1st of July day

Happy feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! :)


Perfectly hot summer day.

Sun shines strongly.
Warm breeze a blowing.
Birds chirping.

I gave my kids the task of getting a clipboard, paper and a pencil.

Then told them to pick a spot, any spot, in our backyard and draw what they saw in front of them.

To my big surprise, they have been at it for a good chunk of time and that gave me time to get my camera! So, here are a few shots of our day:

Here is a pic of what I love to do-bake!  Not only is it fun for me, but I love to eat it too!!! :)

Yummy banana chochote chip bread-super yummy snack for this feast day.

Boy artwork

By Artist-Kid #3, age 7

God bless,

Mary

Lent thus far

My 4 yr old son walked up to me this morning and said "Me is feeling better today!" 
Thanks be to God for our health getting back to normal and thanks be to God for super cute 4 yr old boys!!!

On another note...LENT...

Just as it was with Advent and (gasp!) no Advent wreath till the 4th Sunday of Advent (yikes!) and even when I actually DID get the candles I still forgot to put it up and light them!!!....here we go again with Lent. 

I just put out our Sacrifice Bean Jar!  For each sacrifice we offer up to God, we put a pinto bean in the jar.   Then on Easter night, the Easter Bunny comes quietly and turns those beans into jelly beans or jelly eggs or chocolate eggs!!! YUM! 

I have also decorated our walls with words:  generous, kindess, helping others, obedience etc... all ways that are so very pleasing to our Lord and makes our home so much more at peace.  Helpful reminders...we sure need them lately!

Here is a LINK to a really funny pic of   yours truly  2 yrs ago and how I dealt w/Lent!  We all were laughing when we saw it and the kids "Hey!  I remember that!!!" LOL  haaaaaa!!!!

Funny how the kids remember the craziest things, and those things that we'd like to forget quickly....

We also just did the dough crown of thorns yesterday...like THIS.

We used wheat flour which turned the dough a realistic dark color and the kids had a blast putting their 'sins' of thorns into the crown.  It helps them understand how doing a sacrifice can lessen the pain and give comfort to Jesus by removing one of the thorns.
 God willing, I'll post a pic soon!

Gotta go-I am a much needed Momma here :)

May you continue to have a holy Lent in whichever way God is allowing your Lent to be.

God bless,
M

St. Martin de Porres

We love this saint, nicknamed "Brother Broom".

Happy Feast day of St. Martin de Porres !!! (It was a few days ago.  I didn't have time to post this :))

Here is what we did on this great feast day:

Printed and then painted THIS picture of St. Martin de Porres...

....while listening to THIS CD about St. Martin de Porres- we truly love this saint and our favorite part is when he talks to the mice about the poison!  My kids love to imitate their voices :)  It's really cute.

God bless,
Mary

Art-Schmart class

Remember I mentioned about that watercolor class I am taking?

Today I finally went to my watercolor class that I missed the last 2 weeks b/c of sicknesses and family issues. I only have about 2 or 3 classes left and I am so very bummed about this! I really enjoyed that one class I took and I thought I could commit myself to something as easy as a short 6 week class.

God is always trying to tell us something, trying to get closer to us. But it is up to US to seek His word, and to seek His Will (no matter how hard it may be). There is one lesson that I have a hard time learning and that is...how my time is not my own.

I signed up the older 2 kids to take an art class in the same building too- ya know, trying to maximize the short time we have for extra circular activities. I start my class 1/2 hour after theirs begin. And one of their classes ends 1/2 earlier than the other and then when the other one is done, we all go wait for Daddy to arrive. We wait for Daddy who has the other 4 kids to pick up the older 2 kids that are with me. Then I have a short amount of time to finish my class. Am I crazy?! Just trying to be flexible and to maximize our time and do something fun for M.E. Needless to say, it is not the 2 hour window of quiet and away time that I thought....so I have been thinking about it and am tempted to throw in the towel and ask for my $ back. BUT, rethinking it, I have decided to persevere and do this. Yes, it may be hard and quite annoying but I don't want to cave into the quitting and feeling discouraged about this. I want to make a commitment and actually do it too!

This is one of the hardest lessons for moms out there, I believe. It is letting go and being flexible to what God has called us to- just about the hardest job out there and we don't even get paid for it! Ha!

Maybe one reason, maybe the ONLY reason that I am taking the watercolor art class is to share Christ with others. I have to admit that the first class that I took, I hardly talked at all (surely not like myself with my temperament and personality!) I was wiped out after a few difficult and cold weeks and needed that quiet time to do something totally different than my day to day life. It was great, and do you know what? Not one person knew about ME.
The me that includes 6 kids.

Not until, well, today. The word got out and BOOM! Questions were thrown at me left and right. Living the 'open to life' life and the 'pro-life' life and the Catholic life...and since God blessed us with children, many children...

I get noticed.
I get looks. (and some not so good looks!)
I get questions.
I am in the spotlight.
No matter where I go or what I do, people go at me.

I see this morning as I was at this art class as me being a witness to Jesus Christ.
Just because I am me.
Just because I am.

I may or I may not take another class, because in reality with 6 kids, there is no secure answer with that.
I may not have any amazing painting that I actually finished.
I may not have walked away with loads of watercolor artistry knowledge.

But for reasons that I may not ever know, I needed to be there.
Christ needed to be there.
And that is good enough for me.

Lord, my life is for You alone. Help me to seek Your Will and seek You in others at all times. Help me to not seek glory from anyone else but You. My life is for You. All Glory and Praise be to You, Lord!

God bless,
Mary

Such a girl

We were doing some art work at the kitchen table yesterday. We were drawing and coloring fish and what they thought the ocean looked like. Kid #2 asked me to help her draw a big fish. So I did. I handed it back to her and she picks up the coloring tool of choice and says out loud and with such conviction:
"Okay, so here is the hair...."
I smiled and thought-she is such a girl! I mean, what girl would NOT draw hair on her fish!?

God bless,
Mary

Happy MLK day!

Check out this great website full of Martin Luther King, Jr. info. My kids actually sat the whole 17 minutes plus and watched and listened to his speech!

We had quite the discussion about the Civil Rights Movement, segregation and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I found it amazing at the look of horror when they found out how our country was (and hopefully will never be again!). Goes to show you how much the young and pure can teach us.
We will be working on a craft to symbolize what this day means to the children and I hope to post it too- God willing :)

Happy Martin Luther King day!

So, how are you going to celebrate?

God bless,
Mary

Social Awareness

So, what do you do when its 10 below outside-REALLY COLD!!! What do you do to keep yourself going strong and not end up giving yourself a pity party feeling lonely and all...well, check out some ideas/comments over at Margaret's site...

For me, I realized that trying to stay committed to something just for yourself to help you grow spiritually and intellectually is great- a group that sews/knits together, or exercise- volleyball or a walk with a friend, or a mom's night out weekly (that would be great!) or Bible study...whatever I can get to often helps out a lot.

Besides my weekly Bible Study that I get to only 2 x/month, today I went to my first art class - watercolor class-how about that? I am psyched about it! It was so much fun and so very uhm....quiet...really- we had to stay focused on painting so it was just so very nice and quiet. It has been a very long time since I signed up for a class- figured it is good for me and I can pass on that knowledge to my kids too! It gives me something to look forward to on a weekly basis as my little "artistic out". Funny, even though it was so quiet and we did not talk much at all (which is so not me with my type personality) but I was pleased to be in a room with 8 other ADULTS and did I mention it was rather quiet?

Gosh, I love my husband! Is he not totally awesome to watch the kids so I can do this?!
I can't wait to post some pics that I have drawn...that is if you're interested...???

Have a great Saturday and stay warm :)
God bless, Mary