Fruit of praying St. Thomas' Prayer for Ordering a Life Wisely

So, I had this wonderful grace today. As I looked around seeing all that needs to be done, which usually overwhelms me, I realized something. Paradoxically, I think it's the fruit of praying St. Thomas Aquinas' prayer for ordering a life wisely. It's a paradox because my life feels very far from ordered right now. But God revealed to me that He loves me and is pouring out His grace on all of us right in the middle, and really through our messy life (in a physical and spiritual sense). When I looked around, suddenly all of this:

-legos built and unbuilt (not fun to step on)
-A pile of toy nerf guns confiscated yesterday on which I stubbed my toe really bad in the dark this morning (ouch!)
-dust (lots and lots of it)
-a hot wheels race car set at the bottom of the stairs (why there?)
-train set somewhere, or so I've heard
-dirty kleenex (I know! gross, it's not me)
-food on the floor (we don't have a dog, working on Chris in this matter)
-dirty (and also clean, unfolded) laundry taking over (literally overflowing)
-piles of papers with printed out prayers/articles I like
-prayer books
-piles of kids' school projects, homework, forms that need to be filled out
-childrens' books on the nightstands, on the floors, on the beds, on the counters, on the stairs (not fun to slip on), on the kitchen counters
-my books in all the same places as the childrens' books
-unsent Christmas cards that I didn't have an address for (I give up on this one)
-unsent school pictures (working on that one too!)
-dirty dishes
-coats, blankets, socks, shoes, mittens, etc...
-Christmas tree still up
-Nativity sets still out
-Superhero birthday decorations still hanging up
-Pink flower birthday decorations still hanging up
-wonderful school books laying around haphazardly in the living room that when used teach God's beauty in all parts of our life and studies
-a violin with music scattered around
-a very dusty piano that needs tuning
-unmade beds
-and much much more believe it or not

made me realize something beautiful. My messy life, and that of my family, is the evidence that there are 7 beautiful souls living in this house, learning to love God and each other, and that despite the fact that it feels and looks so "disordered", it is in fact ordered. Ordered to the love of God, the love He has for each one of us, and the love we have for Him.

Thank You Jesus! Amen.

Wyoming Catholic College

So what is the point anyway?

So, yesterday, I told DD1 she could write a guest blog post some time about something she is learning in school. At that time she said, "No thanks, Mom."

A little while ago she came up to me and said, "I would like to post about what I'm learning in History, Mom." So, I said okay, let me look at what you've got. So I read what she has, and really it was just kind of jumping around between 1743 and 1804 without a real point with a few facts thrown in here and there that didn't really have any thought pattern (I did explain to her yesterday how important it was to use her own words and not plagiarize).

I think she can improve the flow a little better, and I told her, "Well, why don't we work on your writing a little. You need to have a point and a better flow of your thoughts."

And this was her answer, "Well, Mom, some of your blog posts don't really have a point either, do they?"

Er, yes..... this is true.

Look for a guest blog post from DD1 some time soon! :)

UPDATE: DD1 wanted me to let you know that she specifically referred to the Is it Yoda or a sleestak post as one that did not have a point. I think that post had a point, but who am I to say?

Life was easier when we didn't have new carpet...

A new family motto:

With eating popsicles comes great responsibility.

I am REALLY beginning to dislike popsicles, almost as much as I dislike playdough. Popsicles serve no purpose at all. At least with ice cream there is some sort of nutrition, you know, dairy. And ice cream fills you up. Popsicles do nothing but make messes and make everyones' tongues and faces and hands orange, purple, bright red, blue, or the best, green.


By the way, the start to homeschooling is going GREAT. Really! Really ;)

Actually it is (homeschooling going great), once we got over the whole beheading John the Baptist beginning and looked at the Joyful Mysteries and Luminous Mysteries and talked about how instrumental John the Baptist was in preparing the way for salvation, going before the Lord and all... I know, I'm weird, going from popsicles to the Canticle of Zachariah, it's the life of a homeschooling mom. Catholic homeschooling mom. Any family that may be reading this, you were right to be worried about homeschooling.

It was all fun and games until the popsicles started dripping everywhere......

Must Read - Monday Aug 29

We have started school today, so I do not have a lot to post except that I request your prayers please. DS2 started kindergarten in public school today and DS1 and DD1 start homeschool today. It's going pretty good, except well, you know it never goes quite the way you planned it. We are a work in progress :) Maybe we should have started on a different feast day than the Beheading of John the Baptist. Well, we'll have over a week in when it's time to celebrate the Nativity of Mary! Remember, I'm a glass full kind of gal!

Mary has a must read post at The Beautiful Gate about the Fr. Gordon MacRae case. Please go read it!

Have a wonderful and blessed week! Thanks for your prayers.

Architecture for Kids

After realizing how little I know about Church architecture earlier today while spending time on the internet avoiding doing dishes, I am thinking about doing a unit study on Church architecture for our homeschool. You know, we'll just fit it in between the other dozen or so things we're doing ;)

Doing something like this would be cool though, it would encompass math, science, engineering, history, art, music, literature, religion.... and we could tour our local Cathedral as a field trip! And other cool local Catholic Churches! Plus back in the olden days when I actually was an engineer, I helped out with a really good series called Building Big that was a special on PBS. Our state was chosen as one of the places that received a grant to teach this material to 4th and 5th graders, and I got to go tour WGBH in Boston too! It rained the whole time we were there, but it was still fun to tour the TV Station. So anyway, I have some extra teaching materials left over from that somewhere in a box, I hope, unless it got thrown out in the move.

Anyway, I don't know if we'll get to it this semester, or next, but here is a really cool website I found while researching this possibility. It is from love2learn:

Architecture for Kids

Is that cool or what?

HT Worm on the Notre Dame de Chartres image

Oh, That Teacher

So, this week we are trying to get ready for school to start next week. And DD1 says, "I can't wait to start school! I'm so excited!" [Good so far]

Then she says, "So, Mom, do you think that when we start you could be like a Catholic school teacher that doesn't know us very well?"


And I think to myself, Oh, you mean the one that is nice/isn't afraid of crafty activities/loves playdough/never yells/doesn't look at all your faults as a reflection of her/isn't an emotional basket case/never spends too much time on the computer/doesn't have a pessimistic bone in her body/makes wonderful snacks every day/never disengages/is cheerful/is more of a coach than a dictator/never burns grilled cheese sandwiches (yeah, that has happened more than I care to admit)/always knows exactly what the plan is for the day/never second guesses your math curriculum/and never EVER pulls your hair?"

~~~

No, I can't be THAT teacher, but I can be the one that loves you so much she will do everything she can to try to get you to heaven (of course it is God getting you to heaven, but you know what I mean)/look at all your good qualities as a reflection of God/feel a sense of gratitude every time a language art, history, or science lesson teaches you the beauty of your Catholic faith and God's creation/teach and learn with you about the ordinary and heroic lives of the Saints/obsessively review different math curriculums only to stay with the one we started with/pray with you and for you/cry with you/yell at you, but seek your forgiveness and God's/disengage at times to maintain my sanity/admit I am flawed/have tea with you/cook with you (even if it doesn't turn out exactly the way we planned it)/will point out when you are mean to others/will try to never, EVER pull your hair again/will expect more out of you than you think you can do/will challenge you to love and forgive even when you do not want to/will teach you as I learn myself how to listen to God/will teach you how to love God with all your heart, your soul, and your strength and how to love others the way He does and when we fail in this to seek His forgiveness/will teach you our Catholic faith by living it all day, every day.

That's the teacher I can be.

Book Giveaway at Careless Catholic

Kelly over at The Careless Catholic is hosting a book giveaway for A Little Way of Homeschooling by Suzie Andres. She also reviewed the book, so go check out her review too. This book sounds awesome! If I don't win, I think I will have to buy a copy :)

Thanks for hosting Kelly!

Curriculum is here!

We are going to be spending the next several days getting our homeschool together. I would like to post some info about what we are doing with our homeschool, so I am not going to blog until we have all of that together and our school is up and running. This has been extra challenging this time around because we are still trying to unpack and get back to our Family Rule. This is something we have done from reading A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot, which I highly recommend. Another thing I plan to do is post info on books I have read that have been helpful to me in my vocation as wife and mother.

Please pray for us as we embark on this new adventure, and God willing, I hope to be back blogging about all of that in a few weeks or so.

May God be with You always. Thanks for visiting!

God, help us as we prepare for another school year. May we all grow closer to You in all that we do. Watch over us and protect us. In Your Holy Name I pray, Amen.