4th Annual Homeschooling Mom's Retreat, Valley City, ND

This year I helped with the planning and leading of the 4th Annual Homeschooling Mom's Retreat in Valley City, North Dakota.  We had a lovely time.

 Our theme this year was Undoing the Knots with Our Lady, Undoer of Knots as our patroness.

This year we started on a Thursday evening with an optional silent retreat night.  My sister-in-law, Maria, came along with me this time.  She brought my niece, Amy, with her.  We had some wonderful conversations up to the retreat.  Amy was a good traveler. 

Friday morning we started with Mass with the sisters, breakfast in the library, and Stations of the Cross in the chapel.

 Kristin led a session about finding the knots in our lives.

 We had three sweet babies in attendance.

 Teresa is making her chaplet of Mary, Undoer of Knots.  This session was led by Suzie who always comes up with amazing chaplet or rosary making options.

Teresa (above) led us in singing the Divine Mercy Chaplet in the chapel on Friday.

 Sister Dorothy gave us a lovely and encouraging talk on being your best you.  Here she is reading comics to us.  She's so much fun.  I just love her talks.

 Karla led us through a session on finding some I Am affirmations.  We also made bracelets with nine beads for nine special affirmations.

We talked quite a bit on Friday evening so we didn't manage to have any group prayers in the chapel that evening.  We were very "fluid" with our schedule this year.

Saturday morning we had Mass with the sisters and breakfast in the library again.

 Our first session on Saturday was with Fr. Greg Haman.  His talk was about the Sunday Mass readings and how the covenant with God and His people is best understood in a sacramental marriage between a man and a woman.  (Amy was very interested in Father and his talk.) 

 Father blessed our rosaries, bracelets, and chaplets.

Father also heard some confessions and ate lunch with us.

Sister Dorothy and Sister Suzanne spent two hours each in spiritual direction sessions with some of the ladies.  The sisters are always very willing to help us.

 Sister Dorothy joined us again in the late afternoon to give us a session on Trusting God More.

 Amy was learning SO much!

 Ummm, eighties flashback hairstyle.

I'm always game for a good laugh.

I led a session on small, everyday knots that might get us down - like laundry piling up, dishes always laying around, no time for prayer.  I made sheets for the ladies to take notes on.  They submitted Post-it Notes with questions they wanted answers for.  Example:  How do you pray with little ones distracting you all the time?  Tell me about menu planning.  How do you keep toddlers busy during school hours? We spent hours and hours talking about different ideas and didn't even get to all the questions.  It was a good session.

 We ended Saturday evening with the chaplet of Mary, Undoer of Knots, and some Bible and quote readings.  Then we went back to the library and continued the session I was leading.

Amy and Aunt Karen being photobombed by Kristin.

Sunday morning we continued the discussion session from the night before during breakfast.  We attended Mass with the sisters and then cleaned up to head home.  We were going to stay for pizza lunch, but decided to head towards home.

We made it to Belfield, ND (corner of Interstate 94 and Highway 85 to Belle Fourche, SD) that afternoon.  It was not pleasant starting about three miles from there.  We had a girl spin around in front of us on the interstate.  Traffic went from 70-80 mph to 30-40 mph in less than a mile.

The next morning we drove 40 mph almost all the way to South Dakota border.  There were very defined lines where the snow had been plowed and where the county hadn't gotten to the highway yet.  And don't get me started on the truckers. Idiots...almost all of them.  Pass me on a straightaway and I'm fine.  Pass me coming up on a bridge and I'll probably have issues.  Pass me while we are going up a hill and I'll probably call you a name.  Pass me on a corner and creep into my lane so I have to ride the edge of the road and I'll probably have issues and call you a name.  We all survived.  No truckers were hurt.

All three of us were happy to be home.

Dressing Up with Skirts

You really thought this post was gonna be about the girls didn't cha?

Well, it isn't.  

It is about two big boys who were told to get their twinnie sisters dressed -

 but instead decided to play dress up with the skirts.  

 Take pictures, Mom, to send to Isaiah.

These kids brighten my day.

NOW GO GET THE GIRLS DRESSED!

February's Routine, Snow, and Deer

February brought more snow and a couple of furry visitors.  As you can imagine, the deer drove the dogs crazy.  It was cold enough that Rogue and Jimmer were in the basement most of the days in February.  That didn't stop them from barking at the deer all hours of the day and night.

We stayed busy with school during these cold weeks. The kids have been working very diligently.  They have finished quite a few subjects for the year.  Stephen is the only one with a full schedule at the moment.  I do schedule 9th-11th grades with a lot more credits so their senior year is light.  It makes for longer days at the beginning, but easier days when they might want to get a job.

I have been attending a women's group called ENDOW (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) once a week.  It is not a replacement for my lovely CCM ladies in Fargo, but these ladies have brought their own blessings to our family.  We studied Revelations as a group using the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture's Revelation study.  It was enlightening, educational, and intense!!!  We are going to be starting an actual ENDOW study called Teacher of Prayer in the coming week.

Blase has been helping clean the Catholic church near the cemetery where Mark and St. Blase are buried.  He helps once a week for a few hours.  He has learned a lot of history about St. Martin's Chapel that we didn't know before.  I am glad he is helping and developing a love for that church.

Some of the kids and I attended daily Mass four days a week during February.  It was not too much of a sacrifice to make the time to go.  We went as a family on Tuesday evenings.  I know it has improved attitudes of those who attended more than just Tuesday nights.

That was our February.  Busy and yet quiet.  These were the ONLY pictures I took in February.  I suppose that life was fairly routine so no pictures were needed.