The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
Did you see the announcement about baby Josephine? Isn't she the sweetest?
I'm just getting things ready in that almost-nine-months way of either very efficiently busting out tasks or listlessly wandering around, wondering what I should be doing, stacking receiving blankets and wondering if my pelvis is going to fall apart. To be fair, it's been more of the latter than the former in the last week.
This week's links!
Miscellany:
- Last week, reader Becky g shared this article in the {b&} comments section: I Planned My Wedding in 5 Days. You could, too. I absolutely loved it! Of course, I'm not sure why she couldn't have just grabbed a pretty bouquet from the grocery store, and I know that it would not have worked for me to have a wedding without any dancing… but anyway — the point is there. Weddings today are way overdone/overthought/overpriced, and this lady did an awesome job of skipping all of that, having proper perspective on marriage, and just being a happy bride.
- You will recall that happy brides are a topic I feel strongly about: Encouragement for the Stressed-Out Bride; or, the Secret to Happy Wedding Planning.
- Rumor has it that this year will be a bad one where ticks are concerned. Here's something encouraging: an environmentally-safe, kid-safe, simple measure you can take to help knock out the tick population in your yard: Tick Tubes! Please pass this info along so that motivated people can work together to fight back the Lyme epidemic.
- An interesting video that compares types of airplane engines and explains why cost, not speed, is the limiting factor for travelers, and thus, for airlines (apparently, airline flights have actually slowed since the 60s!). Auntie Leila thinks that engineering-minded young people would be interested to watch for 11 minutes!
- KonMari your homeschool with the spot-on and hilarious Melissa Wiley. “As you gaze, ask yourself the one crucial question: Does this spark guilt? Of course it does. Throw them all away.”
Inspirational:
- The story of Stanisława Leszczyńska, the midwife in Auschwitz who served, apparently, like an angel (both in spirit and in terms of her outstanding competence!) in delivering babies in the worst of conditions. Her cause for beatification is open — let's just say that it's easy to see why from this snapshot of an article!
- Relatedly, an Allocution to Midwives from Pope Pius XII, containing all kinds of interesting clarification on the Church's teachings on marital relations, as well as direct instruction to midwives. When you consider the moral decisions made by the Polish midwife in the prison camp, you realize why Pius XII takes the solemn tone he does — midwives (and health professionals in general) are not just operatives. They have a real vocation and moral influence.
In the liturgical year:
- Happy Solemnity of The Annunciation! Today we acknowledge that Christ became flesh, beginning His human nature invisibly as a tiny embryo. We're nine months out from celebrating the birth of Christ!
From the Archives:
- Let me tell you one thing about order.
- {pretty, happy, funny, real} Spring. I promise.
- Three Ways the Family is the School of Justice and Mercy
~We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).~
Mrs. Bee says
Deirdre, as far as I can see three items don’t have working links (the airplane video, the midwife story, and Pius XII’s address) – is it my browser’s problem? Thank you!
Lori Richmond says
I am confused. The Salt Lake Temple is Mormon but the bride is Catholic?
priest's wife @byzcathwife says
It has to be a Mormon couple- in fact, not all Mormons are free to marry in their temple- you need a ‘recommend,’ But she should be ‘careful.’ She might convert- she is working for the Sisters and she does use a Catholic metaphor (‘Hail Mary’) 🙂
Kelsey says
I think it’s meant to be a football metaphor!
I have Mormon friends, and clearly this couple is Mormon. I admire the bride’s realism and simplicity, but I just have to say that it is also great that her family and friends (on the whole, it would seem,) were totally on board with her unconventional planning. Such a thing would not have gone over well with my family or my in-laws, nor would we ever have secured a reception site (particularly one that beautiful!) on such short notice. I wonder how her out-of-town guests who couldn’t make it felt? And the gifts thing – I get what she was doing, but some people, (again, I’m talking about personal experience with family members,) seem offended if you request no gifts, even for a child’s birthday party.
I was engaged for only six months – the shortest time allowed at our parish – and tried my darndest for a “simple” wedding, but the reality is that these events are by their nature somewhat complex. Bravo to this lady, but, young brides, don’t necessarily hold yourself to this standard.
Katherine Lauer says
Would you please fix the link for the airplane video?
The Kon-Mari for homeschoolers is fantastic!!!!
Leila says
The links are fixed — sorry about that!
Dixie says
You’re doing great, Deirdre! Stacking receiving blankets in great for peace of mind, especially while one is also wondering whether one’s pelvis is about to break 🙂 Hang tough, sister! I’m going to be at that point with my third in August. I was just thinking about it…there’s something special and something hard about every point in pregnancy, it seems!
Faith says
Thank you Deirdre for making me reflect today in gratitude for how trivial many of our struggles are in comparison. In reading the piece on Stanislawa I was so overcome with compassion and in awe of her great strength. I had never heard her name before and am so glad to have been made aware. How grateful those mothers must have been to have her with them in such an uncertain time. How precious is birth and new life.
*Your preparations for the new baby make me think of the sweet baby smells and the softness of a newborn to snuggle and cuddle. Hope you are able to fit in a wee bit of rest time around your busy family.
Laura Jeanne says
I appreciate the directions for the “Tick Tubes,” thank you for that! We live in the country and last year we had a lot of ticks – we even found some in the house, and I found one attached to me twice – ick! So I will definitely make up some of those and put them around the yard. We already have some of that pesticide, as we purchased some to use on our sheep last year when we thought they had a kind of sheep tick.
Stephanie says
Deirdre, the article on Stanislawa was so humbling to read, thank you for making us aware of her story. Happy nesting!!
Jamie says
Loved the wedding article. I wish I had had that mindset. One of the sweetest weddings I have been to was for a young couple who just had a morning church wedding and then reception in the fellowship hall with lemonade, coffee, finger snacks and cake. No dj, no dancing, just people milling around visiting with family and then off they went. It was the most bare-bones wedding I have ever been to, but still there was something very family-oriented and sweet about it. They are still young and now have 4 children with likely more in the future. I am glad I had a nice wedding and that my parents paid for it, but yes we could have sped things up a lot.
Denise says
I love your post about the planning of a wedding in a week. Every wedding I have ever LOVED was simple and filled with the personality of the bride and groom. So much stress goes into many weddings. And it seems like there is such an emphasis on video recording it for posterity and getting all the pictures right, that people forget about enjoying the here and now of the day itself.
Teri Pittman says
I have no pictures of my first wedding. We were taking them ourselves and had the camera and film in the car. But the car wouldn’t start and the best man’s girlfriend had to pick up my boyfriend and drive him to the church. He forgot the camera. I made my own skirt for the wedding and we had the reception at my mom’s. It was a small wedding in an Episcopalian church and the marriage lasted 37 years (until he died). It’s not the wedding that makes the marriage.
Second wedding was at our place on the river, with friend there. I bought things out of the dollar store and made my skirt and blouse. It was a pirate themed wedding as many of our friends have boats. The cake was a sheet cake from Safeway and we had some food to snack on. Folks had fun. I’m two years into that marriage. (I do have pictures from this one!)
The article was excellent because she was focused on reducing stress and making sure that her guests enjoyed themselves. If you do that, you’ll have a great wedding and probably a great marriage.
Kimberlee says
Hi Deirdre, I don’t have an instagram account so I am commenting here – Your pysanky are so lovely! The Unhiv egg is just incredibly beautiful. My daughters and I keep coming back to look at it in wonder again and again. I even looked up the town and saw a picture of the actual church you put on it. There are many Ukrainians at my Byzantine Catholic church, so I was curious about the town. Have you ever thought of making a photo of the egg into note cards or prints? I would love to be able to share its beauty with others. Thanks for sharing it with us!