A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings

Today is Wednesday and time for my friend Judy's Meme A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings. Each Wednesday we give thanks to the Lord for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us.
This is my first time doing this Meme. The past year has been very challenging for our family as we experienced a pretty big health crisis with my husband (that's another post for the future or maybe even it's own blog!). So many people were so very wonderful to us that I would like to focus on their outpouring of love and kindness.
1. Thank you God for this cross you allowed us to carry for so many loooong months. We know You love us so very much and have allowed to grow so much closer to You as we relied only on You and the many beautiful people You brought into our lives during this time.
2. For our parents who went way above and beyond and helped us with childcare while Glenn was in the hospital, finances and gave us tremendous support, anytime, night or day.
3. For my sister Kim and her husband Troy who helped us in so many ways, and many times anonymously, with beautiful and truly humble hearts wanting nothing in return. We love you both and thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
4. For our many, many friends who offered to help in any way possible, and prayed for my husband and our family. These are some mighty prayer warriors and we felt every single prayer!
5. For the officers my husband works with and FOP Lodge 77. They sent gas cards, money and offered prayers for a quick and speedy recovery.
A.M.D.G~
Tammy

Hearts for Home

Thanks to my friend Judy for Teaching me all about Memes! This is my first shot at a meme so here goes......

Every Tuesday Gae at Cherished Hearts at Home hosts a 'Hearts for Home' meme. Each week we try to commit ourselves to 4-6 things that will bring our thoughts, prayers and actions to keeping our 'Hearts for Home'.

May all those who participate be abundantly blessed by their efforts.

This week I will try to:

1. Pray about each room in my home and it's purpose. I am trying to keep toys in toy room and our family room for reading, family prayer, etc. Pray to do all of this to glorify God!

2.Remain very positive and creative as cabin fever from 24+" of snow ( and more coming tonight) sets in with all of us.

3. Thank my husband for working so hard to keep us warm, happy and fed.

4. Thank my oldest daughter, Natalie, for all of the things she does for me....before I even ask!

5. Help my learning challenged son build confidence so he feels like he can do the work assigned. Shower him with kisses and encouragement!

6. Work on a spiritual bouquet for my mom as she battles cancer.

A must read for moms!

Danielle Bean has a lovely article over at InsideCatholic.com titled, A Mother's Liturgy of the Hours. I would encourage you to hop on over there right now and give it a read!! Danielle gives us a beautiful gift in A Mother's Liturgy of the Hours to read over and over. I absolutely loved this article and plan to print it out as a gentle reminder that my vocation as wife and mother are my path to sanctity and there is grace and beauty in each part of our day. As Danielle writes, "Lord,.....Touch my heart and show me where you lie patiently waiting for me- beneath the noise and chaos, in every moment of every day".
Thank you Danielle for being such a beautiful soul and for sharing that with all of us.
You can visit Danielle on her blog at Danielle Bean.
AMDG,
Tammy

These are a few of my favorite things! (2nd post today)

Over the years I have found so many wonderful things online. Ocassionally, on He Equips the Called, I would like to highlight a few of these finds. Many of them have been beautiful and positive additions to my prayer life, home schooling life or life as a wife and mom.

My feature today is Divine Office. Org. This is an online resource for praying the Liturgy of the Hours. Divine Office.org has a podcast and iPhone Apps you can subscribe to. If you do not have an MP3 player or an iPhone do not despair! You can go right to their website and the prayers for each day are right at your fingertips and ready to listen to at your computer!
So here is why I love it. I am currently in the Aspirants program for the Third Order Carmelites and have been trying to faithfully pray the Liturgy of the Hours for months. I have really struggled with this! I struggle because I have the One Volume edition of the Hours and I can never figure out where I need to be each day...even with the Guide! The quiet times I steal each day for prayer are short lived before I am called back to my daily duties as mom, cook, teacher, etc.
I subscribed to the podcast, from the Divine Ofice.org site. Every week I download several days worth of prayers. In the morning, and through out the day, I can listen to the Liturgy of the Hours on my ipod. The prayers start with the sound of a church bell ringing, calling you to prayer. The prayers are read by several people going back and forth as you would if you were praying with a community. The hymns are absolutely beautiful and put you immediately into a prayerful state. By having this very useful tool I am able to follow along in my book and actually keep up! Instead of being frustrated before I even begin I am filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to pray. Also, those short, quiet times are put to their full potential!
If you have ever struggled with, or would like to start praying, the Divine Office this tool is a must!

Tammy

My first Award!

I would like to thank my good friend Judy at BENMAKESTEN for the Lovely Lady, Lovely Blog award! This is my very first Blog award and I am so humbled and honored and completely unworthy!!

Now I am off to present this award to 5 other ladies in the Blogosphere. Stay tuned for a post highlighting their lovely blogs!

Thank you Judy!

Tammy

Our daily focus!

This week I attended a nutrition class for pre-diabetes/diabetes. My numbers are creeping up there and my Dr. wants me to "nip it in the bud". The class was very informative, and a little scary! I took all of my info home, checked the fridge and pantry, did some shopping and started this new way of eating. Now I have to say that this way of eating is not as overwhelming for me because I had Gestational diabetes while pregnant with my fourth. Same info, a few differences, but pretty much the same. What hasn't changed is the need to be focused on every single thing that goes into my mouth all day, every day!


When I had Gestational diabetes I was diligent about my diet, planning ahead, packing food if I went out, etc. This plan is a bit more relaxed but it got me thinking. When we focus on something day in and day out it becomes our life....then I had an AHA moment!

Hey, I should be this focused on my prayer life! If I actually prepare for my morning prayer time before I go to bed I will be ready to start as soon as I get up and therefore taking advantage of every minute before everyone awakes!




If I write on my lunch menu space, "Pray the Angelus" and put our little prayer cards on the table for the little ones, we will remember to pray the Angelus at lunch.





After dinner, if I start gathering rosaries ahead of time we can have a smoother transition into our family rosary.




At bedtime take the time, before I am exhausted, to examine my conscience, give thanks and getting ready for the next day.


See I realize that many of the things that keep our family from enjoying a consistent prayer life is that it is, many times, an after thought or a "hurry it's past bedtime and we haven't prayed the rosary yet!" These frazzled times often lead to frustration and sometimes we just give up.


I can't do this with my diet and I certainly shouldn't do this with my prayer life. It is vitally important to my soul. Matthew Kelly, in his talk Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality, says that what we focus on is what we live. If we focus on our faith daily, throughout the day, we'll find ourselves living our beautiful faith in a very concrete way!


So I plan on keeping my focus on our faith life, and of course my eating! I am so thankful that God has given me this opportunity to turn something like diabetes into a way to consistently bring our whole family closer to Him! Please pray for me on this new journey and be assured of my prayers for you and yours!

Blessings in Christ,
Tammy

Back to Blogging!

If I were to write a book on blogging (which I obviously couldn't because I have no clue what I'm doing) I would say my number one tip would be, "Don't start a new blog, especially if you've never blogged before, the week before Thanksgiving!" Which is exactly what I did. What was I thinking??
I think another blogging tip would be, "Post to your own blog before visiting the many blogs that you love!" Some nights I spend so much time visiting other blogs that I neglect my own!

I would like to say thank you to my very dear friend Judy at BENMAKESTEN for helping me with the learning process of blogging. She spent a good amount of time with me when we visited her and her beautiful family in November and I am sooooo grateful!

Anyway, pray for my blogging skills and my ability to properly manage my time.



AMDG,
Tammy