yes, yes it is. All the top influencers are on insta, Twitter, fb and whatever new app that I don’t even know about.

But that’s not my goal. Five years ago when I started this domain name, I put all this weird pressure on myself. I was fearful that everyone would think what I wrote is silly and a waste of time. So, I basically stopped (plus, throw in the fact that my kids hardly napped or slept for the first few years!)

As I am now thrown into the world of homeschooling and watching the world unravel from covid-19, I felt the need to keep up a hobby at home and document what I was seeing around me. I started a paper journal, and my toddler kept stealing my pen.

So, I picked up the ol’ Blog again. The same toddler will probably be after my keyboard next. But, I figured this is worth a try, even if it’s just a means to remember what we are doing and try to bring some clarity and maybe even joy ( by discussing happy things like books, faith and food)  to my little world.

This image circulated social media the other evening: a completely blacked out map of the United States. Someone had been tracking each dioceses’ responses to covid and social distancing, and on Sunday, all public Masses had been canceling across the entire country.

It was startling and heartbreaking to see this. We had already seen this happen across Italy, and we knew it would be coming to the US. I even agree with the measure; nevertheless it it is very hard to accept.

(Also: if you doubt the idea of social distancing and taking extreme measures in general, please read 1) De Civitate website, 2) this piece on social distancing on Vox, and 3) start following Michael Brendan Doughertry on Twitter. I’ve followed him for quite awhile, and he was one of the first people to take this seriously.)

I remember learning as a child about the faith of the Japanese Catholics under their harsh rulers. Catholics who had to go years, even as many one or two hundred years, without a priest or Mass. They had been baptized and catechized, and then watched as their government killed and exiled all remnants of the faith, including the clergy. Yet, when new missionaries, including Fr. Bernard-Thadée Petitjean, arrived generations later, they found faith among the people. The children knew their prayers and catechisms, even without every witnessing a Mass or meeting a priest or religious. The Church has suffered much persecution and hardship in her history, and I believe we can model ourselves after these fervent Christians who held close to Jesus and Mary even without the presence of the sacraments. (To learn more about the Japanese catholics, click here.)

The greatest consolation for me is that Mass has not been canceled, outlawed or banished. Just public Masses. Maybe that doesn’t seem like it is much of a difference. However, the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Altar continues. Priests can still offer glory to God and pray to the Trinity on our behalf. The Mass is still the perfect prayer, even if we are not there.

These times are certainly unsettling and I kind of can’t believe we are experiencing this- no one ever thinks they will live to see this type of thing happening. Let us maintain faith through personal and family prayer and taking part in the many live-streaming and recorded Masses and devotion.

My greatest fear at this time is that diocese or priests will limit Confession times and the Last Rites. I’m begging God daily that hospitals and state officials will not deny priests from hospices, hospitals and the bedsides of the sick- and that priests will have the courage to continue their ministry. The sick must not be denied this mercy, but sadly we are already hearing of these cases. Let us fast and pray especially for those about to die and for those priests and medical workers who are serving them at their last hour.

Here is a great prayer to start with!

Annie and John-Paul from PrayMoreNovenas.com have started a Pandemic Novena. It’s okay to start it late 🙂

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Father in Heaven, have mercy on us and on the whole world. We come to you today with our fears and concerns — You know what’s in our hearts. We love You, trust You, we need You. We ask You to be with us. Stay with us. Help us through these times of uncertainty and sorrow.

We know you are the Divine Physician, the healer of all. And so we ask that you bring your loving and healing presence to all those who are sick and suffering right now. Please comfort them.

Please be with the grieving families of those who have passed away. 

Please have mercy on those who have died, may they be with You in heaven. 

Please stand at the side of all medical professionals who are putting themselves at risk while they work to bring healing to others.

Lord, we are scared and we are sorrowful. Please heal us. Send us your peace and overwhelming presence. 

(Mention your intentions here)

We ask the Fourteen Holy Helpers, those who lived during the time of the plague, to pray for us and all who are at-risk!

Jesus, we thirst for You. You chose to enter this world as a vulnerable baby. Be with the most vulnerable now. Help us to continue to return to You with our whole hearts throughout this ordeal. 

Amen. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Reading to babies and toddlers isn’t always the great experience we imagine it will be. They throw, rip, and eat the books. I remember with my first child thinking that I will start reading right away…and she couldn’t sit for longer than maybe 30 seconds at a time! How do you read to this age?

After finding a Montessori book at a garage sale when she was 6 months old, my perspective changed. The Montessori method of education encourages the type of activities that include the entire person- including movement, real-life work, thought, play and book learning. With this in mind, I started to try introducing books to my children primarily through songs, actions and touch.

Touch and feel/ open flap and rhyming & songs books engage the entire toddler and teach them that books are something to interact with (in a way that isn’t eating them. 😉 )

The beautiful thing about children is that they love and crave repetition, so even with a small home library, you can nurture your baby and toddlers love for books!

A few of my my Favorite Toddler Books:

(Links and photos to come!)

Mother Goose Anthology

Where is Spot?

Usborne “Is that my Lamb?” (and all the others in the series)

Usborne “Peek Inside” Series

Hide and Seek Forest

Slide and Find Trucks

Animals

Moo, Baa, La la la!

Good Morning, Goodnight!

Peekaboo Zoo

And of course…Goodnight Moon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Storytelling is one of the oldest arts in human history. The images of drawings inside caves show us even the earliest people described their lives and shared their history through story. Stories have the ability to teach lessons and morals, provide a distraction during a difficult time, and transport us to times and places we could never travel to. Even the Bible uses storytelling as the means to tell us God’s plan for salvation and His unending love for his people. Sarah Clarkson, in her book “Caught up in a story” describes how her parents tried to pass on their love for story to her and her siblings.

“You can be like Aragorn or Frodo or Sam in the battles of the world, you can bring beauty like Jared (in The Journeyman by Elizabeth Yates), or discover something new like George Washington Carver. What kind of hero do you want to be?”

I love that quote and the idea that stories can form us into who God desires us to be. By consuming good books, and witnessing how characters encountered hardship, trials, betrays, and even times of joy, we are equipping ourselves to know how to act when we encounter similar troubles in our real lives.

Clarkson goes on:

“Terms such as “courage,” “kindness,” “good,” “evil,” or “heroic” are abstract concepts for a child. In order to learn what it means to be “good,” a child needs to be shown, not merely told. In all honesty, I think that is true of the human race, adults as well as children.”

It happens almost on a daily basis that my children and I will refer to a book or character during our normal daily routines. “Don’t stand on the table or you will be like Humpty Dumpty!” Rather than droning on in a moralizing lecture, I can simple ask them, “Do you remember what happened to Edmund when he was greedy? Do you want to go see the White Witch?” My kids respond really well to this type of correction and reminders.

As a child I would read for hours. I started a journal in 1997, keeping track of each book I completed (I was in fourth grade). When I flip through the pages of my 4th grade penmanship with glittery gel pens (do you remember that ’90s trend?) I can almost feel my emotions of being a 10 year old. I remember picking certain books out at the library, or finding it on my parent’s bookshelves. The years and pages go on and on, and the reading quantity ebbs and flows- slowing down particularly during college and early motherhood- but the act of finishing a book isn’t complete without writing the title and author in my book journal and detailing what I’ve read.

Now that I have children, books have continued to be a large part of our lives. I may not be able to play imaginative games like dress-up or kitchen for hours on end, but I can sit and read and read and read. Sharing the love of books with my children has been one of the highlights of my children growing older- I can’t wait to share with them the beauty and goodness in the world through the power of story.

On this blog, I plan to share reviews of my favorite books, book lists that we love and maybe didn’t love so much. I challenge you to view books in this way; as a tool to expand you and your family’s world and see how your love for books can transform your life.

 

It’s 11 PM, March 4th, and I’m on my phone placing a bulk order of cold, flu and basic medicines to fortify my home medicine cabinet. For the past couple of several weeks I had been following the situation in Wuhan, and then Italy and Iran. I couldn’t really believe my eyes, and like most in the country, was slightly skeptical that this would or could hit our shores.

However, more and more mathematicians and virologists on Twitter started banging the drum that this virus is not the flu. It’s more contagious than influenza, and we are not prepared. The exponential growth of the sick and dying kept ratcheting up each day, and I was starting to pay attention.  I began chatting often with a friend who had an impeding trip to Italy scheduled with her family. Should she go? What was the situation there? Would her family get stuck in quarantine in their hotel? This resulted in me spending too many late nights scrolling Twitter for real-live updates and stories from abroad.

After an hour of comparing prices and products, I placed my order. The medicines I needed- Sambucol, Tylenol, Motrin, cough medicine and throat drops, canned soup-  were still all in stock, and in two days would land at my door. This provided a little bit of peace of mind that I could care for my family, if we did get sick. But, schools was still in session, groups were meeting, business as usual.

March 3, 2020- the US now had several cases in Seattle, and I began thinking that this small handful would soon double, triple and then jump higher and higher. It was just a matter of when.

I was very concerned but most people around me weren’t, so life carries on. A week later, my husband and I saw this as a true emergency. Schools, governments and businesses were “monitoring the situation” and noted they would take action if anyone in their commmity got sick. It was clear to me, however, that once someone was sick, it was too late. Mostly out of protest to a world that had not yet reacted to covid-19, I decided to keep my kids home, even though the schools were open. I emailed my reasons, and urged the administration to realize that social distancing was the only way to hopefully keep this at bay.

My home state, a somewhat isolated and rural Midwest state, now had 9 cases and one death. My gut told me if this state had 9 cases, my urban city surely had many more sick people- they just were asymptomatic or not yet tested. Thankfully, as Friday, Saturday and Sunday progressed, the governments and dioceses called for social distancing and the cancelations began.

I ran to our school to pick up my children’s school work and then faced the new reality: I have to now actually take my own advice. We will now be home all day, with everyone home! All day! What would that look like? On this page, I will detail how we are (or are not) staying sane and happy at home.

 

 

**i wrote this four years ago, but it’s a good reminder! Maybe I’ll get around to editing it sometime… :)**

So, we are a month into 2016.  I’m sure you already read your fill of New Year Resolution posts – posts and articles about how we are going to lose weight, save money/pay off debt, and be better people.

This isn’t one of those posts.  Instead, I want to share my journey on scaling back my online/facebook use.

Time

I will admit I am online too much. Often, I am looking up recipes, activities for the kids, and news (yes, I am still a news junkie), but it was still too much time spent.While I often tried to keep my browsing time for during long nursing sessions with the baby, it usually lasted for longer than I wanted. Isn’t that how FB or the internet works? “Oh, i’ll check in for 5 min” but it somehow sucks you in for at least 30?

It is a new year and I want to live intentionally. With a purpose each morning. So, like reasonable person in the 21st century trying to break a habit, I went to google.  “Why I should delete facebook” brought forward a myriad of ___.  This article was probably the most convincing for me. Additionally, I just finished the book

http://berinkinsman.com/2015/04/06/quitting-facebook-makes-you-happier/

A funny thing happened  when I stopped mindlessly browning the web on Dec 31. I had a lot of time on my hands. Sure, it wasn’t in big chunks of time (ie, 3 min here, 5 min there). A few minutes after breakfast, or waiting for the toast to finish, or the time when the kids are actually playing together for long than 10 seconds (and not fighting!). Without the phone to zone out on, I became active again. Instead of checking my phone, I emptied the dishwasher, readied the coffee for the morning, chopped veggies, did laundry, and read two books!  In 6 days! Yes, this is real life!

Tranquility

I found peace that I had been lacking in my heart for a long time. a peaceful tranquility settled upon the house and, more importantly, in my mind and heart. Without the constant “what is everyone up to” and “what is happening in the world” pressure, I felt at home in my life again. What mattered wasn’t whether Obama/Trump/Kim Kardasian (take your pick) said something absurd, or the latest TASTY food video.* What mattered was that my 3 yr old is learning to take really good photos on our point-and-click camera and my 1 yr old can now connect the Duplo blocks without my help.

* (let’s be honest. We’ll never actually make one of those, and it just makes you feel lousy for not trying more projects, right? yes.)

Creativity

As a stay at home, there isn’t a lot of time for pursuing hobbies, especially when the children basically cannot do anything for themselves. It’s messy, tiring, monotonous. So, in the margins of the day when I do actually have some time (albiet in just a few minute chunks), i want to be creating, not consuming.

I had allowed myself to be sucked into the distractions, into the thinking that if I didn’t have a nice 1-3 hour chuck of alone time, then I couldn’t read (or write, or code). It seemed easier to zone out on the phone instead of immerse yourself into a book, but I have happily discovered that this isn’t true.

so, I challenge you to take the plunge with me this year. Maybe try it for a day, or a week, and see how it changes your day to day.  (NB: I do check in to FB every so often, as it is a good tool for messaging and keeping in touch with people. Moderation is the key for me!)

 

If I you are like me, you’ve browsed through Facebook or Pinterest and wondered how all those fancy and creative images are created?

Most web designers and graphic designers are most likely using Adobe Photoshop (Ps), which is an incredible tool. Ps and other Creative Suite software are among the standards in the industry, but there is an easier way {hence today’s tip}

Introducing – Canva. With nearly thousands of templates, text graphics, and other features that you can select and drag-and-drop into a new project, it really is among the easiest ways to design a great graphic quickly and (cheaply). While some of their templates and designs are offered for a low-cost, many great options are free.

check it out! 

 

Ok, I will be honest. Until recently, brushing my toddler’s teeth hasn’t been the easiest task. She greatly disliked it, even though she helped pick our the Tigger and Pooh brushes. It was such a battle of wills, and although I usually won, it still was a generally unpleasant task. Thankfully, it has become easier as she grows older, but I can empathize with parents who do struggle with the routine each day.

Enter: Apps.  Oral-B and many other companies have produced timed apps that will entertain children for the recommended 2 minutes it takes to brush their teeth. These apps also have alerts to brush each day, fun characters that children can remember and look forward to seeing.

The techy side of me likes to see the positive use of apps, and teaching dental health to children is important, and if an app will acheive that goal, I’m all for it.

But on the other hand, I hesitate to have my babies and toddlers watching the screen for something as routine as brushing their teeth. My worry is that we have become (or can quickly become) too reliant on a screen to make regular life bearable. We have not used an app yet, and instead try to sing silly songs or jingles to encourage the activities.

What are your thoughts on the use of such apps? Have they worked for you?