Summer Monday Moment

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

It's hot. Ricidulously hot and humid. And I'm officially declaring that impatiens in the front bed are a disaster. The ones across the street look great. Mine? Not so much. I'm starting to think I really need to amend that soil; it seems like the front flowers are never what I envision. Now what do I plant?

::listening to 

Sarah, Karoline and Katie playing in the tub.

::clothing myself in 

Shorts and a white blouse. One can never have enough white blouses. Love them.

::talking with my children about these books

Since I'm going to share my own reading on Thursdays at needle and thREAD, I thought I'd share some reading from our family's choices. 

Patrick is reading Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible.

Mary Beth is reading Joy in the Ordinary.

Stephen is reading The Hobbit.

Katie is reading An Ordinary Princess.

Nicholas is reading Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa Major.

And the little girls and I are gathering all our seashore picture books...

::thinking and thinking

about grace and mercy. And friendship. What a blessing when one has all three. What a sorrow when one doesn't.

::giving thanks for

summer days, green smoothies, bright pink toenails, that sunscreen smell...

::pondering prayerfully

Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent. ~St. John of the Cross

::carefully cultivating rhythm

Mike has started walking with me in the morning. This is a significant rhythm-changer. Early mornings have long been my quiet time. I get out of bed easily in order to grab those moments of golden silence. Now, we're out in the day together. The tradeoff is that I get time to talk with him, away from the house, away from interruptions. And he is over a foot taller than I am so his stride is much longer than mine. I'm nearly jogging just to keep up with him!

In other news, two of my children crashed two different cars last Monday. (In case you're counting, this is the second time this year that we've had two car crashes on the same day). There has been significant impact on my rhythm. And my stress level. Ahem.

::creating by hand

Katie's sundress is all cut and ready to sew. Needle & thRead has been good for me. I'm much less likely to procrastinate.

(A note from Karoline to Hilary telling her what a great job she did on her solo. Kari wrote it 6 hours before the recital began. She has great faith in Hilary's dancing!)

::learning lessons in

setting aside my plans, trying to see God's will in the "revised" plan.

::encouraging learning 

I'm happy with our summer learning plans. Just enough to keep us going, not so much we can't soak up the sunshine.

::begging prayers

for all the people who have joined our weekend prayer community. I carried your requests with me to Mass and I will keep a candle lit for you throughout the week.

for Elizabeth DeHority, who will watch her eldest graduate today. Praise God for the miracle of time. This is a day that every doctor told her she'd never live to see.

:keeping house

Nothing of note here. Just the regular. Sometimes, regular is a welcome relief, no?

::crafting in the kitchen 

I made our first caprese salad last week--tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, good olive oil--only the basil was from our garden, but I do see green tomatoes out there. It won't be long now!

::loving the moments

when I see glimpses of the past and the future. These two little girls have been friends since they were infants. One early spring day, I saw a bunch of kids playing on the playground near soccer practice. There was only one woman at the playground; she was sitting on the bench with a baby. I pondered the big van parked next to my big van. And I worked up what is a whole lot of courage for me. I went over to her and said, "I never thought I'd utter these words, but are all these children yours?" She said they were and I rushed into explain that I had nine and people ask me that all the time. She "only" had seven at the time. We sat and chatted and learned we knew lots of people in common. And we delighted in a common faith. That was this first of many park dates and countless hours on soccer sidelines together. These two little girls--babies back then-- have been friends forever, literally. I like the chances that they will be friends forever.

::living the liturgy

Ordinary Time. Lent, Easter, the Trio of Feasts...all have come to a close. We settle into Ordinary Time. Our days are ordered. Order is good. Very good.

::planning for the week ahead

Car repairs. Sundress sewing. And, hopefully, a fair amount of writing. Please, God?

Soccer season will finally end. For at least a week or two...

And Father's Day! We definitely have some Father's Day plans brewing.

::about the pictures

I thought I'd have lots and lots of dance recital pictures. I don't. Mary Beth was too tired after her show to pose with flowers, or even to pose at all...So, you can see her costume in the trunk of my car and the flowers after the recital. And that's all; not even close to representative of time spent.