Lent Day 8

"loving Father, grant me the grace to see clearly the path you wish me to tread in life and the strength to do just that."

I really needed this prayer today!

Lent Day 7: Forgiveness

"If you forgive others for transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you." Matt 6:14

Todays verse and suggested penance to God is to make peace with a family member who has hurt you.

I thought I would put this word for word from my lenten book.

Lent Day 6

"Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of Mine, you did for Me"Matthew 25:40

First Sunday of Lent

I really like this from the intercessions in one of my books...Let us Pray:

Deliver us, Oh Lord!

From every temptation to mistrust.
From every temptation to think ourselves gods.
From every temptation to material satisfaction.
From every temptation to power and privilege.

Lent Day 3: Cowtown

This morning God blessed us with an amazing day! Lucky for me, I signed up for a 5k during the Cowtown marathon festivities. J came and cheered me on!  I was very proud of myself. I finished 23 in my age group out of 411. Not to bad! The race had 3193 total participants, so it was a crowded field. Great to see so many people up early and enjoying the beauty God has given us!

Lent Day 3: Sin

"I no longer have to live with sin. Jesus simply offers the gift of forgiveness to all who want it, including me. Am I ready to accept this forgiveness?"
(According to a reflection from one of my books.) I guess this makes me realize, what sin do I hold onto? What do I keep doing over and over, that is not right in the Lord's eyes. Am I ready to accept that God forgives me and move past sin? Am I strong enough?

Lent Day 2

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
Luke 9:23

The Day that Started it All

It's hard to believe its been a year since I started my blog. It was last year, Ash Wednesday, that it all begin. I guess it is true, if you do something for 40 days, it becomes a part of you, a habit. I have stuck with blogging, not daily but occasionally. This year I am committing to blogging daily about my spiritual journey during this time of year. Today is an invitation by God to become closer to him, according to the Bishop's homily this afternoon. I don't think it could have come at a better time. I really feel far away, from life, from those who love me, from parenthood, from God. Everything has been especially challenging lately, but today I feel hope. I have that invitation to get back to God. So, I am armed with 4 lenten books, the Magnificat, the lenten companion, Lenten daily devotions that arrived in the mail today, and the Little Black book which I used last year. Hopefully, armed with this much help I will be renewed 40 days from now.  It's ironic how the verse to read today is Matthew 6:1 and it says "but take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them..." My blog is where people can see, but I don't think I'm doing to be on display, but so that others may see me, and walk with me. I do like the suggestion is says for penance and that is to "do something kind for someone anonymously."HMMMM, What to do?

Parenting Practice

Our last full day in DC/Alexandria found us at the home of George Washington, Mount Vernon. The day was perfect. You would not have suspected it was the beginning of February in Virginia. His home is located on the Potomac, and as you will see the view from the  back porch was spectacular. Up to this point we have seen monuments, the American History Museum, The Natural Science Museum, the Holocaust Museum...whew, I'm getting tired typing this. This day was extra special because P, A, and Baby M joined us. Thus the parenting practice. This is a true story or adventure if you will. We started by witnessing a sheep escape sending A into an excited frenzy! We also learned in the information center that A loves to run down ramps as fast as she can, climb the stairs and do it all over again. How is that for exercise? Later we walked to the house to wait for our tour. P needed to feed the baby so we took A on the guided tour of George Washington's Home. Before entering P warned us that A has been kicked out of 2 previous tours of presidents home for talking too much! What?? Oh no!  We took on the adventure and P was right. AO talked the whole way through. She has an incredible vocabulary for a 2yr.  It was adorable! We stayed back so not to disturb the group. Near the end of the tour I saw a door out and decided I probably should take her out. Little did I know P was right outside, so I left A and went back in for the rest of the tour. One lady looked at me in horror and said "didn't you have a child with you?" I explained the situation and she was relieved. She thought I just sat her by herself outside while we finished! As if! Anyway it was fun, and kind of a test run for when we have a little one. I think we will do just fine.  We ended the day with a trip to spy museum(babies went home for naps) and later a wonderful dinner with our friends. I have included some pictures of Mount vernon and then some pictures of the babies because they are just so darn cute! I love them!

Baa, Baa, Baa

I'm holding food, thus complete attention

GW lived here

Another building on land

View off GW Porch

Back Porch

Baby M...Adorable

My toy box is AWESOME!

Cheeks!

Sweetness

Ready for an adventure!!

Washington National Cathedral

We spent one morning at the Washington National Cathedral. My mom recommend it, and we were not disappointed. It is the second largest Cathedral in the United States and sixth in the world. It was built by HAND. Just Fascinating! It is a house of prayer for all religions in our country. It was damaged by the earthquake this past summer, thus the net at the top in the second picture.  There are so many elements in this church, you could look around for hours. There is a stain glass with a solar system and has a moon rock in it. There are gargoyles carved in the top and one is darth vador(a student won a contest to draw a gargoyle).We went to the 7th floor where we could look at the city below. There is so much more that was so neat about this place of worship. Enjoy the pictures and I have included a hymn that was in my prayer book this morning that I really touched me. 

A Prayer

Inside, net at the top

I'm the little blue dot in the center door to the right. Hows that for feeling small?

View from the Street

J in the tunnel on seventh floor taking pictures

Us in the top of the cathedral recording the moment with our iPhone.

"All who seek to know and serve God,
See the past and understand;
None who hoped were disappointed;
Rich the blessings from God's hand!
None who waited were forsaken;
None who trusted were deceived.
All who asked his gracious pardon,
Gentle mercy have received.
If our God does not condemn us,
Who against us then will stand?
Will the Lord who died for sinners,
Who is now at God's right hand?
What could take us from Christ Jesus?
Neither hunger, sword, nor pain!
Neither life nor death shall part us
From the Lamb for us once slain."
Hymn from Magnificat, Author unknown. 

Do you ever surprise yourself?

Do you ever surprise yourself? I know I do, and this picture proves it! While on our DC trip I was given the opportunity at the Smithsonian Natural Science Museum to hold this bad boy. In case you can't see clearly it is a COCKROACH. The volunteer said it was a BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, COCKROACH, but really the only part I heard was COCKROACH. The next thing I know Jaime's snapping a picture, and surprise I'm smiling. I guess looking at this picture , I see I'm capable of more than I thought. I'm continually being challenged by God. Work has been extremely challenging this new year, yet I go back everyday ready to face the challenge. The wait to adopt has been very, very, challenging. Lots of self-inflicted questions like "what is wrong with us?" "why not us?" Really it's not a competition, but try telling that to families who wait, and wait, while it seems families are being formed all around. It's hard not to think you are doing something wrong, or something is wrong with you that you don't see. In fact, this evening, I was feeling down about the wait., hopeless one might say.  I decided to look over my pictures and when I stopped on this one, I smiled. I'm capable of more than I give myself credit for, I mean look at me, I'm holding a COCKROACH. (there were grown men around me who wouldn't take this challenge). So I guess I can keep going, and this picture proves I'm up for the challenge.

Speaking of challenges, this is a wonderful quote from the MLK memorial. It really touched me, and has a lot of meaning to me. I hope that maybe someone out there may like these words as well.

Moonlight Tour of DC

We took a moonlight tour of DC.  The monuments we saw were so moving and seeing them illuminated at night was incredible. I have posted a few pictures to give you a glimpse of what we saw.

Home from DC

We arrived home late last night from our trip to Washington, DC. This was a much needed getaway after a very tumultuous month at work in January. We had a wonderful time visiting many sites, and also visiting my BFF family and newest addition,  baby girl M. I have to say that 2 year old A was the show stopper. Our hotel was the Lorien in old town Alexandria, Virginia. It was a great hotel in a great, historical location. It was a short train ride to the heart of our nations capitol. I was moved and inspired by many of the sites and memorials. Over the next week I hope to post pictures and some of my commentary of a deeper meaning. I found a Lenten meditation book that I plan to use to resume my daily blogging during lent. I wish I had another week to visit, and if we had stayed a day longer we may have been iced in! Today, I am back to reality which means lots of laundry and no groceries. Good thing I have some great memories to make the chores worth it!

Some Photos, I will post more later.

King Street in Alexandria. Our hotel was on this street.

King Street dead ends into a Wharf on the Potomac River.

Paige and stroller at the wharf. The land on horizon is Maryland.

Tea Party with A

A, Baby M, and Me

J at Wharf acting silly after a nice dinner of "famous Maryland lump Crab Cakes" !

Christ Church, George Washington's Church, not far from our hotel.

More A, she is just so Cute, and Sweet!