If someone were to ask me for one life-changing tip to share with them, then I would quietly say a quick prayer and offer this thought:
Love and trust in the Lord with all your heart. Pray for His wisdom so that you may know His will for your life. Then pray for the guidance and strength to follow it.
Trust me, friend—I speak from experience. It took me more than 25 years to truly understand the importance of this.
Photo of me at a local coffee shop.
For much of my life, I struggled with my faith. Whenever I experienced hardship, I turned away from God instead of turning toward Him.
Is my life perfect now that I have returned to the Lord? Not at all.
Life still brings difficulties, disappointments, uncertainty, and sorrow. The difference is that I no longer walk through those seasons alone.
Photo of me at a local greenhouse.
By God’s grace, even the difficult moments have taught me something and have drawn me closer to Him.
I am still very much growing in my faith. But each day, I find that my faith grows a little deeper. I am learning to trust more, worry less (big emphasis on this one!), and see things more clearly than I once did.
We went to a different parish for the 11:30 a.m. Mass today. (That’s where I took these rainy Sunday pictures, by the way—in the peaceful parish garden. 😌🌧🌻)
It’s the third church we visited within these last seven days.
We like to do what Travis and I call “church hop.” That means visit different parishes throughout the week.
(Okay, this next part might sound a bit confusing. 😄)
During the work week (Mon. – Fri.), our family attends the 7 p.m. daily Mass two to three times a week, and each evening Mass we attend is at a different parish.
Then, on the weekend, we attend either the Saturday Vigil Mass or a Sunday morning/afternoon Mass at a nearby local parish.
For the daily evening Mass, it is generally offered only once a week at select parishes. Not every Catholic Church offers an evening Mass.
The evening Mass may be at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., just depends on that particular parish’s Mass schedule.
Whereas, early morning daily Masses are offered pretty much at all parishes (there are a few exceptions, of course) four to five days out of the work week.
Morning daily Mass times range from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.. Also, each daily Mass, mornkng or evwning, is about 30 minutes long.
We’re just not able to go to a daily Mass in the morning right now. Travis has to be at work by 6 a.m., and we only have one working vehicle at the moment.
But boy, are we thankful we found a few evening Mass options at several local parishes during the work week! 😊🙏🏽
After today’s morning Mass, we went to say hello to the priest, and he said, “Don’t I know you?!” 🤔😆
We explained he probably remembered us from a different church we visited a couple of weeks ago when he was the celebrant at that Mass.
“Oh, yes!” he exclaimed remembering where he had last seen us. 😅
We do have a “home church” that we make the best effort to attend on the weekend a few times in the month.
However, Travis works a lot (six days a week), and life gets pretty busy with the kids, so having the flexibility to also attend a Saturday Vigil (at 4 p.m., 4:30 p.m. or 5 p.m.) or a Sunday Mass time (at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12 p.m., or even 5:30 p.m.!) that fits our schedule works best for us.
As you can see, living in a metropolitan means we have A LOT of options! 😂 And that’s another great blessing for us. 🙏🏽
This is just the stage of life we’re in right now, ya know. 😄 #busybigfamilylife
Honestly, I wish we would have thought to do this (church hop) when the kids were babies and toddlers instead of always being late to church. Haha 😂🫣
Ash Wednesday was dreary and gray today. Dense fog and rain off and on. But despite the gloomy weather, the mood was peaceful and bright.
The kids were excited to receive their ashes. They even woke up early (with NO grumbling!) to get ready for Mass. I was shocked! Lol 😲(Travis had to work today, so he attended Mass later in the evening.)
Here are a few moments from our Ash Wednesday…
“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
I thought the “Nail It to the Cross” was a wonderful idea to encourage us to bring our anxiety, doubt, fear, illness, and any life hardships we may be experiencing to the Lord.
Durung the second half of Mass—after we received our ashes—Zaya (5) kept asking me if her cross was still on her forehead. 😄
She’d look up at me with her big, beautiful blue eyes and whisper, “Can you still see it, Mommy? Is my cross still there?” 💜
To be very honest—my last Ash Wednesday observation was about 7 or 8 years ago. Life’s hardships and doubting my faith kept me away for so long.
It feels good to be back home. I am thankful for God’s grace and love.
🙏🏽💜XO
“Return to the LORD, your God, for gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.”— Joel 2:13
Lent begins tomorrow, starting with Ash Wednesday. We’re exploring five meaningful Lent books for kids that are gently guiding our family through this sacred season. 🙏🏽💜
We are also using these faith-based books as part of our homeschooling studies. This will give us an opportunity to reserve more time for deeper reflection and help us grow in understanding and devotion.
Here are a few kids’ books about Lent we’re readingthis season.
1. Child’s Guide to Mass by Sue Stanton (2000) — Understanding the Catholic Mass can be challenging for adults and children alike. So, I love how this picture book is written in a fun story format that will hold my kids’ attention and keep them engaged.
Sarah, the main character of the story, invites the reader to attend Mass with her. She explains every part of the Mass including the Introductory Rite, Penitential Rite, Liturgy of the Word, and Homily.
There are even questions throughout the story that invites children to find key terms and identify faith symbols in the illustrations.
2. I Believe: The Nicene Creedillustrated by Pauline Baynes (2003) — In this book, the late author and illustrator Pauline Baynes shows the beauty of the profession of faith in her remarkable illustrations of angels, Christ’s passion, animals, beasts, and celestial imagery.
It’s a lovely book to read for prayer time with the kids, as part of a homeschooling lesson, to take to church, or even as a bedtime story.
3. Stories of the Saints: Bold and Inspirong Tales of Adventure, Grace, and Courage by Carey Wallace (2020) — This isn’t a book on Lent. However, we just started learning more about saints this month. So, we are going to include this book with our Lent studies.
Stories of the Saints features 70 saints such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Monica, Francis, Thomas Aquinas, Joan of Arc, and Moses the Strong.
The illustrations are beautiful and reminds me of graphic novel art style. I only wish the saints were featured chronologically in order according to their feast days.
4. Lenten Survival Guide for Kids by Peter Celano (2014) — I like how this Lenten guide explains to kids the meaning of Lent and how to practice it in a relatable and sometimes funny way.
This guide features what Lent means, what is fasting, prayers for kids to say, Stations of the Cross, scripture references, and encourages regular Bible reading for the children.
5. An Introduction to the Liturgical Year by Inos Biffi (1994) — This book is perfect for year-round guidance for kids to help them grasp the Catholic Liturgical Year. It helps children (and dare I say even the grownups!) understand the feasts as they are reflected in the missal.
For Lent purposes, there are features on the meaning of Lent, the significance of 40 days depicted numerous times in the Bible, the objection of Peter, Jesus is the living water, Jesus is the light of the world, Holy Week, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and so much more!
I plan on purchasing this book for our home library collection so we can use it throughout the Liturgical Year.
So far, our library picks on Lent books for kids are serving as a great guide for our faith journey, adding a meaningful rhythm to our Lenten days.
Are there any other children’s books you’d recommend for Lent?
Sunday, November 29th, kicked off Advent season— a time to slow down and make room for Him.
The holiday season gets so busy, and I have been trying my best to not get caught up in the busyness.
But it hasn’t been that easy with just the day to day busyness of our big family life. I often feel guilty when I slow down, or I feel as if I should be doing something. Always doing something.
I’m hoping and praying this Advent season will help me remember to take more time to reflect on my faith and slow everything down.
I recently read a post by another fellow homeschool mom, and she said their family’s holiday break starts around Thanksgiving and ends after the Ephiany (January 6th).
She said they spend the holiday season focusing on celebrating Advent and Christmas with family.
And slowing down.
We’ve been enjoying Advent activities and crafts, like this fun Advent sticker craft (above photo) the kids created. Next week, we’re going to make a Jesse Tree.
Her words reminded me that taking time to truly celebrate and reflect on Advent and Christmas and slow down this month is exactly what we need.
So, we’re doing just that— starting our holiday break a little earlier this year. That’s one of the blessings of homeschooling— finding your family’s rhythm so you can create your own schedule.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” — Roman’s 15:13
