Call & Response

The Call: One Little Word — Jessica

Last year I got the bright idea to pick a word for the year. I suppose I knew it was doomed to failure — after all, how in the world do you get silence in the midst of seven children including a rambunctious two year old and a two month old? But full of hope I pressed on and chose the word that “called” to me. Silence. I even joined Ali Edward’s class.

Now, all year long, I’ve gotten e-mails at the beginning of each month reminding me of the “journalling” I’m supposed to be doing. Reminding me of the all the wisdom I’m supposed to be gaining by following the prompts of my one little word. Ugh! Talk about guilt inducing. Maybe this year I’ll use all those old e-mails but I’ll pick a more reasonable word. Oh but my heart still longs for that nice Silence. Sigh…

The saint pictured on the bottom, in case you are wondering, is Peter of Verona. I think I cropped off the axe that is buried in his skull, showing the method of his martyrdom.

Response: Rocking Chair — Cheryl

My dad spent most of his seated life in a rocking chair. We used to observe that we had rocking chairs in every room of the house, except the bathrooms. Now, ironically, I have only one rocking chair in my house (inherited from Mom and Dad), and it’s in the master bathroom. Not only does it make a good perch for keeping tabs on Stella when she bathes, it serves as a refuge that few of the kids think about. When I need silence (often in the morning when I’m trying to pray), I head up to Dad’s rocker.