And the "Grace"?

As we make our homes and grow together as families, we have so much to accomplish within the given day.
There is the cleaning, the cooking, the schooling, the appointments, the classes, and then we find that the day is over and we are contemplating how to get through the next one.
Within the heart of our family, as we are committed to life and love together, is the aspiration to a life of Faith. We don't always look, feel, or sound the part, but the foundation of our family is Christ and His Church.
It is a daily journey and effort, to stretch, grow and polish off all the rough edges, and that is just my personal journey. I have to be a good example to my boys, and I have to be consistent.

Most important though, is that our ultimate goal is to get our children and ourselves to Heaven.
Also, to be closer to Christ on a daily basis just brings more joy to life all the way around. It is such a wonderful place to be!
In this quest for Grace, our family has developed our daily rhythm of prayer and family devotion over time.

I get up and do my prayers from the Magnificat magazine. It is the best aid to my prayer life that I have been able to find. I am able to do morning prayers and a Gospel reflection before anyone else gets up.

We try to start our school day with a short morning prayer, unless everyone grabs their work and gets going independently.

At noon my phone alarm goes off with "Ave Maria" and it is time for the Angelus. We had been doing that beautiful prayer off and on for a couple of years, but we would forget or be busy and not get to lunchtime until late and it would get left out. Now when the song starts, we all jump up and say it no matter what we are doing.

We also go to Mass on Friday mornings and we go to adoration when it is offered at our parish.
We ought to get to Mass more often, but if we go anywhere before school, it is really hard to get back on track. On Fridays, Mass is our Religion class.

Before bed we say a family Rosary. We have been adding a decade every year for Lent and now we are up to four. Next year we will be doing a full Rosary each night.

Add in our special feast days, when we celebrate our patron saints, and the feasts of special saints like St Nicolas, St Valentine, All saints, and All souls days, and we have a year of communion with our Church family.

Brendan has quite a devotion to St Anthony and whenever anything is lost, we all ask him to pray. It is amazing how St Anthony listens. Nina can attest to that!

It is a journey, and it isn't always easy, but I am hoping that as they get older, the boys will have habits ingrained that will help them stay close to Christ and the Church for life!