What am I cooking? Something with beef stew meat, diced tomatoes, an onion... Any suggestions? I am attempting to clear out my freezer this week and will be whipping up something with these ingredients in my slow cooker this morning. I am hoping a website like this one will save me--just type in the ingredients you have and it gives you a mega list of recipes that comply. Voila! Dinner served!
What are my weekend plans? Princeton Alumni Interviews, baby! Saturday morning I will be meeting with four prospective Princeton students and getting to know them in 45 minutes or less. GG and I try to do our part in alumni interviews each year, but I will admit, it is a rather painstaking process--arranging meetings, driving to meetings, taking hours to sit down and "interview" students, then processing the info in an interview report. It is hard not to get emotionally attached to the candidates in hopes for their acceptances. With close to 30,000 applications each year, though, it is rare for us to get one in. GG had one two years ago, I had one last year. We are always exuberant... and then crestfallen for our hopefuls who didn't make it in. Good news: many wonderful students end up at fabulous schools around the country. Princeton's just sharing the wealth.
What are my prayer intentions for the day? For baby Josie and her mama. For Patrick Kelly and his family. For mourning families.
What can my children do instead of watching TV? Do Tae-kwon-do. And not on each other! Our oldest, M, received martial arts classes from his grandparents for Christmas and *boy* what fun he has had. He seems to love doing something engaging, active, controlled, and disciplined. The little ones love to imitate the moves the class is doing. And I love that this gets us out of the house two afternoons/week--while M is at lessons, I take the little ones out to a playground at the Y or to the Child Watch and have a cup of coffee. Mama Bliss. Enough said.
What have I done for my marriage this week? I have worked on Catholic Engaged Encounter talks with GG. We are weekend presenters next weekend and are putting the finishing touches on a new set of talks (think 8 talks at 20min/ea). It has been quite the undertaking, starting back last winter when CEE came out with a new weekend outline and new talk format. We have been rather reluctant writers during the writing process, but thanks to the upcoming weekend deadline, we are beginning to see the light. Alleluia! Our prayer is that God will speak through us to the couples and strengthen their upcoming sacrament.
What am I reading? The library just informed me it was ready for pick-up-- The Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (author of Seabiscuit). It is a book I'll be reading for my moms' book club. I hear it's a good read; a tale of war and survival for a POW. One woman recommended a light read after finishing this one. I can imagine it will be more than necessary.
What’s challenging me lately? At 24 weeks, round ligament pain. I'm having quite a bit in the evening times and the only thing that helps is sitting or lying down. I think GG is beginning to wonder if this is my ploy to get out of putting children to bed! It hurts, I swear! ;) My theory is that I'm doing too much during the day and stressing the belly muscles/ligaments, which then spasm at night, telling me to slow down. Caring for children is one thing, but yesterday it was most likely thanks to flip turns in the pool while I swam laps... Guess that's an easy thing to give up!
Something that made me think? I really enjoyed this postfrom Desiring God back in July, discussing motherhood as a calling (and not an obligation). A friend sent it to me not too long ago and we discussed it at length last night at a Catholic Women's Fellowship get-together. It was a really important reminder that my mothering needs to be born out of a sacrifice rooted in unconditional love. When I am lacking the will for such a sacrifice, I need to crawl back to the Cross and witness the purest, most wonderful sacrifice there ever was. Praise God for a Savior who gave so much for us; a true inspiration as we love and nurture our children in the day to day. Even through the tough moments, they are precious gifts. I want them to grow and know how much their mother cherishes them; even more, how much their God gave for them.
1 comment:
Wow! I struggle EVERY DAY with the sacrifices that come with motherhood. I feel guilty about not wanting to play all of the time...and the list goes on from there.
The part that got me was when you described "crawling back to the cross." Yes, that's what I need to do. The act of crawling, appropriately puts me in my place.
Thank you for sharing!
I hope you get some relief from the ligament pain. Rest? Yeah, I know...good in theory.
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