Fat Tuesday

Today we celebrated Fat Tuesday. In addition to the regular events of the day, we took time later to enjoy some indulgences before Lent begins tomorrow. As we had dinner (I made steaks, 'taters and tres leches cake), we reflected on Fat Tuesday, Lent and the following prayer:

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
for it is from your goodness that we have this day
to celebrate on the threshold of the Season of Lent.
Tomorrow we will fast and abstain from meat.
Today we feast.
We thank you for the abundance of gifts you shower upon us.
We thank you especially for one another.
As we give you thanks,
we are mindful of those who have so much less than we do.
As we share these wonderful gifts together,
we commit ourselves to greater generosity toward those
who need our support.

Prepare us for tomorrow.
Tasting the fullness of what we have today,
let us experience some hunger tomorrow.
May our fasting make us more alert
and may it heighten our consciousness
so that we might be ready to hear your Word
and respond to your call.

As our feasting fills us with gratitude
so may our fasting and abstinence hollow out in us
a place for deeper desires
and an attentiveness to hear the cry of the poor.
May our self-denial turn our hearts to you
and give us a new freedom for
generous service to others.

We ask you these graces
with our hearts full of delight
and stirring with readiness for the journey ahead.
We ask them with confidence
in the name of Jesus the Lord.

Amen.

As I sit here writing this post - I really realize what a busy day it was. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the kids - just of what we did. Here's a piece of our cake. Dee-licious. The kids were asking for cake the minute they heard me turn on the mixer.

I decided to do a few Lent themed projects with the kids so they can learn about it and so we can, even in a small way, all participate as a family. We made a "crown of thorns" to anticipate sacrifices we hope to make during Lent. When any one of us makes a sacrifice for Lent, we pull out a thorn from the crown to remind us of Christ's suffering and how our good works can comfort and show our love for Him. Hopefully, when Easter arrives, we'll have pulled all the thorns and then we'll decorate the crown with flowers.

Geneva putting together the crown, and then the finished product after it's baked.

Since tomorrow is a day of fasting, I made Fasting Bread. It smells pretty delicious and I am told that just two slices makes a satisfying meal and sustains strength.

The ingredients combines pure, wholesome ingredients with symbolic references found in Sacred Scripture. I thought I would share them with you in my incredibly long post.

Stone Ground Wheat and Oats – Symbol of the pain of being crushed by the wheels of God’s Justice – which “grind slowly but exceedingly fine.” “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.” Jn 12: 24

White Flour – a reminder of the manna given by God to the Hebrews during their forty years in the desert as Moses led them to the promised land. Manna foreshadowed the Holy Eucharist, also the called “Bread from Heaven”. Exodus 16:35 Jn 6:41

Yeast– unifying many parts into one; a symbol of the the kingdom of heaven and of the Church. Mt 13:33

Salt – Christ said to his Apostles: “You are the salt of the earth.” Mt 5:13

Water – Giving life to all things; a symbol of baptism; cleansing. Lenten penances aid the washing away our sins. “He who drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst.” Jn 4: 14

Olive Oil – Acclaimed throughout history as a source of strength, olive oil was used by the athletes of ancient Greece to prepare for them for the contests. Mixed with wine it was found useful in healing the wounds of those injured on the battlefields of medieval Europe. Olive oil is used by the Church in the Holy Oils applied in sacramental anointing.

Pure Maple Syrup – Collected in pure form flowing from a tree; symbolic of the cross and of the sweetness of the Blood of Christ which flowed freely from the tree of his cross, the tree of life; shed so that “sins may be forgiven.” A symbol of God’s love by making this sweet nutrient a gift to be discovered.

Holy Water – A sacramental used in blessings and bringing new life in Baptism. Holy water carries a blessing just by its use and when introduced with the sign of the cross how could this not be a must an key ingredient of fasting bread for lent?

Pecans – These pleasant gifts found in abundance from prolific trees are reminders of Christ’s command to go forth and “produce good fruit;” They are reminders of our own call to perform works of charity, prayer, fasting and almsgiving; the fruit of good works to be undertaken during Lent. Jn 15:16

Raisins – Made from pure grapes, raisins are the fruit of the vine; a reminder of the miracle of water changed into wine at the wedding feast in Cana; of the wine changed into the Blood of Christ at the Last Supper and at the Consecration during Mass. These serve as reminders of that mystery where wine is described as the “fruit of the vine and work of human hands, it will become our Spiritual Drink.”

I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow...

March Madness

Geneva has had a busy couple of weeks! A couple of the highlights: Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day at UT. It was cool with lots of events and exhibits - in fact, too many to name! It was really fun.

Here, she and other girls are getting pelted by water balloons being thrown from a catapult. They loved this.

She learned how to make LED lights function with batteries, electrical wires

and a little circuit board and then soldered the thing together!

I'm really thinking we need a soldering iron.

This was a traffic control simulator.

It was harder than it looked...

The Cathedral School had their 10th Annual Fun Run at the Capital!
Super Fun. We got cool T-Shirts and ate some dee-licious Chick-Fil-A.
Geneva had a lot of fun running, and the rest of the crew had a lot

of fun hanging around and playing! We even had a police

escort that controlled traffic as we marched

from the school to the Capital.

Cheering Geneva on as she ran her laps.
As Geneva ran by me, she said, "You're funny, mom."

Micaela giving a big cheer!