Parenting/Kids – Page 3

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Published on July 7, 2023July 6, 2023 by Kate1 Comment

I can’t remember if I’ve shared this here, but we are going to be a homeschooling family again in the fall. Actually, given the nature of homeschooling, we are already starting in small ways (shh, don’t tell my kids). As part of getting my brain back into full time “homeschooler” mode, I’ve been catching up with Sarah Mackenzie at the Read Aloud Revival. While originally a podcast about how enriching and life-giving reading aloud as a family can be, the podcast has grown and evolved to also include homeschool coaching and community. It is full of such good content, if you are a homeschooler or thinking about it I highly recommend Sarah’s stuff. Even if you aren’t, consider listening to an episode or two about the benefits and joys of reading aloud as a family. We love it!

In a recent episode (disclaimer, I am a premium member, meaning I pay a yearly fee for additional content, and the episode I’m referring to comes from that content so I cannot link it for you) Sarah talked about this week’s Gospel passage. She highlighted the section where Jesus says:

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28

In the context of homeschooling, it can be very hard to decide when the school year is officially “done.” As the parent and teacher, you get the freedom and burden of deciding when enough is enough. This is a tricky thing and it can be so easy to get lost in the doubts of, “Have we done enough?” What if the math book wasn’t finished? What if we never got to these planned projects? Have we worked hard enough to earn our summer break, our time of rest?

Sarah nips these ideas in the bud with the above passage. Homeschooling considerations aside and thinking about the larger context of our lives as God has given them to us, Jesus is saying that rest is a gift. He doesn’t say, “After you’ve completed your work you can rest.” He doesn’t even say, “In exchange for a certain amount of work, you can rest.” Quite the opposite. Jesus recognizes how labored people are as we struggle with daily life. Many of the struggles we have come as a result of sin in the world. We are a burdened people. In compassion, Jesus extends the gift of rest.

The thing is, the rest Jesus offers doesn’t necessarily line up with how the world views rest. Jesus’ rest doesn’t necessarily include sleeping until 11am, a round of golf, vegging in front of the tv, being about to watch a full YouTube video without being interrupted, or a vacation to a resort in the Bahamas.

When God created the world, He concluded by establishing the Sabbath. The Sabbath was to be a day of rest. It was a day of refraining from daily work so that the most important thing could be tended to – the Israelite people’s relationship with God. The Sabbath was set aside as a day of prayer and worship. Contrary to many sporting schedules, Sunday continues to be a day of rest, the day we come together as a community to worship and praise God. We find true rest for our souls when we rest in God. Jesus says this today. “Come to me…and I will give you rest.”

Here are a few examples of how to rest with God that I have found rejuvenating at various points in my life:

Taking a walk, even if it isn’t by yourself.
Adoration (even 5 minutes, even if you have a toddler with you)
Daily Mass
Listening to Christian or uplifting music, especially during a chore you don’t enjoy
Making food for others
Sharing with someone how God spoke to you today
Driving without the radio or a podcast on

To rest well with God doesn’t necessarily mean ceasing all activity. It is about how you approach that activity. Are you cooking/cleaning/working because of your desire to love God and the people He has placed in your life? Are you intentionally making time for quiet? God desires to be part of each moment of our day. Are you inviting Him into them so He can share your burden and lighten your load? Jesus promised He would if we unite ourselves to Him.

If you’d like to learn more about resting in God, check out this article by Fr. Billy Swan from Word on Fire Ministries. He references today’s passage, as well as others, while exploring how to rest well in God’s presence.

Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Published on June 30, 2023June 29, 2023 by KateLeave a comment

There’s a lot happening around here at the moment. If you watched this week’s YouTube video, you already know we are safely in Alabama. Thank you to all of you who prayed for our family on our journey. We appreciated it so much, especially when a certain Mississippi state trooper pulled us over because the registration on our cargo trailer may (or may not, you’ll have to take it up with my husband who insists because it was purchased in California there’s some kind of special rule out there) have been expired. When I explained we were military in the middle of moving cross country he let us go without any problems, but boy was my heart pounding for quite a few miles after.

I also can’t talk about this move without sharing a bit about how incredible my dad is. He had to navigate peers also being on vacation at the same time as our planned move and got everything all lined up. Then, about a week before we planned to leave we found out that if we didn’t want all of our household goods to end up in storage we would need to move up our timeline by 4 days. We would have already been in Alabama by the time his flight got into Wichita. We called immediately and told him we were so sorry for all the work he had to do to make the first plan work, how sorry we were to be changing things last minute, etc. He didn’t even flinch. He (and my mom, she’s a flight ticket wiz) got the tickets changed and he workout whatever needed to be done at work so he could drive with us. He drove my car, with 4 of the 6 kids, hauling that semi-registered cargo trailer, from Kansas to Alabama without complaining once. He then stayed for 2 days and helped Ben get the trailer unloaded, reloaded with storage stuff, and stored. And helped get the camper pushed into the garage after helping reorganize the garage (have I mentioned tomorrow it’s going to be 109 Fahrenheit tomorrow). AND still found time to play in the community pool, spend time on the floor building and rebuilding towers for Nathan to crash, hear all about the kids’ Zelda and Super Mario games, and I could go on.

I’m exhausted just writing about all the things my dad, Papa to the kids, got done while he was with us. We would be no where, absolutely no where, near where we are right now if he hadn’t come. I will always talk about this crazy move with our kids, because I want to share this story with them. I want them to remember the fun memories of being thrown across the pool and playing Minecraft Uno with all the rules (my dad likes to read all the rules before starting a game). But more importantly, I want them to remember what an incredibly selfless choice this was.

My dad did not have to come. We made it very clear that we did not expect him to rush to change all kinds of things to make this work. He did anyway. He could have griped about only going 60 miles an hour the whole first day (Ben tries to manage the number of times we have to stop for gas) (we got to go 65 on day two, hooray!). He didn’t. He could have said, “No, I think I’ll take the room to myself if that’s ok, it’s been a long day in the car with the kids and tomorrow will be just as long,” when we stopped overnight. He had 3 kids in his room with him, including the 4 year old who kicks in his sleep but adores his Papa. Every time I turned around, there he was, doing something sweet or kind or helpful. He was amazing.

While I know this story isn’t exactly what our Gospel is about, in a way it is. What I saw in my dad was someone who was putting Jesus first. He continually showed our whole family what it means to show up and be present in this moment. What crosses we asked him to carry, he carried. He so perfectly modeled that song from Mass, “Here I am, Lord, here I am. I come to do Your Will.” This is what I hope our family remembers from this past week.

For something a little more on topic for the Gospel reading, be sure to check out the YouTube video below.

Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus 2023

Published on June 16, 2023June 15, 2023 by KateLeave a comment

It’s pretty amazing that we are able to model our prayer after conversations with God. In today’s Gospel, Matthew gives us a glimpse into Jesus’ conversation with the Father. In Jesus’ prayer to the Father, He reveals the Father to His followers. By knowing Jesus, we come to know the Father. By following Jesus, we don’t just get to know of the Father’s existence, but we also learn how to communicate with Him and have a relationship with our Creator.

Jesus reveals something interesting about the human heart in this conversation with God.

I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Matthew 11:25

We can joke about becoming “nose blind” to familiar smells, even somewhat unpleasant ones. How often do we, or people we know, *ahem children!* seem to have selective hearing and only sometimes choose to answer when we call. There is something to be said along this vein of thought when it comes to our faith.

It can happen where we feel like we’ve already learned this stuff. “Yes, the Bible is God’s Word. Yep, the Eucharist is the True Presence of Jesus. Of course, Mary is the Mother of God. I got it Father, Mass is important. Jesus died so we can go to heaven. Great.” Every single one of these statements has the potential to radically transform our life, and yet how often do they fall on deaf ears. Not ears of unbelief, but of flatness, boredom, or, as Jesus points out, the learned one who mistakenly thinks they know this stuff.

If you don’t believe me, look at the Pharisees. They literally knew all the things they needed to know in order to believe Jesus was the Messiah. They knew the prophecies, the signs. They had all the knowledge and learning. Jesus was the key that fit perfectly into the lock they had studied for the majority of their lives. And still, they missed Him. They remained so focused on what they already knew they missed what He had to reveal.

While we did take a year off of homeschooling in favor of our local Catholic school last year, next year we will be back into homeschooling once more. One of the things I’m most looking forward to is the conversations we will have about our faith. Before sitting down to write this, I asked our oldest three kids if they had had any moments when they felt like God was talking to them or revealing something to them. I shared the Gospel passage and explained how sometimes, because kids are more open to receiving new information, God is able to speak a little more clearly to them. They gave their permission to share the experiences they had.

John, age 11, shared about how one night, about 3-4 years ago, he was woken up by a dream. He looked over at a picture of Mary and baby Jesus that was in his room. He said it looked like Mary was looking straight at him. He looked away and when he looked back, her gaze was back on baby Jesus in her arms. I asked him what he felt God was trying to tell him. He said that he knows Mary is always watching out for him, just like she always watched out for Jesus when he was a boy.

Rosie, age 10, shared about her 4th grade teacher. Above her teacher’s desk was a sign that hung up all year long, “Let go and let God.” Rosie talked about how her teacher emphasized this phrase often at the start of the year to help set the tone for the class. When things get frustrating, let them go and let God handle it. When you don’t get the grade you wanted, let go and let God inspire you to study harder next time. When you lose something, let go and let God bring it back to you if you are supposed to find it. Rosie said that after a year of considering this phrase, she feels a lot more peaceful and is finding it easier to trust God in her life.

Sweet Clare, age 8, had only this to say, “You know, I know God has shown me things, but I never realize it in the moment. I have to think about it more.”

Jesus speaks to us in a whole host of ways. He does not miss a single opportunity to reach out to us in love and tender mercy. His Sacred Heart is overflowing with love for you. Hear His words with fresh ears this week. If you can, talk to a child about God. See if they will share something new they’ve learned about Him. It might be something you’ve known for years, but can we really ever stop learning these mysteries? There is always more, there is always a deeper layer to uncover. Don’t be satisfied with a surface level understanding of your faith. Dig in, with childlike curiosity, joy, and openness to whatever God wants to reveal to you next.