Splendor in the Ordinary

Our birthday girl!

2012-01-13T06:54:00.001-05:00

Our Gracie has turned 7. I cannot believe it! She is such a delight and it is fun to see her starting to experience more and more as she grows!

We love you, sweetheart!

the Incarnation and the splendor of the ordinary

2012-01-05T06:58:00.001-05:00

Throughout the New Testament we notice this sort of homeliness surrounding the Incarnation. In Jesus, God is completely present to the rest of us. Young men gather around him. A woman wants to touch the hem of his garment and be healed. And Jesus wants them to come. He says, "Come and see." Being close to Jesus, experiencing intimate friendship with him--that's the seed of our transformation. That's why the Father sent the Son to us: to cross the unbridgeable distance, to show us splendor in the ordinary, to be that close."

-Emilie Griffin. January 4 reading in God with Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas

A New Term; A Fresh Start

2012-01-01T19:49:00.000-05:00

I've been busy spending the weekend getting ready for our new term to begin. I spent time completing Grace's portfolio and it felt good to see all we've accomplished as a family, even with a new baby in tow. The highlights are many, but here are my top three:

Days spent with good books and good conversation now that we are using the Ambleside curriculum full-time. Mather's favorite is most definitely The Eskimo twins and Little Pilgrim's Progress; Grace loved Understood Betsy and Our Island Story. But really they both enjoyed all of the books and were always sad when the 15 minute time-limit per book came to an end.

Starting a Nature Study Club that met weekly--some gatherings we had close to 50 moms, children and babies attend. We all loved being outdoors with friends. In the past an afternoon in nature often fell to the bottom of my priority list, especially if the weather was iffy, so the club helped us to be consistent in our nature study. And we finally bought rain pants!!

Our Charlotte Mason fine arts group, The Truth, Beauty, Goodness Symposium (modeled after this one) also was a delight. We had tea and treats while working on our manners, then read and recited poetry, sang hymns, listened to our term's composer and Opal Wheeler biography, then did a picture study together. We had two culminating events: a family celebratory dessert and a trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art with sketchbooks in hand.

My hopes for improvements for next term are many as well, but that is always to be expected, isn't it?

My top three would be:

Getting more one-on-one learning time with all my children each day.

Spending more time in Scripture each morning as a family.

Being more disciplined with the no-frills, every-day-type subjects: Latin, Spelling, Handwriting, Math, Memory Work.

and a close fourth would be the ability to extend grace to my children in those crazy moments when one child starts crying over their math, right when the other has completely forgotten all the letters in the alphabet, the toddler has wet her pants, the baby is ready for her next feeding, and I realize that the cup of coffee I never even started is now ice cold!

Oh, to a fresh start and the chance to ring true:

...Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

On The Eve of the New Year

2011-12-31T19:02:00.001-05:00

May we "Ring in the Christ that is to be."

Ring Out, Wild Bells by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Introducing Emma!

2011-12-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

Hello! It's been a year since I've been blogging and in that time we've had a new addition, Emma Joy, born August 8! She came 3 1/2 weeks early and was 5 lbs 11oz. We were glad she arrived before school started and I didn't have to be pregnant in the hottest days of August! She has been a sweet, easy-going baby, well-loved by her older siblings. So without further ado...Emma Joy.

FIRST BREATH

JOY IN THE MORNING

5LB SUGAR SACK

MEETING CLARA

MEETING MATHER

MEETING GRACE

THE WONDER

NOW THERE ARE FOUR

SNUGGLING WITH DAD

2 DAYS OLD

WAITING FOR MOM & BABY TO COME HOME

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

Baboushka

2011-12-27T21:12:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas! The feast continues here in the Snell house with not just one day to celebrate Christmas but twelve! One of my favorite traditions leading up to Epiphany is to read the folk tale of Baboushka. Though there are different versions in the Russian and Italian traditions, in most books Baboushka is an old woman too busy tending her home to journey with the wise men to the Christ child. When she is finally ready to depart, she is too late and so now spends her days wandering the earth searching from house to house, calling out,

"Is he here? Is the Christ child here?"

The book led to a quiet and thoughtful "grand conversation" as it poses the same question to mother and child alike:

Am I a Baboushka?

If Baboushka came to our house calling, "Is the Christ-child here?," what could we tell her?

Tonight we read the version by Arthur Scholey with its richly decorative and beautiful illustrations by Helen Cann.

Afterwards my little ones acted out the story. Miss C played the part of Baboushka crooning, "Is he here? Is the Christ child here?" in her new red cape.

We will also read Baboushka and the Three Kingsby Ruth Robbins. The illustrations won the book the Caldecott in 1961 and give the book an ancient feel:

Living the Church Year Series: Part Four. The Domestic Church.

2010-12-16T06:00:00.001-05:00

Missed the earlier posts? Check out Part One. Part Two. Part Three.

Part Four. The Domestic Church.

Much of my Christian life had been devoid of any sense of culture—or rather the gaping hole was filled with (and weak attempts to fight) the cultural urges of Hallmark, Media, consumerism, and advertising.

I now see the Snells not as an isolated family unit but as an outpost of the Church.

“The Early Church described the family as the “domestic church.” This meant that it was not just a sociological unit. Rather, the family was created to play a specific role in God’s plan of salvation…The baptized family is the first place where the essential teachings in catechesis, prayer, and morality are carried out to help in the conversion and development of growing Christians.
Because the Christian family is the Church in miniature, it also shares the nature of Christ. It has a priestly, prophetic, and kingly dimension to it. The family offers Christ and intercedes for its own members and those around it (priestly); the family is a sign of Christ’s love and faithfulness to a world that is enmeshed in the culture of death (prophetic); and the family serves its own members and those around it sacrificially (kingly).” (The domesticchurch.com)

Even if most of the congregants are under 5, we can do all the work of the church right here from our home: serving, praying, loving, redeeming.

As John Paul II writes,

“In order to be a true ‘domestic church’ (176) the Christian family needs to be a setting in which parents hand down the faith… Families should not fail to set time aside for prayer, in which spouses are united with each other and with their children. There is a need to encourage shared spiritual moments such as participating in the Eucharist on Sundays and Holy Days…daily prayer in the family and practical signs of charity. This will strengthen fidelity in marriage and unity in families. In such a family setting it will not be difficult for children to discover a vocation of service in the community and the Church, and to learn, especially by seeing the example of their parents, that family life is a way to realize the universal call to holiness. (Ecclesia in America, p. 178)

And really then the church year has changed the way I view my role as mother and home-maker. If my home is, indeed, an outpost of the church, it is important work that need be done. As I incorporate the Church’s liturgy into our home by providing an atmosphere for prayer and discipleship, by planning feasts to mirror the Church’s feasts, by decorating in a way that provides visual clues of the church season,

my work becomes a vocation.

To further explain this, I’ll end with an excerpt from the article in Touchstone I mentioned above by Jessica Snell which nicely ties together this idea of the domestic church and the rhythmic beauty of the church year:

“The life of a stay-at-home mother is derided by many as repetitive and boring, but what those critics do not realize is that the repetition is not rote, it is rhythmic.

It is not like being a cog in a factory but like providing the structure of a hymn. In The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis’s demon narrator takes note of this divine gift of the pattern of change and permanence. God ‘has made change pleasurable to them, just as He has made eating pleasurable,’ he tells his nephew Wormwood.

But since He does not wish them to make change, any more than eating, an end in itself, He has balanced the love of change in them by a love of permanence. He has contrived to gratify both tastes together in the very world He has made, by that union of change and permanence we call Rhythm.

God gives them seasons, he continues, ‘each season different yet every year the same, so that spring is always felt as a novelty yet always as the recurrence of an immemorial theme. He gives them in His Church a spiritual year; they change from a fast to a feast, but it is the same feast as before.’

Like the structured day of work and prayer found in a monastery, the structure of the church year turns homemaking also into a pattern of work and prayer.”

Living the Church Year Series: Part Three. Habit and Rhythm in our Spiritual Walk.

2010-12-14T13:37:00.000-05:00

Missed the earlier posts? Part One. Part Two.

Well, since I already admitted to growing up with a certain level of “Christian guilt,” I might as well continue by admitting another struggle that troubled me growing up:

doing my devotions.

I struggled to form godly habits of prayer and Scripture reading on a consistent basis and being a Christian often didn’t seem to have much of an impact beyond living a moral life.

Too often it was my whim or mood that determined my spiritual practices.

Too often my spiritual practices depended upon a pastor, a movement or popular book.

What I so desired was an ordered means for engaging God and through God’s grace I learned that the Church for generation upon generation has provided a systematic way to study the life of Christ and constitute the habits of our devotion.

When I struggle due to my own lack of desire and discipline, when I haven’t known how or what to pray, when I’ve known I should be engaged in disciplines like fasting but didn’t know how to begin, the Church and the Prayer Book, come along side to lead, encourage and prod us more deeply into Scripture and into my relationship with Christ.

Prayer as part of a larger liturgy has taught me, as David De Silva writes in his book Sacramental Life: Spiritual Formation through the Book of Common Prayer, “what to desire and what to seek from the Lord, and forms in us the habits of the most significant spiritual disciplines valued by Christian disciples through the centuries--adoration, prayer, self-examination and confession, as well as listening to and being shaped by Scripture. By means of these disciplines, we draw closer to God and grow more attuned to the mind of Christ." (DeSilva, p. 12)

In our home, following the seasons of the church year shape our spiritual practices, what we eat, how we decorate our home, activities we might engage in, the prayers we offer, even the poetry I read. This provides a real rhythm for our spiritual life with set times for contemplation, confession, and rejoicing. A rhythm which always has us looking forward to the next season, we become giddy waiting for Advent, we debate if we like Christ the King Sunday or Trinity Sunday best, we scheme new places to hike on Acsensiontide, I scrimp and save for new linens for Easter.

Though you might wonder how it could be meaningful to live out the life of Christ over and over again. I would suggest that you attempt to enter into the practice to learn. As CS Lewis suggests, worship

“’works’ best—when through familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing, but only learning to dance.” (qtd. In Gross p. 18-19).

And so in practicing this practice of the Church Year, I hope you too will see the beauty and power of God’s Great Drama, a practice which has brought me more fully into the life of Christ and has knit our family together into a life saturated with Christian Culture.

Advent Poem of the Day

2010-12-09T08:27:00.000-05:00

Here is our Advent Poem of the Day. May we welcome Christ all the more this Advent season!

The Story of the Christmas Guest
by Helen Steiner Rice

It happened one day at December's end
Some neighbors called on an old-time friend.

And they found his shop so meager and mean,
Made gay with a thousand boughs of green.

And old Conrad was sitting with face ashine.
When he suddenly stopped as he stitched the twine.

And he said "My friends at dawn today,
When the cock was crowing the night away,

The Lord appeared in a dream to me.
And He said, 'I'm coming your guest to be"

So I've been busy with feet astir,
Strewing my shop with branches of fir.

The table is spread and the kettle is shined,
And over the rafters the holly is twined.

And now I'll wait for my Lord to appear;
And listen closely so I will hear,

His steps as he nears my humble place.
And I'll open the door and I'll look on his face."

Then his friends went home and left Conrad alone,
For this was the happiest day he had known.

For long since his family had passed away.
And Conrad had spent many a sad Christmas Day.

But he knew with the Lord as his Christmas guest,
This Christmas would be the dearest and best.

So he listened with only joy in his heart,
And with every sound he would rise with a start,

And looked for the Lord to be at his door.
Like the vision that he had had a few hours before.

So he ran to the window after hearing a sound,
But all he could see on the snow covered ground

Was a shabby beggar whose shoes were torn.
And all his clothes were ragged and worn.

But old Conrad was touched and he went to the door
And he said, "Your feet must be cold and sore.

I have some shoes in my shop for you.
And I have a coat to keep you warmer, too."

So with grateful heart the man went away.
But Conrad notice the time of day

And he wondered what made the dear Lord so late,
And how much longer he'd have to wait.

Then he heard another knock, and he ran to the door,
But it was only a stranger once more.

A bent old lady with a shawl of black,
And a bundle of kindling piled on her back.

But she asked only for a place to rest,
a place that was reserved, for Conrad's great guest.

But her voice seemed to plead, "Don't send me away,
Let me rest for awhile this Christmas Day."

So Conrad brewed her a steaming cup
And told her to sit at the table and sup.

After she had left, he was filled with dismay
For he saw that the hours were slipping away

The Lord had not come as He said He would
And Conrad felt sure he had misunderstood.

When out of the stillness he heard a cry.
"Please help, me and tell me - Where am I?"

So again he opened his friendly door.
And stood disappointed as twice before.

It was a child who had wandered away,
And was lost from her family on Christmas Day.

Again Conrad's heart was heavy and sad,
But he knew he could make this little girl glad.

So he called her in and he wiped her tears,
And he quieted all her childish fears.

Then he led her back to her home once more.
Then as he entered his own darkened door,

He knew that the Lord was not coming today,
For the hours of Christmas, had all passed away.

So he went to his room, and he knelt down to pray.
He said, "Lord, why did you delay?

What kept You from coming to call on me?
I wanted so much Your face to see."

Then softly, in the silence, a voice he heard.
"Lift up your head - I have kept My word.

Three times my shadow crossed your floor.
Three times I came to your lowly door.

I was the beggar with bruised cold feet;
I was the woman you gave something to eat;
I was the child on the homeless street.

Three times I knocked, three times I came in,
And each time I found the warmth of a friend.

Of all the gifts, love is the best.
I was honored to be your Christmas guest.

Living the Church Year Series: Part Two. Story-Formed.

2010-12-08T15:29:00.000-05:00

Part One.

Part Two. Story-Formed.*

In the Liturgical Year (again sometimes referred to as the Church Seasons or the Christian Year) we take our place in the great drama of God’s redemption of the world. We conform our daily life after Jesus’ life, so that we can be transformed into His likeness. In the Eucharistic Prayer we use most weeks at our church, we hear the story of this drama in its entirety, as we pray:

Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself, and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all. He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world. (Book of Common Prayer, p.362)

This prayer places us into the very center of the gospel, and so does the liturgical year which views all of Scripture as the story of God’s work. As Eugene Peterson writes, “God's Word is given for the most part in the form of story. And it is a vast, over-reaching, all-encompassing story - a meta-story.”

Peterson continues this idea in his work, Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading:

“When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves” (p. 44).

With the practice of the church year, we don’t merely “preach the gospel to ourselves” we read, celebrate, and inhabit God’s redemptive work. As a continual re-enactment of the proclamation of the death and resurrection of Christ—the church year is a tool to share and teach the gospel as a witness to the world and as a means of catechesis for Christ’s followers.

Before my oldest daughter G., who’s been blessed with her father’s inquisitiveness, had turned 2, we were doing morning devotions together with a line that off-handedly mentioned Jesus was God. She stopped me immediately and in her baby voice said, “Mommy, Jesus isn’t God.” And when I answered, “Yes, He was,” she didn’t even pause to let me explain as she retorted, “Well, how many gods do we got?” ...I knew then I was in over my head! She continued into her second year with troubled questions like, “Well, if it’s Jesus Birthday, how old is he going to turn?” and connections like, “Mommy don’t you think, Jesus’ Baptism is like Noah’s Ark.” And “Mommy, if God wanted Jesus to die for my sins, the soldiers didn’t get in trouble for putting him on the cross, right?” At 3, she prayed, “Dear Jesus, Thank you for dying for my sins. Please don’t ever do that again.” And so, we knew that there wasn’t going to be a simple kiddie devotional with cartoon characters and easy answers. And though our son M’s 3 yr old brain works differently than Grace’s, he has the same spiritual capacities and a heart that seeks God and desires to know Him more. A few months ago, Mather was trying to figure out the atonement. It was startling to hear the words put so starkly,

"Mommy, Jesus died?"

He would wait only for a quick reassurance and run off. Then the next day, thinking he caught the mistake, "Wait, Mommy, do you mean Jesus Christ died?" Then the third day, "Mommy, God is always watching me, right?" And then the painful fourth day,

"Mommy, wasn't God the Father watching Jesus?"

Yes, the questions of the Trinity, Atonement, Sovereignty are difficult to explain to little children. But these are good questions and have good answers. Answers which can perhaps best be explained to them by orienting their lives around them so that even as little children they can come to Christ and be a part of His Story too.

Jessica (who blogs at Homemaking Through the Church Year) put it this way in a piece "The Feast Goes On" for Touchstone:

“As a new parent, I was flummoxed by how to explain Jesus to a two-year-old. The church year answered my question. You start by letting her participate in the story: By letting her see the crèche at the front of the church during Advent and the Wise Men moving toward it during Epiphany. By standing with her in a candle-lit church on Christmas Eve. By having her forehead crossed with ashes at the beginning of Lent. By giving her a palm frond to wave on Palm Sunday. By giving her a bell to ring on Easter Sunday. By wearing red on Pentecost. The church year was made for people like her.” (Touchstone April 2008 Volume 21, Issue 3.)

The beauty of the church year is that all may enter the practice at wherever they are in their journey, the new believer and mature Christian in community learn more of who Christ is. Recently another friend who grew up in the faith and attending Christian schools, but was just beginning to follow the church year for her young children to learn about Christ, wrote to say how much she is learning and growing with this new discipline. There was evident excitement at being able to not only teach her children but live out the story of Christ with them, learning and growing at the same time.

But I want to point out again-- it is not just a mental reliving, but in a mysterious and sacred way the work and life of Jesus become present to us as we follow in His footsteps. Which is why we don’t see this as mere re-enactment, but a means of inhabiting and participating in the life of Christ. The Catholic Catechism is helpful in explaining this distinction: “Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.” (CCC 1104). The church year is not just what we do to remember what occurred, but to put ourselves into what occurred. We live and work and eat and play all within God’s Great Drama.

*These ideas have been heavily influenced by so many of you, dear readers.

I have benefited so much from the thoughts of Jessica who I mentioned above, but also from the bloggers A Ten O'Clock Scholar and Story-Formed that I must mention them as part of the piece, though I only quoted Jessica specifically.

In addition, the ideas are also much more clearly articulated in the wonderful book by Bobby Gross, Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God. It is he who points so powerfully to the Eucharistic prayer as a way to understand what the Great Drama is. I have learned much from this book--I highly recommend it!

As I mentioned in my previous post in this series, these thoughts are a compilation of blog posts I've written here and talks I've had the opportunity to give at Eastern Unv. and at our church. If you missed the part one, follow this link.

I appreciate your comments for encouragement and as I look to share this info again with parents at our church soon. Thanks for reading!

Living the Church Year Series: Part One. Sacred Time.

2010-12-07T06:00:00.001-05:00

I'm going back through old notes and talks I've given on the church year as I prepare to share for an Advent Family Night at our church. Though I'm not quiet sure yet what I'll say, I thought I'd post some of what I've written. There are so many of you, dear readers, who've helped me form these ideas and inspire me with ways to live them out with our family. Thank you!

Part One. Sacred Time.

Growing up, I was often overwhelmed with guilt over what seemed to be a great divide between my religious life and my secular life. When I read Thomas Howard’s, Splendor in the Ordinary, it helped me overcome this divide:

we can offer “things up in acts of consecration and praise. This is what lifts those things from the heap of mere ordinariness and makes them extraordinary (holy). They are ordinary things, of course, like eating and drinking and working and playing and bread and wine; but it is the ordinary stuff lifted up which is holy…Holy things are ordinary things perceived in their true light, that is, bearers of the divine mysteries and glory to us. Looked at this way, eating becomes Eucharistic, and working becomes the opus dei (“Work of God”), and loving becomes an image of the City of God. It is our task in [our home] to take these ordinary things and by lifting them in oblation, to hallow them to the service for which they were given to us here, which was to bring us to the habitation of God, where we are set free to live in the splendor where eating and drinking and working and playing are known for what they really are: forms of perpetual worship and therefore bliss” (p. 18-19).

The church calendar becomes one way we can lift up our ordinary days into something holy. Time becomes sacred when we break away from a life merely following deadlines, class schedules, birthdays, vacations, our agendas, and instead incorporate these into the sacred.

The Sacred, holy and mystical, invites us to ponder and appropriate the meaning and purpose of our life:

For me, this occurred even in my very first Lent when I attempted to give up sugar and dessert without knowing much about it at all. Having a serious sweet tooth this was bad news--I suffered headaches and cravings, but this prompted me to prayer and a deeper dependence on God and also taught me just a little bit more about the sufferings of Christ which then prepared me for the Lent of 2003 when we had our first miscarriage --Christ’s suffering and death took on a whole new meaning.

Then there was our first Advent when we couldn’t understand why no one was singing Christmas hymns which has turned into the cherished tradition of singing Advent hymns and the O Antiphons starting on December 17^th.

There was the Advent also where we were forced to wait on God who was convicting us of the need to change our lives, our place, perhaps even our calling, but no answers were clear on what that change should be. And so we Waited and Waited and understood more about the world’s wait for the Second Coming. We speak of this time as our moral conversion, learning about welcoming Christ into our lives in a whole new way.

There was the Winter I had fallen into despair and darkness and it was only at the Light of Christ shining forth on Epiphany which brought me hope.

There was the Easter Monday I went on my first Emmaus Walk, walking and talking with Christ, seeing Him where I had been blinded before.

And then climbing the highest mountain in the area on the Day of His Ascension, all five of us laid back in the tall grass, holding hands and looking to the heavens.

Having our children baptized at Pentecost this past year became a new way for me to understand what being incorporated into the church means as we celebrated the church’s inception and my children’s welcome into it all on the same day.

Time is now counted in a different way for us. There is much less of a separation between the Sacred and the Secular. The ordinary things are holy; the mystery of Christ is more fully revealed. And this is what the church year does, it moves us beyond simply viewing the Gospel as a fact, to see it also as a means of inhabiting God’s unfolding drama.

Saint Nicholas Day 2010

2010-12-06T10:27:00.000-05:00

Shoes left by the door are filled with gold candy coins and oranges to remember the gifts of St. Nicholas.

The excitement of coming down the stairs

Finding their treasures

An orange and a bag of gold candy coins


The Real Santa Claus

The Real Santa Claus by Marianna Mayer is another beautifully illustrated children's books filled with illustrations mainly from the middle ages. It is much more detailed than the Tompert, perhaps than more suitable for older children.

The Real St. Nicholas: Tales of Generosity and Hope from Around the World, Edited and Translated by Louise Carus. This is a gem, filled with beautiful art as early as the tenth century, the middle ages, and today. It contains history, wonderful folk tales, and customs.

Saint Nicholas by Ann Tompert. The text is shorter in this book, making it ideal for younger children. The illustrations are the mosaic art of Michael Garland. It has one frightening image of a black cloud full of skeletons to represent the plague that killed Nicholas' parents which I cover for my little ones.


A Memory Game to review the good deeds of St. Nicholas and the role of a bishop

St. Nicholas pancakes for our morning feast!

Almighty Father, lover of souls,
who chose your servant Nicholas
to be a bishop in the Church,
that he might give freely out of the treasures of your grace:
make us mindful of the needs of others
and, as we have received, so teach us also to give;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Anglican collect from Common Worship, President's Edition, copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000, The Church of England

Go visit The St. Nicholas Center, amazing site for ideas, stories, games, video and more.

For more of our families' thoughts on celebrating Saint Nicholas Feast Day, check out last year's post!

Advent Music

2010-12-06T09:56:00.000-05:00

I've updated my Advent Music Playlist on youtube and playlist. Enjoy!

Praying for the church at Pentecost

2010-05-24T20:33:00.001-04:00

At breakfast today we prayed our way through the office of Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer (It is nice that though RJ seems to have even more work since classes are finished, there isn't quite the pressure to leave at an early hour which makes room for things like morning prayer as a family.)

But today rather than pray through the suffrages and collects for the day, I suggested that in light of Pentecost we offer up prayers for the Church.

I had this prayer from the back of the prayer book in mind:

Gracious Father, we pray for they holy Catholic Church. Fill it
with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is
amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in
want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake
of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen.
(p. 816)

But M, as usual, was quick to volunteer, and always happy to hear our children pray to know their hearts better, we let him begin our time. He paused, not quite so sure now...what does a three year old know of the mission of the Church--its needs, errors, corruptions, and divisions?

He paused for a moment and then prayed,

Dear God, Please do not let your Church be crushed. Amen.

Amen and Amen.

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 18:16.

Ideas for Celebrating Pentecost as a Family

2010-05-19T13:23:00.001-04:00

Last year, all three of our children were baptized on the Feast of Pentecost. Here was my reflection on the connections between baptism and Pentecost, as well as pictures from last year's Pentecost celebration.

My how the kids have grown in a year!

G is wearing a tongue of fire on her head from Sunday School!

So this year, we will also take time as a family to discuss the baptismal covenant and prayers.

Here are Ideas for Celebrating Pentecost as a Family that I posted last year:

The celebration of Pentecost as a Christian holy day began in New Testament times. From the third century, Pentecost was one of the highest feasts of the church year. Here is more information on the background of this feast.

The color for Pentecost is RED to "recalls the tongues of flame in which the Holy Spirit descended on the first Pentecost. The color red also reminds us of the blood of the martyrs. These are the believers of every generation who by the power of the Holy Spirit hold firm to the true faith even at the cost of their lives." Many people wear red to church on this day; we did this even when we were attending a non-denominational church. It was always interesting to see who would notice, or at least was brave enough to ask. This year the girls would like to wear their dresses from last year, so we will forgo the red tradition!

Celebrating at home:

Decorate with roses and red candles! We will have a white table cloth the children will decorate with rose petals from a bush in our yard and votive candles to represent the tongues of flame.
Hang a Dove cut out
Serve a cake with vanilla icing and strawberries to represent the flames or even a 12 fruit salad, to represent the 12 Fruits of the Spirit

Family Prayers:
Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

or this

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A Blessing to Share: “May God pour out his Spirit upon you, so that you live boldly as his child and do great things in his name. Amen.” (Acts 2:17; Romans 8:15; John 14:12)

For the Week: “Lord God, please send me your Spirit of truth to live in me and be with me. Amen.” (John 14:17)

For Throughout the Day: “Lord God, pour out your Spirit upon me this day,that I may declare your wonders. Amen.” (Acts 2:11,17).

Scripture to read together:
Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
Romans 8:14-17 or Acts 2:1-21
John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Discussion questions for families:
• On the day of Pentecost the first Christians received the Holy Spirit with signs of wind and fire (Acts 2:1-4). How is the Spirit like wind and fire?
• How, when and where have you received the Holy Spirit? What does the gift of the Holy Spirit mean to you?
• How is this day the birthday of the Church? Why is the Holy Spirit so necessary for the Church?
• How are we as a family living out the mission of the Church? What else could we do?

Activities:

• Cut out 12 small from a piece of construction paper or cardstock and write one of the following fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Place the doves in a nice dish and before each meal ask a family member to draw one out. Discuss its meaning, how you’ve seen it in each other’s lives, ask for the Holy Spirit to fill each of you with this fruit.

• Coloring Pages

• For little ones, play with bubbles or fly kites to remind you of the Holy Spirit presence.

• Take time to learn about and pray for your church’s missionaries and sister churches around the world.

For more great ideas, check out last year's Carnival of the Church Year: Pentecost at Jessica's blog. And Shower of Roses has beautiful pictures too.

Love to hear how you will celebrate this day or have in the past. Feel free to drop a link or drop a line in the comment box!
Amy

Ascension 2010: Becoming Grounded.

2010-05-17T06:00:00.001-04:00

Yesterday many churches observe the Ascension of the Lord as a congregation, though the fortieth day after the Resurrection was this past Thursday. Either way we are now in the midst of the 10 days of waiting until Pentecost. I love how the church year is such an organic practice: each year we find ourselves in a different place and thus, the particular moments in the story of Christ strikes us in new and meaningful ways yet again.

This past Thursday I kept coming back to the moment described in the Book of Acts when the angels speak after Jesus rose to heaven. It is such a vivid picture, of all the disciples standing together gazing up to the sky, awestruck and frozen in place. Standing there and not wanting to move, hoping for more from the sky: would some other sign appear, would they too be lifted up? This was the last place they were able to be with Christ in bodily form, maybe they just shouldn't move at all. I also wondered if at this moment they were…

…afraid, to be left without Him…

…bewildered, at seeing this miraculous event of a man lifted up from the earth…

…questioning, is this how He will restore the Kingdom to Israel?

I wondered this because lately I have felt stuck in place looking to the sky for answers about my place in the world:

is this how we should be living our lives, is homeschooling still the best option for us, do I really want to return to work part-time, is blogging worth the effort, is my daily work part of kingdom-making? And sadly, the questions and doubts left me with an inability to complete many of the simple tasks of my day: laundry, loading dishes, MATH.

And so, it was the angels’ words to the disciples as they stood there though Jesus had ascended which meant the most to me this year, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? (Acts 1:11).

Faced with my own fear, bewilderment, and questions, the angels question was for me too. This is not the time for me for me to be standing around asking these questions, important though they may be, or at least standing frozen with my questions in hand was not the way I should go about it. Though I was not quite sure of the way forward, with these words in mind, instead of looking up to the sky, I left the overwhelming mess of our house to work in our backyard, pulling weeds and planting seeds. I was tired of living life in my head--I wanted to be rooted to the ground.

As my hands grew muddy, I refused to entertain the questions I had been asking all week. But focused on the chore at hand. The children became engrossed in their own project—digging in the dirt for rocks, then scrubbing them thoroughly, and setting up their very own rock garden—and I was free to do my work quietly and well. Work as Prayer as Benedict says.

Becoming grounded, I thought about how regardless of whatever the disciples’ emotional response to Christ’s departure might have been, they return to the Upper Room, devoting themselves to prayer (vs. 14). And so devote myself to prayer and the work of the day, I should too. I realized I had been allowing exhaustion and theoretical worries about the future to overtake me, judging myself by impossible standards.

And slowly the beauty of an ordinary day began to overtake me.

There is a wonder at green springing up from what looks dead to the eye.

Delight in industrious children, who see glory in a pile of stones.

Good in the labor of clearing out weeds so that more glory might bloom.

Looking up was not helpful to me. It brought me no answers, only more doubts.

And the disciples? I can find no proof of their fear or bewilderment at this time. The account in the Book of Luke actually says that when Christ parted from them, "They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God" (Luke 24:50-53). They had seen the worst at the Cross, lived through the waiting of Holy Saturday and then witnessed the resurrection! Could there be much room for doubt now? And I too have witnessed the power of His death and resurrection in my life. Time and again, He has provided all things necessary when I thought there was no way forward.

The disciples also had the gift of spending time with Christ for the forty days after His Resurrection. He had prepared them, “He would ascend to the Father” (John 20: 17) and some among them were there when “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Again, could there be much room for doubt? And I too, have the gift of the Scriptures which provides instruction and hope. The Scriptures were a gift to me that very day, not only the Book of Acts passage but also the Epistle reading which speaks of the importance of Christ’s Ascension to heaven. The epistle writer tells us that God’s power is demonstrated in the Ascension of Christ to the right hand of the Father,

“when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:21-23).

The verse links Christ’s rule and headship, not only to the resurrection, but also to His Ascension. So rather than being a day of fear at Christ leaving the earth, this is triumph. And I am cared for by this one “who fills everything in every way.” It was this that caused my fears to finally cease.

Not that I don’t need to find answers to many of those questions, but I want to approach them in the same way that the disciples did, who stopped looking to the skies and returned to pray in the Upper Room; they could not see but believed; they were not sure what to do, but prayed; they did not know the future, but obeyed the command that was given to them for that moment. I want to ask my questions in light of the power and dominion of Christ’s Ascension to the throne—I may not yet know if I should homeschool next year, have another baby, or seek employment, but I do know who I am in Christ and what He has called me to do today.

Set free, we headed over to Haverford College for a hike on their nature trails and a picnic dinner atop a hill that looks down over a lovely grassy area and pond. The children played hide and seek for a long time in the tall grass, hubby and I stealing glances at each other as we read some Wendell Berry on a bench, but the highlight of the evening (the cloud cake being a close second) was when M found a family of geese hidden in the grass and excitedly called, “Goslings, goslings, goslings!!!!!!!”

We had so much fun watching the five little ones and their protective parents. Baby C quacked and quacked at them with such delight! Good things do come from looking down.

Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven, Alleluia.

(Acts 1:11) Entrance Antiphon for the Day of the Ascension.

Good things come from being grounded, Alleluia.

A Happy Ascensiontide,

Amy

A weed or a flower?

2010-05-14T21:22:00.000-04:00

We decided to go organic with our lawn when we first moved into our new house. Which has been great. But I must admit becoming annoyed at times with the clover overrunning the place. That is until I read about the Life of George Washington Carver in the children's book by Aliki this past week with the kids. Carver, a lover of all that grows, said, "A weed is a flower growing in the wrong place." And then next day when I was handed this sweet gift:

from this sweet girl

(to shy to look at the camera though she wanted her picture taken),

I knew he was right.

I have a yard of flowers now.

Splendor in the Ordinary.

How does your garden grow?

2010-05-05T06:00:00.000-04:00

This week:

This week last year:

Each year gardening becomes a bit easier as we learn new things. My two main goals for this year are to have a more continuous crop throughout the summer, rather than everything coming in at once, and I'd like to try to extend the season later into the fall.

We love our square foot beds from All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!.

They are so easy to plant and tend! Last year I posted on making the beds here and why they are such a great way to garden here. And here is last year's slideshow of us putting our beds together.

More from the archives:

Also thought new readers might be interested in my reflection on Caring for the Earth and also how gardening is one way we pursue God's splendor together.

Tree Appreciation on Arbor Day

2010-05-04T06:00:00.002-04:00

In honor of Arbor Day last Friday and for our Good Shepherd Theme for the week (The Gardener Plants Paradise) here are pictures of the beautiful trees at the Grange Estate from our latest nature walk:

We head over to the Grange whenever we want to escape to the woods but only have a short time. It's a great place for the kids to run and explore.

Running back to report a great find!

The Grange was first settled in 1682 and, just like us, George Washington would also come here when he needed to escape to the woods. A tour guide once showed us the spot that Washington and the owner of the Grange would sit to picnic and talk. The Grange also offers programs and tours.

Blue seemed to be the color of the evening.

We spent a little time trying to sketch the bluebells in our Nature Journals.

Though these magnificent white peonies also got our attention!

With its three chimneys, it reminds me of the home in Nesbitt's The Railway Children, one of our favorite read-alouds.

For our seasonal book basket, I also put together books for the kids from the library and from our own collection. See the Widget on the right side margin!

Help for Monday morning tired

2010-05-03T10:07:00.000-04:00

We woke up to a hot rainy day after a delightfully full weekend, so we are all a bit slow and sleepy.

Friday night RJ and I were treated to tickets at the Kimmel Center for their Mozart Gala. In addition to delightful excerpts from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, we were able to hear his Great Mass in C Minor. My favorite was the opening Kyrie and the ending Agnus Dei.

With the help of the prayers of the Mass in C Minor (lyrics below) and a big glass of Iced Coffee, we will enjoy this day, slow and sleepy we may be!

Kyrie

"Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy."

Agnus Dei

Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

Blessings!
Amy

How to handle a cranky baby at the dinner hour!

2010-04-30T15:28:00.001-04:00

Fussy 18 month old hanging out while I make dinner!

Baby C at 6 months old in my mom's sink!

Flower Fairies!

2010-04-30T06:00:00.007-04:00

We are slowly, slowly working our way through E. Nesbitt's telling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and took the opportunity to make our own fairy crowns.

Queen Titinia:

We trimmed cardboard crowns with hosta leaves:

and azaleas from our side yard:

Our play wouldn't be complete without a little fairy for the queen's train:

Here is G convincing her dad to be Oberon:

He makes a very good grumpy Oberon!

Our impish Puck would never stand still for a picture:

Always "the spirit of mischief"

Naughty Fairies!

Good Shepherd Garden Party Week 3: The Heavens Tell God's Glory!

2010-04-29T14:52:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm a bit late posting last week's Good Shepherd's Garden Party but wanted to share nonetheless.

After spending time with the sheep in the pasture on week 1 and then feasting at the Lord's Table on week 2, we moved to the skies for week 3.

We are so blessed to have found this creative and meaningful way to celebrate the 50 days of Easter together as a family. This last week I realized that if I wanted to make this devotional time together more significant I needed to spend more time contemplating the stories and images from Scripture myself. Not only did it really change the way I presented the stories, this week's theme of God's creation declaring His Glory was just what I needed to hear myself. I mentioned that I had hoped to seek beauty during this Easter Season and at times I've been struggling to see the splendor in the ordinary, but through these passages of Scripture my eyes were opened afresh to the wonder all around me that I often turn a blind eye too. As Peter Mazar writes in the introduction to this week, "With our eyes to the skies we will open wide our senses to the wonders of nature, and we will praise the Lord who is the maker of all."

We had the opportunity to do just that on the Thursday night of this week--the day we learned about hail. For our special treat we headed out to Rita's Water Ice, as hail isn't quite rain or snow, water ice isn't quite water or ice! As we were loading up the car, we noticed the sun and blue skies (Sunday's theme) but then as we got out of the car again, the clouds (Monday's theme) rolled in. As we ordered, the rain started (Tuesday's theme), and their were flashes of lightening (Wednesday!). We decided to eat the rest of our water ice in the car on the ride home, when the wind (Friday's theme) really kicked up just as we turned onto a big boulevard lined with blossoming cherry trees. We pulled the car over as the wind whipped and swirled the blossoms around us in one of the most beautiful natural events I've ever seen. It was a true blizzard of pink blossoms. We were so amazed we could do nothing but laugh, even the baby just laughed and laughed. [When we read Friday's devotion the next day which asked, "Have you ever watched wind take blossoms from a tree and blow them into the air?" Everyone shouted, "Yes!!!"]

We love water ice!

By the time we were finished our water ice, the skies had cleared and were filled with a beautiful rainbow (Saturday's theme). All week my 5 year old daughter had been praying that she might see her first rainbow. The kids hopped and danced in glee. And I praised the Lord, maker of all, for the spectacular show. The Heavens declare the Glory of God, indeed!

We had our Garden Party on Saturday night with my parents as guests. Here are a few pictures of the food for our feast:

cupcakes to represent the sun, clouds and wind!

sugar cookies shaped like umbrellas and rain drops!

Rainbow Fruit Kababs. G made them all by herself!

Thanks to Shower of Roses and Waltzing Matilda for the recipes and ideas! For more posts, head over to Catholic Cuisine.

Garden of the Good Shepherd Week One

2010-04-12T14:56:00.003-04:00

This year as part of our celebration of Easter as a season, we've been using the Garden of the Good Shepherd by Peter Mazar and illustrated by Tomie DePaola (I bought mine here for $6 or Waltzing Matilda also has free printables for those who didn't order the sticker book in time!). This large laminated scene with stickers serves as a calendar with a scripture passage and devotion for each day.

The first week's theme centers around the Jesus as the Good Shepherd, where we learn how Jesus promises to watch over us as a Shepherd does for his lambs and many other references to sheep in the Book of John.

Week Two we gather around the Table, reading Scriptures from the Old Testament of hospitality and feasting that evoke the Last Supper, the Emmaus Meal, the Eucharist, and our heavenly banquet. We continue throughout the 50 days of Easter to read Scripture of the sky, the sea, the garden and tree, the city and the animals. Each week helps us to see God's gifts all around us, the world "charged with the grandeur of God."

To help this fit with the celebratory tone of the Easter season, we are having a special treat and sometimes a craft or picture book to go along with the Scripture Reading. The kids have loved it and I'm so glad we have something to make this time memorable. The style of the devotions has been a refreshing change and have given me much food for thought during the week as the theme built.

This week as part of our Scripture memory and hymn study we worked on memorizing and singing Psalm 23, also with Keith Green's version and this new one.

We decorated our "altar" for the theme of the Good Shepherd with the children's Good Shepherd icon, a gift at their baptism last year, and lamb figurines we've picked up over the years at Easter.

On Easter Monday, we had breadsticks shaped as crooks and dipped in cinnamon sugar for breakfast! On Easter Tuesday, we ate popcorn to represent sheep and watched a movie on the Story of Jesus. On Easter Wednesday, we made these little treats to represent the gate of the sheepfold:

On Easter Thursday, we ate these lamb chocolates and made ewes and rams with cotton balls.

On Easter Friday, we had so much fun with Miss G's special friend making these sweet lamb cupcakes. The girls both 5 were able to decorate all by themselves!

On Easter Saturday, we had wolf paws to go along with John 10:11-12! Little Man dipped them in the chocolate and I made the claws with white icing. The favorite of the week to be sure!

All of my ideas have come straight from Waltzing Matilda and Shower of Roses, so I claim no creativity in this project and when you see their pictures, not much skill either! Both of these lovely ladies have now set-up a party for each week with food themed for all of the lessons which seems like a great idea for those who would like to use the devotional each day but only do the crafts and food once a week. I think this is where we'll be by the last few weeks of Easter Season but for now the daily is working for us!

They are also hosting a link-up at Catholic Cuisine for more ideas; go check it out!