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My Morning Routine

You can down load my daily planner here —> Nineveh Daily Planner

Today, I’d like to walk you through the different aspects of my morning routine that I included in the planner.

Prayer: Morning Offering and Angelus:  I have it scheduled for this to happen at 6 am. But that doesn’t always work out. Instead I just aim for it to be the first thing I do each day, regardless of the time I get up. The most important thing you can do to start your day off right, is to get enough sleep. So please don’t beat yourself up if you need extra rest.

Here are the links to the Angelus, and to the Morning Offering. you can print them out and have it ready if you choose. I prefer to use a prayer app on my phone. Let me know if you’d like recommendations.

Drink a glass of room temperature water with lemon. It’s important to get hydrated and this helps with detoxing and getting your bowels moving on a daily basis.

While sipping my water, I sit for a few minutes and do some Social Media, mostly inspirational stuff that will set the  right tone for the day.

Workout: I then proceed to my daily work out. I started this with the Nineveh 90 and it has been amazing. I had to start slowly as I was extremely out of shape…out of breath climbing stairs…out of shape. Three weeks into it and I like to run up my stairs at home…because I can! 😀

I started with  the  Leslie Sansone 1 Mile Walk

and am now working on the C2K5

It doesn’t matter what you do, just get moving when you can!

Breakfast: I am currently doing The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution

My favorite breakfast is a fruit smoothie. I add one scoop of Paleo Protein Powder, it makes it delicious and nutritious. Then add the fruits I like to the Blender…usually half of a banana, some frozen blueberries, 1 tablespoon of Almond Butter and 1 cup of Coconut Milk! Then blend it all together…yummm! 

Then I do a quick kitchen clean up. The kids help with rebooting the dishwasher. And hubby helps with the after dinner messes, so this is usually just a quick thing. 

Morning Routine continues in the Master Suite where I make my bed, shower up and get dressed, swish and swipe my sink and toilet, and get one load of laundry going. If you have done the FlyLady routines, much of this will will seem familiar to you. 

Daily Mass: My goal is to get all of this done by 8:30 am so that I can make it to the 9 am MASS. I’m still working on that one. It’s hit or miss…with a lot of misses so far. But I keep trying, that’s what matters. This is probably when some of you who work outside the home would be leaving the house. If I don’t make it to Mass, I often dedicate this time to growing my Photography Business.

School: We homeschool, so when I get back from Mass around 10 am, it’s one on one time with each child. They’re in their teens now and capable of doing quite a bit on their own, which is great but I still need to stay on top of things. 

And that’s the morning. I have added some links to this page, as an Amazon Associate if you buy products through me, I will receive a small commission for it. So I thank you in advance for blessing my family through your purchases. 😀  

The Plan for Lent and Beyond

photo by Essy D Photography

I often hear people say that they can’t do such and such a thing for Lent because they’ll fail, or won’t do it properly, or whatever other excuse they can come up with. The thing is that that’s sort of the point. I mean if you are trying to let go of sin, then yes…success is imperative. However, if you are merely giving up a good because you are a little too attached to it, then it’s ok to face the struggle. In fact I’d say that it’s a big part of what Lent is about. You need to come to the point that you realize that you can’t do it on your own and that you need a ‘Savior’…you NEED Jesus! No matter what our struggles are, He’s the only One that can provide the perfect solution for us.No problem is too big, or too small. So the aim of Lent is not to test your own strength, but for you to come to realize and depend on God’s and build or strengthen your relationship with Him. That’s it…that’s the point…a more intimate walk with Jesus!

So after having prayed about it and feeling that this is what the Lord wants from you, then you are ready for the Lenten Journey. Stick with me and we’ll ‘step into it’ together. The way we make it through is to keep our focus on Jesus. You’ve heard the phrase, keep the goal in mind. It’s the same idea. We are going to be crossing the barren desert into the Promised Land. So we will be focusing on what is in front of us and not on what is underneath our feet, nor on that which we have left behind. The thing that is waiting for us is a life of grace and virtue. So that is exactly what we’ll be focusing on, with Jesus by our side the entire time. The Lord has given me 12 Virtues to focus on. I had started on February 13th with the Nineveh 90 folks but I’m being inspired to start over, and to keep going until Pentecost! Come Holy Spirit!

Here is a list of the Virtues we’ll be focusing on:

Wk 1: Humility                Wk 5: Faith                      Wk 9: Courage

Wk 2: Chastity                 Wk 6: Hope                      Wk 10: Obedience

Wk 3: Friendship             Wk 7: Patience               Wk 11: Perserverance

Wk 4: Love                         Wk 8: Wisdom                Wk 12: Poverty

 

We will appropriately start with humility this coming week and will continue stepping right through Holy Week  which will see us focusing on Hope for the conclusion of Lent, then if you decide to keep going with me we will complete the 12 weeks and then start back up with Humility which leads us right to Pentecost Sunday.

We will of course be open to ALL of God’s graces and any work that He wants to do in and through us. However by focusing on a specific virtue, we are giving ourselves holy boundaries so that our mind and strength doesn’t get scattered in every which way.

Help for the Journey:

1)If you need book suggestions, please check out Our Book Store , I will be adding new books as I feel inspired.

2) You can download my FREE daily planner that I’ve put together just for this journey. Nineveh Daily Planner

3) And you can also reach out to me at any time via the different Social Media sites.

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

So I hope that you decide to step into this Lenten Journey with me, as we aim to keep our focus on Jesus and the virtues that  He’d like us to learn and grow in.

Nineveh Daily Planner

I have put together a daily planner that brings together the Nineveh 90 daily devotions as well as some FlyLady like tasks. It also has a weekly virtue to focus on.
Click on link to download

nineveh90

I printed one of these for each day

and one of these for each week

I then put it together in a binder with weekly dividers. 

And I also added some pretty lined paper under each week’s tab for notes on the week’s virtue or anything else the Lord is showing me.

This is very specific to my own needs, but you can print this and just cross off what’s not applicable and write in whatever suits you better. Or you can just use this as inspiration to create your own. I hope it’s helpful.

I started this back on February 13th when the Nineveh 90 started, but I’m thinking that I’m going to restart the virtues over next week…there is so much to it. That will take me up to Pentecost Sunday! 🙏

Please let me know if you end up using it, and I’ll pray for you.

 

Chastity, the key to Fulfilling our Divine Call

Chastity, many people when confronted with the word, think of it as merely being about sexual abstinence but that’s only a very small part of it and not in every case. Every person is called to a chaste life, however the call to abstinence itself depends on marital status. Chastity is the guardrails that protects ‘eros’, which is the fuel that drives us to fulfill our life’s mission. If our call is to the married state and to procreate, then this divine force will pull us to our mate for that intention. But it has other purposes as well, since bearing children is not the only way designed by God to be co-creators with Him. All of humanity is called to this Divine partnership in one way or another, but most notably through our creativity functions. So Chastity, permits us to honor God’s plan for creation by allowing us to love and respect ourselves properly in line with who and whose we are, and then love others in the same manner. The enemy often distorts and misdirects this creative force in many ways. It is put there to bring together those who have a job to do in common and is meant to inspire His children towards a common goal for His purposes (with parenting being the best example) not towards each other to become stagnant there. One looks outward together and moves the individuals forward, the other at it’s most benign merely blocks the path and immobilizes.

The answer then is to channel this powerful force and use it for God’s purposes. This great passion is from God, but what we do with it is up to us.  Just as sinfulness often starts in the mind, chastity has its roots there too. Our thoughts and visualizations should be well attended to. It is a powerful tool that can be easily misused. We should be using our mind’s eye as a path seeker, leading our way to God’s will.  “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8) The Power of Positive thinking  and the ‘name it and claim it’ people often get a bad reputation from fellow Christians but I think they are on to something. Our amazingly generous and creative Father has set many powerful tools at our disposal, and the mind is certainly such a one. It can be a powerful aid in pursuing our God given talents and putting our gifts to use. Eros is meant to rocket us to our destinies as Christopher West  says when discussing ‘Theology of the Body’, and he goes on to tell us that there are three choices when addressing our passions…that of the stoic, the addict, or the mystic.

So go ahead dare to reach higher as the mystics did, ask the Lord for direction in every area of your life and with His guidance start  setting out the very particular path that the Lord has set out for you. Start small maybe, don’t let negativity and self doubts get in the way, visualize what the Lord is asking of you and start taking the required steps towards pursuing your calling.

Week One: Humility

Joy in the moment

This was the first week of Nineveh 90, a 90 day period of fasting and prayer in preparation for the 100th anniversary of Our Lady’s apparition in Fatima, Portugal. To go along with it, I chose one virtue per week that I’m to learn more about and grow in. ‘Humility’ was for the first week, or I’d like to think that the Lord chose it for me (as well as all virtues for the remaining weeks). It started off with me being reminded of the following prayer that was written by a dear friend, Catholic Shepherd.  When he showed it to me, the thing that captured my interest was the names of the two chosen saints, as they were my parents names as well. I had loved these saints separately, but had never thought of them together this way. 
 

Although it all resonated with me at a deep level, it wasn’t until re-reading it last Sunday that it really hit me hard that THIS was the epitome of humility. All of it, with total surrender being the ultimate desired state of being and that these two saints embraced it so well! 
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Personal lessons from the week:

I am weak but He is strong. Learn to be ok with being alone. God alone is sufficient. Seek love within.

The answer to my hunger for love and fulfillment will not come from outside myself. When I look for answers out there, it always disappoints. People are imperfect beings, only God can offer us what we most want and need. He IS perfect love itself. 

 My body is the Temple of the Lord, to be used in His service and to be cared for accordingly. Be responsible for self-care.

I can’t ignore my health,  or push it on to others like my family or my doctors. It is up to me to do what is right, especially as it concerns eating right, exercising, getting enough rest. God leads me to the right path, but I need to step into it myself. 

Humility demands that I confidently step into the role that the Lord has entrusted me with.

I often lack self confidence (or actually ‘confidence in the Lord’ would be more accurate), and justify my self deprecating ways as being humble which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Humility is knowing who you are in the Lord (what He’s called you to) and ‘stepping into it’!  If we catch ourselves saying no to God because we don’t think we could do something, or not do it well…that might be pride kicking in…we don’t want to look like fools, what if we fail, what if they laugh, what if they talk about us…what if. Humility is giving it all to God! Think of Mary…may it be done to me according to your word! YES! Whatever You want Lord! Total surrender!

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Release perfectionism. Let go of expectations. What is, is ok.(It is what it is). To accept this moment just as it is without wanting to tweak it or improve it in any way, evokes joy. Stay present, it opens us up to miracles.

When I can accept the simplest of moments and am able to see beauty in it instead of all the small faults that it may contain, I am filled with gratitude! 

Don’t invest in the outcome, invest in the process.

It’s ok to have goals, but I need to approach things differently…to just enjoy the journey. If the steps themselves are taken side by side with God then the final destination will be reached without so much struggling. 

Fr. Leo Clifford – Humility

Matt Maher – Lord, I Need You
I Give You My Heart | Hillsong
Hard wired for happiness (audible)

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Stepping into it…

I need a brand new start. I like the idea of blogging, it allows me to coordinate my thoughts and organize my steps. It also allows me to share a little bit of myself  and my journey with others who may be on a similar path.

My latest struggles have been with my health but I now have new doctors and new hope. So even though I’m far from where I’d like to be (in fact this weekend has been an all time low for me.)…I think I’m finally on my way.

We’ve found out that my thyroid is low and if you are one of the many suffering with hypothyroidism, you know how debilitating this in itself can be. But it’s now looking like my adrenals are in a state of exhaustion also. This usually comes about after several huge stressor events. Hmm lets see…both parents passing away after lengthy illnesses, dealing with infertility issues, and then the adoption process(twice). A child critically ill in the hospital for several weeks and then a diagnoses of autism (all within one decade)…and those are just the tip of the iceberg. So I think yes, my adrenals could very well be completely depleted by this point. I went into survival mode at some point and haven’t quite made it back out yet.

But I’m ready…I’m taking my life back! I’ve tried several times, but without healing the root causes, I kept falling back into a pit. It’s humbling for sure. I think things will be different this time around. For starters I’m putting together an amazing team of both professionals and friends to see me through.  So thanks for reading this far and please pray for me and stick around and see how this all turns out.

 

 

Week 3, Day 5: Don’t Count the Cost

Mark 14: 3-9

“Costly genuine spikenard”

“It could have been sold for more than three hundred days wages.”

-The Son of God is deserving of our very best high quality “product”.

-Something cheap and shoddy is not more virtuous.

-When she bought it, she paid good money for it because she valued it and how she would use it. Meanwhile by doing so, she was also supporting the provider and his community.

Wk 3 Day4: He uses our cooperation, but He does the work

Luke 17:11-19

“Now as they were walking away, they were cleansed.”

-I need to obey even when it doesn’t make sense, even when it initially feels like rejection.

-He provides healing  as I step out in obedience and faith.

-This is how Jesus chooses to work, to use my cooperation.

-The one that came back to thank Him realized this. The others became puffed up at how well they followed orders.

 

week 3 Day 3: Obedience is the Currency of Love

Mark 12: 28-34

“Love the Lord your God…with all your strength.”

-Put some action into the ‘feeling’.

-Give it all you’ve got.

-Obedience is the currency of love in action.

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He’s not asking me to love beyond my strength, or to do more than is humanely possible. He’s asking me to do ALL that I can and then allow Him to take it from there.