{"id":6288,"date":"2012-10-18T11:48:30","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T17:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/?p=6288"},"modified":"2012-10-18T12:08:48","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T18:08:48","slug":"thoughts-for-thursday-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2012\/10\/thoughts-for-thursday-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts for Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

What am I cooking for dinner tonight?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Bacon chicken with cheesy bacon mashed potatoes and green beans.\u00a0 Sound good?\u00a0 Well that\u2019s because everything is delicious with bacon.\u00a0 And the key to happy gluten free living is bacon.\u00a0 If you have been living on this planet for more than 18 months, you know that bacon is amazing, and goes well with all foods.\u00a0 Ever seen that Jim Gaffigan standup routine about bacon?\u00a0 Go here<\/a> for a laugh.<\/p>\n

But back to our meal.\u00a0 Thursday night is the one weeknight where our family does not have outside activities.\u00a0 Our entire day is free, with the exception of regular school and home obligations.\u00a0 So on Thursdays I try to make a nicer sit down dinner.\u00a0 We eat at our dining room table.\u00a0 I have the children help me cook.\u00a0 We drink wine (okay, I drink most of it, but still).\u00a0 It is as fancy as it gets for an ordinary time meal.<\/p>\n

Here is the recipe \u2014 (remember, bacon is key and covers all mistakes).<\/p>\n

5 chicken breasts, tenderized, salted and peppered and slit open to stuff with cheese.\u00a0 Saute in butter\/olive oil until brown.\u00a0 Stuff with slices of your choice of cheese and then bake until finished (around 35 minutes) at 350 degrees.\u00a0 When finished, sprinkle with small pieces of cooked bacon.\u00a0 Serve with mashed potatoes (also add cheese and bacon to those) and string beans.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been known to add some more bacon to the string beans, but I have issues.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never heard a child complain about eating their veggies when they are mixed with bacon\u2026<\/p>\n

What are my weekend plans?\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em>Soccer, Soccer, and Baseball.\u00a0 Yes, two soccer games and a fall baseball game on Saturday.\u00a0 We are hoping Sunday will be a day of relaxation as we spent last weekend driving to Michigan and back, which was about 20 hours of driving with 5 little ones the car.\u00a0 It was a great time catching up with old friends, but we are exhausted.<\/p>\n

What are my prayer intentions for the day?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 For a friend who is pregnant with a very sick baby boy.\u00a0 For her peace and strength in the coming months as they make a birth plan and prepare to meet and say goodbye to their baby.\u00a0 And also, for myself.\u00a0 I have been feeling very down lately regarding the state of our country.\u00a0 The culture of death so evident in the debates makes me both angry and sad.\u00a0 I fear for our Church if this administration is re-elected and starts to fine our good organizations because they refuse to comply with laws that make them purchase contraceptive and abortifacient drugs.\u00a0 I know these are all things outside of my circle of control, and I\u2019m praying hard to remain focused on those things that I can control, like the day to day service of my family.\u00a0 I am also praying for a spirit of peace and trust.\u00a0 There will be times when our church is persecuted and times when it is not.\u00a0 I cannot control the laws that will unfairly fine our Catholic organizations, but I can maintain a sense of peace that God has a plan.\u00a0 Times of persecution ultimately make our Church stronger.<\/p>\n

What can my children do instead of watching T.V.?\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> They can play outside and practice soccer.\u00a0 I have started to make soccer practice part of our afternoon school routine.\u00a0 I send them out with a specific practice list.\u00a0 They seem to enjoy it AND make even better use of their free time afterwards.<\/p>\n

What have I done for my marriage this week?\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> My husband and I had an at home date night last night.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had some communications issues lately, and we talked about the need for us to get away sans kiddos in the coming months.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping we can make that happen.<\/p>\n

What am I reading?\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> Nothing!!!\u00a0 I\u2019ve been so busy that I haven\u2019t gotten a new book (I finished the Hunger Games this summer) and I\u2019m looking for something light and fun to read.\u00a0 Any suggestions?\u00a0 I\u2019m pathetic and most of my reading lately has been just blogs and news.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to change that.\u00a0 But I did sign up for a daily passage from the Catechism for this year of faith.\u00a0 If I stick to that, I will read the entire Catechism this year.<\/p>\n

What is one product that is making my life easier?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

He\u2019s even cuter now that he knows his letter sounds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leap Frog Letter Factory (video)<\/em>.<\/a>\u00a0 I don\u2019t normally promote videos for kids, but this is just amazing.\u00a0 For 2 months I was working with Gus (age 4.5) on letter sounds.\u00a0 He regularly forgot the vowel sounds, other than letter A, and I was a bit discouraged.\u00a0 I ordered this 35 minute video.\u00a0 He watched it 3 times and had the letter sound of every letter in the alphabet memorized.\u00a0 Within two weeks, he read his first words.\u00a0 Gus loves music, and I think the song based approach in the video was exactly what he needed.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll also add that Claire (newly 3) now also knows her letters and most of the sounds.\u00a0 As a homeschooling mother of 5, I\u2019m all for cutting some corners and this was definitely worth the $10!<\/p>\n

What is challenging me lately?\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em>The Year of Faith.\u00a0 I admit that I was completely unaware that this was a Year of Faith until Mary Alice posted about it last week!\u00a0 I felt out of the loop, and wondered why I hadn\u2019t heard about it at Mass.\u00a0 Apparently our Pastor discussed it several times and on each occasion I was dealing with a toddler or nursing infant.\u00a0 While that is a decent excuse for my ignorance, I need to get my act in gear!\u00a0 I\u2019m going to try to take my kids to daily Mass on Friday (something I gave up on after my 3rd child was born).\u00a0 We aren\u2019t doing our homeschool co-op this semester and so Friday morning is available.\u00a0 I\u2019m also going to do some extra spiritual reading and spend some time in prayer regarding my own faith.\u00a0 I admit that I am very practical, and so I struggle with the idea of faith.\u00a0 I believe because I\u2019ve rationally determined that there is no other way.\u00a0 I believe because I see faith as practical and it makes sense to me.\u00a0 I\u2019m a skeptic who tends toward seeing faith as a moral code, a way to live a good life.\u00a0 When it comes to actually believing in things unseen, and really taking a faith filled leap toward a more radially loving life \u2014 I struggle.\u00a0 I know that faith is a gift, and so I get lazy and just assume that God was a little less generous with me in that department.\u00a0 But I can certainly ask for more grace in this area.\u00a0 And so I\u2019m going to take this year to pray specifically for an increase in Faith.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keeping it real with thoughts for the week, including–dinner plans, weekend plans, and what’s challenging me lately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts-for-thursday"],"yoast_head":"\nThoughts for Thursday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Keeping it real with thoughts for the week, including--dinner plans, weekend plans, and what's challenging me lately.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2012\/10\/thoughts-for-thursday-18\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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