Tag Archives: life

A link up…in photo style!

I got a wild hair yesterday and decided to host a link up. Which I’ve never done before, but how hard can it be? Right?

So here’s the theme: A DAY IN THE LIFE….IN PICTURES! Because a picture speaks a thousand words…photo fun!

Pick a day. ANY day. However, it should be a pretty average day for an average look at your life, HOWEVER, if you choose to pictorialize (yes, it is a word…I looked it up!) your 5 year-olds EPIC birthday party…go right on ahead…no judgment zone.
Try and get as close to these “times” as possible: Waking up. Bring your best bed head and all. Breakfast (yours or your family’s). Mid day. How you hanging so far?? Lunch. What’s on the plate? Mid-afternoon. The crazy zone for a lot of you! Dinner. All together ? In the car? Out? Inquiring minds and all. Mid evening. Winding down people!!! Bed time. Success. Lived to tell the tale of another day! Woot woot!! More or less. No fast rules.
I’ll throw the link up on Monday, so you have 4 days to get your photos together.

You know the rest, link your blog, yada, yada, yada.

Fun way to find new blogs and get a glimpse of life all over.

I’ll TRY and link up with Jen on Friday, but for sure I’ll see you back here on MONDAY to link it up! (plus that gives me a few days to hopefully figure it out!)

Peace out, y’all!

Choosing blindness. Choosing sight.

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The Gospel at Mass John 9:1-41, was a (long) version of the blind man who was healed by Jesus–with the clay, on the eyes, the washing in Siloam and BOOM. Eyesight. Followed by a grilling by the Pharisees and their indignation at Jesus actually having THE NERVE to heal on the Sabbath and therefore could not be of God. Because, the Sabbath. Rules. Regulations. All that. The no-longer-blind man’s bottom line: listen, all I know is I was blind, and now I see; Jesus healed me. Which had me focusing on the fact that Jesus can heal me. And you. and you. and you. The only kicker is we have to be present to Him and follow His instructions, even when they are simple. Which is tricky because we want everything to be so complicated and sometimes, it’s just not.

Fast forward to the seriously STRONG homily by one of our Deacons in which he flipped it onto us, the Church. When we come to Mass on Sunday, we listen, we go through the motions and then people EN MASSE routinely exit the church after receiving the Precious Body and Blood. They just keep on truckin’ out the door. (I don’t know if this occurs regularly in your church but it is a regularly HUGE occurrence in ours, to the tune of a 100 or so people performing this ritual each Mass) So, why do they come? Habit? Ritual? Obligation? To receive an eternal “insurance policy”? Because it doesn’t work that way; our deacon reminded us in the Scripture, Luke 13-26:27

²⁶“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

Do we choose blindness in spite of the gifts Christ has for us? He awaits us every hour of every day, open arms, judgement free, love overflowing and yet……sometimes we are blind. Blind to the fact that it is not about putting in face time, we have to work at our relationship with Christ. We work at our marriage. We work at our friendships. We work on our parenting skills. Being Facebook friends with someone and not acknowledging their presence in real life doesn’t cultivate a relationship anymore than warming a pew on Sunday only to bolt after Mass to get the prime table for coffee and donuts afterward. Jesus wants a relationship with us and it takes effort. If we but follow His lead, we too, can see. And live. Not just trudge through. Because once upon a time, He led me through the darkness to the light, He held my hand in Mass as I wrangled 4 children to teach them the Faith and show them that even in the darkest of the dark He will never leave you. And I am living proof of that.

The Deacon invited all who didn’t have a legitimate reason to leave immediately following Holy Communion to go ahead and leave. Now. A woman behind us exited the pew…..but returned shortly (probably needed a tissue)…..aside from that I didn’t see anyone leave and it was a lot more crowded than usual after the final blessing than usual. It was a long overdue reminder and one I took to apply personally as well. If we can’t be present, 100% present in our intentions–because let’s be real, we all have distractions during Mass–but if our intentions aren’t 100% genuine, we need to reflect on WHAT we are doing. WHAT kind of relationship do we expect with Jesus if we treat him so casually? None of us is perfect and I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had mind wander during Mass for a zillion and one reasons over my lifetime, but my intentions are genuine. He has held my hand. He has carried me through a haze of confusion and desperation and He washed clean my eyes and scrubbed my heart. He has shown me a life so vivid and full of hope that to live in any other way than to cultivate a relationship with Christ would be choosing blindness after seeing the light.

You see, once I was blind and now I see; that has made every difference in my life.

Happy Anniversary, Papa Francis!!

Lent, life, loss, hope

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Once upon a time, there was a couple who had been married a long time. Blessed with 4 children who were happy, healthy and going through the usual ups and downs of childhood. No complaints, just normal life. This couple was open to life. Even though they are both approaching mid 40s, they were healthy and open to God’s plan in regards to their family. Lo, and behold one day it happened. The woman suddenly and without warning re-gained her sense of smell during Mass whilst seated next to a woman who clearly hit the garlic rolls the night before,(heavy emphasis on garlic). Confused with this return of olfactory sensation and accompanying nausea, a quick count on the PeriodTrackerApp prompted a visit to the local CVS.

Confirmation post peeing on a stick. Twice. And the world began to spin.

Fast forward through the week of sudden shock and awe at this life turn of events as the couple quietly processes the news with prayers, trepidation, joy, laughter, wonder and trust. Clearly God has a plan here; who were they to question.

Then.

Just as the reality settled itself and planning stages were to begin: when to tell the kids, the family, friend, etc., doctor’s appointment, bedroom rearranging, financial rearrangement, etc, etc, etc.. The woman began to bleed.

And cramp.

And reality readjusted. And plans were undone. Tears were cried. A mental day was taken. And with Lent upon them, they clung to the promise that God’s plan is infinitely better than their own. Despite the temporary confusion and fog, He has great things in store. In addition to His promise of hope and plans and future, He has given this family, this couple a special soul to intercede on their behalf.

Thanks be to God.

^{Jeremiah 29:11}

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Feeling so crunchy and granola right now

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It all started HERE on this Facebook post….

This week I saw the above post on Facebook on a friend’s page. Intrigued by the title, I checked it out..b/c I have never heard of Oil Pulling and it looked gross and fascinating. So, I was all in. Curious though, have YOU ever heard of this?

Apparently, its age-old and a natural detox. The added benefit of whiter teeth….I figured I’d give it a try since we actually have coconut oil in the house (although you can use other oils, too). Here’s how it went down:

Round 1. I took a teaspoon of coconut oil and put it straight into my mouth and began to swish. Aaaaaaand immediately gag. And spit. Most disgusting texture of goo EVER. Seriously. Just beyond describing. I was bummed.

Round 2. Right? After that who in the he** is going for round 2????? Me. That’s who. Dog with a bone. I remembered that the article said you could melt the oil for a few seconds and do it that way. So. I melted it. 10 seconds. Stir. A few more seconds. Voila. Liquid. After testing the warmth factor, I teaspooned it in and swished. Set the timer for 20 minutes. And swished**. Warm. Ooey. A little gooey. But not terrible. My lips were super shiny, though.

**Prior to swishing, I informed the kids of what I’d be doing. Naturally, I pick the time to do this during the morning get-ready-for-school/work-time. Needless to say, there were a hundred and one questions WHILE I was swishing and so the whiteboard became quite handy. And charades.

The second day went a little smoother. With only one kiddo up and both of us knowing what was going on, I STILL had to use the whiteboard , but it seemed to go quicker. Ish. That girl can TALK!!!!!!

Day 3. No one awake. Hubby gone for an early meeting. NO whiteboard needed. I did some online banking and next thing you know the timer went off.

A few days of personal research here for you, but I’ll keep you posted as it goes along. A few things and many links for you to consider:

“They” say to do it first thing in the a.m. Mostly for ease of remembering and actually getting it in before the day takes over.
Don’t spit it in the sink. It’s oil. Spit it in the garbage. Or pay the piper. Or plumber.
Don’t swallow. It’s full of bacteria from your mouth. LIVE bacteria. Ew. Just. Ew. Brush your chompers afterward.
Appears to be safe for pregnant and nursing moms as a natural detox method, however, I say check with your OB and go with your gut. However…….common sense tells me if you use mouthwash during these times and it’s not a problem…………..that’s just me thinking.
Dental crowns. There are some cases that say the oil weakens the cement on the crowns and can cause them to chip or come out, so if that’s your lot you might want to reconsider. That’s a lot of cha-ching to mess with.
There MAY be some side effects of detoxing, as for me, so far, just a little upset tummy but I’ve also been eating lots of veggies this week, so I’m taking it with a grain of salt.

A few links for your own perusing, because if other people have done books and talks and all the legwork, you should read them not my parroting…this is mainly MY experience thus far.

That’s plenty to get you started, there’s a bajillion more out there on the webz. Do. Or do not.

Happy Weekending!!

making the trek

Trekking through life: Faith, family, friends and a whole lot of coffee!