Friday Quicktakes: Sept. 14

1. Today is a pretty sweet Feast day: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. If you want to know the interesting history click on the link. Dom Gueranger in his The Liturgical Year (Volume 14, p. 196) says this about the feast:

'Through thee the precious cross is honoured and worshiped throughout the world.' Thus did Saint Cyril of Alexandria apostrophize our Lady on the morrow of that great day, which saw her divine maternity vindicated at Ephesus. Eternal Wisdom has willed that the octave of Mary's birth should be honoured by the celebration of this feast of the triumph of the holy cross. The cross indeed is the standard of God's armies, whereof Mary is the Queen; it is by the cross that she crushes the serpent's head, and wins so many victories over error, and over the enemies of the Christian name. 

Today is a wonderful day to pray for the continuation of victories over error and trust more fully in the Cross and in our Lady's maternal care and intercession. Lift high the Cross!

2. Speaking of praying, L's version of the Our Father at Mass one day this week was: "Heaven, God! Heaven, God, Heaven, God, Heaven, God..."

3. I discovered this week that I need to stop turning sideways to fit between two objects that have a narrow passageway between them. It is a safer bet that I will fit through going forwards than sideways. Oh baby... Oh third trimester...

4. This blog post is only too true: 10 Surprising Facts About "Bouncing Back After Pregnancy." And I am not really looking forward to these 10 facts, but it is good to be realistic. I do realize, though not often enough, that I am so blessed to have three children and have had/having healthy pregnancies.

5. Along the same line, I appreciated Simcha Fisher's post this week about ceasing to blame pregnancy, being an overtired mother, and having small children on not being oneself and accepting the fact that one is who one is no matter how many stresses one has. But now that we are on to baby number three I have found myself more accepting of life as it is. Yes, it takes 5-10 minutes to get in and out of the car. Yes, it takes a lot more time to get myself dressed and fed as well as my children. Cleaning is harder to accomplish and maintain and all the other changes in having children. I think I have finally accepted that my life is never going to be that of all the single people my age, and you know what? I love my life. It only took me 3.5 years. Ha.

6. I have been having a good visit with my sister. It is really nice to have extra space for guests so that they can have more peace and quiet and we can have our routine without disturbing guests. Yay for a house to live in!

7. Today we went apple picking. My sister, the girls, and I picked 3/4 of a bushel of apples... 30 lbs... And then I bought another 1/2 bushel of seconds. On the to-do-list now is make a bushel worth of applesauce and can it into quart jars, make a pie, and eat lots of apples. It is a lot of work, but totally worth it for homemade local applesauce all winter!