Wordless Wedneday (not really)

Sunday Fun Links - Week 6

I apologize for my "missing in action" status lately, but LIFE is just getting in the way!  I find myself very busy with the kids.  Over the last several weeks, we've been working on Nathan's science fair project!  Thankfully, that has been turned in and we are patiently waiting for his grade!  We signed Amelia up for Girls on the Run!  This is an excellent program for girls that help them to gain self esteem and confidence as well as getting some great exercise!  Olivia is busy working to make her reading goal at school!  She loves to read and almost every morning...I find at least 4 or 5 books in her bed!  Apparently, when I think she is in bed sleeping....she is actually in bed reading!  That would explain why it's so hard to get her up in the morning! 

Anyway, without further ado, here are my Sunday Fun Links for this week:

18 Valentine's Day Craft Ideas:  Valentine's Day is not one of my favorite Feast Days.  I'm not sure why, but I dread it.  Our kids are required encouraged to bring a valentine for each child in their class.  We usually all sit down at the dining room table and we begin to address and sign the Scooby Doo or Star Wars valentines that we bought from the grocery store.  The kids get about 3 done each before the complaining begins..."my hand hurts", "can you finish these for me mom?", "I'm tired of doing this"!  So, I end up finishing them.  Ugh.  There are 20 kids in Amelia's class, 30 in Nathan's homeroom, and  19 in Olivia's class.  That's a total of almost 75 if you include the teachers!  I'm ready for something different!  If you are on Pinterest...there are TONS of ideas for you to peruse.  Here are just a few to get your creative juices going.

Free Valentine's Day Fonts:  These are really cerute if you want to use the computer to make your own valentines.  I've thought about doing this.  I'm tempted to buy a whole box of Hershey bars, take the brown label off and printing my own labels on pink or red paper using one of these fonts. I could even make an assembly line with the kids helping me!  I may just do this...stay tuned!

Toilet Paper Roll Valentine Bags:  Now isn't this a great idea.  Seems easy enough!

Gorgeous Hair Clips:  First of all, let me say that the sale that is mentioned in this blog post that I've linked to is no longer available.  This was from a post on 1/18/13.  I fully intended to put this on a Sunday Fun Link before now...but alas, I didn't.  Anyway, my hair is very, very short so I could never wear one of these...but aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen?  I LOVE THEM!!

300 Things to do when your kids say "I'M BORED":  Well, my kids tell me this ALL the time!  It strange because I don't ever remember saying those words to my parents...EVER!  It seems the culture we live in today is helping to produce children that must be entertained and stimulated constantly!  As a parent, the buck stops with me so I blame myself for this quirk in my kids, but I'm not sure how to change the pattern.  Dan and I both have to work.  In order for our household to function, I must have time to do the basics...laundry, cooking and cleaning.  Sometimes, it requires my kids to have "artificial" entertainment....like the t.v. or computer.  Most days, I just tell them to "go outside".  Living in Florida, you would think this would be a perfect place to be outside all the time!  Well, you would be wrong.  Summers here are brutal.  Hot (and I mean...HOT like the face of the sun HOT!), sticky, humid and....did I say hot?
Anyway...with 300 ideas in this link...I should be able to find something!



Enjoy the links for this week!

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Happy Friday!

Today is the Feast Day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton!  Here is the information printed in my Magnifcat this morning:

Elizabeth Seton was born on August 28m 1774, of a wealthy and distinguished Episcopalian family.  She was baptized in the Episcopalian faith and was a faithful adherent of the Episcopal faith and was a faithful adherent of the Episcopal Church until her conversion to Catholicism.  In 1794, Elizabeth married William Seton and they reared 5 children amid suffering and sickness.  Elizabeth and her sick husband traveled to Leghorn, Italy, and there William died.  While in Italy, Elizabeth became acquainted with Catholicism and in 1805 she made her profession of faith in the Catholic Church.  She established the first Catholic school in Baltimore in 1808; in 1809, she established a religious community in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  After seeing the expansion of her small community of teaching sisters to New York, and as far as St. Louis, she died on January 4, 1821, and was declared a saint by Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975.

 

 

 

I'm always amazed when I read about a saint and find out that they were a convert to the Catholic faith!  Isn't that amazing!  Especially since she was raised in a devout Episcopalian family!  The power of the Holy Spirit always blows my mind!  It also amazes me when I come across a saint that was married and has had children.  It is a reminder to me that God has called ALL of us to great things, no matter our state in life!  This alone brings me great hope!  No, I don't necessarily desire to be a saint venerated by millions, but, one of my greatest desires is to be able to put God above all else!

 

This brief biography above doesn't mention why the couple moved to Italy, but I read in a separate article that because of the health of William, they needed to live in a dryer climate.  In those days, when you traveled to another country, you had to spend time in quarantine.  Apparently, William died while in quarantine.

 

I also read where Elizabeth had a special devotion to the Eucharist, Sacred Scripture and the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In addition, the 23rd Psalm was her favorite prayer.

 

Elizabeth is considered to be the patron saint of Catholic Schools.

 

In my desire to make an effort to deepen my faith in this "Year of Faith", I will make it a goal to learn more about the Saints of the Church.  We have such a deep treasure in these people of God!  Join me if you can!

 

 



Thankful Thursdays

On this "first day back to school after the holidays".....I'm thankful for peanut butter waffles!!!

Resolutions....should I or shouldn't I?

'Tis the season for resolutions, plans and goals!  Each year, I start out with lofty plans!  Don't you?
I think everyone does.  My list usually goes something like this:

1.  Lose weight
2.  Be a better mom
3.  Give more to others
4.  Quit complaining
5.  Be more organized

I usually do pretty well, until about...February.  Then I'm back to my old habits and I spend the rest of the year trying to put out fires in my life until January 1st rolls around again, just to start the whole cycle over.

I'm so tired of it all. 

I no longer wish to just do things differently, I actually want to be different!   The kind of positive changes that I want to make in my life are really not the ones that can be measured by a scale or how many times I fuss at my children....although those things can be important in enjoying an over all sense of well being.

I've come to the conclusion that change comes from my attitude more than by anything else.  I want to be the one that is changed....on the inside, not just my physical appearance or circumstances.   I guess what I'm truly saying here is that I don't want to be defined by who I am on the outside, but by who I am on the inside.  Who I am on the outside should be just a reflection of what's on the inside. Currently, I don't think this is the case...and if it is.....then I don't like the reflection looking back at me in the mirror. 

Many, many years ago, back when I was just emerging from a teenager to a young adult...I heard a song on the radio that touched me deeply.  It wasn't a temporal reaction to the lyrics.  It was deep sense of who I was then, and who I wanted to be....in my soul.  It was the first time that I remember feeling as though God was talking directly to me.  The lyrics went like this....

If you see the moon
Rising gently on your fields
If the wind blows softly on your face
If the sunset lingers
While the cathedral bells peal
And the moon has risen to her place
 

Chorus:  You can thank the Father
For the things he has done
Thank Him for the things He's yet to do
And if you find a love that's tender
If you find someone who's true
Thank the Lord
He's been doubly good to you
 

If you look in the mirror
At the end of a hard day
And you know in your heart you have not lied
If you gave love freely
If you earned an honest wage
And if you've got Jesus by your side

 

Then you can thank the Father......

(Amy Grant/Rich Mullins)

 

 

Since that moment all those years ago, I've known that the reflection looking back at me in the mirror was always going to be more about who I was on the inside....rather than my physical appearance.  Is it any wonder why I don't look in the mirror much?  I know what's there....and I know what's not.  THIS is what I want my New Year Resolution to be about this year.  I want to be able to look in the mirror at the end of a hard day and be able to see more of HIM, than of me.  I want to know that I'm being authentic...that I'm becoming more and more the person that I know God made to be. 

 

I will never be perfect..especially in my own eyes, but I NEED to be moving forward everyday.

 

 

I still want to be a better mom.  I still want to lose weight and be more organized.  I still want to dust the top of the refrigerator once a month and have all the socks match after I do laundry.  But those things aren't what's really important.  The reality of those things don't make me a better person.

 

I want to BE a better person, rather than just looking like I am.

 

 

Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you"!  Before all time and space..He knew me!  He knows the person that looks back at me in the mirror.  He knows her intimately, and yet, He still loves her!  He loves her with a love that I can't even comprehend and that is infinite!

 

Thank you God, for this new year...for this new chance to be changed...to be renewed.  Help me to come to see that person reflected in the mirror the way you do.  Whatever comes my way this year, help me to not run from it.  Help me to see you in all things.  Help me to reflect you to others, rather than me.  Be with me as I put out all the fires of life.  I ask this in Jesus' Name.  Amen.



 

Oh...and just for the record....I want to learn to knit this year!