My favorite links for FEBRUARY...

Here is LovetoLearn's Calendar of Resources -- excellent. I love this mom's approach to the months of the year; she has everything, so go over here for a visit to all the possibilities this cold-hands-warm-heart month has in store for us all. Go over here for what I have found is the best overview of the month for the liturgy. This is a very odd juxtaposition of material, but here goes: I love this book and this other, very odd-ball, yet entirely reverent, book to gleen seasonal and liturgical material for our domestic churches.

Look at this Webinar...

I am going to sign up for this Webinar, "Teaching Math and Science with Real Books," as I am passionate about the topic and hope for some good resources.

Timely quote from St. Francis de Sales

I, for one, am very attached to this "pretty planet spinning in space" (a lyric from a song M used to sing when she was at our parish preschool), so it is a constant battle for me to pray and fast as I ought. Of course, it is a form of praise to our Creator to see the beauty of creation in and around us. At the same time, our God, who is all good, wants us to know that we are just pilgrims passing through. We are, as Walker Percy wrote, trying to make sense of it all by decoding what he calls "signposts in a strange land." I guess the point is that the more we strive to live for Heaven, then the stranger this world appears. We ought to be outcasts of sorts if we take the Gospel counsels seriously. Serious evangelists still find time to laugh and play, but ideally, are ready to turn on a dime, ready to drop their nets and follow Him, even when it is most inconvenient. So, since I signed up for Facebook, I have not checked in with my fellow Catholic mom bloggers. Not long ago, I was over here and found this link to daily quotes from St. Francis de Sales. It is timely for me so I throw it out hoping it will encourage someone else too:

Self-love dies only when our body dies, so we must, while we
live in this land of exile, continue to counterattack its assaults on
our senses and its underhanded tactics. It is enough if we firmly
withstand, giving no willful or deliberate consent ... When we feel
within ourselves the first movements of self-love or of other passions,
let us prostrate ourselves immediately before the heart of God and tell
Him, in a spirit of confidence and humility, "Lord, have mercy on me
because I am a very weak creature." Then let us tranquilly rest in peace and put ourselves at God's disposal. (Letters 1675; O. XIX, pp. 272-273)

Recent House photos...

Learning to abandon ourselves "into his arms," like Paco...

A Prayer Request
I have been struggling with how to increase my prayers for two dear women, both wives and mothers, who are so ill --one with cancer, the other with MS. Both of these sisters in Christ are also homeschooling moms, and, at different times in our hschooling journey, were such sources of inspiration, strength and faith. I ask the Lord for pardon and peace for myself, and for grace, strength and healing for these dear mothers. I ask Mary's intercession, for her to pray for these families and their friends to be her Son's loving arms, His loving Heart.

Suffering Saves Souls
My husband, children, extended family and many friends went through a health crisis with me, with so many of its attendant hardships and struggles, from 2001-2005. In some ways, we are still feeling the aftershocks. I know in my head that, when our sufferings are offered to our Savior, He, in a mysterious way, allows us to help Him save souls. I also know, more in my heart, that our Lord gave us His Most Blessed Virgin Mother, to buoy us up in our darkest hours. Mary was there for me and my family in a way that I am just beginning to be able to articulate.

Inspiring Story

Yesterday morning, I was glacing at the article below and found a clue as to how we must unite our suffering with the salvation of souls, beginning with the pruning that happens to us personally. My friend Rachel gave me the audiobook on CD of the very popular novel, The Shack, yesterday; and, she was commenting on how the author of this book answers the perennial question most ask who lack faith, "How can God stand by and watch so much evil?" Some even take this further, and ask, "There must be no God for such evil to run rampant; God would stop it, right?"

Here is Paco's story.

Rekindling friendships on Facebook....

I struggle with digital photography. For years, back when we had a VHS-C video camera, I was the family videographer. We have so many good home movies...but, now, I cannot keep up. My friend, Di, is a scrapbooker extraordinaire and very adept with the digital photography too. She posted this photo on FBook (...from our "two-family retreat" to the South Carolina beaches last June...) and, due to the perserverance of my friend, Rach, I logged in to FB this past Thursday. Well, I've been facebooking for so long already this morning that I have to run get dressed....

A poem I wrote...

My Weak Heart

Wanting God more than comfort,
Wanting what our Father in Heaven,
desires in us and
for us...

God's Plan involves our willingness
to completely and utterly deny ourselves,
to look away from what we are looking at
and look at Him, pleading with
Him to kindle the fire of
Divine Love in our pitiful, weak hearts.

God's Baptism

One of the many things my children have "taught" me is that Jesus is God. I do not think a child could ever be a heretic. Many years ago, when my husband and I hung our lovely pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary in our dining room, I pointed up to our Lord, and asked my little son who He was -- his simple reply, "God". Yesterday's Mass celebrated God's Baptism, and we were visitors over at St. Benedicts, where we were blessed to hear what everyone needs to hear, the depth of God's love and mercy. His grace is sufficient to allow us the courage to start every day afresh. Normal life is so saturated with sin and guilt. Supernatural life is not just the opposite of this because it varies according to our willingness to participate in it (if that makes sense). I took this lovely image from EWTN's website.

Chesterton's Brave New Family and the Twilight series

I have been working my way through JPII's Mulieris Dignitatem. Last fall, at one of my Catholic mom discussion/prayers groups, I brought up the force of argument and sheer prophecy of Chesterton's Brave New Family, which I checked out of my parish library when I was pregnant with our Little Man. At the time, I read alot of it, but want to buy it, re-read it, talk and write about it. A Culture of Life exists in this country, even amidst all the decay of our country's moral fabric. That our grandchildren might see more life and light and love is a goal held by many. I think the author of the Twilight series has tapped in to the hope of many people --young and old-- that Americans could uphold the true meaning of love, of committment, of self-restraint, of the life of the soul and of marriage and family. Hope needs to be truly heroic these days. As we encourage our young people to fight for what is right, a Culture of Life will flourish and, one day, reign supreme, as it ought. (Btw, my "jury" is still out on Twilight, until I finish the series, but I think I see where it is going.)

White winter sky here in Georgia...

You can probably tell from my blog background that I'd really like to see some snow, an infrequent guest here in Georgia. I do not think it will happen today, as it is 50 degrees. Still, I find the bare trees, the visible contours of the hills around us, and the general paleness of everything so very lovely. This week I got to see what all the hype is regarding the Wii game, "Guitar Hero". All three of my children love it and play and play and play. Not all the music is good, some is very bad and some of it is very good. The fashion and "decor" are, for the most, perfectly awful, but it all leads to lots of rousing discussion.

You are what you read: Yesterday, as I was poking around the Internet, I found this site, and dream of magazine writing. I used to be very athletic and writing is alot like a sport. The more you work at it, the more supple and skillful you become. Godspy's e-zine is, for me, an excellent example of how pertinent, creative and provoking an online medium can be when it comes to using the Internet to bring on JPII's "new springtime of evangelization". I also really like The American Spectator. I have to go now because I am very absorbed in book number two of the Twilight series. I hope my husband survives it -- I want to bite your nehhck!

Just passing through...

We are pretty sure to have identified a pair of Northern rough-winged swallows in the pale, bare branches of our Dogwood tree. I think they were probably journeying from Canada down farther south. Our woodsy backyard is lovely this time of year. We also watched a red-headed woodpecker work the tree very near our breakfast room bay window. Our Jaybird bounced out of bed this morning asking to read and write. He really likes my idea of assigning a historical period to our regular days (Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays)...he called today's theme: World War II and did excellent copy work. Later today, I'll post on the homeschooling journal, which, quite frankly, I was about to rename "Uncontrolled Fits of Nastiness," due to daughter numero dos's awful behavior of late. She seems to be much recovered after a big talking to...

Bonus for Mom: quiet time at 10 in the morning....

So, what am I doing, but dreaming about this lovely lemon bread. I am also filing away some paperwork and trying to clear the big shelf in the dining room, where most of our homeschooling books, notebooks and workbooks are hanging out. What a mess! We are off to Challenge today and so glad to see everyone, cause lots of teams are meeting at same time, same place -- how good!

I woke up thinking about a watercoloring technique I saw in a catalogue a few weeks ago...more later on that...Go over to the Bonnie Glen for a post full of resources for families wanting to learn Greek and Latin.