Eating Our Own

I could have written this post myself, only not nearly so beautifully. I wholeheartedly affirm every point Elizabeth makes this morning. And she does it with such grace and Charity - true Love, the kind that moves one to love her neighbor.....every neighbor, because she loves Christ.

Starting Off Right

When it comes to being organized and planning ahead, I tend to fall far short compared to other moms. Perhaps such deficiency should be a cause for personal discouragement, but I'm not one to get discouraged. I'm just not. We all have different gifts, and the range and variation of them are, to me, striking proof of God's boundless magnanimity. That doesn't mean we should rest in our weaknesses or fail to strive to overcome them. On the contrary, the Goal of this life demands that we rid ourselves of as much vice as possible and obtain as much virtue as possible while we're here, so as to perfect ourselves in Love. For all vice is rooted in a lack of love and all virtue in an abundance of love. Hmmm.....I need to pause to think about that for a while.

But back to planning ahead and being organized. I'm not a planner, and I'm organized in only a few areas, so I'll be using Laura Berquist's Mother of Divine Grace program as a foundation while incorporating my own melange of Charlotte Mason, Real Learning, and a bit of Montessori education. I'm anticipating kindergarten with Gianna to be, well, a lot like me: a free-spirited, spontaneous, stop-and-smell-the-roses type of learning....with a structured (because I need it) foundation.

Realizing the huge fact that my very first year of homeschooling begins next week, though I have very little perfectly laid out on paper....or even in my mind, excitement and anticipation abound nonetheless. Joy and hope and expectancy have taken up full residence in my free-spirited self as I contemplate the possibilities ahead. Truly, the foretaste of the goodness to come through at-home learning is very, very sweet right now. And though I may not have my days planned as thoroughly as I'd like, I do have one learning area planned: the beginning and foundation of each day. With much thought and careful consideration, these are the prayers I've selected for the start of our day:

Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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For Ordering a Life Wisely (one of my favorite daily prayers, slightly shortened for our purposes)
St. Thomas Aquinas

O merciful God, grant that I may
desire ardently,
search prudently,
recognize truly,
and bring to perfect completion whatever is pleasing to You
for the praise and glory of Your name.

Put my life in order, O my God.

Grant that I may know
what You require me to do.

Bestow upon me
the power to accomplish Your will,
as is necessary and fitting
for the salvation of my soul.

Grant to me, O Lord my God,
that I may not falter
in times of prosperity or adversity,
so that I may not be exalted in the former,
nor dejected in the latter.

May I not rejoice in anything
unless it leads me to You;
may I not be saddened by anything
unless it turns me from You.

May I desire to please no one,
nor fear to displease anyone,
but You.

May all transitory things, O Lord,
be worthless to me
and may all things eternal
be ever cherished by me.

May any joy without You
be burdensome for me
and may I not desire anything else
besides You.

May all work, O Lord,
delight me when done for Your sake
and may all repose not centered in You
be ever wearisome for me.

Give to me, O Lord my God,
understanding of You,
diligence in seeking You,
wisdom in
finding You,
discourse ever pleasing to You,
perseverance in waiting for You,
and confidence in finally embracing You.

You Who live and reign, God, world without end. Amen.

_________________________

Another prayer to the Holy Spirit:*

Holy Spirit, guide me,

~~listening and speaking,
~~reading and writing,
~~imagining and thinking,
~~all to Your greater glory.

________________________

Last, but certainly not least, we'll be sure to invoke our thoughtfully pondered, newly adopted school patroness:

Mary, Seat of Wisdom,**
~~pray for us.

________________________

If nothing else falls into place the way (I think) it should, perhaps I can at least say I began each day well and with purpose. Which should make for pretty well-learned days.....in the grand scheme of things.


*I'm not sure of the original source of this one. It is the prayer we began our days with at my high school alma mater, Trivium School. I took it with me to college - sure to pray it before every exam, Euclidean prop demonstration and my senior thesis defense at TAC.

**Some excellent writing reflecting the nature of this title here (in the first few paragraphs) and here.

In the Land of Nod

A Fruitful Harvest

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Much better than last year's crop!

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