Blogging and Life

Kim, over at Starry Sky Ranch, has hit the nail on the head and explains why I have not blogged lately. Every morning I think of something neat to blog about, but it never makes it to the computer. I read this last night and knew it would be posted this morning.
Read her thoughts On Blogging.

Novena to St. Joseph

March is the month traditionally dedicated to St. Joseph. One of his feast days is on March 19. To honor St. Joseph, I will be join Totus Tuus in beginnning today a novena to this great saint who exemplifies so many of the qualities I lack . . . Please join us, too!

Prayer to St. Joseph by Pope St. Pius X

Glorious St. Joseph, model of all who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in the spirit of penance in expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously by placing love of duty above my inclinations; to gratefully and joyously deem it an honor to employ and to develop by labor the gifts I have received from God, to work methodically, peacefully, and in moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from it through weariness or difficulty to work; above all, with purity of intention and unselfishness, having unceasingly before my eyes death and the account I have to render of time lost, talents unused, good not done, and vain complacency in success, so baneful to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all to imitate thee, O patriarch St. Joseph! This shall be my motto for life and eternity.

THE MOTHER

Thanks to Karen for this great post and for the link to the above article (here) by Romano Guardinion on the faith of Mary.

Retreat, RETREAT!!

Yes, I am retreating! I have not been on an Ignatian Retreat in about 6 years. I am looking forward to the peacefulness, but I am also in panic mode trying to get everything here ready for me to be gone for 8 (yes, 8) days. I am tempted to cancel - there is just too much to do with school, Christmas, and, and, . . . I learned from my first retreat to ignore this temptation. I never went when my older kids were little (under 6) because I could not leave them. Then during the retreat I realized that this was going to help them as much as it helped me. I should have been there much sooner. I went every two years after that, then when Michael came along, all those feelings came back - I just could not leave him. I am still having those feelings, but I know in my heart that I will be a better mom, wife, and Catholic on my return.
So, I am gone for a while. Keep the watch and please let me know what all I miss! Your prayers are very much appreciated.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I am retreating in warm, sunny, Phoenix! It will be a nice break from the 40ish weather we have been having here in NC!
I have scheduled some liturgical season posts to go up while I am away,

Next Week's Liturgical Year

As I plan my school week next week (yes, I only do one week at a time as I am never sure what I will get done or what tangents we may take off on), I am so excited about the upcoming feast days. While each week offers a chance to appreciate the year that the Catholic Church brings to us through its liturgical calendar, next week will be extra special to a certain 5-year old who has his favorite saints. We may be partying all week instead of schooling!
We begin with St. Wenceslaus on Sunday. We will take this day to imitate the saint by giving - going through our toys and clothes to find appropriate ones to donate to those in need - not just the ones we do not want, but also some of our favorites so there is a real sacrifice. Also, we will remember his service to the poor when we deliver meals to the elderly on Mondays. See here for the story of this saint.
On Monday comes a namesake. Michael looks forward to the great feast of his namesake, the Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel. Here is a link to a coloring page from Waltzing Maltida's blog, and since one of his many titles is patron saint of baker's, we will bake a special cake for the dinner celebration in additon to our special waffles for breakfast. I suspect a re-enactment of the battle of the good angels and the bad angels will definitely be on the schedule.
Tuesday's saint is St. Jerome, and we will read St. Jerome and the Lion for fun, but also focus on his great contribution to translating the bible.
Wednesday is the feast day of a saint we have not studied, St. Remigius. We will read his story and briefly study Reims, France with a look at the famous Gothic cathedral, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Reims.
The Holy Guardian Angels feast day is on Thursday. Again, I am sure there will be a reenactment of the Fall of the Bad Angels. We will pay extra attention to our own guardian angel by making sure we have an extra table setting for each family member beside him during meals and a special art project, yet to be determined. And of course, there is the Angel Food cake with fresh strawberries!
Friday brings our favorite saint to read about. St. Therese of the Child Jesus has a natural appeal to all young children because of her simplicity. We will read several of our stories about St. Therese's life along with making sacrifice beads and hopefully, make some potpourri.
Lastly, on Saturday is another namesake, St. Francis of Assisi. A short study of the Basillica of St. Francis will be included and hopefully, we will be able to take at the least our dog, for a blessing. This may have to be done by dad. Hopefully, we will get the story, St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio, read. Our parish put this play on a couple of years ago and Michael really enjoyed it.
Well, that is a start to my layout for next week. I have not included activities from CHC's A Year with God or Mary Reed Newland's The Year and Our Children, which I use alot as resources. But these will be incorporated into my plans, more than likely, very late tonight!

"She had one desire only: to love God and to serve Him in everything"

The Saint for mothers - Blessed Anna Maria Taigi. From Colleen's blog:

Blessed Anna Maria transformed her home into a real sanctuary in which God had the first place. Docile to her husband in every way, she avoided anything which might irritate him and thus disturb the family peace. Serious and hardworking, she saw to it that nothing was lacking to her family and, in so far as one in her impoverished circumstances could, she was generous to the poor.

I pray that we may find inspiration in the life of this holy wife and mother.

Three Back in College

Well, for 6 days I could say I had only 2 kids in college, but my oldest son who graduated with his BS in chemistry found out yesterday that he has been accepted into a Doctorate program in Medicinal Biochemistry. I have never seen a kid (he's 24), so excited about finding out he will be in school for another 4 years! Of course, he is still hoping to hear from the National Institute of Health, but he is very happy to know that he has this as an option. He is so excited about being almost full-time in a lab setting and out of most classrooms.
It's funny. We had some testing done when he was about 9 and the tester told us that he expected him to go into this field and be successful in his studies. After several turbulent high school years and still a lot of growing up in college, I really think he has begun to " mature". At least I hope this course of study will keep him so busy, trouble won't be able to find him!
Of course, my daughter will take the GRE next fall (her senior year at Belmont Abbey) and start deciding whether to go on in school or work for a year. But she is pretty level-headed and will do well either way. Now if I can just get the 18 year old to study like his sister, not go to every single sports event at UNCC, and get him through the next 3 years of math, science, and engineering courses. Oh, these boys . . . and Michael is only 5, but growing up so fast . . . How much I appreciate the babies I use to get up with in the middle of the night and rock.
I thank God for all the blessings He has sent to my family and pray to all the saints in heaven to help us to see His path and keep us on it!
Deo Gratias!

What I Am Reading . . .

I have several books going all the time. Last night I started on one a friend lent to me that I had wanted to read for quite some time. The Art of Catholic Mothering ( or from Amazon ) is by a homeschooling, Catholic mother of 5 who was so overwhelmed by motherhood that she retreated, literally an Ignatius 5-day retreat, while pregnant with her 2nd child. There she was inspired to write, or rather gather the stories, for this book. She gathered the stories of twelve Catholic mothers. From her introduction:

. . . . It was this thing called SELF SACRIFICE. No one had ever told me that motherhood and dying to self were synonymous! . . .
. . . But it wasn't all wrong; motherhood was exactly the tool that God had chosen to shape my soul and this may not be news to you, but "being shaped" rarely feels pleasant. And even in that retreat of 1997 God allowed me to see and understand that each child He would send would be yet another tool with which He would try to remove some part of SELF that wasn't Christ-like"

I am also almost finished with How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman, M.D. I picked up my copy from my local library. This is a very informative book and I highly recommend it. I hope to give a copy to my doctor.