Quick Takes

1.  Tomorrow is the feast of St. Therese of Liseux!!  See my previous post for more information about her. :)

2.  What a difference monthly spiritual direction and confession makes, especially now as a stay-at-home mom.

3.  C.S.I., Crim.inal Minds, and the plethora of crime shows (except N.C.I.S) give me nightmares!! I have to stop watching them!  It doesn't take long for a disturbing scene to get burned in my brain and cause anxiety.  :(

4.  My mother-in-law, a parish secretary, will lose her health insurance if this mandate from the government goes through!  Please follow the link to write an email to your elected officials.

5.  I hate parallel parking, but never knew that inability had something to do with my gender.  harumph!

6.  KB has been teething this week, bringing along all kinds of joys such as the runs, waking up at night, crankiness, etc.  One day, after a late night, she actually fell asleep in her high chair. Guess the food wasn't great either. :)

7.  I really hope to re-do the look of the blog, update the blogroll, etc., one of these days.  Or weeks.  Or years!

Have a great weekend!

Roses, Roses, and more Roses!

The feastday of St. Therese of Liseux, one of my favorite saints and the patroness of this blog, is coming up on October 1st. It's never to late to start a novena, or nine days/hours/weeks of prayer for a specific intention.

O Little Therese of the Child Jesus,
Please pick a rose for me from the heavenly gardens and send it to me as a message of love.

O little flower of Jesus, ask God today to grant the favors I now place with confidence In your hands.  (Mention specific requests)
St. Therese, help me to always believe, as you did, in God's great love for me,
So that I might imitate your "Little Way" each day.   Amen 

St. Therese lived life simply, as a "Little Way."  She really appeals to me because she sought holiness and goodness in little things.  The Little Way is quite refreshing, as I still struggle to identify with the saints who wax poetically about how they love suffering or wrote extensively about metaphysics.  St. Therese helped me through the long infertility journey (particularly the plethora of medication) and now as a stay-at-home mom.  Although so much of these journeys are mundane, she shows how doing these things for the love of God can make one holy.  

One of the coolest perks of asking St. Therese for help is that she often sends roses.  Among her last words on earth: "My mission - to make God loved - will begin after my death," she said. "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses."  I've received both as a specific sign and as a "hey, I know your praying this novena" sign.  Some of the highlights:

• Back in 2002 I had just met a nice guy online.  During a retreat I asked St. Therese if he was the right guy for me.  The next week, he sent me a dozen pink roses for my birthday.  (he turned out to be my future husband!)
• When I was unsure whether or not to take a job and had asked St. T for help, I came out of church one day to find a rose on a table beneath a crucifix.
• Several times while praying a novena to her, I will randomly see roses in strange places.

The rose has become my favorite flower, and in honor of St. Therese's intercession, I carried white and pink roses in my wedding bouquet.   

So I invite you to meet St. Therese if you haven't already.  She's a great heavenly friend, and you don't have to be Catholic to talk to her.  St. Therese of the Child Jesus, pray for us!!

A Picture Reminder

Do you need to see a message like this today (sans the "lucky numbers")?  I do.

It's been a long, rough week.  And my endeavors to exercise and lose weight have started, but remain difficult.  This little slip of paper is actually a fortune from a Chinese food lunch.  Obviously, I don't put much stock in the fortune cookie predictions, but this little message was refreshing.  And it reminds me, morning after morning, quick bathroom stop in between the crawling baby, not to give up. With God's grace!!

I hope you have a fantastic weekend. :)

Quick Takes Friday: Wacky Weather Edition

Seeing as KB has gone down for a nap (oh, the joys of nap training), why not some quick takes?

1.

Many thanks to the commenters who suggested tunes to add to my iPod library.  Please, can you help me expand my horizons with your favorite song(s)? 

2.

So it's only the first complete week of September, but the weather feels like October.  A rather large tropical storm has decided to hover over this part of the country, dumping lots of rain.  If only there was a way to push the cloud towards Texas.

2.5

Last week we found a strange visitor in our master bathroom.  We have no idea how this fellow got in:

3.

One of the bloggers at Faith and Family Live is running a donation drive for her infertile sister.  She and her husband are traveling to Omaha to receive treatment at the PPVI center.  The blogger has 6 kids herself and stated how watching her sister's IF journey has affected her.  I was so touched to read the comments of the people who donated (you still can via PayPal).  Truly, an example of a village coming together. :)  I consider donating to such causes (please alert me if any IF bloggers out there have something like this) part of tithing.

4.

You've heard of working mom's guilt?  Try Stay-at-home guilt.  It's a phenomenon that I never expected to experience.  Thankfully it's not 24/7.  Although my husband continues to assure me that my care of KB is important (and I know that), I sometimes feel less useful.  Like there's nothing monetary to show for my labors other than sweeping up Che.erios before someone squishes them.  Part of this is coming from the fact that school has started and I'm not in the classroom.  Not that I regret the time spent with KB; that working part of me says I should be doing more.  And then the IF experience comes back to say, "What's wrong with you?  You wanted this."

5.

For all of you Catholics, there's an awesome priest named Fr. Robert Baron who has crafted a stunning documentary series on the history of the Church entitled "The Catholicism Project."  He also has a complete media ministry via Word On Fire, including an app.  I especially like listening to his Gospel reflections.

6. 

I'm trying to go to the gym multiple days a week in order to get back in shape.  Sadly, my weight isn't too far away from my 9MONTHS preggo weight.  :(  Pathetic, unhealthy, not to mention dangerous if/when we start trying for #2 via adoption or natural).  Thankfully our gym has a kid club where KB can hang out.  For added incentive, I'm training for a 5k run for Veterans in November.  Hopefully this will work!

7.

KB has passed many milestones lately.  She will turn 10 months on Sunday.  Oh where, oh where has the time gone?

Crawling lots and lots

No need for the play gym anymore. :(

Pulling herself up like a big girl.

More crawling and exploring!

Curls keep a'coming!

Have a blessed weekend!!

Help me out of a music rut!

I'm in a music rut and I need your help.  Life is getting busy and a bit difficult these days (hello, 9 month old who now refuses food from a bowl!).  Aside from my hubby and prayer, music helps me persevere and even get motivated.  Or the tunes at least help to distract me.

The "iT.unes Effect" has taken over the music industry, to my great delight.  What a relief to buy one song at a time instead of a whole album.  During my teenage years, I remember feeling held hostage to buying a $17 CD on which was only one song I wanted.  Singles were equally exorbitant.  A couple of years ago while at my parents' house, I discovered a long-lost single from my junior high days.  For those of you younger than 27, this contraption is called a Record!

So now that we don't have to worry about CDs and the like, I tend to randomly find songs and listen to them incessantly on my iPod.  Then I don't listen to songs on the radio as much in order to find new songs.  Sure, every once in a while I find a cool song via commercials (a trend I think will continue) or TV shows.  One of my favorite bad/sad mood songs, "Breathe," I stumbled on while watching VH1.  That song helped me through rough infertility treatments and my C-Section prep.  The music video is very poignant.

If you would like to help me, please list your favorite(s) in the following categories. No gangsta rap or death metal, please. :)

1.  Favorite song to listen to over and over.
2.  Favorite romantic song
3.  Favorite Christian song
4.  Favorite song to listen to in a bad mood or life struggle
5.  Favorite workout/running song
6.  The "I can't believe I like this song but it's on my iPod anyway" category.

Looking at my iPod, my favorites are:

1.  "NilSenLa" by Cel.tic Women
2.  "You Raise Me Up" (first dance at our wedding)
3.  "Alive Again" by Mat.t Ma.her (although there are many other Christian favorites)
4.  "Breathe" by Ry.an Sta.r
5.  "Magdahlena" Ser.gio Mendes
6.  "Breakthrough" by Lemonade Mouth (yeah, Di.sney cha.nnel movie.  I admit it.)

I look forward to reading your suggestions and maybe adding them to my music library!