7 Quick Takes Friday

1. There is really never a time when I want to clean the darn kitchen. During the day I think to myself, eh, I'll do it after dinner. After dinner I think, eh, I'll do it after the kids are in bed. Then I am tired and think, eh, I'll do it in the morning. So when I wake up I come downstairs and this is what greets me:

So I think, eh, I'll do it after breakfast....

2.  I have decided not to push my 10 year old son to do his homework. My son is brilliant and wonderful, but struggles with ADHD. He simply will NOT do what he doesn't want to do. We had three weeks of battles wherein I used the wooden spoon to motivate him, and then I decided: This is not the mom I want to be. This is not the relationship I want to have. This is not the environment I want in my home. Homework is only worth 10% of his grade, so I have decided I will keep up with the assignments on teacher's blogs and Homework Hotline but leave it up to him if he is going to actually do it or not. I will concentrate my energy on studying for tests and helping him with special projects. It has been wonderfully freeing and really helped me feel more love for him because we are not in a constant war anymore.

3. Due to food intolerances among family members, digestive issues for me, and a special diet to help with the ADHD, we have been trying to stick to a gluten-free and dairy-free diet, and I can't do eggs either. I have been frequenting Paleo blogs and relying on my Nourishing Traditions cookbook to make the most nutrient-dense and gut-healthy meals I can, given these restrictions. A typical day consists of the following:

ME

Breafast: Homemade zucchini muffins using soaked rice flour, almond meal, and substituting flax seed for eggs, black tea, bacon

Snack: Rice crackers with kefir cheese, cucumber and smoked salmon

Lunch: salad with red pepper, cucumber, carrots, goat cheese, almonds and chicken breast, balsalmic vinegar and oil dressing (or last night's leftovers)

Snack: Fruit or corn chips with guacamole

Dinner: Beef meatballs made with shredded zucchini and garlic in  marinara sauce, roasted vegetables

Snack: homemade yogurt with walnuts, apples and a drizzle of honey

KIDS

Breakfast: gluten free peanut butter sandwiches 

Snack: Uncookies (peanut butter, egg, banana, baking soda and chocolate chips)

Lunch: chopped ham or salami slices, carrots, grapes

Snack: Fruit leather or gluten-free granola bar

Snack: chips and salsa

Snack: apple

Snack: banana and peanut butter

Snack: carrots and hummus

Dinner: hot dog, snap peas, rice (very rarely, what I've cooked)

Snack: nuts and raisins

It's limited, and there's waaaay to much reliance on nuts. I still don't think it's where it needs to be, but it is a huge improvement from when I was pregnant, and I'd rather they snack on nuts than chips or cereal, so there's that.

4. I am not going to volunteer in my kids classrooms this year, or teach catechism. It was a hard decision, but I chose instead to do an ENDOW class on the Letter to Women and start up my volunteering with Catholic Charities Archdiocesan Housing again. My priorities right now have to be my own spiritual nourishment and preserving time to run errands, go to doctor's appointments, and keep on top of the household. I feel at peace with the decision, even though I would like to be able to do more.

5. My daughter's American Heritage Girls uniform  and handbook finally arrived! We are so excited and have already started working on her first badge, in the Arts Frontier. I am really hoping that this gives her a taste of the pride and satisfaction that comes from working hard to earn something.

6. I watched Les Miserables over the last three nights in one hour increments after the kids were in bed. Magnificent! My favorite part was how God and the Church were presented in a positive light as the source of hope and renewal, rather than as backwards hypocrites or sexual predators. It saddens me that the secular culture is so anti-Catholic that I honestly expected to see negative portrayals of my faith, and was pleasantly surprised when I didn't. 

7. Please pray for me. I am still struggling in many ways.

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Fast and Pray

I am feeling very hopeless about Syria this week, because while I agree with Pope Francis that the answer is for all the involved parties to put down their arms, forgive the past, and build a relationship for the future based on trust and mutual respect, the sad truth is: I can't even do that in my own relationships, so to expect it of people who have watched their children suffer and die and lived for decades under a repressive government is just so impossible that it's ridiculous to suggest it.

Which is precisely why Pope Francis calls for a day of prayer and fasting this Saturday.

Because it's not the Syrians who are going to be able to do this by themselves. The power of God is the only thing that can achieve it.

How blessed we are to belong to a Church that calls on us (the Brothers and Sisters of those suffering)  and asks that we participate in the miracle our world so desperately needs.

Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us.

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