It was hard work to keep our brood under control as they waited for their pancakes at a local diner last Sunday after Mass. I was exhausted just playing referee to the game of 20 questions that we were using to pass the time. At the table next to us, a little old lady ate her fried eggs and toast while she read the paper. It might have been easy to think of her as lonely or pathetic, but in... Read more
Our wonderful pastor has been reminding us to come to Confession now, before the rush of Holy Week, for the past five weeks of Lent. During the season of Lent, our parish offers Confession three times daily (before each Mass) as well as on the weekend, so there really are plenty of convenient opportunities to receive the sacrament. Today as he was again reminding us of these opportunities, he said “Please, come to Confession and receive the gift of God’s... Read more
I just had the “Band-Aid pulled off” here in my little Army apartment in Germany. We have a newborn baby and my mother left (after nearly two months of helping out) on Monday, my Dad on Wednesday and then my husband on Thursday for a two-week stint in Afghanistan. And I have four children.. alone.. and meal delivery has ceased. Horror of horrors. Defrost meat, what is that? Furthermore, I am not a natural at this household management deal. I... Read more
…call for desperate measures. There is a wall that many of us tend to hit sometime in the 8th month of pregnancy that leads us into some sort of delirious state in which we are willing to try anything to induce labor naturally. Between all of the builders, we have probably tried every old wives tales for inducing labor. Some of them potentially credible. Others not. Some of them probably not fit to share here. Here is a study published... Read more
My imaginative first grader was home sick from school yesterday, so she happened to meet a special someone for the first time: Irena, who cleans for us every 4 weeks. My daughter was taken with her. Irena has wispy gray-blonde hair that she wears in a high bun; rosy cheeks and a generously-shared bright smile; enthusiastic nods and giggles with which she communicates her warmth to my children, since she speaks no English; and she’s so dignified that she makes... Read more
I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be lovely. Hollywood surely isn’t. My home, at the moment, is anything but. How is my character? Lovely? My mind travels to this lady, loving orphans in Uganda. And to this one and her countless years serving the poor. I most definitely remember Our Lady and her overwhelming receptivity and goodness as a mother. These women showed their loveliness through humility, pouring out their lives for others. I... Read more
I have loved browsing the website, Art Projects for Kids, and this week I plan to have my children make these Easter cards. I think that some will draw the bunny, but others may do eggs or other Easter shapes and scenes. Watercolor is a favorite activity in our homeschool, but ours is often aimless, so this will be a nice way to do something with a purpose. If this is a popular activity, we may give some of the... Read more
We invited some homeschooling friends for a morning of St. Patrick’s Day activities. We had 20 children at our house (what’s that about socialization?), and following the “Unit Study in a Day” format I described recently in Mater et Magistra magazine, we had various stations on our theme. The first order of business, frankly, was to get all of the big boys outside. They played Rounders, a game somewhere between cricket and baseball, which the Irish brought to America and... Read more
Today is a rainy day here in our corner of the world, and as I walked into the church this morning I noticed that there were several buckets and a tarp set up near the entrance. It occurred to me that before this morning’s downpour, those who take care of the church building probably had no idea that the leaks existed – they were undetectable until the rain came. Then I thought about my own life, and of how sometimes... Read more
Good Monday morning, dear readers! I have some news that I have been wanting to share with our Building Cathedrals family for some time now. As some of you may have already gathered, I am pregnant with baby #5 and due around the 4th of July. Shortly before Christmas, we found out that our baby has a condition very similar to that of our first daughter, Lucy Rose (and also Kellie’s (“Red’s”) sweet Therese Joy), a neural tube defect called... Read more
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