Worthless Wednesday??

Do you ever have a day where you feel worthless?  Like you accomplished nothing?  Made no real impact on anyone else's day.  Disappointment around every corner.  Yeah, today was one of those days for me.

**Late start to my day, since Pookey was up coughing all night long.  Third day of fever and croup for him.  Both Rose and Yoda had to be checked often throughout the night to make sure their fevers weren't getting too high.  Not to mention the rain and storms all night.  This momma lays in bed, while her hero husband gets up regardless to go work for the family.  Just call me a lazy-bum, taking full advantage of the flexibility of being a stay-at-home mom and all plans being canceled today from having sick kids.

**We didn't even go anywhere today.  Didn't even leave the house.  

**Didn't get anything done.

**Dust bunnies are taking over multiple flat surfaces around the house.

**Ceiling fans are also covered in dust and needing a good cleaning.  But, thankfully, I learned you can mask this by keeping your fans on.  Shhhh - don't tell anyone my secret.

**No home-cooked meals.

**Canceled activities and sad kiddos because of it.

These items left undone and the let down can really weigh on you.  I can hear that voice, "you are worthless".  "You have so much to do, and didn't get one thing done"  "What a failure of a day"

SNAP OUT OF IT!

BEGONE SATAN!

MASTER OF LIES, GET, GET, GET!

PRAY AND LEAN ON OUR LORD!

++Lord, I need you.  I know you planned this day.  Your grace and your presence is here.  Somewhere.  Help me find it.  Help me see You++

"Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation of cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness"

~St. John Crysostom

I did what I was supposed to today.  I tried my best.

**I loved my kids.

**Took care of sick ones.  Took temps.  Gave meds.  The great Ibuprofen and Tylenol rotation.

**Fed kids two meals and cleaned after them.  Granted they were not home-cooked meals.  I just warmed up pizza from the night before.  But the tables got wiped, and dishes got rinsed.  

**I showered.  Four kids got showered, even though they are the ones who can shower themselves.

**I brushed my teeth.  Yes, this is a HUGE thing!!  

**Let my kids get the rest they needed.  TV may burn out by the end of the day.  Only got a break when we were eating meals.  I did introduce the kids to Cupcake Wars and we watched and enjoyed multiple episodes.  Now we are joking about how hungry we are for cupcakes!!  (cupcake delivery anyone??)

**I kicked up my feet and took a nap with little Yoda.  Ahhh, the pure sweetness of that resting time and baby lovin's.  

**Believe it or not, I did do two loads of laundry.  

**The house remained tidy and neat.  Mostly because we were all glued to the tv - lol!

**Got today's blog post up for a blog that I help run.  (Go read it!!  These mom authors are awesome and so very inspirational!!)


So, was today a worthless day?  Should we just fast-forward and skip to tomorrow?  No way.  We are called to live in the moment.  Not wish your worthless day away.  Embrace the suffering and all that doesn't go your way.  Turn the disappointments into prayer.  Look for joy.  Find joy.  Create joy.

"I cannot be downcast, since in everything that happens to me, I see the loving hand of Jesus"

~St. Therese of Lisieux

Homemade Prayer Calendars in 4 easy steps

Going on over 15 years now with this homemade Christmas/New Years gift-giving tradition for our families and close friends.  

It is truly the gift that keeps giving.  Wrapping the completed prayer calendar always seems like the easy part.  It looks so simple.  Just a plain old calendar with pre-printed dates and holidays, just waiting to be filled in with the receiver's events and activities for the upcoming year.  But turn the pages, and you'll notice something quite different....  a virtue and/or prayer intention and verses to go with it.  And our pledge to pray for the receiver daily throughout the year and focus on that monthly intention.

So, how do you make one of these?  Truly quite simple, until you get to steps #3 and #4.  They are the hardest parts.  

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#1 - pick out and buy calendars.  I get a combination of bigger dayspring calendars and faith-based calendars.  For the faith-based calendars, I chose these Year of Mercy calendars and also Michele Quiqley's beautiful liturgical wall calendars. 

 #2 - pick out the virtues and prayer intentions to go with it.  You can even use this book to get you started.  It's already based on a virtue per month and has a different quote for each day.  This year, I used most of these virtues, but changed out a few.   I print them on sticker sheets, so all you have to do it cut and peel to place them on the calendar.  I used to use normal paper and glue sticks.  Oy!!  So glad I moved to the sticker sheets a few years ago.   Here are my choices for this year....

January – JOY

“A Christian is never bored or sad.  Rather, the one who loves Christ is full of JOY and radiates    JOY.”     ~Pope Francis

February – FAITH

“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel   you believe, but yourself.”            ~St. Augustine

March – SACRIFICE

“The world admired only spectacular sacrifice; it does not realize the value of SACRIFICE that is hidden and silent.”                ~St. Josemaria Escriva

April – OBEDIENCE

“It is not hard to OBEY when we love the one whom we obey”  ~St. Ignatius

May – GRACE

“For GRACE is not given because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.”        ~St. Augustine

June – PRAYER

“PRAYER is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.”   ~St. John Crysostom

July – HUMILITY

“Pride leads to disgrace, but with HUMILITY comes wisdom.”      ~Proverbs 11: 2

August -  CHARITY

“To love our neighbor in CHARITY is to love God in man.”              ~St. Francis de Sales

September – DILIGENCE

“How easily we could win heaven day by day just by doing what we have to do – but doing it for God!”    ~St. John Vianney

October – PATIENCE

 “Let nothing trouble you, let nothing make you afraid.  All things pass away.  God never changes.   PATIENCE obtains everything.  God alone is enough.”          ~St. Teresa of Avila

November – GRATITUDE

“The secret to happiness is to live moment by moment and to THANK God for what He is sending us every day in His goodness.”         ~St. Gianna Beretta Molla

December – PEACE    

“Do not be afraid to take a chance on PEACE, to teach PEACE, to live PEACE…  PEACE will be the last word of history.”               ~Pope Saint John Paul II

#3 - the assembly!!  Now I will not lie to you, this is super time-consuming.  You have to cut out all the verses and virtue/intentions.  Then you have to put these on the calendar for the appropriate month.  For me, it's times 13 this year!  But, you can kinda put them together "assembly line" style and do one month at a time.  I even put my kiddos to work!  They especially love the holiday sticker part!

#4 - PRAY!!  Yes, that's right, it's not called a "prayer calendar" for nothing.  You are pledging to pray for the receiver daily throughout the upcoming year.  We offer up these prayers during our family prayers at night.     DO.  NOT.  FORGET.  THIS.  STEP.  

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And, if that's not enough, here's two options....

Option 1:  Pretty them up with holiday stickers.  We buy and use a variety of stickers and place them on the actual square for the holiday.  The kids especially love this part!!  

Option 2:  You can add in birthdays and Baptismal Anniversaries.  We do this for all our family members and Godparents of our children.  

So, there ya go!!  Simple, yet meaningful, with a whole lotta love and hard work and your prayers to top it off!  Makes a lovely Christmas or New Years gift for anyone on your list!!  

I don't ever want to forget...

....the sweetness and beauty and innocence of our baby girl's prayer.  Neil's birthday was at the end of July and on the morning of his birthday, we woke up to Rose saying this prayer all by herself with no prompting and never having been formally taught.  Obviously, these are words she hears on a regular basis and picked up on the beauty and meaning of this simple prayer.

++Thank you, God!!!++

New Years goals for 2014

This time of year is such a blessing!  We always need fresh starts and new beginnings, don't we?  It's been so encouraging reading and seeing others' New Year's Resolutions, and our kids wrote up their goals, and all the while, I have been pondering things in my own heart.  I know how important accountability is when it comes to follow-through, so I thought I'd just put it all out there, for all of you to read, pray with me, and encourage me.  Please let me do the same for you - please share your goals and let me encourage and pray for you!!

My goals for 2014 are...

"One word" tradition

Have you ever heard how some people pick one word that they focus on, reflect upon and try to grow in throughout that year.  I've always wanted a "word", but never put the time and effort and prayer into selecting one.  This year, I did.  And, <bam!> it just hit me LOUD and CLEAR!  My one word for 2014 is order.  Some of you who know me quite well, are probably laughing right now - "she already is Miss Orderly" or "she's one of the most organized people I know".  I guess I got ya fooled.  I am a (mostly) last-minute type of gal, who often gets by with the minimum.  I do "get by" though because I'm not a quitter, and maybe that's why I've came across as someone who already has "order" in my life.  But, goodness, do I need improvement - A LOT of it.  First and foremost, I have created an orderly schedule for our school days.  In the last week, I've created and re-created and re-created and it is still a work in progress.  Even with a schedule in place, I am constantly reminded who is the Master Scheduler and the need to be flexible.  And I LOVE when He completely takes over, flips our schedule upside-down, and takes the wheel!  The kids and myself included are already seeing benefits in our schedule, and I know that as we get more practice with it, it will be even more of a blessing!!

"All things should be done decently and in order."

~1 Corinthians 14:40 

 

GET UP!!!!! 

Having the blessing of staying home and schooling our children also comes with its downsides.... and one of those is that I would lay in bed til the very last minute possible.  Kids crawling into bed with me falling asleep becomes too tempting to want to stay there and snuggle.  Or, I would have kids yelling and jumping on the bed, "Mom, we are hungry!!"  Or, after a really rough night with a nursing baby or coughing toddler or staying up too late (which never happens with me - lol!), it's way too tempting to just let the kids watch a couple cartoons in the morning - doh!  So...  I have actually set an alarm and am getting myself up, showered and ready BEFORE the crew wakes up.  I think this will be the hardest one for me, truly....  Please pray for me to get myself out of bed.  I'll take wake-up calls!!  ;)

"She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household."

~Proverbs 31:15

Read aloud to the kids - every day

I have always loved to read aloud, but never truly understood how much I do until I read a post from this sweet momma.  I was never a reader growing up, but there is something about reading out loud to all the kids that brings  so much JOY to me and them!  The kids just hang on to every word, and beg for me to read more.  I actually love (and giggle to myself) how they all sigh when I tell that "that's all for now".  It's such a special time together and I will do this every day with them in many different ways - both educational and fun reading. 

our newest read-aloud

Adding to my spiritual life

Following, loving and serving Our Lord is the heartbeat that keeps me going.  He guides me, strengthens me, corrects me, loves me, teaches me, and gave His all for me.  I can add to and give a little more of myself every year to draw closer to Him.  Here is my plan for this year....

1)  morning offering:  the kids and I pray the Morning Offering prayer before breakfast and have done this for years.  In helping the follow through of my "own word" of ORDER, and being reliant upon God's grace, I am adding a morning offering as my alarm is ringing and I am hopping out of bed.  I will start my day with a "serviam" (I will serve you, Lord!).  Then, I will add the devotion of praying "3 Hail Mary's" for holy purity.
2)  daily examination of conscience
3)  33 Day Consecration (I am doing a weekly study for this at a local church)
4)  Full Rosary at least once a week:  we already pray a decade of the Rosary for our evening family prayers, but would love to work our way up to a full rosary.  Again, I know attempting to do this every night may be too much.  So, we'll take steps and aim for one full Rosary a week.   
5) Behold conference  
6)  monthly confession as a family:  one of those "game changers" that Matthew Kelly suggests
7)  blessing after meals prayer

"My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words, I know it by experience." 

~St Therese

Get moving!!!!

What New Year's resolution post would be complete without a goal related to exercise?  Well, I've never been good at follow through when it comes to this one, nor do I have a concrete plan on how to do this and be successful still.  I have never forgot (and kinda use this as an excuse) to not be consistent, how a dear priest friend of ours "okay-ed" and released the guilt I have from this.  He said, "There are seasons in life when this is easier and better, but right now I need to focus on my family!"  I still agree and feel very strongly with what he said, but think I am be able to work something in, even if it is once a week.  I NEED prayers for this part and am open to any suggestions!!  Thanks bunches!! 

Some other ideas:

***Related to the "one word" tradition, I wanted to share something a close friend of mine does...  She not only pics a word for herself, but also a word for her husband and three sons.  She is in my weekly prayer group and as she has done this tradition for years, it is AMAZING to hear about and see where God leads each of them throughout the year and how that "one word" has true meaning behind their major happenings.  Total GRACE!  For now, I will pick the one overall word for myself, and after I can stick with that, then I'm hoping to take on this tradition in future years.  Don't want to overwhelm myself too fast!

***Scripture memorization - again, another year for us!  

May God bless you all abundantly this year!!!