Why we need strong, traditional families ...

Here's a quote from St. Angela Merici (1474-1540):

Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family.

And she knew this back in the 16th Century .... maybe we should pay attention here in the 21st Century!

2001: A trip down memory lane

This afternoon, I had a phone call from my favorite brother (whose family is finding it hard to pray for our house to sell in Colorado as they'd really like us to move back...) ... and that started the memories.

Then dh and I were talking (while my sweetheart was cooking dinner -- gotta love this guy!), about all the places we've lived in our almost 11 years of wedded-bliss ... including our visits to said brother and his family in Ripon, England.

Then we started watching our favorite Saturday evening entertainment ...

And, so ... here is a blast from the past ... from our first year in Austria ... and our visits to England

So, we're all a bit older, (and we've added a little sprite since then), but otherwise ... welcome to our world!

Diliberate Family Living

Lisa over at Hopewell has a great way of keeping track of how she is doing with her goals for living in her family.

Here's how our family has done this week --
Family Prayers:
We've done great with this because we're in such a rhythm. We do our "Priests for Life" Novena each night before Grace and then a family rosary at the end of the mail to pray for the sale of our house as well as prayers for all who have asked us to pray, all those for whom we should pray, and all those who stand in need of prayers. We also do a Morning Offering every morning in the car. I'd like to try adding the Guardian Angel prayer for the littles. Grade: B+

Family Time:
Lots of that lately as we've got a house guest and we're doing tons with her. We've also been watching the NGA art videos every couple of nights to get cultured as a family! Grade: B+

Household Routines:
Wow -- do we stink at this ... this week particularly! Granted, we've had company a bit ... but I have grand plans for really, really sticking to routine ... but then life interrupts in various ways. Grade: D+

Meal Preparation:
I just can't seem to get in the rhythm of meal-planning further than a day or two out. I can do the special meals ... but day-to-day, forget it! (If anyone has some advice, please leave me a comment!)
Lately, we've been doing a lot of seat-of-the-pants meals ... eggs and bacon for dinner last night, St. Teresa Bread the night before (but not anything else I'd planned!). Frustrating, but that will settle now that Fall weather is coming and we can focus more at home (that's the thought anyway!). Grade: D+

Schooling and Kids' Commitments:
Pretty good altho, again because we've had (and are having company) this is going a bit haywire. But then I LOVE that we're taking the time to do field trips and get around and about .... which is such great learning for the kids ... so yes, "school" can wait, but the learning never stops. We've also been good about attending daily Mass this week -- a new record of three this week! Grade: B+

Outside interests (knitting, writing, etc):
Not much done this week but we've been on field trips and entertaining and keeping up the various activities so I don't feel bad these personal things have been pushed out a bit. But, never fear, the knitting will come out tonight when we all sit and chat and RELAX! Grade: D-

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This is a fun way of keeping track of what I want to do vs what I do .... thanks for Leonie's post that brought me to Lisa's blog ....