Happy Easter!

Alleluia! He is risen!

I didn't really mean to totally take Holy Week off from blogging, but it was a lovely, fruitful week, so I'm glad I did. We spent a lot of time preparing for Easter, praying, and talking about Jesus on the Cross. Clare asked a lot (and I mean a lot) of deep, impactful questions. That meant I spent a lot of time thinking about (and explaining) the Passion of Our Lord. What a lovely, wonderful blessing!

We also observed zero Easter activities until the Big Day, save for putting stickers on plastic eggs Saturday morning. All things considered, I decided that dying boiled eggs was just not worth it this year. Maybe some day. But seeing how the stickers-on-eggs thing went, I think I made the right choice. ;-)

Trying to get her to show off the egg.

The Holy Spirit had a hand in preparing Charles' work schedule for Holy Week, so even though he was still on service, we were able to go to Holy Thursday and Good Friday services as a family in the evening. Charles was chosen to be among those getting his feet washed on Thursday, so that was extra-special. Clare also decided to have a tantrum in the last 90 seconds of Mass that evening -- during the silence after the consecrated hosts have been moved to the Alter of Repose for the night -- because we gasp! made her put her shoes on. I know. I know.

I only mention that, because on Friday, instead, Clare fell asleep on Charles' shoulder during the Gospel reading. She slept through the liturgy, in the car, and in her bed until about midnight, woke up to go potty, and then slept until morning. 

We've determined that our kids are not quite ready for the Vigil on Saturday, so once they were in bed that night, I got the house all Easter'd up. 

Baskets, banners and blooms -- oh, my!

Clare was unbelievably excited when she woke up on Sunday and it was Easter. She was jumping up and down and squealing and seeing everything. It was magic -- I wish I had known to film it on secret camera. It was that spectacular!

Peter was much more stoic about the whole thing.

After Mass, we tried to take pictures. We probably should have done it before, but wanted to get out the door early, knowing that it would be a full house.

Like herding cats. (Dress and shirt: Children's Place)

Then we spent the day playing, eating, and being together. We talked to our families and just basked in the joy of Christ's Resurrection. 

He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

On Liturgical Living These Days

A lot of months ago, I declared my intention to really start incorporating the Liturgical Year into our home life in a more meaningful way. Since neither Charles nor I grew up that way, we're starting from scratch here, and if we try to do anything too unnatural -- inorganic to our lives -- it feels flat and forced. It doesn't work or stick. Maybe it's a great idea that we're just not ready for. Or maybe it just wasn't a great idea for us.

Regardless, it's really important to me that we find things that do work for us. I've understood for awhile that our human hearts, for whatever variety of reasons, crave the rhythm of liturgical living. We want to live seasonally -- we plant, tend, harvest. We work six days and rest on the seventh. We spent cold hard cash on decorations and goods for every holiday imaginable. We pepper our year with celebrations of all sorts. Pi day, anyone?!?

As a family, I'd call us "rising intermediate" (read: we're getting better) on the liturgical living scale. We celebrate a lot of days, but we don't go big. We keep it simple.

We have a good grasp on the basics: a big "Sunday dinner" on Sundays. Lent, Advent, Christmas, Easter. We're getting there more and more each year.

We celebrate what Kendra calls the "Big Three" -- birthdays, baptism days, and name days. The person getting celebrated gets to pick what we have for dinner. Bam! Easy Peasy. And since I can't help but celebrate stuff, there are often things like cupcakes and cookies and candles and treats and giving you your favorite breakfast, too.

Thanks to our kitchen chalk board, remembering the saints and feasts is much easier. I try to add an extra little treat or something to our day to acknowledge those saints to whom one or more of us has an additional devotion.

But I've had this nagging issue with Holy Days of Obligation and other Solemnities.

It started in August when, for reasons I no longer remember, I was looking at the school calendar for the parochial school attached to our parish, and I realized that they don't have school on Holy Days of Obligation. Like a thunderbolt, it struck me: as Catholics, these are not merely days that we need to drag ourselves to Mass. They are days that we should be treating as holy days . . . as holidays. Gasp! (No, really, it was that earth-shattering to me.) So, accordingly, I've been trying to, at least, make what would normally be a special or Sunday dinner on those days.

Then, when I was reading Kendra's post yesterday on Solemnities, and starting to feel overwhelmed once again with trying to invent traditions for all of them, the solution dawned on me. Like I said at the beginning, we are at the point where "celebrating the liturgical year" still means keeping it simple.  And what could be simpler than adding to the meal we're already enjoying? Adding dessert, which we almost never have as a family? What is more celebratory than dessert? And with the decision that there will be dessert for Solemnities, there was peace.

So today, on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, we're eating roast and having ice cream. Easy, beautiful, and celebratory as that.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Merry Christmas!

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." - Luke 2: 8-14 KJV

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!! May the Good News of the first Christmas continue to inspire and shape our lives today and every day.

(Photos by Carrie Zimmer photography.)

{7QT v. 74} It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's the hap-happiest season of all. And I'm going to use the next 7 to tell you all about it.

And linking up with Kelly.

1. Sunday is the feast of Christ the King. That be my Catholic birthday, yo! I'll be celebrating, as always, with breakfast after Mass and making my favorite dinner -- braised beef shanks -- and enjoying it with my beautiful Catholic family.

2. This week and next are the weeks that poor, forgotten, fabulous Thanksgiving gets its due. For two weeks, we get a taste of the world if we all lived liturgically -- feasting, family, giving thanks, heads bowed in prayer that might never otherwise. I freaking love it!!!!!

3. Thanksgiving is Thursday!!!!!! (See above)

4. Then Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. I'll being singing "O Come O Come Emmanuel" loud and proud for 4 weeks. More on my thinking on Advent from last year here.

5. Feasts feasts feasts! So many awesome wonderful amazing fantastic feasts during Advent. We focus on a few, but it's so easy to live liturgically during this time of year.

Unrelated, pixelated and cute

6. In the midst of all of that is the happy hustle and bustle of the secular Christmas season. Look, I've spent most of my life being a "bust out the carols on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner" kind of gal. I'm working to find a comfortable balance between "letting Advent be Advent" and celebrating with the world. In but not of. Both and. Finding our way, but I can't let go of the joy that (can) come with the season.

7. At the end of all of that is Christmas Eve. I've talked here and here about my love of the last days of Advent. Praying that I might wait with Joyful Hope as we prepare to meet our Lord.

Have a lovely weekend! :-)
 

Currently . . . Vol. 6

Joining Jenna from A Mama Collective and Olivia at To the Heights for Currently.

Thinking about: Princesses. Clare is 150% girl. She loves princesses and pink and sparkle. She loves to dance like a ballerina. When she is awake and at home, she is almost always wearing a tutu and a sparkly headband. If she had her way, she would wear dresses every day. I love all of that about her. She brings a smile to my face so often throughout the day. I find that it's a balance, though. As much as I want to encourage her to be who she is -- who God made her to be -- with all of her unique tastes, talents, and interests, I also have two competing concerns.

Firstly, I don't want it to turn into an excessively commercial love. It's easy to get caught up in buying all the princess stuff (thanks, marketing team at Disney), and that focus on material goods is not the kind of family culture we are trying to create. I don't have issues with princesses or Disney in and of themselves. I just don't want it to take on a life of its own. I want it to just be a little girl being a little girl.

Second, it preys on my fears of a long-term, slippery slope into "princess culture." As women, indeed as humans, we are drawn to beauty. Famously, St. Thomas Aquinas uses that as the basis of one of his proofs of God's existence. For a little girl, pink princess sparkle ribbon is just that -- an expression of beauty. Princess culture, on the other hand, raises it to the good. It is a ditzy materialism that we see in so many celebrities who get too much exposure during their flirt with fame. I want more for my sweet girl than that. And I know that, in all likelihood, all too soon, she'll grow out of it and move on to the next passion, as kids are wont to do. But it impresses upon me the weight of parenting a girl in these times where "respect for women" too often means objectifying them more.

But how sweet is that: headband, dress, "tutu"?!?

Reading: I finally read Something Other Than God this weekend. Like everyone else on the (Catholic blogging) planet, I was totally captivated and couldn't put the book down until I had read the whole thing (at least it felt that way). Heck, I even knew the ending and still couldn't wait to find out what happened.

Making: Crock Pot pot roast for dinner tonight. It is one of Clare's favorites, and (not) coincidentally, today is the feast of St. Clare. In our house, you get to pick what we eat for your birthday, your name day, and your baptism day -- and since the kids are still too little to actually pick, I help them out. ;-) In all sincerity, she loves pot roast, and especially loves the "carry-ots." St. Clare, pray for us.

Loving: I'm sure a lot of Facebook users have seen the "challenge" to list three positives each day for five days. My cousin challenged me last week, and what a kick in the rear it has been. Charles is on a classically terrible rotation right now, and identifying three concrete positives each day has really helped me see how blessed I am, even when the waters seem rough.

Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary: On Friday night, we were able to sit around the table as a family of four for the first time. Peter was in a good mood and played happily in the high chair (and maybe eyed our lasagna, too!), not flailing in our laps/arms, not in the bouncy seat, not asleep. He felt integrated into the family, and it felt complete and right.

You know you have an older sister when you are given a pink cup and purple bird to play with.

Praying: for peace, especially in the Middle East, and for the safety of refugees and those persecuted, particularly in Iraq.

Baptized!

Our weekend was, as promised, crazy, to say the least, but the absolute, definite, for sure highlight was welcoming sweet Peter into the Church.

He was baptized in a group baptism Saturday morning, along with four other new Christians. Like Clare, his Uncle Zak turned into Uncle Godfather Zak. He fussed through the first part of the Rite, but seemed to calm down with each passing stage: claimed for Christ, Oil of the Catechumen, and was asleep by the time we got to the water. He started with each pour of the water, and was sound asleep by the time he was topped with Chrism.

The priest asked that we not take pictures during the ceremony, but rather to just pray for the children instead. We did, however, manage to get pictures afterwards! (Photos from my camera, but taken by BG! Thanks, Rhonda!)

Lent Wrap-up

When it comes right down to it, I'm not good at Lent.

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I give stuff up with good success, and I do a good job of praying/going to Mass/whatever more for awhile. then the added stuff slips away, as it does for too many, too often. I know, at least, that I'm not alone in that.

This year was particularly bad. Between a late Easter, end of pregnancy discomfort, a toddler, the Match, moving plans, and Peter's birth, let's just say the last few weeks haven't felt like Lent. At all.

In spite of all that, I feel like it has been a fruitful Lent. I've identified places where I really need to work on my spiritual life, like trusting God with my heart (not just my words), and deepening my personal prayer life. I can continue to work on those, even without a Lenten mandate.

With those that in mind, I'll be entering the Triduum tomorrow prepared to make the most of Lent's waning moments, to make a trip to the confessional, to give thanks for all that I've received this season, to pray for continued blessings in the weeks and months to come, to reflect more deeply on Christs' Passion and His Mercy. I plan to unplug, at least somewhat, and I look forward to celebrating His Victory on Sunday.

May His peace be with you during these most holy days.

Some Random Musings on Ash Wednesday

Just some odds and ends on Ash Wednesday:

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Ash Wednesday looks so different with a toddler, especially one who is too young to understand what is going on. I generally try to wear more somber clothes on days like today. I'm a person for whom outward appearance really reflect my inward reality. And certainly the Church as packed up the "Gloria" along with the "Alleluia." Let's just say that, after wrestling Little Miss Energy through Mass, I had the chance to be moved by her pink "dwess" as she proclaimed over and over at lunch, "Gwowy to God in da Highst! Amen!" It might be a penitential season, but it is not to be emptied of all joy. Indeed, God is so good, and He is so every day of the year.

I'm sure others have had this experience, but the Holy Spirit has a funny way of working sometimes. I've been pondering for some time what I wanted to do as a personal fast/penance this Lent. Because of the timing of Mr. Man's arrival midway through Lent, I knew that anything too restrictive in the food/caffeine/leisure sense might be personally beneficial, but that my family needs me to be taking in plenty calories/alert/conscious enough to nurse a newborn safely, which is exactly what those things provide me in the early days. Anyway, yesterday, I had a silly epiphany. I say it is silly because it's one of those things that I could have intellectually told you, but didn't have heart/soul understanding of. Lent is not a competition. Not with yourself. Not with others. A personal fast/penance is not the chance to prove how Catholic you are by doing/giving up All the Things. It's a chance for you to make a personal sacrifice that will help you grow closer to God. With that firmly rooted in my heart, I easily identified a small, silly sacrifice I would make for this Lent. It was something that I would think about at least daily, but would not exactly rock the boat of my life at a time when I don't need more rocking than I have. I was content.

Charles and I share our Lenten plans with one another for the sake of accountability. When I told him about the little sacrifice I had chosen, he felt like it was a huge one. Perhaps I have to let go of even more than I realized. It's amazing how God works in us when we let Him.

In the vein of the Holy Spirit getting through to me, this morning, I was able to put a name ("pride") on particular struggles I have on Ash Wednesday (and Good Friday). I don't need to details my thoughts or struggles here, but putting a name on the demon is a good first step to exorcising it.

Mamas who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and anyone with other health concerns, I've heard too many stories about post-fasting problems (supply issues/headaches/dizziness/etc.) this week. Please take the Church at Her word when she says your duty to fast is lifted. Abstain from meat if you are able. Fast from junk food or snacks or media or something, but you have nothing to prove by doing a normal fast. This is from someone who has had to eat a little something on too many Ash Wednesday and Good Friday afternoons. (See above) This year, I'm skipping the junk food and keeping my meals simple, but I'm eating as my hunger dictates. I have two of us to worry about, and not eating isn't going to cut it.

I pray that this is a spiritually fruitful Lent. At the very least, I know I will be giving up being pregnant sometime in the next month or so, and taking on the joy and responsibility of raising another soul for Christ in its stead.

Peace be with you all this Lent.

On the Feast of St. Andre Bessette

The Roman calendar being a sentient creature (oh, wait) gave me the opportunity to get into the meat of liturgical living ('cause Advent and Christmas are easy, yo) with a bang. Since we celebrated the Epiphany on Sunday, we were able to celebrate the feast of St. Andre Bessette yesterday. In our house, though, we know him as Br. Andre.

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Br. Andre is the first member of the Congregation of Holy Cross (you know them because they run Notre Dame) to be canonized. He is also the patron of Andre House, a homeless hospitality center in downtown Phoenix, where Charles did a year of service as a core staff member before beginning medical school, and where we both did a lot of hours of service in our pre-kids years. Our wedding Mass was even celebrated by the organization's current director (thanks, Fr. Eric!!), who got to serve as an EM at Br. Andre's canonization Mass in Rome.

From our living room: Top: Br. Andre Bottom: Christ of the Breadlines (end of service gift to core staff members)

In addition to providing such services to Phoenix's large homeless community (especially in the winter, thanks to the warm weather) as clothing, showers, shade, and a place to make phone calls, Andre House serves 500-700 meals (and not infrequently more), 6 nights a week. Charles and I both look forward to a time when our kids are old enough to help prep food and hand out cups of water -- learning along the way just how essential service really is to the Christian life. And that we really are all children of God, each made in His image, no matter how visible our brokenness may be.

Our feasting this year really is going to focus on feasting -- sharing through food and conversation the lives and witness of the saints, and asking for their intercession. That's my style.

Anyway, I asked Charles last weekend which Andre House meal he'd most like me to honor for Br. Andre's feast day. He told me that, since it was Monday, he'd like Monday's meal: a take on chicken a la king. At Andre House, the same meals have been served each night of the week for more years than you'd like to know.

Charles and the rest of his core staff with Bishop Olmsted -  Via

Since I'd never really seen Monday's hot dish made, I did a little research and improvisation and pulled together something that was deemed "pretty close" and which Clare scarfed down. I served it along side green beans and salad. As I finished cooking and as we ate, we took advantage of the opportunity to reminisce on time at Andre House, its rituals, and to pray for the ministry, its staff, and its continued success.

Clare's plate reminded me of the trays dinner is served on at Andre House.

St. Br. Andre, pray for us.

In Which Life Happens and I Learn from It.

As I mentioned on my 7QT post last week, Advent this year was a big, fat fail. A good chunk of that was thanks to not being home for most of Advent, unless we were packing/unpacking. The Jesse Tree fizzled out after about a week. The second, third, and fourth candles of the Advent Wreath never saw a flame until Christmas Eve. We decorated in the most liturgically correct way we could muster -- the weekend before Christmas. I did sing lots of "O Come! O Come! Emanuel," if that counts for anything.

I wasn't overly concerned, though. I was looking forward to the hustle and bustle of the last few days of the season. I thrive on it. I was going to do all my Adventing in a week.

Then, as luck would have it, Clare got sick with some lame virus. Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and even Monday turned into a blur of fevers and medicine, doctors and worry. And prayers. Lots of prayers. All my poor, sick, miserable girl wanted to do was lounge on Mama. It was all I could do to sneak away for a few errands, get a bare minimum of stuff done, keep Charles and myself alive. One-by-one, items were crossed off the to-do list; not completed, but not necessary either. That's why there are no lights up at our house. Why there were only two kinds of cookies (both already made and frozen) for Christmas. Why visits never got paid. Why things slowed down.

Thanks to lots of answered prayers, when Clare woke up on Christmas Eve, her fever was broken.She had enough energy to watch Nick Jr. somewhat independently and let us pull everything together to have some family over for a nice Christmas Eve celebration. One where it was easy to thank God for answered prayers.

Also feeling well enough to climb in the block basket.

The (not so surprising) thing about Christmas, though, is that it comes, whether you've had a good Advent or not, whether you're ready or not.

Maybe that's why Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year. I wake up to anticipation and the ever-present holiday to-do list. There is a buzz in the air. Inevitably, the deadline, whatever it may be hits, and then . . .

Then, then, then . . .

Christ is there.


He is there in anticipation of children, waiting for their gifts, even when they don't (fully) recognize that Christ is the real gift of Christmas.

He is there in the music, the readings, the candlelight.

He is there in His Church, gathered in worship.

He  is there in families and friends. In food and fellowship.

He is there in the midst of the sickness, hunger, sadness, and loneliness that plague so many during the holidays.

He is there, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist.

He is there, a babe born in Bethlehem, the Word Incarnate.

He is there, seeking a way to enter our hearts, to fill us, to change us. He is there, beckoning us, waiting for us. That is what Christmas is all about. We might be waiting for Him in our liturgical celebrations, but really, He is waiting for us.

I might have spent my last days of Advent frustrated with my inability to do. I might have "gotten busy" and pulled a lovely evening together for our company. I might have failed to meet my own expectations for what the day should be, but I actually saw what Christmas can be. I saw through the trimmings and trappings. I saw what mattered most. I saw Christ.

I know that, time and time again, I get distracted. I fail to pray as I should. I fail to see Christ where I should. I fall short. But thankfully, God is loving and merciful, always waiting for us to come back to Him. I thank God for this Christmas, and another chance to return to the embrace of He who was born lowly, laying in a manger, and later rose to eternal Glory.

God bless us, everyone.

 

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 46

Joining Jen and others for my weekly 7QT fix.

1. I joined Charles in Tucson for interview fun yesterday and today. It was my first night away from Clare, so I tossed and turned a good chuck of the night. Lovely. She and Grandma & Grandpa seem to have survived the night, and it was nice to get some R&R yesterday afternoon. I've also eaten a couple of meals without toddler antics, which is freakishly calm. Even so, gotta admit that I miss my girl. I almost even miss reading Hop on Pop. But not quite. I'm not in need of counseling or intervention. Yet.

2. My mom grew up here, I had extended family here who we visited frequently while growing up, and I went to college here (go Cats!!), so there are about a million memories around every corner. That makes it annoying to drive around with me. "That's where bla bla bla. And that's where bla." I'm shiny eyed and happy. My companion is glassy eyed and regretting that muzzles on humans are not considered appropriate.

Raising her right!

3. Sadly, too many of those memories involve food. My sister and I (and probably other family members) are allllllllllll about eating our way through town. Charles asked about my plans this morning, and sadly, they involved my college hangout coffee shop and family favorite lunch spot. With some other time killing in between.

4. Which brings #2 and #3 together in the craziest story. I was at this coffee shop (and by this, I'm somewhat literal, since I'm sitting in said coffee shop typing this morning) with a couple of friends one evening, drinking lattes and having Deep Collegiate conversations, I'm sure. Randomly, (for reals, the most random ev-ah) we were approached by a strange Russian septuagenarian with an accordion. He played, we smiled politely. Then he started encouraging us to dance. And play his accordion. What???!?!??! Yeah. So, a couple of us do an awkward linked arms circle dance. A couple of us play a couple of off key notes on his accordion. I don't remember how the situation finally ended, but, as was pointed out when I texted the recollection off this morning, we were dancing like little Russian puppet monkeys. So weird.

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5. 23 weeks pregnant and obsessively talking about food. Could I be more cliche?

My magic, bump shrinking shirt!

6. Fine, I'll talk about the weather instead. It's cold for Arizona, but that's not actually my main concern (for once). Instead, my concern is the absolutely frigid weather we'll be facing when we go to Denver tomorrow. Charles and I have cold weather odds and ends, so we'll be fine, but we're piecing stuff together for Clare, who is an Arizona baby with an Arizona wardrobe. Should be interesting. Expecting to spend lots and lots of time indoors in the next few days, and looking forward to things getting back to seasonably cold weather mid-week.

Modeling Daddy's beanie.

7. Oooh, I know what I nearly failed to mention -- wishing everyone a happy Feast of St. Nicholas!! Clare's shoes will be getting their inaugural treats tonight (a day late since we were gone, but she'll never know!) in accord with my New (Liturgical) Year's resolution to live more liturgically.

Have a lovely, safe, dry, and warm weekend!

O Come, O Come!!

{Linking up with Michaela from California to Korea to share what I love about Advent.}

I have mentioned before that I love Advent. Rather than adding to the hustle and bustle of a busy season, I find that it gives me an excuse to slow down and do things differently. It also gives a purpose to, or at least an excuse for, the busy-ness. Some of what I love:

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1. Traditions. I love that Advent is so easily marked by traditions. Advent wreath? Check. Jesse Tree? Check. Liturgical colors at Mass? Check (at least for me). It becomes easy to build time for prayer, for scripture, for quiet into that framework -- and still keep it from becoming so burdensome that it is not sustainable.

2. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." Yes, I know you're sick of it by Christmas. Know what? I'm not. I love the song. I love that it gets stuck in my head and I find myself singing it all day/week. And the fact that they are directly tied to the O Antiphons of Evening prayer?!? Sign.Me.Up. Or, more accurately, ignore my off-pitch singing. It's better than when I bust out O Holy Night. I promise.

3. Easing into Christmas. Because of Advent, I don't feel pressure to go from a pure Thanksgiving focus to a pure Christmas one at midnight on Thanksgiving night. Instead, I get eat my pie in peace. I can my Advent stuff together (See: #1). I try to knock my shopping out early, so as not to focus on it. I decorate after Gaudete Sunday (the 3rd Sunday in Advent). It marks a subtle liturgical shift in Advent, turning toward the preparation for the coming of Christ in the Nativity. I see it as a sign that it's time to get Christmas prep into high gear. I'm preparing for the coming of Christ in the Nativity by wrapping and baking and "elfing." And belting those O Antiphons in song loud and proud. Know what? For a week or 10 days (13 at the outset), that is fun for me!

I don't generally draw a sharp liturgical line in the sand and eschew all things Christmas before the 25th. I just don't think that's realistic. I'm a both-and Catholic. It is both Advent and the time that society celebrates Christmas. I can keep right on celebrating until Epiphany, and they don't need to worry their pretty heads about that, either. I'm okay with it. It's a season for magic, and light, and ohmygosh! Christmas!!

 Have a blessed Advent!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 44

Joining Jen (and counting down 'til I can preorder the book, 'cause, you know, WOW!!!!)

1. It has been a (another?) crazy week 'round here. Between Charles' two interviews (plus dinners with yours truly), a trip to the OB for our ultrasound, Charles' test today, and all the regular stuff in life, it has flown. Ready for the weekend!

2. The exciting thing is that, for the first time since July, we have reached the end of another four week rotation and we do not have to go anywhere. No driving to some far off city to spend four weeks at a home that is not our own. No long trek to our actual home. No forcing a disgruntled, teething, sick of traveling toddler into a car seat. No subsisting on Subway, soda, and hotel breakfasts. Nope. Just time. Together. At home.

None of this. Thrilled, I tell you. Thrilled.

3. As as added bonus, it is raining buckets, and it's not supposed to let up anytime soon. As if I needed an excuse to keep the warm, pregnancy-safe beverages flowing today!

4. My mind has been swimming in a sea of blue this week, after our news! Besides mulling our potential name over (and over and over) -- I'm contemplating such very important child rearing questions as, "What do baby boys wear to Mass?" and "Should we get a baptism outfit with shorts or pants?" and "Is Clare more likely to smother him with a blanket, a doll, or a play feeding object?" In other words, I'm in love.

Soccer Star. Yes, that's a foot up there.

5. Baby names are a freakishly big deal in my weird world. I love them. Love. The best part of new babies, besides the baby, of course, is finding out what its name is. So naming my own kid feels like a big deal. I am thinking I'm not telling FB or the blog until he arrives. It just feels like more of an announcement that way. Because it needs an announcement? Weird, I know.

6. Liturgically speaking, this weekend is the kick-off to the one season I can do right. The feast of Christ the King of the Universe happens to be my Catholic birthday (when I was received into the Church and received the sacraments of First Eucharist and Confirmation). {As an aside, I really want to write a post (or a couple of posts) about my conversion, but I run into the problem of too much to say and too little substance. Meaning lots of rambling. I'll get there one day.} The last couple of years, I've celebrated Christ the King with breakfast after Mass and my favorite dinner. Then comes Advent. I love Advent! Love it! Then Christmas! More to love! It's the rest of the liturgical year when I fall off the horse. I make an effort at Lent and Easter, but I'm going to try to do better overall. Looking forward to reading Haley's book to help out -- food and the liturgical year. I can't think of a better combination.

7. I got nothing, so here's a totally unrelated picture to fill the gap.

16 months going on 16 years.

Have a lovely weekend!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 43

Writer's block = Blegh. I'm just putting it out there.

I sat down at least three times this week to compose a post about actual thoughts in my head, but somehow none of them even so much as began to come out right. as a result, I'm turning some of my incomplete post thoughts into my 7QT. As always, linking up with the fabulous (and conference hosting) Jen.

1. Charles was out of town on the interview trail all week. I wanted to write about the challenges of having him out of town without coming off as complaining. It's challenging, as anyone who's ever had a spouse away can attest, for any number of reasons. If dinner would make itself and land on the table at a preappointed time, things would be going pretty smoothly indeed. That said, I can't say I'm not counting down until his flight arrives.

2. I marvel at Clare's growth and development. I think so many parents think their kids are brilliant because they marvel at how much a little person can learn so quickly and how much they change in the blink of an eye. I know I've marveled at her vocabulary explosion any number of times, but it just doesn't cease to amaze me. I'm also in awe of her mimicking. The other day, she "sunscreened" her baby after I got her ready to head to the park. I realize these are developmentally normal, but to this first time mom, they are mind boggling!

3. I am now 20 weeks pregnant. Half-way, give or take. It is unbelievably amazing and unbelievably surreal to carry a little miracle. I'm extra excited to have our anatomy scan this week. I pray everything looks good, and hope we find out if our little bundle of joy (and sleepless nights) is a boy or a girl.

4. I had lots of little opportunities this week to reflect on the culture of death and how deeply it has seeped into our culture at large, but my thoughts are still rambling. Something might still be coming, but in the mean time, it's still a pass. Maybe God wants me to ponder more and "have the answer" less.

5. I'm lamenting the fact that I don't have Grace's knack for the hilarious retell of the ridiculous things my kid does. Strangely, this is one area where I really am better in person. Or maybe it's easier when my audience truly gets how crazy my kiddo is. Regardless, that is the main reason my blog is void of Clare's craziest antics. *sad face*

Relaxing and enjoying some tea at my cousin's house.

6. I have every.single.intention of linking up with Cari (even with her temporary MIA-ness) to talk about Thanksgiving, as I dream about turkey and stuffing and sides and family and food and gratitude. My first attempt at a draft was an exceedingly incoherent nightmare, so I'm hoping to get something pulled together for next week.

7. One goal that has long been deep in my heart is helping my family really live and celebrate the liturgical year. It's something that I'm truly passionate about and want to have as part of my family's life rhythm. Since neither Charles nor I grew up doing this beyond basic celebrations, Advent and Lent, etc., it's a slow process of incorporation. It's something I want to do more and more in the coming (liturgical) year, so I hope to write quite a bit about our journey in the coming months. 

Have a lovely weekend!