Welcome to Vox Clara Family! “Vox” in Latin means voice, and “Clara” means clear, or bright.
During Advent, the monastic and 1960 Divine Office incorporates this Latin phrase, ‘vox clara’ and ‘clara vox’ in the two different hymns for Lauds. Both hymns, Vox Clara Ecce Intonat, and En Clara Vox Redarguit, refer to St John the Baptist - the clear, bright, heralding voice crying out to say “Christ is nigh.”
It is one of my favorite Latin chant hymns, so while it can be read as “Claire’s voice,” as Claire is derived from the Latin ‘clara,’ primarily it was chosen for my blog for it’s “clear voice” literal translation.
Listen to the full hymn here: VOX CLARA ECCE INTONAT
Read the Latin/English chant lyrics here: VOX CLARA ECCE INTONAT TRANSLATION
While I am no John the Baptist, I do firmly believe that as Catholics with the gratuitous gift of Faith, we each owe Our Lord, whether in our own homes alone or with a horn, clear voices crying out, make straight the paths.
We are the Dodges.
We are Claire and Dr. Daniel Dodge, DC, CACCP. We have been married and living in Texas for 15 years. We spent our first 13 years of marriage and raising little ones in the Dallas area, and the last nearly two years in the Piney Woods of East Texas. I am a former Catholic school teacher turned full time homemaker, homeschooler, and homesteader. I am passionate about raising a holy family, as best we can. Our Catholic faith and prayer is our foundation, which changed drastically for us in 2016 when we started attending the Traditional Latin Mass exclusively. Daniel and I are Benedictine Oblates, and work to weave the prayer and charisms of the monastic life into our family life; the ecclesia domestica.
A monastic motherhood is my mission.
I am a homemaker, heartshaper, and gatekeeper.
To be honest, the rest of the “stuff” about my motherhood is unimportant. How many children I currently have, how I homemake, how I homeschool, how I homestead, how I guard and shape hearts…that’s the small stuff. I’m here to encourage you in your holy homemaking and motherhood, whatever form that takes for you and the charisms God Almighty has chosen to bestow on you. And I LOVE that about mothers - He has designed and shaped us each, from our temperaments, to our wounds, to our gifts and charisms, all so differently.
If you’re working towards holiness, at any cost, you’re my kind of mother.
As a homemaker, I love being in the kitchen. Hospitality toward my family is probably my main charism. Big breakfasts, ceramic and wooden bowls my mother threw or my father turned, Weck jars and linen aprons, and as many brooms as there are humans in my house are my sweet spot. I am passionate about feeding my family whole, real, and nourishing foods. Balancing blood sugar with metabolism-supporting carbs/fats/proteins carries importance in our home, as we have both a parent and a child with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes, and my hormone health has improved drastically since walking away from restrictive “healing” diets for my Celiac disease, and embraced a more bioenergetic, prometabolic approach. I love interior design and cherish the gift of making a house a home. I fluff pillows, collect throw blankets, and sprinkle Sacramentals and Sacred Art everywhere I can.
As a heartshaper, I’ve invested a lot of time, energy, and prayer into healing wounds and learning all that I can about raising securely attached, emotionally articulate and mature, and emotionally regulated children, and prioritizing those things for myself. Things aren’t idyllic over here, but it’s a top priority of my motherhood that we are all actively working toward a radical level of emotional health in this home.
As a gatekeeper, I focus on wellness through real, balanced, and nourishing food, and overall low-tox living.
As a homeschooler, we are Charlotte Mason-ers, primarily utilizing The Alveary through Charlotte Mason Institute and Mater Amabilis, with lots of Catholic swaps and adds, and a touch of unschooling-inspired interest following.
As a homesteader, I am a total amatuer but try-all-the-things lady. I love gardening, and the ever challenging debate each time its time to start seeds is whether to grow more food, or flowers. Team flowers usually wins. We have a few different livestock we are raising and learning to care for, primarily to provide our family as much of our own meat as we can. We have big homesteading dreams, but our main priority is to learn the skills lost to our families over the generations. We believe that while we may not immediately need all of these skills, it’s vital that our children do have them, both for their vocations as well as in the desert that this world has become.
Welcome, dear woman. I’m glad you’re here, because while iron sharpens iron for our masculine counterparts, a blend of sweet fragrances creates the most incredible perfume.
Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy sight. -Psalm 141:2
