Catholic Women's Almanac -- Monday Schmonday! HA!!!

Hiya Ladies!

I feel like Eeyore wearing a faucet as a nose. I smell like Vicks. My hair is up in a half bun, half ponytail (you know when you wrap the ponytail holder around the long piece that now is looped in a bunny-tail). And I have on a red tee shirt and pink flannel pj's with Santa's in red jackets with white presents. Spectacular picture I am painting, no?

Booo allergies. Please pray it does not become a sinus infection.  But it is Monday, and I love the Suspicio Blog and the CWA Bloggers. I have been reading for a while, commenting here and there... and this past week, I decided to jump in!  I started writing much earlier in the day, but there is this thing called life that got in my way... so here goes.

Thanking God for:

• Friends, both old and new.
• That we are finally getting comfortable here in Fort Worth (hardest transition of our lives, we don't know why).
• All of the gifts he has graciously given me.

Praying for:

• The Hackl Family. I heard about them from another Catholic Mom. The mother had a stroke at 33 and left behind five children under the age seven, including one who is nursing and a devastated husband. It touches me so because, well even though we know God's will shall be done. I know that I want to be alive for my child and my husband. The thoughts are overwhelming!
• My friend Lori's husband Phil, who is battling mouth cancer. Bless him. It's awful! 
• The health of my buggery BOOGERY family. Oh ya'll we have had it rough! And yet, we know how blessed we are. 3/9 - I just realized I had buggery instead of boogery. Please forgive me. I would never use that sort of language. I blame my stuffy headed brain. Again, I deeply apologize. Good Lord.
• the rest of my long list! Happy and honored to pray!

Thinking About:

• The power of prayer. We have a family friend who is in remission from cancer. We are so excited.
• How blessed I am to teach CCD to 3rd graders, and how excited I am to take a year off next year so I can be with my family.  Our Parish only offers Reconciliation once/week, and I want to be able to go weekly without driving across town daily. I wish we had a church nearer us. Then we could go to daily Mass - or at least go more often!
• What I am going to Can in the next few months. Our Jam lasted all year from last year. Blueberry was the bestest. The honey-lemon too. Blackberry-orange was good as well. Strawberry too! I still have Merlot and honey-lemon because I made big batches. We ran out of tomato puree (just tomatoes and fresh lemon juice - a great base for any sauce).  And we need more pickles. Marque made garlic/jalapeno dill pickles.  My favorite canning site - SB Canning!

Wearing:    See Above!

Creating:

• A mess. ha! Seriously, I haven't had time to play like I'd like to. Booo

Home Educating:

• My homeschool Blog  That will give some insight to our little school. It's my first year. I'm enjoying it - mostly!

Cooking:

• I have been making chili the past few days. Looking forward to having it for dinner tomorrow night.
• I have a menu plan, but it's mostly out the window. ha! Our schedule right now is so hectic, it's a lot of make-ahead and simple dinners. Nothing spectacular - unless you like soups, salads and sandwiches. Boring - but necessary right now.
• We are having lamb for Easter and are staying home instead of traveling. Must plan that out soon!

Reading:

• The same as last week. 
• But I did order The Little House in Suburbs - Backyard farming and home skills for self-sufficient living -- I will glimpse at it. I would love to have my own garden.  Our yard is small, but our friend Cecil is offering classes and we hope to participate. I am not going to say I have a black thumb, but it is kinda gray! ha!

Capturing:

My son as goalie stopping a ball.

My son with our dear friend Dave's son baby D.

Our dog Jenna at the top of the stairs because she

wants to sleep with us instead of going home.

p.s. - she is almost six. She knows where "home" is. ha!

If I was going to leave you with words of wisdom it would be this...

Be grateful for all you have. The good, bad and ugly! Truly everything we go through, good or bad shapes us. I would LOVE to not have been rebellious as a young twenty-something. But I now am almost fifty and would loved to have learned to appreciate everything much sooner than I did.

Life is short. We are called to be grateful and loving. DO IT!

I hope and pray you all have a great week.
Love and hugs,
Emily