Faustina's Birth Story

As I have for the boys, I am determined to write down Faustina's birth story from start to finish. Hers is a bit of a harder story to pin down. Here goes:

As the end of my pregnancy approached, I began to really dread the drive from our hometown to the city we were planning to deliver with a midwife, two and a half hours away. Because I am a huge believer in midwifery care, we are willing to travel in order to have that care, which means the closest care provider being quite a distance away.

This time around, with being due in July when my regular midwives have summer break, I had a different midwife than usual, which came with some challenges, but overall, I was grateful to have been accepted into midwifery care at all this time around.

On July 1st, four weeks before our due date, we called in our childcare and travelled to the city. I was experiencing mild contractions, and we went in a little earlier than we might have, had we not had that distance to travel.

We were so relieved when we made it safely to the city. Tharin and I kept saying to each other, we made it. We don't have to worry about the drive now. Both of us were relieved to have not had to use the precipitous birth kit Tharin had packed just in case.

Similar to Elias' labour, we spent that night peacefully going for walks, sleeping when we could, and just enjoying the quiet hours together when the rest of the world was asleep, anticipating the coming of our little one. 

Why I Let My Child Wear His Pants Backwards

Come to my house these days (or lets be honest, see us around town or at a friend's house) and chances are, you will find my toddler, Ignatius, wearing at least one item of clothing backwards. Probably both. (Okay, all three, including his underwear, if he's wearing any at all - but that's a whole other story.)

I have received so many questions.

Why don't I intervene if I see him putting something on backwards?

Why don't I fix it?

Doesn't it bother me?

Some Simple (and Important) Ways A Two-Year-Old Can Contribute in a Montessori Household

If you have heard about the importance of allowing your child to participate in practical life but have no idea where to start, I wanted to share some ways we have included our two-year-old with simple setups in our home.

There are four major areas to think about inviting your child to contribute to the home:

1. In the kitchen

2. With tidying up

3. At meal times

4. With self care

This will not require you to go out and buy a bunch of things, but it will require you to slow down.
It will mean more "messes" in the name of progress.
And it will ultimately mean a happier, more independent, child.

Respectful Parenting: Accepting our Children's Storms

I was sitting with Ignatius, while he screamed and thrashed in my arms. It had been one of those mornings for him. Constantly fighting with his brothers, getting upset over little details, acting a little more violently toward everyone than he does when he is feeling balanced inside.

So after breaking up yet another fight, I pulled him away from his brothers and to the living room where we could be alone together. And as if on cue, his storm burst forth.

The Change Of Seasons: Reflecting on Winter as a Catholic

Today, all across the world, Catholics remember the death of Jesus. 

As I have reflected, in the past few days, on the early church, on the disciples as they hid in fear, disbelieving that the One they had walked with, had loved and hailed as King, had allowed Himself to be nailed to a torture device, I consider the darkness that would have fallen on the earth in those days. The darkness, the fear, the doubt.

I've felt that kind of doubt before, I've experience that winter season in my own life, as all the evidence seems to point to a God that is not, after all, victorious. 

"Thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a barren bush in the wasteland that enjoys no change of seasons." Jeremiah 17:5-6

It is so easy to look at our lives, in times of hardship, waiting, struggle, pain, and see this season of winter as evidence against God, against His goodness.

But what does nature tell us about seasons?

When I look outside my window, I see a world covered in snow, waiting. The huge poplar trees, so green in the growing months that you all you see through our front window is their thick canopy, is bare.

Nature rests, quietly, skillfully preparing for the next growing season.

Just like nature, all of us experience some form of winter in our lives, we all experience low points. This shouldn't really surprise us, it is mentioned many times in scripture that we will experience tribulation, winter, on this Earth. 

James 1:2-4 

Romans 8:35-39

Psalm 34:17-19

John 16:33

 But, while we all experience winter, do any of us, without God, really experience summer? This, I believe, is what He means when He warns that those who turn away from Him will experience no change of season.

The Depths of Winter in Our Liturgical Year

This day in our liturgical season is the depth of winter. The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, when the Earth went dark at three o'clock in the afternoon and the world seemed to be cast back into the abyss of pre-Creation.

This day we embrace the cross with our Saviour, enter into the solemn understanding that in order to save us, He had to go to the depths of our human experience, to look all of our sin directly in the eyes. He allowed Himself to be put to death, brutally, horribly, unimaginably.

Imagine the winter of the soul in which our Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46) into the darkness?

He did not withhold the winter from His son.

And He does not withhold it from His other children.

In those winter seasons, this can feel like evidence against the goodness of God, evidence against His working always for our good.  Yet, just as nature uses winter to prepare, to slow down, to work on the inner while the outer appears dormant. Just as nature weathers all of these changes knowing it is made to withstand, made to flourish once again in the change of seasons, so we know that we are made to weather, withstand, grow stronger, and ultimately, to flourish in our change of seasons.


What a blessing this change of seasons is. What a blessing to experience the growth, the glory of new life which can only be experienced in fullness after the winter season.

What a blessing to be an Easter people. Just as a flower bulb is planted in the darkness of the soil, shrouded and hidden, Jesus was placed in the tomb. And in His time, in His season, He burst forth in Life.

And so must we embrace our own seasons, withstand the storms of the nature of our souls, in order to burst forth with abundant Life, in our season.

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. I would also love to hear any suggestions for posts you would like me to write about. And if you are interested in following along in our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily.



God bless,


Olivia Fischer

Easter Story Retelling (& An Easter Story Stone Printable)

Hello everyone,

This year we are celebrating a very different sort of Easter season. No attending masses. No gatherings. No family. 

Needless to say, I know this will be a memorable year for us, as well as many other families.

Montessori Home Tour: A Montessori Toddler’s Room

Next on our Montessori home tour (for our first home post on the big boys room, go here), I thought I would share some current snaps of our toddlers room.