![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!
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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!”
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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!
![Today's Gospel: "Give them some food yourselves."]()
by Catherine | Jan 6, 2015 | Faith
How God spoke to me this morning when I sat down with today’s readings:
Today’s Gospel is the feeding of 5000. You know this Gospel is important if the story made it into all 4 of the Gospels! Jesus said to the disciples, “Give them some food yourselves.” I need to start with what I have and trust that God will multiply it. God takes the little I have to offer, blesses it, and allows it to bear fruit when I offer it to Him. It would have been easy to look at the crowd and think, “No way will this feed them!” I probably wouldn’t have even tried to put the small amount of food to work, but the disciples trusted Jesus, not knowing what He would do with their offering. I would have doubted, I would have gotten fearful that the crowd would become angry, I would have feared that we would be left in a deserted place with no food if we didn’t get going before dark. But the disciples said, “Okay, Jesus. If You say so. Here is what we have.”
Lord, help me to be more like that. Teach me to give what I have as a sincere gift of self for You. Please bless and multiply my offering, that it will feed many. Help me to see that I am called to obedience above all else, and that You will provide when I give all that I have. Amen.
Questions for you:
Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt like God was asking you to offer everything? How did you respond? What was the result?
![Today’s Gospel: “Give them some food yourselves.”]()
by Catherine | Jan 6, 2015 | Faith
How God spoke to me this morning when I sat down with today’s readings:
Today’s Gospel is the feeding of 5000. You know this Gospel is important if the story made it into all 4 of the Gospels! Jesus said to the disciples, “Give them some food yourselves.” I need to start with what I have and trust that God will multiply it. God takes the little I have to offer, blesses it, and allows it to bear fruit when I offer it to Him. It would have been easy to look at the crowd and think, “No way will this feed them!” I probably wouldn’t have even tried to put the small amount of food to work, but the disciples trusted Jesus, not knowing what He would do with their offering. I would have doubted, I would have gotten fearful that the crowd would become angry, I would have feared that we would be left in a deserted place with no food if we didn’t get going before dark. But the disciples said, “Okay, Jesus. If You say so. Here is what we have.”
Lord, help me to be more like that. Teach me to give what I have as a sincere gift of self for You. Please bless and multiply my offering, that it will feed many. Help me to see that I am called to obedience above all else, and that You will provide when I give all that I have. Amen.
Questions for you:
Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt like God was asking you to offer everything? How did you respond? What was the result?
![Put It To Work 9]()
by Catherine | Jan 5, 2015 | Faith, Family, Marriage
Happy Monday! That means it’s time to Put It To Work! For those of you who are new to my blog, Put It To Work is my regular feature on Mondays. Monday mornings can be chaotic & stressful. I think that makes it a perfect time for us to swap prayer intentions with the promise of “putting them to work” for one another.
What’s that mean?
It means that 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:
- GodTeens: Our parish assistant pastor is joining us for dinner and our GodTeens meeting afterward on Wednesday. Our teens came up with questions to ask him that I sent ahead of time. We’ll spend the evening in discussion. Please pray that the time is fruitful, that the Holy Spirit speaks through our assistant pastor, and that the teens’ ears are opened to hearing whatever it is that God wants them to hear.
- Marriage: For a renewed commitment to our couple prayer time before bed. Philip and I are trying to implement something different as we begin the new year. Please pray for our success!
- Kids: For a smooth transition as we get back into the everyday preschool routine after Christmas vacation.
- A personal 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 in advance for your prayers! Hope you’re having a blessed start to 2015!
![Introducing My 2015 Board of Spiritual Directors]()
by Catherine | Jan 3, 2015 | Faith
Here is my 2015 Board of Spiritual Directors:
2015 Board of Spiritual Directors
I completely stole the idea from Lisa Schmidt at The Practicing Catholic. The idea is to choose holy men and women (saints and those on their way to sainthood) who simultaneously inspire, support, and challenge me on my own path toward sanctity. I’m calling my board a “Board of Spiritual Directors.” I’m actually in the process of finding my own, real-life spiritual director.
What’s a spiritual director, you ask? Very simply, a spiritual director is like a spiritual coach who encourages me along in my goal of sanctity. Spiritual directors are usually priests or religious sisters trained to help the faithful attain Christian perfection. (In other words, they help us to rid ourselves of vices and cultivate virtues.) My ultimate dream would be finding a good and holy priest who could serve as my confessor and my spiritual director. Until I find my spiritual director, my goal is to learn from the lives of the holy men and women on my personal Board of Spiritual Directors.
I prayed about my selections for a few months, and I settled on 6. I didn’t realize it until this moment, but I ended up with 3 men and 3 women! My goal is to spend 2 months of 2015 with each holy man or woman. I will be reading their biographies, memoirs, and inspiring devotionals.
Let me briefly introduce you to them. (I had way too much fun editing their pictures for this post!)
1. Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur
Thanks to Well-Read Mom, I have had an excuse to read The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: The Woman Whose Goodness Changed Her Husband From Atheist to Priest this past month. The volume I’m reading contains Elisabeth’s spiritual writings as well as her diary. She is such a beautiful witness to all Christian women. She persevered in prayer for the soul of her atheist (and often antagonistic) husband, Felix. At the time of her premature death, Felix was still an unbeliever. Then, he discovered her writings, and his whole life changed. Ultimately, he became a Catholic priest, and he dedicated the rest of his life on earth sharing Elisabeth’s writings and his own love of God. Elisabeth Leseur is a Servant of God
2. St. Monica (Mother of St. Augustine)
I would have been a terrible St. Monica! I don’t think I could have endured her husband or mother-in-law like she did. She is a beautiful model (like Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur) of the power of quiet, persistent prayer for your loved ones. Her spiritual training with her husband and mother-in-law served her well as she raised her oldest child, St. Augustine. Augustine is the saint who always makes me think of the quote, “Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.” St. Augustine had QUITE the past, and St. Monica patiently, faithfully loved him through it. Because of her loving prayers, Augustine went on to become one of the most well-known and celebrated saints in the Church.
3. Blessed Mother Teresa
We all know the images of Blessed Mother Teresa tending to the people in the streets of Calcutta. No one knew beneath that loving smile that Mother Teresa was suffering from a “dark night of the soul” for much of her ministry. Colleen Carroll Campbell wrote about Mother Teresa’s spiritual struggles in her book, My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir. I was so encouraged to hear that Mother Teresa’s prayer life was not always full of consolation and those warm fuzzy feelings. I look forward to reading more about how Mother Teresa taught herself to persevere in faith–especially in the midst of her dark night of the soul. (Mother Teresa’s order, The Missionaries of Charity, has a Rule that was the inspiration behind Holly Pierlot’s A Mother’s Rule of Life. If you’ve read my blog, you know that I created our own Family Rule of Life last Lent, and I am re-visiting it for the New Year. Stay tuned!)
4. St. Padre Pio
I chose St. Padre Pio for his ultimate witness to the power of redemptive suffering. At his canonization Mass, Pope St. John Paul II said that St. Padre Pio’s sufferings as a stigmatist can be a “privileged path of sanctity.” He is famous for spending long days (up to 10 hours!) hearing confessions–often asking the penitent about specific sins before they were confessed! I look forward to reading more about St. Padre Pio’s life and steadfast devotion to carrying Christ’s yoke faithfully upon his shoulders.
5. St. Francis de Sales
I am so excited to read St. Francis de Sales’ famous The Introduction to the Devout Life and (hopefully!) more of his writings this year. I am inspired by his writings that encourage all of us on the path to sainthood.
“It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married woman…. It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert who had preserved it in the world. ”
As a writer, I’m encouraged and emboldened by St. Francis’ example to use my writings at His service. I pray that St. Francis will further embolden me to write whatever it is that God asks of me, always remembering his axiom that, “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than a barrelful of vinegar.”
6. Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Archbishop Fulton Sheen is THE MAN! He’s the namesake for our own little Harold FULTON Boucher. He became a household name in the 1960s for his television show, The Fulton Sheen Program. In fact, he won 2 Emmys for Most Outstanding Television Personality! I had to include the “JMJ” (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph) at the top of his picture to pay homage to his handwritten letters at the top of his blackboard on all of his programs.
I chose Archbishop Sheen for my Board of Spiritual Directors because he is inspiring as a modern evangelist. I hope, like him, that my blog will find the balance of being in the world but not of the world. Like Archbishop Sheen, I want people to find the way our family lives the faith attractive. I hope that through reading more of his writings, I will learn how to better balance reaching the world while not being consumed by it.
* * *
2 questions for you:
- Who would be on your 2015 Board of Spiritual Directors?
- Do you have any books/resources about these holy men and women that you recommend I get my hands on this year?
Please share your answers in the comments below!
![7QT: What we were up to during my blogging hiatus]()
by Catherine | Jan 2, 2015 | Faith, Family
In early December, I decided to take a little blogging/Facebook hiatus for Advent and the beginning of the Christmas season. I thought I’d dedicate my first 7QT post of 2015 to what we were up to this past month. Mostly, it’s going to be a crazy photo dump that I’m going to manipulate into 7 loose categories. I haven’t uploaded the pictures from our “real” (fancy schmancy) camera, so we’re just going to have to settle for grainy cell phone pics. I’ll get my act together as a real blogger someday!
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We had fun getting ready for Christmas!
Harry decided to become one with the packaging from the Nativity scene
You haven’t lived if you’ve never tried getting that staticky stuff off of a squirming 16-month-old!
That silly Elf Bernie showed up for more shenanigans this Advent
He left with a flourish this year!
St. Nick remembered to visit the morning after Mama played Bunco late on Friday, December 5th. What a guy!
The kids loved our time around the Advent wreath after dinner.
There’s something magical about singing “O come, O come, Emmanuel” by candlelight with your family.
We even got to have an unexpected, romantic candlelit dinner (thanks, Advent wreath!) one night when the power went out just as we were setting the table!
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Harry decided that Monty was the most comfy seat in the house
Monty isn’t so sure about Harry’s new-found fondness for him
It looks like Monty’s saying, “Alright, Mom. It was cute the first time, but this is getting old!”
Harry also started making the most terrible stink eye face you’ve ever seen! Stink eye selfie!
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We had a Christmas party with our GodTeens. One of the guys brought “Ninja-Bread Cookies.” Aren’t they awesome?!
Jane and Walt loved ’em! “KA-CHOW!”
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There was a whole lotta “holy leisure” while the kids had time off from preschool.
Brothers watching movies in jammies
“Special Day” with Walt. Lunch at Runza (who doesn’t need a bowl of ice cream with a shake after a burger and fries?!) and a trip to Barnes & Noble
Dr. Walt giving Jane a check-up with Daddy’s otoscope
Cheers! Hot chocolate in sippy cups while we looked at Christmas lights in the car
Baking boys
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We had fun with the Bouchers on Christmas Eve
Jane got her very own Lambie pillow!
Walt and silly Olaf wearing Papa’s glasses
Blue sweater boys
Our best attempt at a family pic
Got the whole group in a shot using Maddy’s selfie stick!
Jane has been sleeping with her cuddly Lambie pillow and little Lambie ever since
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And we had a quiet Christmas morning with our little family
Opening stockings. Walt got Despicable Me 2. His entire Christmas vacation has revolved around Gru and his minions.
Monty got a new leash and collar
We put on Despicable Me 2 while getting everyone ready for Mass. Harry was ENTHRALLED!
A kinda sorta okay group pic in front of our parish Nativity scene. (Yes, that’s a minion in a Santa hat that Walt is holding. It came with his movie, and he had to bring it to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.) Note to self: From this year on, we will ALWAYS go to Mass on Christmas Day morning. It was so much more peaceful than the chaos of the Christmas Eve mob.
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And we finished out the fanfare with a Christmas evening celebration with the Witts.
Silly selfie with Daddy
Mom & Dad in front of da bear
Harry, for one, thinks Grandpa has the best stuffed animals around!
Waiting for Santa’s annual big appearance
We got to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa’s 65th wedding anniversary a few nights later. 65 YEARS!!! I took a pic of them sharing stories from their early years. What a fun night!
The Guys
The Girls
Off to enjoy these last few days of Christmas vacation with the fam! To read more 7QT posts from other bloggers, head over to Kelly Mantoan’s blog, This Ain’t The Lyceum!
![See You in 2015!]()
by Catherine | Dec 5, 2014 | Faith, Family
I’ve decided it’s time to say “yes” by saying “no.” I’m getting off Facebook for the rest of December, and I’m taking a hiatus from blogging, too.
It’s time to be still.
It’s time to prepare my heart, our family, and our home to welcome the Christ Child.
I want this Advent to be a holy one. So, this month, instead of coming up with new blog posts or wasting time on Facebook, I’ll be *trying* to imitate John the Baptist.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
To that end, I have a few goals:
- Finalize my 2015 Board of Spiritual Directors. (Thanks for the inspiration, Lisa!)
- Continue to start the day before the children wake up in quiet prayer. It’s a game changer!
- Since Advent is the start of a new liturgical year, it feels like the perfect time to create new resolutions. During the rest of Advent, I’ll be re-reading A Mother’s Rule of Life and revisiting/revising the 5 P’s I came up with last Lent. Our home, our family, and our hearts have changed since then. It’s time to make some updates! In case you don’t remember, the 5 P’s are:
- Prayer
- Person
- Partner
- Parent
- Provider
I will be making baby steps to start implementing my new resolutions, and I’ll share ’em with you once I’m back in 2015. Until then, I pray that you and your family have a blessed Advent and a Merry Christmas! Please continue to send your prayer intentions while I am away!
![Put It To Work 8]()
by Catherine | Dec 1, 2014 | Faith
Happy Monday! It’s time for Put It To Work, our weekly opportunity to swap prayer intentions. The goal of Put It To Work is to actively unite our intentions to the cross for one another, putting the prayer intentions “to work”–especially in times of suffering (no matter how small).
Please put these intentions to work this week:
- For my friend, Geoff, as he mourns the death of his father who passed away suddenly over the Thanksgiving weekend
- For a prayerful, peaceful, and holy Advent season for our family
- For forgiveness and healing within families–especially as Christmas approaches
- For the repose of the soul of my uncle. We are approaching the 6-year anniversary of the day he took his life, and he has been on my mind a lot lately
- For my patience on the home front
- That Philip and I will continue to work everyday to further strengthen our marriage
What about you? What prayer intentions can I start “putting to work” for you this week? I’ll add them to my prayer journal and bring them with me to my prayer time throughout the week.
Thank you for praying for us! You’re in my prayers this week, too!
![Thanksgiving #2]()
by Catherine | Nov 30, 2014 | Family
We got to celebrate Thanksgiving #2 with Philip’s side of the family on Thanksgiving Day. I love how celebrating the same holiday with each side can simultaneously be so different but equally fun!
While my side of the family is HUGE, Philip’s fam is small but mighty. Philip’s mom, dad, brother, and sister joined us for some feasting and fun. They generously worked with our schedule, coming in the late morning and staying until the kids’ afternoon nap time. We packed a lot of fun into our day!
- A quick selfie before the doorbell rang
- Does the table look familiar? After washing everything and freshening up our centerpieces, we were ready for round 2!
- We had a little more elbow room the second time around
- Harry loved sneaking over to the kiddie table before the feast
- Sneaky smirk
- Harry loved terrorizing Muffy during her visit
- And he stole a lot of cuddles from Uncle Connor
After the feast, it was time to play! Mimi brought an adorable game of Thanksgiving Bingo that she printed off. The kids LOVED it! It didn’t hurt that she and Maddy had gone to the trouble of bringing prizes for each winner, too.
- Paying close attention and marking off their pictures
- Why not use two crayons? Walt’s like the lady at the church hall bingo night with bingo markers blazing in both hands!
And then the magic began.
- “BINGO!!!!!”
After a few rounds of Bingo, we played one of our favorite family games, Guesstures.
- Papa loved it
- And we loved watching Papa!
- Maddy was an expert player and a great sport about the tough words she drew
- Harry tried his hand at the game, too
- Trying to get us to guess the last word before it disappeared
- Mimi did a great job, but I was a lousy team mate and couldn’t guess “pucker”!
We somehow forgot to take a family picture, but we DID manage to get a sibling shot in between rounds of Guesstures!
It was a fun day of feasting and fun with family. After everyone left, we took a GLORIOUS Thanksgiving afternoon nap! (I write about naps a lot, don’t I? Well, I suppose it’s because I’m so grateful that my children love sleep as much as I do!) It was the perfect ending to our Thanksgiving #2.
![30]()
by Catherine | Nov 28, 2014 | Family
I turned 30 on Wednesday, and it was the most perfectly quiet day!
Since it was the day before Thanksgiving, there was no preschool. The day started with Philip letting me sleep in while he took Harry to our favorite donut spot, Conroy’s Bakery Shoppe. Philip woke me up with a sweet kiss on the forehead. “Honey, Harry and I got some donuts! Want to come downstairs and have breakfast together?” Who doesn’t love starting their day with a cuppa coffee and a Conroy’s apple fritter??? Nom, nom, nom.
- My loves after breakfast
After that, Philip went to work, and the kids and I enjoyed a quiet day around the house. We played, we did a little housework, and I got to enjoy listening to the newly released podcasts of the Jennifer Fulwiler Show while I folded laundry. I might have over-indulged and listened to all of the available episodes at once. Can’t wait to hear more! No preschool drop-off or pick-up meant we could have a lazy morning together. After lunch, the kids gifted me with a glooooooooooorious nap! I snapped this pic of Harry after I laid him down in his crib. My cup runneth over!
- Nighty night, Harry
Walt slept in his bed, and Miss Jane snuggled up with me and Monty in my room. We laid down at 2:15, and we woke up right as Philip was calling us on his way home from work at 5. What a nap!
- Tandoori Chicken With Yogurt Sauce
After dinner, Philip surprised me with a cookie cake for dessert. “Jane and Walt helped me decide what to put on it.”
- My personalized cookie cake
All of my favorite things! A princess tiara, a magic wand, a race car. I couldn’t have designed it better myself, kiddos! I had some help blowing out the candles.
- Harry thought his fingers would get the job done
- I love Walt’s face in this one
Everyone enjoyed their cookie cake!
As if the day could get any better, Philip and the kids outdid themselves with their presents this year. Remember what I told you I wanted? I GOT IT!!! Philip got me a gift certificate to a cleaning company so that I can get the bathrooms and kitchen cleaned on a regular basis. YAY!!! That way, I can enjoy my gig at home without the nagging need to scrub the toilets. Philip also got me a gift certificate to a local spa. I jokingly said I want to return the spa certificate to get more services from the cleaning company, but…doesn’t that sound brilliant?! I’m seriously considering it. I’ll take a sparkling clean bathroom over a pedicure any day. Call me crazy, but I like what I like!
After bedtime prayers and stories, we put the kids to bed, and Philip and I had a little at-home date night. We opened some bubbly pink moscato and watched The Family Man with Nicolas Cage and Téa Leoni. I like the Rotten Tomatoes plot summary:
Wall Street playboy, Jack Campbell is at the top of his professional game with little time for anything else. Jack’s lavish, fast-paced lifestyle drastically changes one snowy Christmas night when he unwittingly stumbles into the middle of a grocery store holdup and in a bold display of self-preservation disarms the gunman. The next morning he wakes up in a suburban New Jersey bedroom lying next to Kate, his college sweetheart who he left in order to pursue his career, and to the horrifying discovery that his former life no longer exists. As he stumbles through this alternate suburban universe, Jack begins to feel strangely comfortable in this new role of loving husband and father to two children. Jack finds himself at a crossroad, where he must choose between his high-powered career and the woman he loves.
Sure, the critics might say The Family Man is nothing more than a sentimental modern-day It’s A Wonderful Life, but that’s precisely why I love it. We bought the movie a few years ago, and we watch it every year before Christmas. I chose to watch that movie on the night of my 30th birthday because it’s exactly how I feel about life these days. Just like the main characters, Philip and I chose to get our family out of the fast lane of trying to keep up with the Joneses. These days, we’re enjoying our very quiet, very normal, and very ordinary lives in suburban Nebraska. Quiet, normal, and ordinary = exactly where I want to be.
When I read Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin, I loved her many Secrets of Adulthood. One of them in particular continues to ring true: What’s fun for other people may not be fun for you–and vice versa. Philip and I are happiest when we embrace the things we really enjoy doing together and actually do them instead of what the world tells us we’d enjoy. At 30, one of my favorite parts of marriage is finding these interests and figuring out ways to enjoy them together. Some people might look at how I celebrated my 30th birthday and think, “Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaame!” I say, “It’s my birthday, and I’ll be lame if I want to!”
30 is already shaping up to be a fabulous year in my lame book. Six months after moving to Lincoln, I think we’ve arrived at our new normal.
- I’m learning how to take my gig at home less seriously and slow myself down long enough each day to enjoy motherhood. Let me tell ya, life’s better for everyone these days! With fewer commitments, more play dates, more date nights, and more “holy leisure,’ it’s easier to find the graces to thrive through the week.
- I FINALLY took a sewing lesson, and I’m starting my first sewing project this week.
- I’m putting together my 2015 Spiritual Board of Directors (more on that later) to bring a little focus to the new year.
- As a BIG TREAT, I’m going to the 2015 Edel Gathering with my dear friend, Amanda.
- I’m reading some fantastic books for fun and for Well-Read Mom.
- GodTeens has been one of the best gifts we’ve given our whole family. We’re looking forward to the rest of our 4-year journey with the teens.
- Philip and I are both committed to further strengthening our faith and our marriage. Ya gotta love feeling equally yoked to your honey!
Cheers to 30!
![Thanksgiving #1]()
by Catherine | Nov 25, 2014 | Family
Philip and I got to host my side for Thanksgiving on Saturday. What a fun, fun day! Philip has always really enjoyed cooking, baking, and entertaining, so it’s a treat to get to have our family here for celebrations. We had a great time selecting the menu together, assigning dishes to family members, and working together to prepare for the big day. We didn’t even fight once! Yay!
Philip insisted on making 2 birds this year. The original plan was to smoke 1 and brine/bake the other. After the first one smoked so beautifully, Philip decided to smoke the second as well.
First, the food:
- Veggies and spices to add flavor while bird is smoking in the grill
- Bird #1
- Da Bird & 2 chocolate bourbon pecan pies
- The pans of water, veggies, and turkey “stuff” to make the gravy
- While he was pumping turkey #2 full of buttery goodness, Dr. Phil joked, “Even turkeys need shots!”
- Gobble, gobble!
- Good gravy! Ya outdid yourself, Philip!
- My favorite picture! We learned a new cooking technique called spatchcocking a turkey. Basically, you apply pressure like you’re giving the bird CPR, and you crack the bird’s sternum so that it cooks flat. Between giving the bird shots and rescue compressions, I’m sure glad Philip had all of his medical training!
Second, the table:
- You might be Catholic if Thanksgiving with your immediate family (Mom, Dad, siblings, spouses, kiddos) requires a dining room table with two leaves, two banquet tables, a kiddie table in the entrance, and a big kid table in the kitchen. I! LOVE! IT!
- It was so much fun to have all of the adults and wee little babies in the same room!
- Up close of the table setting. I used recycled wine corks for the place cards. I cut the bottoms off of them so that they’d lay flat and slit a cut at an angle for the name card. I wrote everyone’s names in cursive with a gold metallic marker on espresso-colored card stock.
- There’s a whole lot going on in the middle of the table. Atop the gold and silver metallic table runner are mason jars with cranberries, greenery from our shrubs, and float candles. I mixed in a few hurricanes, votive candles, more greenery, and faux fall vegetation (pumpkins, gourds, pears, berries, red Maple leaves). I alternated gold and silver chargers beneath the white dinner plates, and I used cloth napkins in fall colors.
Third, the fun:
- Pictionary after dinner. My sister-in-law Katie is able to give my dad a hard time like no one else, and she totally dominated this round of Pictionary. Ha! Go, Girl Team!
- Poor Dan had to draw “stick out like a sore thumb.” We weren’t using a timer, and he persevered for what felt like 5 minutes. My family is just a *TAD* competitive, so you can imagine the heat he felt in his five layers of clothing. Love you, brother!
- The girls!
- Jane and Lucy got their hair done. Do you like Lucy’s bandaid? I think she had a little scratch and Jane helped her apply the largest one possible. It certainly got the job done!
- After the party, Philip and I found this on our bed. Fortunately, everyone’s coats that were on the bed were spared. I hear a product called Goof Off (not to be confused with Goo Gone) is supposed to help get this stuff off of my bedding. Oh, well! It’s just stuff, right? Not even some purple nail polish on our ivory bedding could ruin our fun Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving #1 was a blast, and we’re just as excited to have Thanksgiving #2 with the Boucher crew on Thursday! Safe travels to everyone who will be journeying to celebrate and feast with their families! Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
