Managing Chaos: Part One

We are sending up lots of prayers of discernment.  It looks like we are moving...finally.  I am praying about God's plan in all this.  I am delivering my 5th child at any moment and my house is 3/4 of the way packed already.  It is scary and exciting all at the same time!  We are praying to get moved BEFORE I deliver but we will see God's plan.  Right now we are focusing on the PRESENT MOMENT and using it as am opportunity to pare down once again.  Which has been a very common theme on my blog lately:) 

I will leave you with a few tips when moving:

1.) Pack up room but leave a few basics especially for kids.  You never know if closing will be delayed and you don't want your toddler screaming for his favorite toys and books.  

2.)  Purge as you pack.  I have a Catholic charities box and a Goodwill pile.  DO NOT MOVE YOUR JUNK.

3.)  If you have a friend or family member that you have been wanting to give kiddos clothes to invite them to pack.  I had my sister in law come over and go through my closets and take what she wanted.  She left with a new wardrobe and I had less to pack.  

4.)  Be specific when people come help to pack.  I asked my SIL Kathy only to pack certain sizes.  We put everything else in piles for people to go through before they left then gave the rest away! 

5.)  Definitely ask someone to help you pack who knows what they are doing.  Chris' parents have moved with five kids many, many times.  They were extremely organized and helpful.  Don't know what we would do without them!!!!

AND DON'T FORGET TO PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!!

Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

(A personal favorite prayer of St. Padre Pio)

I. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to you, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you," behold I knock, I seek and I ask for the grace of....(state your intentions).

Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, and 1 Glory be

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all my trust in Thee.

II. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name He will give it to you," behold in Your Name I ask the Father for the grace of ....(state your intentions).

Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, and 1 Glory be

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all my trust in Thee.

III. O my Jesus, You said, verily I say to you, "heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away," behold I encouraged by Your infallible words, now ask for the grace of ....(state your intentions).

Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, and 1 Glory be

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all my trust in Thee.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, to Who one thing alone is impossible, namely, not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of Thee, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your and our tender Mother.

Pray the Hail Holy Queen, and add:

St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.

INFANT OF PRAGUE NOVENA PRAYER

O Jesus, Who has said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened," through the intercession of Mary, Your Most Holy Mother, I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted.

(Make your request)

O Jesus, Who has said, "All that you ask of the Father in My Name, He will grant you," through the intercession of Mary Your Most Holy Mother, I humbly and urgently ask your Father in your name that my prayer will be granted.

(Make your request)

O Jesus, Who has said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away but My word shall not pass away," through the intercession of Mary Your Most Holy Mother, I feel confident that my prayer will be granted.

(Make your request)

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Divine Infant Jesus, I know You love me and would never leave me. I thank You for Your close Presence in my life.

Miraculous Infant, I believe in Your promise of peace, blessings, and freedom from want. I place every need and care in Your hands.

Lord Jesus, may I always trust in Your generous mercy and love. I want to honor and praise You, now and forever. Amen.



My poor, neglected, blog:(

I took an "online break" for a little while to focus on the kids and my home.  I am also in my 33rd week of pregnancy and I have been doing some major nesting.  I did a spin off of "40 bags in 40 days" from Faith and Family live.  You know what I figured out?  I have accumulated so much stuff over the past 11 years of parenting that it is sinful.  There is nothing like having company over to press you into cleaning and de-cluttering.  I used the month before my baby shower in November to purge.  So here are my totals so far:

15 boxes to Catholic Charities

4 boxes to family

3 boxes to my daughter's therapy center

A trailer full and Suburban full to Goodwill AND...

A trailer full and Suburban full to THE DUMP.  That was the most convicting part.  Seriously.  I had that much JUNK AND TRASH in my house.  It was liberating but I'm not done.  We are in the process of a possible move:(  I am not moving most of this stuff with me.  Why wait for Lent?  I am posting some before and after pictures later.  You would not believe...

"C" week

C is for...

Eric Carle

and Saint Cecilia

Prayers to Saint Cecilia

We are going to be doing an activity from Little Cloud and doing the coloring pages from the Catholic Artworks CD.  We are also going to be using coloring pages from Charlotte at Waltzing Matilda.

B is for busy!

Alphabet Garden "Bb" week ideas:

B is for...

Saint Bernadette:

Saint Bernadette Biography

Tour of Lourdes

Saint Bernadette Coloring Page

Immaculate Conception Coloring Page from Waltzing Matilda (If you haven't joined scribed, I would highly recommend it.)

Blueberries:

Blueberry activities from Homeschool Share (This is an amazing resource!)

and...

Jan Brett (This is her official site and it is unbelievable:)

Update on Willow

Life with Willow has its hazards.  She is a mess.  Literally.  So, that being said, lets go back to the beginning (lets' go back to the very beginning...a very good place to start. Sorry.  ADD.  It happens sometimes.  All the time...anyway). Several weeks ago Willow took the bulb out of her ceiling fan (that's another blog).  We don't know the specifics but the end result was she shattered the bulb on the wood floor in her bedroom.  We walked in the room and she was sitting on her bed covered in blood.  I think she was as confused as we were.  We finally saw the glass and realized that she must have cut her foot.  This is where it gets complicated.  The cut looked really clean and there wasn't anymore glass that was visible.  So we put steri-strips on it and began the daunting task of keeping her out of it.  Good luck.  After the first week we noticed she still wasn't putting weight on it.  She also started telling us "fix it."  Looking back on it, there were other signs too: outbursts, crying, and aggression.  Willow has a very sweet disposition and that is the one thing her Autism has not affected.  We were stumped.  This is a common problem in the Autism community but never with Willow.  By the second week, no progress AND the foot started bleeding again.  So I took her to the ER and we finally figured out what was wrong.   We had missed 4-5 more pieces of glass in her foot.  She had been walking around like that for two weeks and couldn't tell us!  I wanted to crawl out of the ER.  There was no way to remove it but surgically:(  We had our pre-op the next day and surgery on Wednesday.   I was there at 5:30am and I was joined by my fiercely loyal mother and a devoted OT of Willows.  I couldn't have had better company.  Her surgery was at St. Francis South and they were AMAZING.  Willow did well going into the surgery but had a very difficult time in recovery.  They got us out of the hospital ASAP and we were able to get her home and comfortable.  There were two complicating factors; she threw up every time we gave her pain medicine and she wouldn't leave the surgical site alone.  By two o'clock I had three red barf stains on my carpet and Willow had ripped out her stitches.  We went to her Dr's office in the am and they put steri-strips on the incision and CASTED HER FOOT!  She hates it but it is the biggest relief for us.  It limits her mobility and she can't rip her stitches out again.  Anyway, I have to go...I think I hear her cast thumping on her wood floor!

St. Joseph...pray for us!

Oh...how quickly things change.  It looks like we are staying.  I am relieved.  We have been here for fours years.  It has provided us with some much needed stability.  We are getting excited and we hope you pray for us.  If you are not too busy, you can come and plant a Saint Joseph in our yard!

Alphabet Garden

Oh...how quickly things change.  We just found out we are moving end of May.  It is a huge blessing for our family.  The end result is we have decided to bring everyone home, including our daughter with Autism.  So, that being said, I am working on lesson plans that will suit our entire family.  A very exciting prospect, indeed:)  There is not much out there for kids on the spectrum.  I feel like this is a calling.  I hope it helps others...