Thursday, September 24, 2015

First of Fall Rambles

::Weekly Rambles::

What’s really on my mind and heart?
I'm excited that the Holy Father is here! Our country needs a good dose of his holy influence; we are so far from being the great country that we used to be. People are lost and unhappy and don't even know it.

What am I thankful for?
I'm thankful for a lovely visit to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama last weekend. A group from our AHG troop made an overnight visit; mothers and daughters were able to spend time together as we toured the incredibly beautiful and peaceful grounds. The last time I was there, the main church was complete, but they've added several new buildings including a replica of the Lourdes grotto, the St. John Paul II Eucharistic center, a gift shop, and the Barn--- a home for the men who belong to the Knights of the Eucharist. This Shrine is an incredible gift to the Church and the surrounding community. Located an hour north of Birmingham, the quiet countryside is a perfect backdrop for this peaceful community of servants of the Lord.


One of the first things we saw on our tour of the Shrine was the door that young postulants knock on to be admitted to the community. Meg was fascinated by that door! She mentioned wanting to go through it so many times that I suggested, maybe, Jesus was calling her to serve Him in that way.



What’s going on in school?
Spirit Week! Meg and Pip are both excited not to wear uniforms every day and stressed by the options they are given.

What’s on the needles?
I'm so close to finishing my afghan! I'm on the last skein of yarn, so the end is in sight, but I haven't felt the urge to work on it, because I want to finish my Stripe Study Shawl. I'm on the border, finally, but I stopped the stripes one stripe short-----My contrasting color was almost gone and I did not feel like playing that game of yarn chicken! If I lost, I would have been unraveling a lot of wrap-and-turns, which would have been a nuisance. I'm thinking of---no, I actually started----putting a few thin stripes of the blue in the variegated border to use it up. It will be pretty, and I can't wait to see it blocked, but I have a hard time believing that it is going to expand to be the size of the picture in the pattern!





What’s special about this week?
My two oldest, Katie and Brendan, had birthdays last weekend. I can't wait to go visit them in a couple of days to celebrate! Two birthday celebrations back to back used to be so stressful, and now....it's not. All you young moms, stop being frazzled by it all and enjoy the chaos while it lasts!

Spirit Week and Homecoming at school. I guess this is the first year we can actually have a "Homecoming" dance since there were 4 graduates last May!

What am I reading?
I am still reading, very slowly, The Boys in the Boat. Since knitting is my daytime recreational activity, reading is just 5 minutes per night at bedtime. Unfortunately, i have approximately 20 books on the desk in my room waiting to be read, and I promised not to add to it....but I somehow acquired two more books at the Shrine last weekend! Oops! :-)

What am I praying about?
  • Pope Francis's visit to the US
  • Our country
  • An end to Planned Parenthood. We pray for an end to abortion all the time, but it has always existed, and always will in some form or another, but our government can (and should) stop paying for the wholesale slaughter of babies and the sale of their body parts.
What projects are happening at home?
I'm not finished painting all the upstairs trim, but I bought paint for the basement bedrooms and I'm going to start that as soon as I finish this post. We are still struggling with the final decision about the basement floors because of cost, but I hope we get it figured out quickly. I'm ready to have this done!

xo,
Sara

***Linking up with Ginny and Leila today!***

5 comments:

  1. Ooooh, I want to visit that Shrine. Gotta get myself to Alabama soon!

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    Replies
    1. It was so peaceful! And I forgot to mention that there are dozens of guest houses where you can stay!

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  2. Hi Sara!
    While knitting this morning, I've been listening to Rex Pacificus. The nuns are singing. I love it.
    I adore your creamy blanket knit!
    I am still nervous about wrapping and turning and picking up the wraps so I have put my new shawl book on the shelf for a while!
    I had to order another skein of alpaca all the way from Napa, but the yarn store owner was super nice on the phone and is sending it right out to me. Yay! I don't like playing yarn chicken either.
    I like your blog. I'm putting it on my blog roll.
    When I taught middle school language arts I found SPIRIT week to be highly stressful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Wrapping and turning isn't difficult; picking up the wraps isn't terribly difficult either, but I don't understand how it works! I've only done that once, and not on this shawl. YouTube is your friend! :-)

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  3. what a lovely, peaceful outing.....

    i think your renovations will be wrapping up as our chaos begins....rumor had it that things were going to start being torn down today.....but since it hasn't happened yet, i'm guessing tomorrow. eeeep. what was I thinking????

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping by! I would love to hear from you. Have a beautiful day! :-)

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