#WorthRevisit: Hitting the Wall

February 2, 2016 franciscanmom2 Comments

The thing about parenting a child with a chronic illness like diabetes is that you’ve always got some underlying anxiety. There is never a day off–someone has to be constantly paying attention to a lot of things.

In our house, we have settled upon a division of labor of sorts when it comes to parenting. By virtue of my schedule and my abilities, I am the Cook, Nutritionist and Equipment Manager. Because he’s one of those people who can fall back to sleep at the drop of a hat after a middle-of-the-night interruption, Hubs is Night Watchman. He is also the Researcher, keeping tabs on all the newest developments in technology.

Right now we’re in the middle of a medical-supply crisis brought on by some frustrating insulin-pump issues. Technology is great…when it works. But when your kid’s insulin pump quits after 24 hours when it’s supposed to last 48 to 72, you run out of supplies faster than you should. And then your pump supplier won’t get you any more because your insurance company won’t authorize it–not even if you ask if you can pay for them out of pocket.

TheKid’s endocrinologist suggested 10 days ago that we call the pump manufacturer and ask for samples of different insulin pump sets. I did that–10 days ago. The representative promised to have them in the mail ASAP. Yesterday I called back because I had not received anything, only to be told that her supervisor had mailed them early last week, USPS.

And then last night TheKid’s pump set once again quit at the 24-hour mark. AND the new set he inserted this morning came right out again because he caught the tubing on something while getting dressed. So we were down 2 more sets, with only 2 left to last us 10 days.

So this morning at Mass my anxiety level was climbing high. After Mass as I drove across town, I was praying out loud in my car: “Help me give this to you, God. I don’t know what else I can do.” I was afraid that I’d be in tears by the time I got to ShopRite.

When I got home I emailed a bunch of friends whom I know I can count on for prayers. And then technical issues wouldn’t let me log in for work, so I decided to just get out of here. I went to the mall to spend a Godiva Chocolate gift card I’d received before Christmas–but which I’d saved because with my foot injury, I wasn’t going near a mall. What better way to alleviate stress than getting my hands on some really good chocolate, right?

Right after I got home, the UPS truck pulled up in front of my house and brought me a box–with 7 pump sets, 3 different kinds.

God is good.

We’ll make it to next week when the new order comes in. And when we figure out which pump set brand works best for TheKid, we’ll navigate the process to change our order.

I really wish that it wouldn’t take me quite so long to lay my concerns at God’s feet. It really does help. I remember that two years ago, I was facing similar issues. Again, it was over TheKid’s health. That’s really my breaking point. There is precious little that I can control about that, but diabetes is all about control.

From April 2014:

Yesterday at our Secular Franciscans meeting we had a guest speaker: a Sister who works at a local retreat house. She gave a presentation about practical ways to pray constantly.

Here’s one of the recommendations she gave us:

What is the one sentence I’d like to say to God right now?

I just used that technique, and I have to say, there’s comfort in it.

I’m in the middle of some red tape on the medical-provider end of Little Brother’s diabetes care, and the idea of the confrontation I’ll probably have to have in order to untangle this mess has ratcheted my anxiety level into the stratosphere. Suddenly I just stopped what I was doing while waiting for the phone call I’m dreading and said, out loud,

“I’m hitting the wall right now, God.”

(Fortunately no one else is home right now.)

It helped a little, though, just to get that out there. I can kind of feel my jaw unclenching and my fists opening up–just a bit.

And then, the tears. Not tears of despair, but instead that almost-relief when you know in your heart that God’s got this.

I’m linking up with Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for #WorthRevisit Wednesday, a place where you can come and bring a past & treasured post to share, and link up with fellow bloggers!

Monday Recap: January 2016

February 1, 2016January 31, 2016 franciscanmomLeave a comment

Here you’ll find what I’ve been writing in other spaces: my roundup for the month of January 2016.

At CatholicMom.com

Book Notes: True Radiance. I reviewed True Radiance by Lisa Mladinich, a book that helps readers learn to rely upon and cooperate with grace in the second half of life.

Tech Talk: 50 Million Names. For families looking for simple ways to honor the more than 50 million unborn babies who were never given the chance at life after Roe v. Wade, I found a website that offers ideas for action, prayer and sacrificial giving.

Book Notes: A Single Bead. I reviewed Stephanie Engelman’s new novel for teens, A Single Bead, which challenges the reader to lay aside the idea that a prayer or a sacramental can be a “magical” thing.

Bless Your Home for Epiphany. I shared how my parish has continued the custom of blessing homes at Epiphany.

Meatless Fridays: A Year of Mercy Resolution. Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions yet? I encourage you to consider observing Meatless Fridays all year ’round during the Year of Mercy.

At Cook and Count

Asiago Cheese Bread

Beef and Vegetable Lo Mein

3-Bean Chili Mac

Crescent Chicken Pot Pie

Slow Cooker Chicken Paprikas

At Mercatornet Book Reviews

A Young Adult Novel with a Message of Hope: my review of Stephanie Engelman’s A Single Bead.

Small Success: Spiffy

January 28, 2016 franciscanmom1 Comment

Thursdays at CatholicMom.com begin with a look at the past week’s Small Successes!

This morning’s mad scramble went down without inordinate yelling on my part. There was a little, but it was deserved. TheKid told me Monday while we were in the car that he needed 2 baby pictures to bring to school for a bulletin-board display. He did not specify the due date, just saying it was “soon.” And then he didn’t mention it again, so we both forgot about it until he woke up THIS morning.

May I just say that it’s hard to scrape up baby pictures for a child born squarely in the digital-camera age? After tearing a closet apart, I finally found 10 for him to choose from.

I still stand by the part where I yelled at him for not telling me about this when we were at home, before the assignment was due; if I’d even known yesterday afternoon I could have sent the exact photo he wanted (shown above) to CVS to be printed.

Also, looking at photos of a certain cute but mischievous toddler does tend to reduce the irritation at his teenage self…just a bit. But WHY do they think that telling you that they need stuff when you’re nowhere near the point of delivery will go anywhere toward making sure they get said stuff?

I finally got the Christmas decorations down. All but one last thing that I just noticed as I looked toward the dining room. Now I have to figure out where my daughter put the box for that; she’s the one who put the decorations up this year.

I also have to put all the stuff back in the closet that I took out when I was looking for baby pictures. Lucky me.

And I spiffed up the look of my cooking blog. I definitely like it better this way, and it’s much easier to find the recipes you want.

Finally, a note from my morning. I’ve been baking a few slices of bacon each day for TheKid’s breakfast, with an extra slice or two for me and TheDad. But TheKid is always trying to poach TheDad’s bacon.

TheKid: “Dad, did you eat the bacon?”
TheDad: “Yes! Thanks!”
Me: “Don’t thank him for not eating bacon that wasn’t his to eat…”

Share your Small Successes at CatholicMom.com by joining the linkup in the bottom of today’s post. No blog? List yours in the comments box!

#WorthRevisit: Exercise Your Freedom While You Still Have Some

January 27, 2016January 27, 2016 franciscanmomLeave a comment

I thought it would be good to revisit a prolife post today. Because just the other day, a grand jury indicted the prolife investigator behind the videos that broke this summer, exposing Planned Parenthood’s black-market baby-parts side business. The prosecutor in this case has a conflict of interest, but that doesn’t matter to those who perpetuate the lies behind the abortion industry.

That in the same week that prolife people commemorate the sad anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.

Prolife leaders worry that others will be scared about speaking up after David Daleiden’s indictment.

Worth revisiting today is my commentary on a homily I heard at my parish during the Fortnight for Freedom in 2013:

Our parish is blessed to have three deacons whose faith very obviously animates and guides them, who are not afraid to keep it real and who speak simply from their own experience. Each deacon, of course, has different stories, different strengths, different gifts that benefit our parish.

Deacon T is an attorney who is well-read, well-informed and well-spoken. He is not afraid to discuss difficult topics from the pulpit.

He made me think of Pope Francis when he began his homily by stating that he didn’t have all his notes because his computer printer had broken–and that he was sure Satan was behind that technical difficulty. (But guess what, Satan–Deacon T managed without those notes, because the force of grace will always prevail.)

Deacon T spoke very plainly about the leading cause of death in our country. It is not car accidents, cancer or heart attacks. It is abortion, which kills more people each year than the “top 2 causes of death” put together. He had the numbers to prove it. He spoke about how our tax dollars pay for this–and how it is absolutely against what we as Catholics believe. He spoke about how, if we are to follow Jesus as he called us to do in this Sunday’s Gospel, we need to take action to prevent government actions like the HHS mandate that rob us of the freedom to live as we believe. He spoke about the tragedy of millions upon millions of lives lost, and how we do not know how those lives would have touched others.

If you can’t go for big gestures (and many of us can’t), there are plenty of small ways you can advance the cause of life.

Pray. And then pray some more.
Vote–with the presidential election coming up this fall, carefully consider your chosen candidate’s prolife record. Can you, in good conscience, support someone who’s pro-abortion?
Check out Ways to Honor a Baby (whose life was ended by abortion) at 50 Million Names for some great ideas. Many of these are things kids can do! See more about 5o Million Names at my Tech Talk at CatholicMom!
Help your local pregnancy crisis center or Good Counsel Home. I try, each month, to purchase a box of diapers for the local pregnancy crisis center. (And I buy the big sizes, because many of the moms who use the resources at this center have older babies, and everyone donates newborn stuff. That’s a protip from my friend Arline, who volunteered at the pregnancy crisis center for decades.)
Image via Lifeboat Coffee.

Buy some coffee. Seriously. I buy Lifeboat Coffee, which donates 10% of the proceeds from each purchase to the prolife charity of the customer’s choice–and there are plenty to choose from! Right now, they’re offering an “I Stand with David” blend; $30 a pound is a premium price, but 100% of the proceeds on this coffee goes to support David Daleiden’s legal defense and his colleagues.

What are some other things you and your family can do to speak up–and to help women and babies in danger of abortion?

I’m linking up with Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for #WorthRevisit Wednesday, a place where you can come and bring a past & treasured post to share, and link up with fellow bloggers!

On Barb’s Bookshelf: Half Missing

January 23, 2016 franciscanmomLeave a comment

Amber is an assistant Fire Marshall in a small town, investigating suspected arsons and running from her painful past in her spare time. Her mom, Maureen, redeemed a nightmare birth experience by becoming a licensed midwife. And one day they see a woman on the news who looks and sounds like she could be Amber’s twin.

Caught up against her will in Maureen’s search for the truth, Amber’s investigative skills serve as both a blessing and a curse. Meanwhile, one state away, Katie wonders if there’s any truth to what Maureen and Amber have come to believe: that Katie is Amber’s twin, spirited away at birth by a doctor for a black-market adoption.

With believable characters caught in an awful situation in which the truth isn’t going to set everyone free, Jane Lebak’s novel Half Missing keeps the reader in suspense until the very end. The author is a fabulous storyteller whose attention to detail left me sympathizing with quite a few characters, including Amber, Maureen, Katie and Scott, Amber’s coworker who wishes she’d notice him.

Spend a snowy afternoon reading this novel. It would make a great movie!

Buy this book through my Amazon link to support Franciscanmom.com!

The fine print: I was provided a copy of this novel, but no other compensation, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed here are mine alone.

Small Success: Little Things

January 21, 2016 franciscanmom2 Comments

Thursdays at CatholicMom.com begin with a look at the past week’s Small Successes!

A little tweak of the morning routine this week has made things much more peaceful for both me and TheKid. When I take steps to help things run smoothly, everyone is much calmer and the day gets off to a better start.

Just now, I dropped off TheKid’s scholarship application at the Catholic high school he plans to attend. It contains a DVD with a duet he performed in his most recent play: Into the Woods, Jr., where he played the role of Rapunzel’s Prince. There is also the required scholarship essay, his entire theatre resume (14 shows since spring 2011) and the program from a diabetes event last spring where he and I served as panelists to help families decide if a continuous glucose monitor would be a good way to help them manage diabetes.

Hopefully we’ll hear by this time next week whether he has won a scholarship award.

I don’t know why I keep buying laundry pretreaters. I finally got the French-onion-soup stains on Hubs’ NEW (from Christmas) golf shirt, which went through the dryer before I noticed the spots, out. My cheap and effective secret weapon? A generous dose of original Dawn dishwashing soap, scrubbed in with an old toothbrush. Hang to dry until you’re sure it’s stain-free.

Share your Small Successes at CatholicMom.com by joining the linkup in the bottom of today’s post. No blog? List yours in the comments box!

#WorthRevisit: My Franciscan Saint for the Year

January 20, 2016 franciscanmomLeave a comment

I’m linking up with Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for #WorthRevisit Wednesday, a place where you can come and bring a past & treasured post to share, and link up with fellow bloggers!

Yesterday my Secular Franciscan Fraternity enjoyed its annual celebration of choosing a patron saint for the year. I’m revisiting a post I shared at CatholicMom.com that explains the process–and at the end, I’ll tell you what saint was chosen for me this year!

My Franciscan Saint for the Year

It is a Franciscan tradition that at the feast of the Epiphany, each person is given the name of a patron saint for the year. Many Secular Franciscan (Third Order) groups observe this custom, and it really is a lovely way to begin the year. We are encouraged to learn more about our chosen saint, reading about their lives or reading works the saints themselves have written.

In my Secular Franciscan Fraternity, we receive a patron saint for the year as well as a virtue to cultivate and a maxim upon which to meditate. This maxim may be a quote from Scripture or from Saint Francis. We also receive the name of another member of the Fraternity and are asked to keep that person in special prayer throughout the year. Other Fraternities might have a different prayer or procedure; this is how our local group celebrates this ritual each year.

The leader begins by reminding everyone:

We believe that God speaks to us in many ways, not the least of which is through the example of His saints, and through the inspired words of Scripture and other pious writings. Your patron for the year—as well as the maxim and the virtue—can be a special source of inspiration in the challenges which might be facing you during the year. Read the life of the saint; what does the message of his/her life have to say to you? Reflect on the maxim and the virtue.

We pray:

Almighty and everlasting God, we celebrate that day when your Word became flesh for all the world to see. In becoming one with our human family he sanctified human activity and made us holy through his life-giving word. Through the ages, his message has continued to touch the hearts of men and women of every place, taking flesh in their lives through Christian service. May these holy men and women stand as shining examples of Christian virtue and the Gospel life, for each one of them reflects a unique aspect of your divine love. Be with us today, Lord our God, as we choose one of these saints as our patron for the new year. With the help of your Spirit, may the saint given to us today serve as a special reminder of our call to holiness. May his or her teaching and example serve to inspire us to exercise Christian virtue and to follow your Son more closely in our Franciscan family. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Super-Low-Tech Franciscan Saint’s Name Generator consists of four stacks of index cards, a basket, and slips of paper with each member’s name written on them. The cards contain the names of many Franciscan saints, the virtues, the maxims, and the members of the Fraternity. The slips of paper go into the basket, which is passed around the room. As each name is drawn, cards for saints, virtues, maxims and “prayer partners” are chosen for that person.

We then pray Psalm 150 together and conclude with this prayer:

O God, you have raised up men and women outstanding in holiness as examples to your people in following in your footsteps. Grant that we may ever look to the example and teaching of your saints, imitating their virtue, and thus merit to arrive at your heavenly banquet. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

It is a prayerful experience, but it’s often punctuated by joking and laughter, especially when someone is handed the virtue of Poverty or (yikes) Patience. There are also many expressions of gratitude for prayers to come when people learn the name of their prayer partners, and offers to share biographies of saints.

And now for…The Big Reveal!

My patron saint for 2016: St. Clare of Assisi (feast: August 11)

My motto: “Good works must follow knowledge.”

My virtue: Love

On Barb’s Bookshelf: True Radiance

January 19, 2016 franciscanmomLeave a comment

Lisa Mladinich’s book True Radiance is subtitled “Finding Grace in the Second Half of Life.”

That subtitle! Since I read this book, I guess I’m admitting that I am squarely in the second half of life. Now, I don’t mind the gray hairs that are appearing with increased frequency, but yikes! The second half of life!

It’s time to make sure that this half of my life is not time wasted.

Covering such topics as beauty (interior and exterior), spiritual motherhood, friendship, self-care and interior peace, Lisa Mladinich takes aim in this book at the idea (which I’ve bought into more than I might care to admit) that women “of a certain age” have less to offer. In True Radiance, Lisa explains just how much more we have to give.

Chapter 9, “Don’t Tempt Me!” was one I particularly needed to read (and one I need to re-read) in my struggles with negative attitudes.

This book is a tribute to the power of the grace of God. Lisa Mladinich shares her own story of growth, conversion and transformation as she encourages the reader to rely on and cooperate with grace in the second half of life.

Even readers like me, who might not want to admit that the second half of life is where they are right now.

Your purchase of True Radiance through my affiliate link helps support Franciscanmom.com but costs you nothing extra.

When a prayer becomes a stumbling block

January 17, 2016 franciscanmom8 Comments

In our parish’s Perpetual Adoration Chapel there are some prayer booklets. Adorers are asked to begin their Holy Hour with these prayers so that there is a continuous unity of prayer flowing through the chapel. The booklet is several typed pages and contains prayers such as the Divine Praises, a prayer for priests, a specific prayer for each priest who has served our parish during its history, prayers for deceased Adorers, and so on. It takes only a few minutes to pray these prayers and then your time in the Chapel is your own, to pray or meditate as you wish.

The language in some of these prayers is more flowery than my no-nonsense nature normally goes for, but that’s no big deal. For me, the problem comes in the words of the Prayer for the Holy Father (specifically the words I include here in bold):

Lord God, we thank you for the gift of Francis as Pope for our times. You have called him to this office at a very critical time in salvation history. We ask through the intercession of the Blessed Mother that you shower him with the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit in full measure. Strengthen, protect, console and guide him in his efforts to defend the truths of the Catholic Faith against her enemies. May he always be the Sovereign Pontiff you are calling him to be, and may he work unceasingly to foster the restoration of the Church to her former glory.

We pledge our complete fidelity to our Holy Father when he proclaims the traditional teachings of Holy Mother Church. Grant us an unwavering faith that will persevere until the end in the midst of whatever darkness or persecution may befall us. We offer this prayer from the safe and secure refuge of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Amen.

To me, this prayer reads like someone has an axe to grind. Is there a claim in it that the Holy Father is not always proclaiming the “traditional teachings” of the Church?

As to “former glory,” that’s extremely subjective. What qualifies as “glory”? Hasn’t the Church nearly always undergone times of persecution, scandal, mismanagement and lukewarm faith? What is this “glory”? Should we seek glory in this world–even for the Church?

I feel like this prayer is a veiled criticism of the Pope and a wish for a throwback to some unspecified time in history that, in this prayer-writer’s nostalgic view, is somehow superior to our own.

So I’ve stopped using that prayer booklet. Instead, I begin my Holy Hour with the Divine Praises and the Angelus (since my hour begins at noon–it’s Angelus time!)

What do you think of this prayer? Am I reading too much into it?

Small Success: Not on Thursday

January 15, 2016 franciscanmom5 Comments

Thursdays at CatholicMom.com begin with a look at the past week’s Small Successes!

This week has been a little extra busy, so it’s a good thing that the Small Success linkup isn’t limited to a single day.

I’m sort of managing to be sedentary. And by this I mean, the Christmas tree is down but all the other decorations in the house are still hanging around, and those are coming down little by little. There’s very little pain in my foot and I want to keep it that way.

The past couple of days, I’ve been drinking my coffee without sugar. Just cream. I’m not missing the sugar, either. Maybe it’s because I’m drinking good coffee and I’ve finally gotten the hang of the Aeropress I got for Christmas…

Also for Christmas, I got some shiny new cookware. That was a want, not a need, because most of the cookware I already had was serviceable (though there were a few nonstick pieces that had been badly scratched by utensils that are not nonstick-friendly). I took out all the old cookware, boxed up the pieces that were still good for Middle Sister to use next year when she has an on-campus apartment, and did not save the damaged cookware “just in case I might need it someday.” That’s a BIG step for me. My kitchen-equipment hoarding tendencies go way back.

Share your Small Successes at CatholicMom.com by joining the linkup in the bottom of this week’s post. No blog? List yours in the comments box!

FranciscanMom

Held together by the grace of God, coffee, and crazy glue

#WorthRevisit: Hitting the Wall

“I’m hitting the wall right now, God.”

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