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1.  I didn’t mean for almost an entire week to go by without posting, but sometimes the week just gets going fast and I have to work harder to keep up!

 But I have been getting ready for Lent! I’m so glad that Ash Wednesday is late this year because I feel like I really got to enjoy all that comes with celebrating Christmas, Candlemas and Valentine’s Day before settling into the somberness of Lent. 

 And I’m pretty nearly ready. I have been putting away festive decorations from Valentine’s Day and Candlemas this week and slowly getting ready to put the finishing touches on my dining room table after we have a little Mardi Gras celebration on Tuesday. 

 I do have a list of resources and books that my family and I are going to concentrate this Lenten season. I’m sending it out to my e-mail list on Monday before it posts here on Wednesday. If you’re interested, sign up here. It’s free. 

 2. Are you having a hard time getting into the mood for the 40-Day Lenten experience? 

You know, it didn’t use to be that way. The church actually guided the people to the front door of Ash Wednesday gently before pushing us through it. Amy Welborn has a wonderful post that explains what the practice used to be and advocates a little for going back to that. 

 Here’s an excerpt:

The best-intentioned post-Conciliar reformers (in contrast to those who simply didn’t believe any of the stuff anymore) seemed to me to be operating from the assumption that the  Church’s life and practice as it had developed over time functioned as an obstacle to deeply authentic faith, and that what was needed was a loosening of all this so that Catholics would develop a more adult faith, rooted in free response rather than adherence to structures.
Well, you know how it is. You know how it is when, on one day out of a million you have a blank slate in front of you? No rigid walls hemming you in? No kids to pick up, you don’t have to work, no one’s throwing obligations and tasks at you? And you think, Wow…a whole day free. I’m going to get so much  done! 
And then it’s the end of the day, and you realize that maybe what you had thought were restrictions were really guides and maybe not so bad because you look back on your Day Without Walls and you wonder…wait, how many cat videos did I watch today? Do I even want to know?
Yeah. That.

Where’s my parachute?


 I agree.

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3.  As I was looking for a bible study to do for Lent, I wandered over to Elizabeth Foss’s blog over at In the Heart of My Home, and came across this. 

I am not the same woman I was ten years ago when blogging was a daily habit. I am more shy, if that is even possible. I am less confident, thereby dispelling any myths about busybody mothers-in-law who have all the answers. I don’t. I have more questions than I did in my thirties, not fewer. And I am also more private.
I’ve learned a thing or two the hard way. I allowed too many people in, and I granted them access to the most sacred, private corners of our home. Most readers were kindhearted, gracious women of goodwill. A few, though, were what a friend categorized as the “most vicious, worst of the worst kind of cruel.” She continued, “I don’t know what you’re doing to attract that kind of crazy, but living like that is unsustainable.”
I wish I’d heeded her words and shut it all down then. But I didn’t. Because I was stubborn and idealistic and so ever-loving forgiving that I didn’t know how to protect myself. Or, unfortunately, my children. Instead, I persevered until I couldn’t even open the blogging site without a sense of dread. Then, without ever making a conscious decision, or ever committing the pause to paper, I just stopped blogging.
I have children who have never recovered from reading what women wrote about them and their childhood on the internet.

I actually started to cry. I could have written that. All of it. I saved some of the more memorable comments over on my sidebar.

 I remember one particularly cruel comment that went through each one of my children starting with the oldest and saying something scathing and hurtful about each one. 

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I have found that time has a way of soothing old wounds. Now, whenever one of my children accomplishes something in the adult world, like a promotion at work, making the Dean’s list, or opening a new restaurant and getting it promoted on local t.v., I smile. And remember. Their success is the best revenge. 
4.  Speaking of my children, my daughter-in-law is rocking Danielle Walker’s Celebrations cookbook! I got that for her for Christmas because it has a great cashew bread recipe that I thought she would enjoy. I don’t know if she’s made that yet, but she’s been experimenting with some of the other recipes and sharing them on social media! Good job Sarah! They look and sound delicious. 





5.  
Now that Rosie made it through the confirmation retreat, the next step in confirmation preparation was getting a new dress for confirmation at Macy’s!

 Macy’s had their big sale last week and I was able to get her three beautiful dresses for around $130. She’s set now for confirmation, the homeschool dance, two of her cousins’ weddings and a piano recital! It was a great investment!

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6.
Julie Bogart’s new book, Brave Learner, Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning and Life really emphasizes finding delight in the home! 

 Well rosie and I sure take a lot of delight out of these Pioneer Woman mugs!  I got them at Walmart and they’ve been gracing our home since Valentine’s Day. Sadly, they will go away for Lent, but they’ll be back for Easter!





7.
I’ll be participating in some Instagram challenges this month, one for March and homeschooling, and one for Lent. If you’d like to follow or play along, check out my Instagram page here. 



This content uses referral links. That means if you make a purchase or click a link, I may make a small commission – just enough to support my diet coke habit. And there is no extra charge to you. It’s
 a win/win! Read our disclosure policy
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