{this moment}

Joining Amanda - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Needle and ThREAD

Linus has been in need of some pants, so last week when I had an opportunity to go to a fabric store, I found some brown linen (along with some other fabric still waiting for my attention) to make him some.  I'm very happy with the way they turned out, and I am hopeful that he will be able to wear them for a long time.  The pants are hemmed up several inches, in addition to the cuffs, all of which I hand stitched to be easily removed when the time comes.  With only the narrow hem finishing the bottom edge of the pants, they would fit Lucy, so as long as they don't wear too badly in the wash, Linus should be able to wear these pants for a good long time.

The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane by C. M. Millen is the story of a monk who is distracted from his chore of copying books by the beauty of the world outside his window.  When he is sent to make the brown ink used by the monks, he discovers that he can make other colors.  It is a beautifully illustrated book that Lucy requests over and over;  Theophane is a current favorite.

** By the way, I am not an Amazon affiliate.  The link above is purely for your convenience and so you can peek inside the book.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

{Pretty}

Flowers for the dinner table.

{Happy}

A very happy bride.

{Funny}

I thought this was an appropriate cup to store all the medicine
apparatus needed to take care of two babies who came home sick
from the trip.

{Real}

"Cake.  Candle.  Ha--Bir--choo--hooo!"
Lucy built a birthday cake to sing Happy Birthday.

Yarn Along

I managed a few more rounds of my sock this week; there hasn't been much knitting around here.

I wanted to share with you a book I discovered at the Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey book shop.  A Child's Rule of Life by Robert Hugh Benson is a sweet rhymed book that describes an ideal of behavior and prayers throughout the day from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night, including pages on hearing Mass and receiving Communion and going to Confession.  Each page is intricately illustrated in black and white line drawings (they are of a similar size to the illustration on the cover).  Lucy has been quite taken with this book, asking to have it read over and over.  For a couple weeks it was the favorite book, which we read five or six times a day.  We have since been given several other new books, so it has been eclipsed for the time being.  An excerpt from the introduction:

... So if you'd be holy, just read it through slowly

And then set and learn it by heart,

For a child that is good must have quite understood

the whole rule, not only a part.

The Oratory of Ss. Gregory and Augustine

On our way home on a road trip to see friends and family and attend my sister's wedding, we stopped for Sunday Mass at the Oratory of Ss. Gregory and Augustine.  As you can see from the pictures, the chapel is in a room that was not built for that purpose, but they have decorated it nicely.  The Mass was very well attended (read:  packed to overflowing, and the choir was off in another room) with many families with young children.  We discovered again the wonderful way one can come into places where the older form of the Roman Rite is celebrated, meet people who are complete strangers and wind up chatting like old friends. 

Mason Jar Smoothies

Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter mentioned in passing a while back that the business end of a blender will fit on any regular mason jar.  I read that, read it again, and thought, hmmm... I think I can make use of that information.  Too bad I threw out all the mason jars I had saved.  And then I started saving the mason jars that came my way.

 Here's the jar, and the relevant bits of the blender.  I had some strawberries that were threatening to go bad on me, so I wanted to make smoothies from them, but Lucy and Linus are scared of the noise the blender makes, so I can really only run the blender once a week when my mother-in-law is here to play with them.

 The washed and trimmed strawberries, some applesauce, and half a banana went into the jar.

 Sure enough, it fits!

I put the lids on and  put the jars in the refrigerator, and had a healthy snack ready and waiting for me.  All I had to clean up was the blade and the ring, which go easily into the dishwasher (and so do the mason jars after they're empty).  Easy.

Go see who else is making their time online count.

Imitation

Lucy is building block towers, as usual, and just beside the
tower is the bookcase with the prayer books she's suddenly so
interested in.

This week, because of a confluence of intentions, inspiration, situation, and opportunity, I have been making a renewed effort at praying the Divine Office.  I use the Monastic Diurnal and a companion book containing Matins.  Lucy has suddenly seen me praying a lot more often, and she has suddenly taken an interest in some small prayer books we have around the house with a similar appearance to the ones I use.  As I start an hour of the Office, she'll disappear suddenly and be very quiet.  When I go to look for her, I find her sitting on the couch looking at a prayer book.  One day, I had started to pray, and then Linus needed something and I went to take care of him, leaving my book in Lucy's reach.  She stood there by it, turning the pages and babbling in the same inflection I use when reading the Hours aloud.  While Lucy wasn't the reason I started making an extra effort to fit in more of the Divine Office, I think I need to continue it for her sake.

I took both Lucy and Linus to Mass by myself this morning for the first time.  When I went forward to receive Communion, Lucy walked with me instead of being carried as she usually is, and when I knelt at the altar rail, Lucy knelt there beside me with her face right at the height of the rail.  And when we left the church after Mass, and I genuflected before leaving the church, she did also.


More and more, Lucy imitates what she sees me do.  If I do the right things, then by the time she reaches the age of reason, she will already have good habits which will easily become virtue, and if I don't, the the easiest opportunity will have been wasted.  The days when they are so impressionable are so precious.  I pray I will use them well.