Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes.

1

Amelia Hill House is moving along!

We had the bad news that there is asbestos tile under the kitchen, so that's thrown a snag in the timeline. But the day nursery and downstairs bathroom are humming along!

Day Nursery! The walls in here looked really scary not too long ago.

2

I'm so ready to move in and start making progress on our forever home, but we're in our rental and it's Holy Week. So I'm cleaning, cleaning, cleaning!

I've convinced John that vacuuming is amazing and getting to hold the all purpose vinegar + water cleaner is an honor of the highest degree. Therese likes the duster but that's about it. I'll take what I can get!

3

All the cleaning work has been an excellent distraction from losing out on my dream production this week. I wrote a bit about it on social media, but the rejection never gets easier (even when I take my own advice.)

4

John has been asking to "catch up" in his school for a while now, and I finally am accepting that this kid has completed the Kindergarten curriculum. I am making him finish all the books, even if he knows it. Math was the first down, and the rest of his subjects will wrap up next week!

5

I am putting together my April planning this week (bullet journal is still going!). If I can remember your prayer intentions this month, feel free to comment, email, or message me on Facebook or Instagram. 

I'm dedicating April to St. Catherine of Siena. She's one of the few female Doctors of the Church and her feast day gets preempted by the Fifth Sunday of Easter this year, so I thought it was fitting to remember her as my saint of the month instead!

6

Holy Week at our parish is downright beautiful! We had dozens upon dozens of altar boys last night. The procession looked to be the scale one would expect of a pilgrimage site.

I don't sing again until the Easter Vigil so we observe Good Friday at home. I wrote up my favorite Holy Week traditions we observe earlier in the week.

7

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy starts today! I forget every year, but I'm determined to remember this year. It's a beautiful, and simple, devotion. I find this printout to be helpful.

My Top 7 Holy Week Traditions

Happy Holy Week! I rounded up some of my favorites of our Holy Week traditions.

Cleaning!

We spend the first few days of Holy Week cleaning out! I make a point to get to those tasks that I tend to put off, like scrubbing the bathtub and scouring the stove.

The past few Ember Days I have included sorting through wardrobes to make sure everything in there fits, is in good condition, and is something I like. I used to use the Holy Week clean out as the time to switch over clothing from winter to summer, but now that we live in Minnesota it's more of making sure things fit and aren't terribly stained or ripped while I dream of future summer. Still a good time to do any hand-me-down passing!

Thematic Movies

After all the cleaning, it's nice to have some family time with a movie!bh
Prince of Egypt is my go-to for Holy Thursday. The story of Passover is intimately tied to the story of the Passion! We've done just a CCC saint movie for the remaining days, but now that my kids are getting a little older I'm thinking of adding another full length movie to our tradition list. Suggestions welcome!

Flavors of Seder Dinner

I've struggled with what to call this Holy Thursday dinner. Because it's NOT a Seder and Catholics really shouldn't have those (this is a good take on why), but it does hearken to the flavors and memory of a Seder. Here's our typical menu:

Roasted Leg of Lamb
Horseradish Potato Gratin
Herb salad
Matza
Red Wine

We might read the Passover story from Exodus, but there's no attempt at the traditional prayers or ritual of a Seder.

Visiting the empty church

Some time between the Mass of the Lord's Supper and the Easter Vigil, I like to take the kids to the church so they can see how the tabernacle is empty and the altar bare. It really drives home to them what these few days of the Passion are so different from the rest of the year, and why Easter is so exciting!

Quiet Good Friday

Good Friday is typically the only day I might have off from singing in a week of heavy choir duties. Thus Good Friday is a day when I tend to keep us home and the day a little calmer. We especially try to observe the time between noon and 3pm in quiet. That is helped by most of that time falling during regular naps, but some backup plans are needed.

Good Friday is the one day of the year when the books and activities normally reserved for mass only are allowed to be used at home. I pull all the mass things, pewter saints statues, kid rosaries, and other items that normally have to be used with mom into a special Good Friday Holy Hour Basket and I light a taper candle on the mantel at noon. I tell the kids once they are up from nap that they are welcome to look at things in the basket while the vigil candle is burning on the mantle. The candle stays lit until 3pm. We normally pray a rosary and I might turn on some chant or sacred music.

The effort is well worth it!

Good Friday Fish Fry

I'm from Texas and Fish Fry is the most perfect way to break a fast! Preferably with a fish fry that includes lemon pepper catfish and hush puppies.

Confetti Eggs

On Holy Saturday we dye eggs! If you have not experienced confetti eggs, you are missing out.
I tried to find an easy link for how to make these, but all of them were more complicated than necessary! Here's the quick version:

- Use a butter knife to tap the end of an egg. Make a hole about the size of a nickle in the end of the egg. Use egg contents normally. Rinse, and dry the egg in an egg carton.
- Dye as you would hard boiled eggs. I use the warm apple cider vinegar-water-food dye method.
- Once dry, stuff with small paper confetti
- Cover the hole with a small piece of tissue paper dredged through a mixture of water and Elmer's glue. Let dry.

We hide them and the kids gather them, just like regular Easter eggs, but THEN we re-distribute them equally among kids and adults, count to three, crunch them in hands.....and fling confetti! Preferably on as many people as possible. It's magical! And biodegradable.

What are your favorite Holy Week traditions? Are you trying anything new this year?

The Double Gift and Burden of Faith

I was asked to provide my honest reflection and opinions of the new book Walk in Her Sandals edited by Kelly M. Wahlquist. I received a free copy of the book to review, but all opinions are my own.

This is a special CWBN Blog Hop! You can see the other blogs in the hop here.

The first thing that struck me about this book, Walk in Her Sandals, is that these are meaty chapters. This is not a frilly women's spirituality book that has many words yet says little.

The fiction imaginings helps the reader become immersed in what might have been going through the minds of women close to Jesus around the time of his Passion. What might it have been like to see such drastic changes in their loved ones who followed Jesus? What was it like to hear the stories about Jesus from those who actually saw them happen? What would we really do when faced with the fantastical yet real?

It's uncomfortable to think about, isn't it? It's uncomfortable to wonder if you would have really been a Christian if placed in these women's shoes (or sandals). It could not be excused as something "I just grew up with" or "what I've always done". For these women, saying they were followers of Jesus could not be hidden beneath such platitudes. They carried a true burden of faith. This is part of our Christian heritage. It is part of what it means to inherit the Christian tradition - to not shy away from what is hard or what is uncomfortable.

Often our greatest gifts are also our greatest burdens. Women know this in a very intimate way. Pregnancy is tough, and dealing with our fertility (whether hyper-fertile, sub-fertile, or infertile) is something we don't get to just forget about. That does not make these bad things, in fact, I would argue that the burden of our gifts make them greater gifts still because we have to continue to accept them as gifts.

This book has one of the most intelligent and honest reflections I've seen about maternity in a general Catholic women's spirituality book. The story they chose to fictionalize is the story of Miriam who is following Mary Magdalene to the tomb of Jesus on Easter Sunday. There is not a pregnant woman in sight, yet there is something very true about maternity in this story. It is the story of women being called to carry life, and that starts with a spiritual acceptance of life.

We often talk about "spiritual motherhood" in the Catholic Church, but I don't think it comes off well. Too often it's seen as some sort of bone we throw to women who are struggling with infertility. Like somehow caring for strangers is supposed to take away that longing for an infant of your own to cherish. Or it's assumed that we have no need for spiritual motherhood once we have our own biological children. Neither of these things is true.

We are all called to reach outside of ourselves, of our own little groups, and of our own families to care for the Other. Spiritual parenthood is not something exclusive to women - men too are called to spiritually father. One of the best insights I've heard on spiritual parenthood actually came from my bishop during a diaconate ordination. In his homily, he shared the advice he gives to priests who are having a hard time praying and being so constantly available to others: it's not about you. You aren't praying to "get something out of it". You aren't caring for a friend in need to get good karma. You are doing it to practice loving.

At a very fundamental level, Love is one of the most basic vocations in the Christian life. Love is the thread that runs through this book, as it runs through the Passion of the Christ himself. The book begins on Palm Sunday, through the Passiontide and Easter Sunday, and ends on Pentecost.

If you are looking for something to help you reflect more deeply on Christ, scriptures, and our lives as Catholic women this Lent - this might be the book for you!

It is designed to be done in a group, though I could see going through this book as a private devotion as well. Copies can be ordered on the WINE: Women in the New Evangelization website. There will be an accompanying journal available during Lent!

What experiences have you had with faith? What are you struggling with as Lent approaches? What have been your experiences with spiritual motherhood?

Holy Week Plan!

Well it's finally here - Holy Week 2016!! Yea!!

Here's what's on the agenda around here.

Monday-Wednesday

We're cleaning, cleaning, cleaning!

We take off regular lessons this week. I find this a good time to do any lingering Family Formation activities John still has around. 

(Keeping little hands busy + religious themed + clears out my drawers = holy week approved)

Most of the focus is on decluttering - largely the stuff that really is just junk/recycling. I'm always amazed when I do this how much paper clutter is stuffed in drawers and baskets.  

It's also about setting things up for the more prayerful end of the week.

I set up our little family altar with the blessed palms from Palm Sunday, cover the big Holy Family statue in purple cloth, and take away all of the extra holy cards. I leave our CRS Rice Bowl, Family Formation rosary booklet, rosaries, and candles. (This year I have 3 candles set aside for Tenebrae. More on that later.)

Wednesday is our final choir rehearsal before Easter time. This year, it's also a gender reveal! (#thisisnotanannouncement)

Another woman in the choir just found out the gender of her baby, so I'm making gender reveal cupcakes and making people lighten up in the stress of Triduum. 

Can't be stressed out when you're celebrating babies with sugar, right?

Holy Thursday

And it begins!

The morning is spent doing the last big cleaning push, and doing the prep work for meals today and Friday. Fasting is harder for me when I have to spend a lot of the day working in the kitchen, so I find it better to front load that on Thursday so it's all set for the kids.

I'll often put on The Prince of Egypt (and it's on Netflix!) for the kids while I do things, like scrub the bathroom, that involve using cleaners I don't really want little fingers touching.

This year we're doing a little family washing of the feet with the littles. We also read this book about Passover.

We have a Seder inspired dinner with the young adult group! 

Part of the spread from last year.

If you want to do something like that, this Horseradish Potato Gratin is amazing.

Good Friday

This morning we do our first Tenebrae with the kids!

Tenebrae is a form of the morning prayers (matins and lauds) used during the Triduum. 

I'm using the adaptations I have in my Magnificat magazine. 

These include lots of feet stomping at the end. I can see this being a hit with a certain dinosaur reenactor of mine...

Even though the kids are not fasting on Good Friday, they still will not be eating meat and meals will be simpler. Thankfully I have children who are very happy with simple soups and beans and rice. 

We will do a little kids Way of the Cross after naps - since this is the time least likely to melt down. It also lets me round out a Noon to 3pm Holy Hour. It is normally very doable since the kids both nap from noon until 2-2:30. It's just that last hour or so that's tricky. 

So it might not be quiet, but it is on topic!

We will be hosting the young adult group Fish Fry at our place!

Mostly because I'm the only one who misses southern Lenten fish frys enough to actually put on my own.

Holy Saturday

It's time to hit the road on Easter prep!

Most important activity of the day (according to John): making confetti eggs!

We save most of our eggs through Lent by cracking out about a nickle sized hole on the small end to get out the contents of the eggs. Rinse out and save in empty egg cartons. Then, on Holy Saturday morning, we dye them like regular Easter eggs, stuff full of confetti, and seal with paper mache tissue paper square.

On Easter, we hide them and do an egg hunt before the real confetti egg fun begins.

You crack them in your hand a bit and toss the shell and confetti at people.

Like so.

The cracking in your hand is very important as it allows the contents of the egg to actually go on the other person and not just bounce off them. Then all you've done is handed them more ammo, and why would you want that?