Favorite pics of St. Joseph on his feast day today

Good Saint Joseph, PRAY FOR US!!!
Pray for my husband and my family!  Help us and pray for us to be holy and get to Heaven!

God bless,
Mary

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Green pancakes w/real syrup

Mass with my favorite 5 yr old little man

then to the store to buy the corned beef and cabbage

back to make coffee for 2nd time

and organized our library of books we have! (put quite a few in a box to donate)

ate some yummy turkey and ham sandwiches for lunch

got 3 trash bags of trash taken out

got 2 trash bags of things (ahem...toys/books) to donate

and...about 50+ VHS videos to give to a friend!

Phew!  That was a very productive morning, huh?

Now what?

About to put on our traditional Corned Beef and cabbage dinner and....

Getting ready for family confession!

Of course no big feast day of eating green things and wearing green would ever be complete with out doing a little coloring of our favorite picture of St. Patrick. 

You can find it  HERE.

And afterwards, if we can make it in time,

we might even get over to our local "40 days for Life" campaign and pray :)

Oh, did I mention it is a warm 76* and sunny outside today?  (Hey, you may be a slight jealous but...when you get this nice weather where you are, we'll be toasting in humidity!  So it all evens out, right? :)

It surely is not a typical Saturday where it is so nice outside that the kids haven't come in except for lunch and that leaves hubby and baby and me to try to organize and spring clean out our home.  Thanks be to God that HE is the one allowing this to happen.  Thanks God!

God bless your St. Patty's day,
Mary

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

Happy Feast of Our Lovely Lady in blue....Our Lady of Lourdes!!!

St. Bernadette, pray for us!!!

HERE is a coloring page that we are coloring today.

Just like every night, our family will say our family rosary.  But, tonight I will try to lovingly be patient with my children during our 20 min rosary.  Now, that is something!

God bless,
Mary

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!

Today I am so thankful to have been able to get to Mass this morning.  To my surprise, it was the FIRST ever Mass in honor of Blessed John Paul II.  What a beautiful Mass, as I felt his presence so strongly.  He was and is so amazing.  I am so thankful to have been able to live while he was alive!

He exemplified Christ in how he lived and shared his life with others.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!!!
God bless,
Mary

Happy Feast of St. Francis!!!

My kids and I love this Saint and love celebrating this feast day.

First, I printed off a bunch of great St. Francis coloring pages. 

This one HERE from Catholic Heritage Cirriculum is, by far, our favorite!

Today's snack is going to...
ANIMAL CRACKERS!!!

Another idea I had was to make those easy bird feeders-pine cone, PB and bird seed....we'll see since that would require me to actually go out to buy the bird seed!  Maybe I'll have an adrenaline rush to actually do it!!! HA :O

The other idea I had was to go on a little trip to the pet store!   Maybe...


St. Franics, pray for us!!!

God bless,
Mary

St. Monica, pray for us!

St. Monica, pray for us!

My oldest and I were able to get to daily Mass this morning and what a glorious day to go!!!  The feast of St. Monica-yet another one of my all time favorite Saints.  We also have a little girl having a name day too today!!! :)  Her middle name, but nonetheless wonderful! 

My children like learning about this Saint and how she had such virtue of perseverance in praying for YEARS AND YEARS for her husband (who was full of such temper and violent) and her wayward son (you may know as St. Augustine!: )  Yes, her terrible son turned Saint ~her son!!!

Her life gives mothers such hope! 

Thank you St. Monica for never giving up, for living a life of joy in the midst of turmoil.

Thank you for praying for us, mothers. 

Help us to do all for the Glory of God~ remind us to live a life of selflessness and of great love,

being the heart of our home.

God bless,
Mary

St. Maria Goretti, pray for us!

WHat a super saint-one that is close to my kids' ages and so amazing.

HERE is the site we printed off a pic to color.

My kid #2 (M) made a fruit salad to symbolize her martyrdom-full of red strawberries and blackberries-it was so creative!!!

St. Maria Gorretti, pray for us and help keep us pure!

God bless,
M

Busy, busy, busy

We're researching what saint that each of my kids want to be...dialy it is changing! haaa haaa :)

Our homeschool group has a All Saints Day party next weekend (so excited about it!!!) and I really need to get this figured out so I can shop this weekend.   I am trying I have to remind myself.  This is not supposed to be a reflection of my artistic capability...but I can't help but marvel over blog posts such as THIS one and THIS one!

My oldest daughter is trying to decide between a 'pretty' saint like St.  Elizabeth of Hungary and a nun saint such as St. Therese or St. Clare (as her little sister is going to be St. Therese).  It is quite a learning experience for her!  It is great to see her growing up and seeing the difference between just pleasing her little girl friends and to stand out among others with something pretty on versus being humble and learning about the Saint and her virtues that she would like to imitate and think are beautiful in God's eyes.

What to do....what to do....

Who to be.....who to be... 

So far, we have:  (mind you, it can and may just change ion 15 mins or by tomorrow! :))

Kid #1---St. John Vianney or St. John Bosco
Kid  #2---St. Elizabeth of  Hungary or St. Therese/St. Clare
Kid #3---St. Patrick
Kid #4---St. Therese
Kid #5 ---St. Peregrine
Kid #6---St. Francis or St. Padre Pio or any Franciscan monk saint :)

But nonetheless, we are having a great opportunity to learn about the saints and reading lots of them! 

Each year, there is some repeats of Saints in our family and some new ones too!  We find it a great way to witness to our neighborhood and even though some of my kids ask why they can't dress as Spiderman or whatever, it has never gotten into a fight.  The homeschool and friend All Saints Parties ALWAYS help b/c they see their friends and peers doing the same. 

Afterall, our family is not the only crazy Catholic one out there!!! haaaa haaaa

God bless,
Mary

Happy Birthday to my 2 yr old! AND happy feast of Padre Pio!!!

Pics to follow at some point!
God bless,
Mary

St. Isidore of Seville, patron Saint of the Internet, pray for us.

Prayer To St. Isidore of Seville

Patron Saint of the Internet

Almighty and eternal God

who has created us in Thy image

and hast bidden us to seek after

all that is good, true and beautiful,

especially in the divine person of

Thy only-begotten Son,

our Lord Jesus Christ,

grant we beseech Thee that,

through the intercession of

Saint Isidore, bishop and doctor,

during our journeys through the internet

we will direct our hands and eyes

only to that which is pleasing to Thee

and treat with charity and patience

all those souls whom we encounter.

Through our Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

So...here we go!!!

And...we're off!

Off on a wild ride!

Onto our new school year,  that is.  Starting officially tomorrow, Tues. Sept. 7th! 


MATTHEW 11:28-30:
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

I bought each of the kids some new stuff for school as a surprise.  My hopes are high for this year but also very realistic! 

Please say a prayer for us all as we enter into a new school year.  Thanks!

May all we do, all we say, all we are bring all the Glory to God!!!

Into Your Hands, dear Lord, we place our school year. 

To Jesus through Mary!

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Francis,

patron saints of our home school year 2010-2011,

PLEASE PRAY FOR US!!!

God bless,
Mary

Happy Feast of St. Monica!

St. Monica, pray for us!

St.  Monica truly amazes me.  She had a wild child and maybe you have one of those too?  She had a pagan husband and maybe you have one of those too?  It is said that they had a troubled marriage and maybe you have one of those too?

She had an intense prayer life and endured much penance for her son.  And eventually her son, Augustine, changed his crazy immoral ways to hear God in his life...he went on to become a Bishop!  Tomorrow we celebrate his feast day!!! 

St. Monica was a patient wife who loved God with all her heart and that led to her angered husband to hold her in a sort of reverence.  This love for God that she lived helped convert her husband on his death bed!

Prayer can change things!!! 

Patiently enduring sufferings for others can change things!!!

What a gift for a wife to see the conversion of her HUSBAND in her lifetime. 
What a gift for a mother to see the true conversion of her child in her lifetime. 

She is an example to many mommas out there to keep persevering in prayer, to never give up.

St. Monica, pray for us.

God bless,
 Mary

Gone for 34 days!

You'll not hear from me for a while here on this blog. 

Ya know, longer than this week that I did not blog a thing.  Did you even notice?  Haaa haaaa!!!!  Well, we were just on a family vacation!  What a gift  for us all!!!  It was wonderful, even more wonderful than last year.  In fact, so wonderful that both my husband and I are feeling very called to consecrate our family to Jesus through Mary.  It follows the act of Total Consecration by St. Lous de Montfort.  See HERE. 

We have the whole kit to do it and are pumped up.  I figured, why not?  It surely cannot hurt us but only help us and help others!!!  Both my hubby and I are very excited to do this, feel so called to do this and we are doing this together!!! I am so blessed to have this hubby of mine.  What a blessing he is to our family~! 

We have been struggling saying the Holy Rosary as a family for a while now.  This helps us to focus on saying the Rosary as a family daily, starting with a decade first and building up.  I have all these wonderful ideas on how to set up our "domestic church" -- an actual  prayer room-complete with an altar!  I am sure it will be so beautiful and hopefully pleasing to Mother Mary and our Lord too!

It takes 34 days, so that's what I am going to be focused on. 

Now now, I may feel inclined to post a thing here and there, so do check back, ok?!?!?

Oh,on a totally different topic... I also decided on a ciriculum that will fit our family for this school year.  What a relief to be settled on one.  Catholic Heritage Cirriculum it is.  See HERE.   Now all I have left to do is order the grade level kits ;) !  We do not have a set day to start school.  Initally it was going to be this week, but nope! not ready yet!  As in....have not ordered their books yet! haaa haaa .  But I am not worried, in God's good timing.

CHC seems to me, to be more slower paced, which is perfect for this school year.  With baby #7 due in January, I know we will not be schooling for a while then.  Plus, this year, both my hubby and I agree that this school year will be more about HOME than about SCHOOL  (HOME-SCHOOL).  We have a lot of work to do at home here and I thank God for all His awesome gifts to us. 

I am not overwhelmed and am actually looking forward, really looking forward to school this year!  What a joy to be the excited Mom to teach.  Thank You God for these graces-keep them coming!!!

On this great feast of St. Maximillian Kolbe-one of our very very favorites---Happy Feast day!!!

One last thing as we are in the midst of our Family's Total Consecration...If you can remember amongst all of life's craziness, would you please keep my family in your prayers, thank you!

God bless,
Mary

A Donut Cake!

It is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes today! My kids got the privilege of watching The Song of Bernadette, which we are about 1/2 way through. Amazing that they still enjoy those black and white movies! Don't let IMAX fool you! haaaa haaaa!

Anyway, while they watched, I made a bunt blue cake to celebrate this feast day and also my 4 year old daughter's middle name day- Bernadette!

When she saw the cake, her eyes lit up with happiness and joy and a big smile across her face....saying "Oh Momma! A donut cake! I knew you would make me a donut cake! I knew you would!!!"

How precious she is to respond with such gratefulness for making a DONUT cake! I love it!

God bless,
Mary

Pope, Pio & 'More' (ha ha)

The Pope visited and celebrated Holy Mass at the Church of Padre Pio yesterday-Father's Day. Isn't that so fitting?

Our family loves St. Pio, especially our boys. Our last baby was born on Padre Pio's feast day! He is an amazing saint; he was amazing on earth and will continue to help us from Heaven. (1887-1968)

Here is the Pope's Homily at St. Pio of Pietrelcina Church that happened yesterday.

Some input from his history is that his Masses usually lasted 2 hours! It is also said that each morning after a 5 a.m. Mass in a crowded church, Padre Pio heard confessions until noon. Then he would take a mid-morning break to bless the sick and all who came to see him. Eventually he set up a hospital there b/c of his great love for the sick. Every afternoon he also heard confessions. In time his confessional ministry would take 10 hours a day!!! It is said that penitents even had to take a number! Can you imagine that? Many of them have said that Padre Pio knew details of their lives that they had never mentioned! As you can imagine, devotions to Padre Pio are huge and the wounds he bore are amazing, breath taking and beautiful. Thank you God for the gift of Padre Pio to the world.

God always gives us what we need, huh?!

Padre Pio, pray for us!

"The life of a Christian is nothing

but a perpetual struggle against self;

there is no flowering of the soul

to the beauty of its perfection

except at the price of pain" (Padre Pio).

Not pretty, but so true.
Thank you Padre Pio for all you have done and continue to do-please pray for us!

How could I forget to mention today's great feast day of St. Thomas More(1478-1535)?!

"Beheaded on Tower Hill, London, July 6, 1535, he steadfastly refused to approve Henry VIII’s divorce and remarriage and establishment of the Church of England.
Described as “a man for all seasons,” More was a literary scholar, eminent lawyer, gentleman, father of four children and chancellor of England. An intensely spiritual man, he would not support the king’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Nor would he acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, breaking with Rome and denying the pope as head."

(Find more info about this great saint HERE).

Thank you St. Thomas More for defending MARRIAGE!

St. Thomas More, pray for us!

God bless,
Mary