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Showing posts from 2017

Mornings

I am most definitely not a morning person. Convincing myself to get out of bed takes prayer. However, once I am awake, morning is one of my favorite times of day. It is a clean slate. I have yet to make any serious mistakes. The air just feels clean and fresh when you breathe it in. God starts with a fresh canvas each morning too. The sky slowly comes to life with colors different than the day before, different from the moment before. I sat with my coffee and my Magnificat this morning in my comfy orange chair, now riddled with claw marks from the kitten who is now mostly a cat. As I glanced away from the page to ponder what I had just read, I saw out the window the most brilliant red horizon. I blinked and the view had changed, yet was just as beautiful. I dashed up the creaky wooden stairs to grab my camera, hoping not to awaken the kids. Stepping into my slippers and stepping out the door in my bathrobe, I attempted to capture a brief moment of the ever-changing canvas before me

ponderings

The first snow of the year is magical. Even for adults who know better. Those first flakes appearing faintly, then falling more steadily until there starts to be a blanket of white over the landscape. Snow can transform the bleakness of leafless trees and gray skies into a wonderland. Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It seems to me that Mary herself laid this blanket of white over the world to remind us what her Son can do. They seem to be gazing longingly at their destination and their destiny   I have been reading "On Pilgrimage" by Dorothy Day for my book club, underlining passages that stand out or give me pause. From my lunchtime perusal, I can across these gems: "What else do we all want, each one of us, except to love and be loved, in our families, in our work, in all our relationships? God is Love." "God sees Christ, His Son, in us and loves us. And so we should see Christ in others, and nothing else , and love the

Back in the Saddle

I woke up one morning and realized that I had let too many things go. The things that matter to me, that make up the rhythm of our days. It is easy in life to get overwhelmed and revert to what I call "survival mode". You take care of the basics of life until life calms down. Then you can take a deep breath, hike up your britches and add those things back to your day. I am starting small. Bread, to be exact.  I had stopped making bread in Germany because, well, let's face it, German bread was better, not to mention fresh baked and cheap, and could be obtained by a quick stroll to the village bakery. Now? I have no excuse for eating bread that doesn't taste good. My mother had a bread machine taking up space in her pantry. So, I brought her machine to my little condo, and started experimenting. I now have a nice white loaf that is delicious. Next up is a honey whole wheat loaf that is not too dry. My goal is to add back one thing at a time, until it is a full lif

Ironic, isn't it?

Picture if you will, a college campus, a boy, a girl.  He, a meat  and potatoes kind of guy. She, a vegetarian. Both studying  music, yet an unlikely match. Nevertheless, they meet, fall in  love, and get married. A quarter of a century passes, seven kids are born, and the next  thing you know, he is stationed in South Korea. One night he is looking for something to watch on Netflix and decides to watch  a documentary, and becomes a vegan. His wife, meanwhile, is now  raising a pack of carnivores back in Tennessee. What will become of these two? Will she learn to how to prepare  vegan meals? Will the kids protest? Only time will tell, though  the protesting children are pretty much a sure bet, based on  tonight's foray into vegan cooking. Stay tuned as the story  unfolds.

Fall Fleeing Fast

The days have been flying by, barely allowing me to appreciate them at all! In one sense, that is a good thing, because it makes this year's separation from Tony go faster. I can't believe we are almost at the halfway mark. On the other hand, after the kids are finally in bed and I can breathe a sigh of exhaustion, I wonder how many times I really, truly looked at them that day.     The kids and I have been looking out the windows of the van all through October and into November at the brilliant fall foliage surrounding us. The mountains almost looked ablaze for a while there with all the reds and oranges of the trees. Then, almost overnight, after one of those windy, rainy kind of nights, the colors were gone. Fall was gone. The dreariness of a long winter stared back at us.     Same trees, one week later As the idea of a long, cold winter sunk in, I happened to notice this pair of deer frequenting our backyard in the mornings. The baby still had its whit

On Finding Peace

There is an unnamed time between summer and fall. It comes and goes as swiftly as the hummingbirds at my feeder, and is just as wonderful to behold. Mornings have a chill to them, fog delicately shrouds the mountain and river, while sun glows a brilliant orange through the still silhouetted trees. The trees are taking off their lovely green summer frocks and blanketing the ground with discarded, decaying leaves, foretelling the approach of fall in full force.   Nature does not fight the changing seasons, unlike me. All the changes in our daily living have left me unsure of my place. During the terribly darkest doubt, I felt I had abandoned all the very things that define my existence. This morning, I stayed for morning circle. There, I witnessed my children participating in a farewell song to one our priests, and peace finally settled upon my heart. I know that God has led my family to this place. This school, this parish are our faith community to lean upon and contribute to for

When it Rains or alternately, God's plan is not always what you expect

Firstly, I am extremely grateful for our safe arrival back in the US. No one threw up before during, or after the flight, which is a vast improvement from our flight to Germany. Our wonderful friends brought us a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the flight! They never made it on the flight since they were all consumed beforehand. Mainly because we had a major delay. Our priest came to see us off as well, which I appreciated ever so much. Less than a week after our arrival, we received the devastating news that a dear friend had died unexpectedly. We hopped into the car we had purchased only days before, and made our way to Virginia. I am so thankful that we were able to attend the funeral Mass. we stayed in the area a few extra days to see Tony's siblings and other dear friends. There have been some glitches getting settled into our new home, and I am trying my darndest to remain positive and trust that God has a plan in mind here. The hugest obstacle to my trust happened

Lasts

Nowadays, I will be doing some task and think, "This is the last time I will do this in Germany." The days are slowly dwindling on our European assignment. We must go back to our home country. The emotions involved are so contradictory that the whole family is struggling. Yesterday, we went to daily Mass (it was the next to last time for that), and after returning home, I was so tired out that I didn't have it in me to do any schooling, and I thought, "Let them just relax and play." They are just as unsettled as their mama apparently, for chaos and arguing quickly filled our echoing, empty house. As soon as dinner was done, we headed for the bowling alley to release some stress. It worked. Tears turned into hugs and laughing (the chocolate chip cookies might have helped too). The previous day we went on a field trip (another 'last') that a friend so graciously set up for our family. We learned how brass instruments are made. Most of us were spellboun

Lent, Legos, Lessons Learned

Lent. It was long, and emotional. Our little world is about to be in some major upheaval as we pack up and make our way back to the states. We must begin to really look at the contents of this house and decide "Is this really necessary? Why are we clinging to these things? Will they be useful in our new house?" I think Lent is a lot like that, but with our souls. What things are hanging out in our souls that are taking up precious space that needs to be for Jesus? How can we clear out a space for Him? What is keeping us from doing so? On Holy Thursday, I was blessed to be able to spend time with Jesus in Adoration after Mass. I tell you, He can really hear your prayers when you are that close to Him, so be careful. What I asked of Him was given to me almost immediately. The question is, will I grow closer to my Lord, or will I let fear grip me and not rise to the challenge? Somewhere along the way, we started a tradition of putting littl

Black Forest Trip

We are nearing the end of our time in Germany. There are ever so many places I would like to visit before returning to the USA, yet we can only see so much in these remaining days. The Black Forest area is nearby, we had yet to visit this part of Germany, and we had to work around Anna's online classes. We picked places that would capture the interest of each of us, found an apartment, and we packed up and started our five day adventure. Sunday : Drove to Strasbourg, France. It was near our destination and we had time before our check-in at the apartment. We found the Notre Dame Cathedral and waited in line to climb 330 steps to the top of the Cathedral. The kids took off at a tremendous pace, and going up a spiraling staircase, I quickly lost sight of them. That was stressful for me, even though I logically knew that they couldn't fall off the building. I admit to being short of breath by the time we reached the top, but what a view of the city! You might be surprised to lea