15) & Theme Thursday & 7 Quick Takes

By bobbi
December 11, 2015
6 Comments

You know, I don’t post nearly as often as I’d like but when I do post, I try squeeze into as many link-ups as I can! 😉 Today I am linking up with Micaela for Theme Thursday (Scroll down to Take #7) and Annabelle at Written by the Finger of God, who is temporarily hosting 7 Quick Takes for Kelly. (Was that too confusing?) Here is a recap of what’s been going on lately.

Revolution of Love - logo_daybook_4

~ 1 ~

Grateful for…

A peaceful moment to myself after a busy day.
The love of family and friends.
The joy of the season.
Having the necessities of life.

Praying for..

The intentions of many friends.
Those who are struggling or suffering through this holiday season.
Victims of abuse, violence and war.
The conversion of hearts back to God.
All pregnant moms, 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.

Pondering…

Earlier this week. I got upset with Brian about something. No need to go into details but it was something that has bothered me before and that I have already brought to his attention. I fumed quietly for awhile then told him why I was upset. He apologized and said it was not his intention to hurt me and deep down I knew it was true but I was still mad. I didn’t want to let go of the anger. Instead I fell into the trap of a passive aggressive “okay, fine” attitude. But it was not fine. That little voice in my head kept egging me on with things like, “How long have we been married? Why does he still not understand these things? If he really loved me he would just know. Why is it that I am always doing x-y-z and he isn’t?”

Well, those kind of thoughts can eat you alive if you let them. I had to learn to let it go and see things from his point of view. I forced myself to give him the benefit of the doubt, to realize that he really didn’t mean to hurt me. Instead I turned my eyes to all the ways he shows me that he loves me, even when I am acting very unlovable. Then I thought about all the times that God has forgiven me for the countless things I have done wrong. Suddenly, Brian’s transgression looked very minor. (I couldn’t help but think about that marriage post I wrote earlier this year.) Thankfully, with God’s grace, when he came into the kitchen to give me hug I was able to accept it whole heatedly, ready to let go of any residue of anger left. Blessed be God.

~ 2 ~

Around the House…

Advent is in full swing here! Our Jesse Tree is going well, although instead of daily we only pin up symbols 2-3x a week at best! I’m not concerned since we can only do so much.

I know there are some who do not put up Christmas decorations or listen to Christmas carols until Christmas in order to highlight Advent and I think that’s great! We’re just not one of those families. Yesterday we celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas by decorating the house and putting up our tree. The kids filled out their Letters to Baby Jesus. It was sweet to read what they promised to do for Jesus and who they chose to pray for during Advent. Their wish list wasn’t much of a surprise – Legos, Minecraft, books and for Matthew, all things football right down to a Green Bay Packer uniform. You know I’ll be posting a shot of that one! 😉

Family Chit Chat…

Everyone is doing well, except for a few of us (myself included) that have colds/coughs. Nothing serious just really annoying. I think the change in weather from Disneyland (in the 90’s) to my parents (in the 40’s) and all the traveling and stress of road trips just wore us down. But it was all worth it since we had so much fun!

Here are some pics from Disneyland.

This year is the 60th Anniversary of Disneyland. I went to DL often as a child and first took Bella to DL during the 50th. Ten years and four kids later, we are still celebrating at the Magic Kingdom. 😉
The Ferris wheel at California Adventure.
It’s A Small World, Christmas Edition.
Me with my sweet Bella.
I was bummed that my dad couldn’t make the trip this year (he had a big job to finish) but my mom was there! We’ve had some rocky years in my youth ( particularly when I was going through my “being an idiot”) stage but thankfully we are best friends now. 🙂
Brian, John-Paul Bella and my sis Jacinta. (We were so excited she could join us this year!)
My crazy boys. Life would be dull without them!
My super hero sweetie. Swoon.
On the carousel.
The Star Wars exhibit was really cool…
…as was the Marvel super hero exhibit!
Santa was spotted wearing his SoCal winter clothes. 😉
Mack was a favorite at the new light parade.
The Christmas tree is HUGE.
The fireworks were amazing! (Unless you are trying to sleep in the hotel at 9:30 PM, then it sounds like you are being bombed!)
Hand in hand with their Auntie Jacinta. As Matty would say, this was the best trip EVAH!

After Disneyland we headed to my parents’ home to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving celebration, movie time with the kids, date time with my sweetie and cousin love!

There was a lot of celebrating and sharing our love and gratitude! Our Gratitude Tree made it’s appearance for the third time in a row. Next year we will have to make a second tree since our family is growing with the blessings of new spouses and children! It truly was a special Thanksgiving and a HUGE THANK YOU to my awesome mom who has made our feast year after year. I wouldn’t be able to handle that kind of stress but she tackles it like a boss! (Love you, mom!)

~ 3 ~

In the Kitchen…

Sunday – Whole wheat pasta, turkey meatballs and salad.

Monday – Taco Salad

Tuesday – Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Wednesday –Won Ton Soup (I’ve never made this before but want to give it a try!)

Thursday – Breakfast Dinner

Friday – Date Night!! (woohoo!)

Saturday – Leftovers

~ 4 ~

Watching…

Non-stop Hallmark Christmas movies. I know, I know but I’m addicted. 😉

Listening to …

It’s pretty much Christmas music 24/7 at our house, although we have to take turns.

Bella and I love the crooning of Michael Buble…

But the little boys found my old Relient K Christmas CD (remember CD’s??) and they are loving the punkier sounds of Christmas.

Reading…

I am finally on the last pages of Jennifer’s book Something Other Than God. (The chapter I’m on now has me in tears…)

~ 5 ~

I haven’t posted a Daybook in over a month! So here are the last month’s posts.

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 42): The Jesse Tree
Advent Activities for Kids and Catholic Women & Moms (2015)
Living A Life of Gratitude (Guest Post at BIS)
A Week in My Life 2015: Monday & Tuesday // Wednesday & Thursday// Friday // Saturday & Sunday
Theme Thursdays – Portraits: Close-ups // Catchlights
November/ December 2015 (Holiday) Goals & A Review of My October Goals
Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 41): A Sacred Space for Family Prayer

For all you planners out there, tomorrow I’ll have my “Tips for Choosing A New Planner” post and on Monday “How I Use My Bullet Journal” post.

~ 6 ~

In the blogosphere…

I haven’t had much time for blog reading (grr!) but I do have these saved to read this weekend!

Liturgical Living for Beginners: An Our Lady of Guadalupe Play Date, with help from me and CCC
Present Pile Monograms by Sometimes Martha Always Mary.com
Why I (over)share on the internet about our life by Whole Parenting Family.com
Your Blog Post Wasn’t About Me and Other Illogical Complaints of the Internet by Carrots for Michaelmas.com
How to Manage Your Internet Addiction by Slow Mama.com
Our Favorite Toys for Younger Boys by Better than Eden.com
Drinking with the Saints: The Book Pretty Much Everyone Would Love by Efficient Momma.com
Motherhood is a Muscle by Better Than Eden.com
5 days of giveaways: Young Living Essential Oils The Fike Life.com
made with love // thanksgiving by The Side of Love.com
Finding Delight in the Lord — In Every Moment Given by Muffin Dome.com
Advent and Christmas posts by Sweet Little Ones Blog.com (I was going to highlight one post but they had too many good ones to narrow it down so just scroll through the last few days!)

~ 7 ~

We close off with Micaela and Theme Thursday, which is following the “holylens prompts from Abbey at Surviving Our Blessings.com. (I love when bloggers team up with their projects!!) Since I never posted last week, here at the prompts from week 1 & 2.

1. The “O Antiphon” banners were on display at the Mission. That is a sure SIGN that Advent is here.

2. During Advent I’m doing the Waiting in His Word: A Mother’s Advent Journey scripture study. I am really trying to start each morning in meditative prayer then putting WORDS to paper. I’m hoping it will help me keep my eyes on Jesus instead of holiday stress!

3. The love of money may be the ROOT of all evil but Timothy tells us what a man of God should pursue. I made a quick scribble to hang on the fridge as a reminder – “Pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience & gentleness.”

4. I’ve been using my Blessed Is She journal for my night exams and gratitude list. What I’m most grateful for tonight is the rosary club that started at the kids’ school. My heart was so SATISFIED to unite in prayer with fellow moms.

1. The storm clouds are rolling in and it reminds me of today’s Gospel – “The rain fell, the floods came and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it has been set solidly on ROCK.” May God always be our rock and our salvation.

2. I love when I SEE the colors of the liturgical season in nature.

3. We are searching through the HARVEST of this year’s trees trying to find the perfect one to bring home.

4. Last night, after a long day, I was ready to crash on the couch. Thankfully I REMEMBERED that St. Nick had shoes to fill!

1. Looking towards the ROOF of the Mission, this is what I saw – organ pipes and St. Serra.

2. The kids love looking at the “Baby’s 1st Christmas” ornaments and figuring out who is who. Not to be left out, our little ANGEL ornament represents our two baby saints waiting for us in heaven

3. After a couple of busy days with hurried prayer, it was nice to REST in the Lord this morning. (You can tell the change in our room decor.) 🙂

4. (This one chokes me up.) Opa would always kiss the kids on top of the head when we visited him. Now the kids HELP him out by bowing down so he can still kiss them while visiting him in the nursing home. #holylens #worksofmercy #yearofmercy2016

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately! What about you? What’s currently happening in your life? Do share.

Have a great week!

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, Periscope or Katch (past Periscopes), GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

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 🙂

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 42): The Jesse Tree

By bobbi
December 1, 2015
2 Comments

Join me for a Pinterest Party every first Tuesday of the month as we link up and pin it, create it, and inspire others to do the same. Recipes and crafty ideas are encouraged but think outside the box too. Think organizing ideas, birthday themes, a cute outfit, a new hairstyle, marriage tips, life inspiration, traveling destinations, a great quote – anything you’d post to Pinterest.

Show us how you didn’t just pin it but brought it to life!

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 for a month so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂 (If you want to grab the button, scroll to the bottom.)

* * * * *

This month’s Pinterest Party is a special Advent and Christmas edition! Share with us your Advent traditions, your favorite Christmas cookie recipe or any anything else related to the holidays!

My contribution to the party this month is the Jesse Tree. Last year I posted about our favorite Advent family activities but one item not on the list was the Jesse Tree. I have to be honest with you, I always felt intimidated to do the Jesse Tree but in reality it’s not really that complicated.

If you aren’t familiar with the Jesse Tree, Loyola Press explains it the way:

Jesse was the father of King David. The Jesse tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: “A shoot shall come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” The ornaments of the Jesse tree tell the story of God in the Old Testament, connecting the Advent season with the faithfulness of God across four thousand years of history.

The Jesse tree helps us to connect the custom of decorating Christmas trees to the events leading to Jesus’ birth. We adorn a Jesse tree with illustrated ornaments that represent people, prophesies, and the events leading up to the birth of Jesus.

Each day there is a Scripture/Bible Story and an ornament with a simple symbol of the story. (ie. an apple for Adam and Eve, an ark for the story of Noah, etc.) You read the Scripture (or paraphrase to your kids) and hang the symbol on your tree. By the end of Advent you have an overview of salvation history ending with the birth of Christ.

The reason I decided to give it a try this year was because Jenna at Blessed Is She decided to make Jesse Tree cards and devotions available for purchase. She asked me to do a few of the reflections on the cards and I agreed. That meant that I needed to really read and reflect on the Jesse Tree symbols. Some were familiar to me but there were a few where I thought, “Who the heck is that? I don’t remember reading that Bible story!” In the end, I learned more about our salvation history and how to apply the lessons learned to my life. I am eager to take this Advent to go through the rest of the Jesse Tree symbols that I haven’t studied yet.

Next I had to figure out how to display the cards. I didn’t really have room to hang them up so I placed them on a mini easel at our family room’s sacred space. (Visit this post to see other sacred spaces in our home.)

Although, I like to use the BIS cards for my personal use, I wanted the kids to have their own little symbols. Since I am doing the Waiting in the Word: A Mother’s Advent Journey scripture study, one of the authors (Nancy at Do Small Things with Love.com) gave us Jesse Tree symbols that can be cut out and colored. (You can purchase a download of the same symbols for just $3 here.)

I thought it was great for the kids. Now I just needed something to hang them on. I thought this bare lit tree I bought at Target last year would work perfectly.

I think it rounds off our little family room space perfectly. (For the post about our Advent/ Acts of Love calendar visit here. For the post about filling Jesus’ crib, visit here.)

Are you trying something new this Advent? If not, what is your favorite Advent activity? How about your favorite Christmas tradition? If you are a blogger, link up. If you are on periscope, add the link to your Advent/Christmas scope. If you aren’t on either, share in the comments. I’d love to hear from you. 🙂

* * *

Want to share this on Pinterest? Here’s a ready-made pin. 🙂

Want to follow me on Pinterest? Find me at pinterest.com/bobbi_rol.

Want me to follow you? Leave your Pinterest handle in the comments. 🙂

* * * * *

I’m linking up this post with sweet Jess and Kate over at Sweet Little Ones Blog.com for this week’s Tuesday Talk. 🙂 Go check out their blog. There’s plenty of good stuff to read! (Now I’m going to bake cookies. Those recipes sound delicious!)

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation or inspiration, share about it 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 for a month. Have fun!

An InLinkz Link-up

A Week in My Life 2015: Saturday and Sunday

By bobbi
November 23, 2015
1 Comment

The A Week in My Life series hosted by the lovely Kathryn at Team Whitaker.org continues. Her link up for Sunday is here.

My daily recaps are here:

Saturday was our final day of packing before our trip. It was not the easiest thing to pack for since we were spending three days at Disneyland where the current temps were 90 degrees. The following three days would be spend at my parents home, which was in the high dessert, one and a half hours away from Disneyland. The forecast showed temps to be 49 degrees for the high and 24 for the low. Twenty – freaking – four! So one half of the suitcases were filled with shorts, tees and bathing suits while the other half of the suitcases were filled with long pants, thick sweaters and scarves!

I sorted out everyone’s outfits on my bed and it looked something like this.

Packing the car is always an interesting experience since I tend to overpack. Everyone makes fun of me but when we are out on the road and someone says, “Dang, I wish I had packed a fill-in-the-blank,” chances are good that I may have one tucked away in a suitcase! 😉

When Brian saw my pile of bags by the door he told me that there was no way that I’d be able to get all that stuff into our mini-van. Au contraire, my dear! I simply channeled my inner Fred Mertz and got it all in there. 😉

We closed the day with a beautiful Mass to celebrating the feast of Christ the King. It’s hard to believe that Advent starts next week!

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen these updates for our #roldisneylandtrip15 🙂

It’s 5:30 AM. Let the road trip begin!

8 o’clock check in – passing Pismo Beach.

The vineyards are starting to look golden.

We had a tire problem in Camarillo but thankfully a kind mechanic at the gas station fixed it without charge. God bless you, Sal!

We finally arrive at Disneyland! (Although we spend the late afternoon in Downtown Disney and hit the magic kingdom tomorrow. 🙂 )

The day would not be complete without a trip to the Lego Store!

After such a long day, we are ready to enjoy dinner and the Rainforest Cafe then call it a night!

More DL recaps later. Time for sleep! 🙂

A Week in My Life 2015: Friday

By bobbi
November 21, 2015
No Comments

The A Week in My Life series hosted by the lovely Kathryn at Team Whitaker.org continues. Her link up for Friday is here.

My daily recaps are here:

* * *

I am going to keep this short and sweet since I am trying to get everything done before we hit the road early in the morning. Friday was filled with packing, paying bills and taking care of business before we leave.

In the afternoon I took a break from packing and got some fresh air and exercise. As I mentioned before, the three boys are involved in the after school exercise program Just Run. I took a photo of them while they were sitting down waiting for the rest of the participating students to arrive.

Oh, my heart. I love these little guys so much!!

They did their warm up exercises with their coach and I could hear John-Paul laughing hysterically because he had to do burpies. He asked if they had to actually burp while they did them. 😉 When they went to run their mile I joined them on the field, although I only walked. (Maybe one day…)

They all did well but John-Paul is definitely the one who loves to run the most, shaving his time down to 9.5 minutes. When we visit my family I’ll have my marathon running sister JC (who is also his godmother) run and do burpies with him. 😉

Have a great weekend!

A Week in My Life 2015: Wed & Thurs in 7 Quick Takes

By bobbi
November 20, 2015
2 Comments

The A Week in My Life series hosted by the lovely Kathryn at Team Whitaker.org continues. Her link up for Thursday is here.

My daily recaps are here:

* * *

Since today is Friday I am also linking up with Kelly for 7 Quick Takes. It’s a WIML/7QT Mash up. 🙂

~ 1 ~

The week in my life continues and let’s just that it was too busy for me to get online and post yesterday. So there’s that. However, there was one highlight to my Wednesday. Normally when I have a huge TO DO list that must get done pronto, I am tempted to just skip my morning prayer time and tackle the day immediately. But I always think back to a story (which I’m paraphrasing) that I once read (or heard?) about Mother Teresa. The sisters had an unusually busy day and expected Mother to excuse them from prayer. Instead Mother told them they should pray extra since they would need the extra graces. It is always a reminder to me to get on my knees and power up! So for the grace to take my prayer time seriously, I’m thankful.

~ 2 ~

Here is a little sampling from my prayer journal. Maybe it can be your prayer too.

In today’s Gospel, one line jumped out at me – “You have been faithful in this very small matter…” Am I being faithful in the little things? Am I pleasing God or am I just wasting away my day… wasting opportunities to sacrifice and die to self? God has placed countless souls on my path. Have I taken their care to heart? Am I praying for them and sacrificing for them? There is no need to look for sacrifice. Opportunity is ever present. Lord, give me the grace to see my day through the lens of your love. Let me see and do your will at the various moments of this day. Amen.

~ 3 ~

Wednesday pretty much followed the same routine of the taxi driving afternoon of Monday and Tuesday. Oh, but I know you are wondering about my quick change artist. What costume did he wear on Wednesday?

He was a hybrid Teenage Ninja Turtle Jedi in cowboy boots. 😉

~ 4 ~

On Thursday morning I finished a writing assignment (look for my guest blog post on gratitude over at the Blessed Is She blog next week!) then it was my errand and shopping day. I got the last minute things we needed for our trip next week (to Disneyland then to my parent’s home for Thanksgiving) and went grocery shopping for my mother-in-law so she wouldn’t have to worry about it while we are gone. It could have been stressful but I was super powered by the knowledge that I will be spending time with mi familia in a couple short days! Woohooo. I finished my errands just in time to pick up Matthew from school. His costume of choice this day?

We are still in a Star Wars theme but this time he is a ghost busting Jedi. 🙂

~ 5 ~

After lunch we returned to school to pick up John-Paul, went to visit Opa, returned to school to pick up Andrew and Bella then headed over to speech therapy. For dinner we had sandwiches and salad since Brian was getting home early to babysit the boys while I took Bella to her school play. (The boys already saw her perform the first show during school.) It was the Wizard of Oz and Bella played a couple of roles.

She was a munchkin…

…and in the second half she was one of the Wicked Witch’s helpers (sort of a human version of the flying monkeys.)

She did really well and remembered all her lines. To be honest with you, her interest in play acting has surprised me. She is a little on the shy side with strangers so it doesn’t seem to be something she would choose to do. However, she has been in all her school plays for the last couple of years. It has been a great way for her to express her creativity and I’m proud of her!

~ 6 ~

Since Bella also loves musicals, we are looking forward to watching Aladdin one last time next week at Disneyland. After a decade of performances, they will be changing it next year. So while Brian has some guy time with the boys and Grandpa, Bella and I (and perhaps my mom and sister JC) will have some girl time. 🙂

Photo credit: broadwaysanjose.com

Speaking of musicals, I also just purchased Bella tickets to her all time fave musical Newsies. The Broadway show is on the road and they will be playing in San Jose in spring. She and I will go together as an early graduation present. (How is it that my baby girl is already in 8th grade!!!!)

~ 7 ~

In the evening, I crashed on the couch with Brian. We watched a little TV and I worked on updating my packing list (it still had items such as bottles and diapers on it!) and I used my bullet journal to plan a couple posts for the end of November. Brian always goes to bed first (and gets up first) so I finished a couple more things then reviewed my day and made it in bed by my goal of 11 pm. I tried reading a few pages in bed but, as usual, I knocked out before I could finish one paragraph. Such is life.

Happy Friday!

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: weekly quizzes/questionnaires

Online Daybook (12/11/15) & Theme Thursday & 7 Quick Takes

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 42): The Jesse Tree

A Week in My Life 2015: Saturday and Sunday

A Week in My Life 2015: Friday

A Week in My Life 2015: Wed & Thurs in 7 Quick Takes