Detachment

In the Traditional Liturgy, this is the time of Septuagesima. This is a time in preparation for Lent, a time of penance. The vestments are purple and the chant is somber. The Alleluia has been buried.

I have been reading/praying the Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. for over a year now. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a reflection and prayer on the spiritual life. During this time of Septuagesima, the author has been speaking about detachment and poverty. He says, "detachment practiced with perfection leads effectively to its goal: union with God." This is where the passage comes alive in Mark 10: 21, "Go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven."

In striving towards union with God, I have found that I have many, many attachments. Attachments to my own opinion, my possessions, what I think others should be doing, and to even what I think God's Will is for me. I have a far, far, far way to go in detaching from these things. My first instinct is to try and give up many things for Lent and add much prayer to my life. Our wise seminarian this Sunday in his sermon, cautioned us against this. He stated that our human condition cannot sustain a lot of change. He suggested concentrating on one vice this Lent and work on eliminating them one at a time. I will continue to pray about what I will concentrate on this Lent. It's hard, where to start?

The past two seasons of Lent, my sacrifice has found me. Two years ago my heart was ripped in two in an issue with my family of origin. This trial was extremely painful, but had great fruit. Last year, I was still mourning the two losses I had in the last year. So, I do trust the Lord in his Infinite Wisdom to provide exactly what my heart needs. However, I would like to be prepared in finding the best sacrifice for Him in prayer, fasting, and alms giving. I'm glad I still have a week!

{PHFR} January Edition!

{Pretty}

Ahhhh...the first daffodils of the year. Who cares I bought them at the grocery store! They add some beauty to my kitchen.

{Happy}
My new kitchen table! We have a table in our dining room we were using for most meals and some tall chairs at our island but this table is perfect for our little family. A Craigs.list. find!

{Real}
So much to say here, but I am going to concentrate on Lent. It is upon us! DH and I are talking about what we are planning on doing in terms of prayer, fasting and alms giving. Good stuff!

{Funny}

We took Little E snowshoeing earlier this month. It was quite different than when it was the two of us! She didn't like the backpack and we didn't realize until the end of our hike that she really just wanted to make her own tracks.

{PHFR}

Pretty:

We had a nice St. Lucia celebration on the 13th. I made sweet rolls (from a can) in a circle for breakfast and print out a paper St. Lucia from Paper Dali for Little E. She loves blowing out candles and saying, "Pray for us!"

Happy:

Last week I made homemade beeswax votive candles to have blessed on Candlemas. This was my second attempt at making candles. The first attempt I couldn't get out of the mold, so this time I just put them in a water bath and they popped right out. The plan is to light these when we pray the rosary.

 Funny:

This past Saturday we made cookies with DH's family and Little E had flour head to toe. She loved rolling, cutting and putting flour out to making the rolling easier. We probably made over 15 dozen cookies. Most of them are in the freezer because I have no self control. ;)

Real:

DH has a soft heart for animals. One of the litter from this past spring had 4 more kittens. As of today I have given away 2, so 2 more to go. DH made a nice sign out of cardboard and sharpie that is in the front yard for free kittens. It isn't pretty, but at least it works!

Head on over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for more Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real.

The Advent Post

Advent is upon us. Preparing our hearts for the Christ Child is the goal.

So this year, we have a few traditions that we are celebrating-new and old.

First, before having little E, we said the prayers and lit the candles of our lovely Advent Wreath given to us by my mom. It is a nod to my Irish heritage.

Next, I really think Little E will enjoy putting this nativity together each day (if she can wait!) also bought for us by my mom.

Here is yet another Advent calendar given to us by a good college friend of mine and it has little door for each day of December. Before Little E, I would fill each day with candy for DH, but now it is little toys or candy for her. She adores Winnie the Pooh and I was lucky enough to find some little figurines at the dollar store.



St. Nicholas will bring the gold coins and playmobil nativity set for Little E. 

We are going to strive to say a family rosary each day (which we do most days) and also recite the St. Andrew Christmas anticipatory prayer each day in hopes of a miracle baby for us. 

Some other activites we have planned are a trip to a Carmelite monastery for a St. Nicholas celebration, mass at our cathedral and a get together on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and family cookie day with my in-laws.

We bought this crucifix at the Carthusian monastery gift shop this summer.

I had thoughts of doing a Jesse Tree, but I think that it will be too much for us this year. I will continue to read and pray my Divine Intimacy and I hope to start to say Night Prayer each night. I would love to say the Liturgy of the Hours throughout the day as time allows or even the Little Office, but I need to start somewhere.

Friday Quick Takes

1. We are a diet disaster. Probably the best diet for our family would be Paleo but I just can't stop cooking from my Nourishing Traditions cookbook. Everything I have tried is fabulous. My sourdough bread from my own starter is cooling on my counter.
2. My hormones are a mess. One minute I am crying because I am just so thankful to be a mom and another minute I am mad at my husband. Oh those hormones. I have been on a roller coaster since our trip to NYC.
3. But one good thing is my FSH level has come down to 7.8 from 15 this summer. So at least the antibiotics are working.
4. I am so tired today. Maybe it is the rain? Or because of  #2.
5. My prayer life is rather dry. I attend daily mass about twice a week and we pray the rosary as a family most days, but I just can't get myself into a regular routine daily. So bad, I know.
6. Yesterday, Little E and I took a really nice walk on a path behind a local park. We picked up leaves, threw some in the creek, watched the ducks and just chatted. It was so beautiful.
7. There I go crying again. UGH, those darn hormones.

Farewell Summer, Hello Autumn

This summer was quite eventful for our little family. We took some great trips, Little E turned 2, we gardened, we canned, we said goodbye to good friends, relaxed, and just enjoyed the summer weather.

Some of my favorite parts of this summer were watching Little E jump into the pool with pure joy on her face, winning blue ribbons at the county fair for my canned goods, spending time with extended family, meeting new friends at our new TLM parish, attending outdoor concerts, blogger meetups, and resting in our outdoor hammock with my DH.

My least favorite parts were Little E breaking her elbow, getting more medical treatments, and melting in the 100 degree weather. And of course not having another little one to celebrate.

But most of all, we made some great memories and grew together as a family. Here are some pictures that capture the season.

Little E at our favorite CSA farm

Our bum arms (E's splint and my IV set up for the treatments)

Blue ribbon relish and other cans I made

My fav family pic from VT

Little E and the hubs at a July 4th outdoor symphony concert

I am looking forward to Autumn with apple festivals, a home school preschool co-op, enjoying the cooler weather, a family wedding, and preparations for the holidays. The fall always brings renewed hope for me, I don't know if it was the promise of a new school year, looking forward to holidays, or that good things have happened to me in the fall. Either way, I am hopeful and thankful.

I Am Very Thankful

About 2 weeks ago I went to NYC to see this doctor again. DH and I saw him exactly 9 months prior to conceiving E. I do think that was the tipping point for us. We did continue with some other treatments after seeing him. Those other things no doubt helped, but haven't helped us with another child. So, I went again. Thankfully, my mother came to help out before DH was able to get there and help.

This trip was very difficult. It took us an extra 2 hours to drive to NYC and then I was super stressed driving in Manhattan (thanks to my guardian angel!). The apartment we were going to rent fell through the day before and I had about 2 hours notice to find another one. But I did, thank God.

Some of the treatments were very painful, but I did get through them. I did endure a lecture about I.VF being the best for us, but for obvious reasons we aren't even considering that. Um, hello, we have conceived three times without that! But for the most part I am hopeful that we will have another child but am forcing myself to just pray for peace in whatever outcome the Lord has for our family. At times this is extremely difficult and actually during the trip I could just manage a few Hail Mary's and go to mass on Sunday. So, any prayers that were offered for us really helped sustain us.

We are happy to be home for awhile. I truly appreciate living in the country and not having any issues with traffic, parking, or public transportation. And I am especially thankful for a pro-life OB/GYN practice that never pressures me to do anything anti-life.

Never in my life did I think that it would be this difficult to have children. The extremes that we have had to go surely makes us appreciate the little life we have been given. The Lord knows exactly what I need to seek Him. And for that, too, I am thankful.