Hi, I haven’t dropped in here just to chat for a while.

I’ve had an interesting couple of weeks thinking, planning, and working on a couple of projects partly as a result of my attendance at the Catholic Digital Media Conference. That experience really gave me the impetus to begin working towards some things I’ve had in mind for ages (in some cases, years!).

I’ve found it frustrating at times over the past decade to have ideas floating around in my head or committed to files on my computer and not ever feel in a position to act on any of them.

I always prayed that God’s will be done – that if God wanted me to write a book or create something else then I would be given the time, energy, and other means to do so. In the meantime I would do the work before me at home with my husband and children, with a bit of writing on the side as a creative outlet and to help pay the bills.

I’ll write more on this one day because it isn’t an easy thing to do in our society where a parent primarily keeping home with babies and young children can feel absolutely invisible and less valuable than many other adults. Life can seem to be passing us by. It’s hard to deal with sometimes, but this feeling is well within the purview of Catholic spirituality which reveals how nothing can separate us from the love of God, and the love of God is where it’s really at anyway.

Indeed, feeling isolated, invisible, and less important is something we all may naturally face at different times in our lives. Rather than doing whatever we can to avoid this space we can recognise it for what it really is – a profound opportunity to encounter God and discover something important about ourselves.

Thus graced, we have the peace of knowing that we’re exactly where we need to be, and now we’re happy to keep doing what we’re doing, no matter how insignificant it seems in the eyes of the world.

(That is, so long as we keep close to God and like-minded friends and away from anything screaming at us that we have to do more, and have more, in order to be more!)

Anyway,  I digress! Now that I have a little space to work on some projects of my own, the challenge will be keeping the proper perspective in place, and not let my excitement over them displace my primary commitments. I’ve also got to try not to go completely nuts and attempt everything at once because that’s sure to end up with me crashing and burning!

Here are some of the things I’m already working on or will be working towards over the next year or so.

A weekend retreat for mothers.

An e-book for mothers.

A podcast series for parents.

A book about faith and family life.

A reading guide.

There are a couple of other things as well. I’m very excited (while trying to stay sufficiently detached in case any of it is not meant to be!). I’ll keep you all up to date with how things are going because I hope one or more of these things will interest or help you.

I hope to have news on the retreat to share by the end of the month.

Have you got any new goals or plans for next year? Or are you interested in any of the things I’ll be offering? Let me know in the comments!

Image by Sylwia Bartyzel.