A Week in the Life - My Daybook Online Journal

I'm going to try something new with regard to keeping track of day to day life. It's called a Daybook. I've seen several bloggers who do this and have yet to be able to find a format that I really like, but I do find the idea of prompts appealing, because it helps you think about things constructively rather than just casting about in your mind for memories of the week.

The main reason I want to do this is because, to quote Jenny at The Littlest Way, "the little things that seem insignificant in the day to day" are important to remember because they "end up being the things of importance in the long run." I want to have a record of the mundanity of life so that when I am old and gray and wondering where all the years went, I can look back and remember and tell my grown children and (hopefully) grandchildren about all the things that made up the fabric of life for me and for my family. Another reason I want to do this is to follow through with a goal (#oneword365 -- follow) to write a little each day in 2015 (#oneword365 -- write).

As I've said previously, I have always struggled with keeping a journal on a consistent basis despite a desire to record life in this way, but I think with this blog and this more structured way of writing about things, I may have hit on something I can finally do with some consistency. I think I'm going to start with some of Jenny's prompts that she uses for her daybook and I may switch it up as I go.

Next up -- my first entry in my new daybook!

How things have been

I know I've been doing a lot of updating lately about my personal life, but it's primarily because I've not had a lot of energy for creative or serious thought and I'm trying to be faithful to my second word for 2015 -- write.  Since my last post on Thursday, I have been fighting the same stomach bug as my hubby Gray. Even today, Monday, I'm still struggling with the last vestiges of it. It's one of these things that assaults you hard for about 24-36 hours and then once your stomach settles, you just feel totally wiped out for another 2-3 days. I'm currently in that second phase and given that I can't really stop and have a good 2-3 days of sleeping/resting, I have a feeling my 2-3 days may last most of this week.

Five Minute Friday: Welcome

Note: This post is my weekly contribution to the Five Minute Friday community that is hosted by Kate Motaung on her blog Heading Home. Click here for more information about Five Minute Friday and how you can get involved! To link up with all the other entries for today's prompt word, click here.

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2007

It is morning and I look one more time at the little white stick on the bathroom sink and read the word in the display window. Pregnant.

Welcome to our family, tiny little bean.

I am woken by violent pains in my abdomen at 4:00am. I turn over and grab my phone off the bedside table to time the pains. After about 45 minutes of consistent contractions, I wake your father and tell him.

Is it time to welcome you into the world, sweet baby girl?

After several hours hard work, you come screaming into the world, head full of dark brown hair, so different from your big sister's peach fuzz, chubby and almost full term. I am immediately in love with every single inch of you.

Welcome, welcome, welcome, darling AB! You are here at last!

I hold you in my arms, kiss your head and face, count your fingers and toes, and trace the sign of the cross on your forehead in blessing. I put you gently to my breast to take your first meal and rejoice that you seem to know exactly what to do. My heart is so full and even though you are but a few minutes old, I cannot recall what our life was like without you. In this moment, I give thanks for this gift of welcoming you into our family and into the world. In this moment, with you snuggled in my arms, I feel a taste of the welcome of heaven and oh, how sweet it is!

What joy to be welcomed into the Father's presence like a little babe first held by her mother!

Welcome.

Join the Five Minute Friday party and link up your post at Kate Motaung's blog!

Theology Thursday: An Introduction

Had you asked me some twenty or so years ago if I was interested in converting to Catholicism, I would have likely chuckled at the idea and said no. It wasn't that I thought Catholics were laughable or that the idea of converting to Catholicism was laughable, but I felt so close to God as a Southern Baptist Christian that the idea of leaving that faith practice for anything else would have been amusing -- no matter what you put in that blank -- Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, etc. The Catholic faith seemed an odd thing to me with all its rituals and rites and various trappings and the Southern Baptist faith was so simple and straightforward. It was comfortable and familiar. Eventually though, comfortable and familiar ceased being enough. I grew hungry for spiritual nourishment that I wasn't getting in my home church. That led me to begin a journey that took a good ten years which eventually ended with my confirmation in the Catholic Church. At some point, I am going to write out my story about how I did wind up Catholic, but that's a story for another day.

A Further Update: Finally Home!

I've wanted in the last few days to write something terribly profound in my blog, but the last few days have prevented me from writing anything at all because I've only had my phone to use. I can blog from my phone (and my last post Update was written and posted from my phone, but it's much harder since I'm limited to my smartphone's keyboards which are not very conducive for speed of typing. As it is, I think faster than I can type, but it's nice to be able to at least keep up with my thoughts a bit better using the conventional keyboard on my laptop.

Update

Just to get in a few words before midnight, I'm jotting down a quick update. It has been a very busy day and I am exhausted, but miles to go before I sleep. Gray was really ill yesterday with a stomach bug and was in bed pretty much all day. Today he was flat out exhausted and slept most of the day, albeit on the sofa and in the rocking chair. While he was trying his best to recover, I was riding herd on our three plus my niece. We've been visiting my inlaws the last couple of weeks for the Christmas and New Year's holidays and as Gray's sister and her daughter are currently living with them, we've been helping keep an eye on her as needed. Today was one of those days as both my inlaws and Gray's sister had to work. On top of this, since we're leaving to go home in the morning, I was trying to start getting us packed as well. It was total bedlam with all four girls, so the packing kinda got put by the wayside. It is now approaching midnight and I'm finally starting to get it together. Hopefully I can get at least a little sleep tonight.

A domani!

One Word for 2015

Every year, for as long as I can remember, I have made New Year's resolutions. Sometimes I've been super formal about it and done the whole "this year I resolve to....." kind of thing. Sometimes I've been more casual about it, like "I'm going to try to.....this year." Some years, I've sworn that I'm not going to resolve anything at all because it never works and then wind up resolving something anyway and only half attempting it for a few days.

This year, I'm trying something totally different. This year I'm going to join up with oneword365.com to choose a word to focus on in order to better myself this year. The idea behind this is that rather than making some specific resolution that requires a lot of effort, planning, or motivation to stick with, you choose some kind of idea that you want to incorporate into your life via this word. You can choose any word you like, but most people choose a verb or an adjective that means something to them.

Because I'm an overachiever (or more likely because I'm crazy), I've chosen not one, but two words for 2015. My two words are....