7 Quick Takes

~1~

My older three children have spent the last two mornings in the girls' room playing with the wooden castle and fairy lodge.  They have out all the accessories, the wooden saints, and the fairy house we made before Annelise was born.  I love that my boy is willing to dive in so wholeheartedly with his sisters, but mostly I love that they are playing so well together.  As much as I wish it were, this is not so often the case.

~2~

A dear friend is in town for a short visit for a funeral a friend of hers.  While I hate the reason for the trip, I'm so glad to see her twice in a year.  That hasn't happened since 1997.

~3~

Tomorrow night is the second Supper and Substance at our parish.  Wine, cheese, gumbo, other married couples, and a speaker (who happens to be a couple with whom we're friends).  CAN'T WAIT.

~4~

Three weeks from today I will be sitting in His Presence at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama with two of my most treasured sister-friends and two of my most treasured mentors.  This trip is an answered prayer in so many ways.  I feel like God is spoiling me.  I keep wanting to pinch myself..."Really, Lord?  Me?"  I'm so grateful to have been placed in such holy company.

~5~

"Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."--Marianne Williamson

I have that taped above my desk.  On Tuesday, Elizabeth posted this:

"A child loved by her parents has faith in joy.

She expects it; looks for it. Sure that she will find it.

We are children who know we are loved. We can look for joy and expect to find it.

We are children of a loving Father.

A child loved by God has faith in joy.

I am a child loved by God.

Joy is mine."

I will tape it next to the first quote this weekend.  I love this...."Joy is mine."  I will claim it.  I will do my best to not let myself be robbed of it.  I will do my best to pass it along to my children. 

~6~

Next year's school plans are still dancing in my head.  I am excited and nervous, confident one minute and totally overwhelmed the next.  When I think of all that I want to do and learn with my children, I wonder when and how we'll fit it all in.  Then I remember this wise post from a trusted online mentor, and remember that I have asked St. Anne to be my patron this year, and I know that it will fall into place exactly as it should.  Next year will mean the end of a lot of the time I currently have to myself in the afternoons, but in the words of a very wise friend...I will choose excellence.  Dying to self is just as much about choosing excellence as it is about embracing suffering.

~7~

"The greatest tragedy ever is to not become a saint."--my pastor last Sunday

No pressure, right?  Thank God for grace!