Cheers to New Beginnings!

Okay.

Silly me. Of course if I write and share that our week has been going fairly smoothly I would meet a Friday that could rival any Monday.

Stopping in for some quick-takes and beauty finds because this mama could do with some re-focusing.

Earlier this week, we fell into our rhythm. It was great. Good days. Lots of reading, smiles, fun, and chill. Then I went to bed late, twice, only to wake up to two grouchy-pants. I tried to rival this by meeting up with some awesome mamas at a fun little indoor play place, but Mr. Bigfoot decided to keep his grouchy-pants on. Such is the life of the little ones I suppose. Trying to navigate emotions and fun all at the same time. But on a day of fasting, I admit that my temper got the best of me when they decided to cry all the way home. All. The. Way...Oy!

Twas a long car ride.

But life took a turn when my husband came home for lunch with... Wait for it! ...a free iced-coffee from Chick-fil-a! Oh MY HEART! I can't even tell you the flood of love I had for him when he stepped in. I mean, I'm pretty sure I almost cried. True story.

Especially since, on my way to meet my friends I punched in Chick-fil-a in my Google Maps only to be taken to the middle-of-neighborhood-no-where. No, thank you Google. No, thank you. Ever.

I hadn't had coffee because I was wanting this tidbit of delicious mixed with caffeine but Google had other, more unpleasant plans for me.

See, the thing is, Lent is here. I have set my mind and heart on my offerings and sacrifices. This is definitely going to be one of the more trying Lenten seasons I've had in recent years and I'm thankful and excited for that. However, as many things as I am saying no to right now, coffee and creamer are just not one of those. I know myself and I know where we are in life right now and that would do more harm than good. And that's not what Lent is about. I will not be learning Love with an empty coffee mug this season. Perhaps another one in the future, but not this one. And that's okay.

But given the trials from today, small may they have been, I'm telling myself to begin again.

"Jesus offers you the cross, a very heavy cross, and you are afraid of not being able to carry it without giving way. Why? Our Beloved Himself fell three times on the way to Calvary, and why should we not imitate Him?" 

~St. Therese of Lisieux

I found these words from St. Therese last year. They mean something to me again this year. And probably will for the rest of my life. A reminder that has helped me transition today. Encouragement that made me stop earlier. Encouraging words and some jokes from my husband also helped me settle a ton too (THANK YOU, Love!).

Today I fell. I fell on the drive home from such a fun time and I fell while at home during lunch. But I'm determined to get back up again. To begin again. It's just what I need to do. It's just what needs to happen. And, with His Grace and Strength, it's going to happen!

On that note, the boys napped. I rested. I typed. I read. And now I'm sharing. We were invited to a Children's Stations of the Cross and a Lenten dinner. This will be good (fingers-crossed). Either way, I've had an attitude adjustment and will be determined to find the good and beauty in it. In our time with friends and our time sharing God with our little family. Time sharing in fellowship. It will be good.

And on another good note, I grabbed my camera the other day when we had some sunshine. These were my beauty finds. Finding beauty in our time together and throughout our week really helps me to slow down and have that peace that helps me get through my days.

Cheers to new beginnings and finding beauty. On the daily.

How is your Friday going? What encouragement have you found during your harder days that makes all the difference?

Thanks for stopping by! Linking-up with Kelly for some quick-takes and Aimee for Finding Beauty Friday! I've missed linking-up with you both! And linking-up with Amy for Embrace the Ordinary. Thanks for hosting during Lent, Amy! :)

Advent: Everyday Sacred

It's that time of year again. The time where I so much want to unplug and embrace my days in a way that draws me closer to the Child Jesus and His birth. The time that I want to be more present to the reality that our sweet Mother walked and rode a donkey while pregnant in her last months along side St. Joseph all the way to an Inn with the manger that held Our Lord as an infant.

This year I'll be joining Abbey again for #HolyLens: Seeing the Sacred in the Everyday. I joined this past Lent and absolutely loved it. The photo journey helped me to be more present to our daily blessings and graces found in our every day present moments. I am looking forward to this journey during Advent this time around, but so you can get an idea of my experience last time, here's a glimpse of a few posts from last year:

The Light of Lent

A cross, some dust, and some sweetness

Lent: Do you wish to rise?

Today's theme is watch.

To start, I shared this photo on Instagram. My parents were here for Thanksgiving and watched the boys for us from morning till late afternoon. This gave us time to go watch a movie at the nearby theater that just opened. The theater was amazing! The seats made me feel like I was watching a movie while in bed. They were so comfy! We watched the new Hunger Games movie and I really enjoyed it even though it was filled with tragedy and sadness. It was mostly true to the book which is always wonderful!  

On Saturday, we went to a Christmas tree farm about an hour away. This was a long day, but filled with lots of memories and goodness, despite a few tantrums and some mischief. At the very end of our time at the farm that was ultimately a mini carnival for kids, we had a few extra tickets for some rides. The boys were tall enough for the kiddie Ferris Wheel so we encouraged them to give it a go. 

As you can see below, Linus went first with no hesitation. He sat in the cage, got buckled in, and was off without a glance. He smiled on his way up and when he came down to see us. Such a brave little boy to jump onto his first ever Ferris Wheel without a hint of fear.

Meanwhile, big brother was a no-go. He did not want to try. He was slightly frightened of the unknown at first, but after seeing his little brother go, he was ready for his turn. He got strapped in, brother came out because he was done, and off my oldest went.

He conquered and yelled from his little cage, "Watch me, Mama!". Watch we did and could not have been more proud of him. He smiled a ton and was so proud of himself too. Rightfully!

I was so proud of them both. Their bravery was inspiring and I'm thankful I was there to watch them experience this little adventure. 

It really is all the little things that make up our big things. The little things that bring me to love them both more and more. The little things that bring me closer to my husband in love and goodness. I'm thankful for the grace upon grace that helps me be present and I'm thankful for these little prompts from the Holy Lens journey that encourages me to see past myself and all the clutter!

What have you been able to watch or embrace in your day-to-day? Have you been able to find the Sacred in your Everyday? Join us on Instagram or Facebook on Abbey's FB page.

Linking-up with Gina for Embrace the Ordinary with this post because it is in the ordinary that we find the Sacred!

7QT: Guardian of the Incarnate Word

--- 1 ---

St. Joseph's feast day was this past Wednesday. It was a good day. It was a great day! We celebrated in little ways for our little man's name day and this mama finished praying the St. Joseph novena for my husband, husbands everywhere, my boys, and for thanksgiving.

My intentions for the novena were dear to my heart. All of them. But, this year, most especially the prayers of thanksgiving. Let me explain.

Last year I prayed this same novena. I asked dear St. Joseph to help us find our home and to help my husband find another job that better suits him (or that we have more peace about where he was then) in the near future (preferably before buying a house). These intentions were present to where we were then and pretty specific. Thankfully, our son's dear patron saint, heard me and took my petitions to our Sweet Lord.

Months after the novena, my husband found, applied, and accepted a job that is perfectly suited for him. This new job has been such a blessing to our little family. Such a gift!

Soon after he accepted his new job we began our house hunt. This house hunt went on for a little while. It was hard to trust. It was easy to get carried away with each house. But, thankfully we were  able to be mostly patient, trusting, and had so many people praying for us, including St. Joseph.

--- 2 ---

Eventually we stumbled upon a home that we were drawn too. There was an undeniable pull once we entered the doors. And, we really did just stumble upon it!

It's funny though because we initially weren't very interested. See, we had found an open house across the street and found out there was another home nearby that was also showing. This house wasn't necessarily on our radar. Just another house nearby. We called our Realtor and decided to head over since we had a good hour before Mass. It really was the best decision we could have made and Holy Spirit gently guiding us to our gift. 

We walked in and I immediately noticed a small figure of St. Joseph on the welcome table. I quickly noticed the figure and took to the owner. We started chatting about our Catholic faith. She shared how she had been praying for a young Catholic family with babies. She wanted new and precious family memories to be had in her home. She shared with me the beauty of the home, all it had to offer, and emphasized how wonderful it is that it has been prayed in for over 20 years. She got teary at the thought of our little family purchasing the home and so did I! My son took to her too and after leaving kept asking to go back to Mrs. Carolyn's house. She took to him as well seeing as his name is the same name that started us in conversation - Joseph. She also quickly shared that she had started a 30-day novena to St. Joseph the day prior and felt that he was working fast.

She was right. And, I could not be more grateful for our Lord listening to the petitions of St. Joseph, Guardian of the Incarnate Word!

--- 3 ---

{Pretty}
Now, onto our celebrating this wonderful Saint who was so integral in helping us find our home.

This picture was able to encapsulate a lot of what I found beautiful on this feast day. We were fortunate to have a friend and her two boys (one in utero) over to feast over dinner. Ultimately, she had come over to help let me pack up for our big move this weekend, and when I realized she would be here on St. Joseph's feast day I quickly let her know that we would be feasting and she and her sons would be joining.

She brought over a delicious St. Joseph salad. Our oldest boys are near in age so they had so much fun playing together. Many laughs were had and it was beautiful. Made me want to always celebrate feast days with family friends. Also, it was another reminder of just how blessed we are to have so many wonderful people in our lives and the lives of the boys.

The picture captures the richness of our faith. The joy. The celebration. The whole feast! Which is why I also included this photo for Abbey's Holy Lens Insta-project and Cari's Theme Thursday.

--- 4 ---

{Happy}

Bigfoot was so happy to pick and choose breakfast and lunch. Funny enough he was happy to keep it toddler-simple while I made more of a feast out of dinner.

St. Joseph Feast Day Menu

Breakfast

Blueberry muffins, cereal, and apples

Lunch

Chicken nuggets, Hummus & Carrots, blueberries

Dinner

Pappardelle di San Giuseppe, St. Joseph salad, and St. Joseph blueberry puffcakes

(Another thank you to Catholic Cuisine for their awesomeness!)

We read our St. Joseph Story book during breakfast and lunch per the little man's request.

Enjoyed friends and food for dinner. The pasta that we ate was delicious! It was a perfect salty sweet and made me think of sawdust. Sounds weird, I know, but it did! The breadcrumbs mixed with sugar and crushed toasted walnuts had this sawdust look to them. A perfect opportunity to share about St. Joseph and his craft of carpentry!

And I coudn't get enough of this yummy St. Joseph's salad my friend Katey brought over!

Last, but not, I made theses yummy St. Joseph puffcakes. I ended up using blueberries because it's what I had (instead of rasberries). I also changed up the cream filling a tad by replacing the heavy whipping cream with shortening and almond milk since, again, that's what we had. These were so light and airy I kept wanting to call them puffcakes. Either way, they were a delightful little close to our feast day celebrations!

--- 5 ---

{Funny}

Linus decided to share some of his sweetness on during our feast.

Yesss...?

Mama, what are you doing?

Ah! You want take pictures of me and you want me to smile?

OK!

Was that good?

Ok, mama. I smiled already.

Alright, it's awkward...

--- 6 ---

{Real}

Thank you, thank you, thank you, dear St. Joseph, Gaurdian of the Incarnate Word. We are forever grateful for your prayers and look forward to continuing to get to know you better, precious Foster Father of the Son of God. 

--- 7 ---

All in all, it was a good day. A good day to celebrate answered and unanswered prayers. A good day to celebrate the patron saint of our oldest son and a good day to be thankful for all of our blessings. Blessings in our faith. Blessings in our new home. Blessings in our family. And, blessings in our friends here on earth and in Heaven.

We have lots to celebrate and I'm thankful that celebrating the beautiful lives that have gone before offer us special little ways to remember that.

Thanks for stopping by and for more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary! And visit Like Mother Like Daughter for more Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real posts!

Also, if you could pray for us! We are having our big and full move in to our new home-sweet-home tomorrow! From novena to novena, we have been heard and loved! ! So EXCITED!!!

St. Joseph, Head of the Holy Family, ora pro nobis.

Lent: Do you wish to rise?

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

-Saint Augustine

An answer to our prayers.

Someday very soon I do want to write the story of our new home. It really is a beautiful one that we have been blessed with. So many little things happened that just showed His Hands holding and guiding us. Our home has been prayed in for years. It has been taken care of and loved by the previous owners. And, even though it was built in 1967 it is in much much better shape than so many other homes that we saw while searching. 

Lay first the foundation...

For now, I'll just grab some tidbits from our journey and say that here in the Dallas area the dirt is known for causing foundation issues even in the most newly built homes. I think it has something to do with the dryness of the soil. That aside, the home we bought actually has a solid foundation and has never had any work done prior (Yay for us!). The large majority of houses we saw had issues to varying degrees. If they didn't it was because they were built within the last 7-10 years or so.

There cannot be any other virtue...

It's crazy to think of all the damage that can be linked to a non-solid foundation. So many things can easily go wrong while building a new foundation at the start and throughout the years! There are a number of things, like: what if it wasn't built in a timely manner, was it tended to after the house was built, was it built during a good or bad season, too humid, too dry, to thick, not thick enough. All things that can be carefully managed through, but also things that can so easily alter the future of the home - from the floors all the way up to the roof. The reality of poorly built foundations has never been so visible till we started looking for our home.

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.

-Saint Augustine

In hindsight, we are forever grateful that we did not pursue any house with major foundation issues to close, even though we know they can all easily be lived in because there are ways to mend all related issues. Honestly, we were so close to buying a home that ultimately was a structural mess because of the foundation, but with a lot of prayer and trusting, we moved on and found a home that exceeded our expectations. Prayers were answered beyond what we could have imagined!

Humility is the mother of many virtues because from it obedience, fear, reverence, patience, modesty, meekness and peace are born. He who is humble easily obeys everyone, fears to offend anyone, is at peace with everyone, is kind with all.

-St Thomas of Villanova

All this to say, it got me thinking a lot about foundations. Not only physcial, house-related ones, but also our spiritual ones.

St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Villanova share some beautiful words about humility (of course!). The foundation, our foundation needs to be firm. It needs to be tended to. It needs to be solid and withstanding so that it can remain firm in Him - no matter the weather, no matter the soil, no matter whatever conditions may come. Foundations are important and no easy task!

The more I seek to solidify my foundation in humility, I realize that humility can be grasped and grown in me little by little. Through stepping stones of service and love, my foundation can be tended to so that it may also withstand time. It's not an overnight thing. It's a work in progress. A work in progress that makes more sense in my sleepy-mama brain by keeping it simple, keeping it little, keeping it broken down by my daily tasks of love that my heart strives for.

When I see the saints sharing that humility is foundational to growing in all other virtues, it makes me look at my Lenten journey through a different lens. A lens that has helped me realize the weight this particular virtue has on all the hopes that I have for my Lenten season. The wisdom of the saints makes me realize that just like our new home was built strong and well enough to withstand time, we also have our spiritual foundation of humility that is wildly important to the structure of our wholeness in Him. If I want to rise with Him, I need to start at the bottom. Something my heart knows but doesn't remember on the day-to-day.

Little by little. Humility. Service. Love. Obedience. Fear. Reverence. Joy. Patience. Modesty. Meekness. Peace. Jesus.

St. Augustine & St. Thomas of Villanova, pray for us.

Linking up with Cari for Theme Thursday! And, thank you Abbey for the meditation prompts! I'm really enjoying your Lent-stagram project!

A cross, some dust, and some sweetness

"Jesus offers you the cross, a very heavy cross, and you are afraid of not being able to carry it without giving way. Why? Our Beloved Himself fell three times on the way to Calvary, and why should we not imitate Him?"

~St. Therese of Lisieux

Oh, sweet, sweet St. Therese! How sweet you always are! Thank you for reminding me of how He loves even our littlest attempts at carrying our crosses.

There a few things circling my little brain but for now I'm leaving you with the goodness of St. Therese and a picture of a prayer pillow cross that we got for Linus on his first birthday. Linus will play with it some, while Bigfoot loves to play Mass here and there with it. Look forward to see how they use it in the years to come!

This is my Holy Lens project insta-photo for today. Cross is the word and since there is some good ole dust (you know, the indoor dirt that flies and settles on everything and anything under your roof?) all over the coffee table, I'm also linking up with Cari for Theme Thursday. It's been awhile since I've joined Theme Thursday. Good to be back!

The Light of Lent

"Once again, Lent is not just a time for squaring conscious accounts: but for realizing what we had perhaps not seen before. The light of Lent is given us to help us with this realization. 

Nevertheless, the liturgy of Ash Wednesday is not focused on the sinfulness of the penitent but on the mercy of God. The question of sinfulness is raised precisely because this is a day of mercy, and the just do not need a savior.” 

– Thomas Merton

The light of Lent. I love that! It truly is a time when light shines. His light shines on us revealing ways that we can grow closer to Him so that we can grow closer to others in love - His love! 

Such a good Lord we have. So gentle. Not only does he invite us to come closer, but He gives us time. 40 days. Or, I guess He technically does give us everyday, but in a special way we are invited to be intentional during the season.

Today, I was intentional about some of my time. I was intentional about capturing, loving, and being still. And, with His Grace, there will be more to come the rest of the day.

***

As a side note, I am joining Abbey at Surviving our Blessings for her Holy Lens Lent-stagram project. Everyday they have a word posted for us to capture. The idea is to capture the sacred found in our everyday. I love that too! Capturing the sacred. My hope is to share my Lent-stagram sacred finds on the blog as much as I find time to.

Today's word is fast.

I captured my small Lenten attempt at fasting for my Instagram post (as a nursing mama, my meal fasts won't be too demanding); but, in the end, I spent more time on the word itself. 

***

Fast. My boys are growing up so quickly! Time is not slowing down. Everyday there is something new. New skills. New words. New everything! And it is all happening fast. Fast! FAST!

Haha. And, not only are they growing fast, but they are lightning speed fast! I don't know what age it was that I lost speed, but I have never been more aware of it since my little toddler man has taken to the joy of running. The boy runs all. the. time! He loves it. The laughter and smiles that come from him when he's running are incredibly beautiful.

Meanwhile, little brother is too quick to follow in big brother's footsteps. He is a little speedy himself! He crawls and has taken steps. He will be walking any day now! The process that it took for him to get to where he is now shows such determination and patience. Perseverance and intention - from both of them! Fast is something that occurs daily.

Pray that I be able to follow in their footsteps during my Lenten journey. That I will be fast to meet them. Lightning fast to my duties of love and home. Quick to laugh and smile just like they are, so that my little Lenten light will grow a bit more bright with each day that passes. The little light that will help me be more like Him whom my soul was made for.

Prayers for a beautiful Ash Wednesday and start to your Lenten journey!