Lent

This is one activity we have done this lent.
The Family Altar:
I let them design it, but gave advice here and there. We used things that we had in our home and yes it does look kid created and yes it is in our living room! I had to let go of that whole thing especially when we were having people over to our house. Over a two week period of time we normally have a lot of traffic in and out because we have lots of people over and that is just how it is neighbors and friends in and out all the time, but during lent we had more new people come over than normal because of Bobby's birthday party and bunco that I hosted. I was really torn with whether or not I should take down the altar for the different events and have my house look prettier but I then realized by doing so I would teach my children vanity and in-authenticity. We could have our altar proudly displayed for some and then we could hide it away for others or we could share it with everyone. I chose share it with everyone and we are we share it with everyone who walks through our door. Many of which had no idea why we put the altar together or what the stations of the cross are. It has been a beautiful way to reach people and teach people about living as a domestic church. Okay so we started and of course the kids ran...sometimes I think they have no other speed especially the boys the only speed they have is run even when they are going four steps away. So they run away and come back with a bright multi colored and flowered comforter as the cloth to lay on the table. So yes it was super thick and so inappropriate for an altar, so I redirected them and said get a sheet that is plain and they came back with the one seen in the pic. They then proceeded to get their Mexican candles that we bought in Kroger one day on a whim. I never buy my kids anything as we go around stores for several reasons 1. They don't need it 2. They can't have everything they want 3. They need to be told no often 4. We don't have the money It is cool how the fourth reason allows the others to happen. It really is a blessing not to be able to get them everything and to not have enough money for everything. Materialism paralyzes the spirit. We want free little spirits we don't want spirits bound to a bunch of crap! BUT one day in Kroger shortly after Gavins long awaited talking we walked past the Mexican candles and in some adorable mumbled way he said what only I as his mother could make out to be Jesus! HE SAID JESUS! Any person walking by would have thought he said Ja Ja or some other meaningless sound, but I knew it definitely was Jesus so I said with excitement oh honey do you want Jesus well you can have Jesus and then of course Annaliese wanted Mary and Tristan wanted Jesus and there we go to pay for our Mexican candles. The kids are still to this day so proud of those candles. So Mexican Candles, a family bible, family rosaries, a cross, st. michael the arc angel, mary, stations of the cross, our bean jar, holy water and rice bowl box we are collecting money in.

Beanie the Snowman

Here are some pics of us with the last little dusting we had. You can tell by the grassy muddy snowman there wasn't much snow, but we made him and left no snow behind. Yes Annaliese is out there in a skirt with no tights and no jacket. I had gotten her dressed and she went in and changed. We had fun making beanie. Gavin loves hats, actually he just loves putting everything on his head...everything. I took a picture of Finnian on my back to show he goes everywhere and does everything even playing in the snow he just does it all on my back. He loves being in the ergo carrier!

Healthy, Yummy Chocolate Mousse made with Avocados

These recipes are gluten and casein free and are made with fresh raw foods so they have the greatest most available nutrients for your body. The recipes are from a book by Jennifer Cornbleet. The pics are from the first time I gave it to them. They were a little unsure of it at first.

This mousse my kids prefer frozen into fudge popsicles or eaten in scoops as if it were ice cream. Branden likes it in the shortbread crust recipe below and frozen. It is a great way to get avocados in your children and mine love it for dessert. Branden does not like avocados at all! He didn't believe me when I told him it was made with avocados. I use organic cocoa powder rather than carob. I did use pure vanilla extract in ours. To make fudge popsicles use wooden popsicle sticks and popsicle molders that can be bought at walmart you can make all kinds of cheap healthy treats in those. I have some more recipes I have tried lately that I will post later.
Chocolate Mousse
Yield: 2 cups, 4-6 servings

No one will know that avocado replaces butter, cream, and eggs in this silky mousse.

1/2 cup pitted medjool dates, soaked (I buy my dates in a big bag from Cosco without the sulfur dioxide, they are not mejool dates)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup or agave nectar (I use organic Agave from Cosco if you use syrup try to use Grade B maple syrup-it has more nutrients than grade A and make sure it is pure maple syrup. I use grade A for pancakes and waffles because it tastes better than grade B)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1 1/2 cups mashed avocado (3 avocados)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa or carob powder
1/2 cup water

Place the dates, maple syrup, and optional vanilla in a food processor fitted with the S blade and process until smooth. Add the avocado and cocoa powder and process until creamy. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the water and process briefly. Stored in a sealed container, Chocolate Mousse will keep for three days in the refrigerator or two weeks in the freezer. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Short Bread Crust
Yield: 2 1/2 cups (enough for one 9-inch pie or tart)

1 cup unsweetened shredded dried coconut
1 cup raw walnuts
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 pitted medjool dates

Place the coconut, walnuts, and salt in a food processor fitted with the S blade. Process until finely ground. Add the dates and process until the mixture begins to stick together. Don’t overprocess.

Stored in a sealed container, Shortbread Crust will keep for 1 month in the refrigerator or for 3 months in the freezer. The crust doesn’t need to be thawed before using.

The Domestic Monastery

Written by: Ron Rolheiser OMI January 7, 2001

Carlo Carretto, one of the leading spiritual writers of the past half-century, lived for more than a dozen years as a hermit in the Sahara desert. Alone, with only the Blessed Sacrament for company milking a goat for his food, and translating the bible into the local Bedouin language, he prayed for long hours by himself. Returning to Italy one day to visit his mother, he came to a startling realization: His mother, who for more than thirty years of her life had been so busy raising a family that she scarcely ever had a private minute for herself, was more contemplative than he was.

Carretto, though, was careful to draw the right lesson from this. What this taught was not that there was anything wrong with what he had been doing in living as a hermit. The lesson was rather that there was something wonderfully right about what his mother had been doing all these years as she lived the interrupted life amidst the noise and incessant demands of small children. He had been in a monastery, but so had she.

What is a monastery? A monastery is not so much a place set apart for monks and nuns as it is a place set apart (period). It is also a place to learn the value of powerlessness and a place to learn that time is not ours, but God's.

Our home and our duties can, just like a monastery, teach us those things. John of the Cross once described the inner essence of monasticism in these words: "But they, O my God and my life, will see and experience your mild touch, who withdraw from the world and become mild, bringing the mild into harmony with the mild, thus enabling themselves to experience and enjoy you." What John suggests here is that two elements make for a monastery: withdrawal from the world and bringing oneself into harmony with the mild.

Although he was speaking about the vocation of monastic monks and nuns, who physically withdraw from the world, the principle is equally valid for those of us who cannot go off to monasteries and become monks and nuns. Certain vocations offer the same kind of opportunity for contemplation. They too provide a desert for reflection.

For example, the mother who stays home with small children experiences a very real withdrawal from the world. Her existence is definitely monastic. Her tasks and preoccupations remove her from the centres of power and social importance. And she feels it. Moreover her sustained contact with young children (the mildest of the mild) gives her a privileged opportunity to be in harmony with the mild, that is, to attune herself to the powerlessness rather than to the powerful.

Moreover, the demands of young children also provide her with what St. Bernard, one of the great architects of monasticism, called the "monastic bell". All monasteries have a bell. Bernard, in writing his rules for monasticism, told his monks that whenever the monastic bell rang, they were to drop whatever they were doing and go immediately to the particular activity (prayer, meals, work, study, sleep) to which the bell was summoning them. He was adamant that they respond immediately, stating that if they were writing a letter they were to stop in mid-sentence when the bell rang. The idea in his mind was that when the bell called, it called you to the next task and you were to respond immediately, not because you want to, but because it's time for that task and time isn't your time, it's God's time. For him, the monastic bell was intended as a discipline to stretch the heart by always taking you beyond your own agenda to God's agenda.

Hence, a mother raising children, perhaps in a more privileged way even than a professional contemplative, is forced, almost against her will, to constantly stretch her heart. For years, while raising children, her time is never her own, her own needs have to be kept in second place, and every time she turns around a hand is reaching out and demanding something. She hears the monastic bell many times during the day and she has to drop things in mid-sentence and respond, not because she wants to, but because it's time for that activity and time isn't her time, but God's time. The rest of us experience the monastic bell each morning when our alarm clock rings and we get out of bed and ready ourselves for the day, not because we want to, but because it's time.

The principles of monasticism are time-tested, saint-sanctioned, and altogether-trustworthy. But there are different kinds of monasteries, different ways of putting ourselves into harmony with the mild, and different kinds of monastic bells. Response to duty can monastic prayer, a needy hand can be a monastic bell, and working without status and power can constitute a withdrawal into a monastery where God can meet us. The domestic can be the monastic.

MY DOMESTIC BELL IS A RINGIN...GOTTA GO BE FAITHFUL

Tristan and Basketball

Tristan is well into his first season of basketball and having a lot of fun.

Tree of Grace a yearly tradition

Tree of Grace: This was the greatest success this past Advent. Yes we did get a late start and yes this is a late post, but it turned out so beautiful and will be a yearly tradition thanks to the idea from the Czarka family. On Christmas Eve we all gathered around and we explained to the kids this tree is to give away and all the sacrifices and prayers on this tree are to go to someone who needs some love so without hesitation Tristan said this tree needs to go to Ms. Sue because she doesn't have a mommy, a daddy, a brother, a sister, a son or a daughter. She doesn't have anybody she must be sad and need some love. So without hesitation we said you are so right Tristan that is who this Tree of Grace is for. Ms. Sue is a housebound lady that lives three doors down. We have adopted her and make her special treats and visit her. We have only known her for a few months, but the kids bring such delight and happiness to her. So here is the letter below and we are doing something similar for Lent that I will explain in another post later. This was awesome! When we took the tree to her on Christmas day late in the evening at 6pm. She came to the door with a big smile on her face just at the sight of the kids and then as she read the letter she was so moved and said she will have the tree as long as she lives and have it up all year. How cool a little reminder of Gods great love for her always to motivate her in her solitude. This is the letter we gave her.

Merry Christmas!

Dear Ms. Sue this tree is for you! It is filled with lots of love and grace too! We have spent the past four weeks of Advent decorating this tree with ornaments. This tree is very special because it is not decorated in just one day, but over time. We only put an ornament on when we have said a prayer or made a sacrifice (listening to mom and dad, not hitting brothers and sisters, sharing etc…). When we do these little acts of love we get to put one ornament on the tree and the tree then becomes one big prayer filled with grace that we give to you. There is only one recipient each year for the tree of grace and we prayed about it and Tristan (our five year old boy) said he thinks this tree should go to Ms. Sue. He thought it would make you happy and we hope that it does, but know that this tree is more than what meets the eye because it is more than just a tree and ornaments it is a tree of grace filled with grace for you! This is our gift to you. The tree will eventually some day be thrown away, but the grace and the prayer that we give to you in this tree will never pass! God Bless You and We Hope that you have a Merry Christmas! We also made homemade cinnamon rolls. We started at 5:30am this morning making the dough! They are yummy yummy!

Love,
The O’Neils
Branden, Lauri, Tristan, Annaliese, Gavin, Finnian