Tag Archives: this week’s miscellany

What a week. What. a. week. I know it’s been quiet over here and it’s not just because I’m starting to feel that third trimester fatigue approaching. I am emotionally exhausted. As I mentioned last week, my best friend’s mom passed away unexpectedly and my heart has been so full of sorrow for her family. That grief was present along with all the joy of our Benjamin’s fourth birthday (which merits it’s own post, coming soon.)

On Monday, I woke to the news that the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI is resigning. What sad news! I honestly thought it was a mistake or a joke when I first saw it on Twitter. He was already pope when we converted and I have always found such joy and strength in knowing that he is leading us. I am excited about what lies ahead, but sorrowful that the last few years must have been such a struggle for the Holy Father as his health declines. My prayers are with him.

The day just got worse…

Pregnancy Update: Monday morning I had an appointment at my OBGYN/midwifery office. When we listened to the heartbeat, my Dr. got quiet and I started to listen more carefully. I could hear that it was odd: thump, thump, —–, thump, thump, thump, —, thump, —. “Is she having the hiccups?” my Dr. asked. But because of where the placenta is I’ve had much more trouble feeling movement during this pregnancy and although I was pretty sure she had kicked once or twice as we listened, I had to admit that I hadn’t felt any rhythmic, hiccuping from Baby Gwen. “So…do we do an ultrasound?” I asked, expecting her to wheel in the ultrasound machine. “Yes. Let’s get you scheduled for one at the hospital to rule out fetal arrhythmia. As soon as possible.” Oh. The hospital. My heart sank. Not just the office ultrasound. I suddenly realized that this might be a big deal. That something could be wrong with my sweet baby’s heart.

The maternal-fetal office at the hospital had an opening Tuesday, the following day. It was a looong 24 hours. But I mustered up the self-control NOT to google everything about fetal arrhythmia and terrify myself before I even knew anything was wrong and instead spent my anxious energy texting friends to ask for prayer and then finally bursting into tears after I put the kids to sleep. When I announced what was happening on facebook, so many of you encouraged me with promises to pray and I can’t tell you how much each of your little notes meant to me! Thank you so much.

Daniel went with me and even before the Dr. came in, I started to breathe easier because as the ultrasound tech was measuring Gwen’s little heart, we could see that there were no irregular beats. The Dr. came in and watched her little heart for several minutes and then confirmed that there was nothing unusual going on and that it was beating perfectly. I can’t express my relief! He said that we might have caught a moment of transient fetal arrhythmia on Monday, but that it’s nothing to worry about. I’m 26.5 weeks and Gwen is measuring exactly right and is 1lb 14oz. In other news I feel like the third trimester fatigue has already hit. I’m sleeping 8 hours at night and then desperately need a nap every day! So posts are going to be less frequent from here on out because I’m not doing any blogging during early morning or naptime anymore.

In the Liturgical Year: Lent! The day after our ultrasound was Ash Wednesday and I really felt already exhausted and broken from the previous week as we entered Lent. If you have posts about Mardi Gras, Lent, Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday, etc. share them in our Little HolyDays lenten link up! There’s been some great posts shared and I love being inspired by how you observe Holy Time. If you haven’t been back to see the links, take a few minutes to check them out. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite posts of yours here and on FB and Twitter.

Book Love: I’m a couple weeks behind on my reading goals for 2013. And it doesn’t help that whenever I see my current read, Les Miserables on my bedside table, Victor Hugo is staring at me disapprovingly. Isn’t the mere length of your book intimidating enough, Victor? Also enjoying the short selections on Lent I’m reading in Bread and Wine, my lenten devotional for this year.

The Quotable Benjamin:

“Are you going to be a real ballerina when you grow up, Mama?”
Hahaha, oh my dear, my pointe shoe days are over

“Why?”
“Well, because the Pope is very old.”
“Even older than Mama?!”

Ok, son, my pointe shoe days aren’t THAT far behind me.

Quotes: “You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.  The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness.  We pardon to the extent that we love.”  - Victor Hugo

“Pope John Paul II remained in office so that he might show us how to suffer and how to die. Pope Benedict XVI is leaving the Papal Office so that he might show us how to live in humble honesty.” – Sr. Mary Theresa of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

Links:

Happy VaLENTine’s Day: Simcha Fisher (This is such a hilarious post about celebrating Valentine’s Day during Lent. I was dying.)

Simple and wonderful Lent Calendar from A Lee in the Woudes

There’s a great giveaway happening at Molly Makes Do!

100 Things to Do for Lent: Held By His Pierced Hands

Instagrams Worth Sharing:

Ready to go to grandma’s house!

Me and my two girls Lucy has started patting my tummy and saying “Guhweh!” for Gwen. Oh the joy that fills my heart when I think about these sisters!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Haley

P.S. You can also follow me on Twitter (@haleycarrots), Pinterest (haleyofcarrots),  FB, and Instagram (carrotsformichaelmas). I love connecting with my wonderful readers!

It is this precious little man’s birthday today.

I can’t believe it was four whole years ago that I was birthing him. Because he’s my firstborn, his birthday always causes me to reflect on this transformative journey of motherhood. We spent a special mother-son day together yesterday doing whatever the birthday boy picked: an IMAX movie with popcorn and Sour Patches (hence the sour face above), BBQ for lunch, and GF cupcakes from the local bookstore/cupcakery. He kept saying, “Guess what we’re doing next on our adventure day!” I won’t ever forget it.

I got word yesterday that my best friend Ellie’s mother died unexpectedly this week. I still can’t wrap my head around it. Not just because it’s so sudden and terribly sad but because Adalee was such a vibrant woman. She was delightfully witty, clever, kind, loving, and adventurous. She raised four children, one of whom was adopted, while doing linguistic work with her linguist husband with a biblical translation missions organization in Guatamala. She loved her family and made everyone who entered her home feel like family. I will miss her dreadfully and my heart hurts for all those who mourn this loss. God knew what he was about when he created her. May perpetual light shine upon her.

I love this photo of her embracing Ellie just after her wedding ceremony. So much love and beauty.

Coming Up in the Liturgical Year: Preparing for Lent, yet? I can’t believe it’s next week. SlowMama has some great recipe ideas for Mardi Gras and I loved Sarah’s post about her  family’s plans for Lent. And Elizabeth Foss has a lovely list of Lent/Easter picture books that I will be adding to my library holds.

The Quotable Benjamin:

“Are warts fun? How do you get one?”

“Can you find me some books about gob-a-lins [goblins] because that’s what I’m really into right now.”

“Four is like young-middle-aged. That’s what I would call it.”

“What are Gollum’s pants made of? Is Shelob bad or just ugly?” 

Boy, was I wrong when I thought handing over our illustrated Tolkien encyclopedias to Benjamin would give me a few moments of silence

Links:

Did you hear Deirdre’s news?

An Instagram Worth Sharing:

My baby girl’s first tutu. Makes the ballet teacher in me tear up…oh wait, EVERYTHING makes me tear up this pregnancy…

Love,

Haley

Question: Is anyone having trouble subscribing to Carrots through the email subscription widget or the RSS button? I had a reader say that neither worked for her and I was wondering if that’s a common problem!

You can also follow me on Twitter (@haleycarrots), Pinterest (haleyofcarrots),  FB, and Instagram (carrotsformichaelmas). I love connecting with my wonderful readers!

(2nd image courtesy of Jade Pierce Photography)

The Sheenazing Blogger Awards are over. Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to vote for Carrots! Congrats to all the winners! Carrots didn’t win, but I did get this awesome pic from the awards host, Bonnie, to add to my sidebar!

I am truly still floored that I was on a ballot next to some of my favorite bloggers!

Coming Up in the Liturgical Year: Lent! I need to get organized and put up a post on Lenten resources pronto. Lent is definitely sneaking up on me this year. I’ve gotten a few emails asking about a revivial of the Little Holydays link up and the answer is yes! A Little Holydays link up for January/February is in the works with Molly Makes Do and Dualing Moms and will include plans for Lent as well as January/February feast days, Candlemas, etc.

Book Love: I’m a little behind in my Reading Goals for 2013. I’m still finishing up my last January book: Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery. If you’re like me, and cried when you ran out of “Anne” books, you will fall in love with Emily! Next up, the unabridged Les Miserables! I have to admit, I’m a little intimidated by the ginormousness of it.

On the Homestead: Carrots and radishes!

The image above should be titled, “The Doomed.” Last weekend was a bit grim as far as homesteading goes. We slaughtered our 7 meat birds and it was as bloody and gruesome as you might expect. Benjamin summed it up nicely….:

The Quotable Benjamin:

“Thanks for becoming food for us, chickens! You are SO brave dying!”

Lately on Carrots:

Carrots is about to reach 600 likes on FB! I can’t believe 600 people would want to keep up with my ramblings! Thank you!

There are some really insightful comments on the first part of my “Catholicism: Empowering Women for 2000 Years” series on the topic of Marian doctrine. If you haven’t read some of the great contributions to the discussion in the comments, take a minute to check them out. I am always so impressed by how respectful and kind my readers are to me and to each other, even when you disagree. That is not the case for every site and I know that I am terribly lucky to have such an insightful and kind readership! Thank you for making the comment box a place for discussion where we can truly have productive conversation. You are the best!

Speaking of comments, friends, I just don’t think I can keep up with what has been my policy from the beginning: a response to every single comment. Responding to comments has started to take up more time than actually writing new posts! I love responding to comments but Daniel helped me realize that I really can’t keep this up. I will still try to respond to any comments that have questions and as many other ones as I can, but if I’m not able to respond to one of your comments, please know that I did read and appreciated it!  I just can’t make responding to every single comment a priority over writing or family. I know you’ll understand!

Links:

America’s Baby Bust: The Wall Street Journal (Such an interesting piece on population decline that Christy posted to FB!)

When to Cut the Cord: Better than Eden (I found this post by Mary so informative and it really convinced me to add a request for delayed cord cutting to our birth plan for Baby Gwen.)

You can also find me over at Mama And Baby Love talking about building raised beds for gardening this week!

Instagrams Worth Sharing: (I’m carrotsformichaelmas on IG)

Can you believe I found this adorable Beatrix Potter scene at Goodwill? I had planned to do a Peter Rabbit themed birthday for Lucy last year but then the pregnancy nausea was too much for anything but last minute cupcakes and some flowers from the garden. Maybe this year!

She insisted on wearing these boots and hat one morning last week. I love this little cowgirl so!

Date night makeup!

Piggy-tails!

Winter roses (camellias) picked by my sweet little boy. Who could ask for more?

Hope you’re staying warm this weekend!

Love,

Haley

P.S. Have you subscribed to Carrots so that you don’t miss a single post? You can subscribe via email on the left hand side bar or via RSS. You can also follow me on Twitter (@haleycarrots), Pinterest (haleyofcarrots),  FB, and Instagram (carrotsformichaelmas). I love connecting with my wonderful readers!

After the kids struggled through a mild stomach bug over the weekend, we had a great week filled with lots of picture books from our homeschooling curriculum, lots of pig tails for Miss Lucy, lots of playdates and field trips, and the occasional cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows on chilly nights.

Coming Up in the Liturgical Year: The Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas next week! I loved Sarah’s post about her plans to celebrate. Hoping to have a Little Holydays celebration at our home, as well. I love St. Thomas. If you haven’t read Chesterton’s St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox, you should add it to your list!

Pregnancy Update: Not much to report! Feeling and looking pregnant. Also, waking up every morning at 4:15am? What’s the deal with that?! I am completely wiped by 9pm (in other words, dead asleep by 9pm), but glory, hallelujah the morning sickness is almost gone!

Book Love: 2/3 done with my re-read of Wuthering Heights from my 2013 reading list. Now I’m dying to re-watch the BBC miniseries I watched when I was pregnant with Lucy.

(Benjamin trying out the new chicken coop before we moved the flock in. He wanted to sleep in there but I vetoed that plan.)

The Quotable Benjamin: 

Me: “Hmmm….if I could only find the whisk so we could make pancakes…”
Benjamin: “Oh, I know! It’s under my bed!”
Me: “?????????”

B has started referring to himself, Lucy, and Baby Gwen as “our kiddos” (“that’s the sorta thing that our kiddos like,” “there’s three of them just like our kiddos”) and it completely warms my heart.

On the Homestead: Tons of greens in the garden! Does anybody have recipes to share for using up lots of mustard and collard greens? New chicken coop for the layers! Compliments of my talented husband. The meat birds are getting “harvested” this weekend. Please don’t tell them. Also, don’t make me pluck anything. Plucking is the worst. But I must say I’m excited about lots of chicken dinners in future!

Quote: Love this one by G.K. Chesterton that Christy posted the other day:

“But what strikes me as truly extraordinary is the implication that there is something low about the objective [of sex] being the birth of a child. Whereas it is obvious that this great natural miracle is the one creative, imaginative and disinterested part of the whole business. The creation of a new creature, not ourselves, of a new conscious center, of a new and independent focus of experience and enjoyment, is an immeasurably more grand and godlike act even than a real love affair; how much more superior to a momentary physical satisfaction. If creating another self is not noble, why is pure self-indulgence nobler?“

Links:

On Raising Little Women (or men): What we can learn from Marmee by Simple Homeschool (You KNOW I couldn’t resist linking to this. Little Women!)

How I stopped being a hipster and finally gave e-books a change: Hannah of Dualing Moms (A good defense of the e-book by the lovely Hannah. But I am NOT ready! I just can’t give up holding a real book in my hand. Have you embraced the e-book?)

Glowing Motherhood, The Rest of the Story: Molly Makes Do (A brave post and important reminder to be supporting the pregnant women in our lives. I didn’t even know about ante-partum depression [APD] until getting to know Molly and hearing her story.)

Why My Support for Abortion Was Based on Love…and Lies: Jennifer Fulwiler (This is one of the best pieces I’ve ever read on the topic. Be forewarned that there is some description of abortive procedures. The author doesn’t include it for shock value, just as part of describing her journey and shift in thinking.)

Happy Weekend! Lucy is having her first slumber party ever at her grandparent’s house tonight and it will be our first overnight separation since her birth. We wanted to try this out a couple of times before Baby Gwen’s arrival when I’ll have to spend a couple of nights in the hospital. I’d hate for her to freak out and blame it on the new baby! So, Daniel and I are having a legit date night tonight. Dinner, a walk around our favorite lake? What sorts of things do people do when they don’t have to put the baby to bed at 7pm?!

“I feel as though someone’s handed me the moon and I don’t exactly know what to do with it.”  - Anne (with an “e”)

Love,

Haley

P.S. Have you subscribed to Carrots so that you don’t miss a single post? You can subscribe via email on the left hand side bar or via RSS. You can also follow me on Twitter (@haleycarrots), Pinterest (haleyofcarrots),  FB, and Instagram (carrotsformichaelmas). I love connecting with my wonderful readers!

Thursday was Tolkien’s birthday. It was also this handsome fellow‘s 28th birthday:

I am so grateful for another wonderful year with Daniel, bane of raccoons, my chicken-wrangling, poetry-writing, sushi-making, ultra-marathon-running, urban farming husband.

I love him so much more than I did when I fell head over heels for him almost 12 years ago.

I made this Ginger Cranberry Pork for his birthday dinner along with roasted sweet potatoes and sauteed swiss chard that he grew in our frontyard urban garden. Mmmm.

In the Liturgical Year: Tonight is “Twelfth Night” the last of the 12 Days of Christmas.  We’re taking the kids to a “First Christmas in the New World” Las Posadas procession at a historical mission site. The first Christmas in the the States was likely celebrated in our town by Spanish explorers. Have you been celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas? What has your experience been like? Tomorrow is the Feast of Epiphany. It’s a crime in our household to make it through the day without reading aloud T.S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi.” It’s powerful and I ALWAYS cry.

Pregnancy Update: 20ish weeks! Still occasionally pukey, but decent energy which I am grateful for. In case you missed it, we found out yesterday that we’re having another baby girl! So I was COMPLETELY wrong in my overly-confident prediction of another boy. Last night Daniel and I settled on a name for this new wee lady. I can’t wait to share it with you soon!

The Quotable Benjamin:

“You make the best cookies in the world! I’ve never had cookies gooder!”-Benjamin
Makes me feel awesome even though he doesn’t have the most sophisticated palate. GF baking FTW!

Links: “I Must Watch Over You”: The Value of Familial Responsibility in the Clarion Review (If you love Kristin Lavransdatter, one of my favorite books ever, you will love this.)

Here’s to a Weightless 2013: Kate Wicker

How to Begin New Habits (Free Daily Planner): A Holy Experience (I’ve started printing out these planner sheets and they are lovely and helpful and wonderful. I’m not by nature a list-maker but with Baby #3 on the way, I think I need to become one. My mother is reading this and feeling smug for all those times I smirked at her lists. You were right, Mom, as usual.)

Holy Days: Epiphany at Two Ortizes Plus More

Instagrams Worth Sharing (you can follow me on IG, I’m carrotsformichaelmas):

A trip to see the “Christmas Roses” (Camellias) at a local state park gardens as one of our 12 Days of Christmas.

Does this little lady look like she’s ready to have a baby sister or what?!

Sparkly eye shadow on New Year’s Eve. If a girl can’t wear too much eye makeup on NYE, when CAN she? I ask you.

Fellow bloggers: Is anybody going to BlissDom this year? I decided to go and I’m super excited and a little nervous since it will be my first time!

Wishing you a wonderful Twelfth Night and Epiphany!

Love,

Haley

I hope you had a beautiful Christmas Day! Look at this big girl with piggy tails opening her stocking at Daniel’s folks house:

We still have our tree up, lights shining, and I refuse to stop using our Christmas china cups until Epiphany. Especially since we received this amazing coffee mill from Daniel’s family for Christmas. A thing of beauty is a joy forever!

In the Liturgical Year: We’re smackdab on the middle of Christmastide enjoying our plans for the 12 Days of Christmas. Tonight we’re singing Christmas carols with a few friends, eating cookies, and drinking hot apple cider. On Tuesday we’re celebrating the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and it’s a Holy Day of Obligation so don’t forget to make it to Mass

Quote: I love this quote Sarah shared on FB yesterday:

 ”The beauty of the Gospel touches our hearts, a beauty that is the splendor of truth. It astonishes us, again and again, that God makes himself a child… so that we may love him, so that we may dare to love him, and as a child trustingly lets himself be taken into our arms. It is as if God were saying: I know that my glory frightens you, so now I come to you as a child, so that you can accept me and love me.”
(Pope Benedict XVI, Christmas Homily, Midnight Mass, 2012).

In the Garden: So many greens, sweet potatoes, and carrots. And even a valiant sunflower that struggled to bloom on Christmas Day!

Pregnancy Update: I’ll spare you all my whining about the continued nausea and vomiting. We’re having our big ultrasound next week (on Daniel’s birthday!) and I cannot wait to find out our baby’s gender and share with you! Let’s start a poll. Leave your prediction for Baby Carrot’s gender in the comments

The Quotable Benjamin:

Listening in to Benjamin playing with his new pirates and pirate ship: “I need you to come up here, please.” “OK! I’ll be there in just a minute!” Most polite pirates ever?

“Who is God’s grandpa?”

“How do you spell ‘I love you, Mama’?”

“I want to ride a bear soon.”

“Do mice have beards?”

Links:

Mama Time: shouting hallelujah (A beautiful reflection from a new mother.)

The Best Part of Homeschooling (Enjoying Them): Simple Homeschool

Instagrams Worth Sharing: (I’m carrotsformichaelmas on IG)

We are very into dollies these days.

My sweet loves.

Ok, folks. What are your predictions for Baby #3′s gender? My guess is boy!

Wishing you a wonderful Christmastide!

Love,

Haley

p.s. More severe morning sickness and then Christmas fun have me completely behind on responding to comments and emails. So sorry and I’ll catch up soon, promise!

My kind husband watched the kids all last weekend so I could go on an Advent retreat (my first Catholic retreat ever!). It was so refreshing and beautiful. I always get sinus infections right after Thanksgiving or I’m involved in Nutcracker rehearsals, but neither of those things happened this year and it’s been quiet and intentional and awesome. I’m starting to think about our plans for the 12 Days of Christmas. I think we’ve got a great way to celebrate each of the days and I’m so excited.

He also made this super lovely creche for our Nativity Scene. Skills!

In the Liturgical Year: We had  a wonderful Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Wednesday.

We all made it to 7am Mass (only 2 minutes late!) and then Daniel whipped up a special breakfast. We got a book about St. Juan Diego at the library and made tacos for dinner. Then I realized that I had NOTHING planned for Lucy’s name day: St. Lucy’s Day. NOTHING. When I got back from my holy hour on Thursday morning, Daniel had made gluten-free cinnamon rolls with the kids to celebrate her day (mostly so I wouldn’t feel so guilty about not having planned anything cool.) The dear man.

In the Garden: We’re still getting green peppers! Can you believe it? And greens, greens, and more greens. Swiss chard and lettuce greens and Chinese cabbages. YUM. There is nothing better than eating a salad that was connected to the earth 5 minutes earlier.

The Quotable Benjamin: Benjamin is getting really excited about “our new baby.” He did confess some apprehension about whether he could handle the responsibility, though. “I just don’t know if I can take care of TWO babies.” he said (meaning Lucy and Baby Carrot). I guess we did a good job of emphasizing his role as a big brother, but I’m not sure exactly what he thinks is “taking care” of his little sister. Does dancing around in your underwear so loud there could be a herd of bison lose in your room during naptime count? If so, yes, Benjamin. You’re a huge help.

Links:

Holiday Lattes in the Crockpot: Keeper of the Home (This sounds so yummy and I want to make some.)

G.K. Chesterton and How to Celebrate Christmas: Fountains of Home (I am LOVING all your Little Holydays posts! Thank you everyone for linking up. Next one is on Monday!)

Instagram Worth Sharing (I’m carrotsformichaelmas on IG if you want to follow):

A sweet moment before Daddy left for work this morning.

THANK YOU to all you wonderful folks that have been purchasing from Amazon using my links or search widget (on the right hand sidebar). I receive a tiny percentage of each sale made through my links and every little bit helps. Amazon sales really keep the lights on around this ol’ blog. I really appreciate each and every one of you doing your Christmas shopping through my links. It means so much that you took the time to go through Carrots. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Happy Friday and I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Love,

Haley

The world is a lovelier place this week, because my gorgeous, stunning, and perfect baby niece, Vivienne, arrived in it!

Isn’t she beee-aaaa-uuuu-tiful! We’re so happy that Benjamin and Lucy have a little cousin who lives right down the road. And so grateful for the safe delivery since my SIL had some complications late in pregnancy. Thanks for your prayers for them. She is precious.

And thank you everybody who participated in linking up with our first Little HolyDays from Carrots, MollyMakesDo, and Dualing Moms! Your posts sharing about your traditions and Advents reflections have been such a delight to read.

Coming Up In the Liturgical Year: Tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception! We don’t have any family traditions, other than attending Mass,  for this Solemnity. Do you? We had a wonderful St. Nicholas Day yesterday! How was yours? Even with lots of excitement this week, our evenings have been quiet and candle-lit and lovely. It’s also the first Advent in three years that I haven’t had a sinus infection, so I feel like I’m actually getting to enjoy it and prepare for Christmas!

Pregnancy Update: Almost 17 weeks! I haven’t taken any Zofran in the past three days and haven’t thrown up yet but am slightly queasy 24/7. Is the morning sickness almost over? Please, please, please. Thank you so much for your prayers during these difficult first weeks of pregnancy sickness. Your encouragement has meant so much. I even received the prettiest package of gingery treats for the nausea and a precious hand-knitted baby hat from sweet Abbey. I can’t wait to put the hat on Baby Carrots tiny little head when he/she arrives. What a delight! I’m about to retire my pre-pregnancy jeans for a good long while. I love you, skinny jeans! See you in a year (or two.)

In the Garden: Still tons of delicious greens like Swiss Chard and salad lettuces! And Daniel harvesting some of our sweet potatoes:

What’s growing in your garden?

The Quotable Benjamin:

Daniel reading aloud to Benjamin: “He gave away his possessions in sheer despair.”
Benjamin: “What? How do you shear a bear?”

“Thanks for your patience while I was on the phone.”
“Well, it was an accident. I wanted to come bug ya, but I was going potty for a long time.”
At least he’s honest?

Things Benjamin wanted to pray for the other night: “Aunt Vanessa and Baby Vivienne, no hurricanes, all babies, Africa, and people who are fighting hippopotamuses.”

Links:

There are so many I want to share from the Little HolyDays linkup, so I’ll just send you there to check out all the wonderful Advent contributions!

Here’s some other things I’ve been reading this week:

The Elf on the Shelf, an Advent Rant from Rosie: Like Mother, Like Daughter

“Christmas gifts aren’t a reward for good behavior; like grace, they come whether we deserve them or not, because we are loved. By all means, encourage better behavior in your children during Advent, but do it by helping them prepare their hearts to receive Jesus, not by bribing them to earn more gifts.”

Ugly Advent Wreath Pinterest Round-Up: Fountains of Home

I’m sure each of these wreath makers had the very best of intentions, and my Advent wreath ain’t nothin’ fancy. But just try to get through this post without laughing out loud.

Regretting Your Marriage Doesn’t Mean It Was a Mistake by Marissa Nichols

“Believe it or not, some of the most saintly couples that currently walk this earth have been there.  They have endured addiction, adultery, abuse, depression…sometimes all at once.  And many have walked the healing path and come out victorious.”

Instagram Worth Sharing (you can follow me, carrotsformichaelmas, on IG):

A very sweet girl rockin’ her St. Nicholas Day dress.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! I’m going to be completely unplugging this weekend so I won’t be moderating/answering comments or emails. See you next week!

Love,

Haley