Advent 2019 - Day 1

ADVENT 2019

December 1 - Day 1

Here we go, here it is, Advent. I’ve got this. I’ve totally got this. We’ll be fine…

I’m not entirely sure where the worry is coming from - after all, turning the Advent season back into a time of quiet preparation should evoke less worry, not more… so step one in making Advent great again (yes, I did just say that), is prayer.

Dear God,

Thank you for all your gifts and blessings, I love you with all my heart. Please help me to quieten my mind, to let go of my worries, and to rest in the comfort of your embrace, knowing that whatever we manage to do during Advent for the preparation of the birth of Your Son is borne of our time first spent in quiet prayer with You. Help me to notice the little things, to smile at the mistakes, to embrace my family, and to prepare the way for You. I pray this through the intercession of Your Blessed Mother, Mary, and Your earthly father, Joseph - our Holy Family - whom we draw inspiration from for our own family. Amen.

**Deep breath**

Righty-o then…

For our family, the kids are a bit older with our youngest about to turn 11, and a lot of activities that I searched for were a bit… well… young! So, for this year’s Jesse Tree (I’ll explain it in a sec) I found loads of crafts and activities for the littlies, but stuff that my teen and pre-teens would do only out of pure love for their over-excitable mother (that’s me). But I think their pity and shame for me comes across as love and appreciation… I’m sure it does! My poor kids. I have to admit - the Christmas season is my favourite, and it took about 0.74 seconds to transfer the love to include the Advent season and all its reflective preparational goodness. Toeing the line (toeing - what a weird looking word!) between keeping Advent quiet and getting excited about planning all the crafts/prayers/cooking/outings/events/all.the.other.stuff is quite an artform; this year I’m putting my excessive-time-usage-on-the-doing-side-of-things down to being a rookie at all this and, like I said in yesterday’s post, being not overly skilled or quick at liturgical living.

-->  For the rookies (it’s me, I’m the rookie): Liturgical living is a fancy way (or the proper way, whatever) of saying that you are bringing elements of the tradition of our church into your home and daily life. <--

So, Advent.

Here is what our family is doing this year to prepare for Christmas and celebrate Advent:

Family Wreath

We’ve made one before, but it’s just sort of sat there looking pretty. The key to making this work is, and again the obvious may seem ridiculous to mention but nevertheless still important (for the rookies!) and a reality that I needed to come to terms with so there…, dinner together as a family at the dinner table. For a couple of bucks (a couple more for us Aussies because it’s an American site), you can download and print the Advent Wreath Prayers Printable Booklet from Catholic All Year (yes again, and y’all better get used to me referring to that website - Kendra Tierney is so inspiring as a Catholic, as a mother, as a wife, and as a beautiful woman; I just want to hug her!). Just do what it says. Pray together, eat together, stay together. Our wreath is old candles from our church, eucalyptus branches from the back of our block, and a few other shrub-style branches the kids found. I think we'll have to plant some better wreath-style plants for next year...!

Christmas Anticipation Prayer

Another cracker of a prayer - traditionally recited 15 times per day beginning on the 30^th November which is the feast of St Andrew, and finishing on Christmas Eve. There are plenty of beautiful printable versions online, or make your own to print out, or get your kids to write their own out as copywork for homeschool! 15 times is a big jump for us, so I’m just working on us saying it together as part of our dinner prayers, and on homeschool days when we say our morning prayers together. Hopefully next year, when I don’t spring a thousand liturgical surprises on my kids and they know what to expect, we’ll be able to unload a solid 15 each day.

Christmas Anticipation Prayer

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment

In which the Son of God was born

Of the most pure Virgin Mary,

At midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold.

In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech thee, oh my God,

To hear my prayer and grant my desires,

Through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,

And of His blessed Mother.

Amen.

Christmas Family Novena

--> For the rookies - a novena is a prayer said for nine consecutive days, usually ending on the vigil (the night before) of a feast day, and said for a reason or with a particular intention. <--

So, beginning on the 16^th through to the 24^th, we will pray a novena together. It doesn’t have to be at night either, any time is a good time, and you can pray a decade of the Rosary each day, one Our Father, any intercessional prayers (for the rookies - the ones on the back of saint cards), or any prayer that has meaning for your family. We are having a go at one with prayers and readings!

Yet another resource from Catholic All Year, the Christmas Family Novena has everything you need to create a truly Christ-centred Advent and be fully prepared. And of course, a special treat afterwards!

Jesse Tree.

So, in a liturgical nutshell, the Jesse Tree activity covers salvation history from Creation to the Nativity with cool little ornaments and associated bible verses, and there are sooooooo many different options available! We’ve decided (I decided) to make ours instead of purchase a set, partially because I’ve got about as much spare cash as a used care salesman, and partially because of the whole over-excited mother forcing kiddie activities on kids that aren’t really little kids anymore (waaah!) but still wanting to craft and pretend they're tiny and dependent...

**For younger kids, check out Catholic Sprouts, and Holy Heroes for beautiful Jesse Tree products!**

I made a fabric drawstring bag, and in it is: tools and things required to make a tree ornament, a bauble with a key bible verse glued to it, a card for further reading, and a task card. The kids take turns to open the bag each day, and thanks to all the angels and saints and the good Lord himself, three kids and 24 days in Advent this year gives me a perfect 8 days per kid - and another 360 odd days to figure out next year’s bag-opening-order-thing.

Here is our day 1:

Today’s theme is Creation, and the ornament is a world globe. In the bag I put green and blue paint, a paint brush, and a bauble (a red one to be specific, the paint needed a couple of layers to cover it properly, but my daughter just rested the bauble on an egg cup - genius!). 

The ornament for Creation.

The key bible verse is glued to a bauble (because I own a zillion of them!)
"God looked at everything He has made, and He found it very good." - Genesis 1:31

And the further reading card is: Genesis 1:1-31; 2:1-4. 

Whoever's turn it is to open the bag, has to do the further reading and then tell us all about it over breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack time... whenever you find a bit of time. You can also use the Action Bible (comic book bible, check it out here, it's so great! No it's not a Catholic bible, but the illustrations are phenomenal!) or any other storytelling bible, as long as it covers the theme (creation).

With our task cards, each day has a simple task to get ready for Christmas, and a Work of Mercy task (inspired by Ginny at Not So Formulaic - I simply wanted to adjust the daily instruction to what we were going to be doing as a family, so it takes into account when we are visiting family and when family are visiting us, and other events that are happening around our town. Definitely head over and check out Ginny’s blog - the way she writes about faith and children is so encouraging!).

So, that's what we're doing, God help us! What you need to remember though, regardless of what you attempt to do during Advent, is that as long as you keep family, joy, and of course God at the centre of your plans, you can't go wrong! Hug your little ones (and medium ones and big ones!) tightly, pray fervently, and smile at the bazillion beautiful things each day around you.

Making fruit mince, preparing a roast for Sunday family dinner, and crafting for the Jesse Tree.

Til next time, God Bless you and your wonderful family!

Em xx

Advent 2019 - Getting Started

We’ve always ‘done’ Advent. Duh, born Catholic. What I mean is, we know what Advent is, and we go to mass and I say oohh Advent has begun, oohh it’s already the second week of Advent, oh the priest is in pink (it’s ROSE!), gosh am I even organised for Christmas? Merry Christmas! I’m exhausted…

A simplified version of previous Advents, yes, but the gist of is pretty accurate.

Our homeschool journey was born of the need to give my kids the best. Not of toys and things (the good Lord knows we ain’t got money for that… and don’t want to!), but the best nourishment - for their bodies, their minds, and most importantly, their souls. I’ve researched the heck out of nutrition and curriculums, so faith was left on the list. I suppose I knew deep down that tackling the teaching and guiding of faith for my kids would inevitably mean the old examination of conscience for me, you know, to avoid the hypocrite tag, and I was just simply dreading the reality check. But those kids… those wonderful, amazing, talented, happy, energetic, perfect kids… those kids I would do anything for… yeah them. They’re worth it - and when God gifts you with a child, you need to make sure they’re safe for all eternity, not just this little life right here. Big job. Big responsibility. The biggest, and so here we go…

Despite the internal nausea, I started to finally reach out and connect online with other Catholics, not just other homeschoolers, and it’s amazing how God starts working in your life when you put a tiny bit of trust in Him (who knew?!).

Turns out, there are a lot of Catholics around the place. A lot of young Catholics; and a lot of young Catholic families. I nearly fell off my chair! All of a sudden I had books, podcasts, activities, prayers, new friends, homeschool resources, study courses, and ideas coming out of my ears!

And one of those resources came from “Catholic All Year” (what a gorgeous family they are!), where I read all about how they “prepare for Advent”.

I was like, what do you mean, prepare for Advent? That’s at mass, yeah?

Nope.

It’s so obvious but, like I said above, I’d been avoiding the hard questions for a long time (and become an absolute expert too!) because I’d have to admit that I’ve pretty much been a lousy Catholic.

Jesus is about to be born. God is becoming man. Soon. God is coming to save us all through His son, His one and only, Jesus Christ, brought into this world through the sacred womb of His blessed mother, Mary… Jesus our Saviour - and I was content with just heading to mass on a Sunday?!

Yeah, Nah. Not anymore. No more lousy Catholic. We actually, honestly need to prepare the way of the Lord!

So that brings me to right now (way past my bedtime…!), the night before Advent. We are doing a Jesse Tree this year, which I’ll explain next post, a list of Works of Mercy, daily tasks, and a family Advent wreath. We’ve done a wreath before but to be honest, half the time we didn’t light it and there were certainly no special prayers that went with it….. oops! I’ll introduce all of this next post though, and as I work things out, because I’m not overly skilled or quick at this, I will share it here in hopes of encouraging (or dare I say it, inspiring) others to prepare the way of our Lord!

God Bless you and your family!

Em xx

The Garden Weekly - July 2019

While I would have loved to get out amongst the early morning heavy frost to get some amazing photos for you all, I must confess the fireplace was a much more appealing choice and thus the obvious winner in the end.

It’s well and truly winter. You can feel the icy cold evening set in at around 4:30 every afternoon, the temperature dropping like a penny in the arcade. Some days have been fine - beautiful blue skies, light (albeit freezing!) winds, temperatures in the high teens… then BAM! Like a getaway train hurtling over the edge of the ravine, the temperature plummets, and if you have timed your afternoon outdoor tasks poorly you’re battling the deep freeze to get finished and cleaned up before retiring indoors to that lovely fireplace (and a glass of red!).

Some afternoons, though, we have been blessed with absolutely perfect conditions like this... so you can see why one would choose the leisurely life:

While others have looked like this (cue the leisurely indoor life!):

So, one can understand that it takes some time to get back into the swing of winter gardening! It’s either way too tempting to sit back and soak up the majesty of a perfect winter afternoon on the patio, or bitterly awful and absolutely freezing outside with an indoor fireplace beckoning you for red wine and soft cheese and fluffy slippers and a good book.

But with the cold and wet comes life. Green, soft, nourishing life! And it doesn’t take long for the once dry, golden, harsh summer colours to melt into gentle, calming greens of every shade. Maybe the cold/green combination makes us more mellow and reflective, an instinctive hibernation perhaps? I could get out and amongst the garden duties… but then there’s that nice blanket to inspect too…

Anyway, back to the garden. We did, eventually, overcome the distractions and get busy. Our Nature Study walks are always a highlight, and because it’s part of our curriculum we just have to go for a walk amongst the beautiful Australian landscape each week… sigh (we really love it). And of course, Lambette and Tash had to come along too!

*Check out Nature Study Australia for a phenomenal Australian nature study curriculum. We ♥♥LOVE♥♥ it! It’s seasonal, has plenty of extra ideas that cater for all sorts of personalities, abilities, and interests, and includes a bible verse and songs too!

Of course, along our journeys we always pass by the pond and hang out with the flock for a while. The chook I’m holding in the picture below is Polly - she actually loves hugs and will happily rest her head on your shoulder! Statler is the photo bomber… Pip is cuddling (wait for it) Pecky Tookie Number 3, and Dom is cuddling Hattie.

Over in the patch…

Ahh how I love the patch!

A LOT of exciting things are happening! One of the benefits of not actually getting out into the garden too often because of the cold weather is being able to sit and plan all the great and fantastic things you have ever wanted to do in an empty paddock space designated as a “veggie patch”!!

Gee, have I had some fun! So, the development of the preliminary designs is roughly sketched like this:

There’s a greenhouse, a 3-phase compost bin, 12 formal garden beds, a prayer grotto, and space for a natural permaculture-style wild garden throughout. I’m kind of excited… just a little bit… well, maybe a heck of a lot.

It does help, though, to have an almost excessively motivated husband who takes my wacky ideas and brings them to life with impressive precision and determination. I’m very lucky; he’s rather amazing like that! Thank you my dear!

So, as we add bits and pieces to this little corner of paradise, I shall keep you posted. As we learn, make mistakes, and thrive, hopefully a little of what we share here can help someone else embrace their own patch of the earth and make it come to life. Life-giving plants, and soul-feeding soil.

It’s not all food, flowers, and fun though, especially planting in the extremes of weather. The cold managed to wreak havoc with our baby brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauli), and some unknown invader seemed to enjoy a snack in passing too…! We decided to try using bottles as mini-greenhouses to protect the little darlings in their in-between phase; too small for the tray and not yet established in the big wide-open patch!

…And it worked a treat! Check out our results below, and if you’re ever unsure about planting out in winter - simply cut a 1.25L/2L plastic bottle in half and *BOOM* two mini-greenhouses!

**Note - you’ll have to cut some air holes in the bottom half of the bottle, just some slits in the ridges will do!**

Oh, and before I head off I had best make special mention of this greenhouse that keeps coming up - it’s amazing! We’ve put three compost bays off the south wall. This is so we can have one we are adding to, one that is resting and decomposing, and one that is ready to use. The tall windows will face north, and the angled roof will be adjustable to allow airflow on hotter days. 

I’m so excited; there will be plenty happening in the patch over the coming months and, while it is a heck of a lot of hard work, the rewards will far outdo any sore muscles or dirty nails! The goal is never to have the biggest or the best of anything, to be the hardest worker, to do more than others, or be better than others. It is quite simply to take the gifts that God has given us, and use them to our best ability. As parents, our responsibility to help our children identify their God-given gifts and learn to use them to their full potential may seem like a struggle at times (more often than we care to admit!). But when we can see that ALL children are the greatest gift from God, the goal becomes clear; every little action, every little word, every little hug, every little prayer, every little bit of discipline (yep!), every little seed you sow with your children - whether it be in the veggie garden or their soul garden - that brings them closer to God is when we achieve our goal... we all have amazing gifts. Let's work to help others know their God-given gifts (and unleash their gardening prowess!)  ♥♥♥♥♥♥

'Til next time in the patch!
God Bless!!

Em xxx

The Garden Weekly - June 2019 #1

June 2019

My word, it got cold!

With May being a lot drier than it should be, we selfishly enjoyed the warm days and perfect evenings knowing full-well what was coming… and boy has it been bittersweet! Much needed rain and that bite-y great southern chill straight off the Antarctic meant that the gumboots and rain jackets were dusted off and put to good use, and a lesson in good old perseverance for the youngin’s was the order of the week.

This week in the patch has been delightfully chaotic! While we’re probably a bit overdue with our patch tasks (we actually bought seedlings instead of sprouting them ourselves! Eeep!), the imminent forecast of rain had spurred us into action with weeding, feeding, and planting of all the cool season delights (well, what can fit in the beds anyway!).

The perennial bed has been finished - it already had around 30 strawberry plants in it, and we’ve now added 3 globe artichokes, a mix of purple and green asparagus, garlic, sage, and calendulas!

Our broad beans that went in a few weeks ago are loving life, and have established beautifully where the corn once stood proud and tall in the summer sun. Some have even begun flowering! Woohoo!

Did you know that legumes replace nitrogen in the soil, and are ideal to plant after a hungry and demanding plant like corn? (Hilariously enough, this was actually an afterthought for me; it was the only sizable spot left for the beans so that’s where they ended up! The Lord really does work in mysterious ways!)

Hello babies! Our broad beans loving the late autumn sunshine xx

And just like that, the weather turns! 

Miss P tucking the babies in with a good covering of hay xx

Bed number 3 is a rowdy raucous mess, and I just can’t tame it! There were plenty of old, frost-damaged late summer cherry tomatoes that went to the chooks and ducks (who were happy as pigs in mud!), a lot of random last season silverbeet that sprung up out of nowhere – some of which had to be donated to the sheep (they were much obliged to assist us in disposal of said silverbeet, thank you Lammie and Lahmette!), a rocket plant whose seeding process is more like a royal wedding ceremony, and a bunch of *something* that has sprung up from last year! Not to mention the WEEDS!

A local legend making the most of the seeding rocket! 

Thanks little guy! x

Call Sherlock! The mystery clump - there's 6 of them too. 

I'm guessing cauliflower or Brussels sprouts, but then 

broccoli was flowering in the bed next door last 

season too...? 

And cabbage further along?

So, we’ve tidied it all up a bit, and managed to add some new brusties (our name for Brussels sprouts), spinach, and artichoke, as well as a bunch of lemongrass, and tucked it in with some hay.

Two new beds at the front here, and the original 4 behind. 

To the left is a big empty space with some even bigger plans!

 We’ve also built two new beds and dug through some compost (purely because we had to move the bin to build the beds!), but are still waiting on the magic and elusive tractor man (husband/father) to fill the beds with soil and manure - there’s no way we’re filling those two beds with a shovel and wheelbarrow! 

...And all in preparation for the winter onslaught. With anything from 23mm to 40mm expected over the next few days, our babies had to be planted and tucked in with a nice blanket of hay to keep them warm… and we’ve done not too bad a job at all i must say…! There's still some more spinach, cabbage, silverbeet (anyone out there actually call it swiss chard??), cauliflower, and kale to plant out, as well as loads of seeds to sow for the next succession of food, oh and more garden beds to put in because I'll be out of space again soon... so a fair bit to do, but I love it!

And, you know what?

When you take time to notice the hairs on a bee covered in pollen as he skips between flowers, or watch an earthworm dig his way back into the soil after he was accidentally dug up, or feel the soil through your fingertips as you carefully plant out a seedling, or smell the thyme as you pinch some off to add to the bolognese on the stove, or enjoy the magpies playing in the bowl of water you leave out for them every day - you see your whole life differently. 

You learn to see God in your daily activities.

You learn that what you do is for God. 

You learn that you don't need the answers, you just need to hand it over to Him.

And my God that's a beautiful feeling!

Til next week in the patch!

God Bless!

Em x