Ask And You Shall Receive

Right after my post about trying to develop new (and grow older) friendships, God gave me the opportunity to do just that!  We were invited to a big party to celebrate a friend's visit from Alaska, and had a wonderful evening with lots of nice people from our parish.  The next day, we brought a meal to our friends who just had their seventh baby, and watched our children run around and play while sharing in the joys and sacrifices required to having a large family.  

My Friendship Project

I am reading a book right now, The Friendship Project, which was (appropriately) given to me by a very close friend.  She read it and then passed it on to me to read and keep.  As I'm reading through the book, I'm questioning if the friend gave it to me just because she thought it was a good book (it is!) or because she considers me a good friend (I'm not!) or because she thinks I need some encouragement in becoming a good friend (I do!).  I guess it could just be a mix of all those things, but it's obviously a topic that I'm sensitive to because I know I'm not the friend to others that I want to be. 

The Seventh Turns Two

Brendan Joseph turned TWO (and so did Lucy Doodle Martin - they're practically twins!)

7QT: Priestly Scandals and Beautiful Vocations

Welcome to the weekend!!

1)

Our former pastor (and Harvard grad) Fr. Roger Landry wrote about the newest scandal and I think it's worth a read.  I truly don't have anything to add about those disgusting priests.

2)

I do however, want to say something about the good guys.  The faithful, holy priests who are actually chastely living out their vocation.  I'm sure you know some, or at least one.  We are lucky enough to know quite a few because we take the time to have them over to our house and make them part of our family life.  Priests need the support that families can give them, just as we need their support to live out our vocation.  So please, please welcome one of the good guys into your home soon.  

Growing in Miles and Holiness

Back on January 1, I began my New Year’s Resolution: to run a marathon’s worth of miles every week.  That’s it.  26.2 miles each week without any concern over pace or hills or distance per run.  I just had to work those 26.2 miles into my weekly workouts.

It required some planning to figure it all out.   Would I run 6 miles today and then have a shorter run tomorrow when our schedule was busier?  Should I try to get the majority of my miles in over the weekend?  What if I just broke it up evenly and ran 4ish miles everyday?  I would try to plan out the week while keeping in mind my family’s needs and when I could carve out pockets of free time.  But the beauty of this plan was that it was totally flexible.  If it didn’t work out one day, I just doubled up the next day or added a mile to each of the remaining days in the week.

Read the rest over at Catholic Women Run

The Great Between

I can step back and see our family in sort of a snapshot right now.  This moment in time, these days we are living, are so great.  With every day comes new adventure, lots of love and laughter, memories being made and sibling friendships being formed.  There are no newborn babes keeping us awake at night (I love my kids, but the baby days are not my forte), everybody is healthy (how is that even possible?) and my big guys are big enough to be independent but not enough to cause us any real grief yet (let's keep it that way!).  Our oldest is 15 and our youngest is turning 2 on Sunday.  We're not just starting out our family and we're not anywhere near finished raising them either.  We're in the Great Between.  The spread is large and loud and lovely.

(and hard)

7QT: Patriots, Pups and Prayers

Happy Friday!! 

1)

We went to Patriots Training Camp yesterday, and it's always a fun morning

 if you're a Pats fan (sorry Phil!  But you were a good sport!)  Phil came up with their poster design...

On the way up to the Camp, one of the kids commented about how I have Redskins apparel (Phil's fave team) but Phil doesn't have any Patriots apparel.  I'm not saying that is factual evidence about who loves who more...but you could freely assume that if you wish.

Finding My Chill, Part Two: Falling on Sidewalks

(You can find Part One of Finding My Chill right here)

Wow, I meant to write this series in a much shorter timespan, but here we are two months later and I'm just now getting to Part Two.  I guess you could say I've found my Chill a little too much ;)  Here's the intro to this series:

After Alexander was born, I struggled with anxiety and panic attacks for a couple of years, to the point where it was interfering with my daily life - my choices, my actions, my future plans.  I did talk with my doctor about it, got some medication to have "in my pocket" which made me feel better, but tried to change small things in my lifestyle before jumping on the daily medication bandwagon.  I didn't want to reach that point, and luckily my anxiety wasn't severe enough to warrant it.  I've slowly been able to mostly overcome it, thanks be to God, in baby steps with small lessons learned along the way.  So this is a tale of my journey to finding my chill again.  (Should I include a disclaimer about how mental health issues are a real struggle, as much as any physical health issue, and anyone who finds themselves feeling depressed or anxious should consult a doctor, which I am not?  Or do you all already know that?  You do.  Great!  Moving on...)