A Visit From the Tooth Fairy

David lost his first tooth yesterday. It is really amazing - you get so excited when your baby gets his or her first teeth and you get equally excited five or six years later when it falls out! So, the tooth fairy paid her first visit to our house last night. I'm sure there will be many more visits to come!

Feast Day of St. Edith Stein

Today is the feast day of St. Edith Stein. Read more about her at http://www.spiritualwoman.net/Profiles/Stein.html

Another Parenting Challenge

I have repeatedly found that as soon as parenting seems to be going rather smoothly, some new wrinkle will come to once again challenge you. For us, David is now resisting going to sleep at night. There could be many reasons contributing to this, among them some post-traumatic stress regarding the massive storm we had last week (he now has an incredible fear of a storm coming and taking our house), the fact that he is starting school soon which he also has some stress about, or the simple fact that he is getting older and perhaps just doesn't need as much sleep as he used to.

Regardless, in order to keep him in his room and have him go to sleep, I now need to sit outside his door until he goes to sleep (the past two nights that has been an hour). While I am getting some reading done, it has sharply cut into my writing and computer time. So, here I am, trying to trust God that I will get the work done he wants me to and that this new phase in parenting won't last too long!

Seeking Solitude

The Gospel for today (Matthew 14:13-21) once again tells of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. There is a second undercurrent in Matthew's telling of the miracle, however. Jesus was trying to get away from the crowds and they kept following him. He was searching for solitude and no one would let him have it. Yet, he kept giving from his heart to these people. He needed to be quiet and to pray and there he was continuing to love those who needed them.

I can so relate to this. Sometimes it is so hard to get through my morning prayers. One or both of my children may interrupt with whatever they may need at the moment. I try to create a sacred space. I know I need to pray to get through my day, but I am also a mom and my children do have needs. Sometimes they need to be answered immediately and sometimes I tell them they need to wait until my prayers are done. One thing that I have learned since becoming a mom is that quiet is a state of mind. Sometimes you need to find solitude in brief moments in which you can commune with God and tap into the well that provides the energy to continue to love.

Turning Back the Hands of Time

This was sent to me today by Janet Cassidy and I thought you might enjoy it. It is interesting the way technology can sap our time. I love my computer because it allows me to reach out to people and work in a way that I would otherwise not be able to do. For a stay-at-home mom, it can be a God-send! Yet, I do try to limit its use. My children can use it an hour a day and 99% of the time, I work at the computer at night after they are in bed, so I definitely do try to limit its effect on our family time.


TURNING BACK THE HANDS OF TIME

I’ve decided to turn back the hands of time to around 1993, our pre-computer era. I’m going backward because I asked myself one question: What did I do instead of computing?

Although I don’t surf the internet or play games on my computer, I do spend some time checking e-mail and writing. These aren’t bad things, of course, but they lure me away from other, more important things. So, about a week ago, I decided to idle my computer for larger blocks of time. Remember, it’s only been one week. Since that time, here’s what happened:

I taught our daughters about cake decorating (the old fashioned way; the way mom used to do).
Our youngest spontaneously joined me in vocal prayer.
We put together her dog book, complete with laminating and binding.
I worked on a cross-stitch gift.
I picked beans from my over-grown garden.
I sat under a tree, on a hot, breezy day, listening to a toddler-weary young mother express her frustrations.

I listened more. We talked more. We prayed more. We played more.

I mention this because I wonder if you might also be caught in the computer trap. Consider what you might be missing and then do something about it. The result is very liberating!

God Bless,

Janet
life is a joyful mystery!

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Enjoying peace and quiet

Mother Nature definitely had an attitude last night in my little corner of the world. Not only was it the hottest day of the year for us, but during what should have been a "run of the mill" early evening thunderstorm, there was what the paper termed a "micro-burst" of wind (not a tornado because nothing was in a circular pattern). Basically a pocket of 80 mile an hour wind burst through my neighborhood, uprooting trees on almost every street and knocking out power.

Of course with the kids, we tried to bill this as a "great adventure." David, the little "worrier" of our family was very concerned about another storm coming, but I tried to calm his fears as much as possible. We moved a mattress and a sleeping bag downstairs to our living room where it was about 5 degrees cooler than upstairs. Then, we went out driving to try to get our adrenaline laden boys to fall asleep. They finally conked out a little before 10 pm. We carried them in from the car and put them to bed, before getting ready for the night ourselves. Of course, it was warm and uncomfortable and we really didn't get much sleep, but in that middle of the night, I was amazed by the quiet.

There was no hum of a fan or air conditioner. Our windows were open and I could hear the crickets and there was beauty in that. The moon was shining bright and had no competition from streetlights or the blue flicker of television screens or computers. We are so used to all the noise that surrounds us and it was so nice for just a little while to have that peace and quiet.

Of course, I was also very happy this morning when the power came back on. Tonight we are looking forward to a good night sleep in our air conditioned room. We were lucky. Many people around us still don't have power. But while I am reveling in being back to my usual routine, part of me misses the quiet I got to appreciate last night.

Book Review: The Foxhole Angel

It is always so nice to be surprised by a book. I spent the past three days reading "The Foxhole Angel" by J.D. Kamps. When I first got it, I wasn't sure what to expect by this military drama set in World War II. But I really enjoyed it. Read the full review here: http://www.spiritualwoman.net/Books/FoxholeAngel.html