Sunday, April 27, 2014

Answer Me This: Church Music, Milk and Introverts who are never alone!

1. Do you hate happy clappy church music?

I used to.  I really did.  Some of you can probably remember the posts about how much it bugged me from years past.  

But honestly, these days, if I'm getting through an entire Mass without having to leave half an hour before communion because someone has had a meltdown 60 minutes in and just can't make it any longer, I'm pretty thrilled regardless of what the music sounds like.  

Besides... I know a certain three year old who happens to be a big, big fan of happy clappy church music.  Her whole face is transformed, just like it is when she sees a picture of Saint Pope John XXIII.  She's the same three year old that got to crawl into bed with me this morning because she was sick and who promptly grabbed my hands and started folding them in front of her in prayer, and who after making sure they were just right, copied with her own hands.  She has also been spotted raising her little arms in the narthex with a huge grin on her face with the priest as he says "for thine is the kingdom and the power and glory..."

So while happy clappy church music isn't my cup of tea, it's one of those things that doesn't bother me any more, because anything that makes Mae's face light up with joy is automatically given a pretty good boost in my book.
I might be a little jealous of those
members of my family who can fall
asleep absolutely anywhere!
2. What is your priority: eating or sleeping?

Sleeping wins nearly every time.  Especially now, with finals upon us.  

I think at the moment the many, many food aversions I've been experiencing aren't helping either because not a lot sounds good and Paul's usually in the law library studying and so I make the kids a meal and then nearly forget that I didn't actually eat dinner with them until it's 10 o'clock at night and I'm in the middle of working and trying to figure out if it's really worth it to wander downstairs and fix something for myself when I'd really just like to finish up the orders for the night and go to sleep as soon as I'm done sewing.

It's something I'm working on though... who would think that forgetting to eat would be second trimester problem?  I'm pretty sure that's a new on this time around!

3. What type of milk do you drink in your house?

My first Thanksgiving
without any dairy of wheat in any of the food...
It was a challenge!
The vast majority of the milk is almond and that's what Paul and the kids all drink since neither Patch or Mae can have cows milk without bad, bad things happening.  However now that Patch is weaned and I'm pregnant I have one loan half gallon of vitamin D whole milk that helps out with the "I need milk right this second" cravings that caused poor little Patch to get cut off at 16 months, instead of closer to when the new baby arrives. 

Even before dairy was basically banned from our house though I'd banished all low fat, no fat milk options... the more I researched it the less I wanted it anywhere near my refrigerator... although these days with all the babies and the fact that two people can't have wheat and two can't have dairy has limited our options all around... Oh well... I like to think if nothing else it's made me a more creative cook and it has definitely made me a more creative baker!

4. What is a book that changed your perspective on something?

Back in college I probably would have said something by Marx or Locke or John Rawls. 

Now a days the two books that came to mind were Alice von Hildebrand's the Privilege of Being a Woman and the Bible.  

Of course, the Bible wins because, although I'd read it and gone to Bible study for the majority of my years, my eyes were totally opened and my life transformed when I read John chapter 6 back in 2006 and realized that there was no way that Jesus was speaking symbolically.  

I'd say that was one of the single most important moments of my life, when my perspective shifted and it changed just about everything.  

5. Who is your favorite saint?

Saint Therese. After reading about her over and over again with Sadie and hearing Sadie talk about her for the past two years Sadie's enthusiasm has absolutely been contagious and while there are many saints that come to mind (Saint Martin de Porres, Saint Catherine of Sienna, Saint Michael, Saint Anthony... the list goes on and on...), she is nearly always the first that comes to mind.  

Honestly... if I let her, she would probably
wear this.... oh I don't know, half the week...
6. Introvert or extrovert?

I'm an INTJ, heavy on the I, so I am most definitely an introvert.  To be honest, the idea of being social is almost as exhausting to me lately as actually going out and being social... but that may be because between the doctors appointments and the seven sessions of therapy for Mae each week, most of which are in our house, I'm hardly ever alone, so going out and actually doing something social usually sounds like it's just a little bit too much!

5 comments:

  1. If for some reason you ever find yourself in College Station, TX (my home town), I'd encourage you to try to make a daily Mass (or any really) at St. Mary's. It's in the evening (5:30pm), but tends to run only 30-45 minuets long. Plus it's the church where I converted and got married, so I think it's kind of awesome. :-)

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  2. I can relate on the allergies. About to make a Carrot Torte (wheat free using GF baking mix) for oldest ds's belated birthday tomorrow. And this way dh can eat some too! And I find I basically never eat wheat (except for bran for fiber mixed in a chia muffin; because it's not a part of the diet. This includes pasta, bread, cookies etc. Also not much rice or barley.

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  3. Be sure you don't let that big I keep you from joining a homeschool group! Your kids need the interaction and to make serious friends and... So do you!

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  4. It'll be less likely to be the I and more likely to be the fact that I spend 6 days a week with Mae's therapists which overlap every single playgroup and homeschool group I've ever heard of. Having every Monday through Saturday scheduled and no car of my own doesn't encourage socializing!

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  5. That was so sweet on the music. Children certainly do change our perspective.

    LOVE the asleep in a box photo!

    INTJ - me too!

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