500+ hours That is the (grossly underestimated) time a mother sacrifices to nurse her wee babe for a year. That’s overlooking the 8+ number of feedings a mother commits to during the early days and weeks. That’s glossing over the varying lengths of those feedings and the hours of demand, often in the middle of the night when the mother is passed out, trying to grab whatever shut-eye she can. That’s obtusely ignoring all the moments of indecision a mother... Read more
How nice to dance alongside a sister! Read more
What am I cooking? Good, old marinated chicken on the grill–LOVE grilling in the summer! We are also having a basmati rice blend side and spinach salad. Can’t wait and neither can the kids! They love the simple and delicious! What are my weekend plans? There are plans in the works for a family 5k Saturday morning to benefit a local Catholic family whose daughter suffers from a rare disorder caused by a virus during pregnancy. They are accepting donations... Read more
Do your summer plans include some time in nature? What suggestions do you have for making this actually happen? We camped and hiked a lot as children, and I loved that quiet time, I did find it very spiritual. I haven’t really figured out how to make that happen with a large family, though, so I would love some tips or encouragement! http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-33039?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zenit%2Fenglish+%28ZENIT+English%29 Read more
I am trying to spend the first 15 minutes or so of our after lunch “quiet time” doing reading a spiritual classic or a biography of a saint. My 9 and 8 year old children are enjoying the Encounter the Saints stories, biographies which they find easy and enjoyable — I do not, at this stage, want this to be reading above their reading level. However, I also want to model this practice for our early or pre-reading children. There... Read more
First, thank you all for your prayers on behalf of my family, and especially on behalf of my 3 year old son Gus. Gus was very sick for most of May. He was in and out of the hospital during that time, and doctors ran a number of test to determine the cause of his illness. He was diagnosed with a rare GI disease, but there is still some uncertainty as to the exact cause of his recent flare-up, or... Read more
Kat drew my attention to this recent article from the New York Times. As a young Protestant married couple, Sam Torode and Bethany Patchin embraced NFP, welcomed four children in six years, and authored the book, “Open Embrace: A Protestant Couple Rethinks Contraception”. In 2006, they recanted their praise of NFP. In 2009, they divorced. Both now attend liberal Protestant churches. In 2002, in their book, they wrote: Procreation is “the umbrella under which the other aspects of marriage are nurtured,” they wrote.... Read more
Happy Monday morning, dear friends! There is a beautiful website called Catholics Come Home that I wanted to draw everyone’s attention to. This website was originally intended to provide information to fallen away Catholics who had questions about the faith, but has evolved into a great resource for all Catholics, whether fallen away or faithfully practicing. I have been especially touched by the short video clips, particularly the “Movie commercial” clip. Check it out and pass it on to your friends and... Read more
My husband is a scholar of British and European history, which necessitates regular and fairly-grueling trips abroad for conferences and research, with each trip lasting a minimum of one week. He rarely has internet access outside of his archives, so we’re limited to expensive 20-25 minute Skype phone calls each day from my computer to his shoddy international mobile phone. Twenty minutes is not nearly enough to recount a full day’s activities and impressions in two lives that are one.... Read more
Last Sunday, my husband finally broke. Our schedule was packed, our luggage was not unpacked, the children were whiny and at least one of them could not find his shoes on the way out the door for Mass. “The stuff” he said, as he says from time to time, “has taken over.” Now, you know that we like to declutter and that we have done some re-arranging this spring, so we don’t have piles of random stuff all over, the... Read more
Building Cathedrals
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