Little prayer for today

O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament Divine; all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine.

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

Little prayer for today

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I give myself to Thee through Mary.

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

Little prayer for today

O Jesus, hide me within Thy wounds.

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

Little prayer for today

Heart of Jesus, I love Thee. Convert my heart and those who are far from Thee.

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

Little prayer for today

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

Little prayer for today

Holy Mother, pierce me through;
in my heart each wound renew
of my Savior crucified.

(Stabat Mater)

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

A Lantern in Her Hand

Once in high school, I noticed a book that my friend Beth was reading on the bus. The title was A Lantern in her Hand. It looked interesting; I enjoyed pioneer stories, but I was busy with other books and assignments, and somehow never got around to reading it. The title stayed with me, though.

Recently, I noticed it again in the Emmanuel Books catalog. Katie has read just about everything on our shelves that isn't being saved for a book report, and I was in search of something for her. The book arrived, and I put it on my shelf awaiting preview. Last night I was feeling worn out--too tired to grade papers or think out school plans--reading a children's book seemed about as much as I could handle. So I picked up A Lantern in her Hand. And was drawn into a world in which I had not spent much time since my Little House on the Prairie-reading days. The world of the pioneer families who settled the upper mid-west.

Reading as an a dult woman, I picked up a thread in the story that might not have meant much to me if I had read the book in high school: the happiness of the life of a homemaker. This is something unique, something we don't read much about in modern literature: the joy of life in a large and busy household. Abbie Deal's life is difficult from dawn to dark, full of privation and back-breaking work. Yet Abbie does not dwell on the mind-numbing aspects of her life. She rises above this and maintains an active life of the mind. And she is satisfied with...no...fulfilled by her life.

What does this mean for female readers in a culture in which we have been trained to look for fulfillment in paid employment either outside or inside our homes? Whether consciously or not, those of us raised in the 70s and later were taught by the culture (not by my mother, if I had been listening better) that housework is mind-numbing and the effort of making a home worth very little. We have absorbed the lesson that it is earning capacity that matters. Abbie Deal's story teaches a different lesson. And it is one that resonates with me.

Since I came home from the workplace 10 years ago, I have spent not a little time thinking about this. I will continue with that sorting-out process a little now. Some days my tasks at home are mind-numbing. In the early days especially, I got tired of talking only to young children most of the time. But most days, it is a joyful experience to be with these little people with whom God has entrusted me. And He has never left me alone.

In the first seven years, God provided me with an active, spiritually supportive, homeschool co-op that met every week and gave me a chance to be with other mothers and to learn from them what this thing we call homeschool can be. And my work is easy compared to that of a pioneer mother. Goodness, I live not with deprivation, but with excess. We have so many clothes that I do two loads of laundry every day jsut to keep up. I have a graduate level education, which gave me the confidence to teach my own children at home. Many others do not have this, and no one really needs it, but it gave me confidence in the beginning. When I am cooking meals, I use ingredients that came from an abundantly-stocked grocery store (although I still have the gall to complain when they are out of frozen organic blueberries or my favorite brand of plain yogurt). I have an automobile dedicated solely to my own needs, in which I drive our children to multiple physically-challenging and mentally-broadening activities. And all the while I am getting rid of (trying to) the excess stuff we have accumulated over the past 21 or so years of family life. We have too much rather than not enough.

Compared with pioneer times, this is an easy life. It is a blessed life. But it is hard in different ways. The time and effort and energy needed to raise six children, homeschooling five of them simultaneously amid the anxiety and stress of modern life can be overwhelming. So what is it that I find so appealing about Abbie Deal and her life? Why am I intrigued by her? What does she know that I do not? Perhaps the words of author Beth Streeter Aldrich begin to make sense of it.

"A Lantern in Her Hand" was written to please no one but my own consciousness of the character of many of those pioneer mothers. It was written in the so-called "mad twenties" when most of the best-selling books were about sophistication, flaming youth, or far-flung countries. There was some youth in it, but not of the flaming type. There was no sophistication, for Abbie Deal was of the soil. There was not even diversity of scene, for Abbie was only a homemaker.

"Lantern" seemed destined to be lost in the wave of the popular type of the times. That it has made new friends each year since that day might be a bit of a lesson for young writers. Regardless of the popular literary trend of the times, write the thing which lies close to your heart.

Aldrich's heart portrayed Truth through Abbie's story: the story of a woman who was only a homemaker. Truth and beauty and love are all abundant in this mothering life I live. I pray for the grace to recognize them. And that at the end of 80 years, I will be able to say with Abbie, "We had the best times."

Solemnity of the Annunciation

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named
Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the Angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus....
And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be since I have no husband?"
And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God....For with God nothing will be impossible."
And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

-Luke 1:26-38

~~~

"The more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary only that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus, since we go to her only as the way by which we are to find the end we are seeking, which is Jesus."

-St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary

~~~

Father, Most High, the favor you have shown us makes us tremble with gratitude and awe. We beg you, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to make us worthy to receive you with hearts like Mary's.

-Magnificat Lenten Companion March 25, 2010

Angelfood cake for dessert tonight! :)

Remember...

...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

So, what happened...?

As Holy Week approaches

Click here for an excellent post about Lent from Fr. Z's blog.

Little prayer for today

Jesus, for love of Thee, with Thee, and for Thee.

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

Lenten lapbooks

On the first Sunday of Lent, we put together Lenten lapbooks. We had ordered A Lenten Calendar for Children from Emmanuel Books for Katie, Joseph, and Matthew.


Matthew wanted to hang his calendar up in the dining room,


but Katie and Joseph thought making a Lenten lapbook to hold the calendar, the path poster, and some devotional items would be a good project to begin the season. Japanese paper size is different from American, but we couldn't find purple file folders (or any file folders, for that matter) at the bookstore on base, so I purchased purple pocket folders there instead.

Then I downloaded a miniature, accordion-fold Stations of the Cross booklet (ht: Homeschool Goodies) and printed one each.


All three children worked meditatively on these for quite some time.

Matthew, at five, needed to come back to the work the next day, but he was enthusiastic about the project. He didn't forget it, but got started again right after breakfast on Monday.

The older children added a page to make room for the poster.

We have several high-quality, Catholic coloring books, from which they colored and cut out pictures for their front covers.


Then they used the pockets to hold the stickers for the pathway. Katie made a pocket to hold her mini Stations of the Cross booklet.


Joseph divided one pocket into two and labeled them with gold glitter.


Nice work everyone!




N.B.:
By the end of the second week of Lent, Joseph decided that he would remember to mark his calendar better if he hung it up next to Matthew's. So that's what he did on Friday.

It's working fine for him now.

Lapbooks

We recently discovered how much fun lap books are. We have always made books of one kind or another: with folded paper, or stapled pages, or cut-out shapes. But we have never made use of the file folder-based lap book idea until this winter.

Thanks are due to my mother-in-law, who sent me The Ultimate Lapbook Handbook, and my husband, who agreed that we could also use The Big Book of Books. We are off on a great book-making adventure.

Katie devoured the resource books and was inspired to organize my grading materials, which were always floating around on the school table buried under binders and books just when I needed to calculate a percentage or translate into a letter grade.

Then she added a page and made a pocket to hold other resources that I use when grading essays and planning course work.


Now, everything is together in a folder that fits beautifully in my book basket.


Thank you, Katie. :-)

Solemnity of St. Joseph

Oh, glorious St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God. I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.

Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls - Pray for us.

No more Girl Scout cookies for us. Sadly.

http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.1592/pub_detail.asp

Dear Grandma,

Thank you for our birthday and St. Valentine's Day presents. We thought you would like to see how we spent them.



Mom helped us find the best price and order some block sets online. There were a lot of choices, and we both carefully considered which one to order. It was tough, but we finally decided. They arrived today.


Joseph couldn't wait to start building the Japanese house. Matthew took his upstairs and, with a little help, built the pyramid on the bedroom floor.

These blocks are lots of fun! Thank you.

We can't wait to see you this summer.

Love,

Joseph and Matthew

Little prayer for today

Mother of love, of sorrow, and of mercy, pray for us.

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

St. Patrick's Day

Are you wearing green today? We are!



We didn't make it to Mass this morning, but we did make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament chapel at lunchtime.



The corned beef is in the crock pot. (Hooray! The commissary had this in time for St. Patrick's Day for the first time in 4 years! Thank you to whoever did the ordering this year.)


We'll also make boiled potatoes, a green salad, and maybe some Irish brown bread. Then there is the mint chocolate chip ice cream pie for Patrick's name day dessert. He chooses it every year.

Meghan made a card for Daddy, who shares this name day with Patrick.


Katie baked shamrock shortbread.


It is delicious with my tea this afternoon.


And Meghan enjoyed it with her milk.


We are reading lots of Irish books this week. All those fairy stories are a part of our heritage, and we have a healthy selection of the Irish Saints (Patrick, Kevin, Brigid, Colum), as well.



At dinner, Patrick will receive a name day blessing from his father, and we will pray the Breastplate of St. Patrick together.

After dinner, the kids get to watch the CCC St. Patrick movie.

Christ with us, Christ before us,
Christ behind us, Christ in us,
Christ beneath us, Christ above us,
Christ on our right, Christ on our left,
Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of us,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of us,
Christ in every eye that sees us,
Christ in every ear that hears us.

We arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of Christ.
May thy Salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

-adapted from The Breastplate of St. Patrick

Little prayer for today

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

Catholic folk toys

I do not want to lose track of this site. I am hoping to get Meghan some wooden saint dolls for her birthday.

http://catholicfolktoys.com/

Animal Crackers

Animal Crackers
by Christopher Morley

Animal crackers and cocoa to drink --
That is the finest of suppers I think;
When I'm grown up and can have what I please
I think I shall always insist upon these.

What do YOU choose when you're offered a treat?
When Mother says, "What would you like best to eat?"
Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?
It's cocoa and animals that I love most!

The kitchen's the coziest place that I know;
The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,
And there in the twilight, how jolly to see
The cocoa and animals waiting for me.

Daddy and Mother dine later in state,
With Mary to cook for them, Susan to wait;
But they don't have nearly as much fun as I
Who eat in the kitchen with Nurse standing by;

And Daddy once said, he would like to be me
Having cocoa and animals once more for tea!

Thank you, Tara. Or in Meghan language: "Yanks." :)

Little prayer for today

"Christ Jesus, be Thou my helper and my redeemer."


From A Lenten Calendar 2010

Little prayer for today

I am sorry for my sins. Grant, O God, that I may amend. I give myself wholly to Thee; for Thee I am ready to live and die.

From A Lenten Calendar 2010

40 bags - Day 15

Working hard today, we have cleared out 5 bags of trash. Most of the credit goes to Katie, who started clearing out her closet, and John who broke down a lot of cardboard boxes and came up with a full, black trash bag of styrofoam packing peanuts to discard.

Katie and I also filled a bag of games from her closet to donate, including two Battleship games. Joseph has a third, wooden Battleship set that gets played all the time, and the plastic ones were gathering dust. She's still working on her closet, so there may be more to donate as the day goes on.

The cleaning continues, too. John pulled everything out of the laundry room today and we vacuumed, mopped, and even pulled out the dryer vent tube and vacuumed the pipe that goes out of the house. So the laundry room is completely cleaned for Easter, now. Too bad I can't count all that lint as a bag. ;)

I am feeling encouraged again. After Meghan got sick and we lost a week, I was worried that we wouldn't really be able to make much progress in the house. With a move coming in only 18 months, I am feeling the pressure to get rid of things that are not worth shipping 5,000 or so miles to wherever we go next. It's a relief to know that we will continue to make progress here this Lent and will have another Lent to go through the house again before the move. Hopefully, that will help us stay under our weight limit in our next PCS, which will make everyone breathe a little easier.

40 bags - Day 13

3 boxes of gifts and other trinkets packed for family and friends. So happy to get these mailed out. We're counting them as one bag. :)

Working our way through the school closet and math shelf. Another 1/2 bag of trash (papers, etc.) and 1/2 bag to sell/donate from those.

Lost a lot of days when Meghan was sick last week, but Patrick is picking up my slack. He's come up with at least three bags from his room.

Post-tsunami beachcombing

Yesterday, some small tsunami waves hit the Pacific coast of the Aomori Prefecture (that's Misawa). They were the result of the Chile earthquake a few days ago. 3-meter-high waves were predicted, but as far as I can tell from the Japan Meterological Agency website, we only got about .5-meter-high waves.



There were loudspeaker announcements all over town yesterday, and the city decided to evacuate all residents east of Route 338 (what we call the beach road, but it actually runs up along the coast all the way to the top of the island). We are several kilometers inland, so we weren't worried, but it was exciting to think that a tsunami was hitting the coast at about 2:10 p.m. yesterday.

This morning, we were all curious what the beach and ocean would look like today, so at low tide (about 9:30 a.m.), we took an impromptu field trip up to Miss Veedol Beach, a few kilometers north of our house.

beach preservation measures in the background--rocks and concrete

There were still some pretty big waves,


and the beach, instead of being littered with trash and treasures from the sea, had been swept clean.


This is very unusual. Our experience with beaches in Japan has led us to expect piles of junk at the high tide line. This includes plastic (trash) and glass fishing floats (treasure!), lots of rope and net and other fishing paraphenelia, old soda cans, and driftwood.

It's everywhere

It's generally a big mix. But this morning, it looked like the waves had come in much higher on the beach than usual and washed all the trash back into the ocean.


No glass balls today. And very few shells. We did come up with a few that were worth bringing home.


And had some fun in the brisk winter breeze.

Breezy!

snow melting away from the beach preservation concrete--it's almost all gone now, winter will be over soon