Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Looking for "a good house where God wants us to live"

That's Meghan's prayer, and we're working on it.

We have met with our credit union and a realtor. We have toured a few houses. We have missed seeing a few houses before contracts were signed on them.

30-day novena to St. Joseph begins today, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Want to join us?

EWTN has the words of the prayer here.

Thank you (in advance) for your prayers!

Monday, April 22, 2013

So how was your weekend?

Friday started out like any normal Friday. The kids did their schoolwork; we walked down to noon Mass, and Joseph mowed our front lawn. Friday night, John, Joseph, and Matthew served for Confirmation. Joseph was a Bishop's attendant and got to wear a special cape (on top of his cassock and surplice) to cover his hands while holding the miter. Until just before the Sacrament was conferred, when he was overcome by the heat. He got to the open window in the sacristy in time to avoid fainting and remove the cape, but then he threw up instead. Poor guy! So John helped Joseph clean up the window sill, and Matthew, the lowly boat boy, was promoted to Bishop's attendant for the remainder of the Mass. He was floating on air when he got home.

He came into my room absolutely beaming and said to me, "Did you hear about the catastrophe at church?"

"No. No one has told me anything about it yet," I replied, putting down the laundry I was folding.

"Oh! It was beautiful!"

"Really? what happened?"

"Joseph has to tell you."

Joseph took the whole thing with good humor. He had felt better and returned to the sanctuary during the Liturgy of the Eucharist and partaken of the celebratory cake afterwards.

Saturday, Joseph, who has started a lawn-mowing business in order to pay for Boy Scout summer camp, had his first job at 7 a.m. Friday night's thunderstorm made the grass too wet to mow, so we walked over, met the lady, saw what she needed done, and arranged to have him come back this morning to do the work. Then, we went out to buy him a baseball glove (which was his long-awaited birthday present) and white baseball pants. Matthew also needed pants--black ones. How, with all the white pants and grey pinstriped pants that we have in almost every size, it still ended up that both boys needed uniform pants, I'll never know. Murphy's law. Thankfully, they did already have the right combination of socks (well, almost--Joseph is supposed to have white socks with a black stripe--we have plain white, navy stripe, red stripe, orange stripe, but no black stripe and no striped socks at the sporting goods store or Target. So he's going with plain white), belts, red t-shirts, protective gear, and cleats.

After the sporting goods store, Joseph came home to do chores until 11:00 when it was time to mow Uncle Dan and Aunt Taryn's lawn. He started in on that, intending to spend two hours before his baseball game. While he was working, he got a call that his game was changed to a practice because the game field was too wet. I guess the practice field was not. It saved John about 90 minutes of driving, so no complaints here.

Joseph spent about 3 1/2 hours on the aunt & uncle's lawn, then went to practice for 2 hours, then came home, begged off on weeding Dan and Taryn's garden until Tuesday, finished his home chores, hung out with a friend for a few minutes, ate dinner (glad I made Irish stew so he had something hearty), checked his email, and went to bed.

In between driving Joseph places, John finished Patrick's financial aid application, started putting the polyurethane on the cabinet he's finishing for the art supplies, and went to work on the thousands of dandelions in the yard. We're renting, but we're still supposed to keep the yard looking presentable, and in this neighborhood, that means digging up dandelions.

I also did some driving to pick Joseph up from lawn mowing and drop him off at baseball practice, went to the organic market for milk and to Target for night-light bulbs, batteries, and a failed attempt to find a mesh thingamajig to put over the end of the washing machine hose to reduce the amount of lint going into the basement sink drain. Not that it keeps it from overflowing the sink at least once a month, but, hey, it must be keeping it from overflowing the sink every week, right? Right? Still. Didn't find one. I was sure I got them at Target last time.

Then, I made Irish stew with the leg bones and leftover lamb from our Easter feast. And Irish brown bread. Yummy! While the bread was baking and the stew was, well, stewing, I went out to pull weeds in the garden beds. I did about a one-square yard area before I ran out of time. There are so many weeds here, I can see that it's going to be a daily chore for everyone all summer to keep up with this garden. Good thing we homeschool so we're home and have plenty of extra time every day.

ha!

Sunday, John and the boys served Mass, and it was our weekend to set up and clean up the  post-Mass social. This is actually not a hard job at all, and we do it with Dan and Taryn, so it turns out to be fun. It takes time, though. We got home at about 1:15, and Joseph helped John cook brunch while I made the fruit salad. John and I went out to look at a couple of houses--nothing spectacular yet, but when we saw a house on a good street that we hadn't even known was for sale and is already under contract, we realized that we really need a realtor.  Lesson learned. When we got home, I sent an email to the realtor Dan and Taryn worked with last winter.

While John and Meghan very industriously went outside to pull more weeds, I snatched an hour to read. For fun. Ahhhhhh! Sunday rest! 0:-D

The boys were at the creek with friends: a well-deserved playtime for Joseph. They stayed down there until almost 6 p.m. when Joseph went off with John to Boy Scout Troop Leader Training at church. I made a simple dinner for the rest of us: leftover fruit salad, a raw veggie plate, leftover tzatziki, and some cheese and crackers. After Meghan and Matthew were in bed, I finished my book. Hooray!

Katie was sick all weekend and pretty much stayed in bed except to do her chores on Saturday and go to Mass on Sunday. She didn't run the neighborhood 5K after all. Her friend and running partner came down with strep throat on Thursday, and by Saturday morning, Katie was feeling horrible too.

Meghan did her chores and hung out at home with Katie. She has had a terrible cold since we got back from Massachusetts last Monday, so she and I opted not to go to Confirmation on Friday. Ordinarily, I might have taken her. Bishops' Masses are exciting (who knew how exciting this one was going to be!?), but it was raining, and I didn't think we should drag her out at bedtime. She was happy to stay at home, which tells me she was tired. Normally, she wants to go everywhere everyone else is going. She did go out with John to help pull weeds in the yard on Sunday afternoon and gave me a minute-by-minute report before dinner.
Back to her old self, I think.

So that was our weekend.

I'm ready for the regular schedule of a regular week now.

Except for the clogged kitchen sink.

Monday, April 8, 2013

On religious freedom

Today is the last day to submit comments on the HHS Mandate. I have been putting this off, but I do believe strongly that the new conscience exceptions are completely inadequate. So I finally made time this morning. I said the following:

Please provide broader conscience protection under the HHS mandate. As it stands, the conscience protections do not extend far enough. As a Catholic business owner, my dad for many years has provided health insurance for his employees in order to ensure that they have access to necessary medical care. Under the current mandate, he can no longer offer health insurance to his employees without violating his conscience on the issues of abortion, sterilization, and contraception.

As Catholics, we must live our faith both privately and publicly. Vatican II states, "The layman, at one and the same time a believer and a citizen of the world, has only a single conscience, a Christian conscience; it is by this that he must be guided continually in both domains." (Paragraph 5, Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, November 18, 1965.) To provide insurance that pays for contraception, sterilization, or abortion would violate the Christian conscience of any Catholic or Christian business owner just as much as it violates the conscience of a Church-run school, hospital, or charitable operation.

The Church and its faithful members believe that contraception, sterilization, and abortion are grave evils that cause deep psychological and spiritual harm to the very women and men they are meant to help. How can a person who sincerely holds that understanding, based on current science as well as anecdotal evidence from those who have been harmed by these activities (see the studies and testimonies on the websites of One More Soul, Feminists for Life, and Silent No More), then pay for insurance that provide those exact harmful things for others? It's not rational to provide something harmful to another person. It violates the conscience of the person who is forced to provide something he or she knows to be harmful to another.

Please broaden the conscience protections under the HHS Mandate to include all those who object to providing contraception, sterilization, and abortion for religious or moral reasons.

So I'm on record now.

If you'd like to comment, you can go here.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Spring snow


Pausing for Tea on a Snowy Morning
(with sincere apology to Robert Frost)

Whose flakes these are I think I know.
His heart is with His children, so
I know He sees me pausing here
To watch His world fill up with snow.

My little children think it queer
To stop and sit at window clear
To gaze in peace and sip my mug
This fifth spring morning of the year.

They give my bathrobe sleeve a tug
And ask for lap and kiss and hug.
The silent morning wakes from sleep
With joyous shrieks and boots pulled snug.

The snow is fluffy, wet, and deep,
But I have school and home to keep,
And hours to go before I sleep,
And hours to go before I sleep.


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Papal lapbook

I thought I was so original in planning to do a lapbook of our study on the Papal transition.  Then I went here and was humbled. Oh, well, it is Lent after all.


Homeschool resources

On Saturday, I hosted a tea for the local Catholic homeschool moms. After being the only Catholic homeschooler our last couple of years in Japan, I was very excited that there were nine of us!

Today, I thought I would write up a list of resources for moms who are thinking about homeschooling, especially for little ones, and I put it in an email to the hyattsmoms Yahoo group. But I want to keep it here, too, so I can find it again and not have to retype it.

Hello, Ladies,

Thank you all again for all the great ideas you shared on Saturday at tea. Below
are some links to resources that I mentioned or was asked about and a few that I
thought of later. Wendy, Jolene, and Therese, I hope you will have time this
week to reply with links for the awesome things you shared, too.

You truly don't need to purchase a pre-made program in order to have a
successful preschool at home, but it can help you to make your plan for the
year. It is easy to spend a lot of money on curricula that don't work out, so
please take me up on my offer to borrow or at least look through books before
you decide what to buy. :)

You are in my prayers as you and your husbands discern the best educational
paths for your children.

Blessings,
Judy

LENT STUFF:
Stations of the Cross pictures are available from Catholic Heritage Curricula
and Leaflet Missal Company:

CHC: https://www.chcweb.com/catalog/StationsofCrossPrints/product_info.html

Leaflet Missal 8x10:
http://www.leafletonline.com/8-X-10-STATIONS-OF-THE-CROSS-ILLUSTRATIONS/producti\
nfo/26363/


4x6:
http://www.leafletonline.com/4-X-6-STATIONS-OF-THE-CROSS-ILLUSTRATIONS/productin\
fo/26365/


I cannot find the 7-candle tealight holder online. I think it came from Craft
Warehouse out in Washington State in an after-Christmas sale. The thing is, if
you have an idea of how you could fit the Stations in your home and where you
might like to put them, you can find something for your space and in your own
style, and it will be lovely. Keep ideas like this in mind and the right thing
will turn up in a thrift shop or yard sale. :-)

For those who are still deciding whether to homeschool or not:
GENERAL HOMESCHOOLING books (an obvious classical and montessori bent here--I
haven't kept the books I didn't follow after we figured out how we wanted to
homeschool :-)) These are all on my shelf and you may borrow if you like:
Catholic Education: Homeward Bound, Kimberly Hahn and Mary Hasson
Catholic Home Schooling, Mary Kay Clark (a little dated, but still worth
mentioning)
Home Grown Kids, Raymond and Dorothy Moore (the only non-Catholic book in the
list, but worthwhile insights on readiness that led to Washington State's
decision to delay required public school entry to age 8)
Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum, Laura Berquist
The Well Trained Mind, Wise and Bauer
The Trivium, Sr. Miriam Joseph, CSC, Ph.D.
The Montessori Method, Maria Montessori

PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS and RESOURCES:
Little Saints Catholic Preschool program (I own this if someone would like to
take a look at it). You can purchase it here:
http://emmanuelbooks.com/product_detail.cfm/ID/649/OID//Little-Saints-A-Catholic\
-Preschool-Program-with-Classical-Disciplines/


Alphabet Path (all online, from a Catholic mom, Elizabeth Foss, who writes for
the Arlington (VA) Catholic paper) starts here with A, and other letters are
linked in the blog post:
http://www.elizabethfoss.com/serendipity/along_the_alphabet_path/

And one I forgot to mention on Saturday: I have found the book list in Catholic
Mosaic helpful in suggesting picture books and accompanying activities that
follow the liturgical year. I have this if anyone would like to take a look at
it. Or you can buy it at this link:
http://hillsideeducation.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9_10

Another one I forgot to mention is Natural Structure (all online): an idea about
combining Montessori works with Classical Education that has inspired our
family's preschool:
http://www.nsmontessori.com/index.html

We have also had fun with the craft ideas for the liturgical year on the
following two blogs. You may already know about these or others that are also
great (please share!), but just in case:

Homeschool Goodies: http://thankevann.com/homeschoolgoodies/

Catholic Icing: http://catholicicing.com/

A.M.D.G.