On the Feast of the Holy Family

Happy Feast day and Happy 5th Day of Christmas!

We are back home from a wonderful week away, spent at my parents' house and surrounded with all but one of my five siblings and their families. What a whirlwind! What a celebration! So fun! I am so glad to be from a large family, it feels full and rich and blessed when we all get together. And, it reaffirms our faith that God's intention for couples to be open to life IS a very good intention, even among the messiness and ups and downs of family life. Relationships and communion with others is what life is all about, after all, and that boils down to one word. Love.

And though we are back home we are still full swing in the true Christmastide season. Some people want to put away Christmas the day after and they are missing out on the meaning entirely. No time to truly reflect in the mystery and gift of baby Jesus after all the stresses and hubbub leading up to Christmas Day. I suppose with Christmas being shoved down our throats in the stores since October, its easy to get caught up in that and then be tired of it when the true Christmas season actually begins. Now is the time to celebrate the baby Jesus. Its our babymoon time!!

On our drive back home yesterday, we were talking about the upcoming New Year and resolutions and things like that. We thought it might be fun to have a theme or word to define an area of focus for 2014 for each of us, and that's when it hit me: Our family should have a word or theme.  The kids are welcome to each choose a word (reach, stretch, courage, kindness are all possibilities), but what came to my mind was The Holy Family. That should be our theme. Striving to be a Holy Family modelled after the Holy Family.

So it was appropriate that the Feast of the Holy Family happened today, and the readings from today's Mass clearly define what we are to aim for.  Goodness knows we fall so short! But I'm looking forward to it, and I'm so excited for the possibilities! What, exactly, that will look like on a day to day basis I'm not sure, but I do know that God will surely lead the way if we are open to His call.

xo



  

What my kids are doing right now

Dawson has worked on this rink for many weeks now, building it, lining it, packing with the first snow, then slowly building up the layers and working through a few thaws.

 His hard work is finally paying off! What a beautiful freezing cold sunny day! The music is blaring outside and they are having a blast.

Good Canadian fun.

Happy Mail - Part 1

[faith]


Recently received, all wrapped up in pretty blue tissue paper. 

Handcrafted by Tina Marie, rosary-artist extraordinaire.  I originally saw the white First Communion rosary in her Loreto Gift Shop on Etsy, and although Alexa doesn't receive First Communion till next year, I knew it would be perfect. So I scooped it up.

Tina does beautiful work. And the best thing? She's local, and I love supporting local artists.

Tina offered to make the Our Father beads in my choice of color, perhaps Alexa's birthstone, but to me the blue is just beautiful against the white. And a lovely symbol of Our Blessed Mother.

I love the chalice as the center. What a perfect detail. So I've wrapped up and tucked this rosary away till next year. In the meantime, I continued to browse Tina's shop where ... one thing led to another and ... this one is for me. 

One thing our family does, without fail every Sunday night, is pray a rosary together, each taking a turn with a decade. We have done this since Group A was little and Group B was barely in the works. We didn't mind if they played quietly with Lego or coloured (using Rosary Reflections for Kids), we just wanted to create a pleasant tradition that cemented us as a family that prays. Without sucking the life out of it. Ya know?

Some people think that prayer has to be so solemn and sour-faced and serious and strict and ... un-fun. Smiles not permitted. But really, how can you pass on a faith to your children if you don't show them you actually love it and enjoy it? Why would they even want to receive it? God wants for us to live and be vibrant and laugh a little!!  It IS possible, desirable even, to enjoy prayer and be reverent at the same time. So with that in mind we try hard to make our family prayer time something the kids want to be a part of. Prayer preceeds a good little snack and family chat. My daughter (my big one!) always snuggles up to me during rosary so I will play with her hair or rub her neck and that's ok with me. Anything we want our kids to enjoy we try to associate with pleasure of some sort. Good thing, that. 

Of course things did backfire on us once. During one rosary, Tom just started to laugh hysterically for no good reason. He couldn't stop. It became contagious. But then, the next Sunday we remembered the previous Sunday and someone started to laugh. Let's just say it took MANY Sundays to get back to praying our rosary without laughing and that was not good. Not good at all folks.

The Rosary is a beautiful prayer for families, because each bead represents some aspect about the life of Christ through the eyes of His Mother. So its perfect for helping children learn the little "stories" or "mysteries" that we meditate upon with each decade. The beads themselves, they help everyone focus. I like to have aids in prayer - be it a Bible, prayerbook, rosary, or a Holy picture. Heck, anything to help with all the distractions that is my life. True?

So yeah. Loreto Gift Shop. Go there.

History of the Rosary here.
Free virtual rosary right here.

See you Thursday with some sewing :).

Start spreadin' the news

I'm leaving today/   
(well, not really. We'll be leaving in October)

I want to be a part of it / 
(I just want to experience it for several days)

NEW YORK NEW YORK!

Love Frank Sinatra for these infamous lyrics.

I'm so stinking excited. 

Birthday Love Note

[faith].

So, how do you like your life?

This was the very first question Father Joseph asked my husband when he showed up for RCIA after deciding to maybe pursue becoming Catholic. 

And I think his reply was somewhere along the lines of:
I think there is more.

Holy Week & Easter Recap - 2013

Da Vinci's Last Supper Craft, courtesy of Catholic Icing.  A perfect craft for Holy Week. We are dabbling in Da Vinci right now, as we are headed to the Da Vinci exhibit at the Arizona Science Center later this week. Perfect timing!

After we enjoyed a Holy Thursday meal, our family read the Gospel account of the Last Supper, and then did our own ceremonious footwashing.  

 Beginning with the oldest (Tom) washing the feet of the next oldest (me), we dribbled a little water on our feet and dried them.

The littlest ones especially loved this. I think its a new tradition for our family. 

 Good Friday morning. Making pretzels and the whole family joins in.

The were soooooo yummy. Was hard to quit with one. But, as we were fasting, this was our lunch. It was also nice to keep ourselves busy on such a solemn day. We followed this by doing family Stations of the Cross, then went to the 3pm Good Friday service. It was 3 hours long. The entire Gospel of the Lord's Passion was sung in chant by the professional choir. Lovely, but very very long. 

Beautiful Easter! Dawson and I attended the vigil on Saturday night. I left the house with instructions for Tom and the girls to put Resurrection cookies (Easter Story cookies) in the oven for overnight. They were going to form lovely, hollow meringue cookies, according to the DIRECTIONS WITH PICTURES FOR EACH STEP on Lacy's blog.

Instead, I came home to this:

No matter. We'll try again next year. 

 Lots of family in AZ this year. Some of us hanging out in the shade on a hot Easter Sunday, just enjoying a good visit.

And the days following Easter? Just lots of relaxing in the sun.

Day and night.

Catch up with you all later!

xo

My little ones ...

... are growing up.

Hey mom, this one's for you. Hope it brightens your day as you recover from your surgery! Love you!!


Kate wants to be a big girl now too.

take my hand, sis.

let's walk awhile

we'll show you the way

we'll stick together in thick or thin

we'll bring each other joy

we'll show each other love

What's in your toybox?

Once again, I feel overwhelmed with toys in our house.  I'm ready to do another complete overhaul.  So I'm thinking more deeply this time, about what I am willing to live with and what  must go.

Bottom line? We have too much.  We have too much!!

Everytime I do a complete purge of low-use items in the entire house, my life becomes so much simpler and less stressful.  I haven't done this in a while, so I need to get busy.  I need to start with the perpetual toybox.  Because the kids won't really miss most of the stuff anyway, when its gone.

What do you think is reasonable to have on hand for toys? And ... gadgets?  Hmmm.

I love anything that fosters imaginative play, especially classic toys and games.  Lego, Playmobil, cars and trucks, dress-up, dolls and kitchens.  Lifeless things that your children must actively animate using mind and body.  Therefore, electronic devices, computers, video games, and TV time do not rate in my books, though we do have them in our home.  Too much of this stuff means too little time spent on worthy passtimes such as books, outdoor time, hobbies, imaginative play, spending time with your family.  It has always been our instinct to limit electronics, but I could never fully articulate why, beyond them being a time-sucker and time-waster. Gotta make the most of the time!

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil."  Ephesians 5:15-16 (RSV)

Then I downloaded a Core Phase TJEd talk by Keri Tibbetts.  I certainly don't agree with everything she says, but how she expressed her opinions on choosing toys and devices really resonated with me!  I will paraphrase her ideas here, but consider downloading the audio for yourself.

Low-effort, big thrill.

Get that?

Low-effort in exchange for high thrill toys and games represent a cultural message rampant in today's world.  The message?  Entertain me.  I have the right to be entertained.  This entertainment should come easily.  Passively.  Shouldn't have to work for it.   Wouldn't want to use my brain. Why work for a thrill when its so readily available and attainable.  Life is all about fun.  Once kids get a taste of low-input, high-thrill toys, its hard to go back.  And, once kids get a taste of low-input, high-thrill, they begin to lose the drive and ability to work hard for something.  Does it limit the ability to experience the wonderful high from a job well done, purely for the sake of a job well done?

Electronic toys and gaming devices are not the only culprits. What's in your craft closet?

Have you ever bought your little ones glitter glue or some other fancy product, and in one sitting they squeezed the entire tube out in globs onto paper, with no real rhyme or reason or element of creativity?  I have witnessed this first hand; my kids have done just that!  In other words, they used the product for the thrill of using the product, consumed it haphazardly, and then - done.  Dollars wasted.

On the other hand, really good art supplies like quality paints and good paper, treated with respect, can be the window through which our children can imagine and create!  Do you get the difference?  Some things we buy, kids just consume them for the thrill of consuming. Other items are used for the sake of creating.  THAT's what we're going for!!

We want high-effort/input, high-reward experiences! 

What about this.  Do your kids go through reams of white paper (such as printer paper) just drawing scribbles and then do you end up shoving them in the recycle bin?  Ahem, we do.  Never thought much of it, because we do recycle so you think its all good.  But what if we gave our children special sketch pads and modeled their use as something reserved for their very best efforts?  What would happen then? What message would we send?

On our recent trip to AZ, I decided to buy the little girls Leapsters.  Thought it would be nice to have something for them to do during the long drive.  They can be thought of as somewhat 'educational.' (Although from what I saw when I played it with the girls, the educational value was pretty pathetic). And while it did provide some "peace" along the way, we really did pay for it.  Maria got completely addicted and couldn't get it off her mind - she is so stubborn and persistent at the best of times - she kept asking and asking and crying and whining to play.  And asking and crying.  Sure, I believe in moderation; kids will have to learn self-restraint and so on, but I did not like the power the Leapster had over her in particular.  And if I'm really honest with myself, the purpose of the Leapster was not with their best interest at heart, but mine, for the sake of some quiet mommy time. Ouch.  What did we do before DVDs in the vehicles and handheld devices?  Well, maybe we were a bit bored, so we had to play travel games, listen to audio stories, converse, or just daydream.

Next time you think about toys and other playthings, ask yourself where the creative process occurs.  Did the creative process already happen when the toy was made?  So, did the designer think of absolutely everything and then package it up?  If so, chances are the toy will be played with for a short time and then abandoned, because there is nothing left for the child to discover.  For example, craft kits might fit in this category, because they are scripted.  An electronic train that just goes around and around might fit here, too.

Alternately, does the creative process happen when your child receives the toy?  A plain baby doll or dress-up clothes can be played with over and over again, with the child providing the scenario each time.  And in doing so, the imagination is strengthened over and over again. I love that!

Why is a strong imagination important?  Consider this excerpt from The Power of Imagination:

Imagination is a creative power that is necessary for inventing an instrument, designing a dress or a building, painting a picture or writing a book.  The creative power of imagination has an important role in the achievement of success in any field ... It gives the ability to look at any situation from a different point of view, and enables one to mentally explore the past and the future.

So.
I'm going through the toybox and listening to Kerri again. Join me?

"I command you:

 ... be strong and steadfast! Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord, your God,

 is with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:9 

Other translations use 'courageous' in place of 'steadfast.'  And this is all about courage.

Can I tell you a story? About my young adult daughter (remember, we aren't calling them teens anymore!)?  She displayed tremendous courage.  She took a risk.  She went out on a limb.  'Cause that's where the fruit is right? (Jimmy Carter)

She is not overly ... athletic.  She swims very well, she skates, but overall she is more the arts/drama/music kinda girl.  For whatever reason, at the age of 14 and on the last day for soccer registration, she decided she wanted to go. for. it.  I get that boys need to test their physical limits as they approach manhood; that they need the rough and tumble wrestling with their dads.  But you know what?  I wonder if girls need some of that too.  I wonder if there was something inside her that needed to know how she would do.  Something inside her that needed to know what it would be like to play on a team. At this age in her life. As a homeschooled girl.

She emailed back and forth with soccer clubs.  She was upfront with the fact that she had no experience.  She was asked to come to a practice so the coach could ... take a look ...

We bought cleats and shin pads and socks and balls ... dug out white T and black shorts.

And for almost two hours, I watched my beautiful 14-yr-old young adult daughter play and drill and kick and run with a group of Under 16 girls who have been doing this for several years.  

And she did not cry ...

She did not cry!!  

She did not cry when the coach said she wasn't going to work out for this team, but that he'd send her over to another coach.  Au contraire!  She walked off that field with a big smile, glowing cheeks and feeling on top of the world!  Isn't this the kind of mountain-top moment we want our kids to experience, even on a regular basis?  It takes courage to take a risk, but the result is more courage! Excitement! Confidence!  

This I want: to inspire my children to go for it, to dance, to reach and stretch themselves, to have a willingness to try.  For if they can do that even in the small things, like a silly soccer practice, what limits have they when it comes to fulfilling their mission and God's plan for their life?  

so proud of you baby!

xoxo 

mom

Just another manic monday ...

five kids
+
beautiful weather
+
inspiration acted upon
= 
a hand-crafted bow and arrow; 
a refurbished yellow tanktop;
the start of an ant gel colony in the name of living science;
a sweet ruffly skirt with jaunty orange flower; 
five happy kids; and
one happy mom