Sunday, February 23, 2014

It's a Beautiful Day

Since I mentioned a wedding, I felt it was only fair to share a picture or two from the blessed event. We were all more or less recovered from our plague, and I thoughtlessly rewarded my still fragile immune system with copious amounts of alcohol and carbohydrates, so I'm calling an early start on Lent this year…just as soon as tonight's episode of Downton wraps. #31isnot21 #oldmomproblems #vodkasodas4ever.

Hashtag.

Anywho, here's the happy couple, aren't they gorgeous?

The first 'look.' (They didn't actually lock eyes till she started down the aisle.)
If you're local-ish and lucky enough to get on her schedule, this gal is an amazing photographer, and a sweetheart with two beautiful baby girls who she takes gorgeous pictures of on her blog all the time. Check her out. And okay, one more gorgeous pic:
55 degrees in February. Go home Colorado, you're (happily) drunk.
I think I'm jumping on the Fulwiler bandwagon and taking up the 7 in 7 challenge, so I'll be back tomorrow. 

In the mean time, any thoughts on Lent? Dave and I were talking about it on the way home from Mass this morning and he had some awesome words of reflection from our Holy Father's Message for Lent about overcoming destitution, which he explains as being very different from poverty. Destitution, says Pope Francis, is poverty without hope, and can be in a material, spiritual, or emotional form. He was encouraging us to find ways to overcome destitution this Lenten season, both in the world and in ourselves. He also said (and this one is a little scary) "I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt." Ouch. 

That little gem led me past my usual line of alcohol abstinence and no desserts unless it's a feast day reasoning and onto the possibility for a greater sacrifice for this year. I think the very most difficult thing I could imagine at this stage of life is to start setting an actual alarm and waking up before my children to pray for 10 minutes each morning. I don't know what is sadder about that sentence, the idea that a grown adult doesn't use an alarm, or the fact that my greatest suffering is waking up in the morning, but I'll get back to you when I've decided. Pathetic.

So no booze and waking to an alarm. It'll be just like high school all over again. Maybe I'll get my body back, too…

What are your Lenten plans?

9 comments:

  1. Same plans - alarm and prayer time before the kids are up. I know it will hurt so good.

    So happy for Hillary and Ted! I met him in November and he's a great guy, and he and Hillary were so cute together.

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  2. Hillary looks so lovely...please tell her congrats from me! I wish I could wake up before Lucy but uhhh she IS our alarm clock that goes off at 5 or 5:30....whyyy?

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  3. Ugggggh, I've been thinking about getting up in the morning too. Truly it is a suffering, particularly when you don't get an unbroken night's sleep.

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  4. okay, so I read your post I was like,'chick be crazy, I'd never give up 10 minutes of sleep'. But then, all morning, the idea has been sinking in and I think it would be the perfect sacrifice, but also 'doing something' and would end up with terrific results. So challenge, maybe accepted. Kind of. But then again, I was all about the wellness challenge for the first four days... we'll see if I can do it!

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  5. Oh, how can it be that Lent is already almost upon us? How I love me some ordinary time! Needless to say, I haven't even given it an ounce of thought, although I did say to my husband in bed the other night that due to our current circumstances maybe we didn't need to give anything up for Lent. Maybe we were sacrificing enough already. He laughed and told me it didn't work that way and I wasn't getting out of it that easily! So, I guess I better start thinking and praying on the whole matter.

    And speaking of prayer. I always get up early (I wake up every morning before my alarm goes off so it's not a huge sacrifice for me) and pray. I started this several years ago. I use that prayer time mostly for prayers about my family. I have Stormie Omartian's "Power of a Praying Parent" and "Power of a Praying Wife". I typically spend 30 minutes praying for my family from those books. The prayers are very specific and they are all based on scriptures. The Lord loves it when we prayer His words back to him! It's very powerful. Occasionally I will bring out "Power of a Praying Woman" and pray for myself but I usually spend the time praying for my husband and kids. It is a truly great way to start the day....I give my worries about my family over to the Lord and He takes it from there! If you choose to do that for Lent, you won't regret it. You may even find that you miss it when Lent is over and start to make it a daily habit.

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  6. I'm so with you on the alarm. On school mornings, I do set one so I can get up with my older kids and see them off. But it's a total sacrifice. On Fridays, they have "late start" day, and there is a little too much excitement when I get to move the alarm back 30 minutes and it has a "7" as the front number. It's pathetic! Especially since I don't have anyone waking me up at the crack of dawn anymore.

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  7. I'm trying not to think of lent. For as long as possible.

    What a gorgeous couple! And I am jealous of a Colorado without snow. I'm glad you had a good weekend, and wow, that Pope Francis and his 140 characters of amazing. Yesterday he said, something like this "Being a saint is not optional, it's necessary for the salvation of the world." Whoa. He's killing me.

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  8. My husband and I decided to wake up early also! Only we wanted to torture ourselves more, so we decided to not only wake up early, but also run early in the morning. Love Papa's message! :)

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  9. Shameless self-plug?? http://www.domesticapologist.com/2014/02/believe-what-you-read-my-lenten-penance.html I'm reading the New Testament (finally) this year. It's with no small bit of shame that I admit to not having read the Bible through and through before, so this Lent, it's getting real. Also: beautiful couple, and love love love her dress and bouquet.

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