Cottage Blessings

Would the dear angel please stand up?

Yesterday morning, the children noticed a large package poised tantalizingly on the front steps. After tearing it open (in a scene reminiscent of Christmas morning), we found this:

Clearly, one of you darling friends saw our saturated (and brand new, I might add) GeoSafari Talking Globe and came to the rescue! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am overwhelmed and deeply moved.

Now the question is: WHO? : ) : ) : )

Would the thoughtful darling please stand up?

This must be finals week

You are a 100% traditional Catholic!

 

Congratulations! You are more knowlegeable than most modern theologians! You have achieved mastery over the most important doctrines of the Catholic Faith! You should share your incredible understanding with others!

Do You Know Your Baltimore Catechism?
Make Your Own Quiz

HT: MacBeth and Dawn

As you know, I only post quizzes with flattering results

You know the Bible 100%!

 

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

HT: Elena

This was a fun quiz--thank you, Elena!

Ten Things I Love that Begin with the Letter S

The delightful Dawn, who needs no introduction, passed along this lively alphabet meme. Here are the ten things I love beginning with the letter S, the perfect letter for a Saturday night, and, yes, I am sipping sweet tea as I type this:

1. The Blessed Sacrament;

2. Saints, all of them;

3. Springtime and Summer;

4. Swallows and Amazons;

5. Sunshine and showers;

6. School at home;

7. Starting a new year;

8. Seven children;

9. Sitting with my husband at the end of the day; and, of course,

10. By Sun and Candlelight, Dawn's wonderful web log (Thanks again for this meme, Dawn, it was fun!)

ZuZu's Petals

We have talked about the leaves of friendship here at Cottage Blessings before, but over in the Bonny Glen this morning, you will find a regular primordial forest of friendship, green and growing and stretching on forever.

As most of you know, I have a bug on my computer that has been preventing me from commenting on Typepad blogs for a little while now, so this post is meant as an enormous thanks and grateful comment to Lissa on today's unbelievable gesture of friendship toward me:

Lissa, I love you. You have made me a much, much, much better mother since the day we met, and your influence on my spirit has been a blessing, not only to me, but to my children. What a gift your post is on the anniversary of this blog that was inspired completely by *you and the Bonny Glen*--I am overwhelmed continually by your generosity, your kindness, and your incredible writing talent. There aren't words to live up to your post, and anything I can say will fall short by miles and miles and miles. Still, I think I hear bells ringing from here to California because you, Lissa, are an angel!

Bonny Blue Baby and a Bevy of Carnivals

It looks as if the feminine half of the Bonny Blue Babies is on the mend. Take a look at this buoyant clip! (I need to get one of those for Eileen.)

Perhaps little Brigid is bouncing for joy after hearing about Helen's moving Loveliness of Motherhood Fair or Mary Ellen's memorable Loveliness of Christmas.

I know how you feel, Brigid--Helen and your Mommy have been having that effect on me for years!

December 17: "O Wisdom"

Five weeks ago, while planning our Advent Cubes project, I was surprised to notice something that had eluded me before. Seeing that the O Antiphon for December 17th is "O Wisdom," I could not help smiling to myself and contemplating what a perfect day it would be to celebrate the birthday of my best friend, Lissa.

If you were to ask for one word to characterize Lissa during our decade of friendship, I think "wisdom" would be the perfect choice. Her example of wisdom as a wife and mother--through times of joy and times of trial--has been a blessing to me and countless others. This year, the date has an added significance--Gaudete Sunday, the most joyful day of Advent, for a woman whose very life is a song of joy!

And so, dear Lissa, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We will be three hours into our celebration here on the east coast by the time the Pacific catches up!

[Oh, and I have a funny story to tell about Lissa, but exhaustion dictates that it wait until tomorrow!]

Little Known Facts

I had the honor of being tagged by my dear friends, The Bookworm and Plainsong, for the ten Random Facts Meme. Here is my list, and I sincerely hope it will not be too tedious with all those I's in every single sentence!

1. Like my friends, Rebecca and Kim, I am an only child. (My husband is one of eleven!)

2. I am one of those people who has never quite mastered my right from my left. (Trivia question: Did any of you notice the glaring mistake in my original posting of "The Heart of the Priesthood"?)

3. I have been a lector for 25 years without ever taking a hiatus (beginning in grammar school--I mention this because I don't want you twenty-something moms to think I am a hundred!)

4. I was the valedictorian of the graduating class in the last school I attended. (Sorry to be vague. I am trying not to give away too much information on the internet.)

5. I did not learn to drive until the age of thirty. (And, no, driving school is not the school mentioned in number 4, although that would be pretty funny.)

6. My granduncle, Joseph Dunn, was a victim of the Matawan Maneater. My grandfather, Michael, pulled him from the shark's jaws.

7. In December of 1980, a picture of me mourning for John Lennon outside the Dakota appeared on the cover of New York Newsday.

8. When this woman first told me her plan to home educate, I was surprised because I had never heard of anyone doing such a thing. While on vacation that summer (1996), with her plan fresh in my mind, I had an instantaneous and irrevocable "conversion experience" watching the home education episode of The Abundant Life with Johnnette Benkovic on EWTN. The show made me see that home education was not only a good idea, but my clear calling in life. Two weeks later, I met this woman at a local bakery. Do you think God was trying to reinforce my decision, or what?

9. My name, Alice, has been passed down for at least two hundred years on my mother's side of the family.

10. Some of you sharp readers may already know that Beyond the Heather Hills by Melissa Wiley is dedicated to my four oldest daughters and me. (Run and check your shelves now!) You may not know that the girls and I helped name the book. Lissa asked us to choose between "Beyond the Heather Hills" and "Fair City by the Tay." I hope you like our pick!

Tag:

Time-Really-Does-Fly

Family in Feast and Feria

Mozart & Mudpies

A Living Education

The Journey of a Mother's Heart

Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother

Mousey Trails

Cottage Blushings

I have always loved The Bookworm, and now I love her even more!

THANK YOU!

Happy Birthday

to a very dear friend of mine!