A Prayer: To Be a Sacrifice

Father of all

You who poured out your love upon all humankind

Help me to willingly pour out myself

For the sake of my husband, my children, and the world

Jesus, Savior of the world

You who poured out your very self as you hung upon the cross

Help me to willingly pour out myself

For the sake of my husband, my children, and the world

Spirit of God

You who poured out your breath upon the Church

Help me to willingly pour out myself

For the sake of my husband, my children, and the world

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.

On Dock for This Weekend

• Cook a slightly modified version of these breakfast burritos for the freezer
• Transplant my vegetable seedlings into my garden
• Grocery shopping
• Take photos of new products for my Etsy shop
• Tie up the loose ends related to my new (second!) Etsy shop

Using Coupons to Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

When I stumbled upon this recipe, my mouth began to water. It looked delicious! It also seemed to be really convenient. However, it appeared to be very pricey – it calls for a box of brownie mix, pouch of cookie mix, and a container of frosting. If I paid full price for these items at my grocery store, the total would be $7.07! However, these products frequently go on sale, and coupons are nearly always available here.

Here is what I paid to make this recipe:

2 boxes Betty Crocker Original Supreme brownie mix – Buy 1 for $2.99, get 1 free sale
(Used one “$.50 off two boxes” coupon)
Paid $.99 per box

2 pouches Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix – Buy 1 for $2.19, get 1 free sale
(Used two “$.50 off one pouch” coupons)
Paid $.09 per pouch

1 container Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting – On sale for $.99 cents
(Used one “$.55 off one container” coupon)
Paid $.44 per container

So, I paid $1.52 to make one batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies. (The rest of the ingredients I already had on hand.) That might not be as cheap as baking from scratch, but it is a lot cheaper that $7.07!

Ash Wednesday Reflections

{"The Expulsion" by Janice Williams Whiting}

I won’t be surprised if I always remember last night. As I mentioned earlier, it was my first time attending an Ash Wednesday service. I had read the Ash Wednesday liturgy the morning before, but there was something entirely different about participating in it. The words of the liturgy weighed heavily upon me and sank deeply in.

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word.”

In the name of the Church. That phrase struck me. By observing a holy Lent, I am uniting myself with the Church – past, present, and future. Some might say, “But Lent isn’t prescribed in Scripture.” No, but the Church, in her wisdom, call us into it. Furthermore, the acts self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting, self-denial, and meditating certainly are prescribed in Scripture.

“To make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.”

The right beginning of repentance always takes place on our knees.

“…Grant that these ashes may be a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

The ashes signify two things – our mortality and our penitence. Our frailty and our failures. That we are dust, and that we are penitent just like those who would mourn in sackcloth and ashes.

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Lent Begins With Ash Wednesday

My husband and I joined the Anglican Church last year in the middle of the season of Lent, so we have never attended an Ash Wednesday service. Perhaps that’s why I identify so much with the following passage from Ancient Future Time. Robert Webber’s explanation of Ash Wednesday especially addresses those who are new to liturgical worship. He writes:

“Unfortunately some Christians live as though the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ never happened. Our lives become absorbed in the day-to-day experiences of life. We focus on name-brand clothing, the color of our houses, the size of our bank account...We too easily forget our Maker and Redeemer, replacing God with things and ambition. Lent is the season that does something about this situation. It calls us back to God, back to basics, back to the spiritual realities of life. It calls on us to put to death the sin and the indifference we have in our hearts toward God and our fellow persons. And it beckons us to enter once again into the joy of the Lord--the joy of a new life born out of a death to the old life. This is what Ash Wednesday is all about--the fundamental change of life required of those who would die with Jesus and be raised to a new life in him.

For most people coming from my background, an Ash Wednesday service and Lent are quite foreign and somewhat threatening. The Christmas and Advent cycle are much less threatening because Christmas themes are so prevalent in our culture...But Lent is another matter. Lent appears to be dark and foreboding. It reminds Protestants of their worst fears of Roman Catholic practices--ritualism, works, fasting, vigils, and the like. Haven't we been saved from all that (we ask)? Didn't the Reformers free us from having to do works and pilgrimages and such things?

…Perhaps we laughed inside and thought to ourselves, just another mark of an external, ritualistic religion. Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Only God can judge the heart. Aside from that, dare we ask: Does something lie behind that symbol that has the potential to make our journey into Easter more meaningful? After all, what do we do for Easter? Most Protestants don't make any spiritual preparation for the annual celebration of the death and resurrection. For example, when I was growing up the only preparation for Easter made in my home--a deeply committed Christian home at that--was the planning and purchasing of new clothing. Easter was a weekend event. Preparing for Easter for seven weeks was unthinkable, ludicrous, even pagan.

But now I am constrained to ask: Who is the pagan? Yes, it is wrong to go through the motions of Ash Wednesday and Lent in a mechanical, uninvolved way. But it is also wrong to ignore any kind of preparation for the Easter event…We can begin the journey of Lent by the life-changing content of the Ash Wednesday service.”

Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004) 99-100.

Pendant Light Transformation on a Budget

For only $20.99, we transformed our outdated entryway light into a stylish, vintage-looking chandelier. (I thought I had a picture of the original light fixture, but I don't. The light looked a lot like the one shown in the “before” picture.)

Step 1: For $17.00, we purchased this pendant from IKEA. This IKEA light is actually only a “shade” (i.e., the light fixture is not included). So when we removed our old light fixture, we retained the base, electric cord, socket, and chain. I spray painted the base and chain with silver spray paint. Then we slipped on the new shade and attached the base back to the ceiling. I am very pleased with the results.

Step 2: For an additional $3.99, I purchased this light bulb. I learned about these bulbs here on Apartment Therapy, and I found them at my local grocery store. The bulb reflects a lovely light pattern on the ceiling and adds such a nice touch!