Sweetness and Light

The Look of Wonder

In honor of Sean-Paul's 3rd birthday this Sunday, I thought it fitting to re-post this delightful and captivating moment I shared from his early years.  It's hard to believe that he's already three and that we seem to be crossing the threshold away from baby-hood, but he is becoming such a creative and imaginative little boy, not to mention the fact that he is a treasure and is gracing our lives with more than we can imagine as a little child of God.  May God bless many more of your days and Happiest Birthday wishes to you sweet boy, we love you more than words can say!!  St. Gabriel the Messenger, Pray for Us!

From July 2006: 

We had the pleasure of going to the butterfly exhibit with Daddy the other day, and this precious picture was taken as a butterfly landed on Sean-Paul's hat while simultaneously one had landed on a nearby bush and he was mesmerized by it, as well as the hundreds that were fluttering everywhere!!

He is now 15 months old and I'm so yearning for another pregnancy. Not because my baby is growing up fast as he is still such a wee one. Mainly because I'd like so much to give him the gift of being a big brother. This post is not about having babies, however, it's about that special look of wonder that just melts my heart whenever it comes across my little one's face!

It's like a little snapshot into his soul and how there's something so revealing of his wonder and glory of being part of God's creation.

It's a blessed moment in a mother's life as well to be able to catch these awe inspired gazes on film! For me it can be such a sweet moment of realizing how much love I have for each one of my children to see themselves in such a state of awe, and a true window into the human pshyche. (Don't worry, I won't go Freud on you here, I just think it's pretty darn sweet!)

With four children it can be tricky sometimes to slow down enough to capture these awe-filled moments and to ponder at each child when they are studying something so carefully.

I revel when I can see that they will pause in wonderment at even the simplest things, for in nature nothing really is simple, as it is from God Himself.

I am not fortunate to catch all these "moments" on film, even with the digital age of technology we are in right now, but my heart is locking them all away, for another day.

That precious look of wonder must be what Our Blessed Mother pondered in her heart on the day her Son was born and so many moments throughout his earthly life.

I hope you are able to find some moments in your day to capture those looks of wonder in your precious children and to celebrate their uniqueness and pleasure in our Creator and His Creation.

MayGod bless you in your day!

The Many Facets of Motherhood: Yearning for Divine Grace

Divine Grace.  That what I yearn for...

How much easier would my job and vocation of motherhood be if only I truly posessed Divine Grace.

Our Lady is known as Mother of Divine Grace, and she yearns to bestow her true grace upon us if only we can deepen our understanding of her latitude with her Son, her intercessory power, her unending ability to seek out mercy for us.

I think of all the times when I say:  "If only I had done this or that."
If only I had loved more.
If only I had listened more clearly.
If only I had asked for help more often.

The list of "If only's" could go on for a lifetime, but instead I will beg for the grace of Our Lady and her Son and I will sit and wait.  I will wait in joyful hope for the coming of my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What more could I ask for???  I will sit and I will wait and I will yearn...

Each time a rosary is uttered through prayerful lips, each time a Divine Mercy chaplet is sung, and with each Lord's prayer, I am still awaiting the joyful and grace-filled arrival of Our Lord through His Mother.  His true and pure Mother of Divine Grace! 

What was it like for the Israelites to wait all those years?  Through all the Prophets and their descendents.

What was it like for Our Lady to wait for her divine Son, and then to wait for him to be crucified in front of so many people filled with hate?  If only they'd asked for her Divine Graces, would things have been different? 

No.  It was all part of God's plan, to bring His only Son into this world, through the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to get us to wait for Him, to beg for His mercy and to know and desire Him as the Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Just like it's part of his plan for us to turn to His Mother and beg for her assistance at times when we think we're doing OK. 

The yearning has always been there, and it will also continue throughout my lifetime I am sure, but I am also assured that I will not be alone, I'll have Divine Grace on my side.  And I Thank God for that!

Lent is upon us as of next Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, where we will return to the dirt and the dust from which we were created. 

I will keep my candles lit and burning through the darkness and I will await Our Lord in his everlasting Glory.

I am hoping that with the help of Our Lady and her Divine grace that I just may be worthy of Our Savior and his undying love come Easter Sunday!

"Skirting" the Truth: A Feminine Issue

After much reading and "listening" to Helen at Castle of the Immaculate and the 4real forum, I decided to try an experiment and have worn only skirts and an appropriate top since this past Trinity Sunday. I know, I know, it's nothing revolutionary or earth shattering about that in particular, but for me it has been a rather enlightening experience :).

A few things I learned about myself during this week of skirt wearing:

1) I can do all housework and play with the kids in a skirt, it actually doesn't get in my way, which was a reason I thought I might not enjoy the skirt.

2) I behave a little differently as my attitude seems less harsh when an annoyance comes up with the dc or my dh.

3) I find myself thinking in a more feminine fashion, ie. I like the way the skirt feels, it's so comfortable, it's cooler than shorts believe it or not, I'm inclined to be more gentle with my kids and love it when they get into the folds and hang on, so sweet to me :)

4) My dh loves it and has complemented me more this week than he has when I just throw something on for the day.

5) The big kicker: I have found myself thinking more about Our Lord and His Blessed Mother and wanting to emulate their LOVE and KINDNESS.

Don't know if it's the skirts or just a turning point in my spirituality, but I certainly will consider wearing skirts/dresses as a regular part of my dress as a way to consider a more modest and feminine way of thinking.

Another bonus and worthy of noting: my dd 10, sweet Violet has jumped on my skirt/dress band wagon along with me and has decided her shorts/skorts just really aren't all that lady like :) We have also had some very lovely discussions about being a lady and lady like behavior :)

If you are at all considering changing your perspective, try a week in a skirt (or dresses) and just see what happens, is it a hinderance or a help?? Is it a blessing or a curse? Please take some time to read the beautiful entries at Helen's lovely and spiritually fullfilling Castle of the Immaculate, it may be just what you need!!

Thanks for checking in on my experiment notes here, may God Bless you in your day!!

Grateful for Motherhood

Don't miss this beautiful post at Babylove about motherhood and being grateful, it echoes my own heart, but that I don't have time to elaborate on amongst the boxes, Enjoy!! I am grateful for friends like Rebecca to bring it all into perspective :-)!

"Education is an Atmosphere"

About 3 years ago I read Real Learning, by Elizabeth Foss. I had been searching for a "title" to my home schooling philosophy that was evolving out of being a "new" home schooler to a "more confident" one, and her book "hit the nail right on the head," so to speak!  I read it as fast as I could and literally couldn't put it down until I had sucked every word off the page and savored it!  Elizabeth spoke to my heart as a Catholic mom trying to fit a Charlotte Mason style of teaching into our circumstances (with "boxed" curriculum mind you) and it was like an epiphany! All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you to Mrs. Foss, as her ideals and explanations of how Charlotte Mason fit into her family were similar to mine!  Not that my family would suddenly "morph" into hers and I would be teaching as "her," just that her concept/method/definition if you will, of us in a "real" sense was what I had been yearning for and for whatever reason (my own maturity perhaps) I finally got a green light to do just that! 

So when people ask, "What program do you use?"  I casually reply that we're a Catholic home schooling family and I design our curriculum based on the learning needs of each child and it looks different every year.  At this point most people don't ask anymore questions unless they are genuinely interested in what we do.  Maybe a new home school mom will want more information-but mostly they just want to see what we use and want to copy it.  So here's my caveat--you can't--because Real Learning within our family will be vastly different than it will be for your family. 

My experience here isn't new found knowledge in the fact that there are as many ways to home educate than there are to "skin a cat," it's just that to be able to take what you have in your own unique family situation and create the atmosphere for real learning to me is a real blessing!  For us this becomes a reality within the framework of a Charlotte Mason philosophy.  Charlotte Mason was a woman who could potentially carry alot of clout in our institutionalized schools today if she were given the opportunity, and what an advantage children in America would have if they were taught with her philosophies.

For us the "atmosphere of education" in a real learning sense means that I have to constantly be in tune to the needs, desires, wants, and drives of my dear children.  What would they most benefit from right now in their learning experiences?  But it also gives me the freedom to go with them on their learning journey, much like a travel guide, and not keep them "boxed" in, pardon the pun!  We have permission to learn a thing to our hearts content and then move on, or to keep re-visiting a subject or a theme time and again, because they will be continually learning from that experience.

For us the educational atmosphere is a Real Learning one and by virtue of that we have our "discipline and our life."  If you would like to experience Real Learning in your home school, please visit this site for more information.  If you would like more information on the Charlotte Mason philosophy I can whole-heartedly recommend these sources as a place to start.  I hope you will enjoy some real learning in your school soon!

My Shining Stars

Our winter skies have been beautifully clear and picturesque lately.  I have often marveled at how much brighter the stars are and how much closer we seem to them living away from the city.  The moon seems closer and brighter as well and when it illuminates the snow covered ground, it might as well be daytime at midnight.  This is a unique quality to winter ( at least were we live) and I wonder at it every year.

In motherhood, as in the seasons, and with the birth of each new baby, I can't help but liken them to the brilliancy of stars.  Just like gazing at the stars in different seasons, each of my children has their own uniqueness and qualities of brightness that reflects their light in different ways and at different times throughout the year.

In Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study she has a lovely section on "The Skies" and particularly, seasonal breakdowns for star gazing.  In the winter section, she points out that "Sirius is the most brilliant of all the stars in our skies, glinting with ever-changing colors, sometimes blue, at others rosy or white."  She goes on to say that it must have been this star that Browning wrote:

All that I know

Of a certain star

Is, it can throw

(Like the angled spar)

Now a dart of red,

Now a dart of blue.

She notes that Sirius has reached the blue-white stage, and although it is larger than our sun, and gives off twenty-six times as much light as our sun, it's superior brilliancy is due to it's nearness to us. 

This is how I feel about my children! 

Much like the star Sirius, my children's brilliant light depends alot on their nearness to me.  If I am engaging and open in the way that I interact with them and as a family together, our light shines brightly for all to see, and each individual star can emulate it's special uniqueness and qualities to the other to enhance that familial brightness.  My role as mother has a brightness all it's own and I find that the nearer I allow myself to be with my children, the more brightly they shine, this is also the case with my dh.   

      Comstock concludes, Sirius is the most celebrated star in literature.  The ancients knew it, the Egyptians worshipped it, Homer sang of it, and it has had its place in the poetry of all the ages. 

I like to think of my shining stars in this way!  If I am able to help my children and allow them their brilliancy in their own time and space then we can celebrate their uniqueness and special qualities like a shining star "for all ages." 

For me this is all part of the Sweetness and Light.      

Priorities

I planned on writing something profound and meaningful today, but I'm a bit bleary-eyed from lack of sleep.  I can assure you that nothing can bring a mother to her knees faster than a baby up all night with a fever and a virus.  This got me thinking about how all the priorities I had for the day are basically out the window, as I have a very unhappy "velcro-baby". 

So upon further reflection, I thought about my heavenly mother Mary and I pondered a bit on her priorities of the day, specifically the Annunciation.  What if she had decided to blow off the angel Gabriel and say she was too tired to deal with it right now?? Hmm.  Kind of hits you right between the eyes.

Well, I've got MY priorities set for today, and plenty of tylenol and coffee to boot!

I thank God for my vocation of motherhood and all my babies, even when they are sick. +JMJ+