling Our Lives With Jesus
Happy Friday Everybody! Recently, I found myself running for my life through an empty mall — but perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me take you back an hour before my run which, frankly, may have broken a few speed records in the “mom of 6 kids” category. Ha, ha! While trying to kill time before a pickup of one of my kids, I gave a call over to a local store which informed me the blazer I was interested in was on crazy discount — the only catch is I had 30 minutes before the mall closed and the sale ended! My love for bargains compelled me to…
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Speak the Truth in Love
You know, sometimes we can allow our fear of “offending” somebody get in the way of saying the very thing that we know will set them free. Why is that? If we’re being honest, sometimes it’s because we would rather be liked by somebody than to say that difficult thing that NEEDS to be said. Other times, we genuinely fear hurting somebody’s feelings so much so, that we remain silent — even though, deep down, we know they DESERVE the truth that will set them free. The third option, which is the least attractive, is that we simply don’t care about the souls of the people around us. I’m willing…
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Behind the Scenes of a Talk
Well, I’m finished! I was up against a tight deadline, but I finished the talk for the upcoming Catholic Mom’s summit and just sent it off! Hooray! Honestly, I don’t know how it is all going to come together, but I did my best — and now I leave the rest to God and the editors (they have their work cut out for them!) Let me just say, I am exhausted. I always feel like a shell of a person after giving a talk. I just feel like I have nothing left to give. Do you ever feel that way? Anyway, today is all about catching up with all the…
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How to Battle Sadness
“Sorrow can be alleviated by a good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.” -Attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas- I thought today was a good day to share a little wisdom from one of my favorite Saints, Thomas Aquinas, especially for those days when you aren’t exactly feeling it. You will find some who will point out that St. Thomas Aquinas didn’t EXACTLY come up with this quote above — the man wasn’t known for his pithy statements — but one could say that his treatment of the remedies for sorrow in the Summa Theologicae definitely support the sentiment. That’s right: one of the world’s greatest philosophical minds (in…
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How a Meal Can Change Everything
Did you know that a single meal has the power to change everything — literally EVERYTHING! How else would you describe that Last Supper in which the priesthood was established, and the Savior of the world gave his last words of encouragement and instruction, before He would be ransomed for our sins? That one meal changed everything — and did you know that, in our participation in the Sacred Meal at every Mass, Jesus is still working to transform us. Which is why I think we greatly underestimate the power of a meal. Beyond that Sacred Meal, though, there is another type of transformation that happens when friends and family…
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Can A Catholic Vote for a Pro-Abortion Candidate?
Well, on top of a world-wide pandemic — election season is upon us — Hooray! (Please note sarcasm.) It’s led to a perfect storm of chaos and turmoil. Can we all agree this hasn’t been an easy time for most of us? But hey, who said life was meant to be easy — not Jesus and not the Saints! We must accept that difficulty is a part of life, and make the most of the time God has given to us. Let’s not waste our days in fear and anger and dread. Let’s live our lives for Christ and His Church and do our best to live lives that reflect…
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Since We’re Basically All Homeschooling, Time For a Pep Talk
It feels like it’s time for a homeschooling pep talk — or maybe it’s just me that needs it right about now 😂. As a lot of parents are basically being thrown into homeschooling for at least a few months, consider this my “it’s all going to be okay” post. And it really will be okay — maybe even better than okay — because as a parent, no matter where you send your kids for “school”, you are always going to be your kids’ primary educator. You are always going to be the one your kids look to for the answers to life. So don’t freak out if you find yourself…
