Catholic Woman’s Almanac {CWA}
Moments of Gratitude
::evening sunlight falling across my bed
::cooler temperatures
::open windows
::recovery for my grandparents
::kids and books
::the Mass
::Leo napping on the quilt made for him by his great grandpa Leo
Beauty in the Ordinary
I have made a very thorough cleaning list for this last week before school starts…room by room…chore by chore. We will be tackling jobs that are supposed to get done all the time as well as some jobs that get put off, like cleaning the ceiling fans. To help my pantry cleaning/organization, I bought an adjustable Door Rack 
From the Kitchen
My grocery budget is too big. I really need to create an inexpensive plan with a few treats thrown and STICK TO IT. I also need to:
A) go back to my old ways of, “I fix it, you eat it…or you don’t. Hopefully you like the next meal.”
B) give smaller portions and then 2nds if they need it instead of getting too much the first time around
Praying
I am praying for our new priest, whoever he may be. This has been a messy year and he needs all the support he can get before he even gets here. I’m praying for a great school year and myself. When I’m stressed (or a certain time of the year) I tend to revert to some bad habitual thinking…I’ve been stressed and it’s that time of year.
Meditating
“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you fastened your own belt ans walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will fasten your belt for you and carry you where you do not wish to go.” (This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to them, “Follow me.”
†John 21:18-19
Pondering
There are moments recently where I am acutely aware of time. I am aware of the fact that my once first born baby is now 14. I am aware of the fact that instead of planning my days leisurely around the needs of a couple of toddlers and maybe a baby thrown in for good measure, I am living in front of a teen–who will sooner, rather than later, be making her way into the world–pre-teens, who are really still little girls in growing bodies with equally growing minds and souls, a young boy in a major developmental and spiritual growth spurt, a little girl growing between two boys, a toddler boy in a growth spurt trying to forge his own way and a slobbery, teething baby. I am aware of the fact that I am now 40. I am no longer the young mother with the new little family. I am supposedly the older and wiser mother…Time, I am pondering time.
Reading
We and Our Children: How to Make a Catholic Home
Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives
The Imitation of Christ 
Memorizing
I am going to start back up memorizing the Magnificat. If any of you girls feel like everybody memorizes or accomplishes what they set out to do in record time, please scroll through past CWA’s and see how incredibly long I have been wanting to/trying to do this.
Wandering the Web
Mmmm–Mini Fruit Pizza’s
Good Idea–You Tube for Kids (but like the author points out, there are still some holes.)
Words–If you need someone to listen…
Link up and share a peek into your life. If you don’t have blog, share in the comments. Then take a minute to go visit your sisters in Christ. Encourage each other…pray for each other…love each other.
Moments of Grace
My Moment of Grace came this week in the unexpected.
My children and I drove a couple of hours to spend the afternoon with my dad {we haven’t seen him in 4 years} who was in the States {he lives in Germany for work} visiting his parents, my grandparents, who have had a series of recent health issues.
While waiting to meet him {we chose a mid way point} the kids and I walked around two museums I had been wanting to visit.
This time with my dad was especially dear to me because this was the first time my dad had met his two youngest grandsons. We lunched on Bar B Que and went to a local park to visit and play. The time spent together was short but sweet.
Join us today and share your own Moment of Grace from this week. It could be something out of the ordinary, like mine, or the beautiful grace God breathes into each and every moment.
Catholic Woman’s Almanac {CWA}
Moments of Gratitude
::visiting with new families after Mass
::visiting with new friends after Mass
::standing in the back of the church, looking at the backs of the people in front of me, each with their own story
::a going away party for a friend from church, I pray things go better for her, she got the short end of the stick here
::cooler morning temps
::my daughter passing her soccer referee class
Beauty in the Ordinary
When our friend recently came down for a visit, she brought white coconuts. Chris knocked a hole in them and we sat around the table drinking the coconut water {not milk} and trying to describe the taste.
From the Kitchen
We have been pretty closely following the monthly meal plan I made. The variations come when my oldest {14yo} daughter wants to make something “other than…”
Praying
I’m praying for grace, which is always an answered prayer.
Pondering
“We have placed in our care for a few short years precious immortal souls who belong to God, whose destiny is an eternity in and with God, and who depend entirely upon us for the formation of a way of life which will lead them surely to God.”
We and Our Children
Reading
Catholic Bible-RSV
We and Our Children: How to Make a Catholic Home
Listening to
God Loves a Cheerful Giver: Saint Lawrence, Martyr
My Savior’s Love Endures (Magnificat)
Web Wandering
Avilian Homeschooling Routine
Embrace the Camera–50 Photos to Take With Your Kids
Captured
{Literally! Luke caught this bullfrog out back in the pond.}
Join us each Monday to share a peek into your daily, grace filled life. Link up your almanac if you have a blog. If you don’t blog, share anyway! Post your almanac in the comments section. After sharing your almanac, go visit each other, encourage each other, pray for each other.
Moments of Grace
A gratitude list for my Moment of Grace this week.
::seeing my spiritual father when I needed to see him
{he lives in another state}
::my dad being back in the states & the anticipation of getting to see him this next week
{he lives in another country}
::visiting with my niece
{she lives in another town}
::laughing with my teen age daughter
{some days, she lives in another world}
::Maximilian, 4 years old, getting dressed by himself everyday…and everyday putting his clothes on backwards, shirt, shorts and underwear
::Luke catching a very large bullfrog out by the pond
::Luke setting up ‘hurdles’ in the front yard like the Olympics
::Maximilian telling us he was going to jump over Leo {laying on the floor} like an Olympic hurdle
::Bridget pretending like she’s on the relay team as she weaves through the house ‘tagging’ each of us
::kids piled in the front room watching the Olympics with Chris every night
Share your Moment(s) of Grace this week. You know they were there…they may have had to compete for your attention, but they were there, woven through your everyday…God in your midst.
Moments of Grace
I enjoyed a phone call the other day from a friend in town. She is in the middle of new baby hormones so we talked about how to ‘do it all:’ taking care of our husbands, our home, our children, homeschooling, new baby stuff…she said from reading Suscipio, it looked like I had all together.
I have to tell you, as I walked into the dinning room to answer that phone call, I turned on my ceiling fan. My ceiling fan is gross. There I said it; it is so gross and dusty. I keep forgetting to clean it and when I look up and realize that yet another day has gone by without me cleaning the ceiling fan in the living room, my solution is to flip it on.
I thought, you know, not be self deprecating, but to be real, I should share a picture of my ceiling fan with you all. Remember, I told you my spiritual director thought Suscipio was a good idea back in January when I thought of starting a website to encourage Catholic women. His only concern was that I kept it real. And if you are thinking I have anything together, I offer you
exhibit A:
and B:
{I offer these pictures as one of Elizabeth Foss’ posts rings in my head, one of my favorite posts of hers by the way, ‘Why Bother.’}
I spoke to my sister later on that day and I told her about my phone conversation and how people would laugh if they saw my ceiling fan. She started to laugh because the night before she had turned her ceiling fan on high and “it looked like it was snowing.” (I have permission to share that by the way.)
I don’t know of anyone who has it all together. Some things just seem to make it higher on the daily priority list than others. Obviously my ceiling fan needs to be moved up!
The last couple of Fridays, you all have seen sweet, chubby baby pictures, and that is a glimpse into my life, but just because I have a cute baby does not mean I don’t have a dirty ceiling fan.
Share your Moment of Grace today. It doesn’t have to be perfect or beautiful; it just has to be real. My Moment of Grace came in realizing I’m not the only one with a dirty ceiling fan. My Moment of Grace came in realizing we all see what we want to see…even if it means overlooking some dust.
Link up or share in the comments and then visit each other…encourage each other.
Catholic Woman’s Almanac {CWA}
Moments of Gratitude
::air conditioning
::Chris’ hard work to provide for our family
::one of the girls making homemade ice cream each week-end
::drinking ice water out of a Mason Jar
::Sunday afternoon naps
::listening to my children sing old Doris Day songs
::a good nursing bra
**{We’re all girls here…I think every woman should invest in a good, I mean a really good bra. It makes a HUGE difference in how you look. I went to this place in the city that specializes in bras — from size 26A to 60OO. They are a hands on place, literally, but the bras fit so well. Now I know why I was so discouraged trying on bras at Target, they didn’t fit. I haven’t treated myself to good bra in almost 8 years…it was time.}
Beauty in the Ordinary
Our fields are almost mowed and full of freshly rolled hay bales. As much as I dislike the heat of summer, I love to see all the hay being mowed and then baled. My mother in law {†} used to call them ‘cinnamon rolls’
From the Kitchen
::everything bagels with lunch meat/cheese/lettuce/tomatoes and chips
::refried beans/tortilla chips/cheese
::hamburgers/salad
::sloppy joes/salad
::tacos/beans/guacamole
Praying
::for a friend who just lost her brother unexpectedly
::for me, as a mother.
::for our parish
::for a friend who is searching for her St Joseph
Reading
Catholic Bible-RSV
Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words
Memorizing
I have not worked on the Magnificat at all, not one word. It would sound lame to say I’m too busy right now, so I won’t say it.
Wandering Around the Web
Good Morning drink & Good Night drink
Looking Ahead
This Wednesday, August 1st, Real Life Rosary will be offering a family 6 pack of cord rosaries {a surprise me package of colors} plus a rosary meditation book as a giveaway. Be sure to stop by and enter!
Captured
My girls went shopping last week with our friend who was visiting. One of my girls bought me this cup.
?My sister & I were talking about what items we felt were worth an investment. I obviously think bras, but I also think a pair of good shoes. What items do you think are worth the investment?
Share a peek into your life. Link up with us here at Suscipio on Monday’s for {CWA} or Catholic Woman’s Almanac. Tweak the categories to fit you. If you don’t have a blog, please share in the comments. Don’t forget to visit the ladies who link up and comment on those who share in the comments.
Moments of Grace
I know…I know…Friday’s Moments of Grace are turning into the “Let’s see yet another picture of Leo on a Friday” day. I really did have something else planned for today.
I was going to talk about how our friend who is staying with us received a beautiful bouquet of white lilies — delivered right to our door — which made my girls howl “how romantic” “how sweet” and their smiles were a mile wide. I pray someday a very special boy will send them flowers…but I digress.
Instead, I want to talk about how I was reminded this week how precious life is; how precious, short and sometimes hard. Life is hard and I don’t know how, or even why, people make the choice to go it alone.
God is so big and loving and merciful. There is nothing we can do to push Him so far away that He won’t come straight back to us in a heartbeat.
So that my friends is my Moment of Grace…an Leo, well, he’s a big ‘ol cherry on top of life!
Join us today to share your Moment of Grace. This week was full of ‘em, but sometimes they get lost in the hustle and bustle. Those moments when God quietly reminds you, “I’m here” can be drowned out by the noise and demands of everyday life. But if you take a moment to stop, look back…you’ll find it…you’ll find Him.
Link up and share. And then go visit the other ladies who have shared their glimpse of God. If you don’t have a blog, please share your moment in the comments.
Moments of Grace
The beginning of the week starts in a flurry of things to do, places to go and people to see. The middle of the week is the push to get to the end of the week and the end of the week promises at least some respite. It’s in this end, this temporary intermission between the week and the weekend that we can pause, if only for moment and appreciate the moments of grace the week brought us.
They were there, these moments of grace. They may have been fleeting and the noise and demands of life may have tried to drown them out, but they were there. They were in the strength to do what we thought we could not do, to accomplish what we thought impossible and even to enjoy what we were afraid we may miss.
A few years ago I decided I needed a hobby. I am afraid if it were not for the hobby of taking pictures, I would have no pictures of my younger children. Life gets busy around here and somewhere between waking up and going to sleep, I forget to stop and enjoy a moment right smack dab in the middle of the day.
Thankfully I paused and saw the afternoon sun blessing the little bodies of my youngest daughter and youngest son.
Join us! Share your Moment of Grace here at Suscipio on Friday’s. It can be a photo, no words; because we all know a picture is worth a thousand of them.
It can be a gratitude list, capturing a great big God in the little things that make our days. It can be a story or a prayer, because God was there as well.
Link up if you have a blog and if you don’t leave your grace moment in the comments. If you want to share a picture, post it on our Suscipio Flickr Group. And then go visit all the wonderful women who have shared their Moments of Grace this week.
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The winner of the beautiful earrings from Ruth at Loretto Rosaries is…
Misty from Misty’s Mornings! Email me Misty so I can pass your information on to Ruth. Congratulations! {Thanks to my oldest and youngest for drawing.}
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