Unplanned Lent

The month of March is in full swing and yet I haven't updated the prayers on here. I picked the theme of Contrition for two reasons. One - its Lent, officially, and what better way to prepare for Our Lord's sufferings and death than with CONTRITION. Two - Stephen will receive his First Holy Communion, as well as have his first confessions within the next month. He needs practice with his Act of Contrition and examining his conscience. We are "learning" the Act of Contrition we already know and adding a spiritual communion prayer that needs a little more practice to be considered mastered.

That brings me to Lent.

We welcomed Lent in full swing last night. Darren and I finally found a nice quiet sleep about Midnight after a good talk about the latest on Relevant Radio and NPR. At 12:30, Brech woke up and HAD to sleep in our bed. That is always a sacrifice - some nights more pleasant than others. Two hours later - Cormac threw up on the carpet in front of the bathroom. He was trying to find a bucket, but missed the bathroom completely. I did tell him he can just throw up in the bathtub next time. He was pretty excited about that. Kids?! My sweet baby kept me awake, kicking up a storm, around 4 this morning. Come 6:30 AM - 3 out of the 5 boys were awake. That is unheard of unless we drag them out of bed. I could have hauled them all BACK to bed for another hour of sleep - but instead they lounged on the couches and I read. Lent is about sacrifices. I guess I hadn't really thought about how many sacrifices a mom and dad already have to offer up in just the little things.

This Lent is going to be a fly by the seat of our pants Lent. We do have some ideas for the boys and our family to work on. They are not set in stone, but more of a suggested course of action. Darren and I have our individual list of Lenten sacrifices. I do know we will continue to de-clutter and purge our belongings. I am determined to get through the spare bedroom by next week. The next room to conquer is the crawlspace, with Darren's help. That is probably all I will have time for before the baby comes.

To increase my spiritual life I plan to listen to audios of sermons from FSSP priests (over 400 downloaded on my computer!!) as well as continuing my spiritual reading. The current book I am reading is called The Domestic Church: Room by Room by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle. I am also reading the daily Lenten prompts from Small Steps for Catholic Moms Companion Journal. I am sure the audios and books will keep me busy and on course for Lent. Especially since I will probably be spending a great deal of time relaxing before the birth and nursing a baby after the birth.

I hope your Lent will be full of blessings. May God bless you and your family and bring you closer to heaven.