Lenten Reflections

Lent is hard.  Of course it is.  It's meant to be.  I mean that I never feel like I've done enough.  I never feel fully prepared for Easter.  I start out with wonderful plans, but invariably something intervenes with those.  I believe that God chooses Lent for us sometimes.
This year I am praying for a conversion of heart.  I want to desire Christ more, to thirst for Him in the Eucharist and in prayer.  Many of our annual practices haven't been employed this year.  I'm just going day by day and hoping for more kindness in our house amongst children.  I'm hoping for more prayer and more love.
On a practical level of sacrifice we're all going without Pepsi, Nestle and Cadbury products.  This sacrifice looks like it'll be an ongoing one until they change research practices.

Time lost

It has been so long since I last posted.  I regret that.  There's been so many little things that will probably be lost because I didn't record them.  Things like Katie starting to scooch (I think it's been 1 1/2 months).  She puts both legs to one side and then pushes.  She then alternates sides.  It's not the fastest means of locomotion, but it works for her.
Things like Mark calling hamburgers "hamburgergers", which he no longer does.  His language skills are amazing.  He speaks so clearly and has such a large vocabulary.  Frequently he'll accuse the inanimate of calling him an "idiot" or a "dum-dum".  He will also inform people that he has the right to do something  because "Mama said so", that doesn't work with me so he'll change it to "Patrick said so" or less often "Daddy said so".  He's only two.
We've all had birthdays except for Katie.  Becca bakes our bread.  We went to Fort MacLeod for holidays this year in a TENT.  That is such an act of penance for me, let me tell you.  It was so cold at night in the middle of August and Katie is still not sleeping through the night, so I would have to get up with her.  Yuck.  But the historic sites we visited were great.  We also spent time in and around Innisfail, where we went to Markerville Creamery and Stepphanson House.  And of course we spent time in Medicine Hat.
I have canned and canned until I have no jars left and no space left in my cold room.
We planted and harvested our garden.  It was a cold, wet summer, so things didn't grow as they normally would.  Our potatoes are few, but our raspberries were many.  Our roses did amazingly well.  It seems that they really like water.  Who knew?
That is just a smattering of all that has happened in the last few months.  I'm hoping to stay more on top of things now.
By the way, I passed my course.  83%.  But there was sweat involved, I assure you.  It is sad how one's brain atrophies if not put to proper use.

Funny, Is It?

Tonight at Mass, Patrick served. There were servers on either side. Matthew pointed out that he was "surrounded" (sawounded)

Later at the store, an announcement ended with "Thank you". Matthew looked up and sweetly said, "you're welcome."

Mark's newest word is "sorry". He'll hit you and immediately it's followed with a look of contrition and a sorrowful "sorry".

Today I cut hair. I had one request for a Mohawk, one for a "Luke Skywalker" hair-do and a repetitious litany of "you done now? all done, Mama?"

Mattyisms

I'm just rockin' through "Great Expectations". I'm almost done at a booming 50 pages per day. Yikes!

Anyhoo, this is what's amusing me today:

Matty: "Can I hold Katie? I gave her my hiccups."

Ohh, something that has put me a bit behind on reading is the arrival of my new...

drum roll... please...

iPod Touch!!!

So much fun. So far I've put on iMissal, some music and a grocery app. The app store is just like the proverbial candy store, and I'm trying to be prudent in my purchases.

Something that should be helping my reading schedule is this ugly bug that's sweeping the bigger people in our house and the fact our van is un-driveable.

Tomorrow we are implementing a new schedule for school and life. I have great hopes for a rhythm in our home.

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I Should be Reading, but...

It would seem I'm doing everything but reading. This is totally out of character. The material in question that I should be reading is Great Expectations. Truly I could work up my own emotions of depression, without the help of Mr. Dickens. But it is part of THE COURSE, so read it I must. Just not right now ;).
So instead I will blog about things I'm thinking and pondering:
Katherine is sooo beautiful, especially when she smiles.
Toddlers are very cute, especially when they say "buh bye".
Pre-schoolers are very sweet when they insist that you forgot to "kees" them.
Older children provide entertainment too. A conversation overheard:
Boy child 1(disgustedly): "Mom gave me girl socks". (Much disdain in the word "girl")
Boy child 2: "Don't worry. No one can see through your boots unless they have x-ray vision and we don't."
Boy child 1: "You're right."
Another social disaster averted by boy logic. Words cannot express how grateful I am that no one has x-ray vision around here. That would be very complicated.
Science:
Boy child 1: "Why did God even make snot?"
Boy child 2: when asked to think about possible reasons: "It's extra water that makes us pee more."
Me: "Huh?!?"
It seems there's some work to do.

And now onwards and upwards into the bleak world that is Great Expectations.

Merry Christmas

So here we are. After an Advent that feels like it didn't really prepare me. Not that I'm blaming Advent. It was circumstances and my state in life right now. God knows. While praying before Mass last night - interrupted prayer: "sit down; please get off the baby; oh, baby are you alright?; etc"- Baby Jesus gave me such a consoling gift. It truly and really doesn't matter what I got done, or didn't get done. It's not about me. Why can I not remember that? It's about Him and his generosity in coming every year, no matter what. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for this crazy hectic life, that leaves me gasping for air at moments and laughing hysterically the next. Thank you for this man you've given me in sacramental marriage. None of it perfect, all of it good. Help me to remember that it's ALL good.

We went to the Vigil Mass. Not our first choice. We'd prefer to go to Christmas morning Mass, but family obligations don't permit that at this point. It is a very crowded Mass, which is good, but distracting for little ones. There was a family we didn't recognize (they may just be regulars who sit on the other side of the church. I swear we'd see a whole new parish if we but only sat on the other side occasionally.) sitting kitty-corner from us. They were laughing their heads off at us and the antics of our little ones. Mark especially provided some fine entertainment. His favorite word right now is no, which has many different meanings and inflections. At one point he wanted his coat, so Justin tried to help him, but help he did not want. "No, no, no" he said sweetly, but determinedly, while backing away and ended up falling backwards on his bottom.

We had passed Katie off right away so that we could focus on Matthew and Mark and at mid-point of the Mass, Mark seemed to realise that she was missing. He picked up the car seat and looked under it, around it and in it. He looked around the immediate vicinity. So he looked a bit further. He spotted one of our friends who has a baby who is a month older than Katie. He decided that was Katie, but he was too shy to go get her back, so he just stared suspiciously.

Anyway, here's a couple of little Turnerisms:

Rebecca: "I think the best thing about cooking the turkey is the stuffing... after the meat, of course".

Mark (16 months): loud scream followed by "shhh".

Alexander when asked if Santa Claus was coming: "Actually, I don't believe in Santa Claus. I believe in St. Nicholas".