Please pray

My heart is so heavy tonight. I just spoke with a very dear childhood friend whose husband has been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. He is 42 years old. They have 4 children.
He begins chemotherapy the week after next. Once they get him in remission he will need a bone marrow transplant. From what my friend told me, it cannot be cured, only treated. Life expectancy varies.
They are very devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In fact, Blaine is currently serving as bishop. Their trust is in God and they are strong.
Please join me in storming heaven for Blaine Savage and his family.

Lord, look upon Blaine with eyes of mercy, may your healing hand rest upon him, may your lifegiving powers flow into every cell of his body and into the depths of his soul, cleansing, purifying, restoring him to wholeness and strength for service in your Kingdom. Amen.

Liturgical Year Resource

I have added this link to my sidebar under "Catholic Stuff", but it deserves a post to itself. This is a website that has collected links and resources to information, ideas and activities for celebrating the liturgical year. It is fantastic!! Check it out!

HT: Home Sweet Heart

Plans for observing Lent

What should we give up for Lent?
This is our younger children's view of how to observe the sacrificial season of Lent. I have a tendency to "over-plan and overwhelm", which normally ends in dismal failure. So, this year I am aiming for the elusive balance that will challenge us, force us from our comfort zone and hopefully, into spiritual growth, but not overwhelm us.
This article was a tremendous help and inspiration for me. I realized that I really do need a plan. We all do.
So, hubby and I sat down with the kids yesterday and began planning for Lent. I made a worksheet for each of us listing the three foci (sp?) for Lent: Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving with 2 subheadings under each category. One was 'individual' and the other was 'family'. We brainstormed about the things we wanted to do as a family:

*Jesus Tree readings (making the actual Jesus tree kit will perhaps become a summer project)
* Evening Rosary
* Eucharistic Adoration- one hour per week (which will hopefully become permanent, not just a Lenten practice)
* 12:10pm Mass at our Parish on Tuesdays and Fridays
* Stations of the Cross on Fridays
One of our traditional Lenten practices is doing the Stations of the Cross at home. Our version includes lighting 12 candles, with one to be blown out after each of the first 12 stations. At Station 12, when Jesus dies on the cross, the candle is blown out and we are in darkness, because the Light has gone from the world. Dad, aided by a flashlight, leads us in the last 2 stations in darkness. It keeps the kids focused and involved--they love blowing out candles. We use a child's station of the cross booklet (I've ordered new ones for this year). We will try to go to Stations at our Church at least once during Lent.
We will be fasting from sweets (not 'Sweets'--our family:) and electronics as a family. We also decided that we eat out waaaaay too much, so we will curtail that practice and donate the money we save to our local St. Vincent de Paul society.
We discussed some ideas for our personal Lenten sacrifices and let everyone think and pray about what each of us will do individually for Lent. Tonight we will meet with the children and help them firm up their plans.
This sounds kind of like "overkill", but experience has shown me that we tend to make excuses for not keeping our Lenten sacrifices when our plans are not concrete. I for one am excited to have it all written out for me...like a contract...I just need that.
I even made plans for our Lenten Altar!
Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday:
* purple cloth
* the crucifix my mil brought back from the Holy Land
* Salt dough Crown of Thorns.
* purple candle
The candles we use for the Stations of the Cross will adorn our dining room table. I will try to get pix and post them once we get it all set up.
Holy Week:
* purple cloth
* grotto
* crucifix
* statue of Christ in Gethsemane
* vase of palms
The crown of thorns will move to the dining room table.
Easter Altar
* white and gold altar cloth
* empty grotto with the stone rolled aside
* Risen Christ statue
* homemade Paschal Candle
* and flowers!!!!
The crown of thorns, devoid of toothpicks/thorns, will be beautifully transformed and will adorn the table.
I am pretty sure I am going to steal Jessica's Lenten Calendar idea, too. We will be using this great book with the kids during co-op. The DVDs "Jesus of Nazareth" and "The Passion of the Christ" will also have a place in our Lenten program. (The Passion will NOT be seen by the littles)
I have firmed up my own personal resolutions, but I am still up in the air about my spiritual reading. I am considering several different books--The Love Dare, The Domestic Church, Room by Room, Full of Grace, the Dolorous Passion of Our Lord by Anne Catherine Emmerich and The Privilege of Being a Woman. But I haven't decided yet. I am open to suggestions, also!
It's a really good feeling to be so prepared. I really hope this will be a very fruitful Lent. As our visiting priest said on Sunday, "Your Easter will only be as good as your Lent."
Let the penance begin!!

Great reminder

HT: Faith & Family Live

Happy Birthday Sammy!

Happy Birthday Sammy!
I love your sweet smile and big bear hugs!!!
May your 7th year be a very blessed one. We love you so much and are so glad God made you a part of our family.

Quick takes

It is basketball tournament week, and with 2 boys playing in this tourney, I haven't been home much. Here's a quick peek at what's going on:
* I am planning a birthday party for my soon to be 7 year old son...had to change the party from Sunday afternoon to Saturday (today!)because his brother's championship game was changed to Sunday.
* All three boys have really improved their basketball skills. It's so much fun to watch them grow and progress.
* It's even more fun to watch them when they win!!! Middle son's team is in the championship (I know I mentioned that already, but it's exciting!)
* Being able to actually see my daughter who is studying in Austria this semester is so comforting to this mom's heart. Skype is great!!!
* I am blessed to be getting help from my dh in preparing for the birthday party this afternoon...now to set a fire under the kids!
* I am trying to plow through a pile of books to make Lenten preparations...it's coming up so fast!!
* I found "Schoolhouse Rock: The election collection" DVD!! (Wal-mart $13.00!) It has all the American History/Gov't songs!!! I loved Schoolhouse Rock when I was little and learned so much from the songs...These dovetail perfectly with our American History studies. We've already memorized the Preamble!! Middle son did a narration yesterday of a bill becoming a law and his pictures looked a lot like the "I'm just a bill" video.
* I am off to make a birthday cake and clean up, oh, and do laundry....lots of laundry....
Happy Saturday!

12 year old gives awesome pro-life speech

And she was disqualified for it. But, after the controversy, the judge revoked her disqualification and Lia won the competition. This speech is not to be missed!




Read entire story here.

UPDATE: Although Lia did not win the regional contest, she discovered through her YouTube account that a woman who was considering abortion changed her mind after viewing Lia's speech! How wonderful! Read the full story here.

Fireproof

After a lovely Valentine's dinner out (and after we got home, put the kids to bed, returned a phone call and cleaned up) hubby and I watched the movie, "Fireproof." It was powerful. Although I felt the characters were difficult to warm up to at the beginning (probably because neither of them was being very nice!) and it had its cheesy moments, any negatives were far outweighed by the message and example of unconditional love. There were moments in this movie when the emotion was so raw and so real it startled me. Then there were comic moments that lightened the mood and released the tension I was feeling as I watched their marriage disintegrate.
I think everyone can see a piece of their own marriage and their own heart somewhere in this film. It shows how slippery is the slope that leads from annoyance and negativity to resentment, bitterness and unforgiveness. It shows even those of us whose marriages are good, that we must continue to persevere and work at love. Love is a choice, after all, and we can never love too much.
I also like Marilyn's idea about adapting "The Love Dare" to our relationship with our children.
Here is an excellent article about the movie from Catholic Exchange.

Also, an impressive quote from the above article:

...for 17 years Cameron has been happily married to Chelsea Noble, the actress who played his Growing Pains girlfriend, and they have six children...

Cameron said, “I love my wife. I promised to love and cherish her to the exclusion of anyone else. A lot of actors will justify a lot of stuff in the name of art. I don’t feel that way, so I won’t kiss any other woman other than my wife. I’ve had that conviction for years. And in this movie, there’s that touching and romantic scene where Caleb and Catherine come to some resolve in their marriage and Chelsea came in and played the role of Catherine in silhouette. How can you do a movie about marriage and your life without holding true to that?”

Happy Valentine's Day!

We are beginning to emerge from our fever-induced haze, finally. It's been a rough week. In addition to not feeling well physically, I was also beginning to feel like a major bit of a slacker when I saw the wonderful things Elizabeth and Jessica were doing this week...right down to the matching outfits!!! How did they do that?
Then I remembered that we actually do have our own Valentine's tradition. Each member of our family writes a "love note" to every other member on heart shaped colored paper. Some years I staple each person's hearts onto a ribbon to hang up in their doorways. They've left these streamers hanging up for weeks. Afterward, these precious notes are always tucked away in their "keepsake" boxes.














Then, since we were feeling a little better, I got ambitious and we made these:














Maybe I'm not such a slacker after all!
It was quite comical to read that Elizabeth's daughters think that Jessica rocks and want to live at her house. Jessica totally rocks. But so does Elizabeth. Totally.
Thank you to Elizabeth and Jessica for all the inspiration they provide!

Small Successes

1. I nursed, bathed and comforted a sick 6 year old boy (who refuses to take medicine because of a hyper gag reflex that causes him to throw everything up)through a croup, fever and headache virus...while suffering from the same virus myself.

2. I snagged (literally, I kind of jumped in front of someone to grab my copy--even though there didn't seem to be any danger of running out) a copy of "Fireproof" at Wal-mart for hubby and I to watch this Valentine's weekend.

3. I purchased a card for a dear friend who feels lonely on Valentine's Day.

Share your own small successes at Faith and Family Live.

Time for a change

I have decided enough is enough...of winter. Even though the snowbanks are still thigh-high and the calendar only reads Feb. 9, and poor little Punxatawney Phil saw his shadow, I have decided I've had enough of winter. So, I changed my blog background to something a little brighter and spring-ier. Next, I need to change my attitude. Where's the website for that?

Happy Birthday Victoria

Happy 7th birthday to my littlest niece and faithful fan! Have a great day, Tori!

I wondered....

Well, we are back home in the great frozen north! It is nice to be back with family and friends (and our dog...we missed our dog!), but I have to be honest. It was disheartening to see the snow banks grow taller and taller as we traveled north on I-91. How quickly we grew accustomed to the warmer weather and lack of snow in Virginia!:)
Anyway, when I wrote this post last Sunday, there was this little niggling thought in the back of my head that perhaps someone (my pastor) would take it the wrong way and be offended.
After Mass today, (at which our pastor gave a rousing and challenging homily!)we greeted Father as we were leaving the church. Before I could compliment him on his homily, he facetiously said, "Sorry I was too abstract. I read your blog." Now I should explain that I have known Father for 22+ years. He was ordained 2 weeks before my husband and I were married. And, while I deeply respect Father's wisdom and priestly gifts (of which he has many), we sometimes have an older pesky brother/younger sister dynamic in our relationship.
While I tried to explain that I did not mean any disrespect to him, he and dh made some comments to each other about hidden jabs...etc..etc..
So, I believe I need to make this clear. I truly enjoyed Fr. Fasano's Mass in Front Royal. I loved the Latin elements and his straightforward style. He is a gifted preacher and he inspired me. But, praising his gifts does not, in any way, detract from the gifts God has blessed our pastor with, or my appreciation of those gifts. As I tell my children (frequently), praising one of them is not an insult to the others. Everyone deserves to be recognized for their own special gifts. Therefore, my comments were only meant to recognize Fr. Fasano's gifts, not to disparage anyone else's.
Also, I should mention that this entire post applies to our former pastor also, who can also be a bit of a pesky older brother figure. We have been blessed with our pastors and truly do appreciate them and always pray for them.
There. That should cover it. :)