Daybook Confirmation Week
/Outside My Window
All the dandelions have turned to
wishing flowers.
I am Listening to
The Divine Mercy Chaplet
I am so Grateful
for
The people who have prayed for Patrick
and Mary Beth as they have grown towards this day
I'm Pondering
I am Reading
lots of books on St. Benedict.
I am Thinking
About my home a little differently
these days. I wrote a little about it here—still working this one out in my
head.
I'm Having a Kind
Conversation about
Aging
gracefully and gratefully.
I am Creating
Lesson plans. Lots of lesson plans.
On
my iPod
This song
makes me cry this week. Twenty years ago, there was some question.
I’m
grateful. So grateful. I’m alive and well.
Towards a Real
Education
I guess this is the place to admit that
we’re doing a whole lot of hanging out at parks and playgrounds. We’re on a
serious tadpole watch. We’re soaking up the sunshine while it’s only dripping
with pollen and not DC humidity. For the last few years, I’ve settled into the
notion that April and May are natural breaking places for us. The soccer and
dance schedules are intense. The weather is perfect. And it’s a great time to
get my ducks in a row before homeschool conference buying season. So we’re
playing and planning.
Mary Beth and I have nearly finished
our plans for the second year of Literature for the Young Lady. We’re both so
pleased with our work. Sharing very soon; I promise.
Colleen and I are thinking through
Continents and Cultures for next year. We’ll share that, too, eventually.
Marisa and I are finding a
contemplative mode to be what suits us as we incorporate the liturgical year
into our intentional studies. This one we’re holding close for now. Maybe next
year on the sharing.
And we’re all putting our heads
together (with a new friend, Anne)
to pull together plans for a Family Bible Study.
So, we’re in planning mode. And
playing. Lots of playing.
Towards
Rhythm and Beauty
Following the planning theme, I am on a
notebook roll. My notebooks needed serious revising as the roles in our family
have changed, as the schedules have become even busier, as rhythm takes on a
new meaning here. When I commit things—whether chore charts or ideas about
vision for my family—to paper, they come alive for me. They settle into my
being and they actually live. Weird, I know, but that’s the way it is. So,
though I thought a homekeeping notebook was a static thing, to be done once and
referred forever after, I am finding that a good bit of changes…
To Live the Liturgy
We are praying the St. Joseph novena
this week and, most especially, we will celebrate a Confirmation Liturgy on
Wednesday.
I
am Hoping and Praying
That the Church will always be a place of Grace and
Goodness, Hope and Haven for Patrick and Mary Beth
In the Garden
Peonies by Confirmation evening? Maybe?
Around the House
Things are presentable and orderly,
comfortable and clean. I have no illusions of 24/7 perfection. To do that would
require that we sacrifice creativity, community, and yes, competition (which I
think is healthy and necessary here).
From the Kitchen
I have the spring menu all
polished up and grocery lists written. We’re going back to our one week menu
plan. It seems like the spring begs this of me nearly every year. In other
seasons, I cycle through two or even three weeks, but springtime demands utter
simplicity.
One of My Favorite
Things
This knife sharpener. Awesome.
Absolutely easy and very, very effective.
Sarah
Annie this week
My
goodness, she so blooms! She twinkles great big eyes and chatters personality.
She’s getting just a bit braver, letting go for a few steps more to walk alone. Already
a little Mama, she totes around her doll “Zoe.” She sings to her, reads books
to her, and changes lots of diapers. Darling girl. It’s fun to play babies with
you, my baby.
A
Few Plans for the Rest of the Week
Two soccer games way, way, ridiculously far away today--but not in the same place. Is it bad to pray for rain, until a weekend when Mike is home?
Mary Beth
and Patrick will be confirmed Wednesday. That’s the big focus. Other than that,
it’s soccer and ballet as usual, the playground twice a day, a weekly trip to
Bull Run, another follow-up at the pediatrician, and I really, truly need to
find time for a haircut. It’s been six months or so since I last visited my
friend the hairdresser.
Confirmation party on Saturday, maybe? It’s frustrating to celebrate the sacrament so late at night. Mass starts at 7:30—not much we can do after that.
And, oh,
I almost forgot! I’ll be eagerly awaiting the UPS man. He’s bringing me a very
special box of books? Will you be getting one, too?
Picture thoughts:
Big jumble of children and Godchildren: EVERYONE in the creek