Falling on His Grace

I mention quite often how anxious I am to stay home and how much I dislike working. I've been trying to find reasons God may be wanting me to work despite it being on my heart to be home with the boys - and to hopefully have more children. And so I would like to share my new appreciation for my working with you, in the form of a list. 1. My working right now, even part time, is preparing my heart to truly appreciate being home. My desire to be home grows stronger as time continues to march on, and as I continue to work outside the home. I do realize being home with children is not easy, and when I am home full time, I know I will realize more fully just how difficult it can be. Yet, looking back at my working days, remembering just how I longed to be home and to give myself to my children, I will be more grateful and appreciative of the gift of being home - hopefully even on the difficult days. A wonderful priest I recently talked with told me it's like a high school or college...

Are you looking for some good Catholic fiction which celebrates and proclaims the beauty of the Catholic Church? Which teaches and applies the teaching of JPII in his Theology of the Body? Perhaps a book for that preteen to college age girl or the girl who is discerning marriage, or religious life? Or the mother who hopes to better live out her vocation? I ran into a couple wonderful fiction books that do just that and am in the middle of the second one. They are by a Catholic mom of... 8? who lives in Canada. She has a beautiful ministry of teaching courtship over dating, discerning marriage in a respectful, chaste relationship, respecting God's plan for each person. The books, thus far, are primarily about the discernment of the three eldest daughters of a family with eight children. The first is actually about the very eldest daughter, and the second, longer book, follows her as well as the discernment of the second and third daughters. It is FILLED with solid Catholic teachings...

Yesterday marks 7 months until Andy's graduation date! Am I allowed to say it's only 30 weeks? Or is that just showing a little too much how anxious I am to be home with the boys?

To God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to Mary, my Heavenly Mother: My heart, my life, and my soul - my very being - are Yours. Thank You for giving me a Safe Haven in Your arms as I give myself and my life to You. Thank You for giving me the graces to get through this period of my life. Thank You for sending me help when I need it and for periodically filling my soul with joy. Thank You for Your healing touches. Thank You also for the trials I undergo that show me again the necessity of clinging to You. Thank You for all the gifts You have given me, especially in the form of my family and in the promise of Redemption. Mary, thank you for all your petitions to your Son on my behalf. Thank you for being my special, loving Mother. To Andy, my dear spouse: Thank you for all you do, for the hard work you are putting into your studies so that you can be a wonderful provider for our family in seven short months. Thank you for taking seriously my desire to stay home with the children a...

The boys have both been learning about colors at school: Blaise how to spell their names and Isaac which color is which (he's almost got them down - usually - just mixes up yellow and red). So with the beautiful leaves outside, I thought a project was in order. Isaac and I gathered leaves after we came home from preschool (I wish I had thought to bring my camera), and we got to work after Blaise came home. Apparently my iron does not get hot enough to put leaves between waxed paper, so this is what we did: These are the leaves Isaac and I gathered. Blaise working on his. And Isaac on his. Notice we forgot to take off his helmet before coming inside, in our "excitement." The boys showing off their finished projects. Great job boys!!

I am surprised I have only recently heard of Our Lady of All Nations. Mary appeared from 1945 until 1959 in Amsterdam to a single 40-year-old woman named Ida Peerdeman. She appeared to Ida 56 times during those years, giving her messages about the state of the world and events in the then-near future, from 1945 until 1950. The events have occurred. In 1951, she began to give Ida messages for which the apparitions are known. She asked that she no longer be called simply "Mary of Nazareth" but that she becomes known as Mother of all nations. She also asked that a fifth Marian dogma be proclaimed, after which Our Lady of All Nations will give peace, true peace, to the world. This dogma states that Mary is Coredemtrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate. It appears the Vatican has approved this apparition (apparently after a controversy with the wording of the prayer to Our Lady of All Nations), and perhaps 6 million people have signed petitions that the fifth Marian dogma be proclaimed. Th...

I'm interested in learning more about Mary and her visits with us and hope to share that with all who are interested and who find me here. A couple weeks ago, I heard Dr. Mark Miravalle speaking on Relevant Radio about Our Lady of All Nations who appeared in Amsterdam, I believe in the 1950's. I have been intrigued with the appearances of Mary under this title as well as under other titles and want to learn more about her. When looking at Dr. Miravalle's site for more information, I found this: "Anne, a visionary from Ireland, has received permission from her local ordinary, Bishop Leo O'Reilly, for the distribution of messages which she receives from Jesus, God the Father, Our Blessed Mother, the angels and saints (see article, "Discernment of Lay Apostolate of Jesus Christ the Returning King," Marian Private Revelation section). The following messages from Our Blessed Mother are directed to bishops, priests and religious throughout the world. – Ed. ...

Andy and I receive The 101 Times in the mail. It is a Marian newsletter which often contains wonderful articles. The last newsletter contained a couple prayers to the Holy Spirit, one of which I felt very drawn to pray and feel has been a wonderful blessing over the last week, since I started praying it. I will quote the entire section of this article, since the spirit with which it is prayed is as important as the prayer itself: "Cardinal Mercier said: 'I am going to reveal t you the secret of sanctity and happiness. Every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to the things of sense, and your ears to the noises of the world, in order to enter into yourself. Then, in the sanctity of your baptized soul (which is the temple of the Holy Spirit), speak to that Divine Spirit, saying to Him: ' Oh Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do. Give me Your orders. I promise to...

What consolation the Lord has granted to me today! While I was kneeling in church, He filled my heart with so much love and joy and let me know He is truly with me! What a gift to have received such grace! My heart's desire is that, in the midst of life's trials, I may know joy and peace and may be able to gratefully give my suffering to Him to console the Heart that is pained by our sin. Our Lord granted that desire today. May He be praised!! I have been offering my struggles with my thyroid issue, work, and frustration with disobedience of the kids for love, hope, and joy - and true faith - to fill my heart and to fill the hearts of my family and fill our home, that all who enter may know His love and that His love may permeate our family life. I have prayed that He protect us from the devil and all evil spirits that attempt to do us harm and may place His shield around us, and that He fill us with so much love that there is no room for any other influence. Through prayers sp...

Well, not really. I did have a few flowers this summer, but go figure, most of my summer flowers didn't do as well as my fall ones. The fall flowers were all ready to welcome the first frost! They're making the fall more cheery! Mums. My second mum bush has lots of buds but few flowers yet... looks like I'll be getting a second wave sometime! The third bush died this spring and was replaced by a tiny plant that will hopefully grow bigger next year. Late-blooming Clematis. We have mid summer clematis as well, that only produced a handful of flowers this year. We though this particular vine was dead this spring and almost pulled it out, but it turned out to do very well!

This weekend was a challenging one for our family, in light of the boys having difficulty recently with obedience and Mommy not feeling well. Since I have not been doing well for some time and have been getting after them more easily, I thought they deserved an explanation and also an explanation as to how they can help, complete with a lesson and definition of obedience a friend had shared with me Saturday morning. I told them I am sick and have been since childhood, with something that makes me more tired and more stressed than most people get. My doctor and I have been working really hard to make me better, but stress makes me sicker and worse, and makes me yell more easily. Do you want to help me get better? Yes, yes! Ok, this is what you can do to help: be obedient and do what Daddy and I ask you to do without whining. I get more stressed when you don't obey. And do they know what obedience means? No. It means (and I love this part that my friend told me about) you do what we ...

Eight months until Andy graduates! Actually, as of a few days ago, I can change the countdown on the 21st of each month, and so you'll see these posts a week or so earlier. I found out May 21, 2011 is Andy's actual graduation date, with finals done the day before that. It feels good to put a date on the end. Woo hoo! Sept seemed to have gone fairly slowly, with the weeks dragging on more slowly than usual, though it's still funny to think that it's already October. I picked up a book again yesterday about thyroid conditions, which I have not read for a couple years, in hope of finding a chapter that will help Andy to understand how this thyroid and adrenal issue is affecting me and contributing to my mood and reactions. I am grateful that it contained a chapter that did just that. The book is The Thyroid Solution , by R. Arem, MD. I am saying this here because it has a quote which I believe will shed light on why I am doing this countdown and why I am so anxious for A...