SQT | Three Week Round Up

Linking over with Kelly and all her Lovely People for Seven Quick Takes.
I can only get around to it every now and then so here goes!


1. Who knew time would fly by and your baby would be receiving First Holy Communion! On the Feast of Christ the King, Joshua Levi, my oldest baby received the Blessed Sacrament! I was so excited I didn't know whether I was going or coming! So very proud of my Little young Man! I'm so excited about him receiving with Jacques and I, that it's got me going to three weekly mass services!!! *dancing*

The Prayers of the Faithful

Receiving the Precious blood from Our Deacon who is also Josh's GODFATHER

2. Circle Skirts have my heart and they will never know how much I love them because, I  h a v e  to stop myself. No one should have this type of relationship with an inanimate object! They're so pretty and feminine and twirly and modest and TOO kind to my sweet loving thighs. And since I realised that a 2cm waistband suits a shorty like me I want to  m a k e  them all the time! I think I'm going to have to do a tutorial! It's one of the easiest things to make if your have a sewing machine!

Oh!!! I made (the day before) and wore this one for Josh's First Holy Communion.

Peachy Midi Circle Skirt

3. Advent is second most loved liturgical time of the year for me! I really love the anticipation of Christmas and Chritmastide. Living liturgically is all very new to me, in fact we only started THIS Advent Season! So to break us in, I decided to mash up our Advent with Jesse Tree Activities (perhaps thats how it IS done?!?). Its been really good for us and we have been doing it in the mornings, so we are kind of fresh and it actually helps the daily chores get done sooner than usual!

Hold thumbs for us as we try to do this the South African way! We have done bits and bobs here and there, but usually a day late because I take my cue from the American Mommies.

Busy Little Darling Dining Room Table

4. I have been asked to talk at our Parishes four masses for the third week of Advent,  (s l i g h t l y PANICKED), on following The Star of Mercy as Mother, Wife and Nurturer. This is in follow up with the Popes announcement of The Year of Jubilee! So as I have been pondering the subject I slowly realised how unfamiliar I am with the virtue of Mercy. Patience, YES. Love, YES. Mercy, I thought I did but then I read this article, so I sat up and thought that I am going to have to try and PRACTISE Mercy this week, to get familiar with the topic.


5. My house looks like its in a constant mess, are you having the same problem? Its looks this way, but it feels like the best place to rest my tired and merciless soul. I remember when I went to bed with a clean kitchen and now its like whatever! The days are for playing and writing and sewing and eating and reading and swimming and all that jazz. I  really like a clean house, but most importantly I LOVE a happy home! But if Alf on the Shelf wants to pay me a visit and clean, so be it!!!

Thank the Light you cannot see the floor!

6. This is how I hung up my Laundry today, very unlike the Polish Madonna.

Its so hot that all the clumps dried in minutes

7. Have you guys ready Kelly's Blog yet!!!! You know you want too!

Love and Light

A Constant State of Inadequacy

You get some pretty confident people out there. (hypothetical hat off to you!)

I am  n o t  one of them.

There are very few times when I look at myself through my eyes and am only slightly content.

The rest of the time I see myself through other peoples eyes.

How terribly sad!

There are so many things in Life that I am missing out on because I am in a constant state of inadequacy. 

And I believe that I am not the only one.

Imagine if our minds were decluttered of all self negativity.

Zero self deprecation.

Your self worth was understood by YOU.

Accepted by YOU.

How would we truly feel if we believed, we are

"fearfully and wonderfully made. 

Wonderful are Your works,  

m y  soul KNOWS it well."
- Psalm 139:14

I think that we would all feel a beautiful freedom.
I'm talking about the freedom to understand fault and know in your heart of hearts that understanding comes, e v e n t u a l l y.
This Knowing that the Psalmist is talking about, it can only come from God.
It is a knowledge that is always there and a knowledge that has always been there.
God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.
The truth is here and we are created in truth.
So somewhere inside us is truth and it is beautiful.

Inadequacy and Comparability.
How often these two go together?
How often it slowly kills the soul!
We feel inadequate because we are constantly comparing ourselves. 
Constantly judging our inabilities.
Focusing on what we cannot do, instead of knowing that we can learn. 
I am learning, very slowly, that inability is not a weakness.
It does not define me.
It shows me that I am teachable. If and only, I am willing. 
If I allow myself to be consumed by all the things that I am not,
I become useless, I become a wet rag, a wet self deprecating rag.

There is honor in learning and being taught.
Honor in feeling incapable and knowing that in time you will become adequate.

Help my Unbelief by Audrey Assad

We shouldn't be comparing ourselves, God didn't create us that way. 
We are all uniquely designed and crafted, 
handmade with our own faults and our own imperfections.
But we were also designed with a beautiful craftsmanship, our own qualities
that inspire others and motivate goodness, (if we carry them out with humility).
Our own struggles.
Our own situations.
And in HIS time, and with our desire to become better, we will become beautiful.

 He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, 

yet so that he cannot find out 

what God has done from the beginning to the end. 

I perceived that there is nothing better for them 

than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;

also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—

this is God’s gift to man. 

I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; 

nothing can be added to it, 

nor anything taken from it. 

God has done it, so that people fear before him. 

That which is, 

already has been; 

that which is to be, 

already has been; 

and God seeks what has been driven away. 

- Ecclesiastes 3: 11-15 

I cannot explain how useless I felt two years into being an "at home" mom, and whilst I was reading Dwija's blog, I came across a beautiful painting "The Polish Madonna" by (not sure, have really tried to google it - probably not well enough though!) 

It made my heart so content that I cried and felt stupid about the small things I do and realised that they are important! 

The things that I lacked in like patience, mercy, grace, charity and forgiveness they would come because I deny inadequacy. Even when I fail, I will see that I am teachable because that is enough!

Polish Madonna

“All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Love and Light