Happy (?) Ash Wednesday everyone! Lent 2013 is upon us.
Here’s what I’m doing for Lent. Our family goal is to live a perfect Christian life for 40 days. We’ve never managed it yet, but maybe this is the year! We don’t include Sundays or Feast days in our fasts from foods or things, but we still try not to go nuts. See more on our family Lent practices here.
Regular yearly Lent stuff:
- No TV or radio.
- No sweets (good-bye Dr. Pepper, I shall miss you).
- Clean out toy closet.
- Clean out kids closets.
- Use up food in freezer and pantry whether we like it or not.
- Limit spending to essentials.
- ALWAYS get to the things I always mean to get to (but sometimes don’t) each day: Morning offering, Rosary, Mass, Angelus, Examination of Conscience.
New stuff to try for this year:
- Make food from scratch whenever possible. The comments on my Chocolate Chip Cookie post made me realize how far away from my “we only eat FOOD” policy I have drifted lately. We’ve been eating all sorts of crazy stuff. It’s time to get back to basics.
- Read to my kids every day.
- Visit our little old neighbor at least once a week.
- Clean out MY closet.
- Generally go against my preferences. If I want the red one, I’ll take the blue one.
Now for the crazy part:
- Drink more wine. I know, but my preference has always been for sodas which is kinda babyish and not particularly healthy. I will be a grownup and drink wine with dinner (sometimes).
- Talk on the phone more. I am terrible at calling people. Just ask my grandmother and my new friend Christina, both of whom I have been meaning to call all week! It’s not that I don’t want to talk on the phone, but my day is spent reacting to things and somehow it just seems easier to email. But I can’t email my grandmother, she’s 93! I will make at least one phone call each day.
- Spend more time on the computer. No, I’m kidding. But I do intend to spend enough time on the computer to keep up the blog and the blog’s Facebook page. But I should definitely spend less time looking at my stats. Maybe just once a day on that?
How about you? Will you join Catholic All Year and Equipping Catholic Families in our All for Jesus Lent Challenge?
(Note: this challenge has already concluded, but feel free to still comment for fun!)
Leave a Lent Challenge comment on any post here or at Equipping Catholic Families, or at our Facebook pages: Catholic All Year or Arma-Dei. (Up to one entry per week per person.)
Make sure you label the comment with “All For Jesus Lent Challenge” then tell us what you are DOING to make this Lent fruitful for yourself or your family. And be awesome, because this isn’t a random drawing. Frankie and Adam will be judging you on merit, just like real life. No participation trophies. Of course, even if you don’t win a prize, you’ll still get the graces of a Lent well-lived. So maybe we really ARE all winners after all.
Check out this post at Equipping Catholic Families for more details. And we’ll see you in the comments.
Update: Monica from Equipping Catholic Families also set up a “linky.” I’m new, so I’m not really sure what that is. But if you prefer that, here it is . . .
Lent Challenge from Nanacamille: I will take everything you clean out from all of the closets…toys, clothes, etc to Birthline in San Diego and sort it and put it out asap for our Moms and their kids. They are so happy to get hand-me-downs.
Even though Gdad and I are over the age for officially giving up things for Lent we figure that if we can climb mountains, swim rivers and babysits 6 kids at once that we should be sacrificing. We don't drink sodas any more so we can't give those up but we do enjoy wine & beer so good-by for Lent. Also the food of angels…ice cream is going away for 40 days. I will miss you so. Money I save from not buying these items will be donated to Birthline Pregnancy Support Ctr. SD as we spend $500 a month on diapers alone for our clients.
Nanacamille
🙂
All for Jesus Lent Challenge: Mostly my goals for lent are doing more praying and more going to Mass. But I'm also cleaning out the house, starting with my pantry. So this week, I emptied the pantry; swept out 8.5 years of dust; recycled all the crumpled paper bags; donated the cheese grater and mismatched tupperware and vases I will never use; tossed the few expired things (5-year old baking soda? graham cracker crust from three Thanksgivings ago?); and took stock of what needs eating in the near future. This is the kind of project that I actually enjoy doing, but it still took about 4 years of meaning-to, plus one lenten challenge for me to get it done! Abby