Sacred Heart of Jesus

Just a quick reflection, nothing deep. It has come very close to the end of The month of The Sacred Heart of Jesus. It has been a month where we have had our gorgeous statue of the Sacred Heart out in a prominent spot.
Athough, we have done nothing formally, apart from our novena, It certainly reminds of us of his love for us as we gaze upon his heart and his hands.
We covered as many table tops and bookcases as we could with Red fabric. This month everytime I have gone into this blog it reminds me; Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on us, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us.
This month Brids' timetable has been highlighted in red, this we will continue next month for the Precious Blood. She certanly is reminded of the flow of the year, especially as we 'dress' the house appropriately.

It has also come to the end of Term 2, wow, how fast has it gone, but how slow as well. Half way through the term, I was ready for a holiday, and somehow we recharged and its school break for 2 weeks.
We can visit friends, sew, cook, go the movies, sleep in, and just enjoy.........

newspaper

This year, I have concentrated on Brids 'presentation of her work being handed in to me. I have been expecting neat, well presented work, with good design ideas and well formed sentences. This didn't happen overnight. I needed to encourage her creativity. Tall ask!! but its been happening.

The lasr two weeks Brid has been working on a project. I gave her the option of how she would present her project, and she has chosen to use a newspaper format.
She has spend hours working on this project every free afternoon she has.
Today, she published it, with great delight, double sided and after a few glitches- like the whole document being lost in computerland. Luckily, she had saved her project. phewww!!

Anyway, at lunch, we were just chatting, and Brid said, "Can I do this every month?" This was music to my ears, and with this, we brainstormed so many newspaper articles.

So now I need to tweek term 3 and give her time for these self directed projects.

Come and look

Come and see my first post in Our School Week

Changes to this Blog

I have been wanting to add pages to my blog for some time now, and finally I have discovered how. Thanks Dear Brid.
This will be fun.
Can't wait to get started

Joyful Mysteries

While praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary tonight, we were all touched by part of the meditation:-     "Mary believed God's purpose for her,even though she did not always understand."
This is so very real for us at the moment, particularly with one of our children. We don't know where he is leading her or us her family. We just totally need to trust in His plan and purpose this path.
When you try to do it by yourself, and don't follow God's lead, things can fall apart or not happen, as you would want. We have learnt this last year, with our darling.
We are told in the 3rd Joyful Mystery that Jesus welcomes everyone, even those possessed by demons, those haunted by fear came and their spirits were lifted, and they felt there hearts soar. This gives me comfort, as we journey through this season of our lives.
Lastly, God makes our hearts for joy and will not let us lose treasures that truly matter. Our Joy comes from seeking Our Lord. .
This is just my Reflection on parts of the Joyful Mysteries that spoke to me.

MGL sisters are blooming

 

Recently I received a letter from a dear Friend Kate, she is an MGL sister. She wrote to let us know that the Sisters are 'blooming' . MGL stands for Missionary of God's Love. It is a reasonably new order, set up alongside Fr Ken Barkers MGL brothers and Priests.

The MGL sisters are at significant stage of development where they have a happy problem of not being able to fit the young women, who are looking to join them, in the houses available on the market. They are in need of a purpose built convent and they are at present seeking to purchase one. As they live primarily by Gods' providence they are seeking help so that there charism of reaching out to bring God's love to young people, the marginalised and the unchurched will continue to flourish.

They are looking at buying a novitiate convent supporting the development of a new generation of consecrated women in the Australian church.

I remember Sr Theresa mentioning to me that they moved a few weeks ago, and knew it would be temporary.

When we met them, several years ago, they had 10 MGL sisters. Now they have more than doubled and as stated earlier they live on Gods 'providence. This Order of Sisters has been inspirational in supporting our family in times of great need. They reach out and keep reaching out.

When Brid took her First Holy Communion, one of the Sisters prayed for her and sent her a gift. It was totally unexpected, but it meant so much to us. Sr Theresa has attended both Sisterhood conferences- 2009, 2010, and really connects with the women there. Sr Judy always attends Summer school at Tocal, and the youth love her.

They are asking for donations for this purpose. I did not write this post as a way of asking for donations for them, just merely to highlight the fact that they are an Orders that is thriving and needs a new home for their Sisters.

This has got to be an inspiration, that God is calling these young women to Religious life here in Australia.

 

Rosary wearing student

I wanted to share this article with you all. Society gone mad.

US rosary-wearing student allowed back to schoolPublished: June 07, 2010
A New York school district has been ordered to readmit a seventh-grade student who had suspended indefinitely for wearing a rosary to school.
US District Court Judge Lawrence Kahn issued a temporary restraining order ordering Schenectady City School District to permit 13-year-old Raymond Hosier to return to classes at Oneida Middle School wearing his rosary, Lifesite News reports.
Kahn responded to a same-day request by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a legal advocacy group for religious freedom, and declared that the school district's dress code policy violated his First Amendment rights under the US Constitution.
"We're delighted that Raymond can now return to school with his Rosary in place," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.


"This is an important first step in the legal process in what we believe will ultimately result in the federal district court determining that the punishment inflicted by the school district by suspending Raymond for wearing a Rosary not only was wrong, but violated his constitutionally-protected rights of free speech and free exercise of religion."
Hosier has worn a Rosary displayed around his neck and outside his shirt since September 2009.
However, school officials suspended him indefinitely on the basis that the rosary violated the school district's dress code policy and was presumed to be a gang-related symbol, Lifesite News says.

Well I never

Today I met up with a very sweet lovely friend for coffee and a chat, at her home. We met at a course I started last year, and I knew she knew of some people that I worked with many years ago... seems like a life time ago.
We got talking Birth, doctors and then......then she mentioned an amazing women who was present at 3 out of my 4 childrens births. We had lost contact, more because I was moving in different circles.
This women I speak of, mentored me as a midwife, challenged me in my forming views, encouraged me. She nutured me as a new mummy, opened my eyes to the political arenas surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and being a Mum in an intense area known as Midwifery and especially Delivery Suite.
It was an area and time of my life, that I was working, trying to raise a family with the help of my gorgeous husband, my parents and a live out Nanny. It was a stressful time, an exciting time, A fun time, being involved with, and wanting to be a mothers/ parents advocate, and raising a family all at once. I was constantly tired as a shift worker, being on call. It just makes me shivver now. But at the time, it was what I knew. I had a great paying job. I had qualifications, and I not only used them, but continued to study to improve myself. This is what I knew, so it was what I did. Most midwives had families, we had our children and went back to work. I really loved the work I was doing, both in our home, and at this amazing field of work.
So back to my mentor....I loved this womens' philosophies and was drawn to learn and gain more knowledge from her, and other independent midwifes at the time. I just loved ''being with women, with the lights dim, soothing, soft, empowering words" and the knowing, like a sixth sense, if something was not quite right.
So this was my experience of pregnancy and labour and afterwards. I was determined to pass these ideas and 'ways' on. Hand them down to my collegues, midwifery students and my friends.
As I look back I recognise that I was already a person, who didn't fit into the square. I liked to do things differently.....maybe it was why when we started homeschooling, I was happy being out of the sheep herd.. 

So we reconnected.  I remember spending many an hour chatting over views, and  at times being overwhelmed with knowledge, but also desiring to learn more. If many of you know my strong views, you now need to meet the source! My dear friend has a blog. I will direct you there. Have fun.

So how does this all fit in to my life today. Well God knows that, and I am happy for him to direct me.
I am just happy now to be able to empower women and families through what ever way I can. I have the skills, I just use them as I need. God has given me wonderful opportunities and now I can give back in return, all for his Glory. 
I will let him lead.

What will this week bring

Monday it was full of rain and looked like we were in for a week of it. So with that we knuckled down to a week schooling inside, snuggled up in our warm home. We said goodbye to our tradesmen as they couldn't tile the pool with the pouring pelting of the rain. We knew we had several disruptions to the week, so we chose to have a long day. I made fruit loaf and it was delicious. Brids' guide unit shared The Biggest morning tea with us parents, to aid in the research of breast cancer.
Tuesday, we saw our builders return and lots of progress being made on the pool project. We in turn had a productive school day as well. We are at the Apostolic Age in History, and Brid is writing out a recipe for living.
Although it is sunny in patches outside, and I do not like using my tumble dryer, I have succumbed this last couple of days. I am eyeing of  two pumpkins for soup today, but the builders are in my driveway again! and I can't get my car out to purchase my other ingredients. My soup will need to wait, maybe til later in the week.
Wednesday we are off to Piano in town, and we will come home via a special shop, to purchase a gift for someone special. We usually stay in town for Gymnastics and Irish dancing, but we have a special treat, an Irish dance troop are performing @ the Civic Theatre., in the evening. So we are heading home early to be prepared with a nice meal and dressed in our finery. We get a little school work completed in the morning, Brid is usually finishing off tasks that are assigned to her earlier in the week.
Looks like Thursday will be a little all over the place! I have an appointment in town, and we will stay and visit a friend, for a while, before returning home.
Friday is our usual day, and thats nice, although it is a long time until Friday, and guess what, our weekend looks just as full. Never rains but pours in our home. But we wouldn't have it any other way.

The Month Of The Sacred Heart Of Jesus.