A GOOD Lenten Friday, In Many Ways...

Well, I'll warn you ahead of time, that I only took 4 pictures today.  I know... shocking!  It wasn't that I chose not to take them... I think I just more forgot.

It was very Lenten around our apartment today.  We woke up to a very cranky mommy (that would be yours truly!).  I tried very hard to see past my crankiness and put on cheerfulness, but let's just say that I was continually humbled by my complete lack of self-will!  The day included many apologies from mommy to her 1 and 3 year old, which weren't always understood, and often were responded to with criticism instead of forgiveness as a result, but it sure made for a "good" Friday!

We did do a complete cleaning of the house this morning.  Therese did not get to organize the books and movies as much as she desired, because it took her too long to organize the plastic pants and training pants, but she survived the withdrawal.  We planned to attend a holy hour before Mass, but the Commissary was jam-packed so that the trip to get literally 5 items took almost an hour and we got to Mass 2 minutes late!

And then this evening, when I thought that some fresh air would do my crankiness and the kids' inside-all-day energy some good, thunderstorm clouds only let us stay out for about 3 minutes!  So we spent our evening inside, trying to smile as much as possible!

Therese has an ouchie nose from it running 24/7, but David is so far not showing signs of getting the same.

I promise that it wasn't all dreary, however.  Let's see... Therese got some nice and quiet coloring time in, at both nap time and bed time the kids went down very well, David wrote with a pen in a book for the first time, but thankfully it was a board book, and not one of mom or dad's nice ones, the kids ate very well today, they were very good at Mass, David didn't pee through his pants onto mommy even once today, mom miraculously had enough strength of will to exercise this afternoon, which she REALLY didn't want to do, and  I am REALLY enjoying The Dolorous Passion.  If you haven't read it yet... pick it up for next Lent.  It is VERY powerful and a great aid in keeping Christ's Passion in mind throughout the season.

I haven't heard from Joe to know when his pass begins tomorrow, but I'm assuming we'll do our "usual" and head over after 10am Mass and catch lunch with him.  Hopefully more storms won't keep us from the park!  (And hopefully mommy will wake up on a better side of the bed!)

God is good... he never lets us get too confident in ourselves!  Thanks be to God, because after today I know that if I did try to do this whole mothering thing by myself, without Him and His graces that sustain me, it would be VERY UGLY!

St. Monica, Patron Saint of Mothers, Pray for Us!