Hello! Welcome to Lent 2026!
I am trying to go through the Crux program on Ascension this Lent, because after hearing the Irish Franciscan priest speak, I just couldn't refuse. Irish + Franciscan = me in a nutshell :) Lent never seems to get any easier for me, but I'm hoping it's a lot like exercise and I'll keep plugging away:
This week has been February vacation week here in Massachusetts, but we stayed home and did a few fun things, scheduled a few appointments, and I went to work but only for four days since Monday was a holiday.
For Valentine's Day, Phil and I went out to dinner at our favorite local Italian restaurant:
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| Chicken Parm for me and Chicken Florentine for he |
The next day, we took the youngest three boys to a hotel on the Cape for an overnight. They swam and we went out to dinner and ice cream, shopped a little, drove by the houses of my childhood and went to Mass at the church where Phil and I got married. It was lovely!
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| The hotel has a little arcade |
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| Not Your Average Joe's in Hyannis |
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| Shake Shack (our first time!) in Hyannis |
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| Our Lady of Victory in Centerville |
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| We shopped at Trader Joe' before driving home & Declan begged us to buy a dragon fruit. Disgusting! |
Maggie did not come with us because she was packing and prepping for her mission trip to Florida this week. She is with a church group that is doing corporal works of mercy (and a little maintenance work) while staying in a beautiful retreat center. She even leaned to dance the salsa from the residents of the nursing home they visited!
Andrew has recently started dating a girl we can.not.wait to meet, and gave her the sweetest Valentine's Day gift:
The framed photo is of "The Port" on Franciscan's campus, a chapel replica of St. Francis' Portiuncula in Assisi, and where 24 hour Adoration is held on campus. After a dinner date where Andrew officially asked her to be his girlfriend, they went to pray at the Port and he took a picture to commemorate the moment. She loved it!
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| Snow + Love are in the air |
Eamon went to Topgolf with a group of friends, thanks to one of the girl's families who came into town to visit and treated them all:
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| Sorry, but are all the Franciscan freshman this good-looking? |
Andrew's mission group met up to plan the retreats they will be holding for the students in Arizona next month:
He also had his best friend come visit and the group went to the casino, in what looks like their pajamas??
JP has been busy studying - even during the Superbowl game:
Honestly, the game was pretty disappointing so I can't blame him! We canceled our plans to watch the game with people as the stomach bug had been going around our house, but the kids still got their Superbowl Sundaes:
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| Walking the dog before the game, and we saw a house with this cute Patriots setup. |
JP also sent a photo of the Mass that was held for the healing professions at Duquesne, at which he read the Prayers of the Faithful:
And just like that *snaps her fingers* Ash Wednesday was upon us:
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| Nice ash |
I hope you all have a lovely weekend and a fruitful Lent that's just Lenten enough for your soul. I'm excited for Stations of the Cross tonight... I made this graphic for our church so if anyone is in the area, feel free to join!
Your kids are so inspiring- mission trips, works of mercy, going to Adoration with his girlfriend! You and Phil did a great job.
ReplyDeleteI hope you avoid any more stomach bugs and have a healthy return to work and school!
- mbmom11
Great pics. It looks like the hotel stay with the littles was enjoyable. I think Maggie had bad weather on her last mission trip - I'm glad this one cooperated. Exciting news for Andrew with the new girlfriend.
ReplyDeleteSo exciting that Andrew has a girlfriend! Mine are all single right now and I keep praying hard for them to find someone great.
ReplyDeleteYour family is always so busy doing wonderful things!
ReplyDeleteHow sweet is that Valentine's gift and story!! I just love it. And also love your one-night hotel stay with the pool and restaurants -- so much fun.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of the Crux plan before and took a quick peek at it. It definitely sounds more doable than some of the more extreme plans like Exodus 90 (have you and Phil done that one?). My Lenten fast this year is from Facebook and Reddit. I was wasting WAY too much time distracted by both. I'm also following the daily audio readings on Hallow (and playing the kids' series in the car when we're driving around). I like that the Crux plans includes both physical and spiritual disciplines!