Seven Quick Takes: music + books + summer

I'm linking up with the wonderful Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum for one of my favorite old school blogging events: Seven Quick Takes Friday


 - ONE -

The first time I heard this song I thought it was Peter Gabriel. It's Francis and the Lights featuring Chance the Rapper, though if you listen you have to give it to me: it sounds a lot like Peter Gabriel, amiright?

 Man, do I love this one.


- TWO -

This summer I signed myself and the kids up for the Summer Reading Program at the local library. I count any time spent listening to the Harry Potter audio books, reading to my kids, and these babies here. Along with my Bible, these are the books I'm reading. 

Orthodoxy has been hard for me - it's so dense with it's page long paragraphs - but I'm sticking with it because those truth bombs he drops are so, so good. 

I've really enjoyed re-reading Sense and Sensibility for the first time in years. I often find myself laughing out loud and unable to explain why to my kids. Jane Austen would surely not approve  but I'm just not as clever. 

Who Does He Say You Are? is an incredible book and I'm so glad I picked it up. I highly recommend it to read by yourself or in a group. Super good. 

A Wrinkle in Time is one I read in middle school and re-reading it now I'm shocked that it was part of my 6th grade public school curriculum with all the talk about Jesus and quoting Scripture. I'm gonna guess that Oprah's version of the movie changes some of that. True?

- THREE - 

My friend Nell gifted us with the sweetest little dress for sweet little MJ. The material has a Secret Garden print on it and is soft and stretchy and just lovely. I wanted to share it with you because Nell's re-stocking her Etsy shop - Whole Parenting Goods - with all kinds of sweet dresses just like this. The shop re-opens at 10am CST on Monday with it's limited stock so be sure you check it out Monday morning for first dibs! You can get a preview on her Instagram account and if you sign up for her shop's newsletter you'll get a coupon code this weekend! Everything I've gotten from Nell's shop has been top quality and super adorable. I promise you'll love it!


- FOUR -
Tomorrow morning is the first meeting for the Blessed Is She summer study I'm holding with women from the area. I'm only cleaning my living room and bathroom. That's totally legit, right?

I baked these little rectangular gingerbread cookies so I could pipe sweet little pretty things on them to serve with the coffee. The rectangles look wompy and wiggly and who knows if I'll have time to pipe anything on them in the morning. I'll post it on Instagram if I do and then you can see how unimpressive they turn out to be. ha!

Update: here they are! Roses, Fiats, and Marian symbols. You can almost hear the trombones playing, can't you? Womp, womp, woooooommmp!

And as an aside, if you're looking for a good gingerbread cookie use these from Mary Haseltine. Such a great recipe. We use Crisco and egg replacer and they still are amazing!



- FIVE -

My new planner arrived and I started filling in important dates for August. First day of school, you guys! It's on the calendar! Also, see those pens lined up in a row? That's how I organize my life.
Black = whole family
Silver = Travis
Gold = Me
Purple = L
Orange = Ben
Blue = JF
Pink = Resa
Green = Jofis
Red = Tee
Periwinkle = MJ
So this way I only have to write the what, when, & where on the calendar and not the person because the color tells me the who. It's really nice.

And if you're still looking for a planner Tea with Tolkien did a very nice review of some really popular brands. She was fair and honest about all the pros and cons, and the Blessed Is She planners (regular and mini) are included.


- SIX -
I know I just talked about the beginning of the new school year when summer isn't even half way done yet. We've had a good run so far and I thought I'd share some highlight pictures:

Trying to win a free vacation from a local radio station. We're shameless. 

Sprinkler parks: fun and free. The heat index was over 100 this day so I put on my suit, too. 

Our very dear neighbor volunteers at a local museum and we were so happy to get a special tour from him. 

Corpus Christi procession - Ben was asked to help carry the canopy and he was so honored. Nervous, excited, and so honored. 

The fair came to town and we made the kids clean the whole house and then we took them. 

- SEVEN -

Just a reminder about the Kickstarter campaign for Catholic musician Matt Faley's next album. Go, back it, and then make sure you let me know so I can enter you to win some of the suh-weet prizes that are special just for my blog readers. You won't be sorry you did!



And a great big THANK YOU to Kelly for hosting!

An Easy + Lovely Blessed Brunch

Recently I hosted a Blessed Brunch in my home and I received quite a few questions from women such as "Is it easy to do?" "What are the expectations?" and "Who came?" These questions came from local friends and strangers online but there were a lot of them so I wanted to share what my experience was like in case you, too, have been looking to build some friendships and were wondering if a Blessed Brunch was the way to do it.  

To begin, I went to the Midwest Region Blessed Is She Facebook group and asked if there was any interest in my area in having a BIS group to meet over the summer to do one of the Mystery Studies with me. When I learned that women were interested I signed up on the BIS website to host a Brunch, which I then publicized on my personal Facebook page and in the Midwest Regional Group. I thought a Brunch was a nice way to kick-off the Study but a Blessed Brunch can definitely be a stand alone thing.

And then Blessed Is She did a lot of the work for me. They put the link to sign up for the Brunch on their page and emailed me with info every time someone signed up. With each email I received I would then contact the woman who had registered, telling her how happy I was that she was coming; reminding her of the date, time, and that lap babies were welcome; and sharing my address with her.

The day before the brunch I did my shopping, some cleaning, and some prep work. I bought paper plates and plastic cups, orange juice (I bought two but only one was drunk), creamer, and some chocolates. I used paper napkins that were left over from my son's First Communion, our regular forks, and coffee cups. I borrowed white tablecloths and a long folding table from my mom. I cut some flowers from my yard, cleaned my bathroom and kitchen, dusted my living and dining rooms, and vacuumed.

The morning of my husband loaded up the kids and off they went for about three hours. I brewed some coffee, set out ice water, put on this Spotify playlist, and set out these Encourage Scripture cards. Now, Blessed Is She emails the host a sign in sheet for the guests, a suggested prayer to lead others in, an outline for the brunch so you know what to do when, and suggested discussion topics but I wanted to do something a little extra. Upon their arrival, I invited my guests to go through the Scripture verses and choose the one that spoke to them the most. Then, at brunch we went around and introduced ourselves and shared with Scripture card we picked and why. It allowed women to share parts of their stories that they wouldn't have otherwise and I'm so glad the Holy Spirit put that idea in my head. I then invited everyone to take home their card to frame, tape to their mirror, or stick in their Bible. 

I don't share that with you so you feel like you need to do something like it too but so you know that it's okay to vary a bit from the provided script! If the Holy Spirit nudges us to do something we should follow!

We did use the discussion questions that were provided by Blessed Is She but there was also lots of time to just chat and get to know one another. Just about every age and stage of woman was there - single, married, pregnant, postpartum, grandmother, working, stay-at-home, small family, adoptive mom, big family, and on and on. Some of the women I know very well, some I know casually, and some I met for the very first time. It was so nice to have such a great mix!

Because I knew I wanted to do one of the Mystery studies I set out my copies next to the sign-in sheet. I also put out some holy cards and the chocolates for women to take if they wanted. In the last twenty or so minutes I invited everyone interested in doing a Study to sign in and look at the Studies to get a feel for which one they'd like to do. Then we closed in prayer. Everyone packed up their items and it was done. It was a wonderful morning! Everything ran smoothly and next week we will begin our Summer Study of the Luminous Mysteries.

The Blessed Brunch almost ran itself and was such a wonderful event. If you are interested in starting something in your area I would really encourage you to pray about it and then take the leap if God is calling you to do it! You won't regret it!


PS - If you are interested you can join a Blessed Is She Regional Facebook group here and you can sign up to attend or host a Blessed Brunch here. If you want to buy the Mystery studies for yourself you can do that here.

I'm not trying to sell you stuff, I just want you to know

You know how you miss announcements and then you're all like, "Well, I didn't know," and everyone's like, "Well it was on Facebook," and you're just like, "That stupid algorithm keeps changing and I never see what I want, just my family member who's political views are the exact opposite of mine so I was trying to stay off Facebook to improve my stress levels," and it feels like you just can't win?

Wow do I hate that. 

And so while this post does have a handful of affiliate links (denoted with an *) please know that I'm just trying to make sure you know about these things, in case you're interested. But let's start with some music:

But if you'd rather listen to a podcast you might like The Gathering Place or Certifiably Catholic, which are a couple of new podcasts I am loving.


Alright, first announcement: This coming Wednesday I am giving a workshop on Living Out Community in the Every Day and the Extraordinary. It's all about being the kind of friend you want to have and how we can support one another through seasons of crisis or survival but also when we're thriving. There is a $15 price tag to watch though it's free for BIS Members. You can register to watch here - let me know in the comments if you're planning on being there!

Up next: The Blessed Is She Academic Planners are on sale right now but the pre-order sale will be ending soon so don't put this off! The planners always sell out and this is the cheapest they will be. Plus, there are two versions now - the standard, 8x10" one and now a mini version! Both planners have all the liturgical info (prayers, feast and fast days, novena start dates, etc) and follow the academic calendar. They will be shipped this summer. Planners for the 2019 calendar year will go on sale this fall. 

This is a little glimpse at the Mini. It has a lot of the same features of the larger, original planner, but was tweaked with feedback from the masses. ;) You can pre-order yours here*.

You can bet your bottom dollar I will be getting another standard sized academic planner. This baby is beautiful but works hard. And the new one has a Grocery list I can remove to take to the store! #loveit If you have any questions about it please feel free to ask. It's definitely an investment piece but I use it almost every single day and it helps me stay organized like nothing else has before.  You can pre-order yours here*.


Also:

You can still get the four part study guide on the rosary, Mystery, here*. I know that I'm partial because I wrote Believe on the Glorious Mysteries and because I just love Blessed Is She in general, but these studies are so lovely.

Plus, the BIS / OSV Catholic Journaling Bible is still for sale* and is as awesome as ever.

That Eucharist sticker in the margin of my Bible was purchased from Look to Him Be Radiant Etsy Shop.

I also have started memorizing Scripture again and this time I'm trying to rope my kids in it with me. We're using the Encourage Bible Verse Cards* the first of which is pictured above.

My Love Like Therese / Serve Like Gianna / Fight Like Joan / Love Like Mary mug is from Sancta Bovina.


Oh! And I wrote the devotion today BIS. It's called Build that Bible Habit and it's a reflection on the interaction Philip has with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts.


And that's it! Now you're in the know. I hope something here was helpful, even it was just having some good Praise music to worship with.

Happy Easter, friends!

The Rosary and Sarah's Laugh

Last fall my friend Beth sent me an email inviting me to write a study for Blessed Is She on the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. The BIS leadership team had been discussing it, praying over it, and wanted me to do it. I was incredibly honored but I had to admit something to them before I could accept: I rarely pray the rosary. 

Oh my goodness! I said it! I said it to women I admire who love the rosary! But I felt like it needed to be shared: I rarely pray the rosary. Would they still want me? (And now that you know will you still want me?) I mean- I love Mary, and I frequently meditate on the life of Christ (the heart of the rosary), and I usually try to do what God and the Church encourage me to do but the rosary.... for some reason it is hard for me. It lulls me to sleep. I can't do the prayers and the meditating together. 

But they didn't care. They asked me to sit with the Scripture that inspires the Glorious Mysteries and to look at Christ's life through Mary's eyes. It was a beautiful, powerful experience for me and the months and teamwork that went into the prayer, writing, editing, and designing of this book are very dear to me. 

The book is called Believe and it is part of a four-book grouping called Mystery and belongs with the Blessed Conversations series.

As we worked behind the scenes and sent it off to the printer I grew more and more excited to share it with my friends, family, and you. This is my first actual book that was actually published by an actual real ministry and I am proud of it. 

And then something happened that took my breath away for a moment. 

I was scrolling through Instagram and I saw that another women's ministry is launching the sale of the exact same kind of study - a book filled with reflections on the Rosary. It looks lovely - I sincerely mean that - and I never saw this coming so out of surprise I laughed. And in my laughter I thought of this passage:

Instantly in my mind's eye Sarah stood next to me, her eyes twinkling as she laughed with delight at the thoroughness of God. 

It looks like the Holy Spirit really wants us to pray the Rosary and spend time reflecting on the life of Christ, ladies! How beautiful that different women in different ministries both heard the same prompting?! This is not a bad thing, a competition, a popularity contest - this is the power of the Holy Spirit getting the job done! And it makes me laugh. 

The Mystery series are on sale now and will be shipped in time for Easter. They are perfect for individual or small group study and personally I would start with the Glorious Mysteries since those are the ones that deal with the Resurrection. ;)

You can buy them as a bundle or an individual booklet and they are available as digital downloads or printed and saddle stitched. Laura Kelly Fanucci wrote Behold on the Joyful Mysteries, Brigid Hogan wrote Beloved on the Luminous Mysteries, Sr. Maria Kim Bui wrote Belong on the Sorrowful Mysteries, and I wrote Believe on the Glorious Mysteries.  (All of those links are my affiliate links - thanks for using them!)

And before you go I have a couple more exciting announcements! 

This coming Monday and Tuesday, March 19th and 20th, I will be giving a mini parish mission at St. Mary's in Mount Caramel, Illinois. It would be so cool if you can join me! And if you are a Berberich I especially want to meet you since I count one of your relations as a good family friend. 

Then, on Friday, March 23rd Travis, MJ, and I will be at St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, Minnesota. I will be sharing the story of James' alleged miracle at a prayer rally for Fulton Dobbs. I would really appreciate Minnesota folks coming to support the Dobbs family and to pray for a miracle for Fulton. 

When the Spirit has something to say

You guys, this post contains affiliate links. Ye be warned.


As a writer for Blessed Is She I am given my devotion assignments two at a time. So in November I was given my December and January dates and I sat down to begin my work. I prayed to the Holy Spirit for guidance, read the Mass readings for my December date, and prayed through them again, listening for the Lord to speak. There were two parts of the Gospel that stood out to me and I didn't know which to write on - the need for friends or Jesus' question, "Why are you thinking such things in your heart?" I decided to set it aside and move on to January's readings. And when I got there it was the same Gospel.

So in December I wrote about the need for "people who will believe so hard and love so big that they will break down walls for you." (You can read the rest of that one here.)

And for today I wrote about what I learned when Jesus asked me, "Why are you thinking such things in your heart?" (You can read that one here.)

So how 'bout that?

And in other Blessed Is She news, the Lent Journal is available now. It's called She Who Believed and is written by Laura Kelly Fanucci, the same author of the Advent Journal. She is such a powerful writer and this book promises to be just as beautiful and the Advent Journal was.

In Laura's words, She Who Believed, "dives into the stories of women in Scripture to learn what they teach us about prayer." Each week the book looks at four women - two from the Old Testament and two from the New - and challenges us to grow our prayer life while deepening our knowledge of Scripture. Flipping through my copy I am really impressed with what lies ahead and I invite you to get a copy yourself.  The book will discuss how real women wrestled with God while helping us prepare for Easter.

As usual, there is a limited number of Lenten journals and they *will* sell out. Once they are all sold an e-version will be available. Also, if you have a Blessed Is She Membership yours will be auto-shipped to you! To purchase a copy of She Who Believed or even the Catholic Journaling Bible please go here. God bless, sisters.

Starting Right Here: A Happy New Year

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
Lyrics from JJ Heller's This Year

It's negative one outside with a windchill of negative 17. I'm wearing my slipper boots and cardi and drinking warm tea with honey cause baby, it's cold outside! And this post may be a heavy dose of navel gazing but my fingers want to type and I want to write this out and so I hope you don't mind sitting with me through this.

(Here's hoping my kids will play by themselves long enough to let me do it!)

Thirteen months ago started a really, really rough time for me. Sickness, death, grief, hard parenting, open heart surgery for L, and major surgery for me. Months and months of hard but I remember holding my sweet newborn while recovering from my second c-section and thinking to myself, "It's all done. We're through the thick of it." And especially as the school year started and a routine was established I saw us all thrive and I felt like it was really true. In my prayer I felt this
 p e a c e  like an exhale and I repeatedly had this image of a clearing in the woods. The woods, dense and dark and scary, were behind me and in the distance there were more woods, though not has thick or scary. But I was standing in an open field with tall green grass and sweet flowers.

In September I attended the Blessed Is She writers' retreat and there the fabulous Beth Davis was praying over me. She said, "Bonnie, I don't know if this will mean anything to you but I just see this huge field of wildflowers for you" and BAM: ugly cry. There it was from someone else - the same Holy Spirit showing the same promise for me to both of us. I will readily admit, I was overwhelmingly relieved.

It was at that same retreat, though, that Travis called me to let me know that he was at the emergency room because he was experiencing loss of balance, numbness, and other signs of a stroke. The ER doctor thought it was actually his body reacting to stress and exhaustion (football season + seven kids + hard work around home) and I wasn't scared. Because that field of wildflowers was as good as Noah's rainbow.

I came home from the retreat and there were more tests for Travis. Our family doctor suspected that Travis had MS which was showing itself because of exhaustion and stress but I held out hope. In the end all the neurological issues went away with allergy medicine and sleep. Seriously. And the words from Isaiah rang so true in my heart, "God indeed is my Savior. I am confident and unafraid."

Halloween and Thanksgiving and Advent came and went. Our family was healthy and happy with the kids growing and learning and things going well. A clearing in the woods, filled with thriving wildflowers.

And as the New Year approached people started talking about adopting a saint and a word of the year. I've never done the word of the year thing before because, well, I thought it was weird, but as the conversations began I remembered that St. John Paul the Great was the saint appointed to me by Jennifer Fulwiler's saint generator last year. Back then I thought, "Oh yeah! He's great! What wonderful, evangilistic things will come my way?" but now I see that he probably wanted to walk with me through all that suffering and I had, for the most part, forgotten about him. Stupid me.

But this year I am paying attention. I have this feeling that God is calling me to do beautiful work for Him in the hidden, quiet, normal of my home and daily life as wife and mom. St. Cecilia was the saint given to me this year and I think she wants to show me how to live so that my heart is always glorifying God.

And this year I decided to try the whole word of the year thing and as I prayed about it, at home and Mass and adoration, I kept coming back to the word "be." It isn't flashy, in fact it seems to reinforce the hidden and quiet that I already mentioned. And then (!) the word that was randomly chosen for me from Jen's word of the year generator was BLOSSOM. It's different than thrive, you know, which seems to have to do with *doing* whereas blossom seems to be about *being.* Just do what you do, be who you are meant to be and you will blossom... in a a field of wildflowers... in a clearing in the woods.

There is a peace in heart and a hope in my Lord and I know that whatever happens God is good.

You can find your saint here.
Have a word of the year picked here.

Ways to Pray - Sign Up for the Online Study

UPDATE: All nine spots have been filled and registration is now closed. Thanks!


I have been wanting to do the Blessed Is She "Ways to Pray" study from the Blessed Conversations series. And I thought it would be fun if I did it with you!

"Ways to Pray" is a three part study, based on the Catechism and written by the lovely and wise Rose Coleman. It covers vocal, meditative, and contemplative prayer and I'm hoping it will help me launch more fully into Advent and clear my head a bit after an incredibly busy back to school season.

The online study will be hosted by me and held on Google Hangouts. Space is limited so please only sign up if you are sure you can commit to all three sessions: November 2, 9, and 16 at 8:30 pm Central Time. The nine spots will be filled on a first come, first serve basis and I'll email you to set things up once registration is closed.

If you want to sign up, please go here.
If you want to buy your downloadable copy of the study, please go here. (You can wait for confirmation that you're in the study group first if you want. PS - That's my affiliate link.)



PS: In case you didn't hear there are a few awesome items in the Blessed Is She shop including the Advent Journal, 2018 Planner, Selah daily prayer journal, and the brand-spanking-new journaling Bible, which is available for pre-order now and will be in your hands this January! You can check out any of the items and buy them through my affiliate link here. Happy shopping and thank you!

Phoenix in Spring + Jesus + the Beloved Retreat

Things have been tough for me since November. I've been tired in every way a person can be tired. I spent most of December super sick. In January I sat at my grandfather's death bed for a week and then buried him the next. In February we buried Travis' grandfather. And this month, March, we had a really tough meeting about a variety of learning disabilities and developmental delays in one of our kids.

I feel defeated in a lot of ways, run down, like a failure, worried about the future, and sad about the past. There have been highlights, like Kathryn and The Head and the Heart, but folks, it was an incredibly special day when my husband forwarded me an email from a friend with travel information. I had been gifted the amazing opportunity to attend the Blessed Is She Beloved Retreat held March 18th in Phoenix, Arizona. And I cried, feeling both unworthy of such a gift and so grateful for the chance to retreat.

Besides the fact that it felt like Illinois in July it was perfect. There seems to be a rule that you have to be really beautiful and amazing to live in Arizona because every single woman I met was both of those. I had great conversations with complete strangers, caught up with several old friends, and was blown away by the awesomeness of the Catholic community in the Phoenix area. 

But the retreat... Folks, it was breathtaking. Beautiful touches were everywhere to make things super special, unique, and feminine. The vibe was hip but not pretentious, joyful but vulnerable, prayerful but fun. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all served and they were delicious. The swag bag was great: informative, practical, and with a few really special touches. 

But what made it really powerful for me were the talks, the praise and worship, and adoration. The day followed Henri Nouwen's Life of the Beloved, with each talk building on the previous ones, explaining how we are Chosen, Blessed, Broken, and Given. There were Truths spoken in those talks that really shook me. There were things said that spoke right to my wounds and doubts and fears. By the time we got to Beth Davis' talk on being Broken I was biting my lip so as not to do a sobbing ugly cry. 

 For all the pretty touches throughout the day and the amazing worship, led by Ike Ndolo, his band, and Emily Wilson (who also gave the Blessed talk), I spent the second half of the day stuck in the Broken. I knew that was Sr. Maria Kim, and Emily, and Beth were saying was all true but I couldn't let go and do what they said.

"The Lord is the God of Israel," Sr. Kim had said. "And He is yours, too. Ask Him to speak your name in prayer. The Lord is the God of Bonnie. It is personal and intimate."

"Whatever it is that you believe about yourself - you're not good enough, pretty enough, you're a failure, a loser, a bad mom, stupid, worthless - whatever it is, hold it up to God and ask Him, "Is this true?" Emily spoke these words but I couldn't do it.

"Invite Jesus into your brokenness and let Him heal it," Beth said but the thought scared me because my current state of brokenness seems such a mess. 

And then came adoration. They said Father would process with the monstrance but what he did was so much more than that. Every woman had an intimate, personal encounter with Christ in the Eucharist as the priest brought Him to us all. And as He stood before me I couldn't hold it in any more. And with my tears, the priest brought Christ even closer. It was intense and powerful and healing. 

Honestly, I'm still unpacking it all. I'm still thinking and praying on it all and reviewing what all I saw and heard and felt. 

You can see more pictures and watch a clip of adoration on my Instagram feed but, wow, ladies, I hope you can do one better and go to a Beloved Retreat yourself one day. It was refreshing to my soul and good for my heart. 

PS - I heard that there is still a handful of tickets left for the Austin, Texas Beloved Retreat happening *this* Saturday, April 1st. If you can, please go. If you have half as good and beautiful of a time as I did you will not be sorry you went. Go with your mom, your sisters, your small group, and don't be afraid to go alone if you have to. You won't feel alone or left out, I promise. 

You can learn more and get your ticket here.

A Potluck Post

You know, a potluck: a little of this, a little of that, everyone brings their best stuff?

In case you missed these blog posts, podcasts, and announcements in other parts of the web I thought I'd share the good news here. :)


First up: Blessed Is She is growing by offering more regional retreats!


In a couple weeks they will be on the beach (literally? I don't know.) in Seal Beach, California. You can still sign up for the October 15th retreat and for those close to the Southwest there is an upcoming retreat in Chandler, Arizona on March 18. Midwesterners and East Coasters - a BIS retreat will be coming your way, too, so stay tuned. For more information and to register go here.


Second, here's some of my favorite recent reads and listens from the internet:
Success is Not a Name of God
The Story of a Forever Home
Why and How I Chucked 2/3 of My Closet
If You Bring a Mom a Muffin
I Want a Better Marriage
The Power of Writing It Down
To Live With Our Wounds
Long Live the Queen
An Apology to My Readers
Life in the Time of Grief and Twitter
Saying 'Yes' in the Mess: Mary's Fiat for Overwhelmed  Moms



And finally, if you are a small business owner, crafter, vendor, etc please consider being a part of
my upcoming Advent Care Package Giveaway. I did one two years ago and will be doing it again this November. If you'd like to be part of the merry-making, and have your business / item featured on my blog and social media please email your information, proposed donation, item's dollar value, and all relevant website / social media links to bonniefandel at gmail dot com. All donations would need to be shipped to me by November 1st to be eligible for the giveaway.

Alright! Have a great day, folks! xo

Seven Quick Takes for Your Friday Afternoon

1 - Ahhhh... The Head and the Heart have a new album and this is the new single and I just love it all. (Remember the time Blythe interviewed her brother Kenny - the pianist in THATH - for my blog? It was a good one.)


2 - So who watched Kathryn's Blessed Is She workshop, Raising a Holy Family: Toddlers Through Teens last night? I was so excited to see it - Kathryn has spoken at my parish's mom group before and she was amazing. Her wisdom, her humility, her Texas twang - all of it! Unfortunately I had to miss it...


3 - ... because of freakin' Hand, Foot, and Mouth. Two of my boys have it now and I'm sure Jofis will come down with it, too. I'm holding out how that Baby Tee, the girls, and Travis and I will be safe. For some reason this strand is taking down adults, too, and with school and back to school events beginning next week for half of this household I really hope it's all said and done asap.


4 - But back to happier things and Kathryn... I'm throwing a Star Wars themed birthday party for the boys later this month. Basically I am just gonna do what Kathryn did for her Star Wars themed party. Why re-create the wheel, right? I did just buy this Darth Vadar costume (affiliate link!), one in small and one in medium. It will serve as birthday presents and Halloween costumes, and it will end hours of fighting to our days! My boys love Darth Vadar, not Han Solo, not Finn, not Chewie. Darth Vadar. Oh well.


5 - Here's a quick tip: Got beer you don't like? Use it to cook your stew meat or roast in. It has worked for us every time. In fact, the more we hate the beer the more we love the gravy!


6 - One perk of being a blogger is being able to send flowers for free to a friend as part of a company's incentive. It's true - and you can think what you want of me. I was so grateful
to FTD for sending me this gorgeous bouquet of flowers and letting me send some love to Nell with the same arrangement. She has been a great blogging buddy - she cheers me on and gently corrects and directs when needed. She has opened her heart and home to me and has done so much in service to Blessed Is She and Catholic bloggers everywhere.

So thanks, FTD, for allowing us to #connectbetter. ;)


7 - Last but not least, Kelly's 7QTs today is so good: What To Do When Your Child Won't Stop Staring at a Person in a Wheelchair. I thought it was super helpful.

Instagrammers you should follow, In This House of Brede, and a few other bits and bobs

1 - I heard this song on Lark Rise to Candleford, hunted it down, and taught it to my kids. It's a fun song to sing, though my husband thinks I'm nuts and typing it all out makes me feel really lame.


2 - Two years ago this August I ran a series called Instagrammers You Should Follow and highlighted the IG account of Anna Hatke. If you didn't begin following her then you really should now. Each summer she and her girls return to the storybook Italian village where her family's roots are. Sometimes her husband, author and illustrator Ben Hatke, comes too but this year it's just the ladies. And the pictures are gorgeous and magical. Follow her.


3 - And while you're over in Instagram land, I am also going to recommend you follow my friend Shana. She's just a mom and a wife and a woman who loves Jesus. She also happens to have a great sense of humor.

The funny thing is I never knew Shana before but I knew OF Shana. She was like a legend, a demi goddess. In high school one of my best friends was LB. Her older sister's best friend was Sarah. Sarah mentored LB and me a bit through a Christian youth program and we both thought Sarah was so cool. Shana is Sarah's older sister and everyone thought Shana was outrageous and amazing and the. coolest. person. ever. Ever.

So enough about 16 year old Bonnie and 21(?) year old Shana. She's pregnant and funny and lovely and real now. You can follow her here.


4 - A few months ago a friend mentioned a brush to me and encouraged me to buy one off Amazon. "It's great for detangling wet hair," she said, and I will admit I did not believe her. I think she sensed that so she bought one for me and she was 100% correct. The (affiliate link) Wet Brush is fabulous. It's not as great on dry hair, or at least not on my dry hair, but on wet hair it is better than the combs or picks I had been using. I love it for me and my girls.

 5 - Last night I stayed up until midnight so I could finish the book In This House of Brede. I enjoyed reading the novel tremendously and I sorta saw the end coming but when it got there I was... disappointed. Now let me do my best River Song impression:

Spoilers. ;)

I'm assuming that if you're still reading this take you have already read the book and so I won't be ruining the ending for anyone. So here goes: They get on a plane?! That's how it ends?! With them getting on a plane?! No. (head shake) No. (head shake)  No. (head shake)

I think I wanted to see them there, in Japan. I wanted it to end with Phillipa looking out into the Japanese gardens or something. Maybe that would be tidy, but it felt tidy having Penny and Donald there watching them board. And I don't really understand why McTurk went with them. hmmm... If you've read it what do you think?

PS - I did love Cecily and how she made her choice and how her prayer was answered. That was wonderful.

6 - One week from today I'll be leading a Blessed Is She workshop on Building Intentional Community. I'll be sharing what I've learned from leading, founding, attending, and belonging to various groups, ministries, and gatherings over the years. Personally, I found it to be difficult to find where I fit in as an adult and while I definitely haven't figured it all out I have gotten some things right while learning from few mistakes I've made along the way.

I think this workshop will be really useful if you are looking to join or form a ministry / book club / mom group / young adult group OR if you are already actively involved in one. If you signed up for the BIS Membership you will already have access to the workshop but if you aren't a member you can still watch. To sign up for the Membership click here or to pay the $15 and sign up for the workshop click here.

7 - Finally, I wish I could hug the world. The refugees, the LBGT community, the black community, police officers, and now the people of Nice, France. How can such a beautiful world have so much pain and ugliness? I don't have any answers but I promise that I am trying to become a better person and I'm trying to raise my children to be good people - the kind who fight for justice, who stand up and speak up, who are merciful and loving. And in the meanwhile I am praying with my very heavy heart.
Jesus, I trust in You. Come, Lord Jesus.+

Member Access with Blessed Is She

Work it. That's what's coming next for Blessed Is She. Or, more specifically: workshops.

You might have caught the online workshop BIS hosted with guest speaker Haley Stewart on Living Liturgically for the Uncrafty, Busy Family. I watched it live and loved being a part of the conversation while learning from my friend. And I have good news: more are coming! And they're coming in a really amazing way.

In order to really offer the growing, blooming, thriving BIS community more, Blessed Is She is taking an exciting step and offering regularly scheduled workshops, available through Member Access. Members will have special access to monthly online workshops hosted by speakers from around the country + exclusive companion worksheets + Advent and Lenten journals automatically shipped to their homes.

The BIS Member Access is all available for $9.99 / month or $99 / year.

Hopefully you are one of the 12,000 women who, every day, receives an email with the day's Mass readings and a corresponding devotion through Blessed Is She. Hopefully you are already engaged in the Facebook regional groups where we pray for one another, plan meet-ups, and chat about books, vocations, kids, and life. Hopefully you are following BIS on Instagram and Twitter so your feeds have beauty, truth, and love in them. All of that, sisters - all of it! - has been freely given with great quality.

I know that the $10 a month fee might be hard to fit in some of your budgets (remember my chai tea?) and I do want to acknowledge that. But I also want to say that the price is beyond fair and will help to "keep the lights on" for all the other parts of the BIS ministry that are 100% free. So I hope you can make it work for you, especially because...

I'll be teaching the next workshop - the very first one to be offered to our Members!

Mark your calendars, sign up for your Member Access, and join me Friday, July 22nd at 9pm EST for a workshop on Building Intentional Community.

Wahooooo!

Find Me Here:

I am super busy in the details of this weekend's conference but I did want to pop in and let you all know that yesterday I was at Blessed Is She with the devotional. Here's a glimpse at it:

Today’s Gospel shares a good litmus test for prophets and, I think, friends.

What does a friendship bearing good fruit look like? Well, it should be rich with the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. (Gal 5:22)

Love: Are our friends willing and able to hope all things and endure all things for our sake, and are we willing and able to do the same? (1 Cor 13:7) Do we want the best for each other, and help one another find God’s will in our lives?

You can read the rest here.


Then today I am guest posting at my dear friend Katie's blog, Look to Him and Be Radiant. She is running a week-long series on why it's important to make things beautiful and she asked me to write about why I decorate my home for holidays and holy days. Here's a snippet:

Why do I do it? For three reasons. First, because decorations are a simple way that I can bring the rhythm of the Church's liturgical year into our home. This is helpful for me as a mom - the decorations add an extra emphasis on what we are celebrating or why we are fasting. They are a sort of visual aid for my children as I teach them about saints, Jesus' love for us, doctrines of our faith, and the culture of our catholic Catholic church. But really it's not just for the kids - even as a 34 year old woman I find it much easier to enter into the liturgical seasons, the feasting and the fasting, if I am reminded of them by my surroundings.

You can read the rest here.


This weekend I'll be on Instagram taking pictures of the conference - which you can follow with the hashtag #findingyourfiatconference. I may even pop in on Facebook and share some live videos.

Two of My Favorite Ways to Pray

If you read the daily devotions from Blessed Is She than you might have already seen me over there today. In reading today's Gospel I was reminded of one of my favorite ways to pray - simple but powerful - and since it was a tip I didn't receive until later in life I wanted to be sure to pass it on. 

Catholic vocab lesson: an “aspiration” is a short prayer, a one liner that says it all without many words.

“I do believe, help my unbelief,” is one such aspiration. The father in today’s Gospel called it out to Jesus in desperation and, truthfully, it is one of my favorite lines of Scripture. I can relate to the sentiment strongly—a prayer asking God to fill in the gaps—and I pray it often, especially when I am struggling with Church teaching. “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”

You can read the rest here. If you've never used aspirations before I really encourage you to give them a try. I find that having the words written in my heart helps me to pray when I don't know how to pray.


And then there is something else I love: praying with other women of faith. I don't mean praying with holy rollers, or spotless and perfect women, or other youngish moms who meet a certain standard of being good enough. I mean that I love praying with a group of women who are real. Women who believe and who love God and sometimes are really struggling. Cross-carrying, doing-their-best, open-hearted women - that's what I mean.

If that's you then I hope you will be able to join a group of us this June at the Finding Your Fiat Conference. The conference is not a way for any of us to get rich - it really is just an opportunity to for women to get together so we can be encouraged and inspired, so we can love and worship God together, and so we can enjoy each other's companionship.

We are nearing capacity but there are still tickets available. (You can buy yours here.) AND there is still the opportunity for you to win one of TWO FREE tickets to the Finding Your Fiat Conference! The giveaway ends tomorrow night at midnight! Hustle over and enter! 

The Assumption and some great milestones

Let's start off with one of my favorite Marian songs, courtesy of JJ Heller. Or as Sebastian says in The Little Mermaid: moooood music.



Today is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. It's the day we Catholics honor Mary's special relationship with Christ and our belief that God preserved her from sin and therefore brought to Heaven body and soul at her death.

When I think of Mary I prefer to think of her as the mother of a grown Son. As I wrote once, "I like to think of her, Jesus and the apostles sitting around and she's telling them stories of the days in Egypt. Of the goodness of her husband. Of what it was like when the angel came to her. Of her three months with Elizabeth. I think that by the time she was standing at the foot of the cross she wasn't as thin as she had been in youth, though she was solid and strong. Her hands and face weren't as firm and wrinkle free. This is the woman I turn to for help in prayers."

Beyond just being a wonderful feast day, there's also some great things happening with two ministries I love (and I'm a part of).

One year ago today Blessed Is She launched and it's been such an answer to prayers for me: a daily devotional that is written by Catholic women for Catholic women. That's not fluff. That's not heretical. That's well done. Praised be Jesus! For example, here's today's devotion.

There's even a sweet giveaway happening over at the Blessed Is She site in honor of the celebration.

Additionally, The Visitation Project now has it's own website, thanks to your generosity. Coming very soon will be a newsletter for our listeners, special exclusives, and aired episodes available on iTunes.

Thank you to everyone has supported BIS and TVP over the last months.

Now go eat some blue jello with marshmallows or whipped cream (like a sky, get it?)!

Happy Feast Day!