Back to School Sunday Tea

We had a "back-to-school Sunday tea" for the third year in a row and that is SOMETHING. It was exciting for everyone, except for Rosie, who woke up when it was almost finished. She's not going to school anyway, except walking and talking and being cute school. ;) 

It's funny because everyone is switching from school to homeschool and we have decided not to homeschool and Adelaide is going to first grade this year. (this was decided before Covid, by the way)

I got this idea for a "back-to-school feast" from the one and only Nie Nie (nieniedialogues.com). We do a much simpler version which included an attempt at Smores Brownies today (no one complained, but I will just make regular brownies next time) and cold tea. We have crowns a la Nie Nie, but that's about it. 

I also include a "team building" challenge, inspired by Rosa Pich, in which the others suggest a habit for each member of the family to work on. For example, we suggested Davy make his bed in the morning and I pracice piano at night. I printed out a little chart where each person draws a symbol in a box and tries to keep it up for 50 days. 

Here they are with their german "schultutes". (I got this idea from Jessica at Shower of Roses). Cone-shaped present filled with school supplies. Were they disappointed all I was able to get them was a snickers bar and a rosary each? Poor kids, not at all! A huge, empty schultute! 

I was able to print out these same "favorites chart" pictures from the last two years! It was fun to look at them. And below are the "Smore brownies" which probably will not be on the repeat menu. 

Now that Adelaide is going to first grade, it is even more important to me to maintain and create family culture, traditions, identity and quality time. She is so excited about her first day. Davy and I will sure miss her. 

Isolation Opportunity for Creating a Richer Family Culture Idea #25: Invest in Sunday

So if it weren't for this isolation thing, we wouldn't have tried to make our Sundays more special by dressing up (besides the extra activities we have) .
I am now trying to put on makeup and wear a skirt or a dress on Sundays. Every Saturday night I offer to put Adelaide's hair in rag curls. Have you tried them before? Super easy. Use on damp hair with some gel in it. I have strips cut our if old shorts I've been using for years.

PS I'm planning on continuing this "isolation" series until the end of May. 

Master list here: https://martajuliemaria.blogspot.com/p/isolation-reflections-and-ideas.html?m=1

Isolation Opportunity for Creating a Richer Family Culture Idea #9: Sunday poetry teatime

We started irregularly having poetry teatimes on Sundays about a year and a half ago. I still remember the first time our oldest was four and Davy was two and my husband did not think it was a good idea: you're going to serve a hot beverage in a breakable teacup, the nicest ones we have? But one poetry teatime later and he was convinced. They were so good. (For about ten minutes of course) They were so careful with the delicate china. They felt so important. 

I got the idea from a mix of three sources: a post from Auntie Leila about a mother whose kids were grown up and what she thought had been most worthwhile in their education was memorizing a poem a week and reciting it for the family once a week, Sally Clarkson describing their family tradition of "Sunday tea" where they reserve time on Sunday afternoon to be together just parents and children without other social engagements, and finally all the homeschooling Instagrams with poetry teatimes. 

The idea is to bake something nice (today was mocha walnut torte from Jeanne Lemlin's cookbook "Simply Satisfying") or just open a bag of store bought cookies. Serve tea or hot chocolate in the winter in fancy cups. Each family member gets up, recites a poem and takes a bow. We pick one to memorize for the next week. 

This is something we have been trying to be more consistent about during this time. 

Master list here: https://martajuliemaria.blogspot.com/p/isolation-reflections-and-ideas.html?m=1

On being run-of-the-mill

We try to listen to the Bible Geek every Sunday. He's great. Last Sunday he talked about how he was running up a hill, exercising that is, and passed a younger guy, which made him feel good about himself. Then a fifty or sixty-year-old lady whizzed by him and he felt it was God gently nudging him to be more humble.

That is totally reflecting my week. I have no idea what I'm doing. In life. I had a chance to re-do a presentation I did before Davy was born for that association it says I volunteer for on my sidebar. The first time around, I thought I was going to be PHENOMENAL... considering how my unique talent set and experience was perfect for the task at hand. But, my friends, I never fell so flat on my face in my life. I thought I would be able to just speak freely, improvising as I usually do, but when I got two or three sentences out I froze. I had nothing else left to say. It's terribly embarrassing to freeze in front of a group of people, even if it's a small group.

I re-did the presentation this week and it was better, but again only OK. And I realize that's ok! As long as I do my best and try to courageously do God's will in small things, I'm not supposed to be phenomenal. But yikes, it's tough being run-of-the-mill.

Same goes for parenting struggles this week. Davy is being a great baby and has started eating solids (yay!) (see pic above, eating a cooked carrot), but I still can't figure out how to meet his eating and sleeping needs. He always seems hungry or tired or just cranky for some unknown reason. I used to think I was a phenomenal mom when Adelaide was a baby. Now I'm thinking she was just a phenomenal baby (?). And I have no clue.   

"Calm yourself, O Father. Don't pay any attention to these vain and useless fears. Fill the emptiness of your heart with an ardent love for Jesus. Humble yourself always beneath the powerful hand of God, always accepting the tribulations that he sends us with serentiy of spirit and humility of heart, so that when he comes to visit us he will exalt us by giving us his grace. Cast all your cares onto him, because he cares for us more than a mother cares for her baby."
- Inspiration From the Letters of Padre Pio: Words of Light, n. 303

I love that smile...

As NieNie is always talking about, I too like to build up family traditions that bring us together and make us happy. NieNie does things like watch Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow and eat pumpkin soup every October 1st with her husband and kids. Or make special birthday pancakes and party hats every time it's someone's birthday.

We are a very "young" family, but I'm always trying to build up traditions of our own. I haven't been successful with family night yet (there will be future attempts!), but my husband and I look forward to our Saturday date night all week. Lately we've just been renting movies at home, but it's still fun.

Making pancakes Sunday morning has also become routine. Not only do we all love eating them, and it's something warm and comforting, but that also means we don't have to buy bread at the bakery on Sundays (and give other people work when it should be their day of rest, too). Last Sunday we started our Sunday "hikes" up again. Even if it's just half an hour, seeing all the green trees and hearing the birds chirp is really, really good for the soul. Having these little moments of pleasure and fun, especially together, helps to endure the harder things we're called to do, and not feel drowned out by all the human misery we are called to shoulder.

Three at the pool

We've started a new family tradition of swimming on Sunday mornings when we can. My swimmer husband is my coach. We are trying to prepare. He keeps saying, "come on, keep going.... labor will be 24 hours!" Scary. 

I am excited about how in a short while I can walk around in the kiddie pool (behind me) with our baby. I think baby swimsuits are the cutest ever. 

Stained glass

The light was hitting the stained glass at our parish at great angles last Sunday. I love stained glass and I love watching the light illuminate different parts of it. My childhood parish also had a lot of stained glass. 

I have called you friends

This week's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday podcast:

http://lifeteen.com/sunday-sunday-sunday-051312/

• The saying goes that God puts certain people in your family because that's the only way you'd love them. 
• The Holy Spirit is the life and the breath of the Church. 
• God loves the prostitute on the corner in Rome as much as he loves the Pope in the Vatican. 
• That doesn't mean that we can't let God down, but He loves us perfectly. 
• We don't love other people because of what we get out of the relationship...
• Christ loved the person crucifying Him as much as He loved the apostle at the foot of the cross. 

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"I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father."
Jo 15:15

Happy weekend!

The vine and the branches

This week's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday podcast...

http://lifeteen.com/sunday-sunday-sunday-050612/

... is simple and great!

• It was through his actions that they were going to believe the sincerity of this words. 
• Prayer and the sacraments, the Eucharist, that is our source of life and of water. That's how the branch stays connected to the vine. 

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The good shepherd who lays down his life...

This week's podcast: http://lifeteen.com/sunday-sunday-sunday-042912/

and readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/042912.cfm

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My favorite thoughts: 

• He chose to be sacrificed on our behalf... and that distinction is really, really important. He talks about that this week in John. [as the good shepherd]
• The mass at its most basic level is a sacrifice, and that sacrifice is active. 
• Your very lives bear witness to whether or not Jesus is your cornerstone. Whether or not sacrifice is the way you live, service is the way you live. [...] And when you choose Christ and you choose to sacrifice with your own life, you choose others. And my brothers and my sisters, that's what we call a Church. The world might reject the cornerstone, we're building off of it. 

3rd Sunday of Easter

This week's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday podcast:

http://lifeteen.com/sunday-sunday-sunday-042212/

(This week's readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042212.cfm)

My favorite thoughts from the podcast:

• There's a lot more to learning than just the technique, you have to trust me. 
• A lot of times because we don't have God's divine perspective, that we can't see that certain situations that are happening in our lives right now, that God is allowing to happen because he's trying to grow us, to refine us. Because he intends to use that virtue and that skill later in life. 
• Whatever is happening to us today, God can use it for His glory, whether tomorrow or a few years from now. 
• We were being prepared ahead of time for what happened to Jesus. 
• It says he opened their mind to understand the Scriptures... He was trying to open them to a bigger perspective. 
• By pointing back, He's actually encouraging them to go forward.

Caravaggio, 1901, Source

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

I'm back to listening to my favorite podcast ever...
This week's Sunday reading podcast:

http://lifeteen.com/sunday-sunday-sunday-032512/

My favorite thoughts:

• The more connected you and I are with Christ, ultimately the more we're going to be connected to God the Father and be able to hear his voice.
• The Greeks didn't know Jesus as well, but Phillip and Andrew did. So the Greeks went through people who knew Him well, to get to know Jesus. The same way it's through Christ that we know God the Father.
• We are able to consume Jesus and His blood runs through our veins.
• I will place my law within them... and Jesus Christ is the new law, the new covenant and God's going to put Jesus within us... the Eucharist, the sacraments.
• It's through that intimate relationship with Jesus that we're going to have that intimate relationship with the Father.
• Take time to thank God for all of those people that know Him well that God has put in your life, that have an intimate relationship with Him. And go seek them out, like the Greeks did to Phillip and to Andrew. Find out how they come to know Jesus.

Picture from Lifeteen.com

Rejoice oh favored one

It's the last Sunday of Advent... get ready!!!

http://lifeteen.com/sunday-sunday-sunday-12182011-4th-sunday-in-advent/

My favorite thoughts from this week's podcast:

• Growing up cradle Catholic, I always thought "hail Mary" was like "hey Mary!" or "what's up Mary?" or "high 5 Mary!" I didn't understand that "hail" in the Greek actually means "REJOICE"... Rejoice one oh filled with grace
• God had had this plan for ages, for centuries, He'd even revealed that plan at times, over a course of time, but it was still mysterious until the time came for God to be made manifest... and that's what we're celebrating.
• Who does he reveal his mystery to? To the most humble of prophets, to the saints, to the lowly...
• God, as He reminds us in the first reading, isn't looking for our favors. He's not looking for some favors, "hey, put up some Christmas lights, celebrate my birthday", "hey, put up a tree, celebrate my birthday", "hey, buy some presents, celebrate my birthday"... He's not looking for favors, He's looking for our OBEDIENCE.
• So that we're not doing this for God, as a favor, we're doing it as a reaction, as a response to God's greatness. We're putting up our lights not to show off in the neighborhood, but to respond God's greatness. We're celebrating with our families not to be the best, but to show God's greatness.
• Not celebrating all we do for God, but all He has done and will continue to do for those who love Him.

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Prepare for the person, not the event

Listen to the Sunday podcast about the 2nd Sunday in Advent:

http://lifeteen.com/category/podcasts/sunday-podcast/

My favorite thoughts:

• We should be eager to be without blemish, we should be prepared for that coming. That's what Advent is preparing us to do, to prepare our own hearts, to prepare our own minds for what's going to take place when Jesus comes, not just as a baby, not just when Jesus comes again at the end of time, but when Jesus comes into your life this week.
• They were trying to prepare for an event, John the Baptist was trying to prepare them for a person. How many of us have gotten trapped in this already, during this Advent season, where we've been preparing for the event? Maybe you've been online shopping, maybe you've been looking around, maybe you've been setting up and decorating the house, and certainly none of these things are terrible because they're all part of how we enter into Christ's birthday.
• But if we are more concerned with the event than the person...if we're preparing our houses and our lives for the event when family comes over and we exchange gifts and we do this and that, rather than the person, who's crashing into our presence at that Christmas mass, who's crashing into our presence every single day through the sacraments, through the Word and one another... if we're preparing for the event and not the person we've missed the boat.
• You and I should have an urgent desire for Christ to be within us, among us and King of us once again. We should have an urgency to encounter Jesus everyday in prayer, in reading the readings, in going to the Eucharist. We should have this urgent desire in our hearts for Christ to come back TODAY, for us to be with him forever TODAY. And if that urgency isn't there, that could mean there's sin that we need to reconcile. If it's not there, it's not because of something God's done. It might mean that we really need to make room for prayer again, that we need to eliminate that clutter and prepare more than our homes, but our hearts, for the coming Messiah.
• We should be thankful for John the Baptist and for all those that God sends into our lives, all those holy and heroic men and women, whose lives proclaim the greatness of God, whose lives act like huge arrows pointing to the reality of Jesus Christ. Thank those people in our lives.

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The King and the Shepherd

Whose kingdom are you building: yours or God's?

This week's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday podcast:
http://lifeteen.com/podcasts/sunday-sunday-sunday-11202011-christ-the-king

My favorite quotes:

• Not warnings because He wants to condemn us, but because he wants to save us.
• This Sunday, rather than having a lot of kingly imagery (on the Feast of Christ the King), we have a lot of imagery of shepherds.
• I really encourage you to read the first reading and put emphasis on the "I" phrases.
• The shepherd's role is for the sheep's safety. The shepherd is the one that's going to make sure the sheep don't get left out of the pen, don't get carried off by a wild beast, don't die.
• Our lives proclaim whether we truly know the Shepherd and walk with him.
• What is your motivation to serve and to act? Is it because you want to be seen in a certain way or because you are a loyal subject of the King and you're here to build his kingdom?
• It's either my kingdom come or thy kingdom come. If we really pray and proclaim thy kingdom come, that means my kingdom go. That means it's not about me, it's about God like we hear in the first reading. That means it's not about all the power and authority I can gain, it's about Christ having the power and the authority and me bowing before him, like we hear in the second reading. It's about trusting in him as the shepherd for everything as we proclaim in the psalm.
• Christ is the King, the question is whose kingdom are we building?

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Better NOW than never...

Have you ever arrived late to mass, maybe during the homily and thought, "better late than never"?  Listen to this week's Sunday podcast about READINESS:

http://www.lifeteen.com/podcasts/sunday-sunday-sunday-11062011

Ready thoughts:

• "Better late than never" might pass in a lot of different things in life, but when it comes to our readiness for Christ to come again, when it comes to our salvation, better late than never is a pretty dangerous proposition.
• Now that we're in November, we're going to hear about the last things: about death and judgment, heaven, hell and purgatory... You're going to have a series of Gospels all leading up to Advent with a similar theme of "be prepared, stay awake, be watchful"
• This seems kind of uncharitable... shouldn't the people that have the oil share some? Isn't that what Jesus would have said: share some of the oil with the people that don't, so that your lantern is lit? The answer would be no.



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Being a person of prayer

Do you just run around trying to work miracles?

Or do you listen twice as much as you talk?

Prepare yourself for this week's intimate encounter with God:

http://www.lifeteen.com/podcasts/sunday-sunday-sunday-10232011

My favorite points:

• Jesus had a rhythm of prayer, he was disciplined in prayer. He didn't just run around and work miracles, he didn't just run around and spit on the ground and heal people of blindness, and heal the lame and heal the lepers. He was a person of prayer. To be a man/woman after God's own heart, you have to be a person or prayer.
• It's not enough just to sit around talking about God, you have to talk to God. And once you pray, you have to act.
• God is a theological concept for a lot of people, but when push comes to shove and it actually comes time to pray or to act, a lot of times people don't move.
• The first reading is all justice, mercy, it's the practical, it's the actions that are supposed to follow from this relationship that God had anointed them with in the covenant.
• St. Paul says you can't see Jesus in the flesh right now, but you can see us and we're trying to be imitators of the Lord.
• Prayer is how you love the Lord your God with all your soul and not just with all your mind.
• You probably want to listen twice as much as you talk.
• Only after you pray do you want to act, because only then can you be certain it's God's will and not yours.

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And check out a great resource in Italian: La Domenica con Benedetto XVI

Sunday Sunday Sunday Podcast

Where does power come from?

Listen to this week's Sunday podcast to find out:

http://www.lifeteen.com/podcasts/sunday-sunday-sunday-10162011

My favorite thoughts:

• You can obey authority in an earthly way, but you still have to obey authority in a heavenly way.
• God's natural law is always going to overpower man-made law.
• God is reminding us, authority comes from ME. I am the law, you are just the ones that are supposed to carry out my law.
• God gives power to the people he chooses.
• God is the ultimate authority.
• At the end of the day, there is truth and all truth comes from God.
• Give to God what belongs to God... and that's you.

Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator

Parable of the Feast

Do you put on your Sunday best for God?

Listen to this week's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday Podcast:

http://www.lifeteen.com/podcasts/sunday-sunday-sunday-10092011

Some of my favorite thoughts:

• This is not just a regular invitation to a regular wedding, this is a royal invitation to a royal wedding... It's a validation of your worth, how important you are.
• Okay, this turned very bad very quickly. It was supposed to be this great celebration and all of a sudden it turned into bloodshed because of the way people responded.
• The king desires you to be in attendance with his son... it's a celebration of family. He wants your family to be in relationship and to encounter his family. This is set against the wedding feast and as we know every single mass is a sacrifice but it's also a wedding, it's where heaven and earth collide. There are so many things going on here.
• We know from Revelation that the white garment you wear is an outer garment that is symbolic of your righteous deeds, if you're in a worthy state, if you're in a state of grace, if you're worthy to be there.
• How many of us don't even take the time to wash up through the Sacrament of Reconciliation before we head to mass on Sunday? If we looked at the mass as this royal wedding invitation, this VIP invitation into intimacy with God, couldn't we take more seriously the opportunity to get to confession before mass...?
• Christ's cross makes us worthy, but we still have the opportunity to reject the invitation, to reject putting on our Sunday best... He gives us the invitation in our Baptism, our Confirmation but OUR LIFE is our RSVP.
• Not only does he give us what we want, more than we deserve, but he gives us what we need. He doesn't hold back. But we do.

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Podcast and dating article

Do you know the theology of a grape?

Listen to this week's Sunday podcast to find out:

http://www.lifeteen.com/podcasts/sunday-sunday-sunday-10022011

My favorite thoughts from this podcast:

• You're going to hear a lot about vineyards this week...When you learn about the theology of the grape: what a grape has to go through, in terms of the waiting and the seasons and the longing, there's a huge process. And when you work in a vineyard it's hard work... What ends up happening throughout all these seasons is that you have to be faithful, tenacious, disciplined and you have to wait on the Lord, and the Lord ultimately has a plan, but you have to be willing to wait on it and see it through.
• What more would God have to do for you to trust him with everything?
• It's hard sometimes to trust God for that whole season, because it takes discipline... Even in those hard times, God is still sending people and situations into our life to remind us how much he loves us.
• This is reminding us once again that God gives us everything we need and gives us every opportunity to do what's right, to follow him and to listen to him...
• In this first reading from Isaiah God says, look, I created a vineyard here and I did everything I was supposed to do, but wild grapes came. So now what am I supposed to do? ... I'm going to start over again.... Not because I did anything wrong but because you did.
• What God is telling us this week is: listen, I've given you everything that you need to know me. What more would God need to do for you to trust him completely?

Also, I have a new article that's been posted at VirtuousPla.net about Catholic dating:
http://virtuouspla.net/2011/09/29/10-tips-for-catholic-dating/

It's also linked to here:
http://www.newadvent.org/
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/all-about-angels-ten-tips-for-catholic-dating-mother-of-the-unborn-and-much/

Let me know what you think! :)