Hello, Lent

The thought occurred to me as I slumped down the hall on Ash Wednesday evening: I forgot to do my chosen Lenten practice today. But...my baby didn't get down to bed easily, thus presenting me with the perfect opportunity to say my extra prayers. And yesterday, I think I may have forgotten altogether (baby girl recently acquired her first two teeth and is working hard to get more...so I'm drinking at least one cup of coffee every day now and have no memory). Basically, Kelly's post about how "You can do Lent" REALLY resonated with me today. 

We don't have a Lenten calendar, spiral (although I may do one next year, because they look awesome and seem like a great, simple visual for kids), or anything like that. We rang in Ash Wednesday with a cartoon about Lent and livestreamed Mass, because we've been living under piles of snow (praying for all of you in Texas!) and could not safely drive down our street. However, I'm finding that even putting a simple picture on our table has been a huge way to make Lent present in the life of our kids (my two-year-old, in particular, keeps talking about it). 

Yes, our now-withered Christmas poinsettia is still
in the house, because I am SO on top of life right now ;) 

I had been eagerly anticipating Lent, and was excited that this year, we would be able to walk through the whole season with our parish family AT MASS. No livestreams like in Lent 2020! So, starting off the season at home, following along with Mass on the computer, was not my ideal-but I guess it's a good way to jump right into the penitential aspect of the season. 

In other news, my kids have enjoyed the fact that, in my efforts to keep some semblance of sanity during this seemingly-endless month (we've been mostly in our house for almost 2 weeks now) I have allowed them a little bit of screen time here and there. My two-year-old now spontaneously sings the theme song from VeggieTales throughout the day. We've been doing lots of fort-building, reading books, and once the snow piled up, started doing short playtimes outside. 

Today, though, the temperature started creeping up towards 30 degrees, and we ventured out to a local park. I experienced so much nostalgia as I thought about a college semester in Austria years ago, when my now-husband and I would tromp through snowy streets as we travelled through Europe. As I carried the baby and the boys trudged behind me-the preschooler using a stick to draw letters in the snow-we heard geese honking overhead. It was so beautiful. 

Lest you have too-rosy an image, though, let me assure you that on the walk home, the two-year-old started seriously struggling in the snow (that went above his knees in some places) and it got a little rough. At one point, I was carrying him football-style while trying to not drop the baby in my other arm. But we made it home eventually, and hot cocoa made everything better ;) 

It is taking me FOREVER to read this book, but I'm so glad that I finally have picked it up.
God has definitely been hitting me hard with a few different parts of the story, and I'm loving it. 

We saw one of our neighbors on our walk home today, and he remarked that if we were in Colorado, this type of weather would be no problem-because Colorado knows how to deal with snow. But Oklahoma does not know how to deal with snow. Non-major streets (like ours and so many other neighborhoods) are left to fend for themselves. I'm hoping that things only improve here as snow starts melting (hopefully it doesn't refreeze over the road tonight, like we're expecting). 

In other news:

• I have been doing all sorts of thinking and discerning about creative projects, where to invest my time and money, etc. etc. I recently heard the advice that people shouldn't make big decisions in the depressing days of February, and I think there's some wisdom to that. So, I'm not making any crazy decisions, but I am--as long as it works out--going to start a short-term creative endeavor in the coming weeks. I'm pretty excited, and will definitely be writing about it if and when it happens!

• My husband gave me this coffee for my birthday a few weeks ago, and I am OBSESSED. First off, the phrase "Byzantine Pro-Life Coffee" just makes me want to support the company, but also, it is delicious. This is the only kind from them that I've tried so far, but I love it! 

• A couple weeks ago, I took the kids to Panera to celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, and I drank coffee (thank you, God, for a free trial to the "unlimited coffee" subscription) while my four-year-old recited a poem that he memorized. I've wanted to do poetry memorization with the kids for a while, and I was excited that we finally started. He is currently working on his next poem (from Redwall), and when he's got it down, I told him that we'd go back to Panera so he can recite it and celebrate. 

• As I celebrated my birthday, I thought about how 28 is not one of those landmark numbers, but how just ten years ago, I DID hit one of those "landmark birthdays" when I turned 18. I keep thinking about how much changes in the course of ten years, and all the things I would love to tell myself back then. I don't know if all these thoughts will make it into a blog post (since my writing time lately has been rather limited), but maybe they will. It's at least been interesting to think about. 

• My little girl just turned six months old this week. How?!?! She has come very close to rolling over (from back to tummy), loves sticking her tongue out of the side of her mouth, babbling, and reading books with her brothers and I. 

• I am thoroughly exhausted most days, but I recently read an article where the author of a book on postpartum life mentioned that postpartum really does last a year. I know some people think of postpartum as being 6 weeks, and I think of it as 3-4 months, which seems very generous in our very workaholic American culture. Reading this statement, my brain kind of exploded, and I will definitely be exploring this idea more in the future. 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and stay warm!