![Put It To Work 10]()
by Catherine | Jan 12, 2015 | Faith
Happy Monday! You know what that means — it’s time to Put It To Work! We’re gonna take St. Pope John Paul II’s advice to stop wasting our suffering and start putting it to work to the cross. Mondays, which can be a stressful or chaotic day, is the perfect time for us to set our sights on God and swap prayer intentions with the promise of “putting them to work” for one another.
Instead of allowing today to turn into a “manic Monday,” we’ll actively unite any little suffering we might have during the week to the cross for the other person’s intention.
Here are my intentions for the week:
- For my friend, Nicole, who is shouldering the heavy cross of miscarriage. Please pray for Nicole and her family as they mourn the death of their baby, Samuel Nicholas. (You can read about Samuel’s story here.)
- For women battling postpartum depression and those who love them. I pray that they will find the courage to get help, that their doctors will help them find healing, and that their loved ones will help them through their illness. I pray that their family members will seek help to learn how to be the best support possible and facilitate healing. I pray for an end to the stigma of this very real, very painful, and very treatable illness. May we all lift up the women who are hurting with a disease that they desperately want to be rid of.
- For a special intention
Your turn! What intentions can I start “putting to work” for you this week? I will add them to my prayer journal and pray for you by name throughout the week. Please share them in the comment box below, on the blog Facebook page, or send them to me via the “contact” button on the main menu bar.
Thank you for your prayers!
![Goddaughter Day]()
by Catherine | Jan 10, 2015 | Faith, Family
My niece, Meghan (who also happens to be my goddaughter), turned 10 over her Christmas vacation. In celebration, I took her out for a fun afternoon.
Last year, we met over cupcakes to discuss what we thought of Anne of Green Gables.
This year, we started our afternoon of fun over lunch at Paradise Bakery. Meghan and her twin brothers are 15 months apart in age, so she has known how to hold her own for quite some time! We had great conversation between bites. I got to hear all about the latest on the school front, the home front, the friend front, and field questions about anything and everything in between.
The two things that stuck out most about during our visit were Meg’s maturity and her big heart. She shared how heartbroken she was for a classmate whose mother recently passed away. She said that it made her realize how special her own mother is to their family and that she couldn’t imagine life without her. We talked about different ways that she can be a good friend, and she had some very thoughtful ideas.
I was thrilled to hear her circle back to a classmate that had been acting like a bully the previous year. Meg shared how she played peacemaker. (Let’s call the classmate Molly.) “I said, ‘Molly, I don’t want to fight anymore. Can we just be friends?’ And she said, ‘Sure!’ And she’s coming to my sleepover tonight!” I told her how proud I was of her for being so kind to someone that hadn’t been so nice to her, and I said that it was really cool of her to invite Molly to her birthday party–especially since the other girls still think she’s a bully. Meg said, “Yeah, they don’t know that she’s nice like I do. I’ll just change the subject and work really hard to include her tonight.”
Isn’t Meg such a doll? I love her new glasses.
Toward the end of our meal, I gave her a little something for her birthday. It was a prayer journal with some fun, colorful gel pens. I had brought along my own prayer journal and showed it to her. I talked about how I loved to journal at her age and said that it helped me to think through times when I was sad, or angry, or wasn’t sure what to do. I said that my favorite part about keeping a prayer journal was looking back at the old entries to see how God worked in my life–especially how He didn’t answer prayers how I wanted Him to, and how it always worked out as it should have. That got us to talking about prayer and Meg asking me how I prayed. She was excited to hear that my prayer life mostly looked like a conversation. We talked about different kinds of prayer, and I showed her how I used my journal. I emphasized that a prayer journal can be whatever she wants it to be, and that it’s just for her and God. Hopefully the conversation helped to show her that daily prayer is both normal and attractive. It didn’t hurt that the journal had some cute butterflies on the cover!
After our lunch, we headed out to go ice skating. I was THRILLED when Meg said that that was what she wanted to do. I took lessons for a few years in junior high and loved it so much that I taught little ones how to skate for awhile. I hadn’t been on the ice in a few years, so it was fun to pull out my skates.
Just like riding a bike!
Meg was a pro! She never had a major wipeout, and there were several times that she went around the ice 5 laps without falling. Way to go, Meg!
We had some more great conversation on the ride home, and I got Meg home in time to get ready for her big slumber party. I’m looking forward to our next Goddaughter Day!
Question for you:
How do you connect with your Godchildren? Meg and I are looking for another book to read together. Any suggestions for something a 10-year-old girl would enjoy? Fire away!
![7QT: Just trying to stay warm]()
by Catherine | Jan 9, 2015 | Family
7QT: This week is dedicated to the potpourri of activities we’ve been doing to distract us from the bitter cold!
-1-
We’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of this drill that Walt received for Christmas. Both of our boys have found fun uses for it.
Harry is a little more conventional and enjoys actually drilling the screws into the drill center board.
Walt, on the other hand, calls the drill his “freeze ray.” He’s just a *TAD* obsessed with all things Despicable Me at the moment, so he’ll take any opportunity he gets to convert an object into Gru’s freeze ray.
This morning, the boys were playing on the ground while I got ready. Walt handed Harry his crayon piggy bank. “Here, Harry, this can be your heat ray, and I’ll get you with my freeze ray!”
-2-
Last Friday night, Philip and I watched The Hundred-Foot Journey, so we had Indian food on our brains. While I was taking my niece out for her birthday Saturday (more on that later!), Philip took it upon himself to bake some naan. He thought it’d be a fun baking project since we had decided we’d have Indian takeout when I got home that evening.
It was delicious! He did a great job! I wish I could share the recipe, but he says he combined 5 different ones that he found online.
-3-
Philip just asked me what I was writing about.
“How you baked some naan to go with our takeout last weekend.”
“Don’t be naan-chalant about it!”
He’s a punny guy! We don’t get out much, folks.
-4-
We got a little dusting of snow, so the kids insisted on running around in it in the backyard.
Sometimes Harry gets a little too much loving…
There he goes!
-5-
Our associate pastor came over for dinner, and he gained several big fans. Harry absolutely ADORES Father! Every time Father put him down, Harry would turn back toward him with his arms outstretched. Walt’s favorite thing about Father is his hair. “He has hair JUST LIKE ME!”
Father joined us after dinner for our GodTeens meeting. The teens had a list of questions they had come up with ahead of time. Father did a great job answering their questions, and the teens really seemed to enjoy getting to spend time with Father in a more informal setting. We are so grateful that Father would carve out an evening to spend time with our family and GodTeens.
-6-
Jane and I had some special girl time this week when just the two of us got to do the grocery shopping. For Jane, the highlight was arriving at Sam’s early enough to get to enjoy a delicious pastry.
-7-
Walt’s best friend from preschool is a special little lady. We’ve arranged to have her come over for regular playdates at our house after preschool, and Walt is so smitten. It works out nicely because Walt and Walt’s lady friend are more than happy to let Jane join in their fun. The three of them had a ball earlier this week. Mr. Walt still takes an afternoon nap, so having a friend over for an afternoon playdate was quite a feat. Walt was fading toward the end of the playdate, so I decided to put on (what else?) Despicable Me 2. I was able to snap this adorable pic of Walt and his lady friend snuggled up close. Aren’t they the cutest?
Have a great weekend! For more 7QT posts, head over to this week’s link-up at Kelly Mantoan’s blog This Ain’t the Lyceum.
![Don't Throw Out Those Christmas Cards!]()
by Catherine | Jan 8, 2015 | The Homefront
Every year, I have an internal battle as the Christmas season draws to a close. What should I do with the Christmas cards? Do I keep them? Do I throw them out? If I keep them,what am I going to do with them? Even if I want to keep them, where am I going to keep them? Will I realistically look at them?
A few weeks ago, I was listening to the Jen Fulwiler radio show (podcast version since we don’t have Sirius.) She was talking about how she loves to make Christmas cards and mentioned that one of my favorite Catholic bloggers and super mama, Kathryn Whitaker at Team Whitaker, likes to keep her Christmas cards in a basket. Then, her family picks a card out of the basket each night and offers a prayer for that family.
What a great idea!
I love the thought of bringing all of those loved ones to prayer on a regular basis as a family. I didn’t love the idea of the basket, though.
- Little hands would rip the cards to smithereens within weeks.
- Where would I store it? Would it get dusty?
I came up with an alternative that worked for our family: a Christmas card binder.
Supplies:
- Your Christmas cards (I included our own on the last page)
- 1″ D-ring binder with clear cover for inserts if you’d like to put a cover page on it
- Cover page and spine title (See bottom of post)
- Cardstock (I chose black)
- Sheet protectors
- Double-sided tape (Tip: Buy the tape that you can put directly on your tape dispenser. I bought a 2-pack for the same price as one of those disposable dispensers. Working with your desktop dispenser will save you time, too.)
- Scissors for any trimming you need to do to get the cards to fit on the page
Then, simply tape the Christmas cards to your pages of cardstock, insert them into the sheet protectors, and you’ve got yourself a central hub for your loved one’s cards!
After putting all of the cards in to the binder, I whipped up a cover page. Here’s the JPEG file if you’d like to print it off for your binder, too:
I printed off the cover art and taped it to some green card stock. If I had been fancy, I would have used a larger sheet to fill the whole insert area but, meh.
I typed up a coordinating title for the binder spine in a red. Here’s the Google doc with that if you’d like it.
Then, I put the binder in its home in our little oratory. I put the binder here since it will be part of our family’s prayer life. In addition to pulling the binder out at family prayer time, I want any of us to be able to pull it off the shelf and flip through the pages whenever we’d like. As you can see, books are very, uh, loved in this house. I thought the binder would be a sturdier choice for this crew than a basket with loose cards!
Harry found the binder almost immediately. It was so sweet to watch him flip through the pages and light up as he saw all of the familiar faces. (Don’t mind his unzipped jammies. He thinks the keyhole look is the latest fashion.)
What do you do with all of the Christmas cards that you receive? I’d love to hear your ideas!
![Don’t Throw Out Those Christmas Cards!]()
by Catherine | Jan 8, 2015 | The Homefront
Every year, I have an internal battle as the Christmas season draws to a close. What should I do with the Christmas cards? Do I keep them? Do I throw them out? If I keep them,what am I going to do with them? Even if I want to keep them, where am I going to keep them? Will I realistically look at them?
A few weeks ago, I was listening to the Jen Fulwiler radio show (podcast version since we don’t have Sirius.) She was talking about how she loves to make Christmas cards and mentioned that one of my favorite Catholic bloggers and super mama, Kathryn Whitaker at Team Whitaker, likes to keep her Christmas cards in a basket. Then, her family picks a card out of the basket each night and offers a prayer for that family.
What a great idea!
I love the thought of bringing all of those loved ones to prayer on a regular basis as a family. I didn’t love the idea of the basket, though.
- Little hands would rip the cards to smithereens within weeks.
- Where would I store it? Would it get dusty?
I came up with an alternative that worked for our family: a Christmas card binder.
Supplies:
- Your Christmas cards (I included our own on the last page)
- 1″ D-ring binder with clear cover for inserts if you’d like to put a cover page on it
- Cover page and spine title (See bottom of post)
- Cardstock (I chose black)
- Sheet protectors
- Double-sided tape (Tip: Buy the tape that you can put directly on your tape dispenser. I bought a 2-pack for the same price as one of those disposable dispensers. Working with your desktop dispenser will save you time, too.)
- Scissors for any trimming you need to do to get the cards to fit on the page
Then, simply tape the Christmas cards to your pages of cardstock, insert them into the sheet protectors, and you’ve got yourself a central hub for your loved one’s cards!
After putting all of the cards in to the binder, I whipped up a cover page. Here’s the JPEG file if you’d like to print it off for your binder, too:
I printed off the cover art and taped it to some green card stock. If I had been fancy, I would have used a larger sheet to fill the whole insert area but, meh.
I typed up a coordinating title for the binder spine in a red. Here’s the Google doc with that if you’d like it.
Then, I put the binder in its home in our little oratory. I put the binder here since it will be part of our family’s prayer life. In addition to pulling the binder out at family prayer time, I want any of us to be able to pull it off the shelf and flip through the pages whenever we’d like. As you can see, books are very, uh, loved in this house. I thought the binder would be a sturdier choice for this crew than a basket with loose cards!
Harry found the binder almost immediately. It was so sweet to watch him flip through the pages and light up as he saw all of the familiar faces. (Don’t mind his unzipped jammies. He thinks the keyhole look is the latest fashion.)
What do you do with all of the Christmas cards that you receive? I’d love to hear your ideas!
