This is the final link-up day for Kathryn’s Week in My Life 2014. I’ll wrap up the last few days here and just touch on a couple highlights.

As per usual on a school day, the morning is a flurry of waking kids up, getting them fed, dressed and with lunches in their hands by 7:40 am. I then have 45 minutes to get myself and Matthew ready for preschool.

I give Matthew 15 minutes to play with his toys while I sit down to pray my morning meditation from Blessed Is She. It was weird this day, however, because the devotion I wrote was scheduled that day.  I couldn’t help but wonder it anyone else got what I am trying to get across. Here’s a snippet:

Gospel: Luke 17:26-37

As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was in the days of Lot — they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all — so will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed. On that day, let him who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away; and likewise let him who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

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Keep Your Eyes on God

Today’s Gospel Reading is not the easiest one out there but sometimes a dose of reality is needed to help us keep proper perspective in our lives.

It reminds me of when we turn on the news or hear of someone we know that has died at an early age. We are shocked. It forces us to look at our own life and think—what if that were me? Suddenly, the things we were complaining about yesterday now seem insignificant in the face of death.

Jesus did not mince words when He warned the apostles, and us, that we need to be prepared for the end. There is a lot of talk these days about the rapture and being “left behind” but concentrating on the exact how’s and why’s of Jesus’ second coming can distract us from reality. Our end can come at any time. We need to be watchful and never neglect the most important thing in life—our eternal salvation. That’s scary stuff! But God in not calling us to live in an attitude of doom and gloom because we may die at any moment. Rather, He wants us to be wise and cautious with our eyes always on Him.

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Read the rest at Blessed Is She.net. 🙂

It was also another day of light rain that we desperately needed. The kids were ecstatic and wore their boots and rain coats for the drizzle. (California kids.) I didn’t wear a rain coat but the cooler weather got me out of shorts and bare feet and into yoga pants and wait for it… socks. I know!

I wanted to be able to post a gorgeous shot of the ocean blue but even on a cold grey day, there is beauty.

This week ends the last of the school fundraisers I’ve been working on so it is nice to have a little less pressure on my To Do list. There is still a lot of driving with picking up kids to and from activities.

This pic was from last month but you get the idea.

After getting the two older boys at their school we went to pick up Matthew at pre school. I have to admit I was trying to hurry them along but Matthew insisted that they stop by the church to see Jesus and their daddy. Brian stops by the adoration chapel on his lunch break, which was at the same time. They love to see their dad and then go talk to Jesus just like he does. I remind myself that it is not only sweet but even more important that I stop and rest before the Lord, even if only for a few moments. It calls to mind Mother Teresa’s words, “”If you’re too busy to pray…you’re too busy.” In other words, make time for what matters most! Well, lesson learned but onto the next pick up…

Bella is in the school play of Alice in Wonderland so there has been after school practice every day this week. It’s hard for me to believe that this sweet young lady was once small enough to fit into the palm of my hands. (She was just under 4 lbs when she was born.) I’ve been thinking about her early years a lot lately since I have been spending countless hours cleaning out closets and going through all the plastic containers of the kids’ outgrown clothes.

Going through Bella’s old clothes was the hardest because I really wanted to have another girl to wear all her cute dresses and outfits. However, I don’t think that is God’s plan for us. I kept a few favorites and decided to give away the rest. Some will go to my nieces, some to my friends’ kids and the rest will go to charity. When I wanted to hold onto an outfit I pictured a Hispanic mom (because I’m Hispanic) trying to make ends meet and doing her clothes shopping at the Salvation Army thrift store. She finds an adorable Baby Gap dress for her little daughter Anita with cute chubby cheeks. She  buys it, happy to have a new dress to give her daughter for Christmas. See, if you want me to do something is difficult for me, just tug at my heart strings. I gladly gave up the dress along with the matching shoes, stocking and hat. 😉 And if I knew the mom’s size, I would have bought her an outfit too.

This was only a quarter of the bags I filled up.

Well, the closet was cleaned out but now I had to get it all washed and sorted. (Some stuff had that gross dusty smell and my allergies were going crazy!)  Last year I read how a friend on Facebook had a Green Recycle Party. Everyone brought a box of the items they no longer used or wore and they all had the chance to go through the boxes of clothes and home items and find what they could use. I thought the idea was genius! Since I had the most stuff to give away I offered to host the party. It was a great idea until I realized the party was set for Saturday and I still had to finish  everything!

I had my schedule for Friday all planned out. I was going to do the bulk of the work in the morning since I had three Parent – Teacher conferences scheduled for that afternoon. Well, nothing went as planned and as I sat down and waited at school in between conferences I posted this to my Instagram.

A friend responded, ” LOL, you probably figured you will stress some about the party and then have to go to confession.”  (You know me too well, Teresa. ;-)) Needless to say the rest of the day and evening I was running around like crazy (I had 10,000 steps on my Fitbit to prove it!) but that is the story of my life so it wasn’t a big surprise. However, I promised Brian that at 9 PM I’d stop and devote the evening to him. We got cozy on the couch and watched two of his favorite creepy shows – Grimm and Constantine. (Add Sleepy Hollow and we have a hat trick!) It was nice to relax with a spooky story. 😉

Saturday morning came and I was pleased to say that I was able to get everything washed, sorted and organized by gender and size. (If my way-more-organized-than-me sisters were here, they’d be so proud.) Now it was time to focus on the enchilada lunch. (I promise I’ll post the recipe soon!)

I didn’t take any more photos this day but the get together with my friends was lovely. I loved chatting and sharing and opening up to them about a number of things. More and more I am realizing just how much I NEED to connect with other Catholic females for fellowship and friendship, whether to cry on their shoulder or laugh until our sides ache.

Later that evening I got an email from one of my friends and she expressed how much she was touched by the words we spoke and that it was just what she needed to hear at that moment. She said, “You reminded me that we share the greatest vocation, and that one of the most beautiful aspects of our jobs as mothers is one another. Great colleagues are such a perk at any job!” That is so true! Even with these Week in the Life posts, it not only serves to record the little blessings and trials of our days but it also gives other moms a glimpse to see that we are all in this together. Some days we rock and some days we are barely dragging our butts across the finish line. ( Yeah, I’m looking at you, Wednesday.) But in the end we are all a sisterhood of women who love God and are trying to serve Him through loving our husband and children and those around us.

Well, the week was coming to an end and although I looked at next week’s calendar and saw that it was packed with school activities, that I’d have little time to pack for our road trip next weekend and that I should really start packing now, I just couldn’t bear it. My allergies had been really bad through out all the closet cleaning (MAJOR DUST) and my head was congested and I woke up with a hoarse voice. God knew what He was doing when He said we needed a day of rest!  No packing today. After Mass, Brian cooked his traditional Sunday morning breakfast and I did a little cleaning up while he relaxed to football.

In the afternoon the weather turned chilly and the couch and warm blankets were beckoning us so we all got cozy and watched one of my favorite family movies – Rise of the Guardians. A little family relaxing was just what we all needed. After dinner and baths and getting everyone to sleep in their own beds, Brian and I were able to have an at home date night. It was nice to just turn off the TV and spend time together. It was the perfect ending to a busy week.

I’m grateful I was able to capture and record a few moments of this week before it turned into one big blur. Thanks for the inspiration, Kathryn! 🙂

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See other Week in My Life posts:

A Week in My Life 2014: Monday 

A Week in My Life 2014 – Tues & Wed: Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This

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