From the Coalface {SQT} Our Lady and the Cyclone

Linking up with Kelly at This Ain’t the Lyceum.

Head over to her blog to check out all the other Quick takes!

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I love a cracker of a storm as previously mentioned here.

And a cyclone rates pretty highly too.

Currently we have one that has been downgraded from a CATegory 5 to a CATegory 1  storm.  Good old cyclone Marcia.  Am glad it is Cat1 though.  Just a slight ruffle of the fur is better than flying kittens.

sorry can’t tell you the source other than my husband emailed it to me..

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Due to the rain from TC Marcia, I had a prayer request today from a friend whose house is at risk of flooding for the second time in 3 yrs.  It prompted me to find a good flood prayer.  This is one we have been saying for years, and originally picked up from Marian Valley.

Most holy Virgin Mary, appointed by God to be the Help of Christians, we choose you as the Mother and protectress of our home. We ask you to favour us with your powerful protection. Preserve our home from every danger, from fire, flood, lighting, storm, earthquake, thieves, vandals, and from every other danger**.

Bless us, protect us, defend us, keep as your own all the people who dwell in this home: protect them from all accidents and misfortunes, but above of all obtain for them the most important grace of avoiding sin. Mary help of Christians pray for all those- who live in this home which is consecrated to you for all time. Amen

**we also add SNAKES to the prayer after some close calls with Taipans in our backyards over the years.  Well worth including with the third most toxic venom of any land snake and the longest fangs.  Definitely needed to be added.

You could be a bit creative with this.  Instead of snakes, or as well as,  you may want to add Cyclones, or Snowstorms, or any other possible natural disaster you care to name.  Maybe even loss of Internet access, or electricity shortages, or washing machine problems (which at times could be considered akin to a natural disaster).  The sky’s the limit really.

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Storms are a great way to have to slow down the frenetic pace of life as numerous things get cancelled in anticipation of having to wade through a muddy quagmire or dodge falling trees in high winds.

My son has just bought a Kindle which he has been saving up for, and is looking forward to days of not having to do much but snuggle up with his precioussss…very appropriate that the first book on there is the Lord of the Rings.  Wonder if he will see any resemblance between himself and Gollum??

 

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And so began the 40 days for Lent and it is shaping up to be the best Lent ever thanks to those SMART goals I set.

I have finished St Francis and am now onto the next one.  So I can’t spend too long here sorry or I will fall behind on my reading.

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Some really powerful things I read during the week (before I had to stop all the extra online reading due to above mentioned Lenten reading resolution), was from Jenny’s comments on her relationship with food in “Lent in the age of excess”. It was powerful for me as I have discovered I am really trying to  deal with food addiction.

This was followed up by reading Allen Herbert and his reflection “Are you a slave?”   His words, “How good is your Yes if you can’t say No?” in the context of my difficulty with food really hit home.  Allen’s comments were a real “penny drop” moment for me.  How can I truly be free if I can’t even say no to a small thing like a potato chip or icecream?

Perhaps that should be me looking like Gollum…

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And then there is the issue of the new dog which can’t be left unsaid.  Although we would have loved 10 children, we are very blessed to have any at all.  So the two we have need siblings of sorts… things to teach character and empathy.  Enter the newest Robinson.  Her name is Honey.

Don’t be fooled. She thinks she’s the Alpha Wolf leader.

 

Having always had large dogs, this is our first foray into the little dog kingdom.  I have already had to Google “What to do when your dog snaps or growls at you” and have discovered we have been doing everything wrong.  Everything.  So we have a lot to learn.  I’ve been getting deja vu about being a first-time parent all over again, but this time with a different species.

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Last Sunday’s Gospel was about Jesus healing the Leper, and so we pulled out our copy of Molokai.  It is good to see how such a man as Fr Damien could have loved so much that he gave his life for his sheep.  Just love this story.  Contracting leprosy himself and seeing little of the dreams he had for the lepers in his care realised, he nonetheless brought the plight of lepers into the international spotlight in a way that had not been done before.

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This week we might hopefully get a whole week of schooling done for the first time this year.  After getting back from the NACF Conference, it has taken us a while to get our groove, followed by bouts of viruses which I am now blaming on all those frozen berries we have eaten.  But, while I wait to develop jaundice and full-blown HepA, I can’t put off the fact that the school year has indeed begun and I need to buckle down with the kids and get some work done.  So, thank God for the rain and cancelled events.  Thank God for Lent to keep me from cooking all day.  And bring on some serious labour at the coalface.

 

Have a great week everyone!