Hey, friend – welcome to my little corner! I’m glad you dropped in!
Here you will find lots of encouragement, inspiration, and practical helps (including lots of FREE printables) for living your faith and life well.
It’s nice you want to get to know me a bit more. I’m going to love getting to know you too.
I’ll start…
Why am I (a die hard Protestant) a Catholic?
I’ve been happily married to my college sweetheart for 15 years, but our marriage hasn’t always been a bed of roses.
Our marriage was fabulous except for one little thing.
He was Catholic; I was anything BUT.
For the first five years, there were lots of prayers and lots of tears.
When people ask me why I converted to the Catholic faith, I say, “It was a work of the Holy Spirit.”
I’m no scholar, theologian, or historian, but through God’s leading, I was able to read my way into a love for the fullness of truth.
If you want to learn more, I’ll point you to:
and Part III
Where are we now?
It’s been 11 years since my conversion, and we are now a family of 7.
My days are spent homeschooling and nourishing the lives God has richly blessed us with.
The Crew
Our little crew consists of Isaiah (14), John Christian (10), Clare (8), and Elijah (6), and George (1).
Growing in faith as a family
I’m still growing in my Catholic faith and learning how to live my best life for the greater glory of God.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!
I’ve found lots of sneaky ways to learn about the faith as I go about my day.
I believe strongly in the Catholic Church as the voice of Christ in our world, so I stretch myself by doing things once so foreign to Old Protestant me: Lenten sacrifices, praying the Rosary, and living the liturgical year.
I have a passion for handing on the faith to my children and am constantly looking for ways I can disciple them.
In our home, you may see us living the faith by wrangling the little ones at Mass, celebrating the liturgical year with a feast table, and reading liturgically inspired books together.
Catholic homeschooling
Catholic homeschooling has become an important tool in inspiring our children in the faith.
We happen to be second generation homeschoolers (Husband is a Seton grad). I told Husband before we got married I would NEVER homeschool, but I can’t imagine life any other way now!
Why a blog?
I wanted to start a blog for 8 years, but never felt it was the right time.
I knew deep down that I needed to sort out my primary vocation as wife and mother before I encouraged others.
I put blogging on the back burner and leaned hard into the life before me.
Over the years, God has taught me that the beauty of a family life well lived makes me more than enough.
I finally began this blog as I sat on the couch (too tired to do much of anything else) awaiting the birth of #4, Elijah.
“Elizabeth Clare” (my first and middle name) became the name of the blog, not because I wanted to focus on ME, but because I had no clue where it was going to lead!
The blog has become a space to share my passion for a beautiful family life.
I promise authenticity – I focus more on living faithfully my vocation than producing a particular number of posts, pageviews, followers, or dollars.
I’m definitely not your typical blogger! I don’t even own a smartphone, yet somehow I’m trying to share a bit of our daily life on Instagram.
No. I want to be in the thick of the real stuff of life!
You’ll find my blog posts center around these overarching topics:
The Catholic faith
Homeschooling
Homemaking
Mothering
Marriage
Living Well
What are you really like?
Through God’s grace, I have come to love staying at home with my brood, though I will be the first to admit those first few years were tough stuff.
I’m reasonably organized, but sometimes life or kids get in the way. I’ve learned to let go of perfection and strive for imperfect beauty. Life ain’t always purty, but it sure is beautiful!
I even asked Husband to help me create a Catholic planner so I can better keep track of life and liturgy. It’s been fun to develop it and have thousands of other Catholic moms benefit from our creation as well!
I’m a learner. You may find me with my nose in a book or trying new things. Husband and I even like to learn and grow together!
I’m quiet…until I get to know you.
I’m thrifty. I challenge myself (as the primary spender) to live well under our means so we can save for a rainy day, give generously, live simply, and be free to follow God’s Will through 100% debt freedom.
What’s Our Family’s Homeschooling Philosophy?
If I had to classify ourselves, I would say we are Eclectic homeschoolers.
I’m constantly on a search to simplify my homeschooling day by
- creating lunch rotations
- doing 20 minute cleaning extravaganzas
- shopping biweekly
- delegating chores
- and more!
When all else fails, I’m not afraid to boil everything down to the 4 R’s (Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, and Religion) and spend a lot of time on a well thought out booklist.
It’s your turn…
Now, how about you? I love the sweet emails I’ve received from readers and I’d love to hear from you too! Feel free to send me a note at : elizabethclareblog (at) gmail (dot) com.
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