An End of Winter Daybook

Outside my window... it is sunny but still chilly with the ever-present breeze. It has been a cold winter here. We just had a big rain and hail storm- finally! We’ve had about three good snows this winter but that doesn’t compare to rain for our parched land. I am thankful for... the love of friends this last week, especially our CC Community friends who have brought meals the last four nights and are helping take my kiddos places while I continue to recover from my emergency appendectomy! I’m getting there, still just very low energy. I am hoping for... a less eventful rest of our Lent! And for Jesse’s peace and joy as he finishes his time in the Air Force and begins his new position. On my mind... plans for the summer, including camps for each of the kids and some activities for Jesse and me. Noticing that... 1) Jude is working hard at being good, 2) John Paul is happiest when busy, 3) Mark is always going to like to stir things up, and 4) Mary is happy to be quite independent a lot of the time. A few plans for the month... Rest and recover. Begin Lenten observances anew.  Celebrate John Paul’s 10th birthday in Ft. Worth, as we do for that special one. From the bookshelves... Unhappily, I can no longer keep up well with what the older two are reading. I used to keep a running list. Happily, we’ve found Mark’s The Gospels for Children again and he and I are narrating though the second half of it. We are all reading The King of the Golden City together this Lent. Interestingly, it is Mary who keeps asking for another chapter. She loves the princess and King analogy. In the kitchen... a homemade “hamburger helper” dish and some roasted veggies made by a super healthy friend. Both smell wonderful and I am excited for dinner. Soon it will be the season for our CSA boxes again… I am creating... healthier expectations and restoring rhythms for myself, at least in my mind thus far. I really have to take the time to journal and take photographs regularly, to help me remember all we do and how rich our life is. I am going to start calendaring this. I’m also heading up our CC Yearbook, which we’ll be able to personalize for our kiddos, so I am excited to have a better plan for memory-making for my own children. On the Church calendar & in our home Church... it is St. Patrick’s Day! I read dePaola's Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland with the littles and they watched this St. Patrick video. I love the CCC videos. I doubt I’ll bake bread this Feast of St. Joseph, which is Weds. I do plan to make a mason jar of purple slips of paper with specific suggestions for ways to think and act positively, since our sacrifice/fast is from complaining this year. And I still want to make a very simple Lenten desert scene with sand, dirt, & rocks for our table.