Book Review: In Constant Prayer

I was prepared to be bored to tears with this book and force myself to finish it. I’m very interested in learning more about prayer, but a study on the ancient Daily Office did not sound like something I would like. I mean, I’ve attended a Catholic church before and never understood why they repeated the same thing every Sunday, so how would this teach me anything?

Surprisingly, I found myself looking forward to reading it every chance I got. It was funny, intriguing, and was a breath of fresh air into my prayer life. I enjoyed Benson's conversational writing. His honesty and self-deprecating humor kept me reading on a subject I had no interest in before. There were many very thought-provoking points, halfway through I made sure to have a highlighter handy whenever I picked the book back up. I do wish there had been more of an explanation of the format of the daily office. Why are certain things said in the morning, etc.? Much of the office was written hundreds of years ago, so perhaps no one is really sure? He made a subject that has the possibility of being unbearably boring, quite interesting. Interesting enough, in fact, that I have picked up my own daily prayer book (Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals) and enjoy participating in prayer with the thousands of others that observe the Daily Office.

**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my review through BookSneeze.com. I was not compensated in any other way. My review reflects my honest opinion.**

What's Up?

 So why haven't I posted anything lately?

• Stomach Flu. 4 of the 5 Rudd's have suffered, Gracie is thankfully the only one who hasn't gotten sick. This is the first time Brenna has thrown up, so she completely freaked out when it happened which resulted in LOTS of laundry. I felt so bad for her. How do you explain to a two year old something that feels completely unnatural and horrid? I'm so glad it was short lived!
• lots of Mario on the Wii

• Potty training (not going well...she could just care less!)
• decluttering....again

• Playing with big girl toys
•  Watching Despicable Me, Care Bears and Super Mario Brothers repeatedly
• Reading

• Cooking (This recipe was a hit, this was a flop
• Teething - at least one on bottom, possibly three! .
• Catching up on new TV (I'm really liking Harry's Law, Being Human, and this Canadian gem Being Erica)
• And lots of other little everyday things.

I'll be back soon, but for now I have a block castle to build (and have knocked over by my two year old Godzilla).

I Want to be an Ostrich

I want to be an osterich and just hide my head in the sand so I can pretend things like this don't happen.

Prosecutor: 4-year-old Michigan City boy beaten to death for not eating

I have a four year old. He doesn't eat. I would never in a million years consider beating him because of it.

I want to pretend I didn't read the article about the man who delivers babies alive and then cuts their spinal cords to kill them. This happened in AMERICA.

I want to pretend that women and children aren't sold to be used as sexual slaves every minute of every day.
I want to pretend that every child has enough to eat, warm clothes to wear and someone to hug them everyday.
I want my heart to stop hurting.
I want to feel like I can do something about this.

Four Months

I've determined that my babies just keep getting cuter with each one I have. My other two were cute, but Grace is by far the cutest. (Of course I'm sure I felt the same way about them at this age too!)

Developmentally she's doing really well and doesn't have any delays (besides her vision, but hang tight - we'll get to that). She has some "tendencies" that we are working on with First Steps, she still likes to turn her head to the left and likes to keep her left hand in a fist. She can open it and grab things with it - she just chooses not to! So we work with a physical therapist once a week.

Gracie went to the NICU follow up clinic and played with an occupational therapist and a speech therapist. (I thought it was weird that they would have a speech therapist see someone who can't talk, but it was really neat to watch her get different responses out of Grace). Everyone at the clinic was wonderful. They were open and honest about Grace's development and, more importantly, listened to my every concern. I told everyone we came in contact with about our concern with her eyes and they agreed that something should be done. They advised us to see an opthamologist to check the health of her eyes and get an idea of what's going on.

We were referred to a local opthamologist that has a lot of experience with premature babies. After dialating her eyes, shining all kinds of lights in them, and looking at her through all sorts of prisms, he determined that she has optic nerve atrophy. The fluid in her brain before birth put so much pressure on her optic nerves that it damaged them. The damage is permanent. She does have some vision in both eyes, but we won't know how much until she is older. It could be as little as having problems passing a driving test or as much as being legally blind. For right now, we are putting a patch on alternating eyes for 30 minutes everyday to determine which eye is stronger. Her eyes aren't working together yet, so we also work with her on tracking toys to help her out. We go back in a month to check on her progress and see what our next steps will be.

I can't get over how incredibly lucky we've been. If her condition hadn't been caught as early as it was, she would have been blind, if she had survived birth at all. And while I try to count every single blessing and miracle that has been a part of her life so far, I still want to throw a tantrum sometimes. It's not fair. At this age, she should be recognizing our faces and sometimes I'm not even sure if she can SEE our faces. She's so beautiful and so happy and deserves to be 'normal'. Everyone thinks their child is special, but no one really wants their child to be "special".

 I know it could be so much worse, believe me I do. And I also know that Grace doesn't deserve a mom who is going to act like a whiny toddler. So I dry my eyes, suck it up and put the focus back on her. And she is amazing.

Post Theme Song: "Just the Way You Are"  by Bruno Mars

Makes Me Happy (And my menu!)

I love coffee. I especially love my Keurig. I used to keep my k-cups in a basket, which worked but I would have to dig through them to find the flavor I wanted. And then I got this...(Enter heavenly angel choir singing here)

For Christmas, my mom got me the Coffee Pod Drawer Holder from Bed Bath and Beyond. My Keurig looks so pretty sitting on top and I can actually tell which k-cup is which without digging through to find what I want. It's so simple, yet makes me so happy.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday - Chicken Spaghetti

Tuesday - BLT's and Soup (Progresso)

Wednesday - Chicken Tortilla Soup

Thursday - Chicken Cacciatore

Friday - Pizza for the family - I'm going out with my friends! WOO!

Lots of chicken this week! I didn't plan it out this way, there were just a few Pioneer Woman recipes I wanted to try and they include chicken! What are you eating?

One of my "resolutions" this year is to treat myself better. This is going to include making more time for one of my favorite hobbies - reading. I'm loosely joining others on the Life As Mom blog and "Booking it in 2011". (loosely meaning the idea is to blog each month on the 11th about the book you've finished. Since I rarely have time to finish my dinner, let alone a book - I can't guarantee an update every month!)

I've loaded up my Kindle in anticipation and am SO excited to dig in! Here's what I plan on reading:

Just Between You And Me by Jenny B. Jones
Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson
In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving by Leigh Anne and Sean Touhy (from the movie The Blindside!)
At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne
Who is My Shelter? by Neta Jackson
Finding Your Purpose as a Mom by Donna Otto
Dancing with my Father by Sally Clarkson
The Reluctant Entertainer by Sandy Coughlin
Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider
On the Edge of the Dark Sea, North! Or Be Eaten, and The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson
Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand
Above All, Be Kind by Zoe Weil
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs by Emerson Eggrichs
Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl
Growing Grateful Kids by Susie Larson

There may be more or less, but this is what I'd like to read this year. What are you reading right now?

Typical Day At My House

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy

Hello internet. I have not been ignoring you. But lately I just haven't had it together. I'm not sure if it's because I felt like I had it SO together during Christmas that now everything is just catching up or if this is the normal after-Christmas January blahs. But I feel like I just. can't. catch. up. So many things I want to do and I'm spinning my wheels. Or throwing chocolates down my shirt. (Watch the clip and you'll get that one.)

So I will be back. I promise. Just give me a little more time to adjust to the speed of the candy.

happy new year

A New Year's Prayer

 

May God make your year a happy one!

Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,

But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;

Not by making your path easy,

But by making you sturdy to travel any path;

Not by taking hardships from you,

But by taking fear from your heart;

Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,

But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;

Not by making your life always pleasant,

But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,

and by making you anxious to be there to help.

God's love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

Anonymous