Author Archives: Kim Halloran-Fry

Simple Woman’s Daybook

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(more daybooks at Peggy's )


FOR TODAY Oct. 7, 2010

Outside my window… Heavy fog.  The days usually start with some fog but the forecast assures me it will be sunny and clear by soccer.  I have now seen this transformation enough times to believe it. Though, at this point it is far foggier than the sample below.



  

I am thinking… about this line:

"When we receive all things as being sent by Providence, and when we live in a state of entire abandonment to all that this adorable Providence wills, we never meet with any vexations." - Rev Hamon  

Never is a big word, but necessarily the only result of truly believing God is in charge.  The girls and I were talking in the car about an old Mother Angelica quote – essentially that you are not responsible for your first thought but you are 100% culpable for those that follow.   How many thoughts does it take for our fiat to finally emerge?  I am letting this be my current personal challenge.  Every time.  God has graciously contributed LOTS of opportunities for practice. I don't say that sarcastically.

I am thankful for…  creative friends, the view out my back window, evenings with my husband, and that pinkeye is thus far contained to one child.

From the learning rooms…   Lots. of. work.  If you are using a certain large, well known, Catholic correspondence program and think you are working darned hard – you are. This is hands-down the most schoolwork we have ever attempted and heaven knows we have run the gamut of the other curricula available. It is nothing if not thorough and packed with information however and they are learning a great deal.

From the kitchen… we switched up the alfredo sauce last night.  I have discovered once again that my family does not like 'switching up' their food.  I am making a two week menu for their handful of favorites and shopping list for our new local stores and calling it good.  Simple works best here. 

I admit that the biggest hit this week was Duncan Hines brownies.  Husband and sons maintained they were the best brownies they ever had.  Yes, the box. They all survived. : ) 

I am wearing… black denim boot cut trousers, blue and charcoal button down blouse and black clogs. 

I am creating… up-cycled outfits for the little girls from places like this. I am on a tear now <g>  Nothing in the give away bag has escaped my scissors lol. Pics to follow. 

I am going… on a little adventure this weekend. 

I am reading… Jumping Ship   It definitely gives a much fuller and more balanced picture of the Pearl's parenting ideals which are less about discipline and more about rooting out personal hypocrisy. If you think you know who the authors are and what they believe about children and parenting based upon an overt campaign against their first book by Amazon commenters I encourage you to read the rest of the story.  It is refreshing to discover their motto is the same one I have been reiterating to myself (if not perfecting…) for many years - 

Be what you'd like them to be.  

It would be hard to put this book into action and have hearts remain unchanged – yours and theirs.

I am hoping… for peace and clear direction as our young adults make some monumental choices this week. 

I am hearing… Brendan humming, breakfast noises. 

Around the house… there is still artwork to hang downstairs. 

One of my favorite things… iron cleaner. Everything gets very hot here. Sister Jean-Marie told us this would be the case due to voltage or something.  Perhaps our water mineral content combined with this makes for gunky iron surface. I wish I had found this cleaner years ago!

Here are pictures for thought I am sharing…


 out the kitchen window.  Can you see the deer past the top of the feeder?


Without grumbling

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This month's Mom's corner is especially relevant since we have been working on Phil 2:14 this fall. While Teri acknowledges all the valid frustration we experience she still encourages us to take EVERY thought captive and give thanks always.  Even when there is pinkeye.  Ok she didn't actually say that, but I am inferring. ; ) 

"..ask the Lord to point out each negative thought or word. Then cry out to Him for His strength and grace to replace those words with positive ones that express gratefulness and thanksgiving. How much better it is to praise than to murmur. May we be women whose joyful words and attitudes cause others to want to be around us."

– Teri Maxwell


Bees-flowers
 

 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. – Prov 16:24

Hold, please : )

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So I decided I am going to put my life on hold a sec and tick off one challenge at a time until I am all caught up and everyone is crisis free.  Then laundry and dinner and library books and diapers can resume as scheduled. Sounds like a plan to me!

Yeah, I know.  It was a delightful, if impossible, fantasy.  Likely the diapers and laundry and dinner are what keep a person sane during challenging times anyway.  It's that here.  Nothing insurmountable.  Some rather large like national security threats, some rather small, like figuring out how to set up the girls cell phone. Many in-between-ers like trials back home and pinkeye which just made itself known in this house. All of which take up considerable chunks of time and brain cells. 

So I am here wiping and calling and driving and diapering and thanking God I am able to do it. And looking forward to the next reprieve. Those are coming in little spurts making all the rest possible.  When they do, I will check back in here. 




 

He cherishes simplicity

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"Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity."



 

"Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be – and becoming that person."

– St Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower

praise in the storm

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"Faith is only faith when it's all you're hanging onto." 

 That is what my friend Brenda told me so many years ago.  I wonder if she knows how many times I have revisited those words in the years since?   I have never been a surprise kind of gal, preferring ample time to wrap my head around news – good or bad. I like to know what's coming. I felt I could do anything if I could just understand the purpose for it all.  Or I used to.

These days I tend to think it is a blessing that God does not ask us to understand, because I suspect the big picture is so very big that there is no way we could understand.  We can't begin to see all the ways the threads of our lives intertwine with others'.  And we don't have to. We just have to know that they do, that in God's great economy there is no waste. Nothing is here by accident and none of it happens just because. 

It is easy to embrace that idea when good things are coming our way.  It is harder to remember that only good things come our way, some disguised as bitter pain, but every bit of it necessary and intended for our ultimate good. Days like that call for praise music turned up loud enough to drown out those doubts and catch yourself saying Amen once more. 

So be it. 

We praise anyway. 

Even if it's still raining. 


RedshoeNNHint-of-Vintage

"But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands

For You are who You are
No matter where I am

And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm."

-Casting Crowns

A Tale of Fowl Play

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Aw c'mon, you'd have said it too. ; ) 

Rumor has had it that a wild turkey or two had been spotted out back.  Until now I had been unable to verify the reports because by the time I got the camera loaded and ready  to the window they had ambled off across the road.  

 

Not this time.  This pair hung out under the fruittrees for several minutes until…

 

..one of the local killer birds caught a glimpse.  And he was on it pronto.  I have long heard that a hawk could take out a chicken, but all those years we free ranged our hens none ever attempted, though many circled.  The only thing I have seen a hawk actually fly off with was a snake, for which I was exceedingly grateful. It surprised me that it would hone in on the other birds with such vigor and speed since they were all the same size. But that it did, swooping low under the branches prepped for attack. 

 

The pair of what we now think are some sort of pheasant rather than turkeys (being without wattles and sporting a ring neck instead) scurried deep into the underbrush and haven't been seen since. 

The bird of prey left empty handed. For which I am once again exceedingly grateful.  I get the whole circle of life deal.  I just don't want to have to see it in action.