I need one of these at home...

Nothing like a pillory to keep a kid in timeout.

The First Snow

This morning, we woke up to a surprise! Everything was covered in snow! The kids couldn't wait to get out into it, so shortly after breakfast they threw on whatever they could find and had some fun out on the balcony!

Thoughts on St. Therese and Washing Dishes

I really dislike washing dishes. There are no worse household chores than those involving the kitchen. Unfortunately, this also happens to be the one chore that must be dome everyday, several times a day. The consequences of neglecting kitchen duty are unmentionable. I often dream of buying less food in order to make room in the budget for disposable paper products. Sadly my “green” conscience won’t let me produce that much waste, even for the benefit of not having to wash dishes.

Another option I’ve considered dates back to colonial times. In those days dishes and utensils were rather scarce. Since there were no Walmarts or Williams-Sonomas in the wild forests of Virginia, the colonists had to make their own eating devices. Just one of their methods involved carving indentations in the tables where the food could be set. When everyone finished eating the table was wiped clean and that was that. NO DISHES TO WASH! The problem is, I’m pretty sure my black pressed particle board table would not be very pretty with sawdust colored grooves carved into it. I don’t imagine it would clean up well either, not to mention the fact that my family would think I’d gone nuts! Other colonists would carve a trencher out of a small log (a sort of rectangular shaped bowl) and then the family would take turns eating out of it. Voila- only one dish to wash! Of course, I would still have to wash it between each eater- no one wants to eat out of a dirty trencher- so scrap that idea. No good. I guess my only recourse is just to wash the darn dishes.

A few months ago I read St. Therese of Lisieux’s autobiography, The Story of a Soul, for the first time. I am kicking myself for not reading it earlier- like when I was a teenager! I connected with her on so many levels, but the idea that struck me most was her “Little Way.” God is everywhere- even in the ordinary, simple details of life. Like washing dishes. God has given each of us a task- our daily duty- and we glorify God by doing that to the best of our ability every single day. Every task can be a prayer offered to God. She said, “What matters in life is not great deeds, but great love.” The smallest action done with love can be more important than any great deeds a person does for personal glory.

When I was younger I had big plans. I was not going to be at home washing dishes. I was going to be out in the world making a difference. I imagined myself as a type of lay Mother Theresa, feeding and educating the poor in developing countries. It was a dream I had since I was a small girl and it was hard to let go. But God had other plans for me. I was dreaming too big. He still wanted me to dream big, but in a “Little Way.”

“Our Lord has deigned to explain this mystery to me. He showed me the book of nature, and I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lesson the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtide beauty, and the fields would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues.And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord’s living garden. He has been pleased to create great Saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose, but He has also created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets flowering at His Feet, and whose mission it is to gladden His Divine Eyes when He deigns to look down on them. And the more gladly they do His Will the greater is their perfection.

I understood this also, that God’s Love is made manifest as well in a simple soul which does not resist His grace as in one more highly endowed. In fact, the characteristic of love being self-abasement, if all souls resembled the holy Doctors who have illuminated the Church, it seems that God in coming to them would not stoop low enough. But He has created the little child, who knows nothing and can but utter feeble cries, and the poor savage who has only the natural law to guide him, and it is to their hearts that He deigns to stoop. These are the field flowers whose simplicity charms Him; and by His condescension to them Our Saviour shows His infinite greatness. As the sun shines both on the cedar and on the floweret, so the Divine Sun illumines every soul, great and small, and all correspond to His care–just as in nature the seasons are so disposed that on the appointed day the humblest daisy shall unfold its petals.” (St. Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul)

My great works are being done at home, for my family and those around me in my own community. My role for now is to be a wife and mother- the best I can be. I can teach my children about compassion and generosity and love. I can teach the importance of doing God’s will everyday, even when it involves only wiping countertops and cleaning the same dirty dishes everyday, three times per day. I still abhor dish washing. But I can wash them with love for my family and for God and know I am doing exactly what He wants me to be doing.

Caterpiller

We saw a woolly bear caterpillar on a recent walk, which inspired Ben to recite a poem he learned recently (provided I tape it, of course).

Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti

Brown and furry,
Caterpillar in a hurry.
Take your walk
To a shady leaf, or stalk.

May no toad spy you.
May the little birds pass by you.
Spin and die-
To live again a butterfly.

Soccer- Emanuel

Emanuel's first ever soccer season just ended. The beginning was not promising... after only 15 minutes he was ready to go home. That was enough teamwork and listening to the coach for one day. A promise of a treat at the end was the only thing that kept him going for the whole 45 minutes!

  As time wore on and he had a few more practices, he was willing to play for the entire time. They played many games to learn ball handling, such as red light-green light, simon says and many others. Watching three-year-olds play soccer for the first time is alwasy entertaining! When they were finally set up into small teams to play a game, Emanuel got the soccer ball, dribbled all the way over to the next field, and scored a goal! His teammates ran behind him, and not one of them realized they were no longer on their own field! Emanuel is very, very proud that he scored a goal.

 

The only thing better than soccer with friends is treats.

Small Successes!

Small Successes! A wonderful way to focus on the positive and celebrate the little things that add up.

1. I finally started packing for our move in a few days. Better late than never!

2. I have done the dishes myself every day for the last 3 days. I HATE doing dishes and usually try to leave them until Tito does them. 

3. I washed the mini-blinds, the ceiling fans and cleaned out the oven. 3 less things to do on move out day!

So, what are your small (or big!) successes this week?

Faith is an Action Word

"Faith is the assurance of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith." CCC 143

In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace: "Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace." (St. Thomas Aquinas) CCC 155

Faith and obedience cannot be separated.

Nature Study

So, I've learned a lot in our first few weeks of "officially" homeschooling. We've scrapped the curriculum I bought (oh, they'll still use it, just not this year!) and have been doing a lot more hands on things. I've found that the "sit still" subjects (like phonics and religion) are best done in the car or at bedtime. They'll do anything to stay up a few minutes later! While Ben is feeling very proud of his reading accomplishments, thinks math is really fun, likes religion and enjoys his history projects, science is by far his favorite subject.

Since the weather is so great at this time of year, we've been doing nature study. We started (on Saturday) doing The Outdoor Hour Challenge from this blog and though we've only done challenge #1 so far, they loved it. We take short nature walks while talking about whatever catches their eye. The sounds of grasshoppers, tree roots sticking up from under the ground, an owl hooting at dusk. On our most recent walk (Monday) they studied milkweed. Emanuel discovered that the milky substance leaking from the pod made his hands smell like "cheesy milk" and Ben opened his to find flat brown seeds with long silky white hairs- that stuck to us because of the sticky milk substance on our fingers.

We also like to talk about the trees we see. They like oak trees a lot, mostly because of the acorns. We have a large acorn collection! So after Saturday's walk they drew pictures of oaks trees, their seeds and leaves in their science notebooks. They also collected some leaves to "make projects with," and are looking forward to seeing what color the oak leaves will change into as fall progresses. 

On Saturday, we took our nature walk at Fontenelle Forest. We walked down a few of the the trails, looking at the aforementioned oaks, ant colonies, fungus (they were really impressed by all the different fungus that grows on trees), and a leaf covered in little trails of slime, which my youngest sister Julie assured me was "glow-worm goo."   The trail we chose led us to the Missouri River, with which Ben, Emanuel and Julie were all very impressed. Julie made sure I took many pictures, because "everyone will want to see this!" Ben, who is very interested in Lewis and Clark, immediately cried, "Mom! This is it! This is Lewis and Clark's river! I can't believe we're actually here!" (He takes after me in a few areas, I think.) Then he proceeded to tell everyone around us about L&C and their great expedition. Emanuel climbed onto some rocks jutting from the bank and tried to stick his shoes in the water.
Both of the nature walks we've taken since beginning this nature study have been so much fun, and we can't wait for more!

Ben and Julie by the Missouri River.

Isabel chewing a seashell. That's what they're for, right?

Emanuel's favorite part: playing with blocks in Acorn Acres.

Busy Summer

Happy 1st Birthday Isabel!

Isabel turned 1 on September 17! Today was her birthday party, with all of her grandparents, aunts and uncles.
She was a little bewildered by the singing, but LOVED her first taste of cake!
Happy birthday, Isabel!