What's New..Friday Update

I realize my blogging has s...l...o....w.....e.......d to a snails pace. If anyone has missed me, I missed you too. If nobody noticed then that reaffirms that life does go on without me getting out a blog post....darn! Where have I been you ask, I have been joyfully going through Lent finding ways to cut back and make small sacrifices.

I struggle with the absolute declaration of any one particular Lenten sacrifice . I have tried and I feel like I have the devil on my back immediately and I usually end up going in the opposite direction of whatever I intended to avoid. So, knowing that about me I have decided to make small sacrifices each day. And for me the easiest way to make a sacrifice (it's all about making something painful as pain free as possible, right???), is serving those around me a bit more pleasantly and being all the more present to them. So this is what it looks like...

Instead of checking e-mail and my blog site while I am making breakfast, I decided no computer at the start of a school day. Instead I set out every ones breakfast, juice and all, and then pleasantly call the kids down for breakfast. This looks a lot more pleasant then the Pre-Lenten morning when I would be so irritated that these small helpless creatures dared invade my morning minutes looking to eat. How dare they awaken and expect breakfast before I have had a chance to read all the JUNK I wanted to?

This ease of service led me to look at my daily quiet time. Is spending my 30-40 mid-day break parked with a laptop in my lap the best use of my time?? Looking at 2 baskets of laundry and school assignments to finish I decided that another sacrifice would be to not open the computer AT ALL during the day!! Instead I catch up on all the household chores that gets neglected while doing school.

I do love computer time. It is social time for me. I do find pleasure in it. But it is a one dimensional activity. I walk away usually feeling annoyed at myself for wasting 40 good minutes with nothing to show. I have cut back to almost no computer time during the school week. I don't want to rush through my time with the kids during the day and avoid my household chores...just to waste time on the computer.

At night instead of getting on the computer I take the time to pray and say a Rosary. For me, these small steps are much more manageable than a sweeping "I AM GIVING UP THE COMPUTER FOR 6 WEEKS ". I know Lenten sacrifices are supposed to be used to grow closer to the Lord and I am feeling the Grace to do that, little by little.

So there you have it. I would like to say that I have been asked to do a reality show on the amazing mothering skills I have and they want to pay me 4,000,000,000 a minute just to share my sage advice. Or perhaps tell you that Pete swept me off my feet and whisked me off to a tropical island and all we brought was sunscreen...but alas, just some good old fashioned "focusing on the family" is all I have to report.