Of cold snaps and Adoration seeking adventures...

Hi all! I am with you today from my snowy home in Western New York. Technically, the library I work at is open (it takes a LOT for schools and businesses around here to close due to the weather). That being said, however, we've gotten about a foot of snow, and the driving conditions at the morning commute were pretty treacherous. So I used a comp day to stay home. Ironic that I took this photo on Friday:

...and it looks pretty much the same outside right now. :0 The snow is still going strong, which is another reason I didn't want to drive in to work today. It's only going to get worse.

So that's been the story over here for the past several days. We've had an incredibly mild winter here, but February is always dicey, and true to form, we had our first cold spell beginning on Friday. Temperatures hovering around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and some fresh accumulating snowfall. Dance was even cancelled due to the poor road conditions, which is always a bummer.

And this ties into my Saturday morning Lenten adventures with young Henry. ;-) We woke up all excited for our Mommy/son date to go to breakfast and Adoration.We bundled up and headed out onto the freshly plowed roads. It was a clear and beautifully sunny winter day.

Our first stop was the local IHOP, where Henry and I sampled ridiculously dessert-like pancakes and chose extravagant omelets. I powered up on coffee, Henry on juice, and then we trudged back out into the tundra to drive to the perpetual Adoration chapel. It was just really cold out, no other negative weather conditions.

I was excited to get Henry to this particular Adoration chapel because I tried to take him once before, last Christmas Eve. But when we arrived at the church, we found a sign tacked up saying that the Adoration chapel was closed between Christmas and New Years. Not so perpetual. ;-) But I imagine it's difficult to keep their regular schedule of adorers around the holiday travel season.

So Saturday, Henry and I pull up. We grab our rosaries and devotionals and hop out. I'm explaining to him the logistics and reasoning behind genuflecting (since he's very forgetful in this realm), when we get up to the door, and wham!

"Adoration Chapel closed due to severe cold."

*LONG SUFFERING SIGH*

I didn't see this one coming. It was indeed very cold, but I was surprised. I imagine, though, that many of their scheduled adorers are elderly, and the cold is very difficult for them to come out in.

Henry and I trudged back to the car, discussing the one other perpetual Adoration chapel in our area, but that one would be more of a drive. Henry had the excellent suggestion of stopping off at his school parish since they have a small chapel that is open during the day. It's not for Adoration specifically, but it would do! And it's quite close to our house. So off we drove.

When we arrived, we found a hearse and assorted other cars in front of the chapel.

:0

BUT, the main church was open, and we know what's in there, right? The tabernacle! So we went in there and prayed for about 15 minutes. All was well with the world. But I STILL want to get Henry to that Adoration chapel! We're going to try again in two weeks, and hope springs eternal that it's actually open.

And with that, I must sign off to attend to my chat reference shift. Yay? No, not exactly, but a librarian's work is never done! And such pleasing ambiance over here at home, with me in front of the desktop, and the kids fighting in the other room as I should "STOP IT!" every few minutes. Such joy. ;-)

I'll be back tomorrow with likely a crafty post. Snowy days cause me to knit a lot. I think I'll be able to post a Lenten book review next Wednesday, check the side bar for details!

I'm off to heat the kettle. How is your Lent going? Does anyone else have a Lenten resolution to go to Adoration? Any other Lenten details you'd like to share? I'd love to hear from you!

Winter Ordinary Time, how shall we spend it?

Happy Tuesday everybody! Still cold here :) but a beautiful, sunny winter day. I was thinking as I was driving into work today about the fact that we are now officially back in Ordinary Time. Yet far from being boring, this beginning segment (if you will) of Ordinary Time is always interesting to me because it varies in length each year depending upon the placement of Easter. This year we have from now until February 18th to savor the non-penitential nature and saint feast days Ordinary Time has to offer. So, even though it isn't a "special" liturgical time the way Advent and Lent are, this period of Ordinary Time has a lot going for it. So, what are my plans (and yours!) for how to spend it?

As I mentioned, there are some rather awesome saint feast days coming up, so the first thing(s) that came to mind are novenas. Keep an eye on the top navigation bar on the blog for what I'll be praying in case you want to join in! :) You'll notice that the current listing is for the novena to St. Francis de Sales, and that starts this Thursday, January 15th! He is the patron of teachers and writers, so lots of great fodder there to work with in terms of intentions. As soon as his feast day rolls around on January 24th, it's time to start another novena, this time St. Blaise (feast: February 3rd), and then Our Lady of Lourdes (feast: February 11th) and I plan to incorporate the kids into both of these, so stay tuned for information!

I'm very excited about all of this, and I will be incorporating in some feast day celebrations with the kids which I will also write about. I have decided that each year (I will try) to set "saint themes" for each child, and select a few other feast days to draw special attention to. I think I can write a whole post just on this whole nerdy saint theme business, so we'll come back to that. ;-) I'll have a big reveal as to who Henry and Anne's theme is for the year, oohhhhh...

*excited!*

But there is one other thing I want to focus on for this stretch of Ordinary Time, and that is Eucharistic Adoration. Over Christmas I started going weekly, and I am quite determined to keep this habit up. What a *difference* it makes in terms of how I feel spiritually and emotionally when I'm able to work this into my weekly schedule. It's almost guaranteed that I won't be able to make it at the same time each week, but just so long as I get it in once per week, I'm a happy girl.

So, those are my goals. How about you? Any ideas for this short stretch of winter Ordinary Time?

I wanted to mention that I have a book review coming tomorrow, a non-fiction title about a man who walked the Camino de Santiago called Humbled by the Journey, a fascinating subject, to be sure. I hope that you'll join me tomorrow to hear more about it!

Henry's holy hour, plus less sneezing at the CL household...

Thankfully, both children seem to be on the upswing. Hank is still coughing, but didn't wake himself coughing last night at all. Anne didn't sneeze once this morning, plus seemed decidedly more "herself" and much less "terror in a purple sleeper."

I'll take it. In other news, I attended Henry's scheduled holy hour with his class yesterday. It was all a little masked in mystery, and turned out to be a holy hour honoring mothers. The priest exposed the Blessed Sacrament, and the children led some prayers, sang songs, and each read a letter that they'd composed to their mother. At the end, the priest led benediction, complete with incense, which the children were quite enamored with. Each mother also received a pair of rosary beads. It was precious.

What's that squished like a pancake? Oh right, my bladder. And Eucharistic Adoration with children...

I'm really at this wonderful point in my pregnancy. I feel great, and even though sporting a small pregnant bump, am not big and unwieldy yet. The only things that ail me these days are common pregnancy woes related to my poor internal organs. Recently, I saw a drawing of the insides of a pregnant woman. As you can imagine, her intestines are squeezed up like an empty, rolled up tube of toothpaste, and her bladder is flat as a board. The digestion issues persist, which I can live with, although it's not pleasant.

But my poor angelic bladder. Minding its own business, and yet week by week, increased pressure cause it to slowly lose its dignity. Nary a single teaspoon of urine in there yet the weight of uterus and baby contents cause it to spew out distress signals that CL must rush to the bathroom RIGHT AWAY! This happens at least two dozen times in a single 24 hour period. And worst of all: it's lost its will to be strong. Sneeze? Right, my poor beleaguered little bladder gives up the ghost. There's...leakage. Nothing feels like you're aging before your time like incontinence. Lovely. Please bladder, hang in there. I beseech you to bounce back to your former iron will after the baby comes. It's just four and a half months away. We believe in you.

At any rate, I do feel wonderful right now, and am really enjoying this pregnancy. Most of all, I can't wait to meet the baby. My current big boy (but always my baby), Henry, has been super adorable lately. He's been looking at the ultrasound photos a lot, which we keep taped on the refrigerator, and telling me that he's going to help me a lot when the baby comes. His prediction is a baby boy on May 22nd, so we'll see if he's right. :) At least, this is what he wants to happen...

Mike begins teaching again one evening a week coming up in a few weeks, and on that evening, I've been toying with going to adoration as part of my spiritual preparation for birth. Naturally, I would bring Henry with me. So, my question to you is: have any of you taken your young child with you to Eucharistic Adoration? I wouldn't expect to stay an hour, naturally, with a 5 year old in tow. But 15 minutes I think sounds like a reasonable goal. Or, at least it does now. Anybody have any experience with this?