7QT: On Blank Minds, Crazy Sick Kids, Retreats & Rosaries

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Why is it that every Friday when I sit down to write, my mind suddenly is devoid of any rants, ravings or ridiculous thoughts? All week I think, "oh! That's a good one for quick takes!" Come Friday, it's as though all I have is a stream of drool coming out of my open mouth. I'm not gonna mention anything about the state of the motherly mind, because we are after all superhuman creatures who clearly do not lose brain cells from our children's sleep patterns or early toddler life choices, so it must just be that I lost my superhero juju this week. Must be that. Yeah.

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Speaking of superpowers, I think I want mine to be healing. Invisibility is a close second. I cannot believe how deeply joyful I am when my littles get over their sicknesses. I cannot.even.imagine what I would do if they were seriously ill. My heart goes out to all those parents whose children are facing debilitating diseases or conditions (and again, if you haven't looked into the work St. Jude Hospital does, please consider doing so this season and helping if you can). Little man is finally on the mend - the fever has gone, he's working out the last bits of sickness and I am tears-in-my-eyes praising the Lord and thanking every.darn.one of you that has prayed for us this week! So.very.joyful to have him back to "normal." Yeah, that word will always be in quotations in this family.

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Speaking of not-quite-normal, this happened yesterday after dinner.

Li'l G: (Watching Phineas & Ferb) That's Perry. He's a playtpus. Platypuses are semi-aquatic.
Me: What's that G?
Li'l G: Moooom...I SAID, a platypus is semi-aquatic.
*crickets*
Me: Oh. Yes, yes they are.

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Here's a random fact about me that I just discovered today. Using completely worn down pencil eraser are to me as scorpions are to Jennifer. Or nails on chalkboard to others. Just touching one and almost using it sent not-at-all pleasant shivers down my spine. Who knew? See? Random.

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In some rather surprising news, I may be reconsidering the whole Santa thing. It's a conversation the Hubs and I will have to have first, so more on that another day. I may not be as opposed to Santa himself as I originally thought. Darn that Jennifer and that Mary for making me actually think about it. The Hubs may be shaking his fist at you...or rather, me.

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Coming home to a sick little one, I completely forgot to mention that I was on retreat last weekend with the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor. Now, I must admit that I was rather distracted the whole time since the Hubs texted me a couple hours in to tell me that the babe was throwing up and running at 102-103 fever. I almost left, but am glad I stayed through most of the retreat and left after Mass on Sunday. 

While I'm sure I missed a good deal of wonderful material on Sunday afternoon, I know that I needed to be home for my own heart. As is always the case with the Sisters, the fruit from the retreat came pouring out this week even if I didn't feel connected at the time. Gems like "Jesus is in the mess of motherhood sometimes more so than in the quiet because it is through our vocation that we find our sanctification" and "if we can't show mercy and grace at home then it really doesn't matter if we show the rest of the world because it is at home that we are passing on the meaning of discipleship to the next generation" - definitely not pre-retreat gems! Thank you Sisters! Oh, plus I got a bomb-diggity icon (which I've been looking for style-wise since seeing them on Britt's icon wall) from the totally crazy gift exchange game and learned how to make a one decade cord rosary. Sah-weet!

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Learning to make a one decade cord rosary has led me to want to make ALL.THE.ROSARIES! I quickly exceeded our rosary supply budget (as we don't have one) and bought a boatload of supplies to try to make more, and explore making full rosaries. I am perhaps a little braggity braggin' that I made my very first one last night. I have a ways to go to figure out some of the finer details, but I'm pretty proud and really loving the exercise in a prayerful sense too. I find it is a bit like finger crocheting, but manageable time and space-wise. The boy is almost back to 100%, so play-date on muy soon, Jenna!

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Quick Takes: BatKid and Other Musings

1) Let's lead with proof positive that the heart longs for meaning and something greater than itself. A whole city has transformed into Gotham for a little boy battling leukemia. If you haven't seen news of this, it's remarkable. The city of San Francisco, in conjunction with the Make-A-Wish Foundation has transformed itself into Gotham, and with thousands of eager volunteers, is leading Batkid through a series of capers allowing him to play superhero for a day, ending with him receiving the keys to the city. If you are on Twitter, you can follow the news at #SFBatkid. It's pretty stinking awesome. Beats a flash mob any day. Oh, and great work to all the media making it possible for people to watch Batkid save Gotham live. What a phenomenal endeavor. See? We can do better. So why leave it just for today?

Seems like Make-A-Wish did something similar in Seattle in the past as well. Tip: Never read comboxes for the news. Horrid comments. Just don't do it.

2) If you've kept up with news from the Casa, you may know that we've all been battling a few bugs. We are mostly on the mend, but I keep getting this dry, pesky cough. It's rarely during the day. It is almost always at the most inopportune times, like when one of the kids is almost asleep, or I get a phone call, or I'm making dinner, or everyone is trying to sleep. I finally gave in and got some medicine, and that knocked me out to the point where I haven't heard the kids get up in the middle of the night for the last few nights on many occasions. Sorry Hubs.

3) That pesky cough is so dry, that by coughing I've been giving myself a headache. Last night especially my lungs were throwing a fit when everyone was trying to sleep. I took medicine. I had a cough drop. I drank water. Nada. Zilch. Zippo relief. Then I had a stroke of brilliance. When the kids have a cough that won't go away, I put Vicks on their feet and cover those tootsies up. You bet that's what I tried on myself. Wouldn't you know it is what finally worked?

4) What's a quick take without some sass? This week's rant: Christian radio stations who advertise and promote cosmetic surgery. "Made in the image and likeness of God..." until we improve upon it. Really? Insert church lady face here:

Or even better, Lady Catherine DeBourgh:

5) I think that Pope Francis still reads the 'Diaries. His tweet today:

My post earlier this week? Being missionaries of the Gospel in our everyday lives. What what? Yup. We're still simpatico.

6) Because I agreed to be the speaker for a ladies' Advent Tea at a local parish, I was also asked to submit a short bio. I haven't done a bio outside of young adult ministry in a very long time. It was a struggle to discern how to describe myself to an audience that had no familiarity with my background or former work. This is what I finally came up with.

Rakhi McCormick is a disciple, daughter, wife and mother who converted to Catholicism from Hinduism in her early 20s. She has served in ministry in various capacities, including on college campuses, with young adults, at the Archdiocesan and National level, and most recently at Mary’s Mantle, a Catholic residential program for homeless, expectant mothers. Constantly growing in her own relationship with Christ, Rakhi has a great desire to help others know Jesus and know themselves through His eyes.

'Twill do for now, I suppose.

Something also lit a fire under me to order personal business cards for the first time. While it scares me to no end to be speaking in this capacity because of my own insecurities (and I think this is a GOOD thing, or it would be me speaking and not the Holy Spirit), I feel like I need to be able to have something to hand someone who might want me to speak or write for them. This means, of course, that I need to polish up my portfolio of writing and artwork, so mama's got some work to do before December! As terrifying as it is (and let's be real, I'm just afraid of making a fool of myself, nothing more), it is also rather exciting. We shall see what's in store.

7) I have a GroopDealz problem, but I love my our new mantle decorations. Excuse the shaky hand feature of the panorama - our mantle really isn't wavy.

Thanks for stopping by to see what is going on at the Casa and braving the inner recesses of my mind. Go on over and visit the Seven Quick Takes host, Jennifer at Conversion Diary, if you haven't already! She's got some exciting news and interesting business ideas you may want to check out.

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