Wondrous Wednesdays (11)



In the spirit of gratitude, I’m listing wondrous things happening in my world every week on Wednesday.  If you are a blogger and want to list what you are grateful for, feel free to do the same on your own blog every week and please be sure to link back to my blog.   If you are not a blogger, feel free to comment here on my blog with your own three wondrous things you are grateful for on Wednesday. 

(1)

My parents are back from Italy.  It is nice to have them home again and it was just so sweet seeing both of our girls keep repeating memere and pepere over and over again the first few days.  I just love watching our girls play with them.

(2)

Ahhhhh.... I went to reconciliation again.  It had been two and a half months, which was definitely too long.  Our new priest is a wonderful confessor and had some really great tips for me!  I truly think most people don't understand how beautiful reconciliation is!  What an awesome sacrament Jesus gave us. 


(3)
Wondrous giggles at the dinner table!  Both the girls had a case of the giggles Tuesday night.  They laugh at the strangest things, but such joy from little ones is contagious.  They had me and memere in fits of giggles too!

Below is a linky list if you’d like to add a link to your own Wondrous Wednesdays. (1) Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your post and not your main blog URL. (2) Include a link back here.

Seven Quick Takes Friday (16)

Thanks to Jen for hosting over at conversiondiary.com.  This week there is no unifying theme...

-1-
Our three year old seems to have had a pretty disturbing dream.  She says, "there was a guy in the room, I played with him, touched him and he went into the carpet and he was dead."  Now, I am not one who gets freaked out very much by supposed ghosts and stuff, but this whole thing has me a little concerned.  Ever since, she doesn't want to go into her bed, and doesn't want to go in the playroom downstairs.  I try to reassure her that there is no guy.  I hold her hand when we go into a room.  I've been saying the "now I lay me down to sleep prayer" in her ear a second time while she lays in bed.  Just trying to help her with it, but I really am not sure what I should do here.  We think it may be the result of a book that we read to her recently, but we can't be sure.

-2-
Been thinking about taking a local couponing seminar in early November.  I keep seeing friends and families who post all these items they bought for less than one dollar!!!  I could SO use that, but I'm wondering if I will be buying things I need, where exactly I will put a stockpile of anything and if I will be just doing all the work to mostly donate stuff.  I don't have extra time to do this if it isn't helping us actually save money and I'm buying stuff I won't use.  Might be worth it though...

-3-
The dog is at is again, but I think it's my own fault, well sort of.  She threw up grass in the toy room which I had to clean this morning, not just on the wood floor, but on the play mats we have down and the toy house we have that our youngest loves to crawl though.  I was not impressed.  Then after emptying the dishwasher this morning and seeing nothing on the dining room floor, I went in there after I put the girls down for a nap this afternoon and voila!  poop!  She had been outside a few times already and this didn't even happen during all the rain earlier in the week.  What is she doing?!?  I didn't wake up until 8:15 this morning, so that's way off her schedule, but why didn't she poop before I woke up! 

-4-
So I've been thinking I need to get to confession.  Maybe this Saturday, maybe next week on Saturday.  Can't manage weeknights with hubby's schedule.  I haven't done a good examination of conscience just yet but it's definitely time.  I can tell it's time because I'm getting cranky easily.  I should have stuck with the every six weeks schedule I was on.  Or maybe I need to make it a monthly ritual.

-5-
First Friday Adoration tonight.  I'm looking forward to this.  It will be my second time going.  Hopefully this time I don't come out of it thinking "boy I suck!"  I've improved, albeit slightly, in my relationship with Jesus.  Baby steps I keep telling myself.  He knows I care, he knows I'm trying.

-6-
A few weeks back I went to a baptism for my cousin's daughter, where the priest mentioned that it is important that our children see our faith, not just at church, but also in our homes.  One of the things he mentioned was having kids see rosary beads hanging on the bedposts and being able to play with rosary beads.  I always thought that there should be more reverence for the rosary, but after thinking about it I figured the more exposure they have to our religious traditions the better.  I decided to give each of our girls rosaries that I think they can't break, they do each have at least one set of really nice rosaries.  Alicia has enjoyed playing with them and likes to put her arms and legs through.  Hannah broke the crucifix off hers literally a few minutes after I gave her the "nonbreakable" ones I had as a child that were glow in the dark.  So I've let her use another one that is definitely breakable but we will obviously have to keep an eye on her.  What is very cute about Hannah is that she likes to hold them up under her chin and grin.  We say "pretty" or "beautiful" and she just beams her crocked little smile.  Haven't managed to get this on camera yet, but that grin is just too much.

-7-

 I figured out the costumes for Halloween for our little ones.  Alicia is going to be a T-Rex and Hannah a Triceratops.  They both are really into playing with dinosaurs so I'm hoping this will work.  Last year's Halloween was a spectacle. Alicia was crying because we dressed her in a monkey costume to go with Hannah banana.  The whole time I was getting her dressed to go trick or treating she was crying and saying over and over "I don't want to be a monkey, I want to be Alicia!"  I'd put the video here, but I think it would take too long to upload to blogger.  For now, here's a picture of the sad faced monkey named Alicia and her screaming banana Hannah from last year when we tried to get professional pictures taken.  Here's hoping this year we won't have a sad T-Rex or Triceratops.

Knock it Off!

When I checked the temperature gauge in my minivan this afternoon it read 78.  What a gorgeous day it was today in NH!  A perfect day for going to confession.

Yes, confession!  This is a sacrament that is maligned.  I think that sometimes it keeps some people from returning to the Church, when they learn that we haven't done away with this one.  And contrary to what some people may think, it is a beautiful sacrament.  Yes, that's right, beautiful.  Some of you may be thinking, "Confessing my sins, beautiful?"  Yes, the mercy of our God is beautiful.  Going to Him with a humble heart, admitting our faults is beautiful.

We all have our reasons for not going to confession; some people feel they can go directly to God, others aren't even ready to forgive themselves; still others feel they are confessing the same things every time.  I fall into the last category: there are things I struggle with time and time again, but at least, most of the time, I'm not adding new shortcomings.  The last time I went was just before the birth of my now seven month old daughter.  Which is FAR too long ago for me.  I'm not going to get into listing my sins here, that's between me, the priest, and God.  (This is actually a good place to point out that part of the reason for going to a priest is because we don't just hurt God when we sin, but we hurt the community, the Body of Christ, when we sin.) But I do write this blog trying to give witness to living out my Catholic faith.  I hope that my writing conveys how I am trying to live my life.  I am in no way trying to be showy or believe that I am better than anyone else who does not go to church, or to confession for that matter.  But I have to say that going to confession today has left me feeling free, unburdened.  His mercy can work wonders if we let it.

The problem is that sometimes we try to hide our true selves.  We say something that is only a partial truth to look good.  We don't tell it like it is.  Take Lent for example:  I could say that I've been doing everything I set out to do, but that wouldn't be the truth.  I took on a lot this season; I'm not sure why I didn't focus on just a few things.  But I have failed (should have confessed this tonight but I had other things on my mind - maybe I will have to go back again later this week). 

• I intended to take my girls to mass one morning a week and one evening every week in addition to Sunday mass.  Hasn't happened. 
• I intended to read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Creed.  I started to do this during the evenings, but find the material dry and difficult to read at night, so this is something I will have to find time for during the girls' naps as time allows.  Instead, I did start reading the Matthew Kelly book, "Rediscover Catholicism" which is a more light read and very interesting. 
• Other things I took on: Writing Wednesdays (it doesn't always happen on Wednesday but I have been blogging once a week),
• no TV Thursdays (when Alicia was sick I renegged on this one for her, but she's been doing it every Thursday since) and
• no FaceBook Fridays (ok, so once I completely forgot I was logged in and one time I forgot it was Friday - it is such a habit!). 

The point I'm trying to make here is that trying to "look good" with God, doesn't work.  He knows it all.  The reading from the Gospel a few weeks ago was John 4: 5-42 the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.  As Jesus is conversing with her he says "Go call your husband and come back."  The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband."  Jesus answered her, "You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.  What you have said is true." (Jn 4:16-18)  Jesus doesn't mince words here.  He speaks the truth back to her plain as day.  He's basically saying, "I know you've had five husbands and the guy you're shacked up with isn't your husband.  Knock if off lady!"  God knows all, so there's no reason to be cute and play games with God.  He knows the truth.  Confession allows us to go own up to it.  "Knock it off!"  Jesus says.  Are we open enough to answer him with the truth he already knows?