Wordless Wednesday - Brightening My Table Right Now

What Happened to February

Is it really March 1st?

What happened to February?

-- 1 --

My DH and I went on a University-sponsored retreat of sorts. We stayed at a nice hotel and ate really good food (steak, shrimp, bison kebabs). And lots of it (maybe too much). And I didn't have to cook it. Or clean up from it. Or cut anyone else's food before enjoying it.

We celebrated Mass each day at St. Mary's of the Badlands, reportedly the oldest Catholic church still in use in the state of North Dakota. I got to see the park in the winter from the comfort of a coach bus. After dinner one night, a group of us took a walk in the gently falling snow. The air was warm. The snowballs were flying.

I was introduced to a master knitter, the wife of the University's CFO. We sat by the hotel's beautiful stone fireplace (a fire was actually lit when we were sitting there) and talked knitting. I learned of knitting groups in the Bismarck area. And she taught me how to change colors in the middle of my current project.

The theme of the retreat was: Servant Leaders of Moral Courage: Reflections on the Vocation of a University. More on that later.

-- 2 --

Right before leaving for said retreat, I received a Facebook friend request from my great-aunt's granddaughter, with whom I corresponded in junior high, when she was living in Germany. She is the daughter of my mom's cousin and we were pen pals for a short time, but I haven't ever met her and I hadn't heard from her in YEARS. She is now living in California, not far from my brother. This "meeting" led to the discovery of a host of other cousins I never even knew existed. Cousins living in Egypt and Japan. Cousins starring on Glee. Pregnant cousins. Cousins who like to crochet and cook. And together we've been working on filling in some of the leaves on my maternal grandmother's side of the family tree. And I've got the bug to create some family tree albums.

(My grandma is standing, third from the right. Aren't old pictures fabulous?)

-- 3 --

My dear, dear persevering husband has been working (and working and working) to finish his dissertation. It has to be in the hands of his board by next Tuesday, so Monday is the last possible day he can mail it (and that, overnight). His last "overnight" mailing didn't arrive the next day, so I think he's aiming for Friday or Saturday. We have seen very little of him the last two months -- a big reason why I have not been blogging. or knitting. or reading. I've been busy taking care of life. And drinking wine.

(a Christmas present from my Mom)

-- 4 --

In conjunction with finishing the dissertation, we went to Minnesota for a week, so hubby could use the University library to work on his bibliography and footnotes. We crammed in as much as we could before Minnesota got hit with another foot and a half of snow.

We spent an afternoon at my gramma's, and she surprised the kids with their favorite lunch and ice cream.


Our gracious hostess invited our former pastor and the brothers over for a fabulous lunch of linguine with a salmon cream sauce (I still need that recipe, Faith!) and chocolate cake. We are so grateful for her generous hospitality, and immensely enjoyed our time with her (short as it was in between running around to all of our other commitments).

(No, we are not crazy ... this picture was taken last July before we left ...
different weather, same people, same wonderful hostess!)

The girls and I got haircuts. I was able to attend an in-service retreat day for Archdiocesan staff. The kids went swimming and to the Children's Museum with my dad. The girls were able to get in some dance lessons and time with their friends, as well as attending a ceili. We spent a splendid evening sharing pizza and wine and catching up with dear, dear friends. We had brunch with my sister-in-law. And we made it home before it started snowing! Whew!

You know how traveling is ... time to pack, time away, time to unpack, time to adjust to a normal schedule ... it's good to be home.

-- 5 --

Finally, we celebrated three birthdays in February. On the 10th, we went to Space Aliens to celebrate my DH's birthday -- not because he loves Space Aliens, but because he loves that his kids love Space Aliens, and it was good family time. (By the way, Bismarck is home to the original Space Aliens!) (And they have really great barbeque.)

On the 26th, our oldest daughter turned 10! Ten! She is as horse-obsessed as ever, determined to one day own her own horses, or maybe even a ranch. She proclaimed this birthday "the best" -- I think because of her gifts -- real Western riding boots and a cowgirl hat.


She is determined in more ways than one, always trying her best and setting goals for herself, whether in dancing, or in her school work, or in trying to please her Momma. She reminds me a lot of myself, and I am so proud of the young lady she is becoming.


Two days later, my Baby turned 2! She is my joy and the light of my days.


Babies are truly one of God's great blessings.


Her favorite thing to do right now is to take care of her "babies" -- feeding them, changing them, ...


... and wheeling them around in the new cart she got for her birthday.

And that, my friends, is where February went.

Happy March!

Yarn Along

I was hoping to post a recap of my weekend retreat, along with some clever reading and knitting updates, but I've run out of time, and I want to win the yarn Ginny is offering today for Yarn Along participants, so I have to settle for this boring picture taken quickly at my kitchen counter. I finished and started another dishcloth since last week, and I finished and started another Louis de Wohl novel, this time about Saint Helena and the Emperor Constantine. Good night, all!

On Sleep

I don't know many moms who don't wish for more hours in the day. I have often wished I didn't need as much sleep as I apparently do. I know people who can go strong on four or five hours a night. I need eight to nine to function optimally. And, by "optimally," I mean with love and patience. When I don't sleep well, I inevitably take it out on the kids. And so, my DH, knowing this, has offered, probably since we started homeschooling, to be on "night duty." He is the one that (99% of the time) gets up at night for sickness, or nightmares, or falling out of bed. The kids know to call him and not me in the middle of the night. And, really, this is one of the reasons my husband is my hero. He rescues me from myself. He rescues the kids from the me. And all because of my need for sleep.

I still wish I had more hours in the day. I still wish I didn't need so much sleep. And I was reminded today, in reading a friend's blog post, that this is something I have struggled with since college. One day, I lamented this fact to a wise professor, who later that week gave me the following excerpt from God Speaks by Charles Peguy. And I remembered today that, really, I still lack trust. I fear idleness. I, perhaps, could be classified as a workaholic.

But I remembered. And that is grace. So let the hard work begin anew.

I will trust. And I will sleep.

I don’t like the man who doesn’t sleep, says God.
Sleep is the friend of man.
Sleep is the friend of God.
Sleep is perhaps the most beautiful thing I have created.
And I myself rested on the seventh day.
He whose heart is pure, sleeps. And he who sleeps has a pure heart.
That is the great secret of being as indefatigable as a child.
Of having that strength in the legs that a child has.
Those new legs, those new souls,
And to begin afresh every morning, ever new,
Like young hope, new hope.

But they tell me that there are men
Who work well and sleep badly.
Who don’t sleep. What a lack of confidence in me.
It is almost more serious than if they worked badly and slept well.
Than if they did not work but slept, because laziness
Is not a greater sin than unrest,
It is not even so great a sin as unrest
And despair and lack of confidence in me.
I am not talking, says God, about those men
Who don’t work and don’t sleep.
Those men are sinners, to be sure. They have what they deserve.
Great sinners. It’s their fault for not working.
I am talking about those who work and don’t sleep.
I pity them. I am talking about those who work and who, in this,
Obey my commandment, poor children.
And who on the other hand lack courage,
lack confidence, and don’t sleep.
I pity them. I have it against them. A little. They won’t trust me.
Like the child who innocently lies in his mother’s arms,
thus do they not lie
Innocently in the arms of my Providence.

They have the courage to work. They lack the courage to be idle.
They have enough virtue to work.
They haven’t enough virtue to be idle.
To stretch out. To rest. To sleep.
Poor people, they don’t know what is good.
They look after their business very well during the day.
But they haven’t enough confidence in me
to let me look after it during the night.
As if I wasn’t capable of looking after it during one night.
He who doesn’t sleep is unfaithful to Hope.
And it is the greatest infidelity.
Because it is infidelity to the greatest Faith.

Poor children,
they conduct their business with wisdom during the day.
But when evening comes, they can’t make up their minds,
They can’t be resigned to trust my wisdom for the space of one night
With the conduct and the governing of their business.
As if I wasn’t capable, if you please, of looking after it a little.
Of watching over it.
Of governing and conducting, and all that kind of stuff.
I have a great deal more business to look after, poor people,
I govern creation, maybe that is more difficult.
Your might perhaps, and no harm done,
leave your business in my hands,
O wise men.
Maybe I am just as wise as you are.
You might perhaps leave it to me for the space of a night.
While you are asleep
At last
And the next morning you might find it not too badly damaged perhaps.

The next morning it might not be any the worse perhaps.
I may yet be capable of attending to it a little.
I am talking of those who work
And who in this obey my commandment.
And don’t sleep, and who in this
Refuse all that is good in my creation,
Sleep, all the good I have created.
And also refuse my commandment just the same.
Poor children, what ingratitude towards me
To refuse such a good
Such a beautiful commandment.
Poor children, they follow human wisdom.
Human wisdom says Don’t put off until tomorrow
What can be done the very same day.
But I tell you that he who knows how to put off until tomorrow
Is the most agreeable to God.
He who sleeps like a child
Is also he who sleeps like my darling Hope.

And I tell you Put off until tomorrow
Those worries and those troubles which are gnawing at you today
And might very well devour you today.
Put off until tomorrow those sobs that choke you
When you see today’s unhappiness.
Those sobs which rise up and strangle you.
Put off until tomorrow
those tears which fill your eyes and your head,
Flooding you, rolling down your cheeks,
those tears which stream down your cheeks.
Because between now and tomorrow,
maybe I, God, will have passed by your way.
Human wisdom says:
Woe to the man who puts off what he has to do until tomorrow.
And I say Blessed,
blessed is the man who puts off what he has to do until tomorrow.
Blessed is he who puts off. That is to say Blessed is he who hopes. And who sleeps.

Weird ... or Not

Miss Rose and Miss Sunshine have decided that I'm not so weird ...

... or maybe they just decided that being weird is fun. or warm.

"Pass the suntan lotion," I said,
as one girl made wave sounds
and the other imitated a seagull.

We giggled.

Yarn Along et al

In an effort to prolong my son's life,
I am reading this again.

In an effort to prolong my son's life,
I am knitting.
a lot.

It calms me.


I finished another dishcloth,
but am now out of yarn.
Being a new knitter, I don't have a stash.

I want to make a hat.



I do have a stash of books, though.
What should I pick up next?


I am looking forward to going on retreat this weekend.
in beautiful Medora, North Dakota,
gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

with my husband.

without my children.

to recharge my batteries.

because I feel a lot like this lately.


The Boy
told me this morning he loves me more than Legos.
Wow! That's love.
That earned him some points with Mom.

and made me feel better.


Miss Rose and Miss Sunshine
cleaned my bathroom for me yesterday.
to surprise me.
They left me a note.

That's love, too.

and made me feel better.


The Baby's
new favorite thing to do when I'm cooking
is to set the table.
by herself.
on her own initiative.

Girls are so very different from boys.

Say "Cheeeeeese."

To see what others are knitting and reading,
visit Ginny at Small Things.

Stay warm,
if you live near me.

Stay in the house,
if you live somewhere that got dumped with snow.

Hug your kids,
if you've got some.

Live.

Laugh.

Love.

Six-Year-Old Boys

What is a six-year-old boy's favorite line in this book?



Why, "U is for underwear down in the dryer," of course!

He loved this A, B, C rhyme so much, he's been singing it today.
over. and over. and over.
ad nauseum!