Blogging and Blessings

June 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A Mary Moment Monday post

It’s hard to imagine not blogging. I’ve been doing it for a long time, and it’s become part of my regular routine.

In the next couple of weeks, I have quite a number of obligations that are going to interfere with my blogging. Or maybe my blogging would interfere with them. Or it might be best to say that blogging can’t be the priority it has been many other times.

Our priest will often rearrange his office when he needs to think about something. “It gives me fresh perspective,” he has told me many times. I’m not a furniture-mover-arounder type, but I do have quite a fresh perspective, seeing as how we moved recently (more on that in an upcoming post). I also have quite a few deadlines, and three little kids, and an obligation to our parish Confirmation class.

It’s awesome to be blessed like I am. The busy in my life right now is all a result of God smiling and opening his arms to me.

  • The writing: I have a book and a pamphlet deadline coming up and I’m working on final edits for my book coming out at the beginning of 2012 through Pauline Books & Media (the one I wrote last summer).
  • The Confirmation class: It’s been a few years since I’ve taught religious education and I’m SO EXCITED at the opportunity to be a part of this summer’s “boot camp” for our Confirmation class. My niece is also in the class, which makes it triply exciting. Did I mention excited? Oh, and that I have a BUNCH of lesson plans to get ready?
  • More writing: I have an exciting book contract and I need to write a chapter this month. The rest of the summer will be spent writing the book itself, but I have a revised chapter due July 1. And, um, ahem. Editor dear, if you’re reading this, DON’T WORRY. :-)
  • Family time: It’s summer. My six-year-old, fresh out of kindergarten, has PLANS. (I don’t know what they are, but she’s walking around saying it in all caps, just like that.) We have a new back yard, a sprinkler, and friends to invite over. We have a tight budget this summer, and for a while, but that makes me think of last summer’s guest post by Colleen Mitchell.

With all this blessed busyness, I can’t help but turn to Mary with a smile. She’s there, in the background. She’s not interested in credit or attention, but she deserves a lot of it from me. She remains my inspiration and my model for saying Yes to the abundance that God is sending my way.

Getting everything done is a constant challenge for me. Except, I notice that it’s more a challenge in the planning phase…if I leave it up to God as his problem, it all seems to work out. That’s a lesson from Mary, at least for me. It’s a bit of wisdom that seems to expand and grow, leading me to an ongoing appreciation for the Blessed Mother’s trust in God’s will.

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Filed Under: Inspired by the Virgin Mary, Mary Moment Mondays Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Week of CRAZY!

May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I had a post all ready to go…in my mind.

And then I had ANOTHER post idea all ready to go…also in my mind.

Life has HIT ME, so I’m just calling this week a week off of the blog. I have a guest post scheduled for Wednesday and some announcements that I’ll share later on in the week, but I’m sure you can use this lovely time of year to your advantage.

Enjoy the week!

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What You’re Missing

March 18, 2011 By 4 Comments

Maybe you’ve noticed that I’m less active on Twitter and Facebook since Lent started.

It’s not that I’ve given them up for Lent (as you know if you saw my flurry of excitement the other day about my book being on Amazon and my author page), but that I’m not texting updates from my phone.

This week’s Quick Takes is what you’ve been missing…the 140-character glimpses into my days this week (because yes, I have a whole collection of “notes” now to capture some of those moments):

-1-

Sometimes, it just seems like my life is one big batch of distractions. Maybe I would deal better if I had ADD.

-2-

Few things set me straight, especially when the older kids are giving me grief, like the baby’s toothless grin.

-3-

I could’ve done without sitting on the wasp. Coffee does a fine job of easing me into the day…stings on the posterior, not so much.

-4-

My office windowsill has been transformed into a wasp graveyard. Yay for Spring!

-5-

The only thing not dribbling around here is the baby. Girls becoming very proficient at cuddling without interfering with Madness.

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Not texting updates = brain using extraneous characters to describe things.

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3yo is a flamingo. No, she’s a horse. No, she’s a dog. No, she’s…three.

You’ll find a whole passel of Quick Takes over at Jen’s.

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Reflecting on Life

January 24, 2011 By 1 Comment

a Mary Moment Monday post

January 22 marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It’s a day dear to me for another reason, and it’s made even more significant by the fact that we continue to grieve for Allen.

The story of my conversion is strongly impacted by this day in January (which was January 22, as it turns out):

It was a day in January that the doctor told them they had to have an abortion because their unborn baby would be dying. The doctor’s office thoughtfully made the appointment.

They told me it was the most freeing moment of their lives, the moment they made the decision not to have the abortion. They told me that they were able to let go, to leave their baby in God’s hands and to grieve without guilt.

You can read the rest of that story here.

I’ve chosen the pro-life label for a lot of reasons, but Susan and Al probably made the biggest impact with the decision they made after praying and discernment. The priest they spoke to told them they couldn’t play God, that they would be robbing their baby of the only life he would know: life in utero.

It wasn’t an easy path for them. But would an abortion really have been easier? Would the wondering have been worth it? Could they have forgotten–and forgiven–the responsibility they chose to bear?

I can’t help but reflect on the life around me, from the sleeping infant in my arms to the girls wrestling on the couch, the slumbering world outside under the snow and the critters in various cracks and crevices of my property. Life is all around me, even in the heart of winter.

Without a doubt, the value of human life trumps the others, but it also gives me a lens to appreciate the others better. Without the little lives–the kids–in mine, I probably would ignore the beauty of life most of the time. I sure wouldn’t think of sunsets as love notes, appreciate the beauty of autumn, or be able to find humor (and a good day!) in the midst of sickness.

At least half of my Twitter feed is dedicated to capturing what the kids in my life say and observe and do. Most of my favorite blog posts (and columns, for that matter) have to do with things other people have inspired me to think more about.

Mary stands before me and reminds me that life matters–that it matters more than anything else. It’s her job as Mom, I think. Even as I’m the one who captures these moments in my family and my world, she’s the one who stands in heaven, praying for each of us, bringing us to her Son, asking for mercy and peace and understanding for all of us. She must look at the things that are wrong and, with tears in her eyes, pray for us and long to have us understand.

In Provence, France, Mary is honored as Our Lady of Life on January 27. An image there (which I could not find in my searches online) has “often restored children to life who died without baptism” (source). I want to know more about this title and its history, but it’s going to require more digging and probably some offline searching.

But doesn’t it make you smile, knowing that there’s a long-standing title of Mary that relates to life in its very name? It gives me hope for all of us. Mary has that effect on me. She helps me see that hope is a gift from God and a necessary condition for the world to improve at its most basic level, at the level I can control: inside myself. Even in the face of atrocities against life that seem impossible to countenance, there is hope. (That link opens a pdf file of the grand jury statement against Dr. Ken Gosnell. It’s lengthy, but it’s also long, considering how truncated–or even ignored–the story is in the mainstream press. I found it via the Anchoress.)

Our Lady of Life, pray for us.

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Filed Under: Inspired by the Virgin Mary, Mary Moment Mondays Tagged With: , , , ,

Choosing My Label

November 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The recent #IamProLife campaign on Twitter has had me thinking about labels this week. Earlier this week, Danielle Bean tweeted, “Speak out for the unborn. Use #IAmProLife & tell us why. Please RT.” (She explains more in her post at Faith & Family Live.)

I’ve been pro-life for a while, but I have avoided that label. It’s not that I don’t like it; it’s what it used to mean to me. The fault is mine, I think, not the label’s, but it’s still stuck on me around the edges. I picture crazy, militant people, out to blow up clinics filled with innocent people. I see red-faced, screaming women, arguing about rights and who’s more important.

I am pro-life, though, as much for women and their unborn babies as for the elderly. I’m pro-life because I have caught a glimpse of the beauty that the physically handicapped bring to the world. I’m pro-life because, well, at the heart of it, I can’t be otherwise.

But…those don’t seem like reasons, not to my NT brain. Those seem like feelings.

I want to have a clearly articulated set of thoughts like Jen does, outlined and bulleted. What I have, instead, is a small white casket. What I have is a heart that is moved and a scar that was narrowly avoided. I’ve carried three children (the third still being “in process”) within me, and though that has changed me immensely and continues to change me, it doesn’t define why I’m pro-life, not entirely.

Pro-life is a label that has become twisted somehow. Pro-lifers aren’t a bunch of crazies — or the ones I know in real life aren’t. They are, by and large, men and women who are struggling through their lives, the same as I am. I see them on the sidewalks during the 40 Days for Life, praying silently. I know they come weekly to Eucharistic Adoration at our parish, because I see their intentions in the prayer book. I met them when I volunteered at a pregnancy center, and I continue to run into them whenever I wear my precious feet on my lapel.

If I have to pick a label — and in this arena, I think I do — I think pro-life expresses how I feel. It encompasses the babies and the women, the elderly and the unborn, the weak and the disenfranchised. I’m in favor of life.

Life’s not necessarily the easier choice. It’s not going to always be the beneficial approach. There might not be a positive bottom line to life, financially or otherwise. But I think it’s a larger discussion than bottom lines and who’s the one who has the “right” to decide.

It’s not a conversation that has to take place, but a conversion that needs to happen…and it happens, I think, one heart at a time. I have to start, as I do with all things, with that person who stares back at me as I brush my teeth. I can control exactly one person’s actions, precisely one person’s thoughts. So, instead of setting out to change the world, I’ll embrace the call to be pro-life in all the little arenas of my life — from how I deal with my kids to how I live my life in public to the way I treat the people I love.

Is there more I can do? Yes. Always. I’ll keep praying that I can cooperate with His grace and do whatever is next for me in this arena.

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In Honor of Mary

September 8, 2010 By 1 Comment

We had brownie batter for breakfast, made a batch of cupcakes before kindergarten, and licked all the spoons, bowls, and assorted counter tops.

You might say it’s just an excuse to be badly behaved. You might, in fact, be right. (Ain’t it grand to have feast days, though?)

The truth is, I’ve never taken the time to observe the Blessed Mother’s birthday with my kids before.

I’m not a naturally crafty person, for one thing, and many of the suggestions I’ve seen for celebrating Mary’s birthday involve crafts and cooking (and we all know how I am in the kitchen!). And, for me, birthdays are highly personal. Sometimes, it’s better to cocoon on a birthday, you know? Instead of trumpeting about it, I like to tuck myself in and disappear. I’ve been that way for a number of years, and my husband has a gentle way of dealing with it. I have no idea why I’m this way; my kids surely aren’t and I am pretty sure everyone else I know loves their birthday. I just…don’t. Haven’t for many years. No idea why.

So…here’s Mary, with a birthday. Honoring her is a given in my world (though my ways of doing so are perhaps not ideal, less than perfect, and very flawed). Though I posted about Mary’s birthday on Monday, about mid-morning, I realized I had forgotten to wear blue, I hadn’t said a Hail Mary, and my day was on track to turn out less-than-stellar. It was then that I made a  decision: we would make cupcakes in addition to the brownies we were already planning to make for my husband to take to work. Though the cupcakes smell delicious, I know they will lead to a holy mess when we ice them later. Because of course I’m letting the kids ice them. And sprinkle them. And eat only the tops.

Why not? It was one way to honor Mary and to involve the kids that didn’t involve scary supplies and levels of coordination only my husband could achieve. And…it will taste great later. :)

It’s a bit of an extravagance of sorts, but it’s also a message to myself. These little hands that are so eager to help me won’t continue to be enthusiastic about the helping if I squash them all the time. They might not think of Mary as someone approachable and even fun if I don’t take the time to talk about her the way I write about her. And, hey, I’m pregnant. Don’t you think chocolate cupcakes are just the thing I need in my 28th week of pregnancy?

However your day is going today, it’s not too late to give a nod to the Mother of God on her birthday. However you feel about birthdays in general and Mary specifically, it’s a chance to take her hand in yours and let her lead you to the greatest gift any of us have received: her Son.

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Filed Under: family, Inspired by the Virgin Mary Tagged With: , , , ,

Looking for the Hat, by Cathy Adamkiewicz

August 13, 2010 By 4 Comments

Cathy A. (because I only just learned how to pronounce her last name at the CNMC, and she will be Cathy A. to me no matter what) has been blogging for quite some time. Her blog name, in fact, “from the field of blue children,” is a whole story in and of itself. (What’s not to love?) She’s a mom of many, a grandma to a few more, and, overall, a lovely person. Though I hesitated to post some of this (hey, it’s MY blog!), I did promise her free rein, and I guess she was saying NICE things, so… Thanks, Cathy, for bringing all your generosity and grace to Real Life, just as you have, all these years, online.

–

I was so busy looking for the hat that I almost missed her.

There were rumors that a “certain someone” would be attending last weekend’s Catholic New Media Celebration sporting a cool new chapeau, and meeting the wearer was high on my list.  I had, after all, been a follower of her blog practically from the day back in 2008 when I became a blogger myself.

I was in Boston to attend the conference, glean wisdom and practical tips from the illustrious attendees, and become the kind of new media maven God had certainly created me to be.  I was also there to stand in the same room with some of my heroes, more than a bit starstruck, and wonder that I had been given the opportunity to make a real difference with the talents and tools with which I’d been blessed.

And I did want to see that hat.

More importantly, I wanted to see the woman wearing it. I know Sarah will blush when she reads this, and her humility will push her to the point that she won’t want to print this post, but she’ll have to, because she offered me the guest post spot and I snatched it up.  (I think the truth is that she was too busy planning for the weekend to find a better option, but that’s beside the point!) I was eager to write for her this week not only because it is an honor to be a guest in such a lovely place, but because I saw it as an opportunity to do something Sarah would never do here.  It gave me a chance to tell you about the REAL Sarah.

Oooh, now things are getting interesting!  Will this turn into an expose, a revelation of shocking new THIS JUST IN-style tabloid gossip?

Well, the hat was pretty spicy.

And the woman wearing it?  She’s just as wonderful as you think she is.

Now, before you start thinking this is just one big kiss-up post from a guest blogger looking for readers, I must reveal my motivation.  I set off for Boston for all the reasons mentioned above, and more. I wanted to discover the heartbeat of the new media movement, and that meant meeting the people behind it.  I love reading blogs, listening to podcasts, and eating up the latest YouTube – or better yet, CatholicTV – videos.  Like many new media consumers, I think the vibrant content so readily available to us is a delightful feast that keeps me well fed, entertained and enlightened. But I know that it really is, after all, about people.

Everything in life is about relationships. All that really matters is how we develop the relationships in our lives.   That’s it.  If we get the relationships right – those between us and God, between ourselves and our neighbors – it’s all good.

That’s why I wanted to meet Sarah, and the other attendees at the conference.  I wanted to shake their hands and thank them.  I wanted to tell them that what they were doing was making an impact in my life.  I needed to see their smiles and hear the enthusiasm in their voices while they talked about their work and about the One they were doing it all for.

One of the bloggers I had the pleasure of meeting, the bright young Papist Thomas Peters, told me that he has a theory about faithful Catholics.  Recalling the six degrees of separation that supposedly connect each of us with a particular actor, he said he’s sure that those of us who love the Church are separated by far less. “I’m convinced there is only one degree of separation between us,” he shared, and I think he’s right.  Being in a room with these wonderful people was an edifying reminder that we really are a close-knit family, this Body of Christ to which we belong.

And as for Sarah?  She’s humble, smart and witty.  She’s genuine and real, just exactly as I knew she’d be.  She’s adorable, with or without the hat.

We chatted for a few moments, took a few snapshots, and discovered we shared a love for red wine.  It was wonderful to bring into the Real World a relationship, a “cyberfriendship” but an honest-to-goodness relationship, nonetheless.  It was refreshing to meet Sarah and the others like her who are using their gifts to give the internet a soul, as our Holy Father has suggested. 

And it was great to know that in this age of new media, we really aren’t more than a degree apart.

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