Prayer and Anticipation --- Advent

Happy Advent and Happy Church New Year! What a joyous, peace-filled, waiting time! Our children are waiting with such anticipation. Can it really be 27 days until Christmas? There are so many fabulous activities and reflections to do during this season, and the Catholic Church is so generous in giving us these four weeks in which to prepare not only for the coming of the Infant Jesus at Christmas but for the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Last Day.

I am hoping, during Advent, to post many of my favorite prayers, devotions, and reflections for this time of year. For several years, I hosted a weekly women's prayer group in my home during Advent to enable us to stop and focus on the spiritual aspects of this season and not get overwhelmed by the secular celebrations and family traditions. So, first of all, here is one thing I will do.

For years, I have used some simple little daily reflections for Advent that I found in an old issue of Catholic Update here titled "Advent: Waiting in Joyful Hope." I highly suggest you click on over every day and read the short (3-5 sentences) reflections to help you prepare your heart for the coming of Christ. Each day I will post the link to this page to remind you to read today's reflection. So, if you subscribe to me in an RSS feed or Google Reader or similar way, you will have a daily reminder to pause for five minutes and reflect on Advent. (Note that the Scripture included with the reflections are not the daily readings but provide an additional way to meditate on the meaning of each reflection.)

Additionally, every few days I will post or link to one of the prayers or readings that we used in those Advent women's prayer groups several years ago. My hope is that these little moments of prayer will enable our Advent season to be truly a time of patient waiting and not frenzied anxiety. Please feel free to send me your favorite meditations for this season, as well, and perhaps I'll include some of those!

Finally, as the children and I discover or rediscover some special story or activity, I want to share those with you, as well. I cannot promise how regular this will be, but I have just picked up a ton of new Advent and Christmas books from the library to enjoy these four weeks. So, I hope to post those titles that particularly touch us and encourage you to share them with your families.

On a personal note, I finally went to Confession and took that baby step. The grace from that sacrament has already filled me with such a great desire for prayer that I am excited about renewing my relationship with my friend and Savior, Jesus Christ this Advent season. I am also focusing my children's catechesis this month on becoming more intimately familiar with Jesus, hoping they, too, will befriend him more deeply. Thank you for your prayers for me!

May God bless you in your active waiting, as you prepare your hearts and homes and families for the coming of Jesus, the light in our darkness, the companion on our journeys.

Thanksgiving for God

I know I already posted about Advent, so I am doing this backwards. But, I believe as a homeschooler that I have an awesome opportunity and responsibility to turn the week of Thanksgiving into a truly spiritual experience for my family. Here are a few resources I plan to use this year to do that.

• CatholicMom.com Thanksgiving Resources - variety of links to coloring pages, articles, crafts, etc...
• Christian Preschool Printables Thanksgiving Ideas - very simple, free, printable crafts, coloring pages, games, and more!
• Cranberry Thanksgiving Ideas - a Five in a Row selection perfect for this time of year!
• Family Fun Thanksgiving - totally secular (from Disney no less) but such wonderfully do-able ideas!
• More Cranberry Thanksgiving Ideas - scroll down for all the links
• Origin of Thanksgiving Holiday - historical explanation with link to President Lincoln's inspiring proclamation
• Origins of Thanksgiving Rites - pretty academic but gives me a good understanding
• Thanksgiving Lapbook Ideas - scroll down for mostly free printables, some with a Christian emphasis
• Thanksgiving Tree Idea - start this now, great idea to show thanks and decorate!
• Thanksgiving Unit Studies - literature-based, some with notebooking pages to download for free
• Women for Faith & Family Thanksgiving Day - history and prayers for the day

I am sure there are other fabulous sites out there, but these are helping me get going! Let me know what great Christian/Catholic Thanksgiving traditions your family has! I am, of course, leaving out the simple traditions I brought from my family, like making our own butter (terribly simple version of shaking heavy cream in a well-sealed plastic jar for a really long time) and watching the Macy's parade.

13 Days and Counting!

Advent really is that close? Are you ready to prepare your family prayerfully for the coming of Christ? I am not even close to being ready! Panic time!


First step, compile all of my wonderful resources from websites and blogs online, so I can reap the wisdom of other fabulous moms and liturgical gurus! I figure I will share this with you, just in case you have any gaps, although I am sure everyone (but me) is totally set with their plans, right?!

• Advent & Christmas Clicking – links to relevant posts, including books, lesson plans, cooking, crafts, inspiration, liturgical ideas, etc…
• Advent Basket – outline of plans for an Advent inspired by Serendipity’s Literature for Young Ladies curriculum
• Advent Faith Folder – lapbook for purchase as downloadable PDFs, wonderful products!
• Catholic Mosaic and/or Christmas Mosaic – complete literature-based lesson plans applicable to the liturgical year, or just print the booklist and enjoy reading the titles!
• CatholicMom.com Celebrating Advent – links to resources, articles, and more
• Celebrating Advent & Christmas: A Family Sourcebook – much of the content of this booklet available free online here
• Christmas Preschool Printables – free printable coloring pages, crafts, games, file folder games, mini-books and more, some suitable for older children, too!
• Christmas Symbols Lapbook – free printable lapbook for the slightly older children
• Christmas Tot Book – free printable lapbook for the youngest members of your family
• Christmas Unit Studies & Booklist – free units, some with free lapbooks, including Christmas Around the World and Twelve Days of Christmas lapbooks
• Domestic-Church.com Advent Fridge Art – my favorite place for crafty inspiration
• Holy Heroes Advent Adventure – free, daily emails with fun and educational activities for your family
• Literature for Young Ladies Advent Plans – another version of the Advent Basket above
• Mondays with Mary - to use the complete lessons for Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Nativity of Jesus, and Mary, Mother of God!
• Printable Liturgical Calendar – exactly what it says, awesome!
• St. Nicholas Center – wonderful stories, activities, and lessons on this saint
• The No-Panic Advent Series – read/scan the posts in reverse order for some fabulous ideas
• USCCB Advent Ideas – some simple and easy plans for daily preparations
• Women for Faith & Family Advent Season Calendar – excellent list of feasts, ideas, and articles

And, of course, we have a great number of favorite books we read this time of year not listed above, and I have not even mentioned searching 4 Real Forums, which I usually do once I have a better outline of my plans (as if what is above is not overwhelming enough!). I will probably make one last order from Oriental Trading Company for some simple fun crafts, and we always have our Jesse Tree and Advent Calendar (with chocolates) for daily inspiration.


When I get my final plans put together, I will try to post them. As always, they will be too ambitious, especially for me this year, but I am hoping preparing my children for Christ’s coming will motivate me to put a little more effort into my internal preparation!

My Style Workboxes

This post is for those of you who know a little about workboxes but are overwhelmed by the thought of putting them into practice or having all those boxes around!

The idea of workboxes appeals to me, especially the part about how independent it makes your children and that they gain ownership of their schoolwork. The practicality of having that many boxes in my living room, which is where we homeschool most of the time, does not appeal to me. So, this summer I wanted to see if I could simplify the idea to work for me. My only rule was not buy anything, so if it did not work, I would not regret it.

To assemble one set of workboxes, I took one of those plastic milk crates designed to hold hanging files and nine hanging file folders. I labeled the folders one through nine. I printed out a table from Word that I created with the numbers one through nine. I put a small post-it note in each hanging file with a fun sticker on each note. Then, each evening, I filled the folders with work and activities for the children to do, attaching a larger post-it with instructions when necessary. That's it!

Admittedly, we only used the folders for a week or two, because our summer schooling got derailed several times. But, the children did enjoy them. They liked being able to rely on themselves and knowing what comes next. We mostly did the folders in order, but sometimes the children were allowed to skip around (like when an activity required Mom's help and Mom was busy or when both children were supposed to do the same thing but one was not finished with another work). I enjoyed having everything set out the night before, since I am not a morning person, as well!

This school year has gone really well for us, all things considered. I have felt like our short lessons, Charlotte Mason style, with tons of living books have really made learning meaningful for all three of us. Recently, though, I have not been feeling well and have had a hard time getting moving in the morning. We also have had some discipline issues, and so, I resolved the children needed more responsibility and more structure.

I brought out the crates again on Monday, and while it has not been a perfect week, for the first two days both children began schoolwork before I even asked them to get started! Filling the folders (we are using twelve, now, instead of nine) has forced me to find work the children can do independently, so they are not relying on me for every single folder. Instead of post-it notes, I printed out some fun number clip art I found in Word, floral numbers for my girl and walking numbers for my boy. The children know they must finish their first eight folders before recess and do the remaining four before lunch.

I would post pictures, but the crates are not really that attractive. Like I said, I used what we had on hand. I feel like this is a good level of commitment for me. I can use the folders when I feel we need them and put them away if they do not fit our style of schooling at that time. I am not sure if we will use them during Advent, since our schooling is so different during that season. But, I can imagine pulling them back out in January to motivate all three of us to keep going and avoid burn-out.

Avoiding Action

Dryness. It happens to us all. Something happens in our lives, whether good or bad, and we fall away from prayer. We forget the spiritual progress and vision of holiness and become dull. It has happened to me before. It is happening again. And, every time, I must be the one to take the first significant step back towards God and let Him do the rest.

When we are dry, wandering aimlessly, moving through days in a fog, how is it that we can begin again? I spent days pondering this thought, noticing my quiet time with God had evaporated into moments here and there, between movements from one chore or task to another, getting into bed, getting out of bed. And even then, my prayers were either a determined "I will praise Him...no matter what" (as if I was trying to convince myself rather than actually do any praising) or a whining "Lord, help me!"

I realize that many saints have experienced a dark night of the soul, but I distinguish dryness from this in that dryness is due to my failure to act. While I do not know much about those dark nights, I have read a little and have seen that those saints stayed faithful and kept praying and hoping even when they felt abandoned. So, that is why I distinguish the two; I might be wrong.



Anyway, I am not known for being very decisive. I can be opinionated, yes, but when it comes to making simple decisions about which I do not have strong feelings or the choice isn't really important, I am not your gal. Remember sitting on a curb in summer with your best friend in junior high? --- "What do you want to do?" --- "I don't know; what do you want to do?" --- That's me!



But, I have been asking God to help me here. There is so much going on in my life that I know this dryness will not be overcome by indecision, and it is too easy to just let it be. And, of course, He has given me a few ideas. Here they are, in no particular order. Writing them might just help me choose one and act, since any one would be a significant step, at this point. Warning - you're about to see the cynic in me.



1. Go to Confession. I have lots of excuses for this one. No mortal sins. No time. No good priest. Not convenient. Children.



2. Go to Adoration. I am avoiding this, because I am pretty sure I will just cry, and I am so tired of crying. I do not want to whine to God, and when I do that, I feel worse rather than better. Silly me.



3. Read a spiritual book. Most of the books on my "to read" shelf are spiritual in nature. None of them appeal to me. It's like I just don't want to hear it, right now. So, I'm reading the Lord of the Rings. Talk about avoidance!



4. Resume a daily Rosary. I already say a decade a day with the children. The Rosary has never really been my thing; I've always prayed it more out of duty. How can that really help?



5. Journal. I abandoned my journal months ago, because it was all about me whining to God. I'm not sure what to write or say to Him at this point.



6. Pray for others. This one is the best option, I think, but it seems like slipping in the back door, avoiding the real issues. What do you think?



In sharing these, I realize that my real problem is that all the words I want to say/pray to God are whiny, and I am terrible at being silent. Now, I know there are more baby steps I could take. Can you give me some more ideas to make my decision even more challenging?!



The bottom line is that God and I are in a stalemate. He is waiting for me to act. I am avoiding Him. That can't be good. Please pray for me and feel free to tell me what you think I should do. If you're in a similar spot, let me know which one you did or will do soon!