Blessed with Full hands: December 2011

2012 Goals

I have been trying to formulate these for a few weeks now. And my goals for the new year span many different areas. So here we go:

1. Daily prayer time in the morning.

Last year, at a Holy Hour, the priest mentioned 7 Daily Habits for a better spiritual life (from St Jose Maria Escriva) :

1. Morning Offering

2. Spiritual Reading/ Scripture Reading 15 minutes a day (12 min spiritual reading/ 3 min Scripture reading)

3. Holy Mass

4. Recitation of Angelus or Regina Coeli (Easter)

5. Rosary

6. 15 min mental prayer

7. Examination of Conscience at end of day

So, my plan is to, by the end of the year, do all 7 of these each day, with the exception of daily mass. The boys and I will go to daily mass once a week.

Dec

How did I do this year??

At the beginning of this year I wrote this post about my goals for the year. Since we are coming to the end of 2011 and 2012 will be quickly upon us, I want to review how I did this year with my goals:

1. Pray more. Pray the divine office every morning. There is something about the rhythm of the Divine office that I need and crave right now.

~ We got a subscription to Magnificat which helped tons with this. I started most days with the Magnificat and daily mass readings.

2.

Dec

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours! May you have a blessed Christmas Season!

Dec

All I want for Christmas . . .

is my two front teeth! My oldest can sing this one this year!!

Dec

Rejoice

Rejoice

A word that has surrounded me this Advent. In a conversation. In mass readings.

I rejoice heartily in the LORD,

in my God is the joy of my soul,

Isiah 61:10

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

Luke 1:46

Brothers and sisters:

Rejoice always.

1 Thes 5:16

I will stand at my watch

and station myself on the ramparts;

I will look to see what he will say to me,

and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

Dec

This is the better

I think God is trying to drive home a lesson to me this Christmas season.

Like so many others, we live in a home. We purchased this house several years ago. My dream home? Far from it. Although it is big enough for us, it often feels small and cramped. There is strange stucco on the walls in the hall way. Paneling in too many rooms to admit to. A powder pink bathroom with wall paper. Metal kitchen cabinets with fake wood paneling. And a kitchen floor that is peeling up everywhere.

Dec

Tis the season of giving

'Come, you who are blessed by my Father.

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Dec

Running Ramblings

I have several posts in the works for this week. If I get time to actually sit down and write, you may see them. But for now, I need to write about running. More for myself than anyone else. So, feel free to skip this post if you want.

Since running the Annapolis Half Marathon about a month ago, I have hit a slight slump and snag in my running. Between travelling for Thanksgiving and trying to rest my IT band, I really did not run much.

Dec

7 Quick Takes

1. I am married to a doctor!

My husband is now a Doctor. (D. Min.) I am so proud of him and this totally deserved a whole post onto itself. He has worked so hard over the past 8 years juggling the doctorate program and work and family life. He was selfless in all of it and always put the family first. We have enjoyed the last few days. We have just sat around and talked at night because we could, he did not need to study anymore! I have been calling him Dr. everyday.

Dec

A Child's Heart

If any of you read my blog even somewhat regularly, you may know, or at least guess, that we are pursuing adoption. We have not started the stacks of paperwork yet. No home study. No background checks. Nothing yet. We have been waiting until my husband defends his dissertation (which he does on Monday . . . please say a prayer for him!). But, there is a folder stacked with agency information. Plans made. We are just waiting.

But, several weeks ago a possibility came our way.