Create in Me A Clean Heart: My Lenten Goals 2015

By bobbi
February 18, 2015
10 Comments

Happy Ash Wednesday! I already posted about things we will be doing as a family for Lent but I haven’t shared what I’ll be doing. To be honest with you, I usually don’t buckle down until a couple weeks into Lent but I want to break that cycle!

I went to the morning Mass at the kids’ school and the theme of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving has been on my mind. How can I apply that to my busy mommy life?

Prayer

Prayer is what I need the most now, especially with the stress our family has been under lately. I am still having trouble being less like Martha and more like Mary. But Lent is the perfect time to get serious about making improvements.

My prayer plan is pretty much already in place. I have my Blessed Is She prayer journal and I joined Elizabeth Foss’ online workshop Restore. I’ve got the tools now all I have to do is make sure that I USE them in more than just a pretty photo! I arranged my schedule so I could have 15-20 minutes in the morning to pray. Then in the evening after the kids go to bed, I’ll spend 20 – 30 minutes on the workshop. I did it last year and it was sometimes hard to carve out time and I was always behind the scheduled days, but it made a huge difference in helping me get through a difficult season of life with Brian’s cancer.

Fasting

In order to accomplish the prayer time for Lent, I need to cut back on screen time – the computer/ phone in the morning and TV at night. I’m not going dark like some friends, but there will be some black out stretches during the day. I’m hoping the increased prayer will also help me to fast from impatience. In the morning of this holy Ash Wednesday I was yelling at one of my kids to stop fooling around and get their school shoes on. That is a logical request but yelling it like a lunatic is not the same as saying it like a sane parent. I could hear God whispering to me, “Yeah, you see that there? That’s what you need to give up for Lent.” Oh, man. I think it would be easier to give up the chocolate.

Almsgiving

This one was a no brainer because since Christmas I have been walking around the house, stepping over toys and moving piles of junk from one corner to the next saying, “Ugh! We have too much stuff!” So it’s time for the annual 40 bags in 40 days. We’ll be sharing our possessions with friends or St. Vincent de Paul. I would really like it if I could also get back to my 31 Day to Clean: Having A Martha House the Mary Way cleaning challenge. I started it a month ago but when Brian’s dad had the stroke, my normal routine went out the window and I put it aside.

I share these things with you, not to brag or “blow a trumpet.” Quite the opposite, I know my weakness. I am prone to start strong then give it up. I want to hold myself accountable. By sharing this with you, I know you will be there to offer encouragement when I am feeling discouraged and there to give a swift kick in the rear when I am being a stubborn brat. I know there are some moms that spend Lent like John the Baptist with a locust snack. I look at them and think, “Damn, girl! How do you do that?!” I’m still working on things like… not saying, “damn.”

We are all on different paths and at different levels. Some of you can accomplish a lot. Some of you forgot today was Ash Wednesday. Some of you don’t need to give up anything because you are living Lent in your current family situation. However, all of us are seeking to cross the same finish line. We want to grow closer to God and love Jesus more at the end of this Lent. So to you, my fellow sisters, let’s take this journey together and encourage one another.

Is there something you want to work on this Lent? Do you have a special intention you’d like me to pray for during Lent? Do share. (And say a prayer for me too.) 🙂

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. 😉

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 35): The Lent Edition

By bobbi
February 4, 2015
16 Comments

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Normally we would link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

This month we will be sharing our Lenten and Easter crafts, ideas, meatless recipes, posts and reflections.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open until Easter Sunday so there’s plenty of time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂

* * * * *

It’s hard to believe that Lent starts in a couple weeks! I saved all my items from last year and I actually remember where I stored them so I’m ahead of the game. 😉

I have been wanting to incorporate learning about the saints with the kids and I thought Lent would be a good time to start.

I purchased the Happy Saint flashcards and I thought they’d be perfect for a simple introduction.

Each week we will take one saint, read about them, and ask for their intercession that week. Week 1 we will start with A for St. Agnes.

I’d also like to order the Happy Saints Way of the Cross.

* * *

As for our other Lenten activities, we’ll be doing some of our usual family traditions. I am reposting them here for new readers.

I love putting wreaths and welcome signs on our door. For Lent, I made a simple Lenten wreath to mark the season.

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We have our regular family altar in the entryway of the house and that stays pretty much the same all year. However, we have a shelf in the family room by the table where we eat that we decorate according to the season. Here is where we keep our Lenten things.

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We set up a candle centerpiece using a long rectangular tray filled with six votive candles for the six weeks of Lent.

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I purchased tiny wreaths from Michael’s that fit around the candle. We add a wreath to a candle on each Sunday of Lent.

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We printed off Catholic Icing’s Lenten Calendar and I placed it in an inexpensive frame from Ikea. I use a dry erase pen to mark a cross on each day as it passes. It is great for the kids, who have no sense of time, to see how many more days until Easter.

***

One of the kids favorite activities for Lent is their Act of Love and Prayer jars. The Act of Love jar has different things they can do each day such as share a toy with your sibling or be extra nice to someone at school or do an extra chore. The Prayer Jar has a special intention for each day. With our evening schedules, we have found our best prayer time to be before dinner since we are already gathered together. Since the altar is right next to our table, we light our candle, Brian leads us in prayer and then we chose an act and prayer intention for the next day. (The morning of the following day I remind the kids what our act of love and prayer intention is for that day.)

* * *

This year we also added Kendra’s idea of using Sacrifice Beans. Every time the kids complete one of their Acts of Love or makes a sacrifice they put a dried kidney bean in the bowl. On Easter Sunday the dry beans are changed to jelly beans or some other treat. (I’m thinking a visit to the library or the Aquarium.)

UPDATE: Last year, this was the kids’ favorite activity. They loved collecting those beans!

* * *

In case you think we are a holy family with heads bent in prayer, let me also give you a dose of reality. I also had to add a “prayer helper” of the day sign. When it comes to who gets to offer their prayer intention first or who gets to blow out the candle or who gets to choose the Act of Love that day, we have had the boys literally come to blows and screaming, which ends in me yelling at them and Brian sending them to their rooms for misbehaving. (Aw, peaceful prayer time.) Since they are used to having a “Student of the Day” in school so we took that same concept with the “prayer helper of the day.” The name rotates and we have greatly reduced the yelling and body blows. (Now if we can just get John-Paul to stop praying for things like “more Star Wars toys” as his prayer intention. 😉

Lastly we added our Stations of the Cross pictures to the altar. If we say the Stations of the Cross as a family, we follow this book The Way of the Cross from Magnificat/Ignatius. (Reality check: we actually have yet to do the stations. We’ll try again this year to do it at least once…)

Here are some other Lenten activities we will be doing as a family.

Turn off the TV and the computer/iphone more. I have a basket of religious type books that the kids can look at or we can read together. I am also using the Lenten Adventure Activity Books from Holy Heroes, which are great! There are activity pages and coloring pages for the young ones for each day of Lent up until Divine Mercy Sunday.

Visit Jesus – Make more visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Let the kids light a candle before they kneel and pray.

Donate – Spring clean the toy box and donate toys they don’t use anymore to our local St. Vincent de Paul thrift store.

Crafts – Make Lenten crafts such as one of these Resurrection Crafts. (Reality check: Yeah, this never happened last year. I’m not sure if we’ll do it this year but I’ll leave the link for you more creative moms. 😉 )

For more ideas for your own family, check out these sites.

Lenten Calendar for Kids – Eyes on Heaven

Liturgical Living at a Glance: March – Carrots for Michaelmas

40 Simple Lenten Activities for Kids – CallHerHappy.com

Lenten Activities for Children – CatholicIcing.com

40 Ideas for Lent from Joe Paprocki

My final note – Don’t let the sheer number of activities available overwhelm you! Chose just one (or maybe two) things that your family can realistically do. It is better to do something simple and well, than to try to do too much and feel like a failure because you couldn’t possibly get it all done! (Believe me, I’ve learned that the hard way!)

Okay, that was my idea for the month. You can find me on Pinterest here – Pinterest.com/bobbi_rol

Does your family have a favorite Lenten tradition? A favorite meatless meal? Maybe you wrote a reflection about Lent. If you have a blog, link-up! If you don’t blog, share in the comments. We’d love to hear from you. 🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn!

1. Choose your creation, recipe or Lent/Easter related post and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active until Easter Sunday. Have fun!

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up

Loving Until It Hurts

By bobbi
January 30, 2015
10 Comments

It’s been a long and stressful week. My father-in-law is recovering from his stoke, although he is having heart issuesw which has not allowed him to leave the ICU. We are pleased he is getting the best care at Stanford but it makes spending time with him difficult since we are 90 miles away. My mother-in-law is unable to board up there so Brian drives and stays with her at Stanford on the weekends and we’ve been trying to round up enough of her friends to help drive during the week so Brian does not have to miss too much work. I feel bad for my in-laws and I am doing what I can to make this situation easier on them.

However, that also means doubling my current busy workload. That would be fine if I was a saintly woman who loved to suffer. It is not so great for a selfish sinner who hates to be put out. By Monday evening I was drained. Brian came home and we had a conversation like this.

Brian: You won’t believe what I just saw outside. There are four wild turkeys in front of our driveway.

Bobbi: Are you sure those aren’t just our kids?

Brian: No! There are huge turkeys walking up the street.

Bobbi: What the heck are turkeys doing in the neighborhood? That’s weird. So is that a good omen or a bad omen?

Brian: Well, it could be that we are in a time of Thanksgiving.

Bobbi: Or it could mean we are about to be shot, beheaded, plucked and cooked.

Brian: (Sighs)

Yeah, I was not in the mood to be looking on the bright side. Later that evening, after apologizing to Brian for being so grouchy, I started thinking about a Hallmark movie I recently saw. (Don’t hate on Hallmark. I love those sappy love stories.) 😉 In the movie, A Novel Romance, two characters were having a discussion. The young woman Sophie was talking to an older friend Harris. They were recalling his wife who had died. The conversation went like this:

Harris: I don’t pretend to know much about relationships. I only loved one woman in my life.

Sophie: You found your one true love.

Harris: I know that now, but when Lola and I were together it wasn’t always so clear. Loving someone is the hardest work there is. Oh, I messed up plenty. So did she. We disappointed each other sometimes. We said things we regretted later, but we never let it keep us apart no matter how bad things seemed at the time. It wasn’t true love because it was easy. It was because we worked at it. We fought for it.

I love that.

It wasn’t true love because it was easy. It was because we worked at it. We fought for it.

That little piece of dialogue pretty much sums up our life lesson as wives and mothers. I have found my true love but it isn’t always kisses and love notes. There are also disagreements and annoying habits and the monotonous day to day chores. I have four sweet babies but it isn’t always hugs and kisses and drawings for mama. There are also messes, laundry, tantrums, sleepless nights and an endless stream of toys on the floor. There are seasons of joy and celebration and there are seasons of heavy crosses – illness, job loss, miscarriage, infertility, (or no break between pregnancies,) a death of a loved one. These big and little crosses stretch us and test us to the core. We find out if our love is only pretty words or the real thing through thick and thin.

I admit there are times when I can’t take it and just want to scream. Why am I so stressed? Maybe because I spent too much time goofing off on the computer and then I had to rush around in a tizzy to get dinner on the table. Or maybe I am tired and cranky because the night before I binge watched too many episode of my favorite show. Times like that, I have no one to blame but myself. I know I am capable of doing what I need to do but I am just being very self-centered and not wanting to love the way God is asking me. My priorities are askew and I need to make corrections pronto.

Monday was one of those days. I made matters worse by not doing first things first – ie. prayer and daily duties. The following day I made sure to put prayer first. I opened up my daily meditation and began to pray.

Sometimes God is every so gentle with me and sometimes He just gives me the swift kick in the arse that I need. This was a swift kick day. The line that jumped out at me was

‘Taking up our cross’ might have a little more to do with love of neighbor and a little less like playing the martyr.

Ouch. This kept echoing in my head – “Pick up your cross without playing the martyr.”

But I am so good at playing the martyr, Lord! Huffing and puffing and rolling my eyes because nothing is working out the way I want it. At those times I can almost hear Jesus say, “Really? After all that I’ve done for you, this is how you are going to act? Like a spoiled child? Is your love really that fickle?” Sigh. Our Lord knows me too well.

However, there are those days, when I am seriously giving 110% of myself and it is still not enough. I am overwhelmed by the weight of whatever cross I am caring. That is when Jesus is most gentle with me. He comforts me and gives me the grace to love even when it hurts. That is when He reminds me to slow down long enough to look at the blessings around me, despite the difficulties.To love someone, whether a spouse, child, parent or friend, means to be there in the good and the bad. To lift them up and carry them when they are weak. As I type this, I’m getting a mental picture of Samwise Gamgee as he carries Frodo up the slopes of Mount Doom. That is love. Right now God is calling me to be Samwise to my family. I need to stop whining and get to work.

I’ve been in this position before and I know what I must do to survive it.

1. Drop to my knees.

My day goes so much better when I pray in the morning, whether it is long of brief.
Talk to God throughout the day. I need to ask for God’s grace and for the strength and courage to follow his will in my life right now.
When the complaining starts to enter my mind, I need to give it to God and ask for his grace to see the good around me.

2. Take care of my physical needs.

Eat. (No skipping breakfast then binging at lunch because I’m starving.)
Take my vitamins and drink. (Water, that is.) 😉
Exercise. Sure my beach walks are awesome but those are getting more difficult these days. Even a 10 minute walk up and down the driveway is better than nothing.
Sleep. I am a night owl and I have to force myself to not stay up until the wee hours of the morning.

3. Know my limit and not be afraid to ask for help.

I can do a lot (when I am in the right frame of mind) but when I reach the point of losing it, I have to do whatever I can to step away or take a break. If Brian cannot watch the kids for a little bit then I need to find someone who can give me a hand.
Sometimes even a call from my mom and just hearing her voice is enough to settle my spirit and give me strength.
There have been many times people have offered to help but I always tell them, “oh, that’s okay” because I feel like I need to do it myself. People want to help. I need to humble myself and let them.

These are a few steps I take to help me love and live my vocation as a wife and mother. What about you? What things help you when you are loving until it hurts?

UPDATE: After posting this, my father-in-law was moved out of ICU. He is still having issues but it is a step in the right direction. The next hurdle is to get him out of Stanford and back to Monterey to heal. Thanks for your continues prayers! 🙂

* * * * *

Photo Credit – ElizabethFoss.com

I know I mentioned this before but if you are in a difficult season of life or you feel like you are struggling to find joy and peace in your current chaos, I strongly recommend Elizabeth Foss’ online Lenten Retreat – Restore. I joined last year when I was struggling with Brian’s cancer and caring for the household and it did wonders for me. The daily meditations, the essays and the podcasts were a balm to my soul. A year later, I still go through my notes and remind myself of the lessons God was teaching me.

Currently, I am not experiencing the burnout I had last year but I signed up for the retreat anyway because I know the Holy Spirit will use it again to continue to guide me and draw me closer. I understand that the cost of $65 is more than some people can afford. If that is the case, but you feel like you need to go, then lay it before the feet of Jesus. Tell him that if you are meant to go, then to please provide the means. He just may surprise you.Photo Credit: ElizabethFoss.com

I hope you’ll join me so we can make this journey together. Have a blessed weekend!

Goals for 2015 & Mini-Goals for January & February

By bobbi
January 18, 2015
10 Comments

AND

Last year (in Fall) I sat down and thought about the goals I wanted to set for the next six months. August and September and October saw real progress as I slowly worked on key areas of my life but once the holiday season started, everything went on the back burner. Finally, in mid-January, I am just about recovered from holidays and traveling for a wedding/family reunion. I have chosen my word and saint of 2015 and now it is time for me to revisit my main goals for 2015.

I was reading over my sister’s Goal List and although I divided my goals into categories as she did, I love the way she labeled them – I am a child of God, woman, wife, mother, homemaker. I am hijacking the idea and adding it to my list. (Thanks, sis. 😉 )

Here are my main goals for the year and my mini-goals for January and February.

* * *

I Am A Daughter of God

Main Goal #1: To always have God at the center of my life and to deepen my love for Him. I want his will to be my will and motivation.

January & February Mini-Goals

Prayer is something I always struggle with. I seem to take two steps forward and three steps back unless I am diligent about not getting lax in my relationship with God. I can see how important it is that I connect with Brian and talk with him and be with him if I want our relationship to grow. I need to remind myself that it is the same thing with God. If I want our relationship to thrive, I have to work on it and not take it for granted. My min-goals:

Set clock 20 minutes early to pray after my shower but before I wake up kids.
Turn my mind to God through the day, even if only for a brief moment.
Turn off the TV and do a little spiritual reading.
Monthly confession.

* * *

I Am A Wife

Main Goal #2: To be a loving and holy wife to Brian and to work at keeping our marriage strong. To do what can to hep him relax and feel like his home is a haven from the world.

January & February Mini- Goals

Plan weekly date nights with one date a month being out of the house alone.
Don’t monopolize the conversation. Ask Brian questions and let him talk without interrupting.
When Brian comes home don’t bombard him with the stresses of my day. Greet him with a smile and a kiss and let him relax a little before dinner.
Work on the kids’ homework after school so Brian is not left doing it all after dinner.

* * *

I Am A Mom

Main Goal #3: To be a good mother that loves her kids and spends time with them and is not always “too busy.” I want to teach them about their faith and how to love and serve God in their young lives.

January & February Mini- Goals

Plan bi-weekly outings as a family. The off weeks can be spent playing with them in the backyard searching fossils or blowing bubbles or having a picnic on the deck.
Update the kids’ chore chart to give them more responsibility around the house. Go back to the sticker reward charts since they seem to work well.
Incorporate 1-2 church feast days into family life.

* * *

I Am A Homemaker

Main Goal #4: To bring order into our home so I am not stressed out by the mess and chaos. When things are organized our family life runs smoother and there is more peace.

January & February Mini- Goals

Participate in A Bowl Full of Lemon’s Home Organization 101: 14 Week Challenge. I missed Week 1 & 2 so I am jumping in at Week 3 and will make up the other 2 weeks at the end.
Make a weekly cleaning schedule for maintenance. For example, the laundry gets insane if I don’t do at least one load every day or so. Fridays are my I’m-not-leaving-the-house days so I’ll plan bigger jobs then.
Look through my saved recipes and pull out a few to try each month since the current meal rotation is getting stale.

UPDATE: I’m actually switching my cleaning challenge. I’ll complete the more intense ABFOL challenge later in spring but for now I am doing the 31 Day to Clean: Having A Martha House the Mary Way hosted by Christian blogger and author Sarah Mae. God has been putting Mary and Martha into my life left and right! I’ve already started and I must say, it is just what I needed! I’ll blog more about it soon. 🙂

* * *

I Am A Woman

Main Goal #5 – To take care of myself physically, spiritually and mentally so I can be a happy and healthy wife, mother and friend.

I have a bad habit of starting a new book before the previous one is read. I started all these last year but have yet to finish one of them completely! I want to remedy that this year.

January & February Mini- Goals

Daily hydrate, take vitamins and walk for 20-30 min. Use my Fitbit to keep track.
Lately, God has been opening doors for me to meet (in real life) other local Catholic moms. I will not make excuses and about having to stay home and realize that I also need female companionship. I will work out my schedule to meet up with these moms and make some new friendships.
Make sure I have time for a little creativity – whether pulling out the big girl camera or working on a family photo book or spending time writing in my journal.
Participate in the Goodreads’ 2015 Reading Challenge. I pledged a book a month, so 12. (Are we friends on Goodreads? If not, find me here.)

It may seem a bit lofty but working on these smaller steps will keep me headed in the right direction.

What about you? What is the one thing that you really want to work on this year?

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Theme of 2015: Be Still

By bobbi
January 15, 2015
7 Comments

I looked at the calendar this morning and I couldn’t believe that January was already half way over! It has been incredibly busy with the holidays and then traveling to my brother’s wedding. I barely started taking down all the Christmas decorations yesterday, which was sadly depressing. However, I feel like now I can finally start to focus on the new year.

As I have done for in 2013 and 2014, I have chosen a word/phrase to focus on for the year. Or, rather, I should say that God chose one for me. I had been praying about it and leaning towards a word that would motivate me to work on my house or keep walking to better my health or try something new.

Then at the end of December I received an email newsletter from Lara Casey (I’m using her power sheets) and she said:

I don’t fully know what my goals are for 2015 yet. While the rest of the world rushes to set goals by the stroke of midnight tonight, I offer you an alternative: be still. Let’s do this well, with intention.

The phrase “be still” hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew in my heart that was it. That is what God wanted me to do. Of course, I immediately thought of reasons why that could not be my word. I wanted something else. Anything else. The last thing I wanted to do was keep still.

However, in the course of a couple of days I was seeing the phrase pop up all over the place. For example, I was reading CajunTexasMom’s blog and in her 12 n 1014 post she said:

2014 was the year I decided not to make new year’s resolutions, and instead to select a word that I would focus on for the year. My word was “Quiet.” I resolved to make quiet time for myself, and to be more mindful of noise in general, both literally and figuratively.

That little voice in my heart said, “That’s what I want you to do. Be still.” I answered, “La, la, la. I can’t hear you.” (Oh, wait, maybe that’s the problem.) 😉

Later I was on my phone browsing Instagram. What did I see on there? A photo that said…

Seriously, Lord? You are relentless! Okay, my thick head has received the message. I will be still.

On Monday, I was driving us home from SoCal and I put on my earbuds and was listening to the podcast This Inspired Life. The podcast is new to me and I have been loving it. I was on Episode 12 with Sr. Faustina sharing her vocation story. I debated whether or not to listen to it since my life was far from the life of a nun but with 400 miles ahead of me, I knew I had nothing to lose.

I am so glad I listened to it because it landed out being like a mini-retreat for me. Sr. Faustina’s story was beautiful. (And she spoke not only about her vocation but touched on the vocation of motherhood in general and relating it to her twin sister, who is married with children.) However, when Sr. Faustina spoke of her vocation she explained that she heard the voice of Jesus in her heart saying, “I want you for myself.” Something happened in me and I heard Jesus say to my heart the same thing. I was so real I had to hold back the tears. As weak and selfish and bratty as I can be, Jesus wants me for himself. He wants me to be still so He can speak to my heart. It baffles me.

Being still or quieting myself to pray is not something that is easy for me. There is always noise around me and not just with the kids. Even when I am alone, I will have the TV on or the radio playing. I don’t like silence. God has slowly been pulling me out of that but now He wants me to step up my game. He is emphasizing my need to be still and quiet my heart.

I can’t help but think about Mary and Martha. I am definitely a Martha. Every time I read that Gospel story I have to fight the urge to get mad at Mary for being so lazy and get upset with Jesus for reprimanding Martha. Oh, sure. it sounds all good for Martha to sit around but eventually everyone will get hungry and wonder why there is nothing prepared to eat! 😉

Okay, okay. I actually do understand what Jesus means and what He is trying to teach Martha. But knowing it and actually living it out are two different things. That is why I have adopted St. Martha as my patron saint for 2015. Together we will learn the better portion. 🙂

How about you? Did you pick a word for the year or make a resolution? Share it with me. 🙂

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: catholic faith

Create in Me A Clean Heart: My Lenten Goals 2015

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 35): The Lent Edition

This month we will be sharing our Lenten and Easter crafts, ideas, meatless recipes, posts and reflections.

Loving Until It Hurts

Goals for 2015 & Mini-Goals for January & February

AND

I Am A Daughter of God

Main Goal #1: To always have God at the center of my life and to deepen my love for Him. I want his will to be my will and motivation.

I Am A Wife

Main Goal #2: To be a loving and holy wife to Brian and to work at keeping our marriage strong. To do what can to hep him relax and feel like his home is a haven from the world.

I Am A Mom

Main Goal #3: To be a good mother that loves her kids and spends time with them and is not always “too busy.” I want to teach them about their faith and how to love and serve God in their young lives.

* * *

I Am A Homemaker

Main Goal #4: To bring order into our home so I am not stressed out by the mess and chaos. When things are organized our family life runs smoother and there is more peace.

I Am A Woman

Main Goal #5 – To take care of myself physically, spiritually and mentally so I can be a happy and healthy wife, mother and friend.

Theme of 2015: Be Still