21 things about me!

In honor of me now being 21...

1. My middle name is Marie

2. I am named after my Great Grandpa (Francesco>Francesca)

3. My favorite education Methods are: Charlotte Mason and Montessori, and then Classical and Independent/Robinson methods after that.

4. I love comedy and comedians! (think: Sebastian Maniscalo, My Cousin Vinny and Jerry Sienfeld)

5. My very favorite book from age 20: Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

6. my favorite devotions/devotions I am trying to cultivate in my life: spiritual motherhood for priests/seminarians, Sacred Heart of Jesus, & living the liturgical year.

7. I have the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

8. My favorite livestock: steers/heifers (dairy & beef, but mostly beef) & pigs (and sometimes sheep)

9. I categorize my clothes as "lucky" and "unlucky" and name them after people, "J... G... skirt" & "original J...G...skirt" (long black skirts), "Mrs P... pants" (leggings)...

10. One thing I want to achieve in life--finish what my Grandma called "the book".

11. I like learning about history, the Latin mass, the liturgical year & art.

12.I've seen Jerry Sienfeld live.

13. When I was younger I liked learning about history--especially American History, and particularly- Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, the Great Depression & World War 2.

14. I get headaches a lot starting when I was 14.5 when I was 15.5 I started going to the doctor for this very thing...ENTs (several times), an MRI, a neurologist, and lastly, an allergy test (on my arm) when I was 16--I am allergic to dust mites & dust.

14. I pulled a cuterebra bug (parasite) out of a kitten before.

15. I do not like sleeping on the top of a bunk bed. (I did not have my own bed until I was 15, I didn't known what to do when I had my own bed)

16. When I was younger, around 4th grade age, my favorite nun (a FSSJ Sister) had hip replacement surgery and I carried my brother around on my hip so much that I used to say/think "I'm going to need hip replacement surgery when I'm 14!"
(my hips are/were, in fact, crooked)

17. I've had stitches twice (my lip when I was 8 and my knee when I was 13).

18. I want to get better at sewing, canning and drawing.

19. most humbling things in my life--raising steers (my first year especially), my first year of shooting trap (shotgun) & babysitting.

20.  my least domestic skill=cooking

21. I have 3 sisters, 3 sisters, and 3 siblings in heaven (2 are buried at Holy Redeemer in Perry Wisconsin and one is buried at Saint Mary's Pine Bluff. My mom didn't formally name them, but I did a year or so after the last one died---Caroline Anne (after the Melissa Wiley books about Laura Ingalls Wilder's mom), Francesco James, "James", (after our great grandpa's on my mom's side of the family) & Jennifer Marie (after Jennifer Mackintosh of the wildflowers & marbles blog)

Epiphany:: What actually happened (in pictures)

I did not end up going to any of the festivities at Saint Marys Pine Bluff on 1/5. There was a change in the schedule in that Fr Z was giving the talk instead of Fr Gernetzke so that made me less interested in going. I like Fr Z and all but I hear sermons from him nearly every week so I wasn't as inclined to go after an already full day.
1/6:
In the morning, I went to mass at Saint Mary's Pine Bluff, and when I got home my siblings were all awake so we opened our epiphany gifts (from Old Befana). I got a Mother Teresa of Calcutta Statue and some of the kids got Pac-Man(!!). I had a sudden spur of inspiration and I reorganized and rearranged the top of my cube shelf. It looks SO much better!!
I did some readings, I took some notes.
Cube shelf before:
all of the statues, the candle and rosaries were on my desk in a corner; on my cube shelf was the letter board with an overflowing bin of books for "right now". It just felt...cluttered...

(the overflowing basket) (I put the basket on the corner of my desk nearest my cube shelf where I had my statues and such before and I straightened out my books and such in it a little better. )

(some "before" pictures-all from a few weeks ago)

How the top of my cube shelf looks now! I really like it!

Pac Man!!

"Father Oak" Peg dolls! +a seminarian

A few more peg dolls! (Immaculate Heart of Mary, St Therese, Sacred Heart of Jesus)

Bishop Morlino Peg doll!

Readings for the feast day

(Lives of the Saints-Hoever, Latin Mass Children's Missal, With the Church volume 1 & Catholic All January (turns out I've been calling this by the wrong title ever since I got it)

(from Saints: a Year in Faith and Art)

Jennifer Mackintosh Planner + Notebook, ready for the day

A note on projects

It's been a full year of liturgical living for me, and I hope that the next year will be even fuller! With lots of research, I have been diving into all sorts of liturgical year projects and organizing lately. I have so many ideas that I want to do! I have been buying lots of things and books, and have more ordered/coming as well as some Amazon gift cards left to spend. (I kind of need to set up a budget for this) I have also been moving things around on my desk and cube shelf. I am trying to come up with a good solution to organize my liturgical year things. (it's a bit of a mess right now) This is just a little glimpse.... I still have a long way to go, but here are some projects that I am currently working on...

I got a  letter board!
I don't think I am really a letter board *person* but I want to try using one to display what day it is in/on the liturgical year (feast day/season/month theme/day theme).  That's my vision for this brand new  letter board that I got. A dry erase board seemed too tacky (although I did see some small/compact ones at Target that I half thought about getting..), but the letter board seems tedious to fill... If I feel like the letter board is not working out, I definitely won't have any other use for it. In any case, I got the cheapest letter  board I could find on Amazon (I couldn't believe how expensive most of them were!) (Also I'll admit that the one I got isn't the most attractive looking/best matching for my desk and cube shelf) I bet you didn't think that I had this much to say about letter boards, did you?

Peg dolls!
I have three Shining Light Dolls that I love, and I have know the existence of peg dolls for some time but never had one of my own. (I'm kind of into whimsical decor) After Bishop Morlino died, a friend was making Bishop Morlino peg dolls, and you know I jumped immediately at the chance to get one. (Seriously, I think I was the first person to ask for one, and I was so proud when I received mine) (Side  note: I really like having "art" of Bishop Morlino...this sounds weird, but it helps me remember he is actually dead---I think I'm still in denial about that). Later on, I said to the same person how I'd potentially want more peg dolls of various saints and people, and so I have requested  some (which should be coming soon!!), which leads me to...

My own replication of a Father Oak! And felt vestments!
So I had an Idea.... I want to replicate Father Oak to remind me to pray for priests more often. I printed off the instructions and found some templates, and at Catholic Schoolhouse a mom made some felt vestments to use with a felt board so I wanted to by felt vestments. Ideas #1 was get a wooden figurine of some sort and buy felt to make my own vestments to switch around on a figurine for the different feast days based on what the priest would wear. Execution of idea #1: I had a random spur of inspiration and bought one of those bendable drawing figurines on Amazon, a bit lanky, but I thought it would work. And I bought some felt. I bought the wrong felt, it is 2X2 inch pieces and the figurine is just too big, so I am returning those. I couldn't believe it when I opened the package that the felt was so small! Idea #2...I order some peg dolls of priests in various colors. (If you are wondering about more of my Amazon shopping mishaps...I wanted paperclips to do some paper clipping. I thought I was just buying a box, but in reality it was 10 boxes of 100 paper clips each....(!) so I am returning the paper clips as well. That many paper clips should last until my grandkids if I keep them!
so where we stand on this project, are some priest peg dolls in different color vestments (to rotate out) and a seminarian peg doll are being made for me. The plan is to switch around the priests as a reminder to pray for priests and also as a reminder of the color of vestments for the day. And the seminarian is to remind me to pray for my seminarian friends. And the plan is to have these live (somewhere) on my cube shelf.

New books!
My Daily Bread (small wine colored book from the Confraternity of the Precious Blood)
Art Through Faith (Seton grade 8) (reading now)
Bible History by Johnson & Hannan (finished, but now have the workbook to go through)
Bible History by Ignatius Schuster
...and more coming soon!!

New Things!
Not directly a liturgical year thing, but does enhance things for me...I got beats!! No more borrowing my brothers!! My beats are super slick!
About 2 months ago I had a friend make me some of those knotted cord rosaries (in black, of course). I love them a lot! and I recently got some more. They are my favorite rosaries now!!

Also, I still need more paperclips...

from my notebooks// some thoughts lately

This was written when we were on our trip to Italy. I wanted to share this because I've been thinking a lot about priests & me praying more for priests lately. I don't know if its because of the recent scandals outbreak (every time I go on Facebook or Instagram I just have articles and such of all kinds coming constantly through my feed about that), or because my seminarian pals are going back to school, or because I saw a seminarian pal the other day (he and I had two different "first week of school" experiences!) or what but this has been on my mind a lot lately, so, I wanted to share this as a letter of encouragement, I guess.

"we are on the train now and our theme for writing is going to be Rome, Assisi & Vocations. I have begun to think that the necessary place (&tool!!) for vocational discernment (for me & women) is here. Its a whole different feel & vibe here. Nuns/sisters, priests & seminarians of all colors, kinds & ages are here and they are everywhere, just going about their life. And there are all of these powerhouse churches & places filled with richness & great history. nuns & priests walking with a rosary in hand, wearing different kinds of garb. the clerical collar. familiarity. Beauty. example. a sense of  'they are just like us' learning and exploring. seeing them all inspires and challenges me to pray for current & future vocations even more. those living out religious vocations here are a sight to be seen. it really is beautiful. vocations are alive here. what an honor for seminarians to study here. what a great blessing. what a gift. what a gift, joy, blessing & service to the church this place is. .....I need to pray for familiar priests more frequently. I need to make a schedule/habit of the spiritual motherhood for priests & seminarians. like mass, Holy Hour & archbishop Brady's prayer for vocations. I need renewed dedication to/for this habit."
-May 2018 (I don't have the exact date)

"...the devil does not want us to succeed, but Christ has already won the victory!"-in a card to me from a new priest in our diocese.

Currently Reading This Week

Our Quest to Happiness series: Toward the Eternal Commencement

I've been reading this book for awhile, at least all Summer. Its good and all, but I haven't been plowing through it as quickly as I would have liked--I have read way too many catechism type books this summer. I put in a lot of reading/study in it this past week, so  I now have about 200 pages left. I am really hoping to finish this book this weekend and I think it will happen!

Introduction to the Devout Life   

This summer Mrs KBL and I read through the 40 dreams of St John Bosco twice. I like this book a lot, but for my sake, it needed to be rotated out of our reading pile for a little bit. Earlier this week I chose the Introduction of the Devout Life by St Francis de Sales for us to read together. Two years ago, I read this book for Advent but wasn't really into it but kept with it because it is a spiritual classic. This week I have gotten pretty into it. I don't think its the best book for us to read aloud, but its working for now. We are currently on page 39. I have skipped around a little bit while reading out loud because the meditations seemed a little weird to read out loud. We also sit and talk about the readings when I stop to catch my breath, and I always find those few minutes so valuable in our "reading time". With in a few hours of reading to her or the next morning, I take the time to make my notes on our reading either with quotes, a written narration or questions from the Kolbe Academy study guide for this book. As of now, I plan on us reading this book the whole way through, skipping some things here and there. With this book I don't, and really can't, have a goal for when to finish it. This book is clearly such a spiritual classic and I am so glad that I am taking time to read this book again!

Praying for our Priests by Monsignor Peter Dunne and Vicki Herout

This book came in the mail yesterday and I didn't get a chance to look it over to much yet, but I am excited to add it to my collection of Spiritual Motherhood for Priests/Seminarians resources. It seems more like a prayer book and less like a reading book.

Spiritual Motherhood for Priests/Seminarians Resources

The Spiritual Motherhood for priests and seminarians is one of my favorite devotions. When I was younger, but certainly not much younger, I didn't really see the importance of praying for priests with great intensity. Sure, I knew many priests in our diocese with varying degrees of familiarity and I had my favorites and all. And I did pray for priests, sometimes, but it wasn't until 3 or so years ago when I really realized the importance of the priesthood, the great need for priests and the seriousness of the vocation. I had first briefly discovered this devotion through this blog. Back then I had a close friend discerning the priesthood and he is now in the seminary. That's when I really began praying for his vocation, appreciating the priesthood and number of seminarians in my dioceses as well as making a big connection between the current seminarians being priests of the future, my future, and so now, I pray with great intensity with priests and seminarians and try to build strong & strengthen relationships with them. About two years ago I fully discovered this devotion it was through this talk and since then, and many notes and prayers later, I have gathered many resources. For awhile I offered my Tuesday mass for priests/seminarians. Now, its more like a daily thing for me. I usually say the Archbishop Brady Prayer for Vocations as well as one other prayer. And, I am always looking for new ideas to increase this devotion in my own life.

Prayers:
Archbishop Brady's Prayer for Vocations a parish that I regularly attend prays this prayer after the Gospel is read
A Daily Prayer for Priests
Jesus Make Me Worthy book, prayer for priests. I try to say this during/at mass at some point.
Institute of Christ the King when I first discovered this devotion this page was linked so this was the prayer I prayed.
Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary  a close friend of mine is at this seminary right now

Links:
Seven Sisters Apostolate-about, actual website
Msgr Bartylla Homily, vocation story

Talks:
Sensus Fedelium  about 2 years ago I re-discovered this devotion through this talk

Reading Material:
Adoration, Reparation, Spiritual Motherhood for Priests  this is the booklet that is talked about in the above talk. its a good one to print off and have on hand.
The 40 Dreams of st John Bosco. one of my absolute favorite spiritual reading books. a friend and I read this book almost daily.
This book  I just discovered this book today and quickly ordered it from Amazon