Notes from Greencastle

Jan. 8, 2007

Ordinary Time, coming soon

Today's the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. I'm a little disoriented, what with having just observed Epiphany yesterday, but we can work with it. Did some relevant reading and discussion this morning, and now we are gearing up for the return to ordinary time.

Mid-year progress report is finally in the mail. I think I send in way too much information, not sure whether that amuses or exasperates the administrator of our third-option group. But so far I haven't gotten any cease-and-desist letters, and my reports are useful to me.

Very strong coffee required if I'm going to get all these decorations back in the attic. Luckily we have gotten smart and don't bother getting out the fragile ornaments in the first place, so what is on the tree can be just tossed into the ornament basket. And the pretend tree's lights are permanently affixed. I think maybe the tree itself should stay up until the feast of the Presentation. It cheers up the dark season. Sort of a crescendo-decrescendo decorating process.

Our song for the week is "To Know and Follow Hard After You". It's a pop contemporary-christian praise-and-worship tune that came out a few years ago. I'm half-cheating, since I already know the lyrics. But it sums up my goals for the coming year, and I like it.

(Well, doing sit-ups every morning is not exactly discipleship, but it cultivates fortitude and good posture -- that counts for something, doesn't it? And there are other, loftier goals in my list of resolutions. Like not yelling at the kids so much.)

One thing I do want to do this year is work on getting our homeschool more in time with the liturgical year. I find that the better I synchronize my own life with that of the Church, the happier I am. This year I had just a wonderful Christmas because after observing even a slightly-penitential Advent, I could relax and enjoy the feasting that followed. Thus I uncovered the difference between gluttony and feasting -- I can't explain it yet, but at least my body knows. Likewise this year I've returned to reading the Bible in time with the Mass readings instead of doing my own schedule. Now to bring this rhythm into the children's lives as well.

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Comments

Jan. 10, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by thecatholicapologist

For the hermits...a feast might consist of a block of cheese, a loaf of bread, & a potato. I don't think they have too many problems with finding the line between feasting and gluttony! ;) lol

I was wondering, have you visited Danielle Bean's blog? She's a Catholic mother & author...if you haven't heard of her before you should visit her website: daniellebean.com. She writes articles for the NCRegister periodically.

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Jan. 10, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by greencastle

Well, I don't feast like a hermit, lol.

Have been to Danielle Bean's blog, it is yet another good one. So many blogs, so little time. The older I get, the more reasonable eternity seems.

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Why "Greencastle"?

We have a green castle in our back yard. We named our school after the castle. (We were required to name it something. I don't know why. It was on the form.) Now I've named my blog after our school. Because it's supposed to be a blog about our homeschool. But I blog about other things, too.