This is the end of a very long weekend!  This is the longest my dear hubby has been home in a while (I mean home home....all day home...).  Alex has been home since Tuesday afternoon.  Cameron and Isaac are with me 24/7.  We've had several celebrations to give thanks to Almighty God for His abundant blessings and graces showered on us this year (both asked and unasked for).  I got my little area of the bedroom mostly straightened up.  We haven't been home for Thanksgiving in years so we took advantage of it and Alex's babysitting skills to venture out into the chaotic world of consumerisim.  We were able to get several gifts at good prices which is very important right now.  Being good stewards is a learning experience! 

Yesterday, Cameron sprouted a fever and a headache.  Our family gets sick so rarely that I take notice when we do.  Isaac had a fever and headache about a week ago so it might be the same thing just making its rounds.  Today Cameron said he was also getting a sore throat.  Motrin seems to be working, along with some nice hot apple cider and plenty of rest.  I don't know why we get sick so rarely...we certainly don't do anything spectacular in the way of preventatives....we do regular vitamins and then in the fall I make sure we have vitamin C on hand.  For the occassional cough we do the vicks on the feet thing (don't ask...but it does seem to help).  Stomach bugs are also a rarity.  We Jimenez seem to have steel digestive tracks.  Except I also have these huge sponges attached to my hips that absorb just about every calorie the my body takes in and stores in there on my hips for future emergency use. I'm pretty sure God has blessed us so far.  Now, we do have issues in other areas.....bumps, bruises, scrapes, broken bones (fortunately those have also been few .....each child being limited to 2 broken bones during their 18 years at home....the older 3 have filled their quota, Cameron and Isaac have not even started). 

Today was also the feast of Christ the King.  Liturgically in the Catholic Church it is the last Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The Feast of Christ the King was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as an antidote to secularism, a way of life which leaves God out of man's thinking and living and organizes his life as if God did not exist. The feast is intended to proclaim in a striking and effective manner Christ's royalty over individuals, families, society, governments, and nations.

Today's Mass establishes the titles for Christ's royalty over men: 1) Christ is God, the Creator of the universe and hence wields a supreme power over all things; "All things were created by Him"; 2) Christ is our Redeemer, He purchased us by His precious Blood, and made us His property and possession; 3) Christ is Head of the Church, "holding in all things the primacy"; 4) God bestowed upon Christ the nations of the world as His special possession and dominion.

As we end the year thinking about Christ as King, we look ahead with longing for the time when Christ will come again, and we remember, through Advent, that He first came to us as a little baby, helpless, limited by our human frailty, born into the humility of a manger.  The Bread of Eternal Life, came to us in the small town of Bethlehem, which means Bread of Life. 

Tomorrow begins a new week.  A week with its own busyness and challenges.  Our Word for the Week is "PREPARED".  Are we PREPARED for Advent?  Are we PREPARED for the coming of Christ our King, ruler of all the universe, Lord of our hearts and Savior of our souls?  If not, we better get our move on.....as my kids would say.

Our virtue of the week is FLEXIBILITY-the ability to bend or be moved and not break.  I have a feeling we'll be practicing that virtue quite a bit this week.

Isaac will be learning about ducks, the letter L, the number 12, and the color white.  He'll also be learning the song The 12 Days of Christmas.

Cameron will be finishing up his lesson on Bats.  He'll be learning about liquid measurements in math (I'm seeing baking going on this week), his x 7's.  He's supposed to go on 2 field trips-one to a play at the University of Saint Thomas and one is a tour of a bakery.  He's also supposed to have choir practice.  He'll continue on with early American History.  All of this will be contingent on how he feels.  He's also going to try and learn Silent Night to sing at our First Friday Mass Activity....

May you all have a blessed week.  May you be flexible in your day to day activities as you PREPARE your hearts and your homes for Christ and His coming.