Fall Break!

So what do you do when the seasons change,

the weather is beautiful, and mom's recovering from surgery?

You take a Fall Break!

Thanks Donna for reminding me of this!

Life is Good!

God is Good!

God Bless You!

Saint Michael the Archangel Pray For Us

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen..

A Thankful Woman's Daybook

For today ~ Monday, September 28, 2009

Outside my window ~ Fall is in the air :) I enjoyed a morning cup of coffee out on the deck. Definietly a step in the right direction!

From the sofa ~ Life goes on. Dad's back in the office today. The House Cat and Snuggle Bug are keeping things going around here. So far today HC has vacuumed, switched the laundry, and is now making lunch for Honeybee (mac n cheese her favorite). She's also very kind to be sharing her new laptop with me. It's definitely helping me to pass the time today. SB has also been busy picking up, sweeping and helping out with lunch. She's going to read to me about St. Bernadette later. Homeschooling at its best!

I'm listening to ~ Cars on the tv and Buck and Honeybee playing cars on the floor. If Mater doesn't make you smile, nothing will!

I'm wearing ~ One of the new nightgowns my sweet mama got for me, new comfy grey slippers, and grey cotton capri's. She took me shopping a few days before the surgery and spoiled me with lots of new comfy recovery clothes :) My hair's up in a clip, and I'm wearing my new reading glasses and my mama's pink and white checked robe. We couldn't find a robe for me on our outing so she lent me one of hers. There's a special comfort in having it wrapped around me. Kinda like she's giving me a big hug right now :)


Looking forward to ~ Can't wait to get back on the treadmill. I'm feeling a new surge to really work on a healthy body. Let's hope this is still the case when I actually can get back to exercising!

So many things to be thankful for ~

I am getting better - SLOWLY - but surely.

My sweet husband is such a gift from above. He has been working so hard taking care of us, and, as if that's not enough, he's still there to dry my tears.

The House Cat is a wonderful little mama around here. She cooks, she cleans, and she bathes her baby sister. She is learning so many wonderful skills that I never had.

Snuggle Bug is a wonderful companion for Buck and Honeybee. She's such a fun playmate and is teaching them so many things in return. She has so much love to give - just like a little snuggle bug :)

Buck is a thriving little man - wanting to be just like his daddy. He still loves his lullaby before bed. The sweetest thing is hearing him sing me the lullaby when I'm not feeling well.

Honeybee has been my little Florence Nightengale. She's always looking for a way to make me feel better. As I've said, I move from couch to bed. She's quick to grab my pillows and head to my destination, making me as comfortable as possible.

From the kitchen ~ Lots of food coming from so many beautiful people wanting to help. I'm so grateful for this. It's a huge help to my honey. An added blessing is we have been able to share with our neighbor who is also recovering from surgery. I must admit that I can't wait to be back on the "giving" end.

My plans this week ~ Rest, rest, rest and more rest :)
Also, have my two week follow - up on Thursday.

I hope to start this soon ~


State By State Scrapbook


I'm also looking into this for Snuggle Bug's future use ~


Literature For the Young Lady


I'm enjoying hearing ~


The House Cat play guitar and Snuggle Bug reading aloud to Honeybee. She's also started reading Bernadette: Our Lady's Little Servant aloud to me. She was sharing with me yesterday about St. Bernadette and her prayer to be a faithful and cheerful sufferer for Our Lord. I asked her if she would read to me about her. She light up and was happy to oblige :)

My motto today and for a while I expect:

"Give me an occupation or I'll shall run mad!" (Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility)

Doing laundry never sounded so fun!

You've Got Mail!

Today I found myself excited to receive mail. I'm usually way to busy to think of what may be in the mail. My spirits sure did lift to hear from not one, but, two friends today! Your prospective really changes when you have to stay still and let others serve you. I know this is not going to be a quick recovery. I am remembering to offer my sufferings for those I know who really need it. However, it doesn't take any of the pain or emotional up's and down's away. The words of the priest are coming to me now -PERSEVERE! I am so thankful for all of the meals, cards, calls, and well wishes. I am also reminded of how important it is to reach out to those who are having a difficult time. God truly speaks to us through others.

Thank You For Your Thoughts and Prayers

Hi everyone. Just wanted to post a quick note letting you know that I'm still here :)
The surgery went well and now I have to be a really good girl for a while and rest. I'm still extremely sore but, considering the extent of the surgery I'm doing remarkably well. I'm alternating between couch and bed and am blessed to have such wonderful caregivers! Hope you all have a great week staying busy with your blessings!

Take Up Your Cross And Follow Me

God knew exactly what I needed to hear yesterday. This was our opening hymn. I had a tough week last week. A follow up ultrasound showed the cyst on my ovary is still growing. Not wanting to take the pill to see if it helped, the family and I made a trip to Atlanta to see the closest NFP doctor in our area. I wasn't prepared for what she had to say.... My uterus is enlarged (13 week pregnancy) - but no baby:( Also the cyst on my ovary is huge. Back in 2005 I lost my left ovary to endometriosis. She felt sure this was exactly what was growing inside me again. The laprascopic surgery back in April showed lots of adhesions. At that time my doctor cleaned up my remaining ovary and tried to protect it with a mesh covering. I took the pictures from that surgery with me to see Dr. Raviele. She took one look at them and said, "You have terrible endometriosis." After the exam she said there is nothing else that can be done and I needed to have a hysterectomy soon. WOW- I was sitting there hoping for some progesterone cream or something :/ Oh well, God knows what He is doing. So once again I will take up my cross and follow Him! Please pray for us all. The surgery is scheduled for Thursday morning 6:30 am.

While in Atlanta we did have some fun though. We visited Stone Mountain. Since it was Labor Day they had an amazing laser and fireworks show! We all really enjoyed it! We all hope to go back one day and ride the duck and the skylift.

Have a blessed week

Buck's Word Ladder

I'm so proud of Buck! He's doing great learning to read using Hooked On Phonics. He loves building the word ladder. If he misses a word, it goes to the back of the stack and he keeps trying until he gets it right. I'm so thankful this series was given to me. I had been wanting to preview it but had not had the opportunity. God is so good!

Happy 13th Birthday House Cat!

We had a beautiful day, celebrating the gift of our first blessing, thirteen years ago. She and I enjoyed baking this delicious cake together. I LOVE baking their birthday cakes with them.It's a treasured tradition for us. We spent the day out at my mom and dads. Lots of good food, smiles and surprises!

She was truly shocked when she opened up her new mini laptop! Thanks so much Nae Nae and Pop Paw. She is sooooo excited! She is typing every chance she gets, adding her poetry, stories and music.

A special memory for me:

When asked by her dad what advice she would like to give to her siblings on her last day of being a "child", she answered,
"Just remember, we will always be children of God."

What a beautiful response from our new teenager.

A Blessed Woman's Daybook August 24, 2009

Outside my window....

The weather is so much nicer! It feels as if we may have an early fall here in Alabama.

To Live the Liturgical Year...
This week we celebrate the feasts of St. Bartholomew, St. Monica, St. Augustine, and the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist.

I Am Thankful For...

Such a blessed day - yesterday!

First, I had the honor of serving Our Lord at Holy Mass. Then we had orientation for PSR (Parish School of Religion). It was so good being back in the Atrium. Snuggle Bug was excited to see friends and find out which class she will be in. The House Cat was equally excited - she will be confirmed this year! We are so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful parish community!

My honey and I also met with our Teams of Our Lady prayer group yesterday. We love having this time together to pray, talk, and laugh with other couples who are fighting to keep their marriages holy and pleasing to God. With so many marriages ending in divorce, we can't let our guards down for a minute!

One Of My Favorite Things...

Cool breezes in August!

I Am Creating...

Plans for the week. I'm hoping to have a few minutes this week to check out this post and maybe make a folder for reading lists etc.

Some Plans for the week(outside the home)...

Bowling today.

PSR family supper with Eucharistic Adoration on Wednesday.

Our first sewing group meeting on Thursday.

Honey Bee and Snuggle Bug both have doctor visits on Friday and

The House Cat turns 13 on Saturday. Wow - I'd better eat my Wheaties this week :)

My Picture Thought...

Snuggle Bug's Nature Journal.

A Blessed Way To Begin Each Day

Beginning our day gathered together with our morning basket is such a beautiful way to start the day. I'm so thankful to Wildflowers and Marbles for sharing this inspiration. Actually, this is not the only thing I have picked up from her. And to think - she's here in Alabama! I really hope to meet her one day.

My schedule states 8:30 is our start time. However, this is very flexible. We begin our day at the Holy Water Font by blessing ourselves with Holy Water. We repeat a beautiful line a special priest uses, "Let us begin, as we begin all things; "In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." We tell Jesus good morning and pray our scapular morning offering.

Then we move over to the sofa and have our morning "together" time. We look up the saint of the day and light our candle. A dear friend once gave us globe candle holders representing the different liturgical colors. We check the church calendar for the color of the day and light the insertable candle, which we buy at our church's gift shop.

We read about the saint of the day and also the Daily Mass Readings. The House Cat and Snuggle Bug take turns reading aloud the first reading and the Gospel. I read/sing the Psalm and Buck and Honeybee lead the Alleluia for us. We might reflect for a moment on a line that has touched us or I might have found the Bible story in one of our Children's Picture Bibles to re-tell the story with. Next we incorporate some sort of music. We have been studying songs for Benediction in English and Latin. So we will sing those. Sometimes we will pop in a CD and listen to a song that goes with one of the readings of the day. There are so many wonderful Catholic artist out there! We especially love Danielle Rose, Donna Cori Gibson, and Adrianne Price.

What comes next varies, I may read from:

Once Upon A Time Saints or

Angel Food For Boys and Girls or

Catholic Mosaic or

Our Birds and Their Nestlings

This is such a treasure I stumbled upon on Amazon.

I have reserved an hour block for our morning gathering. By no means is it to the minute, or sometimes even hour. If I'm getting a slow start and the big girls are ready on time, they might go ahead and complete their math lessons before we begin. The important thing is that we do come together sometime in the morning to offer our days to God.

We close our time together by praying The Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, O My Jesus, Come Holy Spirit and the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. We thank God for the gift of homeschooling and ask Him to bless dad in his work and be with all of those we have promised to pray for.

May God Bless You in All You Do!

Celebrating Saint Bernard

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Clairvaux, meaning "The Valley of Light," was the location of the monastery where he served as abbot in his later life. We enjoyed reading about his life over brunch muffins.St. Bernard had a great devotion to Our Lady, and to Jesus Christ Crucified. He greeted Our Lady with a Hail Mary each time he passed her statue. Once, when he greeted her, Our Lady responded, "Hail, Bernard!" This showed him how much his devotion meant to her.

He is the author of the beautiful prayer, the Memorare. Here is the House Cat's copywork illuminating it.

I purchased these beautiful sheets from Notebooking Pages.

May we, like St. Bernard, ask ourselves each day why we are here. May we never forget that our ultimate goal is heaven!

St. Bernard, pray for us!

Math Fun With Buck

Just a quick post to share a couple of fun ways we enjoy math around here :)

Hope your week is blessed!

7 Quick Takes from a Blessed Week

1. This week started off wonderful as all do. We got to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!
2. After Mass, we ate the picnic lunch I had packed as we drove to our first faculty meeting of the new school year. It was wonderful seeing so many beautiful friends who are walking this adventurous path of home schooling with us!
3. Monday morning we started our "official" new school year. We are really enjoying our new school area. Our morning gathering time has been so blessed. My morning basket is coming together. I hope to do a post on that soon :) We had fun bowling again this week. It was good to spend time with old and new friends.
4. Buck's doing great on his reading! I'm amazed at how much he remembers after taking time off for summer. When I asked him how he remembers certain things, he says, "Mom, I sound them out!" :)
5. We survived another one of dad's business trips. He's started having to travel some with his job :( We are keeping a grateful heart though. A friend once told us. "The devil has no room in a grateful heart."
6. Took the kids to the library. I normally run in and out picking up and dropping off books. This time, however, we all went in for a leisurely visit. The House Cat went over to the teen section with her sketch pad. She's finding Drawing For Older Children and Teens very helpful. Snuggle Bug gathered a few horse books and The Hobbit to read. Buck had fun gathering movies, books, and creating a leaning tower with them all:) Honeybee found a Cinderella book and a rocking chair her size. As I perused the books, I heard her "reading" the book to herself through the pictures. I wish I had what happened next on video. "They've got it all wrong!" she says to herself. "They've got it all wrong." She proceeds to find the librarian and explain to her how the book she's looking at isn't telling the story the way her Cinderella movie at home does. It was priceless! :)
7. Yesterday was once of those days that explains the title of my blog. My honey's out of town working. Through the grace of God I was able to have a productive school day, cook supper, bathe Buck and Honeybee, put them down for a nap, shower myself, iron all of our clothes, and make it -with the kids- to my monthly Confraternity of Christian Mothers meeting. God truly does give us all we need - When we live for Him!

Have a blessed weekend! Love, Lori

Visit Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes.

Our Little Engineer

Buck's been busy making lots of "boy stuff".

A chalkbox car

A bus like "The Duggars" at the gas pump.


Also called a 4th of July car :)

And yesterdays invention, with a little help from Snuggle Bug...

A crane to lift them all!



I guess it's true that kids have more fun with the empty boxes!

First Day of School and Feeling Organized!

Good morning everyone! Today is the "official" first day of the new school year for us. Although we believe homeschool is a way of life - so there is actually no beginning and no end. It is such a beautiful way of life! It is such a blessing to hear my 8th and 5th graders so excited about starting their new books! Thank you Lord for I really want them to ENJOY learning!
I truly believe there is always a silver lining to every cloud. Last night as I was talking with my beloved, I realized the fruit that had come after my recent surgery. Had I not had the recovery time to SIT and rest, I'm positive I would have kept going and going like the Energizer Bunny :)
God provided me with lots of time to thumb through my favorite home schooling catalogs and to talk with our girls about what would be best suited for them this year. I also thankful to so many wonderful bloggers who share awesome ideas with us all!

One in particular, By Sun and Candlelight, shared her file crate system with us. I have begun to use it and I must say I feel so much more organized. It's basically a weekly planner that holds loose paperwork, mail, or whatever you may need to have handy for the week. I kept feeling like I had sticky notes and papers all over the place and could never put my hands on what I needed when I needed it! So, I went to the office supply store and bought a planner and a file crate. First I sat down and filled in as much info as I had for the upcoming school year. Then following Dawn's example, I got to work on my weekly folders. I have one for every week of the year, sort of divided into seasons. Also, there is a folder for Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and my favorite book lists.

Here is my planner with my weekly folder kept neatly inside :)

The front of the folder...

Inside the folder...

So, now it's time to get started! Hope ya'll have a blessed week living for God!

Our Cowgirl

Snuggle Bug's first time on her pony, Buddy. A happy little girl!

7 Quick Takes on a Blessed Friday

I have definitely been busy with my blessings lately. We are preparing to start school next week. I feel like I've been preparing for months :) Anyway, here are some things that have been going on around here. Hope your week has been busy with your blessings too!

1. Joined some other homeschoolers for bowling on Monday. Only had to pay for the shoe rental $2 per child! Had a great time! Looking forward to next Monday.
2. Finished ordering our school books for the year. At least for now :) Can't wait for the new ones to come in. (Angel Food for Boys and Girls, CHC: A Year With God, Our birds and their nestlings to name a few.) These will all be part of our morning basket. Thanks Jennifer for such a beautiful idea!
3. Took Snuggle Bug and Buck to meet my parents at the tack shop on Wednesday. They bought a saddle and all of the fixins for Buddy. He's been at the trainer for a few weeks now. We are planning on going out for a visit/ride on Saturday. The kids are super excited about this!
4. Wednesday morning began with Children's Adoration and Benediction at our parish. It was so good to be there. Father Booth did such a nice job talking to the children. He encouraged them to talk to Jesus just as they talk to us (mom and dad). When this was over we walked across the street to the library. We were blessed to spend the day with special friends. I even got to love on my God daughter while she napped :)
5. Got my hair trimmed with my mom.
6. Had a wonderful book group meeting last night. We were finally all able to get together and discuss the first section of Graced and Gifted by Kimberley Hahn. On page 29 she states, "The Proverbs 31 woman ...works with willing hands. Another translation - makes cloth with skillful hands." She asks if there are skills we can acquire from others to help us cloth our family. Come to find out, we have several seamstresses in our group! I'm really hoping to learn to sew skirts with my girls. We all feel so much more feminine dressed in skirts!
7. Today I'm finishin' up our school supply shopping list. We are having a tax free shopping weekend so we are hittin the stores! Have a blessed weekend!

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Wordless Wednesday Robot

A Beautiful Surprise

Imagine my surprise to come home to this after a long day of catechesis training.

I tell you - I am one blessed woman!

Pennies For Life

A few years ago a good home schooling friend started collecting Pennies For Life. She would bring the donation jar to our faculty meetings and ask for families to bring some change to donate to our local Pro-Life center. She is now "graduated" from the group and yours truly has taken over the Pennies For Life Campaign. I've just finished counting last years donations $40 - not bad for spare change. I am going to send a check to the Pro-Life center from our home school group. This money is used to help provide for women in crisis pregnancies so that they will not be afraid to CHOOSE LIFE! I am hopeful that this donation amount will continue to grow and that one day in the not too distant future abortion will be a thing of the past!

I also took advantage of this opportunity to have a little math lesson with Buck and Honeybee.
They helped me sort the change.
We also had the first of many talks about the value of money. Buck didn't quite get it - When asked if he'd rather have 100 pennies or a dollar bill he quickly said

"100 pennies!"

A Job Well Worth Doing

I am so thankful to say, "We're Done!" It was a BIG project but, well worth the time and energy it took to accomplish. I have a new found sense of motivation for the upcoming school year.

I finally have all of my little ducklings in a row. From left to right we have...

The House Cat's desk/workstation. The bookcase got a complete overhaul and is now being used by us big girls - a shelf for each. It's also storing some art supplies above and on the top shelf underneath. Snuggle Bug's pad is next. Continuing to the left, Buck now has his own desk space. Last but not least Honeybee has a make-shift space made out of an old TV stand. I still need to get her a small desk lamp and chair but, she's just happy to have her own space.

A peek into the bottom of the file cabinet shows stacking plastic trays for paper storage.

(Can you tell I watch HGTV;)
On the bottom shelf I kept out books I may want to reference for looking ahead.

Otherwise, my sweet husband helped me box up LOTS and LOTS of books. Once again he kept me on track by asking, "Are you using it THIS year? I have a tendency for overkill :/

I went through every piece of paper and every crayon in the house. It was very overwhelming at times but thanks to all of my helpers we made it through!

My file crate system is coming together - I hope to post on that soon.

Now comes the schedule making task. I'm determined to put something down on paper and do my best to stick to it. Wildflowers and Marbles has an inspiring post on this. I need to print it out, sit down with pencil and paper and make a plan that works for us.

Ready to help me honey? :)

One down - LOTS to go....

Last night we started a MAJOR re-vamp of our downstairs den/school room/workout area. My sweet husband came home from work and moved every piece of furniture/electronic down here to a new location. This really needed to be done. Some of these book cases hadn't been moved in years.... ugh...need I say more? Today we are beginning the process of going through all of the books and re-organizing them. Snuggle Bug was up and at'em this morning and finished the first bookcase with the classical literature on it. Buck served as a good "bookend" and she gathered the books.

Now, if each one of their desks could look this neat!

Hopefully I'll have some great "after" pictures to share soon! I am inspired by so many other bloggers who have beautifully organized spaces. Jennifer, Dawn, Jessica, Evann, and Donna to name a few. Thank you ladies for sharing and God Bless you all !