Traditional Catholic Mamas -Winter 2010 - Page 2

[CherryBomb]

Originally Posted by Charbeau

knowing that I will be going to confession really helps me NOT make bad choices of things that I will have to confess. It holds me accountable.

That's so true! I feel the same. It's been a few months since I've confessed, I need to get in.

[Olives]

Hello everyone,

Gosh I need to get my butt to confession too. I just now got my advent candles set up, I'm sorry to say. I always find I have the best intentions to have a prayer filled day and be a 'good' Catholic but I just lack on the follow through. My heart is in the right place I need to just DO.

How do you all go about leading a prayerful day? I need some help putting one foot in front of the other.

[xekomaya]

Please pray - A mother from another list's 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with an "inoperable" brain tumor yesterday, but shortly after they found a neurosurgeon (one of the best in the country, I hear) who will attempt to remove it tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Her name is Maria - she did receive Last Rites this evening. They are a good Catholic family.

Olives - I try to give myself as many reminders as possible to get back on track. I set cellphone alarms to remind myself to pray. Right now I only have the Angelus set, but in the past I set one every 3 hours. Also having religious items out and around helps a lot. Whenever I notice one, it gets me back on track.

Charbeau - super post on Confession!

rosehips - you can do it! There are super posts all over the internet about how to make a good, short confession. Archbishop Fulton Sheen had a sample confession for a man who had been away from the Church 30 years and it only took 5 minutes. You really shouldn't worry about anything voyeuristic, either. You're listing sins in kind and number, not rehashing the gory details .

[Ofwait]

xekomaya-- Praying for your friend. Often times the Dr's give the worse case senario first time out, then modify as they find out more.... they would rather do that than make the news worse... that was our experience when dealling with DD1's cancer.

[purplemamaturtle5]

Originally Posted by xekomaya

Please pray - A mother from another list's 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with an "inoperable" brain tumor yesterday, but shortly after they found a neurosurgeon (one of the best in the country, I hear) who will attempt to remove it tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Her name is Maria - she did receive Last Rites this evening. They are a good Catholic family.

This is so sad. I'll be praying!!

[xekomaya]

Thank you for the prayers! Surgery went well apparently, some slight worsening in recovery, but she could wiggle her toes and I"m sure there will be more improvements as times goes on.

So we went to a Byzantine Catholic Church today for the Divine Liturgy. It was very cool and I highly recommend the experience if you have an opportunity some time. We're going to end up going there all but one Sunday a month. I think it is the best place for our family to be, given the local options.

Happy St. Nicholas's Day! Hope you all found shoes full of goodies

[sarahsmiles]

Hey everyone. Just had to share a story. I went to the noon Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception from work (so I didn't have the kids.) A young (well, younger than me!) woman was there with 3 kids and after Mass, I told her she was my hero because I can barely make it through with 1. She was obviously surprised and said it was just what she needed to hear that day.

So my point (and I do have one) is that I need to try harder to encourage other mothers. I think sometimes I can get competitive, and of course without the kids there I wonder if it will look like I'm "butting in" to talk to a stranger, but sometimes, we can help and support each other without knowing it.

Now, if only I knew a way to get someone over to my house at 6:30 in the morning to say the encouraging thing to me when DD won't get dressed, DS is screaming, etc. Sigh.

Trying to remember to pause, take a breath, and say a quick "Hail Mary" before screaming and yelling these days ...

[BMG580]

I think you are right SarahSmiles - I attended Mass yesterday evening with my two children (husband is away on a business trip so no option to leave my 22 month old home) and the entire service was so frustrating for me. Our parish doesn't have a "cry room" and so there are a few chairs out in the narthex for parents with young/unruly children to use and we just sat there and didn't even try going inside the sanctuary. I mean, my son cannot help it, he has no idea what is going on, he is very busy and there are a lot of interesting things he wants to see and look at inside the church. I am 8 months pregnant and I am so tired and I really did my best trying to keep him still and happy.

I wish more people were capable of empathy when they see a young parent alone with 2+ children. It is hard! My 4 year old does a pretty good job most of the time (a few weeks ago she was really awful during Mass and I made her apologize to the priest afterwards and that *really* made an impression on her!) but DS is just not ready to attend Mass at this point.

I think we all should make a point of telling other parents how much we appreciate seeing them with their children at Mass.

In other news, we are just about ready to move. We close on the house we've been building since this summer next Thursday (walk through is tomorrow- woohoo!). This is going to be our new parish, I am SO EXCITED!

http://www.holytrinityparish.net/

[xekomaya]

Charbeau - I have friends in your new town! Not that I'll ever get to visit them now that I'm in AK, but if it ever happens I'll send you a note. Looks totally beautiful. Congrats on the move!

It must be really hard with multiple kids at Mass. I can't imagine (but I wish I could ) Where I used to live, I was one of the only families with a child at all. Now that we've moved there are TONS of big families and its really super to see. Good reminder that maybe they can use a hand as well, if it happens to be a day I have an extra.

[moonshoes]

Just popping in to say Hi! to everyone. I've been very busy with Advent and my pregnancy brain is out of control - I seem to forget everything!

I'm praying for all of you this Advent season and will try to get on more often.

~Catherine

[kaleidoscopeeyes]

Originally Posted by xekomaya

Welcome Mamas!


To start us off - Last week, our priest challenged us to make resolutions for Advent that would lead us to purity. Are you making any resolutions? Any you want to share?

Oh my, this actually just came up in a big way for me. Last night I was talking to God and asking him to take over the matters of my heart. That I trusted Him with my heart more than myself and asked Him to give it to the right person, but then I felt tremendously drawn to pledge my bodily purity. I'm not going to lie, I'm still a little shocked I felt this way. Deciding to be celibate at age 27, I don't know, not something I thought I'd be doing. It feels like the right thing though. I feel like a burden has been lifted too. I feel like I can now put more focus on other areas of my life. I never felt like I was particularly concerned with romance or dating or even sex, but...I suppose I was more so than I thought. However, it has only been a day, I'm sure I will have some struggles with this in the future and pray that His guidance will pull me through.

Ah, confession...I'm scared of it too. I think more than anything I'm scared I've forgotten how to do it I'm going to make this a priority though. I know I'll feel better once I've gone.

[Ofwait]

Happy 3rd Sunday of Advent everyone!
This year has flown so fast for us.

Does anyone have any good Novena's to Mary?

[moonshoes]

HI ladies, I am desperate for help with my children,specifically my 6 year old. Does anyone know of any good parenting/discipline books from a Catholic perspective? They are 6 and 8 and DH and I are tearing our hair out at this point. Help!

[Michigan Mama]

Let us know if you find a good book, moonshoes! I'm sure I'll need it for my two boys!

I finally got my advent wreath up today, but we still need to have some family prayer around it! Really want to work on making dedicated time for prayer, and staying in a spirit of prayer. My ds1 is really slow at eating breakfast, so I try to keep my prayer journal and bible there at the table so I can pray and reflect while he's eating.

I feel a little flustered that my 2 (almost 3) yo has learned about Santa and keep talking about Santa bringing presents. I tried to explain to him that we celebrate and give presents because it's Jesus bday, but he went right back to talking about Santa. Just a small representation of how society wants so much to influence our minds, huh? We'll keep talking with him and hopefully eventually he'll understand.

We had our church play this weekend and my ds2 was Baby Jesus. Rather than just doing the nativity story, we do the entire "Story of Salvation", from creation to pentecost. It was really beautiful. And my non-believing cousin came, which was exciting to me. I'd like to try to talk to her about it in a few days. She seems really open.

[PatienceAndLove]

Originally Posted by moonshoes

HI ladies, I am desperate for help with my children,specifically my 6 year old. Does anyone know of any good parenting/discipline books from a Catholic perspective? They are 6 and 8 and DH and I are tearing our hair out at this point. Help!

Discipline That Lasts a Lifetime: The Best Gift You Can Give Your Kids

"Dr. Ray Guarendi offers parents fresh and practical advice about disciplining children. Topics include: how discipline is love in action; psychological correctness and other disciplinary worries; discipline and the nature of kids; misbehavior in word and deed; disciplining against the flow; and so much more! Read and learn as Dr. Ray lays out the basics in a concise, sensible, and easy to read format. 296 pgs."

Parenting With Grace: Catholic Parent's Guide to Raising Almost Perfect Kids

"This book's "uniquely Catholic" approach to parenting combines vigorous relational advice with careful theology and plenty of good humor. (The chapter on family planning is entitled "Is Eight Enough?"). The Popcaks guide parents through each stage of child development from infancy to adolescence, offering age-specific advice on "parenting with grace." They call upon natural law theology to encourage attachment parenting, co-sleeping and extended nursing through infancy, and urge parents of older children to consider home-schooling so that children always understand "that family is the primary relationship." Later chapters address a few Catholic-specific issues, such as stimulating children to pursue Church vocations."

[Ofwait]

Originally Posted by moonshoes

HI ladies, I am desperate for help with my children,specifically my 6 year old. Does anyone know of any good parenting/discipline books from a Catholic perspective? They are 6 and 8 and DH and I are tearing our hair out at this point. Help!

Patienceandlove beat me to it... but I will second the recomendation of Parenting with Grace

[frugalmama]

Would either of those touch on single parenting?

DD's bio-father {long story} has never been in the picture, and so many books I find just refer everything to the Dad doing all the discipline, etc - which doesn't work for us. I'm at my wits end with her right now and issues with attitude and behavior.


On a related topic - are there any good ways to find a good Catholic man interested in marriage? Our Parish single's group is off-limits if you have kids, so I don't really know where to start.

[PatienceAndLove]

Originally Posted by frugalmama

Would either of those touch on single parenting?

DD's bio-father {long story} has never been in the picture, and so many books I find just refer everything to the Dad doing all the discipline, etc - which doesn't work for us. I'm at my wits end with her right now and issues with attitude and behavior.

I feel your pain! It is the same with my DD's father.
Personally, it takes me a lot of patience with my very strong willed Princess.
But honestly, we use the "star" method (and I made it up!). She gets a star on a calender at the end of the day if she behaved (one reminder to change behavior). If she was mostly good, she gets a half star. Otherwise, no star. You would be amazed how much getting a star means to her. Perhaps you can modify that idea and see if it works for y'all?

[Rosehip]

Originally Posted by frugalmama

Would either of those touch on single parenting?

DD's bio-father {long story} has never been in the picture, and so many books I find just refer everything to the Dad doing all the discipline, etc - which doesn't work for us. I'm at my wits end with her right now and issues with attitude and behavior.


On a related topic - are there any good ways to find a good Catholic man interested in marriage? Our Parish single's group is off-limits if you have kids, so I don't really know where to start.

Have you seen Catholicmatch.com?

I'm disappointed to hear about the singles group being only for those without children! Is this an official policy? Widows & widowers would also be excluded?

Even if this is the case, there may be other social events that aren't for "singles" strictly speaking, but may put you out there a bit more, and help you make more social connections. You might make some new girlfriends who know single men...There's a "theology on tap" evening once a month or so here. I haven't gone b/c of scheduling issues, but it sounds interesting. It's held at rotating local restaurants, and there's a social hour first, then a lecture/discussion led by a professor or author, or some similar person. Perhaps your parish, or another nearby has something similar?

[frugalmama]

Originally Posted by Rosehip

Have you seen Catholicmatch.com?

I'm disappointed to hear about the singles group being only for those without children! Is this an official policy? Widows & widowers would also be excluded?

Even if this is the case, there may be other social events that aren't for "singles" strictly speaking, but may put you out there a bit more, and help you make more social connections. You might make some new girlfriends who know single men...There's a "theology on tap" evening once a month or so here. I haven't gone b/c of scheduling issues, but it sounds interesting. It's held at rotating local restaurants, and there's a social hour first, then a lecture/discussion led by a professor or author, or some similar person. Perhaps your parish, or another nearby has something similar?

I've looked at catholicmatch - but can't really afford the membership. I do go on every time they have a free weekend though.

It is an official policy - widows and widowers have a group of their own.

I know we do theology on Tap {used to go when I was in college} but it is primarily through the youth groups & geared toward HS and College students.