![One way that I’m gearing up for Lent]()
by Catherine | Feb 21, 2014 | Faith, Family, Marriage, Uncategorized
Lent is nearly upon us, and I’m not ready–yet. It sneaks up on me every single year, but this year, I am doing some prep work so that I can enter into the season deliberately. I want to have a game plan, and I know that I’ll desperately need one this year. We’re listing the house March 3. Without a plan, I know I’ll let myself and our family get into a rut of being in survival mode, focusing on house stuff instead of the whole Jesus dying for our sins stuff.
Philip and I started our own Happiness Project last year, but we took a hiatus from it because of my post-partum depression, the Christmas season, and life in general. I’ve been wanting to revisit our Happiness Project, but I want to give it more focus. When I was thinking about revisiting our Happiness Project, I came across Jen Fulwiler’s post, “Admitting that I can’t do it all…or even half of it.”
Jen wrote about the overwhelming burden we place on ourselves when we create impossible do-it-all to-do lists. In the post, she mentions Holly Pierlot’s A Mother’s Rule of Life. Have you read the book? Do yourself and your family a favor, and read it!
The book centers around one Catholic mama’s desire to bring order and peace to her home. To do so, Holly created a mother’s rule of life modeled after the daily schedule of the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s order). Holly wisely realized that the daily schedule for the Missionaries of Charity allows them to have peace, order, and ample time to accomplish only that which needs to be done for the day.
Daily Schedule for the Missionaries of Charity
4:30-5:00 Rise and get cleaned up
5:00-6:30 Prayers and Mass
6:30-8:00 Breakfast and cleanup
8:00-12:30 Work for the poor
12:30-2:30 Lunch and rest
2:30-3:00 Spiritual reading and meditation
3:00-3:15 Tea break
3:15-4:30 Adoration
4:30-7:30 Work for the poor
7:30-9:00 Dinner and clean up
9:00-9:45 Night prayers
9:45 Bedtime
The focus of the day is a healthy balance of prayer, work, and rest. The Missionaries of Charity keep this simple schedule without overburdening themselves with all of the extra stuff. By keeping their priorities in check, they are able to work with God to multiply their time doing what needs to be done and cutting the rest. The schedule clearly shows that the women trust that God will help them to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished.
I’m nearly finished with A Mother’s Rule of Life, and I am chomping at the bit to create my own Boucher Family Rule of Life. I’ve decided that creating our Family Rule and implementing it will be my big Lenten mission. Our family will need order and peace as we list the house and prepare to move. I want to have those habits in place before the chaos enters the scene, and I want to start living with order and peace now.
Philip and I will work together (with a whole lotta prayer!) to discuss our family mission and how best to accomplish that mission. I plan to finish the book this weekend and start drawing up our family rule of life. To create our family rule, I am going to examine the “5 Ps” from A Mother’s Rule of Life:
- Prayer
- Person
- Partner
- Parent
- Provider
I’m ready to abandon what the world says is best for our family and start deliberately living out what God is asking of our domestic church. Throughout Lent, I’ll be posting snippets and reflections on the various components of our Boucher Family Rule of Life. I look forward to hearing how you structure your days with your family and how you are bringing peace and order to your home. Now, I’m just praying for the graces to actually do what I think God is asking of our domestic church. It’s going to take a very healthy dose of humility to really hear what God is asking of me as the spiritual heart of our home.
St. Joseph, our 2014 patron saint for our family, pray for us!
![Over at CatholicMom Today: No More Wasting the Bad Days]()
by Catherine | Feb 20, 2014 | Faith
Head over to CatholicMom to read my post today. It’s called “No More Wasting the Bad Days.” It’s about the morning I realized that God wants us to offer everything, even our silly little inconveniences, as offerings to Him.
“We’re getting ready to list our house in the next few weeks, and the flooring guys came to do some work on the main floor while the kids and I holed ourselves up in the basement. All. Day. Long. The day had a rough start, and I was about ready to throw in the towel by 10:00 a.m. I would rattle off the inconveniences and problems, but they would distract from and undermine the point of this post.” Read More
Note: At publishing time, a family in Missouri is mourning the death of their ten-year-old daughter, Hailey Owens. Please join me in praying for Hailey’s soul, her family, and her killer’s conversion of heart. Let us unite any of our suffering to the cross for Hailey, her family, and her killer.
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| Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. |
![Keeping The Kids Engaged During Family Prayer Time]()
by Catherine | Feb 5, 2014 | Faith
I love using social media to find practical solutions to everyday dilemmas. Last week, we noticed that the novelty of our family rosary time was gone for the kids, and they were getting really squirrelly. Jane and Walt would erupt into a fit of giggles by the third Hail Mary, and we would spend the rest of the decade trying to get them to stop giggling.
Instead of doing away with family rosary time altogether, I decided to switch things up a bit. Somehow, through all of my mental cobwebs, I remembered reading this post by Catholic Missionary Family called “The Rosary and Kids – Part 2.” They list some great tactile ways to keep little ones involved as you pray the Rosary. (Check out their adorable blog! There are a lot of great posts!)
I thought the pipe cleaners and pony beads would be appealing to Jane and Walt, so I went that route. While Philip was giving the kids baths, I set up the kitchen table for family prayer time.
Each night, we:
- Light two candles.
- Record each family member’s response to “What made you happy today?” on looseleaf. (We started this in November with, “What are you thankful for?” but the kids didn’t understand that question.)
- Introduce 1 mystery of the rosary with a picture.
- Pray that decade of the scriptural rosary from Rosary Army
- Close with bedtime prayers (“Angel of God” and “God bless Daddy, God bless Mommy, God bless…each member of the family by name”)
- Jane and Walt each blow out a candle.
Instead of setting out rosaries, I set out pipe cleaners and a small bowl with 10 pony beads for each kiddo.
I don’t know if you can tell, but I tied a knot at the bottom of each pipe cleaner. The idea is that the kids can string a bead onto the pipe cleaner for each Hail Mary without them falling off.
When the kids saw the pipe cleaners and beads, they were SO EXCITED! They quickly got into their chairs, and they started stringing the beads right away. They didn’t really grasp the concept of only adding one bead for each Hail Mary, so they were out of beads by the time we got started. I didn’t want to spend our prayer time correcting them with, “Just one bead for each prayer,” so I dumped more pony beads into each of their dishes and let them keep stringing as we prayed.
I decided we’d let them string as many beads as they wish for a week, and then we’ll try re-introducing “one bead per prayer” next week. We’ll see whether or not they’re ready for it then.
Even though their hands were much busier then usual, their minds were more focused. They said the words to the prayers very reverently, and we didn’t have to redirect them like we usually do. At one point, Walt dropped a bead that he was stringing. Without saying a word, Jane left her chair, picked it up for him, and resumed stringing her beads. Usually, an interruption like a dropped Rosary would throw everything off, but their focus on stringing their beads kept them chugging right along.
At the end, I asked the kids to put their beads down so that we could finish with our bedtime prayers, and Walt said, “One more bead, please?”
They were very proud of themselves and happily posed with their beads at the end!
I love Walt’s new-found phony smile and squinty eyes for the camera.
This is what’s working for now. We’ll see if we’re sticking with it next week or if it’s deteriorated into them throwing the beads at each other or eating them! We’re content to meet them where they are.
Apparently it’s all starting to sink in for them because that night the mystery we prayed “The Presentation of the Lord.” When Jane saw the picture, she said, “That’s Simeon!” Considering I didn’t know who he was until three years ago, I’d say we’re off to a good start around here.
How do you keep your kids engaged during family prayer time?
![The Day of the Little Way]()
by Catherine | Feb 4, 2014 | Faith
Image Books, a Catholic book company, is hosting The Day of the Little Way today. It’s an opportunity for people around the world to share in St. Thérèse’s “Little Way” with a 21st century twist. Using the 140 characters allotted on Twitter, people are supposed to share their own “#LittleWay stories, quotes, prayers, and inspirations all day long.”
Click here to learn more, participate, or find graphic images to use on your Twitter and other social media accounts.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux is the namesake of our own precious “Little Flower.” We have every confidence that our precious baby is interceding in helping our family move daily toward sanctity. As Jane says, “She is my sister and my favorite saint!”
Fr. Robert Barron, creator of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and the Catholicism series, is participating in The Day of the Little Way. Here, he recounts how St. Thérèse helped his ministry, Word on Fire, and he shares a clip about St. Thérèse from the Catholicism series.
Visit Twitter, and search for #LittleWay to read other inspirational stories. What’s your “Little Way” story?
!["My sister and my favorite saint"]()
by Catherine | Jan 24, 2014 | Faith, Family
The kids and I were watching EWTN’s footage of the March for Life on Wednesday.
I think about Thérèse often, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her since watching the March for Life. All of the images of the unborn are painful reminders of the precious baby I never got to meet.
When we were watching the March, a young woman passed by the screen holding this image:
Jane said, “Mommy, what happened to that baby? Why is it bleeding?”
I explained that the light going through the baby’s arm made it look red, but that the baby was not bleeding. I showed her how a flashlight made the same thing happen to my fingers. I said that the picture was of a beautiful baby growing inside of her mommy’s tummy.
Jane thought about it for a few seconds. She put her little hand on my hand and said, “Mommy, you have two daughters. Thérèse is in heaven. She is my sister and my favorite saint!”
Woah, Holy Spirit! Thank You for teaching me through my children. I blinked through some tears, and I hugged Jane as best I could because I was feeding Harry. I said, “You’re right! We love Baby Thérèse in heaven, and she’s always praying for us. She loves you very much, too.”
Since that moment, I’ve been thinking almost nonstop about our little saint in heaven. I’ve realized that my postpartum depression started on the anniversary of my miscarriage. I’m still grieving the loss of our little baby. I desperately love our sweet little Harry, and I’ve received so much healing through his precious life, but he will never replace Thérèse.
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| My dear mother-in-law “gets it” and gave me this necklace for Christmas. All of our children’s initials are on it–including Thérèse. |
I wrote in a previous post that I was nervous about stopping my progesterone therapy for the postpartum depression. Since I stopped my shots and oral progesterone last week, I’ve had some good days and some bad days.
Since the March for Life on Wednesday, I’ve been asking our little saint, Therese, to intercede on behalf of our family. I kicked myself for not thinking to pray to her to help heal me from my postpartum depression. It brings me so much peace to know that our baby in heaven can help bring healing to our family on earth. It’s amazing to think that the baby I never got to hold can help me to be a better mother to the babies I am holding today.
St. Thérèse pray for us! I hope we’re making you proud!
![“My sister and my favorite saint”]()
by Catherine | Jan 24, 2014 | Faith, Family
The kids and I were watching EWTN’s footage of the March for Life on Wednesday.
I think about Thérèse often, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her since watching the March for Life. All of the images of the unborn are painful reminders of the precious baby I never got to meet.
When we were watching the March, a young woman passed by the screen holding this image:
Jane said, “Mommy, what happened to that baby? Why is it bleeding?”
I explained that the light going through the baby’s arm made it look red, but that the baby was not bleeding. I showed her how a flashlight made the same thing happen to my fingers. I said that the picture was of a beautiful baby growing inside of her mommy’s tummy.
Jane thought about it for a few seconds. She put her little hand on my hand and said, “Mommy, you have two daughters. Thérèse is in heaven. She is my sister and my favorite saint!”
Woah, Holy Spirit! Thank You for teaching me through my children. I blinked through some tears, and I hugged Jane as best I could because I was feeding Harry. I said, “You’re right! We love Baby Thérèse in heaven, and she’s always praying for us. She loves you very much, too.”
Since that moment, I’ve been thinking almost nonstop about our little saint in heaven. I’ve realized that my postpartum depression started on the anniversary of my miscarriage. I’m still grieving the loss of our little baby. I desperately love our sweet little Harry, and I’ve received so much healing through his precious life, but he will never replace Thérèse.
|
| My dear mother-in-law “gets it” and gave me this necklace for Christmas. All of our children’s initials are on it–including Thérèse. |
I wrote in a previous post that I was nervous about stopping my progesterone therapy for the postpartum depression. Since I stopped my shots and oral progesterone last week, I’ve had some good days and some bad days.
Since the March for Life on Wednesday, I’ve been asking our little saint, Therese, to intercede on behalf of our family. I kicked myself for not thinking to pray to her to help heal me from my postpartum depression. It brings me so much peace to know that our baby in heaven can help bring healing to our family on earth. It’s amazing to think that the baby I never got to hold can help me to be a better mother to the babies I am holding today.
St. Thérèse pray for us! I hope we’re making you proud!
