Well, I thought I was done yesterday with those photos but they required some additional sorting before I could upload them. They are officially being uploaded as I type. *YIPPEE* for real this time!
We got a bit of snow early this morning so some of the kids and I took shovels in hand and cleared off part of the driveway. We have a really long driveway so we were only able to do parts of it before we 1. got too cold and 2. got too tired. After that we were all ready to go with our school work.
Tonight marks the first basketball practice of the season for Mr 13 yo and Ms 10 yo. It is her first year so we're looking forward to seeing how she does.
Mind:
I am participating in a thing where you email a Bible verse to a person and then add your name to the list so that you'll receive some verses, too. I can't wait to see what my inbox brings.
As I was looking for this one particular verse, I came across another one first. It kind of jumped off the page at me and I'm so glad it did because I really do like this one! It's Philippians 4:4-7
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your
kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at
all but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make
your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all
understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
I think I might just print that out and hang it up somewhere where I can see it all the time.
Spirit:
See above. Not only did that get me thinking, it really did a lot to lift my spirits on this cold, winter day. God is so good to us and if we just follow that still, small voice, He will make sure to guide us when and where we need to be.
You know what else lifted my spirits? This morning I drove past the gas station and realized that gas prices had gone up 14 cents per gallon since yesterday. Since I tend to obsess about gas prices, I am SO GLAD that I followed that small voice that told me to fill up our big van YESTERDAY when it was still $3.05. Little things like that excite me.
Today was a productive day. I followed the forge ahead protocol and got the Scrooge photos all done and ready to upload.
Two of the girls and I then spent the evening watching some lame movie called "Christmas Town" while we wrapped and packaged 5 orders of soap. We are so excited that soap sales have been going so well because that means we're on our way to helping build the St. Gianna Molla Shrine. It's not too late to place an order!
Mind:
Totally fried right now after staying on track for so long today. I keep telling myself that as soon as I get out from under these three big projects I will be able to focus on Advent more. What do you think the odds are that that will actually happen?
Spirit:
I'm sad to say that Mass this morning was about the extent of the spiritual aspect of my day. It was a good Mass, mind you, but for the life of me I can't remember what Father talked about! Oh well, hopefully it is engrained somewhere in my soul :)
I cannot believe that it just took me five hours to do my online Christmas shopping! Talk about exhausting. I guess I'm employing the do-it-till-it-gets-done mentality towards my activities today! Next, on to sort some soap. I did, however, remember to put my chickens in the oven so we would actually have dinner tonight. Quite an accomplishment since I didn't remember until about 3:00.
Mind:
My mind has still been trying to de-stress and stay focused. I think every year I think the same thing about Advent: What does it really mean to focus on Advent and not on all the other distractions? I mean really, if someone has this kind of Advent, the kind that they talk about in books and in homilies on Sunday, could you please outline it for me so that I know what I'm shooting for. I'm totally serious! Spirit: We made it to Mass this morning for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Happy Feast Day! It always makes me sad when they remove the obligation on Holy Days. Is it really that hard to go to Mass two days in a row? Maybe it is for a small number of people, but I think if people really wanted to go, or really saw the value in going, they would be able to do it a few times a year. Adoration tonight! I will pray for all of you and your intentions. God Bless!
This body spent the past two days Christmas shopping with her hubby. Unfortunately yesterday we were not very successful and our time out was cut short, but we braved the snow, yes snow, here in the Midwest, for the first time this season, to go to a bigger mall and get slightly more done. At least this time we were able to get in our Christmas dinner date. We had gotten a gift card to Olive Garden (one of my favorites) and used it tonight on a scrumptious dinner and a yummy piece of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.
Mind:
This mind is stressed. A lot going on here right now that all needs to be done at the same time and it is making my mind feel like it wants to explodes. Yes, Father gave a homily today about weeding out the distractions that keep us from being with the Lord during Advent, but these are things I can't weed out and so I just need to slug through them in some sort of fashion so they all get done soon. Maybe I'll just spend an hour at a time on each task and just keep rotating through them. Which is better? That, or sticking with one until it is done and then moving on to another one?
Spirit:
My spirit needs an Advent replenish. I think it is time to retire to my room and spend some time reading and praying. Maybe tomorrow will bring a renewed spirit and a clear mind. Good night, all!
Happy Feast of St. Nicholas! Happy First Friday! Happy Baptismal Feast Day to Ms 15 yo!
What is on my agenda for this glorious day? Blowing my nose, taking a nap, drinking hot beverages, taking a nap and blowing my nose.
What was supposed to be on my agenda for this glorious day? Grocery shopping, Christmas gift organizing, soap wrapping, dessert planning for this evening. Oh well, it will all get done either by someone else or on a different day.
Mind:
Thinking and feeling bad about how I botched a whole bunch of things yesterday. For example, let's just say that one special kid was missing their candy this morning because somehow I forgot about that one kind. Don't you just hate when that happens??? DH had to do the shopping for me and I emailed him the list but I forgot to write that one down. This is precisely why the tooth fairy stopped visiting here a long time ago, because I blew it so many times and felt so horrible about it that it was easier to just hand them the money when the tooth fell out :) Fortunately for me everyone was good with it. Don't worry, though, St. Nicholas will be back next year in top form!
Spirit:
On top of the three things I listed at the beginning of this post, the Mass this morning was for my father-in-law. I felt bad missing it but I just couldn't get myself moving that early today. Fortunately most of the kids made it, so while I might not have been there in body with the rest of them, I was there in spirit.
My nose has rebelled and is causing me quite a bit of bother today. Seems I finally caught the head cold that some of the others around here have had already. I was really hoping to avoid it, but alas, that seems not to be the case. I am grateful that it is only a head cold as I've heard many others complaining of much worse! Looks like it's an afternoon on the couch with my Kleenex box and my Scrooge photos.
Mind:
This:
This awesome song is what has been going through my mind for the past three days. One of the dances (yes, our director/playwright puts dances in her productions. It actually makes for a very nice viewing experience; instead of a musical, it's a dancical) from Scrooge, done by a very talented young lady who played the ghost of Christmas future, did a dance to this song.
Also this:
the new episode of Hope's Cafe. This was a funny one.
Spirit:
Today both my spirit and my flesh are weak! We did make it to Mass this morning and Father asked us to think about what type of foundation we are building our spiritual house on. Will our foundation fall apart at the first sign of adversity? If so, it is not built on Jesus Christ.
Praying for some family members who have recently had surgeries as well as many prayer requests that have come through the mom facebook groups I'm a part of. Always a lot to offer up our sufferings for!
Today I finally got a chance to exercise again. It seems I do okay for a few weeks then get interrupted for a month. I started out easy but it felt good to get this old body moving again. Now, I am tucked up by the fire, with the gloomy weather outside, getting ready to start sifting through the 3,000 (yes really) pictures that I took of "The Conversion of Scrooge" this past weekend. Fortunately there are a lot of dance shots that I know can be deleted because they are the shots that are building up to the "perfect position" shot. It will, however, be a very time consuming task.
Mind:
School this morning consisted of math, though not too many problems today, and a good lesson on the many wars that have been fought because of religious reasons.
I'm also thinking about how best to tackle the sorting of these pictures as well as how I am going to get them done, continue to work on Christmas shopping and keep up with everything else - all in a timely fashion.
Spirit:
Today at Mass Father pointed out that the first Advent ended with the birth of Christ and we are currently living the second Advent, waiting patiently (or maybe even impatiently?) for the Second Coming. I hadn't ever really thought of it that way(or at least I didn't remember ever thinking about it that way!) and I like looking at it in that global fashion. All of the Advents since Christ was born are in anticipation of His coming again. Let us continue to pray out in a loud voice, "Come Lord Jesus, Come!".
