Daybook :: Holy Week 2014

Looking Up

Spring has burst the doors open this week.  How kind of it to finally arrive and to set Easter weekend off in a proper fashion. 

Coming out of physical therapy one day, I stood waiting for my mom to drive around and pick me up at the door. (Crutching -it's now a verb at our house- is not easy for long distances.)

As I waited, exhausted, sore and a little down in the dumps, I happened to look up, and hanging right overhead were the most amazing poufs of pear blossoms.

I imagined that they had been a bit down in the dumps just a few days earlier, eager to bloom and come into their yearly glory. They lifted my hopes and reminded me that though I am still awaiting my own Springtime, eventually, it will  finally  arrive.

Listening to

Wind whipping against windows, the wreath scratching the glass on the front door, boys awakening for the day and conversing with my sister in my kitchen.
The butter knife scratching across toasted bread, clinking spoons in cereal bowls, the whirring of a Dr. Who screwdriver.

Reading

I thought I would be reading constantly during my recovery. Alas, I have finished only one book, The Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford.   In search of my next read, I went over to my long list of books I want to read at Goodreads , remembered I have Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist and pulled it off the shelf.  So far I love it, the descriptive mixture of memoir and recipes is satisfying right now. And making me itch to get back into my kitchen. I miss it so.

Pondering

The Restore Workshop has been a tremendous source of inspiring reading lately. Elizabeth's essays on rest, exercise, planning, marriage, choosing friends and following the Holy Spirit as women, wives and mothers could be published as a book they are so excellent. Each one is written like a personal letter from a wise friend or a peek into a friend's private diary. So much there to process - it will keep me thinking for quite a while.

One of my favorite lines from the essay on creativity:
"When I walk free of the fear of failing, I really can bring creativity into almost everything." Elizabeth Foss

Around the house

I am feeling like one blessed woman these days. So many people have been such amazing helpers as I have been laid up at home. My mom left after a six week stay on April 5 and was immediately replaced by my sister and brother-in-law.  They leave at Easter and we will have one week alone as a family before more help arrives - my in-laws who will stay until May 12.  (All this help is because I am still unable to drive or walk without crutches.)  I am living lessons in humility, dependence, patience, fear, pain, hope, gratitude and familial love.  What a beautiful experience this deeply sacrificial Lent has been. It has changed us all.






Praying

Easter Vigil this year holds an extra significance for our family as my mother will be confirmed into the Catholic church this Saturday night in Arizona.  The original plan was that my family would be there in person to witness the holy event. Plans changed with my health and now I have to miss out on something that still takes my breath away to think about - my mom is converting from Presbyterian to Roman Catholic!

When I converted in 1998, I never expected, hoped or even imagined my mother ever converting. It wasn't something I needed from them and we have never discussed it happening.

Luckily my mother has had many more Catholics in her life besides me over the past years and she has been moved by the way they live the Gospel in their daily lives. She began her investigation slowly, watching EWTN, especially The Journey Home, reading many books beginning with Catholicism for Dummies. She began attending Mass with a close friend and overcame her sense of confusion during the more solemn style of Catholic Mass.

When she called to tell me she had decided to begin RCIA I was shocked with surprise. I had not seen it coming. Her bravery to step out of her upbringing and into a whole new world of worshipping has once again made her a role model in my life.

God bless you Mom! You are an inspiration to me and I am so excited to share the beauty of the Catholic Church with you!

If you are so inclined, would you pray for her as she enters the church this weekend?  Her Patron Saint is Elizabeth Ann Seton. I am sure she would greatly appreciate your intercessory prayers.