It’s Day 3 of the #write31days challenge. My topic is 31 Days of Gratitude. You can see my previous Gratitude posts here.
Want to join the writing challenge but are unable to write everyday? Join me for the Weekly Writing Challenge in October instead.
Now for today’s post…
Posted yesterday on Instagram: “It’s the boys’ favorite part of Sunday – when they come home from Mass, undress and then have an underwear parade. Sigh. Life with boys. 😉
The other day someone told me that I was made to be a mom when they found out I was the oldest of nine siblings. The experience definitely acquainted me with kids. The funny thing is that by the time I was 20, I didn’t want kids. After two decade of helping raise my siblings I was done. Plus, I was going through my pain-in-the-arse stage so I was too self-centered to care about anything other than pleasing myself. Fast forward a few years after my reversion, and discerning a religious vocation and getting married, I was ready for a family and really wanted six kids. I assumed I would take after my mom and have no problem having lots of kids. However, it took a year to finally conceive Bella and after that it took six years and two miscarriages before Andrew was born.
It was as if God was letting me see just how toxic my attitude towards children was. I thought I had the control. If I didn’t want kids, I’d use birth control. If I did want kids, I’d easily get pregnant. However, it was through pain and tears that He taught me that new life was precious and not something I automatically deserved or could take for granted. I was lucky that the physical problems that stopped me from having more children was able to be corrected. As a result, Brian and I had three consecutive boys after Bella.
That means that our life now is anything but calm and quiet. Everyday I am greeted with hugs that resemble football tackles, hysterical laughter at anything resembling bathroom humor, countess Legos and action figures wherever I look, and plenty of sweaty heads and muddy hands. And although I’ll roll my eyes or share a wry smile with Brian or Bella at their craziness, I have to admit that deep down I wouldn’t change any of it. (Okay, I’d change the bathroom from always smelling like pee and get them to put their dirty socks in the hamper and not under their beds) but I love my little guys. I love watching their creativity and hearing their laughter. I love seeing their little personalities emerge and when they show kindness to a sibling or friend.
These crazy little guys of mine are my joy and their hugs and kisses never fail to melt me. So for today, despite the mess and the noise, I am grateful for my life with boys.
It’s Day 2 of the #write31days challenge. My topic is 31 Days of Gratitude. You can see my previous Gratitude posts here.
Want to join the writing challenge but are unable to write everyday? Join me for the Weekly Writing Challenge in October instead.
Now for today’s post…
This morning we all woke up and went to Mass together as a family. I am grateful for the opportunity to live so close to a Church, to have a priest available and to have the freedom to attend Mass without any struggle. (Other than the struggle of getting myself out of bed and the kids all dressed and out the door.) Not everyone has that luxury so for the gift of the Eucharist and the ability to attend Mass, I am truly grateful.
I have really enjoyed doing 31 Days of Gratitude (with photos and words) the last two year, so I decided to do it again.
My inspiration for this year is this quote:
“The best way to show my gratitude is to accept everything, even my problems.” – St. Mother Teresa
It’s easy to be happy and thankful when things are going well in life but when I am stressed, feeling overworked or upset that things are working out as I had planned, I tend to get upset and complain. Over the month, I want to work on being more grateful, specifically by taking a moment each day to stop and reflect on one thing I can be thankful for that day. I will share those little thank you’s with you. Most of my posts tend to be short but since I’m hosting the Weekly Writing Link-up in October, one post each week will be longer and more thoughtful. I hope this time writing will help me become more reflective and thankful, as well as getting me back into a writing routine.
I’ll be posting each day on the blog but this page will be my landing page with links of each post for easy reference.
If you want to read past 31 Days of Gratitude, click here for 2015 and 2014.
The other day I was talking with some fellow bloggers and we shared that after the relaxed days of summer and the hectic back-to-school days of September, we have been in a blogging slump. It was suggested that we jump back into blogging with the October Write 31 Days Challengebut for many, it seemed a little too daunting to write everyday. Jennifer at Silly Little Goosesuggested we make a smaller challenge for those who weren’t ready for daily posting and from there was born Weekly Writing in October.
Every Saturday of October I will have a link up for you to add your weekly post. The weekly link up will open Saturday morning and run through Friday night.
This is the chance for you to clean out your draft folder and finish up those posts you started but never finished. Or it is the opportunity to share about a subject that has been on your mind lately. Perhaps writing ideas are a complete blank. You could start off with a Daybook/Currently post answering questions such as – what I’m doing, praying for, reading, watching, favorite links, etc. (You can see samples from me or Jenny or Ashley.) Or you can browse this list from The New York Times – 500 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing. There are plenty of topics to get the creative motors running.
Personally, I will also be doing the 31 Day Challenge with 31 Days of Gratitudebut my daily posts are usually short and sweet. I will participate in the Weekly Writing Challenge with at least one longer post each week.
If you have any questions, add them in the comments or email me and I’ll be happy to help.
I look forward to visiting your blogs and reading your posts over the next month. Happy writing!
PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”
In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂
An incredible weekend with the Blessed Is She team.
New new friendships and meeting old online friends in person.
Reconnecting with Our Lord and for the time in quiet prayer that I desperately needed.
Safe travels.
The hugs and kisses I received when I returned home. 🙂
Praying for..
The BIS team and all the BIS sisters around the world.
Numerous friends who are carrying heavy crosses.
For special intentions for members of my family.
For my mother-in-law’s upcoming surgery.
Our nation.
All pregnant moms (especially family members), those trying to get pregnant, those who have lost their babies and for moms contemplating an abortion.
The souls in purgatory, especially family, friend and those most forgotten.
UPDATE: My mother-in-law had her hip surgery and all went well. She was recovering nicely but the second day there were a couple of complications. By the end of the third day she was not doing well. Last night we woke up to a call from the hospital at 11:30 PM to let us know she was doing worse and being moved to another section of the hospital where she could be more closely monitored. All I could think was that the kids already lost their Opa six months ago. Please, Lord, don’t take their Oma too! I went to see her early this morning and she is doing better but exhausted and in need of sleep and rest. Please say a prayer for her, for her physical health and her mental health. She is older but strong and active and being brought down like this is a heavy cross for her. Thank you!
Pondering…
For those who don’t already follow me on social media or have been following the hashtag #bisteamretreat on IG this weekend, thirty ladies from the Blessed Is She team met in Wisconsin at Nell’s family lodge for a retreat/conference/get together.
It was the most surreal feeling to have profile photos in your head and then see those Facebook photos come to life and hug you. It was amazing. I’ll go into more detail.
However, I have been pondering a comment that MaryRuth made during our small group discussion. We were talking about how we sometimes struggle in our prayer life and how we try to overcome it. On the one hand we can sometimes think of prayer as a “set time” and forget that our day should be inconstant communion with God and turning our heart and mind over to Him numerous times a day. However, that shouldn’t be the only kind of prayer we have. MaryRuth said that just as in marriage, you are working side by side with your husband taking care of family life, you still need to stop and take some quiet time alone for a date night to reconnect with each other. So it is with God. Even though we are working side by side with Him throughout the day we still need a “date night” with God to reconnect with Him and deepen our relationship. I love that image and want to make sure God is getting some one-on-one time with me as well. 🙂 (Thanks for the wisdom, MaryRuth. 🙂 )
~ 2 ~
Around the House…
I’ve been gone for 3 days so you can imagine the catching up I need to do without me going into any details!
Family Chit Chat…
Wow, it’s been a month since my last daybook. I usually like to do these every 2-3 weeks. I guess a lot has been going on here so here’s a recap. During the month of August these things happened…
Bella started high school (what!!), we watched the Olympics, the boys took swimming classes, we went to he movies, I celebrated my birthday and had a “real” date night with Brian. I had a night out with girl friends that I haven’t seen in ages, we visited the Aquarium, celebrated a little guy’s birthday and the boys started school (grades K, 1 & 3.)
Happy birthday to my birthday month buddy John-Paul! 🙂
The highlights of September so far was first – a visit from my Mom and Dad!
It was my mom’s first longer trip (from So Cal) since her surgery. She looked great, is recovering really well, and so far there are no signs of cancer. They were able to attend Grandparent’s Day at the boys’ school and I was just happy because it was the first time I could hug them since I found out about my mom’s cancer. Again, she asked me to thank you all for your previous and continued prayers!!
The second highlight was definitely my trip to Wisconsin for the Blessed Is She team retreat! It was an awfully early morning waking up at 4:30 AM but I made it, which was a miracle in itself. I had plenty of reading material to distract me from the fact that I’m a little freaked out to fly. My first layover was in LA then it was off to Minnesota. 🙂
We arrived at Nell’s house and she was the most gracious hostess with the ability to make you feel like you were completely welcomed and loved. 🙂 After everyone arrived we squealed like school girls and hugged each other as we marveled at this opportunity to be more than online friends but real life friends. 🙂
After dinner we drove in a caravan for an hour until we reached #wholeparentinglodge. The sun was setting when we arrived and were greeted by lovely farm silhouettes. After settling in we had a camp fire where we made s’mores and then prayed the rosary. It was the perfect ending to a busy day. The next morning we woke up to grey skies but eventually the sun broke through and we saw the land in all it’s glory. I swear it felt like a peek into heaven (if you took out the bugs.)
For the next two days we got to know each other better, took a writing class to improve our skills, had a state of the union address by our amazing leader Jenna, ate (very well!) and chatted, had small group discussions and a talk about prayer that truly moved me and brought me closer to Christ. On Sunday morning we went to Mass at a little 100+ year old country church. Afterwards we were greeted by the Father who prayed over us and blessed us. I love the photo with him smiling because his joy of the Lord was contagious! Finally we said our goodbyes and I headed to the airport and had lunch with Heather and Beth before returning back to California. So. Many. Blessings. Thanks to all who prayed for us our our safe travels. Please continue to pray for Blessed Is She and all involved! You are definitely in our prayers each day. 🙂
~ 3 ~
In the Kitchen…
Monday: Chicken fajitas with salad.
Tuesday: Chicken sausage, roasted potatoes, broccoli and salad.
The Fall TV season has started and this week and I have a handful of shows I wanted to check out. My favorite so far is This Is Us. (WARNING: If you click the link, the trailer of the show has a brief flash of Jesse from Gilmore Girls bare butt. So be warned. 😉 ) The show reminds me of Parenthood with it’s heartwarming family themes and plenty of drama. There are adult situations and (I think) some language but nothing worse than a PG-13.)
I also watched the new ABC comedy Speechless about a slightly quirky family of six with a special needs child. There were a number of laughs and a couple of sweet moments. I thought it was well done and look forward to watching more. (Some crude humor.)
I watched The Good Place and it was okay but it didn’t completely grab me. I’ll watch one more episode to see if I will keep it or drop it.
It’s been a crazy week so tonight Brian and I will unwind with the conspiracy thriller The Designated Survivor. Kiefer Sutherland plays a lower-level cabinet member who unexpectedly becomes president after an attack on Washington. The trailer looks good and hopefully the show will deliver. (UPDATE: Brian and I watch the show and both really enjoyed the first episode!)
Lastly, I can’t wait for the beginning of Season 2 of Poldarkon Sunday, September 25th. YAY! 🙂
(AT THE MOVIES)
The last three movies I’ve watched.
The Secret Life of Pets – This was actually pretty funny. There was a little crude humor but nothing too bad. The kids all enjoyed it. PG
Ben Hur – This got terrible reviews but I thought it was a decent movie, particularly for a “biblical” movie. The ending was a little Hallmark-ish but I still enjoyed it. Great for those looking for a “Christian” movie. I rate it 3 stars. PG-13
The Light Between Oceans – I finished the book just in time to watch the movie. It was a little slow at first (or at least it would seem so for someone who didn’t read the book already) but the actors did a great job at expressing the emotion of the story and the visual scenery was stunning. I still don’t like the ending, even though I understand why it was done that way. Overall I ‘d rate it 3 1/2 stars with the recommendation of reading the book first. PG-13
Listening to …
New Song by Warpaint is a little less alternative and a little more dancey than I usually like, but it has grabbed me anyway. 😉
If you are looking for something a little deeper for the soul, check out Danielle Bean’s podcast Girlfriends. I love it. 🙂
PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”
In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂
Posted yesterday on Instagram: “It’s the boys’ favorite part of Sunday – when they come home from Mass, undress and then have an underwear parade. Sigh. Life with boys. 😉
Photo courtesy of 
Sept 2015 – 
Taken on a morning walk.