Happy Fat Tuesday!

I have never been to New Orleans or attended any sort of a real mardi gras party, but I LOVE Fat Tuesday!

For me, Fat Tuesday serves two purposes.  One, it's another mini-holiday to do fun things with the kids.  Today, we are making our very first King Cake (thank you Nana).  Secondly, I feel like its the calm before the storm that is Lent.

As a Catholic, Lent serves as a pretty big season of the year.  It's 40 days of preparations for Christ's rising from the dead.  Over the years, I have come to really love Lent because of the sacrifices that you do in preparing your heart.  As much as I always tried to convince my mom that I should give up school or homework when I was younger, that never really worked.  I always ended up giving up Coke, fast food, or chocolate. 

Now, as an grown woman, wife, and mother, it has turned into so much more.  I understand that the sacrifice or added commitment during Lent needs to be something that will open up more space for Christ to fill.  It's time for me to purge my heart of the things that shouldn't actually serve as such a high priority.  I need to make room.  Moreover, I need to find something that will help my family also prepare their hearts for the Risen Christ. 

So, in my discernment for lent this is what I have come up with.  During deployment, my laptop became of utmost importance to me.  It was my connection to my husband and my closest friends.  It also served as a journal and stress relief through my blog.  It became my companion.

Since P's return, I have struggled to put it back in it's place.  I know it sounds silly, but similar to many people and their I-phones, I am addicted.  (This is why I refuse to have a smart-phone.)

So, for my personal Lenten resolution, I am giving up my laptop.  I am not giving up Internet or facebook or blogging, but I am giving up doing those things on my laptop.  We have a desktop computer upstairs and that will serve as my new 'portal to the world'.  Using the desktop will really force me to prioritize my computer time and not spend so much time doing absolutely nothing.  Moreover, I will spend more time being completely present with my family rather than half there, half waiting for a returned e-mail, etc. 

Secondly, my husband and I have committed to better preparing our family prayer/bible/holy time in the evenings.  I have signed us up for this awesome program called Lenten Adventure.  I will receive e-mails with activities, stories, and other materials to get my kiddos involved in Lent and the preparations for Easter.  We have realized that the more we put into our kids learning about Christ (on a toddler level), the more we learn and grow ourselves.  We're supposed to be child-like, right?

So, there you have it.  As of tonight at midnight, I will no longer be writing via my laptop.  With this change might also come a learning curve so bear with me.  The desktop is in our guest room (which is where Little P naps) so I am going to have to be really smart with my time. 

So on this Fat Tuesday, we'll party it up with King Cake, Pancakes for dinner, and some Marti Gras coloring pages.  Are you doing anything special as you begin your journey to Holy Week and Easter?