Loving Lent with Little Ones

          

"I’m participating in the Keeping LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013, hosted by

Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints, Truly Rich Mom and Arma Dei: Equipping Catholic Families. We'll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of a GRUMBLE. Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of link-up entries.”

           When my children were all much younger I had a hard time explaining Lent to them.  Advent was easy.  The children understood very well what it meant to prepare for the coming of a new baby.  But Jesus’ passion and resurrection were mysteries I struggled to put on a toddler/pre-school level.   

            I did my best to explain to them about how our bad choices hurt Jesus.  I read them children’s books that showed His passion, His crucifixion, and His resurrection.   But the whole idea of sacrifice and fasting seemed a little lost on such young children.

            Then I came up with an idea that seemed to help make the Lenten season more accessible to little minds.  I cut out dozens of paper hearts and explained to my family that for the next 40 days during our night time prayers each of us would take a heart and write a good deed on it that we had performed that day.  The idea was to encourage my children to be more loving and to think of others, just as Christ was thinking of us and loving us as He hung on the cross.  

The children’s acts of kindness included things like: “I shared my toys”, “I helped my little sister”, “I gave mommy a kiss”, “I let my friend go first”, “I prayed for our neighbor.”  It was such a simple thing but as Lent progressed that year, my children grew to enjoy being more kind and thoughtful.  They started to understand the idea of giving to others and the value of sacrificing their little wants and desires for those of others.  It gave the children a chance to practice little forms of fasting and almsgiving in addition to our prayers each day.  And, it gave us a way, as a family, to prepare our hearts for Easter and to focus on doing saintly acts, instead of sinful ones.   

We hung our “good deed hearts” on the wall in the kitchen, adding more and more of them each day of Lent.  The growing line of them along the kitchen wall provided a wonderful visual of how love can multiply when we offer kind acts in Jesus’ name.  By Easter, we were literally surrounded by love because our hearts had stretched around the entire room meeting again to make a complete circle.  

Purple for penitence

And red for the blood Jesus shed for us

            The first year with the paper hearts was about seven or eight years ago but we have continued the tradition.  And, though many other Lenten practices have joined it as the children have matured, this one continues to be special and meaningful to us.

Some of our other Lenten traditions include:

·         Attending the Stations of the Cross at Church every Friday evening

·         A family sacrifice- for us it is always desserts

·         Focusing exclusively on the Sorrowful mysteries for our family rosary

·         Participating in the Holy Week services at Church

How have you explained and observed the Lenten season with your little ones?

Check out the Lent reflections participating in the Keep LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013! We'll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of a GRUMBLE. 

Discover new Catholic Blogs to follow!

Equipping CatholicFamilies: Keep LOVE in LENT

Call Her Happy:40 Simple Lenten Activities for Kids

Lenten Love: Little Acts of Love (pending)

Building Rocks (pending)

Grow the Roses: Keep Love in Lent

Family At The Foot Of The Cross: Loving Service (pending)

Catholic Homeschooling Joy: A Lenten Activity

JOY:Keep the Love in Lent

Twenty Tuesday Afternoons: Tuesday # 11: Pancake Tuesday / Keeping Love in Lent

Campfires and Cleats: Why a Failing Lent Really Isn't

Harrington Harmonies: Make a Lenten Holy Hour

A Mommy of Three:Good Deeds for Lent

Loving the Semi Country Life: Lent:special time to reflect and keep the love in lent

Written By the Finger of God: A 7 Step Lenten Plan

Mommy Bares All: Giving Up and Making Space for Love this Lent

The Irish Lassie Shop: Seek God Everywhere

Hand-Maid with Love: Living Lent, Loving Lent (pending)

Words On Heaven: IN THE DESERT FOR 40 DAYS

On The Way Home: Keeping LOVE in Lent

Homeschooling with Joy: Keep Love in Lent

Mountain Grace: Keep Love in Lent

Eyes On Heaven: I am Choosing to Live

Joy Alive in Our Hearts:"God's Love at Work"

Life of Fortunate Chances: Love is Fun: Keeping Love in Lent

Fifth of Five: Keep the LOVE in Lent

I Blog Jesus: for Praying our Loud!

Overflow: Loving Lent with Little Ones

This Cross I Embrace: Keep LOVE In Lent (pending)

Sole Searching Mamma: 15 Ways to Experience a More Meaningful Lent

Catholic All Year: My Biggest Lent Fails and How I Learned Mortification...

Four Little Ones: Keeping Love in Lent

Gaels Crafty Treasures Keeping Love in Lent

Bear Wrongs Patiently: Lent for the Scrupulous

Rosary Mom: Keeping Love in Lent

LoveLetters 7.10: Teacups {Keeping the Love in Lent}

Little Saints in the Making: Keep Love in Lent

Blessed with Full Hands: Keeping love in Lent- Praise Him

Normal Chaos: Our Own Personalized Lenten Journey

These Little Blessings: Gifting Love this Lent

The Cajun Catholic: The our Father; a lenten reflection

Truly Rich Mom: Keeping Love in Lent... Even When It Is Difficult

GATHERING GRACES:Keeping LOVE in LENT

SaIsa Pang Sulyap - Fullness Of His Love

LiturgicalTime: Keeping Love in Lent - Finding Balance

Grace Loves Iggy: love in lent

Sacred Oysters: Empty (Keeping LOVE in LENT)

Tercets:Make Heart Rosary Decades to Pray for Others

The Diary of a Sower: Our Lenten Prayer Tree

A Living Garden -- Giving for Others with Love: Keeping LOVE in LENT

Homegrown Catholics: Motivated by my childrens' activities {Lent}

MyBroken Fiat: Keeping Love in Lent... Barely

Journey to Wisdom: Keeping Love in Lent: Bands of Love

Softening My Heart: An Anniversary Lesson duringLent

Passing on pain....

            Migraine headaches run in my family.  My aunt gets them.  Her brother, my uncle gets them (her other brother, my dad, has been spared).  My mom gets them.  My sister gets them.  And I get them.  

      I have suffered from headaches for as long as I can remember.  Mine usually come in clusters.  I will get one and then for a week or two afterwards, I will continue to get them at fairly regular intervals.  But then, I can go months without one.  

       For the past week, I have had one headache after another. Even between headaches, I could feel one sort of lingering – ready to hit full force.    My migraines come accompanied with nausea and sometimes that is more bothersome than the actual pain.  I have found that if I sit very still with a cool damp washcloth over my eyes the worst of the headache will usually pass without medication though.  Overall, it is manageable for me.  And I realize there could be much worse afflictions.....

           Sadly though, my son gets them too.  As bad as mine are, his upset and bother me more.  There is nothing worse than watching your children suffer.  I usually try to treat his with Tylenol as soon as he starts complaining because I hate to let it get too bad for him.  But he is a trooper and he tries to tough it out without medication most of the time.    

      There are just some genes you wish you could avoid passing on---the gene for prematurely gray hair, the gene for puffy bags under the eyes, and especially the gene for migraine headaches.  Unfortunately, we don't get to choose and like the gray hair and bags under my eyes that I inherited from my parents, the legacy of migraines has continued to another generation.....   :-(

Lenten balance

I am an all or nothing girl.  When I started exercising, about 16 years ago, I worked out twice a day, every single day without fail.  I knew if I made an excuse to skip a workout one day, then I would find an excuse to skip my workouts every day.   So I never skipped-- not when I was really tired or not feeling well or had a very busy day.  (I remember one time getting up at 3 a.m. to fit my workout in because I had an early flight to catch and had to be at the airport by 5 a.m.)  When it comes to eating sweets, or playing on the Internet I can go “cold turkey” and take a complete break for a while, but I am horrible about just cutting back.

So, when it comes to Lent, I usually jump right in with both feet, trying to overcome all my sinful ways and trying to sacrifice all that I can possibly do without in life.  I’ve found that Lent, like everything else in life, needs to be about balance though. 

It is a time to focus on growing closer to God and preparing my heart for Easter, not about becoming a superhero and battling every bit of evil in me and in the world.  If I overdo it with the sacrifices, my all or nothing tendencies come back and I usually end up in over my head- and then I give up entirely.

Yesterday, as I contemplated which of the possible sacrifices I would actually undertake, and which of the prayer commitments I would actually make, my list of what to choose from was long.   I had to remind myself not to try to do it all, lest I end up doing none of it very well.  In the end I was able to settle on a few (hopefully) very do-able things.  I will be participating in the KeepLove in Lent blog link up next week, so I will post more then about what exactly my family does to prepare ourselves for Easter……

For now, I wish you all a prayerful,  spiritually uplifting Lenten journey.

Papa- you will be missed!

            Since hearing the news of our beloved Pope Benedict’s resignation, I have read a lot on the internet from Catholic theologians and leaders.  I cannot add anything to their wisdom and understanding of the Pope’s history making decision.  I can only offer my own reflections and feelings as I digest and come to terms with this news.

            My first feelings were of shock and sadness quickly followed by fear.  What would this mean?  What could have prompted it?  What would the future of our Church look like now?  

As I thought about it all- feeling perplexed and sad and uncertain all at once, I remembered a long ago conversation Tim and I had had.  Years ago, when I was still very un-catechized and had no real understanding of the value of suffering, I remember watching Pope John Paul II.  It was the mid to late 1990’s and JP the Great’s health was failing.  He was frail and hunched over and moved v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.  I remember suggesting to Tim that maybe it was time for the Pope to consider retiring.  At the time, I thought I was being compassionate.  The poor man clearly would have benefited from the chance to rest rather than spend his days serving the Church.  Tim explained that Popes just didn’t retire.  They were elected for life and they served for life.

Yesterday, as I contemplated the resignation of Pope Benedict, I could not help but note the irony of my reaction, considering my past thoughts on the matter of Papal servitude.  I have grown much in the last 15 years or so.  I value my faith and the gift of the Church so much more than I did back then.   

           It was only for the last three years or so of Pope John Paul’s papacy that I grew to love and appreciate him and all the good he did for the Church and the world.  When we lost him, back in 2005, I did understand what a great loss it was.  I mourned for our Holy Father but I also rejoiced, for he was no longer tired and frail.  He was glorified in heaven as he deserved to be.  

I also rejoiced in welcoming our new pope, Pope Benedict XVI.  I appreciated and revered him from the start and, like so many others, looked to him and loved him as a Papa.  I felt closer to him and more indebted to him and his service than I had to any other Pontiff. 

           Yesterday’s announcement shocked me because as my husband had pointed out years before, Pope’s just don’t (usually) resign, they (usually) serve for life, but, also because during his entire papacy I realized and recognized what a gift and blessing our Holy Father, our Papa, is to us as Catholics.  His resignation is a loss for us all, and though he will surely continue to serve the Church through prayer and sacrifice, Pope Benedict will no longer be our Shepherd and our Papa.  

The other thing I really felt yesterday as my heart and mind were reeling with the news, was a real connection with other Catholics.  I thought about how Catholics all over the globe are feeling what I am.  They are offering their prayers as I am.  They are somewhat broken-hearted, just as I am.  The feeling of connection, is, of course, a beautiful reminder of what our Church is- one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.   

So-- I am sad, I am both apprehensive and curious about the future, and I am still a little in shock.  But in the midst of it all- I am very aware that the Holy Spirit is at work and that we are blessed, always so very blessed to be Catholic. 

 picture posted from Wikipedia

I only have a few minutes....

I was going to write a blog post in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes.  It was going to be about how last week my children and I watched the old movie, "The Song of Bernadette." And much to my children's surprise, it was a wonderful, captivating, very moving movie.  I was delighted by how enthralled they were with the movie which they first scoffed at for being old and in black and white- yuck!

I also had a book review I really intended to work on.  I finished In This House of Brede (by Rumer Godden) a little more than a week ago and am anxious to share my thoughts on the fictional story of the Brede monastery and a community of nuns living there in the late 1950's, early 1960's.

Then, this morning I saw the news of our beloved Holy Father and his resignation from the papal office.  Well after that my thoughts were so caught up in the shocking news that I figured I would abandon my other blog ideas and write about my feelings in response. 

But, then my little one started acting out of sorts just after lunchtime- while I was busy trying to prep for my Little Flowers meeting that was scheduled to begin in less than an hour from that time.  I took her temperature to find that, for the third time in as many months, she was feverish.  When my youngest gets sick she wants her mommy.  She wants me right next to her, close enough that she can hug my arm and lay her head on my shoulder.  

I figured my writing plans were doomed today....

But, she is napping now- and still burning up, poor little thing.  So, even though I have tons to say and my mind is swirling with thoughts... this is the best I can muster as far as my blog goes.....

Eight years old!

Some of my favorite blog posts to write are the birthday posts.  Every year, as my children grow older, I take the opportunity to reflect on what they mean to me, who they are, and how blessed I am to their mother.  Today my little boy is 8 years old.  As always, my thoughts go back to the day of his birth and I wonder how the years could have flown by so quickly.  As I contemplated my blog post to celebrate this special milestone, I remembered a very old post I'd already written about welcoming our youngest son.  So, today I am re-posting (from 2009) this story of unexpected blessings and my sweet, lovable, wonderful son.....

Our fourth child was a bit of a surprise to us. At the time we found out I was expecting again, we had a five year old, a two and a half year old, and a 14 month old already filling our home with commotion and pandemonium. Though I had every intention of someday adding to our family, I felt totally unprepared to face another pregnancy, and welcome another baby, so soon. My initial reaction was not one of joy but instead a sense of fear and exhaustion.
 
In fact, for the first few weeks my shock and fear continued to plague me. I just did not feel ready for a new baby and was completely dreading the long months of pregnancy. I kept reassuring myself that God would send me an uneventful pregnancy and a very easy-going baby because He knew I could not handle anything more. 

As the weeks progressed, I discovered I was not very good at determining God's plans. My first trimester was fraught with scares. I had three ultrasounds and numerous calls to the doctor. I had at least one weekend where I was sure a miscarriage was eminent. Thankfully, it never came. Though I was emotionally unstable throughout the pregnancy, the pregnancy did continue. I had only one more unexpected ultrasound before baby was born because his heart rate was unusually high, but that too turned out to be okay. 

Then came the last month of my pregnancy. By this time, I was at peace with the situation, after all I truly love babies and this one was coming soon whether I was ready or not. Soon, turned out to be a relative term. That last month was one of the longest of my life. For some reason, I was terrified about the upcoming labor and delivery.

In addition to my apprehension, I could not stand because my back was killing me, I could not sit because I was plagued with Braxton-Hicks contractions, I could not lay because I had such bad heartburn. I was completely over being pregnant, yet I was terrified about giving birth. I was miserable. I kept telling myself, this was going to be an easy baby. It had to be, God would not send me a challenging baby after all this.
 
So finally, the day came to welcome our new baby boy. Amazingly the labor was not too bad. I got quite nauseous though and the doctor gave me some medicine to help. The medicine made me feel very light headed and out-of it. The delivery was a bit hazy. Perhaps this was one little stroke of luck, because our baby was so big he got a little stuck on the way out and the doctor had to pretty much pull him out by force, as I was later told. I was unaware of it all in my slightly loopy state. I just remember looking at him afterwards, and upon seeing the rolls on my new baby's arms and legs, asking my husband, "Now do you see why I was so uncomfortable?" At 9 pounds 4 ounces, he was about a pound and a half bigger than any of our other newborns had been.
 
Was he the easy-going baby I had expected? You've probably guessed by now, that he was anything but.  He would cry for hours every evening. He did not sleep through the night for months. He seemed to create a lot more laundry than his siblings had, between unending drooling and peeing out of his diapers regularly. He was a total mommy's boy and wanted to be held for the first 12 months of life. This was no easy feat considering his size and the fact that there were three other little ones also demanding my help and attention. Yet, God strengthened me (both emotionally and physically) and we persevered.  And, of course, despite his demands and fussy times, my littlest boy was lovable and adorable and a blessing right from the start.

Four years later, our youngest son is the most amazingly happy, charming little guy you'd ever meet. He makes friends everywhere we go and is incredibly easy-going now.
 
I tell my son often that I am so glad God sent him to our family. Sometimes God sends the most unexpected blessings and with them can come the greatest lessons of our lives. God is so, so good.

At eight, my son is still sweet, charming, and easy-going.  And, of course, I still feel incredibly blessed to be his mommy!

What IS this country coming to?

This is so scary!!!!!  

http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/surprise-investigations-aimed-at-homeschoolers/

We, as parents, need to be informed.  We need to do all that we can to stand up for our rights.  We need to protect our children and our families from evil agendas that aim at breaking down our authority in our own homes.  

And above all, we need to pray!