Septuagesiwhat??

The Brown Scapular. A favorite devotion in my circles! Mine tends to wander….

Happy Candlemas!

I think it was inevitable that I would fall into some sort of traditional Catholic category, once I discovered the old Mass. I’m sure I don’t fit neatly into any “Trad” box…. I love my old parish that says the new Mass and I love my new parish that says the old Mass. I love the people in both places and I love how on fire they all are for the faith in both places. Is that a category?? Categories aside, I fell in love with the Latin Mass (although my husband was the first to topple. That helps). We’re going on four years now of going to the Vetus Ordo, and I have fully embraced all of the extra customs and traditions that come with it. A favorite of mine started yesterday; Septuagesima (Septuagesima Sunday is day 1). I’m wondering if this is the year that the rest of the modern Catholic world discovers it. Essentially it is pre-Lent (each Sunday is like a count down). In the more traditional venues, we usually Lent fairly hard, so it is good to ease into it over 3 weeks. And I need me a little Lent now after all of the baking that I’ve been doing for the past 5+ weeks!

I remain grateful for the pie I’ve had during the Christmas season. I might have turned this drawing into a sticker… ;)

But it’s not only about baking less, but paring down… simplifying. I suppose am aching for some spring cleaning already! Moreover, I’m looking more forward to the annual spring cleaning of my heart. My goal in life is to be closer to Jesus and I found this to be a wonderful way. So before Ash Wednesday (February 18 this year) I’ll be cutting down on my snacks, cutting down on meats and sweets and celebrating a little bit less- although not completely giving it up as it is carnival season through Fat Tuesday! But I know my heart needs to prepare Him room, so I’m grateful for this extra season to prepare. And I’m looking forward to Quinquagesima Sunday, because I love saying Quinquagesima! Quinquagesima. :)

My son couldn’t pronounce the letter “p,” when he was training, so we called his potty chair the toto. He could say that! And it stuck. It’s also a brand of toilet!

My daughter survived too! Praise God. I did not end up folded up in a corner, holding my knees, rocking and mumbling. It’s been about a month now. My littlest one picked up on the key elements of what I wanted her to do in about a day and a half. She did stellar the next two days after that… And as crazy as my husband and I are, we even took the kids car shopping on day three (it’s now minivan life for me!) and she did super well. There were no potty accidents in the new (to us) car before we purchased it. Mr. Hude really wanted me to try it out before we considered it, so the whole family had to go on a test drive. And the car is quite big enough to bring her little IKEA “toto” with us on errands, in case of emergency. She did confuse our shoe rack with a toilet on day 4… “No! Not my new boots!” At least they were waterproof…. But other than that, she generally does ok if she’s not too distracted by play, and if we listen to her prompts. Deo gratias!

That’s about it for now. Thank you so much for reading! I am grateful that you took the time.

Pax Christi,

-Adalee