Start Your St. Anne & St. Joachim Novena Today (July 17)

By bobbi
July 18, 2011
4 Comments

The feast day of St. Ann and St. Joachim is coming up on July 26. If you’d like to make a novena to them, today is the day to start!

Both saints have always been very close to my heart. St. Ann is my patron saint and when I was single I would especially pray to her and St. Joachim to find a good man & holy spouse. (Along with my novena to Bl. Anne Marie Tiagi.) After I was married I especially prayed to them when Brian and I were dealing with infertility and miscarriage.

Yesterday I found an old box of holy cards and prayer pamphlets and inside was the small prayer booklet I had used all those years ago. It is called “Good Saint Anne” by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D. Here is the particular prayer I said.

Prayer to St. Anne and St. Joachim

Great and glorious patriarch, St Joachim, and good St Anne, what joy is mine when I consider that you were chosen among all God’s holy ones to assist in the fulfillment of the mysteries of God, and to enrich our earth with the great Mother of God, Mary most holy. By this singular privilege, you have become most powerful with both the Mother and her Son, so as to be able to obtain for us the graces that are needful to us.

With great confidence I have recourse to your mighty protection, and I commend to you all my needs, both spiritual and temporal, and those of my family. Especially do I entrust to your keeping the particular favor that I desire and look for from your intercession. (Mention your petition.)

And since you were a perfect pattern of the interior life, obtain for me the grace to pray earnestly, and never to set m heart on the passing goods of this life. Give me a lively and enduring love for Jesus and Mary. Obtain for me also a sincere devotion and obedience to Holy church and the sovereign pontiff who rules over her, in order that I may live an die in faith and hope and perfect charity. Let me ever invoke the holy Names of Jesus and Mary. And may I thus be saved. Amen.

There is also a great Nine Day Novena to St. Anne at EWTN.com.

St. Anne and St. Joachim, pray for us!

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7 Quick Takes – 7/15/11

By bobbi
July 15, 2011
1 Comment

Hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary.

– 1 –

I’ve got a 15 minute window of free time so let’s see if I can get this done.
It’s weird. This week I woke up on Tuesday thinking it was Friday. I woke up on Wednesday thinking it was Friday. I woke up on Thursday thinking it was Friday. Then this morning I woke up and thought, “Is it Friday already?” I think something is seriously wrong with me.

– 2 –

I’ve still been really concerned about my brother. He is doing better than when he first got to the ER. (We later came to realize he was at death’s door. Scaaaaary.) However, he’s not out of the woods yet. He had a little set back and will be in the hospital for another few days but at least he is out of ICU. Please keep him in your prayers. (And thanks to those who have been praying already. Mwuaah!)

– 3 –

I’m typing this with one hand as Matthew is falling asleep in my arms. I’m looking at his hair and it’s growing in half brown and half blond. I’m looking again…blond? Huh. I always pictured my babies as cute little Hispanic looking kids with darker skin and dark eyes and dark hair and instead I got little cuties with light skin and lighter hair (than mine). But they all have my dark eyes and my chubby cheeks. (Not sure if that last one is a compliment or insult. Oh well.)

– 4 –

Speaking of hair, I’ve entered that lovely postpartum stage when your pregnancy-thick hair starts to fall out. Poor Brian, the other day he was taking a shower and couldn’t figure out why the water was going down the drain so slow. Um, sorry sweetie.

– 5 –

Okay, I need to pause for a break because Matthew is fussing and won’t settle. I think he’s gotten tired of hearing the keyboard clicking away and me ignoring him while he is trying to get cozy with me. Once I stand up and hold him closer and talk quietly to him he’s out in minutes. So let me go take care of that…

– 6 –

Okay, that wasn’t too bad. He is out and sound asleep in his crib. As an added mommy bonus, after getting the baby to sleep there was a toxic toddler diaper to be changed. Once when Brian was blessing the house with holy water I told him he should just stick a couple of the kid’s dirty diapers at the front door. They were surely rank enough to scare away the demons.

– 7 –

Okay, what time is it. Oh man, it’s been half an hour since I first tried to sit down for my “free” time. Well, I should get minutes back on the clock for taking care of duties…um, duties I should have been doing in the first place. Hmm. Okay, enough of this nonsense. I have to at least offer one intelligent take so you don’t shake your fist at me for completely wasting your time – after all you’ve got your own smelly diapers to deal with.
My last take is to remind you that Elizabeth over at In the Heart of My Home blog has started her book study series on The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers: Reclaiming our Passion, Purpose, and Sanity. I bought this book after hearing Dr. Meeker speak on EWTN but it got lost in the never ending pile of books I hope to finish. I dusted it off and started reading again. Hopefully reading with online buddies will help me to finish it before I start something else. I’ll try to post more about chapter one next week. (After I get that Catholic baby shower post up.) 😉
(Oh, and Matthew is already crying. What kind of nap was that??)

Oh well, have a great weekend!

Just For Today

By bobbi
June 30, 2011
No Comments

The other day I was talking about how I can’t seem to live up to the standards of the seemingly “perfect” mom bloggers out there. Now I know that we are just getting a tiny glimpse into their lives and that they have their own struggles too but you’ve got to admit that some moms just have it more together than others. I’m one of the “others.” I’m resigned to the fact that I’m never going to be a Catholic “Martha Stewart type” but I’ve got my good points and they’d be able to come out more often if I was a tad more organized.
Case in point, when you enter into our home you immediately see the entry way, the front room (where my desk and “office area” is) and the dining room. The area is surrounded with windows that look out to a beautiful view. However, we never use the dining room and the table has become the catch all for piles of junk and things that need to get sorted and put away. Since the table is such a mess I tend to keep the curtains shut and just add to the piles. The other day I finally cleared everything off the table and opened wide all the curtains. There was so much light and beauty outside that it literally lifted my spirits and I was a more lovable mom to my kids! (Stop laughing.)
Although I’m a mess cat, I do hate all the clutter and feel so much better when things are tidy and organized. But to get me to do it and keep it up, well, that’s another story. My youngest sister has been visiting and she kept the kids occupied so I got a good head start in cleaning and organizing the house. However, she flew back to So Cal on Tuesday (huge sniff) and I’m back on my own. So I decided that each day I’ll pick one small thing that I can work on that day. Something I can realistically accomplish in between the dishes and diapers and dirty laundry.
My first general task is to make sure that when I wake up in the early morn to feed the baby (or pump), I’ll use that time to say my morning prayers and read the gospel for the day. Since I always have my iphone with me and it has my prayer book and missal on it (I love the imissal app!) there is no excuse. That quiet time praying and just talking to God always helps me to get through the day better.
My “just for today” task is to keep an eye on that dining room table and when I see things starting to pile up on it I’ll have the kids take what belongs to them. (“Bella, put away your drawings. Andrew, take Buzz and Lighting back to your room. JP, throw away this half eaten apple…) While they are doing that, I’ll put the junk mail in the recycling bin, put the empty gifts bags back in the wrapping box, put the Costco items away in the garage pantry and open those windows and let the light shine in!
Who knows, maybe in a year from now some other struggling mother will look at me and say, “How does Bobbi do it all and still seem so sane??” Hahahaha! Okay, I couldn’t even say that with a straight face but one step at a time, baby. One step at a time.

What I Needed to Hear

By bobbi
June 30, 2011
1 Comment

Two posts came up on my google reader and both were were really worth the read. They echoed what I’ve been thinking about all day yesterday.
The first was a post at Creative Minority Report called The Beauty of Human Weakness by Chelsea Zimmerman from Reflections of a Paralytic. My favorite lines are the following:

“…the awareness of the limits of our human nature is meant to lead us to put all our trust in God who wants us to rely on Him for absolutely everything. When we place our trust in God alone His divine power will shine forth in us, sustaining us in our weakness (St. Josemaria, Friends of God, 194). In other words, God uses our weakness to reveal His glory. This is the example Christ left for us that we have been instructed to follow (1 Peter 2:21).”

The second post to resonate with me was These Hands from Tumbling Towards Grace. My favorite lines:

“
Please don’t fight me. I know you. I love you. I made you to love me. Please let me love you.

What kind of a God do we have, who pleads with us simply to let ourselves be loved? In a world where our value as people is increasingly determined by what we do, make, create, consume; how radical to hear the message that all that matters is to love and be loved? We have a God who makes Himself available to us every moment of every day, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist!
And what do I do? I get stressed out by the baby crying, or the messy house, and try to find salvation in a chocolate bar. Or a bottle of wine. Or reality tv. Or whatever the crutch du-jour is. Twisting and squirming in the hands which hold everything, and hold it together.
And right there, is Jesus, patiently waiting for me to call on him, quietly reminding me like the most tender of parents, “please don’t fight these hands that are holding you.”

It was just what I needed to hear. God reinforcing what he was speaking to my heart. He’s amazing that way. Blessed be God. 🙂

Those Perfect Catholic Moms Are Killing Me

By bobbi
June 28, 2011
2 Comments

It’s just past midnight right now and I should be asleep but I’ve been cleaning all day (thanks to my sis watching the kids for me) and I wanted a few minutes to unwind and catch up on some Catholic mom blogs.

I recently added a number of new blogs into my google reader and I’m sifting through them to see which ones I’ll read regularly and which ones are good but not where I am in life.

The first ones to go are the blogs that depress me. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones that have countless posts by talented moms showing their beautiful gardens, their homemade baked goods and home cooked meals, their hand sewn clothes, and their Catholic craft of the day. I can take these in small doses but not all the time. Like I said, it depresses me.

And it’s not their fault. It’s mine. I just can’t seem to follow their lead. I’ve tried to garden. Truly, I have. In fact, just a few months ago I decided to start again but to keep it simple. No veggies or elaborate flower beds. Instead I have two simple window boxes of flowers and three herbs – basil, Italian parsley and cilantro. I was doing really well but as usual I forgot to water and not just once or twice but for days. Yesterday I went outside to check on my herbs and lo and behold, I’m the only person on my block to have a garden of dried herbs. (Dried… dead… is there really much difference?) Yeah, so gardens and I don’t do so well.

Then we come to the sewing. I swear my sister EL took all the sewing genes in my family because I have zero interest and even less skill. Okay, maybe I could sew on a button if I was forced, but just barely. To prove my point, when I was younger I’d hem my pants with duct tape and I’ve “sewn” things together with a stapler. Yeah, not one of my prouder moments. I get a lot more happiness when I don’t sew and instead find a cute outfit on sale at Target or Macy’s.

As for baking, home cooked meals and crafts, on occasion I’ll put together something good or at least fairly decent but I don’t do it all the time. My bigger concerns on a daily basis is that the dishes are cleared before Brian gets home, that everyone has clean undies, that the boys haven’t demolished the house and that I’ve cleaned the pee, poop or spit up from where it happened to land that day. I can barely accomplish that let alone create a replica of the Vatican made entirely out of cupcakes. Sigh. Well, if it means I have our local pizza place on speed dial, so be it.

So instead of being envious of those other moms I’m simply going to avoid temptation and not read their blogs regularly. Instead I’ll enjoy kindred posts like Calah’s In the Dumps or Nikki’s To Call or Not to Call and I’ll realize that I’m not alone in my struggle. There are other moms who are trying to get through these adventurous years just as I am.

Oh, I admit that I will try to improve a little each day. But for today, I’ll love my family and serve God in the way I know best – with my dried herbs, duct tape and delivery pizza.

UPDATE: It’s been a month since I wrote this post and it has been on my mind a lot because God has been using those thoughts to teach me some mom lessons. I talk more about it in my post here.

UPDATE #2: Fast forward two months ahead. I decided that heck, if you can’t beat them, join them. I’m attempting to get myself organized so my life will run a little smoother and I won’t be so frazzled with the daily grind of motherhood. You can follow the journey here.

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, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: motherhood

Start Your St. Anne & St. Joachim Novena Today (July 17)

7 Quick Takes – 7/15/11

Just For Today

What I Needed to Hear

Those Perfect Catholic Moms Are Killing Me