Happy obsession with the Liturgy of the Hours continues, and Thanksgiving knitting...

Hello everyone, and somehow it's been two weeks since I last checked in! Last weekend was just one of those times that I got to Sunday, and realized that I had forgotten to blog. 😳 My mind is definitely awhirl these days between the kids, being back to work and teaching in-person, and my own happy dance and crafting stuff. Let's do some updating on ALL of those things, and also talk about Daytime Prayer! :-)

My kids are doing great, I'm so happy to see them thriving at school this year. School masses are back at both places (Henry still had some last year, just outdoors) and Anne is even doing a reading at the 5th grade Mass next Thursday! Really looking forward to that. Both Mike and I are back to teaching in-person at our respective colleges, and it's been delightful. Teaching to mostly dark little squares on Zoom definitely wasn't my idea of a good time. 

Amidst my new daily routine, I have been happily growing my Liturgy of the Hours habit. My little Night Prayer volume has become an indispensable part of my nighttime routine, and so when I saw that Catholic Book Publishing Company has a similar standalone volume for Daytime Prayer, I pounced. :-0

The convenience of the slim volumes is really appealing to me. I'm finding that it's really motivating me to pray more throughout my day, so that's a win/win! Come Advent, I know I'll want to be all up in the Proper of Seasons in the blue volume of my 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours set, and I cannot wait. 😍

In crafting news, I'm moving into cozy fall/winter projects. I currently have a Thanksgiving shawl on the needles:

Pattern is Acalypha from Expression Fiber Arts

We'll see if it makes it off my needles before Thanksgiving 2022, but hope springs eternal. ;-) And in dance news, I'm taking a new coursse on Zoom called The Online Dancer, and it's about shooting and editing video footage specifcally for dance. I am STOKED about this, as I am a total beginner at this, and think this will be so valuable for me to learn, and challenging in the best possible way! To some extent, online dance productions are here to stay, even if they becoming increasingly more hybrid with in-person performance. But the ease of gathering people from around the world in one show is something I don't see totally disappearing, and that's actually a good thing. Nothing replaces in-person events, but having a mix of both, highlighting their strengths, is a great step forward, in my opinion. And so I'll be working on my first homework assignment this weekend. 😁

How is everyone doing this week?! Any other Daytime Prayer partners? This is an hour/hours I have never prayed before, I'm excited to dive in!

Fall prayer planning...tips for success (hopefully! ;-)!

 

Hello all, and I hope you're having a beautiful morning on this lovely fall day! It's been a busy week at my house, between back-to-school routines for the kids, and lesson planning at work for a return to in-person teaching. I've also been preparing for an in-person dance show at my studio this weekend, and I'm very excited for that! 

I was thinking today that I've felt a re-awakening in my prayer life of late, and I think it's because of Shauna'h's online prayer course for Catholic women, Everyday Holiness, which starts up on Sunday. 😎 I'm so looking forward to having some motivation to stay on track with prayer via a little structure and community! I've always been very motivated by setting goals, with a timeline, and having others along with me on the journey. If you sign up for Shauna'h's email list, you will get a link to a free printable calendar for the month with prayer goals and novena reminders!

The other thing I was thinking about lately in this regard is building up small micro habits in terms of prayer. I wrote about this recently over on Catholic Mom. You work towards larger goals by setting very small habits for yourself that you build on over time. Maybe you start with a single decade of the rosary when you get into your car in the morning. Or wing up a Morning Offering as you set your feet on the floor upon rising from bed for the day. Once that habit is more firmly established in your routine, you can add on a set of 3 Hail Marys for an intention of the day as you brush your teeth, or add a second decade of the rosary while you're making dinner in the evening. I really love this idea, and I tell all about how I learned about this in my Catholic Mom post, linked above! The book I reference in that post is BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything.

Do you have any tips for igniting habits in your prayer life? I would love to hear about it in the comments!

A beautiful Holy Week, and some unexpected developments in my prayer routine...

Hello all, and HAPPY EASTER! I hope that you had a spectacular Holy Week and Easter Sunday, and that Easter blessings continue to shower your way. For my part, I doubly enjoyed it this year, after missing the liturgies so much last year. I didn't make it to the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, but I made it to both the Good Friday liturgy, and the Easter vigil. It was *so lovely*, and I felt so blessed and grateful to, (a) be there with my kids, and (b) be a part of something so much larger than myself that is so magnificently rich and beautiful. It really struck me anew this year at the Easter Vigil how much I have to be grateful for, and how much I value my faith. 

And I decided to do something new this year. Instead of giving up/resolving to do something for all of Lent, I decided to try and pray both Morning and Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours for the entirety of Holy Week. I mentioned an idea to my sister and a few mutual good friends that we could perhaps pray them together when we could via video chat. We began on the vigil of Palm Sunday, and though here and there 1-2 of us couldn't make some of the sessions, we were able to pray the Hours together a lot during Holy Week, and on the times we couldn't be together, we prayed them individually. It was so uplifting and cheering, and I looked forward each day to seeing the faces of those who could make it, along with any children who came along for the ride. :)

This all worked out so much better than I ever could have expected. I was so inspired by our commitment to this that 6 days into the Easter octave, I'm still praying the Hours. Mostly by myself because evenings were tough for everyone this week, but I've been praying Morning Prayer with my sister pretty much every morning (we're in the same time zone, definitely makes that easier!), and it has given a lift to my days that I haven't felt since the pandemic started. I've also found myself seeking out books about praying the Hours, and commentaries/reflections on the psalms in the Psalter, because my curiosity has been so whetted. I treated myself to this as an Easter gift, and am LOVING IT:

This is all quite unexpected. Although I've long had a love for the Liturgy of the Hours, I've never found a routine for praying them with regularity and consistency. I've picked up the St. Joseph guide each year and prayed here and there when the mood struck, but it sadly hasn't been a daily thing for me. Now I find myself craving more and more information about this form of prayer, and adding in additional Hours when I can (Daytime and Night Prayer). It's so delightful that I'm just going with it, hoping that this means it will really stick this time. I even have the Supplement to the Proper of Saints on it's way, as well as a special supplement for Dominican saints! 🙌

So my Holy Week and first week of Easter have been even more special than usual. I'll likely continue to blog about the Liturgy of the Hours and how that is going, and generally about spiritual topics this Easter season. I'm still planning out what I'd like to focus on here at the blog for Easter season and summer Ordinary Time. Thoughts on what you'd like to see? How was your Easter?! I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

New routines, prayer, and identity during the pandemic...

 As I was reflecting on what to write about this week, I realized that on this blog I have barely mentioned the word 'pandemic.' I have alluded to it, obviously, because how could one not? But it's as if speaking the word brings fresh pain into my already battered being. I haven't even created a topical label for it on the blog, because I honestly don't want to be able to go back and filter posts for this topic in the future! Sometimes, I wish that I could erase this entire year from my memory.

Every person on the planet has been affected by the pandemic in different ways, and I am no exception. I'm very grateful that no one I know has become sick, but that definitely does not mean that one has been left unscathed by this global tragedy. For me, the biggest toll has been my emotional and mental health from the isolation, and my concern for my kids, who both showed signs of depression before going back to school this fall. I'm happy to say that they're both doing a lot better, and I'm doing a bit better too, although no where near my usual happy self. But it's improving!

One thing that has been absolutely debilitating to me with my personality is losing my daily routine, in which I found so much comfort. And it's not coming back anytime soon, as I mentioned last week. It may be close to a year before I'm back on campus and in my office. But what I've been trying to do of late is to carve out a new routine for myself for the time being, and that's been a bit easier with my kids being back in school. This is actually my topic in my Catholic Mom piece for October, which will come out early next week, so keep your eyes peeled! :)

One of the ways that I've been trying to carve new rituals is with prayer. I used to always pray the rosary in the car on my commute into work (half on the way in, and finishing up on the ride home), and now I'm working in my kitchen. I could pray the rosary on my lunch break while I sit on the couch, but that just doesn't hold the same appeal to me. Now that I'm working from home, I'm driving my son into school at 8 every morning. With the weather getting cooler, I've taken to going out a few minutes early to warm the car in the driveway for a few minutes before he's going to be ready to come out. One morning, I took my rosary out of it's case and started praying one as I backed the car down out of the garage and waited for Henry. Then I continued as I drove home after dropping him off. It's not a long ride, but I still got though the opening prayers and a full decade by time I pulled back into our driveway. Getting started like this then motivates me to seek out other opportunities during the day to sneak in decades, like if I have to drive to dance later (we're back in person, horray!). I may or may not finish an entire rosary, but I still count this as a huge win, and it's doing wonders for my contentedness level. 

The other prayer routine I've developed lately is novenas using the Pray app, and as I'm sure you've noticed, I've been praying a lot more novenas than usual! But the push notifications from the app are lending a serene feel to my mornings when I see that little cross icon come up and I pray the daily prayers. It's giving some much needed structure to my prayer life, and solace to my days. Right now, I'm praying the St. Teresa of Avila novena, and St. John Paul II starts Tuesday with the page up and ready on the blog!

My intentions for the St. Teresa novena relate to peace and patience with work for the next two weeks, as I'm entering our busy teaching season, and it's all virtual this semester, which I find very challenging. So I'm just going to take it one day at a time! Teaching, in my experience, is a bit like performing, and I love performing. All of that, for the time being, is online only, and this has definitely contributed to my malaise these long seven months. There is no energy, no connection with your audience, when you're online. But it's temporary, and I'm just trying to get through it while doing the best I can with it. 

After my teachinig is done, I'm going to focus back on dance more, which I'm excited about. I feel like the changes that the pandemic has wrought has made me feel like some alternate version of Tiffany, and not my real self. I'm certain a lot of you feel that way, too. I miss my old life, my old self. The older I've gotten, I've actually enjoyed my life more, and have more confidence in myself. Since March though, that has all been missing, and I've been struggling big time. I'm trying to climb back into my old identity, but it hasn't been easy. Starting a new dance project will definitely help out with that, and I'll devote an entire post to that in a few weeks. :)

How is everyone's novenas going? Have you struggled with lack of routine since the pandemic started? I'd love to hear from you in the comments. *heart*

Spending a little time with the Word...

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my little blog! I can't believe that it's late August already, YIKES! My kids haven't gone back to school yet, but it's coming. We have parent orientation tonight at Henry's new high school, and I think I'm handling my interior freaking out pretty well. ;-) I'm ready for a new season, but I'm also quite nervous. It'll be OK, but there are big things in store, to be sure!

I teased today's topic in last week's post, and I'm so excited to write about this today. :-) While I was on vacation last week, my sister introduced me to these Write the Word Journals, by Cultivate What Matters. I saw her using one each morning with her Bible and was intrigued.

These are not scripture studies, or guided journaling through scripture, per se. They are different from anything I've used in the past in that each day has a passage from the Bible listed (book and verse only) and then a big space for you to write down the actual passage. So you're not reflecting on the scripture verses (although you could do that too), but you're transcribing the verses down into your journal. There's also space to write down what you're grateful for that day, a word for the day, and what's on your heart that day (which you could use for pretty much any prayer purpose you wished). What I like about this system is that:

 (a) it can help you to memorize scripture verses, and

(b) on busy mornings, no deep thought is required on your part. You can just write the verse in, and there is still a great benefit to settling into God's Word for those few minutes without having to come up with coherent thoughts of your own. ;-) Some days, no inspired/academic reflecting is coming, as I'm sure you can relate!

There are a number of these journals available from Cultivate the Word, and each is themed. So this one (which is the one that I purchased) is about renewal, but there's also faith, hope, joy, contentment, etc. Here's a peek at the interior pages:

So indeed, I ordered one of the journals to check it out. You can also get these through Amazon, which if you have Prime shipping, is a way to save a bit. That's what I did. And I've been using mine each morning for a little peaceful and happy time with my Bible and with my own thoughts.

This is a non-Catholic Christian company, so the scripture references will be from the parts of the Bible that we both share, just an FYI. But I have to say that I'm loving the set up of these. There are lots of great options out there for scripture study, to be sure, I've just taken a shine to this one as an opportunity for individual scripture study, in a format that appeals to someone with a short attention span, and with not a lot of time to spare in my morning routine. :-)

Speaking of scripture study, I have been very inspired by this of late, and so have fun plans to announce to you. :-0 I'm going to start a weekly thread with themed scripture verses for us to chat about together in the blog's Facebook group! My sister Shauna'h has agreed to lead the thread each week, and will announce the theme and a related verse for us to look up in our Bibles and write in with our thoughts if we are so inspired. This will be super low maintenance, just participate whenever you'd like and/or are able to. I even made a graphic for us and everything, horray!

Join us on Facebook for Wednesdays with the Word starting up right after Labor Day! So, our first day will be September 4th. 🤗 I can't wait for this, I'm so excited!

Adventures with family prayer time...

This is a topic very near and dear to my heart, and I would love all of your input on it, whether or not you have small kids in your house at present. It takes a village, right? 😎

My kids are now 12 and 7. Translation:

"I don't want to go to church! It's SO BORINNNNNGGGGG!"

"I don't want to pray the rosary in the car, can't we listen to music instead?!"

"Prayer intentions? What do you mean?"

This is all exacerbated by the fact that I am the only adult (practicing) Catholic in my household. My husband is incredibly supportive of my raising our kids Catholic, but he does not consider himself a Catholic and comes to Mass with us only occasionally. He has my back with getting the kids off to Mass despite their whining, and he is also wonderful about assuring that they pray before eating with respect and reverence, including a full, and not hurried, sign of the cross. He attends the required parent pre-sacrament meetings, and plans the baptism and First Communion parties with gusto. I am very blessed.

When it comes to the nitty gritty, though...well, as I knew when I signed up for this job, it's up to me. And God. Whoops, this is true, I can't forget Him. :0

Henry and I have read saint stories together before bed now for years. He still very much enjoys this tradition, despite me thinking that maybe he was growing out of it. I know, though, that he is at an age wherein I need to be vigilant and do more with him to instill his faith in Christ. In our diocese, children are not confirmed until *11th grade*. So we have a ways to go until he receives the grace of that sacrament.

Anne and I have no bedtime prayer routine, we read a story (non-Biblical) together, and that is our tradition. But I really feel like we should have one. Every few weeks, she receives a school assignment to pray a specific number of decades of the rosary that evening, and we always do that together. But we rarely pray the rosary together without that impetus. Whenever I try, I am met with a chorus of groans.

It's difficult. I am not at all surprised by any of this - I too am a person that many decades ago used to complain about Mass being boring. I did not pray the rosary until I became a young adult. I did occasionally pray in general, but only if a crisis of some sort hit, and I asked God for help.

I do my best to be a good example for my kids. I very much love the liturgy, and try to talk about why I find it not only soothing but fascinating, especially on specific feast days or liturgical seasons. We attend Mass every week, and I incorporate elements of faith into our family life as much as I can. During Advent and Lent, for sure, but also during other times of the year.

But am I perfect in this way? Or in any way? :0 Of course not. So I know that I could do more to make the faith real and exciting to my kids. To be a good example of a Catholic Christian living out her faith.

One of those ways is regular prayer time. I've experimented through the years with making a set aside prayer moment special with candles, new rosary beads, and a calm and lovely setting. Those things worked, but only for the short term. I want to make a permanent addition to our routine that will nurture their fledgling faith.

My kids are getting older, and I feel like we are at a crucial juncture. Henry is well into middle school (and an altar boy), and Anne will make her First Communion in two years. It's an important time for them to associate their faith with strong memories of compassion, trust and security that will aid them for the rest of their lives.

Here's where the advice village comes into play. ;-) Thoughts? Ideas? Each child may have different faith needs given their age difference, so something separate for each kid, or more of a family effort? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Our Lady of Fatima has a hold on my heart...

https://www.etsy.com/shop/allisonkinyon

As May approaches, my thoughts automatically turn towards the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, which we celebrate on the Church calendar May 13th. There are lots of other exciting things going on in May: May Crowning at the kids' school, Anne's birthday, Sam's birthday, confirmation season, Pentecost, my dance family returns from Egypt, the long Memorial Day weekend...all fantastic stuff that I cannot wait for. Always though, my mind turns to our Blessed Mother, and the role she is known for amongst three young Portuguese children in the early twentieth century.There is something about her that has become special to me in my adulthood, and in my role as wife and mother. That image of her is so appealing to me, so filled with tender understanding.

The week before Holy Week, I stopped in at our parish for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I had been dealing with (and continue to deal with) the aftermath of a few difficult emotional situations. It's all part of life, you know? But for someone with a personality like mine: very gentle-natured, always wanting to please others, experiencing a great deal of empathy for others at all times - it's hard to climb out of a dark abyss like that. It's hard to feel like myself again, because my mind always wants to take me back to things that have hurt me and that I cannot control. It's something I've dealt with my whole life, but as an adult it has helped a bit to do some research (*pins on librarian super cape*) and realize that these qualities about myself are not only God-given (and thus, I cannot change them even if I wanted to) but they are in fact positive characteristics that I should not see as weaknesses. I should revel in being compassionate, loving and trusting, and in the resulting beautiful and lasting relationships I have in my life. It has given me a lot of peace and healing to focus on those things.

And so, as I was leaving the confessional that recent week late in Lent, I was struck by inspiration - Our Lady of Fatima. Her feast day is in the spring, and I just felt compelled to carry her with me on a day-to-day basis. So I texted Allison to see if she would accept a custom order for a one decade, springy rosary with an Our Lady of Fatima center, and she did. It is, of course, the rosary you see featured in this post. Isn't it lovely?!

I love one decade rosaries for the ease of being able to tuck them into your pocket. If you need a little extra courage or strength on a given day, you can easily reach for the rosary and feel the solace that it offers. I'm so thrilled with this particular rosary and the association I have with it for Our Lady in a particularly sweet, motherly role. Granted, I don't think we ever see Mary in a non-motherly role :) but this one strikes a special chord with me. I am relying heavily on Our Lady of Fatima this spring.

Maybe we could pray her novena this year? It would start next week, on May 4th, I believe. I can dig up the prayers if anyone would like to join me!

Tea Time for Lent 2018 - Episode 3! On prayer...

We're going to start examining the 3 pillars of Lent, horray! Join me for another special Lenten edition of:

We're talking Lenten pillars for the next 3 weeks, and today we're starting with prayer. Scripture, prayer postures, structured vs. more informal prayer, we cover it all!





**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe in your podcast app of choice. Intro music is "Feelin' Good" from http://www.purple-planet.com 

Items mentioned in this episode:

USCCB page on Lent
Catholic Journaling Bible
Blog that I mentioned re: transferring things to the journaling Bible

How are you employing prayer this Lent? I'd love to hear from you!

On headaches and 30 day prayer challenges...

Soooooooo, I had a totally different post planned for today about discernment. And then...today happened. It was not a good day, work-wise. The semester starts Monday, and as is our new normal, we're all running around putting out fires that NEVER start back in June. They only start 2 days before classes begin. Every.Single.Time.

I felt frustrated. I felt stressed out and harried. I felt like I was forgetting things from moment-to-moment, as is always the case when I'm trying to do too many things at the same time. I developed a headache.

As I popped an ibuprofen, I thought of the text string I had with Sam last night. As we were talking about the stress of the new semester approaching (Sam is starting a brand new job as a teacher in a combined 1st/2nd grade classroom!) I said that I was really feeling deep in my soul how important prayer was going to be for me this semester. So that I wouldn't sink back down to the abyss of anxiety and depression and happened last fall (we will heretofore refer to the fall of 2016 as "That Semester" and shudder whenever we hear it's name). I had an official "Fall 2016 Managing Stress Series" last year for a reason. It's painful to reflect back on.

At any rate, back to prayer. Sam, my sister, and myself are in the midst of a 30 day yoga challenge for stress relief and relaxation.Which may not seem to have anything to do with prayer, but stay with me! :0 I mentioned to Sam how I longed to get back into a routine with praying the Liturgy of the Hours, but it's just SO difficult to stay consistent with it (footnote: the Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Church; it is made up of hymns, psalms, and other short prayers relating to the liturgical season and/or feast day). She and I both then commiserated on just how many times we've failed miserably at keeping up with Morning and Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. Then I had a eureka moment:

"We should do a 30 day challenge for *that*!"

Right?! For 30 days, we'll endeavor to keep up with this form of prayer. Now, Sam and I both agreed that Morning Prayer? It's just not happening. We're realistic, you see. We're up by 6 (Sam even earlier than that), I have kids out the door by 7:20, Sam has a 40 minute commute, we both have classes first thing...Morning Prayer just isn't going to fit in there. Doesn't mean we can't pray a morning offering, but official Morning Prayer would only make us cry. So what we thought we would try is for 30 days, praying Evening and Night prayer. Something to look forward to after our long days, and both are designed to be SO soothing for weary souls. Would you like to join us?

If you own Christian Prayer, or the 4 volume set of the Liturgy of the Hours, you're all set.  If you'd like to use an online tool, there is the iBreviary app, which is available for both Android and ios, or you can use Universalis. I have the Divine Office app, but I know that isn't for sale currently while they work out a copyright situation. It doesn't matter what you use, as long as it allows you to pray!

We're going to start Monday, 8/28. I can have accountability posts in here from time-to-time, so we can check in with each other and see how it's going. It made me feel SO much better to think of this today in midst of my Nightmare Day From The Pits Of The Evil One.

If you'd like to join us, or just have thoughts generally on helpful forms of prayer for stressful times, please comment below!

*heart*

A prayer for focus...

A little peek inside of the mind of your Catholic Librarian:

Dear Lord,

Hey, how's it going?! I know it's been a few days since I've been in touch in this way. I've been trying to be better about praying the rosary in the mornings, but. Wait...

*5 minutes elapse*

Sorry, back! I just remembered that the whole reason I sat down here was to take care of that email to Franciscan Media, and I wanted to do that before I forgot. Soooo, where were we?

Right! OK, so I need to work on this summer writing project. I need your guidance on this so much, Lord. I pray that the Holy Spirit...

*chime chime!*

"Tiffany speaking!"

*conversation ensues*

*5 minutes elapse*

*Tiffany hangs up phone*

*checks other notifications*

"Wait. What was I supposed to be doing?!"

 So sorry about that! I'm so easily distracted. And to be honest, Lord, THAT'S THE PROBLEM. I only have 2 months to get this project done, and let's just say that I have a llllooooooonnnnnngg...

"Hold on. Where's that notebook that I was working with last to keep tabs on where I left off?"

*searches piles on desk*

"Found it!"

OK, so Lord, you see the problem here? I need so much help in getting this project finished before the fall semester starts. Focus is a real problem for me, Lord. I need Your loving hand to guide me through this process, and for the Holy Spirit to inspire me with the words to write. Each morning, turn my eyes only to You, Lord, as I want only to do Your Will and glorify You through this work.  I ask this in...

"Crud! I forgot my lunch!"

Jesus' Precious Name. *sheepish*

Amen

😳

Tea Time with Tiffany #55 - I seem to pray better when I am not praying for myself...

Happy Thursday everyone! Welcome to a perky, book and prayer-filled edition of:

Today I talk about my current reads (of which there are several), my Kindle Francis makes his debut appearance, and why I find praying for others so much easier than praying for myself.




**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Tea Ceremony" from PlayonLoop.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

• PNS Late Summer Book Club. We're aiming to have the first 9 chapters read by the week of July 11th!
• Catholic Book Club most recent post on the conclusion of Church of Spies.
• I Am Margaret series, by Corinna Turner. I wrote reviews of books 1 and 2 (The original I Am Margaret, and The Three Most Wanted). I am embarking on books 3 and 4 now (Liberation and Bane's Eyes).
• DrawNames.com if you want to start your own Secret Santa prayer circle!

What are you doing this weekend, dear listener? What are you reading? Do you have book suggestions for the fall installment of our book club? Do write in and let us know!

Praying with a 4 year old...

This morning, Anne woke up clutching this little foldout pamphlet with all 20 mysteries of the rosary printed on it that she had picked up after Mass yesterday. For each mystery, there is a tiny, color illustration, which is what I think captured her imagination the most.

I caught her "reading" it, still in her sleeper, when she was supposed to be getting dressed this morning. :0 25 minutes later...

"I'm ready, Mommy. Don't forget my little prayer book!"

She kept it with her throughout breakfast, then asked me for rosary beads so that "we could pray in the car on the way to school." I was absolutely delighted, but then remembered that I wasn't driving her to school today.

"Sorry darling, we can't pray in the car today. But how about while I pack our lunches?"

"Yeah!"

Score.

I fetch her a set of St. Kateri rosary beads that were hanging out in my purse, and hand them to her.

"I like the blue beads, Mommy!"

"Those are for the Our Fathers. We pray a Hail Mary on the other beads."

"I do not want to use the other beads."

"Well, that's how...OK, it doesn't matter right now. It's just good that you are holding the beads and want to pray the rosary. Let's look at your little pamphlet and you can pick one picture for us to pray about."

"I get to pick one of the pictures?!"

 That was a real crowd-pleaser.

"Yep! How about one of these on the far left? Those are the Joyful Mysteries, which we pray on Mondays."

"I like the one with the angel!"

"The first one, great!"

I got a child who enjoys chronology as much as I do. I see this as a blessing. ;-)

*I read the short blurb next to The Annunciation*

"All right, now we pray an Our Father."

"I don't know that one all the way yet."

"I know, that's OK. I'll pray that one. You just hold one of the blue beads."

"OK! I can pick whatever blue one I want, right?"

"Um, sure. Go ahead."

Why not, right?

*I pray Our Father*

"All right, now we move onto the Hail Mary, and you know that one really well. Do you want to pray those out loud for me?"

"No."

*surprised pause from Mommy*

"But you love praying the Hail Mary."

"I know, but I want to pick a new picture now!"

"Well, we we're not quite ready to move on yet, Dear..."

"Mommy, what's this one? Jesus is carrying this big cross. I want to pick that one!!"

"Well, OK, Darling, but then we do have to pray the prayers."

"OK!"

"Here, hold onto this red bead and keep track for Mommy since I have to pack our lunches."

"I do not want to hold that red bead."

"Well, fine, pick a different bead, but you have to keep count while Mommy packs. That IS the reason we have the beads, so that we can keep count."

"I do not want to do that. I want to pick one of the blue beads again!"

As you can likely surmise, we didn't get a whole lot of praying done. But any opportunity to talk to my kids about the rosary is a good thing, in my estimation. Right? We'll go with that.

But what about our own prayer lives?! I wrote about taking on "Easter Resolutions" over at CatholicMom.com this month. Want to take a peek?

I would LOVE for you to leave a comment with your thoughts over at Catholic Mom. Just like our dear Samantha has done, HI SAMANTHA! :0 What are you spiritual resolutions this Easter season? Write in!

In times of ailment, it's the simple things that come through...

Hi all! I come to you weakly today, as I've not been feeling well for the past few days. I'm not entirely certain what is ailing me, likely a seasonal bug of some sort. Of course, it doesn't help that there is SNOW AND ICE currently on the ground here in WNY. I know that we live in a colder climate, to be certain, but given that it is April 6th this is a bit over the top, to my mind. *glares* We're hanging in there.

At any rate, I left work early yesterday, as I was feeling far less than 100%. As I walk in the door, I'm greeted by both children, who each try to push the other out of the way to vie for my attention.

"Mommy, I have a surprise for you, since you are sick! Stop it, HENRY!"

"Mom, I got my report card, and I got an 89 in Math. Does that mean I can pick out a cookie cake? Anne, stop stepping on my feet!"

"Mommy, look at the surprise! TA DA!!" *slew of itty bitty cupcake photos shower over my head* It was like a belly dance tip/money shower situation for a group of excited toddlers.

"Oh Honey, how lovely, thank you!"

"Mom, I had my guitar lesson today, and..."

"Mommy, I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE TO SHOW YOU!" She is nothing if not demanding, that Anne.

"Anne, oh my goodness, STOP INTERRUPTING ME!"

Can I just pause here and share a moment of snorting laughter with you parents out there? One thing that I did not know about having children is that when you are in their presence, you will not have a single uninterrupted thought EVER.AGAIN. Thoughts running through my own head, oh how I long for your face!!!! Interruptions. CONSTANT. And so to have Henry, now age 10, react with frustrated horror to the phenomenon of child interrupting just really gave me a giggle. Henry, former Interrupter Champion of the UNIVERSE.

Truly, they both really lifted my spirits yesterday. Mike had to teach, and so I took the the kids to Panera for dinner, and we had a lovely time. Simple Thing That Made Me Happy Yesterday #1.

#2 is the solace I'm finding in my current devotional routine. I'm well into the 54 day rosary novena, and my daily rosary has been balm to my soul. I'm currently praying with a spring-hued Divine Mercy rosary, and it is positively sublime. I also started a prayer journal to keep track of all of my intentions, as well as those of my friends, and the novenas that we're in the process of praying or are in the queue. Yes, we are Catholic Nerds and proud of it. I think our next novena will be for St. Gianna Beretta Molla. If you'd like to join in, we start April 19th!

Simply organizing all of my prayer ideas into one spot, and including those of my friends, has given me such a warm feeling. If you'd ever like to have me include your intentions in my prayers, just write in and let me know! You can leave a comment, or write to me in the email address that is included in the "About Me" tab. :)

That's what is on my heart this morning, and I'm just grateful to be feeling a bit better this morning and like I'm on the upswing. I've also been making SUPER fun summer plans for this blog. Stay tuned!

As well, If you haven't written in about the book club yet, I would still love to hear from you! Just give my latest Tea Time a listen, and let me know your thoughts. A few of you have already, and I'm collecting the ideas and will report in about this tomorrow. ;-)

How are you doing, dear reader? How is the Easter season treating you? Any new novenas you'd like to pray, or intentions you'd like for me to include? Do leave a comment and let me know!

New Year's Resolutions anyone? *insert best of intentions here*

Hi all! I'm doing my best to stay perky as I navigate my first week back to work. How's it going? you reasonably ask, you thoughtful reader, you. :-) It's going pretty well. I've had a bit more difficulty than usual getting back to my regular routine. I miss being home with Mike and the kids. A lot. But I've set my mind to positive things, and that's helping quite a bit.

Part of the way I've been doing this is to focus on goals for the new year. I suppose one could call them New Year's Resolutions. But I know better than to set anything earth shattering for myself, because taking on too much new all at once sets me up for failure.What I prefer to do is examine the things I'd like to improve, and then realistically think of ways to tweak what I'm already doing to make them just that bit better.

So here are the things I'd like to work on, and then we can chat about yours if you like! For me:

(1) A prayer routine. So that would mean...it should actually exist. :0 Right now, the situation is that I attend Mass weekly and on holy days of obligation. I sometimes pray the rosary when I'm in the car. I pray novenas as they pique my interest. And that would be it. I don't feel "dry" in my faith life per se, but it does feel like I'm not putting all that much effort into it, and thus I am not thriving.

When I was contemplating my return to work late last week (stay with me, this ties in), being all sad about it, I thought to myself that I really need to change the way I approach my early wake up time, as that is always one of the most difficult parts of my day. I hate getting out of bed, I could lounge there for hours if allowed. Have I mentioned that over my break, I was able to sleep in until *8 am*? Peeps, the last time I slept in that long I was in my 20's. That would be a two digit difference in the first number in that equation. IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME. I reveled in it. But I'm getting off track, as I am wont to do. ;-) At any rate, ideally, this early morning time could incorporate into improving my prayer life.

When we're back to work and school, I *need* to be out of bed by 6:45 am. I really *should* get out of bed around 6:30 am, so that I don't have to be all rushy rushy.  What I decided to do is this: at 6:30 am, I turn on my bedside lamp. I give myself one minute to let my eyes adjust, then I reach for my new devotional duo and spend a few minutes reading the days' entries. What I decided on are these:

I bought a copy of this back in the late fall, related to a project I worked on for CatholicMom.com. I didn't use it during Advent because I had the Magnificat Companion, so once the new year came, I picked it up, and loved it. It has the daily Gospel reading plus short inspirations for contemplative prayer. Each day is about a page or slightly less in length, all told. Then, I pull out my cute copy of the current Living Faith. I've subscribed to this little pocket devotional in the past, and the church we went to for the feast of Mary, Mother of God on New Years Eve had them available for free, so I picked one up. Each day there is a short reflection on the daily Gospel, so it works quite well with Sacred Reading. It comes out quarterly. Both this and Sacred Reading are available in either print or for Kindle. Convenient, yes?

I've been implementing this plan since Monday, and so far I love it. It helps to make my wake up time much more soothing and pleasant, and I feel better the whole day. My goal is to keep this going through Lent (which is early this year! starts February 10th) and beyond. I'm planning to re-subscribe to Living Faith toward this end.

(2) Fitness and dance. You all know how I love my dancing avocation, and I'm also a reasonably active person, going for walks most days and popping on an online Barre3 workout when I can (only 20-40 minutes total per week, though, right now). Overall however, I've become a bit complacent. I'm extremely consistent about attending my weekly dance class, but otherwise my approach to fitness and staying in shape is fairly haphazard. I'd like to be more organized in my fitness routine and to more practice time for dance. My Fitbit is really helping in this regard, making me more conscious of how active I've been on each day. I love it. I don't necessarily want to lose weight (except for that pesky 5 pounds that everybody always wants to lose :-)) I just want to gain more tone and strength. So I'm setting daily goals. Some days I'm shooting for that 10,000 step goal with my Fitbit, other days I want to get in a workout in that focuses more on core strength. I'm also going to try and incorporate in new and fun things where my schedule allows, like the new HipFit belly dance workout class I was able to attend on Monday evening. LOVED IT. SO MUCH. I can't usually go to those classes, because Mike teaches on Monday nights and I'm needed at home with the kids, but when he's off, I can try to go. Or I can try and find a class at the gym here on campus during lunch. Lots of fun possibilities to explore.

As I've gotten older, I've really tried to learn to appreciate my body for what it is. It is not perfect nor like that of a swimsuit model, which is totally fine with me. But it's what God gave me, so I should treat it well and be comfortable in it. This comes up quite a bit in that book I'm reading, Raising the Barre, which I'm excited to discuss with you soon.

(3) Keep the creative juices flowing! Last year brought a lot of changes to my approach to blogging, and personally, I've been thriving in them. I'm hoping to keep that momentum going. Stay tuned next week for some new and upcoming ideas. ;-)

What are YOUR New Year's Resolutions, dear reader? And don't forget, if you have or get a Fitbit, let me know so that we can become friends in Fitbit app-land and challenge each other to achieve our goals!

Don't forget, I need those worry strategies! :0

Happy Thursday everybody! I'm having a good day, but to the surprise of absolutely no one, I remain very worried about many things. ;-) And as the title of this post indicates, I would love your suggestions for managing worry. I can use all the help I can get!

I promised in the video that I would elaborate a bit more today, and so here I am, reporting in for duty. :) This blog has always been, and remains, an online journal of sorts for me. It's also a creative outlet for my love of writing, but mostly it's a journal of the things in my life that are most important to me. As all bloggers know, that does not mean that I discuss absolutely everything on here. I remain a cagey woman of mystery behind the scenes. ;-) But to the extent that I'm comfortable sharing things, I go to town here on this blog.

So, what's going on with me, you are probably wondering? Well, lots of things. :) I've mentioned a health situation with someone in my family, and it appears that I will have to remain cagey about that, because the person in question wants it to remain private. Obviously, I am respecting that, but I can say this: it's not a pleasant thing, nor an entirely easy course of treatment, but things are looking good. In fact, the long term prognosis is extremely good, and we're all very grateful for that. Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers in this regard. Keep them coming.

In other, much less important, matters, there is a smattering of little things. Work has been very busy for me this semester. I'm teaching a credit-bearing course, and thus the preparatory work is a lot greater than usual as compared to the type of teaching I usually do. It's going very well, thankfully, but it's more work. As well, a short article that I wrote and submitted to a Catholic library journal has been accepted, pending revisions. Good news, yes? But I have a deadline that is, well, SOON :0 and that has me feeling just the weensiest bit stressed out.

All of this has meant that in the midst of fun and productive podcast planning, I had to put the brakes on that for a few weeks. Bummer? Yes, bummer. And when it comes to podcasting, I don't exactly know what I'm doing, so the process isn't a short one. ;-) The Chaplets audio endeavor has given me a great head start, but there's still all kinds of stuff about adding in intros and sound effects and hosting that I'm figuring out. The article revisions will be done by the end of October, and after that I should be able to go back to podcast stuff, so here's hoping.

And then there's the dance thing. :0 I'll go into more detail next week when the scariest of these upcoming performances is behind me (I'm certain that amusement will abound), but to sum up, I have a gig this weekend that is just a hair intimidating to me because I've never danced in this setting before. It'll be fine, Claire assures me that I'm ready and that I'll do great, but you know, SCARY. After all these years, performing is still incredibly intimidating to me. Performing generally, whether it be dancing or another one of the arts, means really putting yourself out there and making yourself vulnerable. That is never an easy thing. You leave yourself open to criticism, and when you care about something very deeply, this can lead to very wounded feelings. When you have an ambivalent, or worse, audience, that can feel downright lousy.

In terms of ethnic dance, this usually comes into play more at public performances in which people were not necessarily expecting to see dancing. What I mean is that at haflas (recitals) or festivals, people expect dancing and seek it out specifically because they know one of the performers, or are very interested in watching dance. These are friendly audiences. :) In contrast, let's say a dancer is at a restaurant or at a birthday party; the attendees did not come to see dancing. They came to eat and socialize. If a dancer(s) is there as a hired entertainer, the crowd may or may not be receptive and/or kind. This can be tough to deal with, especially for those of us with meeker personalities. :) I have danced at public events like these before, but I don't have an abundance of experience in this regard.  And I'm usually with other dancers. This weekend, I'll be by myself and I'm, well, terrified. :0 Granted, important clarification: I won't be alone, because Mike is coming with me for technical and moral support. I do so love that man. But I won't have any of my troupemates with me. For those present who want to watch the dancing, they'll have no one to watch but me. This is an introvert's worst nightmare. Why did I sign up for this dancing thing again?! Please God that I do not accidentally flick my veil into somebody's plate of hummus or injure myself with Sword. Oh yeah, he's coming along too, by special request. Joy.

I will report in early next week with the amusing details. In the mean time, write in and instruct me in how to not freak out so much about things, K?! :0 Life is short, we need to seek enjoyment wherever we can, right? Right.

I am awaiting your suggestions with much happy expectation. ;-)

Tea Time with Tiffany #17: Waiting!

Happy Thursday morning to all of you, and I hope you're looking forward to another installment of:

In coming up with a topic for the week, I had dwelled on this during my commute in to work, and spent some time contemplating the future structure of these videos. I'd love your feedback on that! I also talk about that, and other projects (the podcast! future novena planner/calendar/newsletter/something?!) as well as our prayers, in the context of...waiting. Waiting on God for resolutions to our questions.


Items mentioned in this episode:

• We're currently praying the St. Therese novena until Oct. 1st!
• I hope that you enjoyed the 54 day rosary novena, if you participated in that. We'll pray another one again next year!
• New chaplets have been added to the Chaplets audio recordings page! Go check it out to pray along with me.
• Future novena planning tool that we can share together. Link coming your way in 2016!

So. Do you have any video or audio ideas for me? Thoughts on awaiting answer to prayer? Google calendar for novenas or something else? Let me know your thoughts!

Tea Time with Tiffany Episode 12 - Navigating life's challenging times & prayer

Good morning to you all, on a rainy, overcast day in WNY. I was very much looking forward to talking to you all today on another episode of:

I've mentioned that I'm having a bit of a long week, and I elaborate on that in today's video. And when life is difficult, we turn to prayer, yes? I talk about that too. :) So grab your rosary beads and pray along with me!


Items mentioned in this episode:

• 54 day rosary novena
• St. Monica novena and chaplet recording.
• Upcoming September devotions: 7 Sorrows of Mary and Our Lady Star of the Sea (both have recordings on the chaplet page!) 

 Thank you to you all for your prayers, I treasure you so much!

How many novenas is it possible to pray simultaneously? Join me in the St. Monica novena! :0

Photo courtesy of Allison Kinyon, Rosaries by Allison

Happy Monday to you all, I hope you are well.:) For my part, my mind is very occupied right now, I'll talk about that more during our Tea Time this week. LOTS going on right now. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be overwhelming, you know? I know that you do, and I so appreciate having you all in my life and heart.

Today, one of the happy things that is on my mind is obsessing over awaiting new rosaries and chaplets. :0 One of aforementioned chaplets is St. Monica, pictured at left here (and if you'd like your own, Rosaries by Allison is the place to go! She doesn't have a St. Monica chaplet currently listed, but message her about a custom :)) and her novena begins tomorrow. Your Resident Chaplet Aficionado is planning an audio recording and video tomorrow morning, so if you'd like to pray along, have at it! Oh wait. I have to take Henry to the allergist in the morning. OK, so I am planning an audio recording and video tomorrow *afternoon*. ;-) If you don't have chaplet beads, you can still pray along with me this way! You can also sign up with Pray More Novenas to receive the novena prayers in your email inbox each morning. I'm doing that as well. I'm just also adding in the chaplet, because I am a Chaplet Nerd.

My St. Monica chaplet is currently at the post office, and I have signed up for text alerts of when it makes any movement at all, because I am a stalker like that when it comes to things I am very excitedly expecting. I wish I could just go there and demand my rosary-containing envelopes, but I restrain myself, lest they think me odd. ;-) But I CANNOT WAIT to retrieve the mail when I get home later!

Who else is planning to pray the St. Monica novena?! I would love to hear from you!

Have a complicated life situation that you'd like to unravel? Join me in a novena!

Good morning all! I've written about my devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots before, but I thought it bore repeating today since this is officially day 1 of the novena as organized by Pray More Novenas. With that site, you can sign up to receive an email each day with the prayers all included, and of course it also serves double duty as a reminder so that you don't forget a day. Though, who is it out there *forgetting* days in a novena and then scrambling to "catch up" on days or otherwise counting a novena as two full weeks to make up for neglected days? Slackers!

*look of innocence*

I know that I absolutely love Pray More Novenas and I'm permanently signed up for all of their novenas. I don't pray all of them (sometimes I'm praying another novena at the time, or otherwise focusing on something different at the time) but I do pray most of them. They put out about one a month, and I love the feeling that I'm praying along with a much larger community.

And Our Lady Undoer of Knots is just such a favorite of mine. Especially thorny situation in your life that's been festering along for nigh a decade? Something you're super worried about, and you don't see how it could turn out particularly well? All perfect fodder for Our Lady Undoer of Knots. I can just see Mary, our mother, up in heaven as I type:

"Good grief, she's done it *again*. Time for another intervention!"

:0

So if you're intrigued, do go sign up! We can pray together, and today is the perfect day to get started.

Some amusing dance updates have transpired this week, and I plan a dancey post for tomorrow, so come one back if you enjoy those! But in the meantime, if you're praying the Our Lady Undoer of Knots novena, leave a comment and let me know!

Holy reminders this Lent- what are yours?

Morning all! It's good to be back with you. *heart* It's become somewhat rare for me to skip a weekday of blogging, but sometimes life happens. Yesterday I had a curriculum committee meeting that lasted all morning, and so imagine, I had to be a responsible adult and attend and pay attention. :0 Then I had just a few quick hours before I had to leave to get Henry to the allergist. Busy day! So no time to blog.

But here I am, back again. It's a beautiful spring day (more melting! *trumpets blare!*) and I was thinking this morning as I drove onto campus how close we are to Holy Week now. Lent has been ongoing for about a month... How has your Lent been going, dear reader?

Mine has been going pretty well. I remember feeling very spiritually dry last Lent (aside from Holy Week, which was transformative), but this Lent has been different. I wouldn't say that it's been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I've been very aware of my Lenten promises and doing my best to keep at them, and get back to them if I slip up (which I do :)). I'm scheduled to head to Reconciliation next Tuesday, just before Holy Week, and I'm really looking forward to that.

But it struck me this morning that a big part of keeping Lenten promises, or any prayer routine really, is the reminders that we set up for ourselves. I remember seeing Mother Anglica on the EWTN Religious Catalogue show refer to sacramentals and other religious articles as "holy reminders," and I've always loved that characterization. Do you have any small items that you set out to remind yourself to pray? Catholic tchotchkes anyone? ;-)

My very favorite sacramentals are rosaries. The way that I corral mine are mostly in two locations: in my car, and in my purse. I do keep one next to my bed for nighttime praying if I wish. But otherwise, I keep one or two tucked into my purse (along with a slew of chaplets) so that I always have a few with me, and a huge pile in a nook on the driver's side door of my car. :0 I pray the rosary a lot when I drive, and I like to have a large assortment to choose from depending on what I'm feeling on any given commute. We've got Our Lady of Lourdes, Pope Francis, Pope St. John Paul II, Our Lady Undoer of Knots, the Divine Mercy, Bl. Mother Teresa, St. Kateri Tekakwitha...Well, you can see that I have a bit of a rosary habit. ;-) But each morning, I love pulling out the rosary I feel compelled to pray with that day. This morning, I was praying along with Pope Francis, but I've been favoring a blue and silver Our Lady of Lourdes rosary all winter. I pray with St. Kateri a lot when I go to Adoration. I'm planning to pray with St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy image throughout Easter. Love.

On my desk at work, I keep a small wooden statue of Our Lady Star of the Sea, which may be my very favorite Marian title, along with a matching rosary. She soothes me as I work, and is a good reminder to keep at the things I'm working on spiritually. I also have a fairly large collection of holy cards that I maintain for this same purpose. I'm working on getting them all displayed on a French style memo board.

In a very adorable aside, this Lent Anne has fallen in love with her Bible story book and with a small rosary prayer book that I gave her. I have had a bunch of those little rosary books through the years, and she has really taken a shine to her copy. She takes it to bed with her and prays a Hail Mary for each page in the book. I mean...it's ADORABLE. The cover is about to come off, it's so tattered. I recently discovered an expanded version of that rosary booklet, and I now keep that tucked into my purse, I love it. I don't always use it when I pray the rosary, because you know, driving. ;-) But if I'm at Adoration, it's ideal. That little blue book has always been my favorite if I do use an aid as I pray. I like seeing it in my purse when I reach in there for something, along with a Divine Mercy pamphlet that I keep in there as well.

What are your holy reminders this Lent? Do share in the comments. :)