My Car Makeup Bag (or, “How to Get Out the Door for Church On Time”)

This little trick is the only way my family makes it out the door in time for church, and maybe it will be helpful to another mother...

Since we have three little ones, Sunday mornings can be rough. I spend time getting the babies dressed and making sure they have nursed before we leave. I am lucky if I have time to brush my hair in the morning! So I have “duplicates” of my essential makeup items in a travel bag. I grab the bag on the way out the door, and I utilize the time during our brief car ride to apply my makeup. Have “duplicates,” rather then using my actual makeup, is helpful in case the makeup bag doesn’t make it out of the car with me on Sunday afternoon!

Spool Stand Giveaway

I went on maternity leave from my Etsy shop back in November of 2009, and I never reopened the shop. I have decided that if I feel capable of resuming blogging, then I am capable of reopening my shop!

In honor of the occasion, I am giving away a spool stand to one lucky reader. My spool stand is a great item for those who love pretty ribbons but can never find the perfect way to store them! It keeps all your spools of ribbon together in an organized way.

To enter this giveaway, please visit my Etsy shop to find your favorite spool stand color and shape. Then leave a comment indicating which color/shape combination you would choose if you win! This giveaway closes on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. central time. Thanks for entering!

Sharing the Feast of the Annunciation with Little Ones

Friday was the Feast of the Annunciation. On this day the Church celebrates the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would give birth to a son.  The Holy Spirit overshadowed the humble virgin, and she conceived our Lord.

I asked my husband why this feast takes place during Lent. It seems to be a little out of place within the church calendar. The reason is simple. The Church celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25 because it is exactly nine months before December 25, the day when it celebrates Jesus’ birth. Advent is the season of expectation, but every mother knows that the eager expectation begins the moment you  discover that there is life in your womb! How wonderful that the Church recognizes this and allows the excitement to begin building even now.

My husband and I hope to bring our children into the rhythm of the church year in creative and age-appropriate ways. They are still very young, but we discussed ideas for how we could celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation with our children a couple years from now. We think that doing a pro-life related activity would be an appropriate way to honor the conception of Jesus. So we found this list of ideas on the internet:

• Donate money to a crisis pregnancy center.
• Donate your unwanted maternity clothing or baby items.
• Organize a baby food and diaper drive at your church.
• Volunteer to watch children at the local center.
• Open your home to a pregnant woman for the duration of her pregnancy and aftercare.
• Offer to pay for an expectant mother’s medical care.
• Drive a pregnant woman to her prenatal appointments.
• Pay for a crisis pregnancy center ad in the Sunday newspaper.

The First Post, A Second Time

For some reason, I started thinking about my blog recently. I found myself coming up with ideas and wishing that I was still writing. After a couple weeks of deliberation, I have decided to resume maintaining this blog.

This decision did not come without a lot of consideration. My biggest concern was my motivation. Why would I have a blog? More importantly, for whom would I write? Myself? My ego? Is it a place for inspiration, or is it a place for self-promotion? I don’t want this to be a facade for my own narcissism.

Another concern is that there are times when unconsciously I gravitate to the internet to escape. When I want to turn my mind off. When I want to disengage from the world around me, from my neighbors, and even from my family. I don’t want to be that way. And even worse, I don’t want to cause someone else to be that way. I don’t want to keep my readers from loving their neighbors because they are sitting alone at their desks.

With these concerns on my mind, I cautiously write this new post. A lot has happened in the two years since my last blog post. Actually, our family has experienced several major, life-changing events.  I gave birth to our firstborn son. My husband was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church. We moved across the country. And I gave birth to our twin boys. So now I write as someone who has quickly become a mother of three (my son and my twins are only 13 months apart!). I intend for this blog to continue being a collection of the many little pieces that decorate our lives. Welcome to These Little Pieces.