I am not Catholic

(I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in case anyone was wondering) and I don't know that much about it, but I have been checking on the Real Learning Message Board for a couple of years, and many of the women that post on the board are Catholic, and I've learned many things.

In the LDS church, we do not observe the Lenten season, or even things like Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, or Good Friday, but we do observe Easter. But last year, I decided to give something up for Lent to help me focus on Jesus' sacrifice.

This year, I'm focusing on the main "activities" of Lent - prayer, fasting and almsgiving - and choosing a few simple ways to bring them into our home. I was inspired by Elizabeth's , author of Real Learning book, blog to do this. Here is the suggestions she had for prayer, fasting and almsgiving on Ash Wednesday.

Pray: Listen. God is speaking to you right now. Stop interrupting.

Fast: Skip reading magazines, blogs, or anything else in the world that inspires self-pity instead of self-confidence.

Give: People are more important than things. Remember that your time and your attention are more valuable commodities to your family than your accomplishments.

I'll be honest, somedays I'll copy what Elizabeth is doing for her day, but other days, it will something specific to our family's situation. (I will credit Elizabeth when I use her suggestions though!)

So for the next 30 some days, my posts will probably be frequent but short. I'm sure I'll throw in some "regular" Simple posts too, but I want to let people know.