Sabbath Rest, part 2

Subtitled: You can do almost anything in a skirt! *grin*

But we'll get to that later.



I'm getting some great responses in the comment box for my last posting! Thank you!

So, I went to bed on Saturday night, laying out all my problems to the Lord with this whole Sunday rest thing. I had recently read... what was it... the messages from La Sallette?... that spoke about Jesus being angry that people were working on Sunday and not honoring it as a holy day.

That's what prompted this to begin with.

I believed that Sunday was to be a special day, of course, but some of the little details were bothering me -- how much is too much? At what point do I cross the line into "working"?

I asked Him to show me how to deal with ALL of the stuff that had been left undone on Saturday, to make Sunday a day of rest that would please Him, and to help me not get swamped on Monday.

Here are the answers I received.

After Mass on Sunday, we went home and had our usual doughnuts/tea/coffee break. We emptied out the dishwasher, and then it was time for me to take Christopher to Sunday School. When I got back (right around lunchtime), I found dh in the kitchen, packing lunches for everyone. Seems they took a vote while I was gone and decided a picnic and hike was the plan for the day. I wasn't thrilled with the whole idea, but off we went.

We were gone for hours (God's answer, therefore, was to get me out of the house for the day so I wouldn't be bothered by the mess). When we got home, there was just enough time for me to get supper started (easy roast), and then crash and take a well-deserved nap (exercise does NOT rejuvenate me. It puts me to sleep!). When I got up, I finished up supper preparations and we had a nice, leisurely dinner. That was followed by normal toy pick-up and bedtime for the kids.

By evening (9-ish) I consider Sunday to be over, so I have no qualms about planning out homeschooling for the next day.


So what about Monday, Lord?

Well, the baby got me up early (groan) and so by 7:30 am I had stripped our bed and started work on our laundry. I got the kids working on the most pressing jobs (dishwasher, sweeping, and bathrooms), and sat down at 9 to start homeschooling, feeling pretty good that the day had gotten off to a good start.

At 10, a change in plans brought us 4 more children to spend the day with us.

Sounds like a disaster, right?

It wasn't. It was an answer to prayer.

I had been given a free casserole from a church function a few weeks ago which had been sitting in my freezer. Lunch problem solved. I spent prep time making (store-bought) cookies instead for the kids.

After homeschooling, I had kids running inside and out, making huge messes, but somehow all of it got cleaned up. With so many eyes watching everyone else, I had the time I needed to get the laundry "through the system," and to catch up on more weekend stuff.

A call from a friend with news of rain on Tuesday prompted a serious yard blitz. I got all the kids outside with rakes and together we cleared the front yard in very little time. I got up on the roof to blow leaves out of the gutter before the promised rains came (and as I'm writing right now, there is a nice, steady rain coming down.)

When my friend came to pick up her kids, she directed them to do a massive toy pick up in the house while I swept the entire place.

Final results? My Monday, which I feared would be a disaster, instead found me:

--ahead of the game on laundry
--ahead in bathroom cleaning (I even washed the bathmats and shower curtains!!!)
--right where I was supposed to be with homeschooling
--ahead of the game in terms of food prep/meals (I ground wheat berries, too!)
--ahead in deep-cleaning/straightening up
--and WAY ahead in yard work (I blew leaves out of the gutter!)

And all of this was done by 6:00 pm.

I'm sitting in a clean house, no longer feeling grit under my feet, feeling pretty darn happy that I only have a little bit of laundry to do for the day. Our homeschool plans are in place, I wouldn't be embarrassed to have unexpected company, and lunch today is already in the works (homemade chicken soup for a cold, rainy day)


I'd say the Lord took care of the Monday stress!

Sabbath rest

I have a question that's been bothering me.

The question is this: How do you define "work" on Sunday?

I try to make Sunday a day set apart -- you know, lots of God, lots of family, lots of rest. At least, that's the goal. However, I also want to make Sunday dinner extra special (since it's the most important day of the week!), so that requires lots of time in the kitchen. Does that count as work? I have a friend who, in her celebration of Sunday, goes rather low-key for Sunday dinner to make it a more restful day.

Each of us is trying to make Sunday special... so where do I go with this?

Also, Sunday is most definitely NOT a day of rest for me, since my house seems to EXPLODE on Sunday. It's unreal -- the toys, the clothes, the general "dirtiness" of day-to-day life seems to pile up on Sunday, and I spend my day gritting my teeth and bemoaning the fact that I'm going to be waaaaaaay behind come Monday morning, when I have to tackle the huge weekend mess PLUS start homeschooling again bright and early.

Am I the only one who's struggling here?

I'm looking for any and all suggestions -- how to you make Sunday special? What do you do with the mess, or the odd jobs that pop up unexpectedly?

Soda love

I really must thank Danielle Bean for putting this video on her blogsite. At first I thought it was mildly interesting, but then as time went on, I found myself captivated more and more by this man who sells little-known sodas in his store.

It reminded me somewhat of the book 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating. We think we have an impressive array of choices in our supermarkets (and compared to other countries, I'm sure we do!), but in reality we are used to ONE type of tomato, ONE type of cucumber... or eggplant... or carrot... and we have no idea the wide array of vegetables that Our Lord created for us to enjoy. My neighbor, for example, gave me one of the heirloom cucumbers he grew this year, and I was STUNNED -- it was light green, very dense, and shaped like a curly-cue. I had never seen anything like it before, and it was delicious!

This man celebrates the fact that there is more to the soda industry than the big name brands. His store carries everything from Moxie (my mom's favorite... blech. She is one tough New England girl, I tell ya!) to cucumber soda.

If you want yet another chance to cheer for the underdog... the small mom and pop businesses that give life flavor and variety... then take a few minutes and watch this video!

There's a reason why I read his blog

The Internet Monk is one of my favorite bloggers, hands down. Whether I agree with him or not, he always has something to say that makes me THINK.

While his latest post is the kind of post that makes me anxious -- fearful, even -- he gives us a good reminder, especially in the month of November, when we remember all those who have died. Very few of them, I imagine, got up that morning thinking, "Well, I guess this is going to be my last day here!" Whenever I hear of someone dying unexpectedly, I mentally project myself into their day. Did they have any clue that that pair of socks they put on would be their last? That they were buying their last cup of coffee? That they would be spending the last 20 minutes of their lives doing something wasteful, or offensive to God?

It's a good reminder to me to live MY life as if this were my last, but when I allow my mind to wander and think about this being the last day of someone I love, I get pretty flaky, and burn myself out trying to ensure that their "possible last day" was everything it was supposed to be, and then some. I either drown in regret ("I didn't play trains with Thomas and if this is his last day, I'll never be able to get over that") or work myself into a frenzy, never stopping to take the time for myself that I really do need.

So I have to play a bizarre mind game with myself -- living in constant awareness of my own mortality, while trying to avoid thinking of others' mortality.

Still... my own personal battles aside... this is a wonderful post, and I hope you take the time to read it.

Let's see if this one works

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I think...

... I should just give up trying to blog during the month of October.

Seriously.

October is always a ridiculously busy time in our family. We have 5... FIVE... kids' birthdays in October (3 in the same week), a mother-in-law's birthday, an anniversary, preparations for Halloween/All Saints' Day, AND (this year) a visit from my parents and a trip to Florida.

Whew.

[and just for fun, did you see what my husband transformed my daughter into? That was a mighty impressive costume... I'm not sure if you can tell it or not, but that tape reel is functioning. She got many oohs and aahs from the neighborhood as she made the rounds on Halloween!]


But, now we're in the much more relaxed (please, God!) month of November, and I'm hoping to start blogging all the things I've had going through my head the past month or so.

In the meantime... in honor of All Saints' Day (just passed), All Souls' Day and the month-long extra emphasis on remembering the dead, I wanted to bring up again some great books that I have found inspirational:

Saints Behaving Badly
This one is a fun, quick read, and one that I can recommend heartily. Each saint is introduced with a brief description of who they were, before the transforming power of God's grace in their lives -- therefore, you get stunning chapter titles like, "St. Mary of Egypt, Seductress" or "St. Olga, Mass Murderer" or even "St. Vladimir, Fratricide, Rapist, and Practitioner of Human Sacrifice." I mention those last two in particular because (according to my dad, who does a lot of genealogy research) I am a direct descendant of those two.

There you go. It's your little bit o' trivia for the day.

"Did you know that Chez Ouiz chick is a descendant of St. Olga and St. Vladimir?"

It will brighten someone's day, I'm sure!


My Life with the Saints
Another great book that I have reviewed before. It was such a comfort to me to see the true humanness of each of the saints mentioned in the book. If you don't love Bl. Mother Teresa before reading this one, you most certainly will afterwards!


The Lure of the Saints
This book is quite interesting. It is (as you can see in the subtitle) a Protestant's view of the rich tradition of saints.  There is a difference on opinions, obviously, in some of the ideas presented in the book; however, I am encouraged to read passages like this:

Prayer is the most popular and accessible spiritual practice for relating to the saints. There is praying with the saints and praying to the saints. Each day, I do both, and neither practice means that I am forgetting that my relationship with God is accomplished through Jesus Christ.

Praise God!


Other books which I can recommend are:

• I Believe in Love  
• Apparitions of Modern Saints 
• Autobiography of St. Therese: The Story of a Soul 

I could list a whole host of others, but for now I'll stop.

What is your favorite book on the saints? Please leave a comment and tell me... I'm always looking for new books to read!

I really do teach them better than this...

Me: "Thomas, what is a mortal sin?"

Thomas: "Ooh! I remember! It's two sins stuck together!"

Disney World

Before any MORE time goes by (arrggh! There are never enough hours in the day to do what I'd like to do!), I wanted to at least post that YES, we did, in fact, make it down to Disney World.

Long story made short: my husband got a great deal on a place to stay on one of his (very few) business trips, and he's been planning this vacation ever since. All we had to do was come up with the funds for Disney World (which are expensive), but a one-day trip to "The Magic Kingdom" wasn't nearly as much as I thought it would be. The place where we were staying also provided $100 in "Disney Dollars," so we ate at the park for free (whoo hoo!).

Those who know me know how much I dreaded this trip. It wasn't just the drive there (which would be long), or the preparation and packing (also long) -- it was the frustration of trying to herd seven small(ish) children through a crowded park, getting on rides (while dealing with those who wouldn't be on that particular ride), and all the waiting.

Let me say for the record that Disney World is SO MUCH EASIER than other amusement parks... especially one which will remain nameless, but boasts many a flag over the grand state of Georgia. For starters -- you can bring your own cups in, so getting water was easy. Two, there are actually bathrooms and water fountains all over the place, so you can find what you need quickly and easily. Three, the whole place is child and family-friendly (duh), so we didn't have to jump hoops to get what we needed. Four (and this is the big one) we could ALL RIDE THE SAME RIDES, so I didn't have to sit on the sidelines for hours with the little ones while waiting for the others to get off the ride.

So we all got to ride the magic carpet...


...and Pirates of the Caribbean...


...go through the Hall of Presidents...

(You better believe THAT counted for homeschooling! What was funny, though, is that most of the kids thought these were real people. When they found out they weren't, they were HIGHLY amazed).

...go through the "Small World" ride...

(Don't tell me I'm the only one who had this record as a child! )

...ride the merry-go-round...



...and many, many others. The only ride the kids DIDN'T like was the Haunted Mansion. I feel bad about this one. *I* loved this ride as a kid (and so did my dh), but our kids were a bit traumatized by the whole thing. Most of them just rode with their eyes closed the whole time. Please keep in mind that these are the same children who watch LOTR on a regular basis and have NO trouble with orcs. (I've got my own theories about that).


We spent the next day touring Fort Christmas, which tied in nicely with what we had been studying in American history (Andrew Jackson, the Trail of Tears, the Seminole Wars, etc). It always makes such a difference when you can actually visit a historic site, rather than just reading about it in textbooks!


The rest of the time was spent swimming, celebrating (two!) birthdays, and enjoying each others' company. The trip came to an end far too quickly, and by Friday we were back on the road to go home.


I've got much more to say about the things I learned about myself while on this trip, but I'm afraid that will have to wait until another day!

St. Isaac Jogues and St. Jean de Brebeuf

Today is the feast day of St. Isaac and St. Jean, two amazing Jesuit priests who faced terrible hardship and ultimately gave their lives while witnessing to the Hurons in the 1600s. You can learn more about them at Catholic Culture.

We had read this book (and I read this one) last year as we were studying this time period in American history, so hopefully the kids will remember enough about these amazing saints to have a decent conversation during homeschooling this morning!

In honor of their feast day, I made Indian fry bread for breakfast (I had to take this picture FAST before the kids inhaled them all! Put a little bit of powdered sugar on these and they taste like doughnuts...)

We will also be listening to the Huron Carol this morning. This is a Christmas carol written by St. Jean de Brebeuf in the Huron (Wendot) language in 1643. If you EVER get a chance to listen to Bruce Cockburn's version of it, I highly recommend you do so! It is a haunting melody and I think it's just beautiful. In the meantime, here is another beautiful rendition of it in Huron, French, and English by Heather Dale.



However you choose to honor these saints, I hope you have a blessed feast day!

We're Back!

Whew... what a long trip that was!

I'll try to post about our vacation this weekend, but for now... can you tell where we were? (I'm sure you can!)

How can I make it up to you?

How, indeed, can I make up for my light blogging of this past week?

All I've got to offer you is this:


...which I truly hope you enjoy. I hope it runs through your head like it's been running through mine this evening! *grin*

[truthfully, I used to love this song when I was a little kid!]

All in a day's work (edited)

From this...


...to this...


...to this.



[OK, OK, I'm cheating. I actually used up all the old apples in my pantry to make the apple butter. That nice basket of apples is still on my counter... but that doesn't negate the fact that it has been a long, hard day of work! The apple butter is fantastic -- we love this recipe -- but it saddens me that all that work will only last for maybe two breakfasts. That's it.]


For those who would like the recipe, I found it here from Cooking Light.

I know this isn't all that exciting...

...but we have new doors! Hallelujah!



[for 12 years we've had those horrible, flat panel doors that just looked.... cheap. I'm sorry, but there's really no other way to describe them. They just shouted "1950s-standard-suburban-brick-ranch-this-is-how-we-built-the-entire-neighborhood," which, of course, is where we live. Thankfully, my husband and father-in-law were able to replace several of our doors this weekend, and WHAT A DIFFERENCE it makes! Every time I turned around in my kitchen I said, "Oh, thank You, Jesus, we've got nice doors!"

Small improvements do wonders for the morale around here!]

Out of the mouths of babes

Marie (age 3), reciting the Hail Mary:

"...Holy Mary, Mother of God, PLAY with us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen."

Wish me luck!

I am actually (I can't believe I'm saying this) attempting to read....

...are you ready?...






Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.




I know, I know... the people who know me in real life are saying, "WHAT?? You hate 19th century literature!" And that is true. The melodrama and the way every conversation is so drawn out makes me want to cry. But the way I look at it, if I could slog through Moby Dick and find it funny ("Alas, York was a butterless man...") and read The Lord of the Rings (INCLUDING, I might add, all the elf songs... although I was ready to scream at the end if one more character decided to belt out a tune), then surely I can wade through Pride and Prejudice, right?

PLEASE tell me I'm right!

Now watch... I'll get more comments than I could ever DREAM of getting, all telling me that this is their favorite book of all time. I respect and honor all of you out there -- truly I do! But this is just not my genre (despite the fact that I think The Count of Monte Cristo was one of the best fiction books I ever read), and I have set a lofty goal for myself.

Wish me luck.