Gloria in Excelsis Deo: {SQT} A Calm and Peaceful Week

1. Fall Family Fun Day 2020

We had the most fun last Saturday: click here to read all about it!

2. Thank You

We feel very loved during this time of our lives. Our church community, which has already been praying and sacrificing for Thomas for four months presented us with a whole new spiritual bouquet. We are deeply humbled.

One day this week, David got ahold of an X-Acto Knife and cut himself pretty well. My dad, who is a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) responder, quietly sent me WoundSeal to arrive 24 hours later so that I won't again be standing there holding a tiny tot's fingers for 15 minutes, hoping the blood will staunch.

A 'dad gift'

A dear homeschooling friend hosted a liturgical celebration, which we could not attend, so she went out of her way to drop off the St. Therese brochures, sacrifice beads, and bulbs to plant for spring. It felt good for our family to be included in this way.

A girlfriend made me my very own prayer book to cover all the traditional prayer focuses for each day of the week!

A neighbor contacted me to ask if she could drop off eight bags of good hand-me-down clothes for boys, some new with tags, covering the sizes of my crew. Yes: thank you, Neighbor, and thank you, God!

And one of our children surprised me one morning by making breakfast for the family independently so I would have one less task to do.

3. Refreshing Myself

Chris and I went on our first date together perhaps since last January or so. Poor Thomas clung to my neck so hard that an adult almost lacked the strength to pry his fingers free. I have hardly left him but three or four times in six months and never have both his parents left him since his diagnosis. Anyway, the weekday lunch was lovely except that I felt deflated inside thinking about my boy at home.

Now that Mary is in sixth grade, she may attend Fidelis, whose first night at our parish chapter was Wednesday. Our family has drafted a new routine (involving Chris and I splitting rides to get John to hockey practice) which we hope will work and will provide a whole new outing for Mary and I to refresh ourselves spiritually and to see friends. Win-win.

One evening, I even went out to dinner with a girlfriend, something I have not done since a Mothers' Night Out last winter before the lockdown. It was a very reviving two hours.

I spent all week trying to take note intentionally and in the moment of blessings, calmness, peace, and joy so that when I'm at the hospital next week, seven hours a day, five days in a row, I can remind myself of the many gifts in our life.

4. Screen Time

Presidential Debate #1

We made s'mores. We popped popcorn. Mom, Dad, and the top three kids stayed up past our bedtimes to watch. What can we say? We would have liked to see decorum on both sides.

Family Movie Night Schedule

I was inspired by the practice of a mother of eleven, so a few weeks ago spent time to schedule a Family Movie Night Schedule that runs without repeats for almost a year.

Does your family have the same problems as ours? We will notice on short notice that tonight might be a good night to watch a movie together. Now we have to think of a movie and we are very particular about what we let our children see, which is why I keep a list of reviews here. Then the fights break out in advance about who is going to watch what: Can't we have an older kids' movie for once? Can't we watch a cartoon? I don't want to watch the little kids' movie, I'm big! Then we might spend an hour or more trying to pick a movie and, as often as not, we use up our time and can't watch a movie because it's too late.

Therefore, I MADE A SCHEDULE. One column is the older kids' movie. Now, what the age cut-off is going to be varies by movie, but there are few movies that the whole family ages 3 to 13 is going to watch together. In that column of older kids' movies, I scheduled one per weekend and I tried somewhat to alternate a boyish movie, a girlish movie, and a religious movie, with Christmas movies in December and Easter movies at that holy day. In the other column is a list of younger kids' movies. That list is shorter and they are not assigned precisely by weekend, the reason being that tiny tots become obsessed with one movie and maybe they're going to choose to watch The Boxcar Children numerous weeks in a row. It is the older kids' movie that I want to be scheduled and to cut off all fighting.

It is not that a parent would never alter the movie schedule, but it is set, established, and I don't have to think about it.

Having movie night scheduled has been cutting down on my just turning on TV haphazardly. During the week, I am keeping track of the kids earning tallies and stars. Tallies are one minute each off of the beginning of the movie. I don't know how brilliant or effective this is, but we've been trying it for a month.

5. Gardening

Grades K, 2, 4, and 6 finished all their assigned schoolwork within four days (and I really don't expect an eighth grader to do so), so I decided we could take the day off on Friday to buy some plants at the nursery and spend the day puttering and planting. The weather could not have been more gorgeous for fall.

6. Miscellaneous

Thomas is now also under the care of a nephrologist due to his hypertension caused by the cancer. New specialists, new tests, maybe different medications . . . .

After fourteen days, we candled the bird eggs to discover that Clara's third clutch was also never fertilized, so we removed the dud eggs to let the birds stop their frantic nesting behavior.