All Saints Day Party--So Many Saints!

 St. Sebastian

 St. Cecelia making her harp

 St. Therese

St. Bernadette

New Way to Love

   Ron and I facilitated a New Way to Love retreat at the University of Dallas this weekend for about a dozen couples.  It was such a great experience!  The couples seemed to be totally transformed.  What a blessing the program is.  We are grateful to be a part of it!

The Sickies!

I've been home with Sebastian and Annie all week, both of whom have been sick.  Then Clare and Ron got it!  Poor guys!  But fun to be together.  Clare and I wrote in her prayer journal today, getting good Bible verses and prayers and things for which to be grateful.  It was lovely.  

Junior Cheerleaders

    Clare and Leigh had such fun being part of the junior cheerleading squad at Faustina!
When the announcer said each girl's name in the microphone, the crowd cheered extra loud for Clare--yay!!

Social Life for Kids Can be Hard!

Oh I am heartbroken.
      Mary was completely left out of her ballet class, again.  Two and a half hours, and no one included her.  She said it gave her a lot of time to pray.  She was also heaving sobs when she got home from school today--a group project gone awry, a volleyball game with lots of fouls, and just a miserable day.
      Clare has been upset--inconsolable-- for two days.  The girls in her class are horrid.  Six out of eight girls have no friends.  Six lone rangers.  None of them congeal.  There is no group identity, no class spirit.  They are all loners.  Imagine being new there, and trying to fit in!  There is no where to fit in, because they have no friendship!
      Jake then started chiming in about how hard last year was. . . I had forgotten how much he was left out, and how hard he struggled.  But he hung in there.  This year, he just started throwing parties. They love it.  It has caught on, and somehow a social group has formed.  But golly, a year with nothing!
    School is hard.  People are hard.  God help us all!

Uncle David

Here are my favorite things about Uncle David:
1) His love for algorithms
2) His art
3) His Christian conversion (or reversion, as it were)
4) His thoughtfulness to my Mom (his ex-sister-in-law??) which is unadulterated and unsurpassed
5) His bizarre ability to turn every single thing into a joke--no matter how dark.  He is better than Saturday Night Live.

Skipping

    Leigh is eight, and was skipping through the store this weekend.  As her hair bounced and her dress flounced, I thought, "Soon she will stop skipping.  And that day I will cry.  She is so precious.  She is so youthful."
     She is younger than her age--she plays with Annie regularly.  She acts like a five year old a lot of the time!  Oh, I adore her.  I don't want her to grow up!

Gotta Love It!

The finest, best-behaved, most critically-thinking, most passionate young human beings I have ever met were homeschooled children.  My awe of some of these children inspired me to homeschool, with the hopes of my children turning out a fraction as wonderful as these young people were.  [Caveat: Not all homeschooled children are well-behaved and balanced.  But the reverse is true: the best-behaved children are often homeschooled.]

So, it has always been a joke--of the most ridiculous order--to hear people's objections, that homeschooled children are unsocialized.  There are more poorly socialized children roaming the halls of public and private schools than home schools.  I was would NEVER want my children to be socialized as poorly as the average school kid!

I broke out into laughter when I saw this shirt, worn by a child from one of the best families I've ever met.  They are loving, compassionate, accomplished, smart people.  I would be thrilled for any of my children to turn out half as well as they.  The irony was too much!

Quote of the Week

"Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."
      1 Peter 4:19

     My sweet sister Kim suggested that we both memorize this verse.  I love it!
     This passage has such huge implications.  When there is suffer about which we can do nothing, about which we cannot resolve, we need to entrust ourselves to God, and then go out and do lots of good things for other people!  We shall NOT feel sorry for ourselves!  We shall instead embrace our cross, because Jesus is on it!  Jesus is there!  And, with Him, go out and act like him, preach like him, live like him.  It is God's will.
    I love passages that remind me to stop feeling sorry for myself!

You are a Saint

   I ran into an old friend today, whom I had not seen in 4 years.  It was lovely to catch up.  I asked her about her 24 year old son.
    "Oh, please!  Are you kidding?  He is a complete disaster.  I raised him better, but he is a louse.  He does not have a good job.  He is not making anything of himself.  Maybe it is the media culture--I don't know.  He is with a woman who has a one year old child.  He could do so much better.  But at least he loves that little girl.  I did raise him right, and that much, at least, shows.  But no, I am sobbing every day that he is not yet whom I know he can be."
    Immediately I thought, "You, my friend, are St. Monica."
    Today, Catholics and other Westerners revere St. Monica as a great mother saint.  We think of her with a halo.  But until the last months of her life, her son was as my friend described: not headed in the right direction, with the wrong lady, not becoming the man she knows he could be.
     Augustine received baptism on the 24th of April, 387.  Augustine and Monica had a vision of heaven together, and she died about five days later.  She was buried on Nov. 13th, 387.  So, for almost seven whole months, Monica's great life ambition, to see her son a faithful Catholic in an intimate, loving relationship with Christ, was fulfilled.
     But for her whole motherly life save those seven months, she was a failure.  She was disappointed.  She would have told any woman, such as me, what my friend told me today.  Monica would have sounded just like her.
     We are saints.  You are a saint.  If your child is a catastrophe, well, join the heavenly hosts.  If your child is a wreck, here is your halo.
     Pray for your child!  Influence your child every way that you can. Never give up.  Be persistent.  The faith of the one who has hope even when there is no hope is grounds for canonization.  

The Guidance of God

I truly believe that God can speak to you and guide you as you discern decisions.
Last week I was praying for God's guidance regarding a decision I had to make about taking on more professional work.  That day, a hundred times through the day, crises occurred and I thought, "I don't have the time to do even what I'm already committed to."
So I chose against the further professional work.  The following day--no crises.  Everything was back to normal.  But I am at complete peace about my decision because I know God wanted me to see how saturated my life already is.

New Family Prayers

We have re-invented family prayers.  Ron made a comment a while ago about icons sparking in candle-light.
    So this week I gathered all the icons in the house that have gold in them.  I bought a dozen candles, including one for each child with their initial on it.  After the house is cleaned before bed, we light the candles and turn out the lights.  Truly, the living room glistens.
    We all have a moment of silence, and think of our intentions and our thanksgiving to God.  Each child is invited to see her candle representing those intentions.
     We pray a full Rosary and pray a few words out loud to God.
     Then we discuss anything on the kids' hearts and minds.  It is truly beautiful.  I love seeing them resting in the arms of God, finding their recovery from the day, not in falling asleep, but in falling into the presence of God.  God is the solution.  God is the answer.  God is Love.  God is our Home.  I love seeing the kids discover and explore that.

Push Ups on your Feet

Poor Mary: 12 years old, and getting hammered by the boys in P.E.  She has received lots of negative comments.  I think they are just being boys, really.  Nothing too bad.  But it was hard for her, and I got reports from her about P.E. every day, driving her home from school.
    But one day, the camel's back broke.  A boy got down at her level as she was doing standard push-ups, and he shouted at her, "Get on your knees!  You're a girl.  You belong on your knees!"
    She was furious.  She came home and cried.  I was mad too.  We discussed it.
    She said, "Mom, they're not even called 'Girl Push-ups.'  They're "Modified push-ups.'  Don't those boys know that?  Welcome to the 21st century!"  I laughed and affirmed her. So we made up the following chant:
   "Roses are red, violets are blue.  We call them MODIFIED PUSH-UPS, how about you?"
   She loved that.  The next day she told all her girls friends the new chant.
   I also talked with the coach, and he said that the boy's behavior was unacceptable, and the coach would make sure nothing like that happened again.  He invited Mary to bring any such circumstances to him right away. (Thank you, Coach!)
    That, coupled with the chant. . . Mary's back on her feet. . . literally as she does standard push-ups, again!

To Rest or Not to Rest

    As the baby was wailing and five year old Annie was crying in time out, I wondered: "What has HAPPENED to these kids?"
    Ron and I resolved the situations, and then handled a few more.
    Then I announced: "I am open to homeschooling Annie, even next semester."  That would mean pulling her out of kindergarten and keeping her at home after Christmas.
    This is NOT what I wanted.
    This year is my first ever sabbatical, a year off from homeschooling.  I love homeschooling.  But everyone needs a break sometimes.
     Offering to end my sabbatical mid-way through was pretty huge for me.  The sacrifice of Isaac, so to speak.
     But I have to remember my priorities.  That my children are well-behaved, well formed in their faith, and well educated are what matter most.  A three month break for me is certainly more than most people ever get from their jobs!