Hello friends and dear readers, We have been doing some soul-searching over here at Building Cathedrals, assessing our future and deciding in what direction we’d like to take this blog. After much prayer and conversation, we have come to a consensus to continue our little blog over at www.buildingcathedrals.com. We intend to use the site to maintain our archives and post thoughts sporadically. It seems the the more children we have and the older our children get, the less blogging... Read more

Well, friends, the first Sunday of Advent is here, and I have to admit that I have not even printed the “begin in October to have a chance at a good Advent” to-do list.  Our kitchen is gutted, our house is a construction zone with boxes everywhere, and my calendar is looking like a spreadsheet, but I do need to make sure that my family has a lovely Christmas somehow.  I have learned over the years that when I start... Read more

Our oldest daughter is in second grade this year at our parish school. That means that this year she is preparing for her First Holy Communion. Neither my husband nor I was raised in the Catholic church. When I came into the church after college, I received my first communion and confirmation together at the Easter Vigil service. So, this is an unfamiliar process for us. My husband and I both take the spiritual formation of our children very seriously.... Read more

I’ll never forget visiting with my first married friend a few months after her wedding. We expected her to walk in starry-eyed and head-over-heels (isn’t that what Hollywood dictates?) Instead, she was wide-eyed and serious as she said, “Girls, marriage is really tough.” Wow. Twelve years into my own marriage, I think back on those words and posture what she was getting at. I think to achieve happiness and oneness in marriage, you really have to work at it. Life pulls us in every... Read more

Heading into a Holy Day weekend, I thought this quote quite appropriate for my All Saints reflections: ‘They who are engaged with the salvation of their neighbor, will gain more by an humble modesty than by an authoritative manner, and will gain victory sooner in retreat than in combat.”  – St. Ignatius of Loyola One of my favorite crafts to do with my kids on All Saints is making  Armor of God paper dolls from Ministry to Children.  We read... Read more

As we get our costumes and treat bags in order, I am making a short list of math concepts which I want to be sure to touch on during this year’s Halloween Candy Math unit the first few days in November.  For my kindergarten and first grade students, there will be sorting by one attribute, tallying, counting by twos and fives, single digit adding and subtracting with m&ms, graphing m&m colors and working different types of graphs, probably a bar... Read more

A little boy opened the bedroom door and looked up at me, tears in his eyes and a tooth in his hand.  “She didn’t come,” he said, lip trembling.  I pulled this puddle of disappointed cuteness on to the couch, close to me and almost into my bathrobe and decided to level with him. “I have to tell you, buddy, there is no tooth fairy, it is parents who switch the tooth for money, it is supposed to be me,... Read more