Jennifer sent me a link to the Girlhood Home Companion Magazine a few weeks back.  I have been checking out the links to their samples and to the editor’s blog. This has been such great fun I thought I would share the links here. In this post she discusses the idea of a ‘note chest’, similar to a hope chest, where you can store all the correspondence between family members. She encourages us to write letters to our children about what makes us tick.  I especially loved the idea of taking a few moments to share about a hobby we love and give tips about how we do it.  Essentially that is what many of us blog about. It would be so nice to cut and paste some of these posts onto paper documents we can save for our children. I envision our binders as serving a similar purpose for the next generation.

Anyway, the blog is delightful. The family lives rurally and she writes about everyday things that happen, often attaching her own symbolic meaning behind the events. The pictures are lovely – in fact the whole blog is. I found myself spellbound reading ‘just one more entry’ about her grandmother, the apple orchard, you name it. Fascinating!

I haven’t finished the samples of the newsletter or the magazine.  I have to read online since my printer, like all things mechanical around here, is on the fritz. : p  However, at first glance I am tremendously inspired by the layout.  For those who are intimidated by the time or skills involved in full blown scrapbooking take a look at the magazine’s pages. They are mostly text with a simple photograph or clip included. Occasionally a text box of a scan of a handwritten recipe or a poem is added.  It is very simple, inexpensive, and the effect is quite lovely! It is a good reminder that in the end this is about the stories, not about burdening ourselves with artistic expectations.

In this article she speaks compellingly about Family Relationships and how interactive journaling enhances them. It was uncanny timing because only yesterday I had emailed friends about the relationship building aspect of homeschooling. It had been on my heart as they were debating about whether or not to home educate. It is hard to articulate without sounding as though the academics are unimportant. They aren’t of course, but what started as an academic endeavor has certainly evolved into a matter of the heart for us. I am excited about how family writing as described by Mrs Novak could enhance this family cohesiveness even further.

Thanks Jennifer for sharing this fantastic resource!!   

Elizabeth tagged me:

1. Favorite devotion or prayer to Jesus?
The Infant of Prague Novena.

2. Favorite Marian devotion or prayer?

The Rosary. I am a regular : )    Also the Miraculous Medal.

3. Do you wear a scapular or medal?
Scapular

4. Do you have holy water in your home?
We have a wee bit of a problem in our arid climate.  It evaporates. I guess that means we have holy air. ; )

5. Do you offer up your sufferings?
Yep!

6. Do you observe First Fridays and First Saturdays?
No. We don’t usually have Fri/Sat mass.

7. Do you go to Eucharistic Adoration? How frequently?

See number 6

8. Are you a Saturday evening Mass person or Sunday morning Mass person?
Sunday

9. Do you say prayers at mealtime?
Yes.

10. Favorite Saint(s)?
St. Therese, St Anthony, St Monica, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, and all the Francis’ <g>

11. Can you recite the Apostles Creed by heart?
You betcha

12. Do you usually say short prayers (aspirations) during the course of the day?
Yessiree again

13.  Where is your favorite place to pray?

Oddly enough,I get a lot of praying done in the van to and from town. I have taken to not even turning on the radio. Kids crash immediately and I am in the only complete and utter silence I get all week.

14. Bonus Question: When you pass by a automobile accident or other serious mishap, do you say a quick prayer for the folks involved?
Always

tagging – Rebecca and Genevieve

Tess was baptised yesterday on Christmas Day. We very nearly missed the whole event since the van picked yesterday morning to begin its death throes. At least it sure sounds like it. Allen took it to the mechanic today to see what the damage is. At any rate, we made it and it was wonderful. I can’t tell you how much it meant to have all the children there together.  Some friends took a group picture thankfully. It is getting harder and harder to gather us all up in one place! So, here is Tess:

she missed the whole thing <g>

and here is the whole clan just before we left for home again:

The two young men at left, who look far too old to be my children lol, are our oldest two – Colin and Zach. On the right is our friend Cheryle who proxied for Tess’ godmother who had the flu.

Wishing you lots of both on this day. 

One more from the baby’s last shoot:

…..and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, except for this one!  Looks like Santa made an early delivery. : )   Hope you all have a blessed, peaceful Christmas! 

We are doing another photo shoot of Tess today. You can expect the Twelve Days of Christmas pics to follow lol! 

Here is the first pic of Kieran holding Tess.  Boy was he pleased. : )

toes <g>  not the clearest pic in the world but oh my gosh!  Look at those toes!!

Ok thanks for indulging me. I will be trying the patience of those who tire of themed baby pics in the days to come. For the rest of you – stay tuned.  : ) 

We had our second massive storm of the year and amazingly it was worse than the last we are told. Legendary proportions is how the newscaster described it. This took us completely by surprise. We have had more snow and wind in two months than in the five years we have been in CO combined. The first winter we spent on the ranch we had two – count em – two inches of precipitation all winter. It was a bit dry. ; )

The snow started falling Wed. morning and Allen was sent home from work.  He was one of the first released but the hwy had closed by then. He ventured out anyway and ended up finding our road only by counting the mile marker reflectors. Shortly after that there was no seeing anything. Mid-afternoon I took the babies upstairs for a nap. I heard a bang and figured something hit the roof. I laid down and noticed the lace curtains moving. Then I glanced up at the big picture window, the glass now flapping against its frame and threatening to drop out at any time. Asher and Allen made a dash for the duct tape and secured it as best we could from the inside. The window was actually on the south side of the house. Apparently the wind was blowing so hard from the north that it created a vacuum of sorts and just sucked it right out of its frame.

Good news is – we didn’t lose power!!! Thank you God!! Tell you what though, I can’t fathom early pioneers surviving these storms on the prairie. I CAN understand how many of them were lost. The strength of those winds IS of legendary proportions. It would take a spirit of determination unlike any seen today to ride out these conditions. Gives me new appreciation for the will of these settlers.

The other excitement is that our dryer finally died. : p  That will probably be Merry Christmas for Allen and I but that’s ok too. Lots of people don’t have one at all. Just was rotten timing. But hey, the camera turned up.  You know what that means – pics of Tess at one week old!  She has longer stretches of wakefulness now and we can see those eyes. If I was Picasso this would be my "rose period".  We can’t get enough pink around here lol!