Internet and mother's day

I haven't had internet at home for almost an entire month. Sorry about the lack of communication. It was torture, let me tell you. However, I was more productive (I baked a cake, finished a project I started almost a year ago, etc) and I also realized how lonely and disconnected I am from the real world. Sometimes the internet can disguise that, I think. But it's really hard to make real friends as an adult, I suspect. And I've been feeling the Portuguese/American gap more than ever, especially with my new experience with motherhood.

Speaking of motherhood, I'm sure there isn't anything better in life. Other than "wifehood". It is terrifying to think of the enormous task of raising a child, and the millions of ways it can go wrong. Yet at the same time, there is such an urgent need to raise her well and to dedicate all my effort into that and our family.

“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.” - St. John Paul II

Here are my favorite pictures from mother's day.

Each day had its own proper work

"Each day had its own proper work. Ma used to say: wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, churn on Thursday, clean on Friday, bake on Saturday, rest on Sunday. Laura liked the churning and the baking days best of all the week." - Little House in the Big Woods

 

I've always had a day for grocery shopping (even though I don't anymore) and a day for cleaning the house, but it has helped me to assign more "duties" to each weekday. I don't always do them of course, but here is what I (try to) do each day:

M: clean the house, water plants
T: higiene day (manicure, etc), make soup, family night
W: (if I had time it would be my artsy day), prayer night
Th: errands
F: clean floor, change sheets and towels, date night
St: (if I had time it would be my baking day and prepare for Sunday day, but it has been private tutoring and grocery shopping)
S: hike or picnic (and mass of course)

Do have "days" for things? Or do you prefer spreading cleaning out, for example? Please share!

Article on CatholicStand

The Home is Symbolic

Julie Machado • April 9, AD2015 • 0 Comments

What is the difference between a home and a hotel? Or a dormitory? If you were to come home to a clean house (cleaned by a maid) and had food to eat (store-bought), would it really make any difference who did those things? What if it wasn’t your home, but an actual hotel or if you were renting a room?



Keep Reading at: http://www.catholicstand.com/home-symbolic/

Easter Picnic

We had a birthday picnic for our baby on Easter Sunday because she turned... one, sniff, sniff hooray. I really shouldn't complain, I always end up liking each new phase better than the last. Now she is walking and having endless conversations in baby talk and it's so adorable that I can't imagine why I wanted to freeze time when she was five months old and so boring (or so I think now). But I still want to freeze time.

The picnic was great. Even though I forgot the frosting at home and everyone had to eat frosting-less cake and cupcakes, it was chilly and windy and I'm a terrible mother and forgot a jacket for Addie, and I didn't have a photo album of her first year as I had imagined in my head it would be great to have... there are more important things than the details I stress out about. And luckily she didn't catch a cold. She had lots of fun socializing with other little kids and we had a great time talking to family and friends in the fresh air of one of Lisbon's best parks. I am becoming more and more a fan of picnics.

Article on loneliness

No One Should Have to Feel Lonely

No one should have to feel lonely. Maybe no one should also have to feel sad, hungry, or hurt, but I suppose this is our fallen nature and our fallen world. Loneliness is a prominent theme of Holy Week, where Jesus ultimately has to face the cross alone: lonely, abandoned by His friends, and in great suffering.


Keep Reading at: http://www.ignitumtoday.com/2015/04/04/no-one-should-have-to-feel-lonely/