Quiet around here these days

Every once in  awhile, words don't come and I don't beg them. Instead, I retreat further. I seek silence as if it could envelope and soothe all on its own.

The remaining Lenten prompts are queued and ready to go. With those exceptions, I expect this space will be quiet until Easter. The world is blooming and I don't want to miss it.

Be well, my friends. I look forward to celebrating our risen Lord with you in this space!

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When from our better selves we have too long been parted by the hurrying world, and droop.

Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, how gracious, how benign is solitude.

~William Wordsworth

 

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One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude.

~Carl Sandburg

Intentional Weekend: Preparing for Lent

Lent

The entire Lent archives is here. You have to just sort of read through it if you're looking for something in particular. It would be very kind of me to organize it for you, but I can't this weekend. I have to make a quilt. The quilt is for Sarah's baby. And Sarah's theory is that she won't go into labor until the quilt is finished. Not that that is causing me any guilt or pressure or anything;-). Anyway, lots of people asking about Lent things. Here's the link to all I've got. You're on your own! (And pray for Sarah.)

More people ask about this prayer than anything else, so I'll toss up that link and make that much easy. Much food for thought.

In the News

The Virginia "Tim Tebow" bill passed the House of Delegates yesterday with a 59-39 vote. Hooray!

And the New York Times hung around my house for several hours yesterday to get their angle on the story. The article is on the front page of the print version and you can also read it here. 

Oh, and other linking to do: there's a Wednesday column at the Catholic Herald today. I wrote it about two weeks ago. It's all about Quiet. It hasn't been quiet since;-)

As always, please read. And thank you very much.

Happy Thursday, friends!

Weekend Clicking

The Google Share feature is fickle. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I've been gathering some links here to share with you all at once. So if you have a little time for browsing this weekend, here some good places to go.

First, put away that guilt;-). In the comments here, there was a bit of a discussion of "mom-bloggging" guilt being the new brand of Catholic guilt. The Vatican encourages the presence of Catholics online. The Patheos piece is interesting and the comments are enlightening, but I don't think I agree with the author's perception of the blogosphere or the commenters' notions of moms who blog. (I do, of course, think we need to moderate our online time. I write about that particular topic all. the. time.)

And, to dovetail nicely with that, The Catholic Herald has highlighted some Catholic mom bloggers in a nice local piece. Click away; chances are good you'll find new inspiration.

Now, back away from your computer and pick up your camera. Kim has more weekend photo tips (from last weekend) and here's another quick tutorial

This is here, just because I didn't want to forget how much I want to make this bag this weekend. But I think I won't. Because I've started piecing a quilt for someone's bundle of joy. And that somoone keeps sending me texts about things like twinges and timaeable contractions. The bag can wait. Baby quilt, no?

Here's an interesting article about why adolescence seems to last forever these days. Did I mention that I know have four teenagers under roof. Um, yeah. I do.

Here's one about being married in sickness and health. I read this one with great interest because I've watched a similar situation in real life. "We cannot glibly dismiss her struggle, but neither can we exempt her from what God has permitted and gives her the grace to accept. Life is not always what we wish, but God can grant us a serenity and a courage to face life’s trials with faith and fidelity to the vows and commitments we have made."


Here's an open letter written by an 18-year-old to President Obama about the HHS mandate. Oh, but that all teenagers, could be so articulate and thoughtful.

I was going to highlight this one in pink and tell you how please I am that Susan G. Komen has decided not to fund Planned Parenthood. But now, that's old new already. Instead, I'll link to Kate Wicker, who highlights BlogHer's position on the whole matter and tells us about her courageous decision.

On a lighter note, this post  is pretty funny. Disclaimer: I totally love Pinterest. It's a fun dose of eye candy, a good source of recipes, a plethora of happy ideas. I like it way better than Twitter, which I keep trying to like, but fail miserably. Like the candy it is, I keep it in its place and I take a pretty healthy dose of realism along with my Pin Candy. This post cracked me up and I admit, I followed some of those pin links and pinned them myself.:-) 

Kelly never fails to strike a kindred spirit chord with me. I love this piece about how motherhood is really a total immersion project.

Please remember to continue to pray for Elizabeth DeHority. Follow this link for an update and then be sure to follow her link to see a most amazing video.

Finally, I think this piece is the perfect one to read as we look forward to Lent. I'm reading, re-reading and then journaling and praying. It's as visually beautiful as it is thought-provoking.