Daily devotionals and a longing for simplicity

My wonderful friend recommended a book called "Jesus Calling", by Sarah Young. I immediately ordered it from Amazon because her suggestions are pretty much always spot on for me :)

Anyways, I had been looking for a more concise form of morning prayer to do with my kids. I tend to be flighty in my attempts at regular prayer, especially when it comes to regular morning prayer while trying to include my kids. Often, by the time I actually get myself out of bed, change diapers, clean up the inevitable mess of cereal all over the floor, and gather all the children into one room, I have lost my motivation and inspiration to have an actual prayer time.  Plus, by that time, I have probably given myself 10 reasons to go to confession and so I am feeling a bit hypocritical as I yell at my kids to "just be quiet so we can start prayer time already!!!" Yeah, you get the idea. I knew that I needed to get things together so I could start the day out right with my kids.

I had thought this devotional, which is written for children, would be easy and nice for my kids, but what I didn't see coming is that it has been particularly inspirational for me, as well. It is beautifully simple and easy to understand. I love simple. I cannot express how much I love simple. Simplicity touches my soul deeply. You wouldn't know it if you saw the state of my house (or the state of my mind, for that matter), but I long for and crave simplicity. This devotional speaks to me right where I am. It uses simple language and easy to picture imagery. It also gives wonderful, yet short insights, and a couple of short and meaningful Scripture verses. The whole thing takes about 5 minutes to read. I don't mean to harp on the simplicity/shortness of it. To me, the simplicity is what makes it beautiful. While the words and ideas are simple, it allows me to focus on the meaning that can be drawn from them, which are long lasting, often sticking with me for days.

I suppose my draw to simplicity makes a lot of sense. Jesus speaks often of simplicity in Scripture, which means that it must be an important component of our humanity and faith life. Also, my constant longing for it must mean that I don't have enough of it in my life. I think a lot about how to simplify life with 6 kids. It is an art for sure, which I am not particularly good at. Much of it probably can be done by having less stuff around, and also with having less to do. There are of course the normal demands of life that can't be gotten rid of, but much of what we do and have, could be minimized. God speaks to me through other people most of the time. And interestingly, though not surprisingly, its usually just a gentle nudge from a friend, a suggestion, a conversation that inspires me and stands out to me. Recently, I think God has been asking me to think about simplicity. I am not sure yet how He will ask me to change things, or perhaps, He's just warning me against signing up for too many things and starting too many great ideas that I will never finish or follow through with...all very typical for me :) Either way, it has been on my radar and I am thinking about it, and how to accomplish it.

I plan to take one thing at a time, so for now, since we are pretty much finished up with school, I am going to focus on only the summer months. My plan this summer is to work on virtuous behavior with my kids by using some great virtue cards I bought from a web site called, educationinvirtue.com.  We have a prize chart that they can fill up with stars for practicing the virtues. Its a little like the sacrifice bead idea from holyheroes.com. I plan on not doing any of our music/sports/dance lessons, or work book type things this summer. I plan on going through our stuff and giving away everything that does not currently have a purpose for us. I plan on seeing friends and being outside as much as possible. Most importantly, I plan to make daily Mass a habit for us again. This school year, it was too difficult for me to keep that up, so we hardly ever went to Mass during the week. But now that we do not have a school schedule to keep up with, I think we will be able to make it to Mass a couple of times a week. Hopefully by the time school starts up again, it will have become a habit, and therefore much easier to incorporate into our days.

If you think about it, please pray for me and my family as we attempt these particular plans.
I would love to hear from you about what your summer plans are, and what you do to keep it simple!

A tribute to my husband on our 10 year anniversary

Peter has always been an exceptional person. I spotted that the minute I met him. He is strong, yet gentle; intelligent, but someone who thinks "outside of the box". He is confident in who he is and in God's love for him, yet he is the most humble and genuine soul I have ever met. He is patient and loving. He is a man of God. I am blessed, honored, and  humbled that he chose me to be his wife, and mother of his children.

As beautiful of a person as he was when I married him, I am blown away by the man he has become over the ten years we have been a family. He lays down his life for me and our kids, every.single.day.

In some ways, I was broken when I met Peter, but he loved me anyways. He was and still is, incredibly patient with me. He allows me to be myself, make mistakes, and still he loves me unconditionally.

Peter and I met in high school, at the ages of 15 and 16. Rather quickly, we fell in love and knew we were meant for each other. Since we were so young, we met with many challenges to our relationship. From an outside perspective, there were plenty of reasons why we shouldn't have been together. I can't say that we were all that mature and objective enough to know what we were getting into when our relationship went from, "I think you're cute and I want to get to know you", to " I'm in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you", but I can say with complete certainty that we were always committed to each other.

Our first few years of marriage were tough. We had three children in three years, all while Peter finished up his undergrad degree at Michigan State. There were plenty of late nights full of arguments, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and tears. But in the midst of all of it, we grew up together; we grew together; we became one; we became a family. I wouldn't change one single thing about what led us to where we are. It has all shaped and molded us into the family and people that we are today.

So, maybe starting out, we didn't do things exactly how we "should have". Its true that at our beginning, we were more guided by our passions than our reason. But God honored our leap of faith. We discovered an unexpected grace in which God guided every step we took in spite of our failings and naivety. The irony is, had we been smarter about our decisions, we would have made them differently, and we would have missed so much of what we now love most in life. 

When I think back on our 19 and 20 year old selves saying our vows on our wedding day, my heart swells with joy and thanksgiving to God for guiding us, bringing us together, and blessing our marriage so abundantly. Thanks be to God, we have a beautiful, crazy, full life...and never in a million years could I ever have imagined one as good as this. 

"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." - Ephesians 5:31

Mary, our mother.

I just finished saying the novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots. I think it may be my favorite novena. I could practically see Mary taking the "knots" I handed to her, and begin working away at untangling them.  Mary is our Heavenly Mother. Aren't moms supposed to be really good at untangling our messes? Not so sure that's my forte as a mom, but it surely is Mary's. I have seen the grace from this novena already at work in my life. 

As I was praying the novena one day in my room, behind a locked door, I heard my 2 year old son call out to me. "Mama! Mama!" It wasn't a question. He knew exactly where I was. When I didn't answer, I heard his little feet pitter patter away. I kept on saying the prayers,when I heard his little feet come pitter pattering back. This time, he was trying to pick the lock. My first thought was, how did he learn that trick? Then I immediately went to him, and he joined me for prayer time. He was perfectly content in my lap, playing with the rosary beads, and kissing its small crucifix. Being wrapped in the security of his mother's arms, and brought before God (in prayer), he was at peace.  In that moment, I was reminded that 

this was an image of how we ought be with our Heavenly Mother. She desires to comfort us in her arms, and to bring us to her Son. She is the perfect example of motherhood, and the perfect mother to us all.

I struggle and fail often to be patient, tender, wise, gentle, lovingly firm, creative, energetic, and all the things we want to be for our kids. Through the wisdom of the Saints, priests, and friends, I have come to the realization that I do not have to be all of those things perfectly. I can not, because I am not perfect. I do not have what it takes. But God knew all that when He called me to this life of mothering 6 children. The saying goes, "God does not call the equipped. He equips the called".
In His perfect wisdom and mercy, God has given us the treasures of the Church: the sacraments, His mother, the Saints, and so much more. I am so grateful for these gifts and I feel a special connection to the Blessed Mother. Daily, I ask Mary to take my children into her care. I ask her to lead them to her Son, and I take great comfort in knowing that my children are being cared for and watched over by her, when they are with me, and when they are not.

Funny kid stories

Here are a few funny kid-stories to enjoy!

Gianna's ballet class just began learning how to use the ballet barre. I was helping Gianna in the bathroom one day when we were at the dance studio. She was looking quizzically at the handicap rail, when suddenly, a look of understanding comes over her face. "Oh! Now I know what this bar is for. Its so people can practice ballet if they want, when they are going to the bathroom!"

Joseph was talking about rocks one day, and how there are lots of different kinds of rocks.
Joseph: I have rocks!
Me: Oh yeah?
Joseph: Yeah. I have penis rocks (testicles). But we don't throw those rocks!

Joseph is now fully potty trained even at night, but recently, he has been consistently wetting the bed.
Me: What's going Joey? Why are you suddenly forgetting to go to the bathroom at night?
Joseph: Because I can't get out of my room anymore. (We put handle covers on the door of the boys' room, so the little boys won't keep getting out of their rooms at night, but we didn't quite think that one through, I guess!)

Whenever I refer to Joseph as one of the 'little guys", he quickly interjects, "Oh. You mean big guy, mama." And he says it with utmost confidence!

The first time we put Joseph in Gianna's car seat, he was outraged. He thought since it used to be her seat that it was only for girls. He had a regular fit about it, yelling, "I not a girl! I don't wanna sit in a girly seat!" All the sudden, he realized he had dropped his book bag and immediately stopped yelling and said, "Hey! Where my purse?"

"A cheerful heart is good medicine..." Proverbs 17:22

My Mother's day.

On Mother's day, my husband Peter woke the kids up early, and they all got to work cleaning the upstairs. Before that day, it. was. a. mess. Oh my goodness. I couldn't even go up there with out feeling like I was going to suffocate. It was months on top of months of mess, which is seriously problematic, as our school room is up there : / Anyways, I had been huffing and puffing, and hemming and hawing about it for weeks, and probably laying on the guilt pretty thick. My sweet and thoughtful husband had planned to surprise me by having him and the kids clean it all up before I even got up in the morning. Of course, as is typical of me, I had a tantrum the night before about how much I had to do in this darn house, and how many messes I have to clean up all by myself! And Peter, with his selfless and calm nature pulled me aside to tell me that he and the kids wanted to surprise me with a clean upstairs on Mother's day, but maybe, based on my current mood at the time, its better for me to know now so I don't keep flipping out. The kids still thought it was going to be a surprise. And to be honest, it still was. When I went up there, it was perfectly and meticulously clean. They really did put a lot of effort into getting it looking nice. They even vacuumed! On top of that, the kids had made a pillow for me. They sewed and decorated it all by themselves. I was extremely touched by their thoughtfulness and the work they put in to make me feel loved. I surely did feel their love very tangibly.

Mothers certainly are blessings in the lives of their families, but truly, I am the one who is blessed by these lovely people. God shows His love for His people in so many ways, but if I ever begin to doubt His love for me, all I need to do is take a step back and look at this family He has given me. They are my gift, and the sign of God's love for me. I am entirely unworthy... but I guess that is how God's gifts go :)

Grace and rain, and my first post

When I first decided to start a blog, my thought was, am I  crazy?? which mimicked my husband's thoughts exactly. First of all, when will I have time to sit down uninterrupted for any length of time, what with chasing around three rambunctious little boys and homeschooling three more besides; and secondly, what would I have to say? I decided to put those questions on the back burner, and just go for it. I have always enjoyed writing, and if nothing else, I figure this can be therapeutic me-time! That being said, I will probably talk mostly about my kids in this blog :)
This week has started out with some absolutely perfect weather; the first signs that summer is actually arriving...finally! I am very excited to finish up with our homeschooling, hopefully by the end of this month, and then spend the summer visiting friends, going berry picking, trips to the zoo, playing at the park, taking the kids out for ice cream...just because, and having no routine whatsoever. Actually, I really love a routine and thrive on being able to plan things out. What I really mean, is having no school routine whatsoever. Something I have learned this year of homeschooling my children is, there are seasons. Some seasons, like the one we are in now, is survival mode. It doesn't sound glamorous, because its not. But in some ways, I think it is even better than the season I really wanted to be in this year...daily Mass, field trips, school projects, preschool for the little boys... This season of survival has forced me to live day to day, moment to moment. I believe that God has been asking me to live in the moment and enjoy each one as the blessing that it is. Tough ones, fun ones, all are gifts from Him. Even when I kick and scream through each moment that doesn't go "my way", as is often the case, He still offers me the opportunity to receive each moment as a gift and be grateful. And if I am open, He offers me the grace to not just survive the moments, but to thrive. Over this past school year, I have watched my kids develop relationships with each other. I have been impressed at their ability to cooperate with each other and get along, even when its difficult. It has touched my heart deeply to see them enjoy babies and toddlers as much as they do, and to happily learn responsibility through helping to take care of the little boys. I have experienced their hearts of compassion as they willingly come to my aid when they see me falling apart at the seams. So, yeah, maybe this is a season of survival, but its also a season of grace. And even though we might not have done all the academic things I had hoped to accomplish, I think much more important things have been learned.
We took a school break this afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and warmth. The kids played hard until it began to rain, and then pour. And what did they do then? They danced in it, laughed about it, dared each other to run around in it, and got completely soaked. And I laughed too. It was so much fun. To me, it was an illustration of how God is offering to wash and refresh us with His down pouring of grace. And thankfully, these kids of mine reminded me to receive it, enjoy it, and be grateful!