Belle

Anna and Belle  April 2010

 "That's a cool trick!"

Belle lived here from 4/20/10 to 11/08/12.  She came to us after being hit on the highway.  I wish she had learned her lesson.  And I wish I had been able to get a picture of her carrying around that kitten by the scruff of his neck just like a Mama cat would.  That was cute.    We'll miss you Belle.

Back to work

Just a quick post tonight--

I went back to school today, and while I definitely feel overwhelmed and like I have no idea what to do first in this new job, I was so very happy to get up and go to work and see and hug kiddos and see and hug teacher friends and talk about books and make Kindergartners laugh.  I am so fortunate to have this opportunity.

Now I just have to learn how to be a librarian.  And how to turn off the warning bells in my head anytime I hear myself speaking in English!

I think it's amazing how much better everything goes when I go to work.  The past three weeks I don't know that I've been able to do anything-and today I went to school, came home, fed everyone, made 20 breakfast burritos for future mornings, made dinner, did some weeding with Katie, helped Anna with homework, tidied, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned up dinner, and chatted with Linda and Matthew!  I'm going to bed now, and the only thing that didn't happen was sewing a little on my latest project.  I even read the newspaper!

It must have been all of your prayers.  Thanks.  :)

Happy Anniversary Miwwers!

One year ago we had a really fun day.  Happy Anniversary Susu and Steven!  

X

Katrina sent me this poem from The Writer's Almanac and I really loved it.

X

by Wendell Berry

Whatever is foreseen in joy
Must be lived out from day to day.
Vision held open in the dark
By our ten thousand days of work.
Harvest will fill the barn; for that
The hand must ache, the face must sweat.

And yet no leaf or grain is filled
By work of ours; the field is tilled
And left to grace. That we may reap,
Great work is done while we're asleep.

When we work well, a Sabbath mood
Rests on our day, and finds it good.

Faith

I'm reading through the Catechism this year for the Year of Faith and today's section was just too lovely not to share.

Perseverance in faith

162     Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith." To live, grow and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith; it must be "working through charity," abounding in hope, and rooted in the faith of the Church.

Faith — the beginning of eternal life

163     Faith makes us taste in advance the light of the beatific vision, the goal of our journey here below. Then we shall see God "face to face", "as he is". So faith is already the beginning of eternal life:

When we contemplate the blessings of faith even now, as if gazing at a reflection in a mirror, it is as if we already possessed the wonderful things which our faith assures us we shall one day enjoy.

164     Now, however, "we walk by faith, not by sight"; we perceive God as "in a mirror, dimly" and only "in part". Even though enlightened by him in whom it believes, faith is often lived in darkness and can be put to the test. The world we live in often seems very far from the one promised us by faith. Our experiences of evil and suffering, injustice and death, seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it.

165     It is then we must turn to the witnesses of faith: to Abraham, who "in hope... believed against hope"; to the Virgin Mary, who, in "her pilgrimage of faith", walked into the "night of faith" in sharing the darkness of her son's suffering and death; and to so many others: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."

In other news-I go back to work on Monday, so who knows when I'll get back to blogging...