Woo hoo! I've reached 200 posts!
Here's a little joke. If you're not sure what it's talking about, you can Google "New Mass responses" and it might make more sense.
2024
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
It's Lent!
What does that mean?? Lent is 40 days of sacrifice and penance before we celebrate Easter.
What does that mean?? In the Bible, the number 40 was significant of repentance and purification to deepen our relationship to God, (ie. it rained on Noah for 40 days, Moses was up on the mountain for 40 days, Israelites 40 years in the desert, Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness).
What does that mean?? During Lent, we are called as Christians to offer up things of this world that may hinder our relationship with God.
What does that mean?? For early Christians it meant fasting and abstaining from meat on Fridays, because meat was (and still is in many countries) considered a luxury. It also means giving to those in need.
What does that mean?? We are continually called to build our lives up in the joys of the Lord, but the season of Lent especially reminds us of what was sacrificed for us on Good Friday and in our little ways how we can show God we appreciate it. ("...man is justified by works and not by faith alone. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead." James 2:24, 26)
What does this all mean to me?? That I am truly excited to be able to re-focus my spiritual practices & am grateful that the liturgy of the church "forces" me to do so. Otherwise, I might tend to be slothful in doing so. It also means for me to be vigilant to abstain and fast when called for, although this morning was especially difficult...my wonderful husband forgot it was Friday & cooked himself up some bacon for breakfast. Nothing like spending a day fighting off the desire for meat when the entire house is filled with the aroma of succulent bacon goodiness. I guess I'll be offering it up to the Lord!
What does that mean?? In the Bible, the number 40 was significant of repentance and purification to deepen our relationship to God, (ie. it rained on Noah for 40 days, Moses was up on the mountain for 40 days, Israelites 40 years in the desert, Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness).
What does that mean?? During Lent, we are called as Christians to offer up things of this world that may hinder our relationship with God.
What does that mean?? For early Christians it meant fasting and abstaining from meat on Fridays, because meat was (and still is in many countries) considered a luxury. It also means giving to those in need.
What does that mean?? We are continually called to build our lives up in the joys of the Lord, but the season of Lent especially reminds us of what was sacrificed for us on Good Friday and in our little ways how we can show God we appreciate it. ("...man is justified by works and not by faith alone. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead." James 2:24, 26)
What does this all mean to me?? That I am truly excited to be able to re-focus my spiritual practices & am grateful that the liturgy of the church "forces" me to do so. Otherwise, I might tend to be slothful in doing so. It also means for me to be vigilant to abstain and fast when called for, although this morning was especially difficult...my wonderful husband forgot it was Friday & cooked himself up some bacon for breakfast. Nothing like spending a day fighting off the desire for meat when the entire house is filled with the aroma of succulent bacon goodiness. I guess I'll be offering it up to the Lord!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Moments in the day of the lives of a 3 year old and a 3 month old...
My daily life has started to settle into a "routine" with Ian & Noah now & you can certainly tell the difference in our attitudes! Ian is back to his smiley self with less moments of outbursts and tantrums. It has helped us get back into the practice of attending daily Mass & going to the store as well as getting things done around the house and attempting to have dinner ready.
The scene: Last night, sitting at the table after dinner. AJ comes over to talk to Noah, who is sitting on my lap.
AJ: Eww! Who tooted?
Tina: I don't think it was Noah.
Laney: Not me!
Faith: Not me!
A small voice from across the table exclaims, "It's me!"
Yes, it was Ian, who was grinning from ear to ear & managed to get us all to burst out laughing because he was just so darn cute about it. I'm still giggling inside...
Noah is now smiling most of the time when he's awake, especially when someone is paying attention to him. He's quite the ham, as you can tell in the pictures...(but that's not really surprising though considering his bloodlines.) He was quite crabby last night, but I made a decision to make it over to Teen Talk anyways. I could always leave if he kept on fussing. As soon as I entered the room, 13 teenagers begged for a turn to hold him. He went around the room & never made a fuss. I think I will have to spend more nights out in public if that's the case!
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Happy birthday, Ian!
Three years sure went by fast with this little one at my side. Now a big brother, he sure has taken off as being more and more independent. He is now getting dressed (and undressed) by himself, which is sometimes frustrating because he discovered the dresser with his clothes and realized he can make the decisions on what he wants to wear. Fine by me for the most part, but when he makes several wardrobe changes, we tend to run out of clothes before laundry day, not to mention that nothing stays folded in the drawers anymore.
He has also done really well at getting his shoes on & most of the time on the right feet. It also helps that he can get his coat on too. (When he puts it on himself, it tends to stay on rather than when I do it & then it quickly comes back off.)
How quickly we forget how much they learn at this age and how independent they become. He's such a little helper with his baby brother & a character to watch and listen to. Just the other day the phone rang, and Ian's new favorite thing to do is answer the phone and "screen" my calls. It was Daddy & he gave him the play-by-play of all the things he was helping Mommy do. We were packing to go to our weekend class & he told Daddy, "We're packing to go to the nuns." It was adorable.
He has also done really well at getting his shoes on & most of the time on the right feet. It also helps that he can get his coat on too. (When he puts it on himself, it tends to stay on rather than when I do it & then it quickly comes back off.)
How quickly we forget how much they learn at this age and how independent they become. He's such a little helper with his baby brother & a character to watch and listen to. Just the other day the phone rang, and Ian's new favorite thing to do is answer the phone and "screen" my calls. It was Daddy & he gave him the play-by-play of all the things he was helping Mommy do. We were packing to go to our weekend class & he told Daddy, "We're packing to go to the nuns." It was adorable.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The path
I got quite diverted from the path to the virtue of patience yesterday. What started off as a seemingly quiet, enjoyable, relaxing day turned into a day of dangling from frazzled rope ends. It maybe didn't help much that neither Ian nor myself had a very good night sleep the night before, hence why we needed a quieter day.
After Mass, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast out with a dear friend. That was a treat for us. Unfortunately, on the way home, I didn't even get out of town before Ian dozed off. Not a good thing since it only takes us 15 minutes to get home & rarely does he continue to nap after I carry him out into the cold. There goes my chance to rest as well!
Needless to say, I thought we'd try it & I put him in his bed & proceeded to get comfy on the couch with baby. I heard Ian hopping around in his room, but that is not anything unusual and he will usually eventually climb back into bed and rest. Not today!
I crashed for what felt like a minute & soon he was coming down the stairs. "What's that on your hands?! And your clothes? And your hair??!" Grrrr! I ran upstairs to view the damage...
Just the day before, the staff at the school threw a baby shower for me & another teacher & all of the goodies were upstairs...including 2 large bottles of baby wash and baby lotion. Yup, baby wash...empty...all over the couch and floor...and window!? Top is off the lotion. That's only half gone, but where is it? Oh, it's all over my freshly washed clothes, baby's new clothes, the floor and...the fan?! Aaahhh! Yes, you could say it hit the fan as well as my temper.
As I proceeded to undress Ian to clean him up, I realized he had a very full diaper. Not just pee...that's why he was messing around. Poopy diaper equals a reason not to take a nap. But in this case, he thought it would be a good reason to make a giant mess. As I undressed him, he got a bloody nose when I pulled the shirt off his head. (He's been getting them lots, so not a big surprise.) But quite inconvenient! Ever try to keep a wad of kleenex stuffed up a nostril while taking a shower? So we have lotion, stinky poop & now gushing blood happening in the shower and an overly impatient, angry mom at tub. Oh, and when I turned on the shower, it accidentally squirted out the top of the showerhead & not the hose end & sprayed ice cold water on him. Now neither of us is happy!
I attempted to cool off for the rest of the afternoon, but overtired toddler does not exactly make for happy company or a good grocery shopping partner. We proceeded to snap at each other for the rest of the day. Not a great day to happen since my spouse worked an almost 12 hour day! Plus, Ian continued on the trend of mischivious behavior when he got into my lotion bottle and the bottle of hand sanitizer. More goopy hand incidents!!
So, today we're going to try to, first of all, get more sleep! and secondly, hide all of the bottles of anything he can dump all over. Maybe then I can attempt to get back on the path to the virtue of patience & maybe jump over to tolerance as well instead of the path of angry & downright irritated and where it leads. Did I happen to mention that am in constant need of God's good graces? 'Cuz there's no way I'm getting anywhere without that!
After Mass, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast out with a dear friend. That was a treat for us. Unfortunately, on the way home, I didn't even get out of town before Ian dozed off. Not a good thing since it only takes us 15 minutes to get home & rarely does he continue to nap after I carry him out into the cold. There goes my chance to rest as well!
Needless to say, I thought we'd try it & I put him in his bed & proceeded to get comfy on the couch with baby. I heard Ian hopping around in his room, but that is not anything unusual and he will usually eventually climb back into bed and rest. Not today!
I crashed for what felt like a minute & soon he was coming down the stairs. "What's that on your hands?! And your clothes? And your hair??!" Grrrr! I ran upstairs to view the damage...
Just the day before, the staff at the school threw a baby shower for me & another teacher & all of the goodies were upstairs...including 2 large bottles of baby wash and baby lotion. Yup, baby wash...empty...all over the couch and floor...and window!? Top is off the lotion. That's only half gone, but where is it? Oh, it's all over my freshly washed clothes, baby's new clothes, the floor and...the fan?! Aaahhh! Yes, you could say it hit the fan as well as my temper.
As I proceeded to undress Ian to clean him up, I realized he had a very full diaper. Not just pee...that's why he was messing around. Poopy diaper equals a reason not to take a nap. But in this case, he thought it would be a good reason to make a giant mess. As I undressed him, he got a bloody nose when I pulled the shirt off his head. (He's been getting them lots, so not a big surprise.) But quite inconvenient! Ever try to keep a wad of kleenex stuffed up a nostril while taking a shower? So we have lotion, stinky poop & now gushing blood happening in the shower and an overly impatient, angry mom at tub. Oh, and when I turned on the shower, it accidentally squirted out the top of the showerhead & not the hose end & sprayed ice cold water on him. Now neither of us is happy!
I attempted to cool off for the rest of the afternoon, but overtired toddler does not exactly make for happy company or a good grocery shopping partner. We proceeded to snap at each other for the rest of the day. Not a great day to happen since my spouse worked an almost 12 hour day! Plus, Ian continued on the trend of mischivious behavior when he got into my lotion bottle and the bottle of hand sanitizer. More goopy hand incidents!!
So, today we're going to try to, first of all, get more sleep! and secondly, hide all of the bottles of anything he can dump all over. Maybe then I can attempt to get back on the path to the virtue of patience & maybe jump over to tolerance as well instead of the path of angry & downright irritated and where it leads. Did I happen to mention that am in constant need of God's good graces? 'Cuz there's no way I'm getting anywhere without that!
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