Penance

"Do penance: bury your negligences, offenses, and sins in the deep pit dug by your humility. Thus does the farmer bury rotten fruit, dead twigs and fallen leaves at the foot of the tree that bore them. And what was unfruitful, even harmful, makes a real contribution to a new fertility.

Learn to draw from your falls a new impulse: from death, life."

~St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, 211

I had to read this point a couple of times before the message really sunk in...

Holy Week Artwork

I was looking for some beautiful images of Holy Week to share with our children and came across the website Joyful Heart's list with links to many, many beautiful images. I have not reviewed any of the other content on the site, but this list, which includes images of the Last Supper, Gethsemane, the Trial, the Crucifixion and the Pieta, was exactly what I was looking for. Not all the links work, but many can be looked up by artist/title at the Web Gallery of Art.

Under Water

My kids have been sick, on and off, for the entire month of march. Not all of them, but one or two at a time, and not really sick, just sort of stay in your pajamas until 11:30 and ask for toast sick. They have also been mean, tired and bickering almost constantly, and there has been a major rain storm for several days each week. March has been a bear, and I am glad to see it go.

Random Thoughts, New Baby Edition :)

Over the past couple of weeks, our family has been enjoying lots of quality time with our newest addition, little Caroline Rose. The older kids are having a great time playing with their baby sister, and we're all settling into the new routines and schedules of having a newborn in the house again! Here are some random thoughts that I've been having:

1) I really must keep a pitcher of lemonade or iced tea in the refrigerator. Here in Texas, visitors stop by unannounced to congratulate us and to bring meals, banana breads, and sweet little baby gifts. I think that this is entirely wonderful, especially since I am prone to loneliness after the birth of a baby, and feel incredibly blessed to have such wonderful neighbors and friends! But every time a visitor knocks on the door, I am wishing that I had a cold drink to offer them. My mother-in-law makes a delicious lemon iced tea, so I'll have to get the recipe from her and keep a pitcher in the fridge!

2) Going to the grocery store with a wailing infant has its perks. First of all, my trips are much shorter than usual since I don't have the luxury of browsing casually up and down the aisles. Second, I save money because I buy only the essentials. Lastly, I meet all sorts of friendly people who smile at me with pitying looks - when I was a first-time mom, those smiles bothered me because I was sure that people were secretly very annoyed with me for bringing a screaming newborn into the store. Now I know that most people don't really mind a crying baby (as long as it's not their own!), and that they understand because they have been in the same position themselves!

3) Taking the two older children to swim lessons is very difficult with a newborn. Inevitably, when it is time to change out of wet bathing suits and into dry clothes, all of the dressing rooms will be taken, the toddler will have a poopy diaper, and the newborn will have a blow-out poopy diaper. After changing diapers, Mommy won't have the time or energy to put on the toddler's clothes because the newborn will be screaming, so on the way home the toddler will be crying because she needs her pants and she is cold. Mommy also won't have any snacks or drinks, and the children will be so hungry that you would think they hadn't eaten in three days. The older children will be traumatized by baby's blood-curdling screams, and everyone will arrive at home in a bit of a state of shock.

4) So many people have been extremely generous in bringing us meals, and I wish that there was something that I could do (other than write a thank you note) to convey the depth of my gratitude. Any ideas??

Life is good, dear friends, and we are incredibly blessed to have baby Caroline at home with us! A blessed Holy Week to all of you!

Holy Week

We heard a homily yesterday that reminded us that this should be a week set a part for all Christians. We have one last push of Lent, a little more time to carefully offer our sacrifices with love, to make some extra time for prayer and to contemplate the Passion. It is particularly special this year as it overlaps with Orthodox holy week and also with Passover, so around the world people are praying this week.

Danielle Bean linked to this video, Come to Jesus, which is putting me in a contemplative mood this morning.

The world around us will not stop, but it did not stop 2000 years ago in Jerusalem, either, so we have to make the time.

Down with Grass

Ladies, Christmas may be 9 months away, but Easter is 9 days away and I have an urgent issue. What are your creative substitutes for Easter grass? I am NOT bringing that stuff into our home for another year. Last year my five-year-old daughter wanted to stuff it into ziploc bags, put pillow cases on them and use them for her animals. I am still finding pieces of the stuff. Does anyone have an attractive substitute?

Feast of the Annunciation

Happy Feast of the Annunciation! This morning at mass, our priest gave a wonderful homily on the beauty of this feast day, reminding us that the Annunciation is one of the great feasts in the Church year. He gave all expectant and new mothers a blessing, as well as a St. Gerard medal and a carnation. Fr. Troy also mixed in some humor, beginning his homily by saying, "You know what today is, right? Today, you officially have 9 months left to do your Christmas shopping." His point, of course, was that we celebrate the Annunciation today because we will celebrate Jesus' birth 9 months from today.

Below I have posted an excerpt from John Paul II's homily on the Feast of the Annunciation in 2000, which he gave from the town of Nazareth in Israel. His words, as always, are an inspiration and a great encouragement to me, and as I was reading this document I couldn't help but wonder, "What might God be asking me to do that has never been done before? What might he be asking of me and my family, and how am I responding?"

4. Like Abraham, Mary is asked to say yes to something that has never happened before. Sarah is the first in the line of barren wives in the Bible who conceive by God's power, just as Elizabeth will be the last. Gabriel speaks of Elizabeth to reassure Mary: "Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son" (Lk 1:36).

Like Abraham, Mary must walk through darkness, in which she must simply trust the One who called her. Yet even her question, "How can this come about?", suggests that Mary is ready to say yes, despite her fears and uncertainties. Mary asks not whether the promise is possible, but only how it will be fulfilled. It comes as no surprise, therefore, when finally she utters her fiat: "I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let what you have said be done to me" (Lk 1:38). With these words, Mary shows herself the true daughter of Abraham, and she becomes the Mother of Christ and Mother of all believers.