Christmas Novena

When Advent starts this early, it gets a little crazy in our domestic church.  

Our house is a mixture of all of our Holy Souls prayer things (vigil candles, calendar of beloved dead, and our special prayer book for the holy souls (more about that here)) and all of the beautiful Advent decorations.  It only lasts for a couple of days, but the overlap can make things seem a little overwhelming and even disjointed as our hearts and minds seem to be being pulled in multiple directions.  I don't want to deny a single soul of our extra prayers though....so we are keeping our vigil candle lit through today and we finished our final rosary and meditation on the Holy Souls in Purgatory this morning.  As Advent is a time to prepare not only for the birth of Christ, but for His second coming as well, having both decorations up is a nice visual reminder to prepare our souls for their ultimate end in hopes of eternity with Christ.  Tomorrow we will take it all down, but for the rest of today it looks like this:

So much to look at!

Tomorrow the vigil candle will be tucked away, and the calendar will be erased and taken down, to be filled in next year with all the names of those souls of our beloved dead who need our prayers.  All that will remain is the stable and the animals, waiting for the Holy Family to arrive on Christmas Eve.

Today is the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle and there is a beautiful novena attributed to him to prepare for the birth of Christ.  It starts today on his feast day and is said until Christmas Eve.  I was so excited when I got an e-mail this morning with free printables of the novena!  We have used my phone in the past, but now I have 4 prayer cards with beautiful illustrations for all of us to share.  I printed out the pages, glued the two together  and then laminated them and cut them out.  I am so excited.  Nothing makes me happier than beautiful artwork to go with our prayers.  Throw in some laminator action to help make everything sturdy and I am beyond giddy.  I'll stop chattering about it, and share the link for the printables now.

Here are a few pictures to show you how ours turned out.

2 beautiful designs 

Once I glued the two printed pages together and laminated them,
all we have to do is flip them over and we have the prayer on the back.
Pretty and functional.
A mama's dream come true.

I can't wait to start praying our novena tonight.  Tomorrow we will add it to the end of our morning rosary.  I love how each month as we live the liturgical year there is a way to so simply add a little something that lifts our hearts and minds to God in a special way for each passing season and it's focus.  

~May God Bless You and Yours this Advent Season. ~ 

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating All Saints & All Souls

There are a lot of wonderful blogs out there to help us live our Catholic Faith and live the Liturgical Year at home with our families.  Catholic Icing, Catholic All Year, and Catholic Cuisine are a few just to start with.  I use these sites to help us live our Faith in our home, but I also just make stuff up as we go along.

Every family is different and sometimes I get overwhelmed by so many other people's ideas.  I like simple, beautiful, meaningful.  Sometimes we go more "all out," but ideally I like to create traditions that are easy to replicate each year, and that bring joy and peace.  As a "do it all" type of personality, I have learned through many years of trying to do too much, that if it overwhelms me I am not kind and loving... which in the end, negates everything I am trying to teach through these activities and traditions.

So....here is our family's simple way of living the feasts of All Saints and All Souls:

First, we go pick our pumpkins and choose our designs for our "saint-o-lanterns."  This is an easy way to incorporate our Faith into this cultural practice.  Instead of jack-o-lanterns or creepy things, we choose an image that represents a holy man or woman of God, or some Christian symbol.  We scoop out all the gunk inside the pumpkin (representative of our sin and the way God helps to wipe our souls clean through Baptism and Confession).  Then we carve our image on the pumpkin and put in the candle and let the light of Christ shine through.  That is what the Saints did throughout their lives, and since we are all called to become saints, we too, should be constantly doing all we can to allow the love and light of Christ to shine through us out into the world.  This is a quiet, educational and fun way to celebrate this holiday.  We don't have to say anything or be "preachy."  And we also don't have to remove ourselves from all the festivities going on around us that are far from the Catholic roots of the holiday (for more on that, read this: catholic true meaning of halloween).  Simple, beautiful, meaningful.

Here is this year's line up of saint-o-lanterns in pictures:

This is the book we use to help us find our symbols.
It is an old book from a church that was cleaning out it's library.
But I'm sure there are current books out there, you just have to search for them.

All lined up and ready to be put outside.

Looking pretty lining the walk.
Just waiting for dark so we can light them up!

Shining the light of Christ to the world!
Top left: a heart (little one's request) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus (free hand by #2)
Top Middle: Iona Cross (#3's handiwork)
Top Right: St. Joseph symbol (carpenter's square and lily) done by the hubs
Bottom Left: Crown with a cross through it (the 4 yr. old made this up himself and #1 helped execute it)
Bottom Middle: St. Mary the Virgin (sword passing though the heart of Our Lady and wings) by #1
Bottom Right: Alpha and Omega with Crown (done by yours truly)

Then we get all dressed up and go trick or treating which originated from the practice of the Middle Ages in England.  On the Eve of All Saints (Hallowmas) peasants would go about town singing and praying for the souls of the deceased.  They would stop at homes and beg for a "soul cake" (which were a traditional treat for All Souls Day feasts) and offer prayers for the deceased family members in return.  So there is your history for the day.  We don't go around asking for soul cakes or singing the traditional song the peasants sang, but since trick-or-treating began with our Faith, we certainly aren't going to abandon the practice.

This is our costume line-up for 2015:

Lego brick, Cowgirl, Harry Potter, Iron Man, Batman and Robin

All Hallow's Eve (or Hallowmas) leads into the Feast of All Saints (Nov. 1) where the Church honors all the deceased members of the Church who we have been assured have entered into eternal salvation and are enjoying the joy of Heaven.  We look to these men and women to help teach us how to love and serve Christ in our lives.  Through their lives and struggles and then their triumph, we are reminded to remain forever hopeful in our own life as we journey our own path to sanctity.

Our parish throws an All Saints party every year where the kids are encouraged to choose a saint and dress up as that person.  They then tell a few facts about the chosen saint and the audience tries to guess who they are.  It is a lot of fun for the kids and parents alike.

Here are my little saints:

St. Jerome and his lion (there is a story that St. Jerome removed a thorn from a lion's paw and the lion remained with him ever after that), St. JPII (he was an avid skier, so we used what we had to put this costume together), and St. Elizabeth of Hungary (putting my authentic Austrian dirndl from my semester abroad to good use)!
*We ended up making a last minute change, and #2 was St. Jerome with the lion, and #3 went in his Lego brick as St. Vincent Ferrer who is the patron of builders (very clever and no one could guess who he was)!

Now onto the feast of All Souls... 

The past 2 days we celebrated the assured victory of those who have gone before us (through being officially canonized as saints in the Church. For more on that, click here: How does one become a saint?).  They give us the hope for our own eternal salvation and for the eternal salvation of our loved ones.  So November 2nd we focus on those who have gone before us (our beloved dead) of whom we are not assured their eternal salvation. We offer Mass and prayers and are reminded of our own mortality.  The Church (and our Lord) desires nothing more than the salvation of each and every soul, and so the ENTIRE month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory.  Our family has adopted the practice of going to Mass on November 2nd to pray for the dead, visiting the cemetery of my deceased grandparents and praying for them in particular, and we spend all month praying for deceased friends and family.  We post a "calendar" with a name of a soul for each day of the  month, then we offer a rosary each day of November for that particular soul.  We also keep a vigil candle burning the entire month to visually remind us of the souls for which we continue to pray and hope to be reunited with when we too leave this earthly life and enter into eternal salvation.  My mother-in-law just sent me this book (pictured below), and so on top of our daily rosary, we are also praying the meditation for that day to help us to enter more deeply into prayer and understanding of the Holy Souls in Purgatory so we can better pray for them and also better prepare ourselves for our own death.  

This is our All Souls practice in pictures: 

Our vigil candle and calendar of souls.
This takes center stage on our prayer "altar" (the top of our piano) in our prayer room.
It remains there the entire month of November and we replace the candle as necessary.
These candles can easily be found at the dollar store, Walmart, or your local grocery store.

The book that we are using for the first time this year.
Excited for it leading us deeper in prayer and understanding this year.

I Know focusing on death is not something our culture likes to do.  But it is an inevitable part of life.  And if we understand more about death, we may come to realize that it doesn't have to be something to be feared.

~God bless you and your families this November.~

May all the souls of the faithful departed, 

through the mercy of God, 

rest in peace.  

Amen

How we live Advent and PREPARE for the birth of the King of Kings!!!

This post was built over many many years of trying different things and tweaking them to fit our family.  There are lots of things here we never could have done with just littles.  But since it has been an organic growth,  the older kids can now help with a lot of it and the little kids, while they don't understand a lot of things, they are excited by  everyone else's excitement and love the whole experience, and eventually they will come to understand what it all means. 

Advent used to be a time where I was stressed; trying to do too  much....trying to do it all....wanting to make Advent "perfect" for teaching my children about the birth of Christ.  Thank goodness, over time God whacked me on the head and showed me that Advent is really about quieting our hearts and minds (be more like the Blessed Mother maybe, who "pondered all these things in her heart") and preparing! It has since become my most favorite season of the liturgical year.  I really feel like our traditions and their slow progression helps us to quiet ourselves and really focus on preparing so that come Christmas we can bust out the CELEBRATING!!!!

Without further adieu, here is the "breakdown" of how we live the season of Advent in our house:

Week 1: 

~Put out all Nativities (manger and animals only)
~ Put out and light 1st candle of advent wreath
~Hang advent calendar if we are using one this year
~Place Mary and Joseph out upstairs to start their journey to Bethlehem (we move them closer to the Nativity each Sunday of Advent)
~Every person chooses a sacrifice or "gift" they want to work on throughout Advent (this is their gift for baby Jesus).  We write them down and place them in a box and wrap it.  We often read the book, "The Littlest Angel" in the evening before we do this activity to help us get our minds and hearts in the right place for really giving Jesus a gift that is from our heart.  *(see note below)

Week 2:

~Prepare our insides (hearts and homes)....start decorating inside the house (indoor garland, stockings, etc).
~Continue lighting advent wreath...this week light 2 candles
~Move Mary and Joseph closer to the Nativity
~Since this is our lightest week, I usually address and mail my Christmas cards this week

Week 3: 

~Gaudete Sunday (which also means hope or rejoice) we put up and light our outside lights and put up and light our tree (no ornaments yet)
~Also light advent wreath...3 candles this week
~This week begins the O Antiphons leading up to the birth of Christ.

         *We read one antiphon each day at dinner after we light our advent wreath and sing the verse of O Come O Come Emmanuel.  

        *We hang an O Antiphon ornament (which we made several years ago) on the tree each night for the corresponding Antiphon.  We also hang a bigger O Antiphon card above our sliding glass door in  our kitchen (doing it this way with the visual really helps to build the anticipation for the coming of the Christ child).  

~Move Mary and Joseph even closer to the manger

Week 4: 

~Final preparations (this may be some baking and food prep)
~Continue O Antiphons
~Light 4th candle in Advent wreath
~Move Mary and Joseph to somewhere in sight of the manger
~Decorate tree on Christmas Eve while listening to Handel's Messiah

*Note:  We also keep the practice of "making the most warm and cozy bed of hay possible" for the Baby Jesus.  We have a bag of straw that we keep behind our manger (which is displayed in our kitchen) and throughout advent when our kids are caught being good or kind or making sacrifices, they can add straw to the manger, so that by Christmas Eve the manger is over flowing.  On Christmas Eve morning we place Mary and Joseph in the stable.  Then, after Midnight Mass we place baby Jesus in on the warm bed of straw we built throughout Advent and present him with our present that we prepared in week 1.  We kneel before the Manger and pray that our gift is made worthy for the King of Kings who is the greatest of all gifts (the hubs leads this prayer).

We have built these traditions over the years and they are so near and dear to my heart.   I love the slow preparation which builds anticipation and mimics the preparation you do when welcoming a new baby.  It takes time.  Doing it this way also helps us not to get overwhelmed because it doesn't all have to be done at once, and we really enjoy the season of Advent.  We are then prepared to really celebrate come Christmas.  I will share what we do for celebrating the 12 days of Christmas in another post.

Below are pictures I dug up from past years to help give a little visual. I wish I had better ones.  I will work on getting better pictures to illustrate these traditions as we live them this Advent and add them to the post for next year.  It is my hope that by recording these traditions they will inspire others, but mostly that they will be all together in a safe place for me to be able to draw upon them every year, and eventually pass them down to my children as they grow up and go out into the world and build their own families and traditions.

Our Advent wreath during the 4th week of Advent

The stockings were hung from the banister with care....

Gaudete Sunday
Everything lighted (no decorations on the tree yet)

All of the O Antiphons

Me and my girls 2 years ago next to our Nativity after Midnight Mass
Notice how stuffed with straw it is. 

~Thanks for stopping by!~

 May Our Lord bless your family's preparations during this most blessed season.  

Celebrating the Feast of St. John Paul II

Pope Saint John Paul II is "my pope."  He became pope when I was a mere 3 months old and remained pope until I was 27 and pregnant with my 3rd child.  He was all I knew for most of my life, and even more importantly, he was pope when I became Catholic at the age of 17.  When I studied abroad I attended a papal Mass and was blessed by him.  I still have several items from that special day that were blessed by him as well.

What makes him even more near and dear to my heart is his teachings on marriage and family.  While in college, I delved into all things Catholic.  I was eager to learn anything and everything about our Faith.  It was the most profound stuff I had ever read.  It made everything about life make sense.  And when I stumbled upon the teachings on marriage and family life, it became my passion and the only topic I wanted to read about.  Any time I could do a paper on it, I did.  From the encyclicals, Familiaris Consortio and Humanae Vitae, to Theology of the Body and Love and Responsibility, my fire was fueled.  After graduating with my undergrad in Theology and a minor in Sociology, I was headed to the John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family Studies in Washington DC to study all the teachings on marriage and family.  Then the plan was to go on and get my degree in counseling and become a marriage and family counselor.

Attending the JPII Institute never came to fruition, because even though I was accepted, at the time they didn't offer any financial assistance. Since I couldn't afford to take out more loans and pile up more debt, I had to defer my plan for a while.  I continued reading on my own, and got a job as a youth minister and taught teens about the beauty of human sexuality and the beautiful plan for marriage and family as set forth by God and taught through the Church.  I had still hoped to attend the graduate school in the future, but God's plans are not my plans, and I got married and started a family. Instead of learning about marriage and family in the classroom led by a prestigious professor, I have been learning about it in the classroom of life.  Which has probably been a better teacher anyway.

Of all the books I have read, Love and Responsibility had the deepest and most profound effect on me.  St. JPII wrote it before he became pope, when he was still just Karol Wojtyla. Throw in the fact that he is polish as am I (my paternal grandfather was polish) and it is like our spiritual friendship was divinely inspired.  So on this feast that holds a special place in my heart, we celebrate by feasting on traditional Polish food that I grew up enjoying: pierogies and kielbasa.  We also pray this very special and beautiful prayer for marriage and the family by Pope Saint John Paul II himself.

~Amen~

May God bless your marriage and family life.  May we pray through the intercession of St John Paul II for the strengthening of all marriages, for as St. John Paul II himself once said:

If you have never made pirogies and kielbasa, they are oh so easy and delicious.
Here is a link: http://www.food.com/recipe/kielbasa-with-pierogies-caramelized-onions-493886
I don't make the sauce.  I just grill up my kielbasa and serve with ground mustard for dipping.  But either way it is sure to be delicious!!! Oh, and don't forget the sour cream for the pierogies!

I will leave you with this beautiful exchange between JPII and a dear mother friend of his.  It shows just how much love, respect, and understanding he had for us in our vocation.  Enjoy.  http://catholicmom.com/2015/10/07/a-pope-nails-parenthood-the-kingdom-of-irrationality
And a link to a printable of one of my favorite quotes on JPII about the family from the blog, Catholic All Year:
 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzINSs2IJfApemVSZFdVamkzN3c/view

Happy Feasting

 
 Pope St. John Paul II, Pray for Us!!!


Here is our family's feast in pictures:

Sautéing the onions in butter
before adding the pierogies

finished pierogies

My sweet helper grilling up the kielbasa

The table all set and ready
my kids couldn't wait to eat, so I made them duck down while I took the pic
(see their backs sticking up) LOL

all my favorite faces ready to FEAST!

7 Quick Takes on the Awesomeness of Large Family Life

I had so much fun with last week's 7QT link-up that I decided to come back for another round.  This week's theme is, "what blogs have you found through 7 quick takes?"  Well, if we are being honest, I didn't even know about 7QT or Conversion Diary until Kelly at This AIn't the Lyceum started linking up.  Kelly is a good friend and I was trying to be a good friend and support her blogging efforts when she first began, so I read as faithfully as I could.  The only blogs I knew of or followed were hers and Mary's over at Sometimes Martha, Always Mary because....well I knew these people in real life and was happy to support their endeavors.  But through Kelly, I found Conversion Dairy (awesome...cant believe I didn't know it existed), Carrots for Michaelmas, and Catholic All Year.  I still am only a "faithful" follower of Mary and Kelly because I am weird like that.  But when I am looking for a good read, or have extra time on my hands, I know I can hit up some of these other awesome blogs or go to the 7QT link up and find some great reads.  SO, thanks Kel, for opening up my world.  LOL
Now, on to my post for this week.... As I am  currently 4.5 months pregnant with my 7th child, this post was inspired by the questions and comments we inevitably get when people find out how many we children we have and CAN. NOT. BELIEVE we are adding yet another one to the mix!  So, without further adieu...

7 REASONS HAVING A LARGE FAMILY IS THE BEST:

7.  You can always find your car in the parking lot no matter how crowded it may be.  Even at the height of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas shopping season, you can spot your vehicle in no time.  

This might be a slight exaggeration,
but sometimes this is what it feels like I drive.

6.  Your stick figure family ALWAYS dominates any other stick figure family.

If you are really into this, Mom can be changed out from "preggo mom" to "skinny mom"
depending on what stage she happens to be in at that particular moment.

  5. You have more than enough people to pull off something like one of these for your annual Christmas card photo shoot:

I know you are loving this idea.
You're Welcome! ;)

4.  Who else in the world can get as much free labor to clean their house, mow their lawn, and clean out their car?  Between kids who are in trouble and ones who want something, we can always find someone do clean something.  That's why we are so wealthy and our homes immaculate, right?!?  LOL

Moms were the originators of creating incentives

3. Everywhere you go you are surrounded by "fans." Whether it is your children who can't bear to be apart from you for even one moment; screaming and crying lest they be separated from you...Or all the people who, when out and about, can't keep their "adoring gaze" off of you and your brood...Or the number of people who "can't contain their excitement" when they see you with your family, and "just have to" come and talk to you.....your popularity just can't be topped.

This is just what it feel like, right folks???

2. You see this and know that even though most people can't understand it, this is 100% the truth:

~Amen~

1. You get to bring this amount of joy and excitement to your children more often than most people.  It really is better than Christmas, folks.  There truly is no greater gift than a sibling.
http://www.babble.com/parenting/kids-find-out-theyre-getting-a-sibling-in-funny-mashup-video/

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

Today is the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.  She was a French nun who lived in 17th century.  It is to her, whom Jesus shared His Sacred Heart.  Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and began showing her how much He loves all of us.  He wanted her to spread devotion to his Sacred Heart.  Despite much trial and many rebukes, she did her best to spread the devotion and carry our Our Lord's wish.
There is so much to talk about when talking about the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  At it's simplest, the image shows us how His heart beats with love for us.  That image alone can be contemplated for an incalculable amount of time.  There are many other devotions and promises attached to the Sacred Heart.  You can learn more about those here: http://www.fisheaters.com/sh.html

In our house today, in honor of St. Margaret Mary, we will read a short biography of her life, study and discuss the image of the Sacred Heart, and try very hard to be kind to one another, trust each other in all situations, and compliment rather than mock or tear down since Margaret Mary suffered so much unkindness and so many lacked faith that Christ had truly appeared to her and given her His message of love.  We are also going to feast on French Toast (since Margaret Mary was from France) topped with heart-shaped strawberries to remind us of the love of our Lord's most Sacred Heart. (links and pictures below)

May God Bless your family and your domestic church. 

May you strive to love God more and live more deeply His truth in your own homes. 

Link to tutorial on how to make strawberry hearts:
http://www.californiastrawberries.com/in_the_kitchen/detail/2013/02/how_to_make_fresh_strawberry_hearts

Since we are a mostly clean-eating house, this is the french toast recipe we are using:

7 Quick Takes -7 Quick and Easy Eats and Treats to Celebrate October's Saints

I've been meaning to link up to 7 Quick Takes  with Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum for some time now, but haven't been able to get my act together.  First off I didn't know how to actually link up. Second, I am not blogging on any sort of regular schedule yet.  But, since Kelly is a good friend and she told me how to link up, I figured I would give it my best effort.  So, here we go, my first ever 7QT link-up:

7 Quick and Easy  Eats & Treats to Celebrate October's Awesome Line-up of Saints

We love living and celebrating the liturgical year at our house, and October is like a power-house month of awesome saints.  So this month I actually planned ahead and put everything down on paper to ensure that we would be prepared to carry out all the celebrating that I wanted to do.  I thought I would share the quick version with you guys.  You can hop on over to my blog if you want more details about the recipes or how we celebrate in more detail as each feast this month I did a full blog post on that saint and our celebrations.  

1. St. Therese of Lisieux (Oct. 1)- St. Therese Flower Cookies.  We just grab these cookies at the store, throw them (ok, set them out nicely) on a pretty platter and serve (usually with tea).
http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/ProductDetail.aspx?catID=736&prdID=112054

2. Feast of the Guardian Angels (Oct. 2)- Angel Shaped Pancakes with banana halos and whipped cream clouds 

3. St. Francis of Assisi (Oct. 4)- Animal Crackers.  Easy peasy.  We just grab a big bucket at BJ's and eat them while we read the story of St. Francis and the Wolf or watch the CCC movie on St Francis's life.  The hardest part is remembering to pick them up at the store ahead of time.  

4. Our Lady of the Rosary (Oct. 7) - 1 decade grape rosaries.  We string them up using dental floss, top with a pretzel cross, and then pull them off and eat them one at a time while we pray a decade together at snack time.  

5.  St. Theresa of Avila (Oct. 15)- We build fortresses like the fortress around the city of Avila where St. Theresa lived and talk about how we can build fortresses around our souls to protect them from sin.  And we make these easy empanadas: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/chicken-empanadas-recipe.html

My kids in their "fortress"

6.  St. Margaret Mary Alocoque (Oct. 16)- French Toast with heart-shaped strawberries.  French toast because she was of French heritage, and heart-shaped strawberries to help remind us of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which was revealed to St. Margaret Mary.  Here is a link to a tutorial on making the heart-shaped strawberries. You can make whatever french toast recipe tickles your fancy. 

http://www.californiastrawberries.com/in_the_kitchen/detail/2013/02/how_to_make_fresh_strawberry_hearts

7. St. Pope John Paul II (Oct. 22) - Since he was from Poland and I have Polish heritage, we make the traditional Polish dish of pirogies and kielbasa.  Here is a link to a quick and easy recipe.  http://www.food.com/recipe/kielbasa-with-pierogies-caramelized-onions-493886

We also pray this prayer for all married couples, since St. John Paul II taught so eloquently on marriage and family life.  

There you have it.  7 quick and easy ways to celebrate some great saints this month.  Happy Feasting!

St. Theresa of Avila Fortresses

I think I have mentioned before that I spent a semester of college abroad in the most breathtaking little town in the Austrian Alps.  We stayed in an old, Carthusian monastery and it was pretty much the best thing ever.  Here are the pics to prove it.

Here it is in all its' glory.
Could it be more beautiful, nestled in the mountains???

This picture is from the Advent Market.
The townspeople set up their carts and sell their wares in our courtyard
all throughout the Advent season.
We can buy brats, and gluvine, and all sorts of glorious treats.
It was magical.

If those pics aren't enough, we also were given three-day weekends every weekend so that we could travel.  We also had two 10-day trips.  One was with the school to Rome and Assisi.  The other one we could venture out on our own to wherever we could dream to (and afford) go.  It. was. Awesome!
Anyway....lest I brag any more, that is not really what this is what this post is about.  But without this experience, this post would most likely not exist.

Today is the feast of St. Theresa of Avila.  And on my 10-day excursion, I was blessed to visit the city of Avila.  Next to Assisi,  Avila was my favorite pilgrimage city.  Not because of the experience I had there per-say, but because the city itself was absolutely incredible.  It was built as a fortressed city to protect if from invasions back in the day (I'm not a history buff, so excuse my lack of dates and names of the bad guys) and it is still completely in tact!  I remember walking up the hill from the train station at dawn and being awe-struck by the turrets and walls surrounding the outside of the city.  I had pictured crumbling walls.  And these walls were far from crumbling.  They look like they were built yesterday.  Then I was able to go into the city (which still has cobblestone streets...which add to the ambiance of the whole thing.....it's like stepping into a medieval times novel) and celebrate Mass at the basilica of St. Theresa.  Especially in the misty morning, I felt transported walking those streets.  I could picture St. Theresa walking along them secretly going to visit her friend St. John of the Cross to tell him something important.

Walking these streets (and those in other cities), seeing where saints lived and died, touching the history of the Church is what really transformed my heart and brought about the depth of my conversion to Christ and His Church.  It became so much more real to me and showed me how it had stood the test of time through persecution after persecution.  It gave me courage to live and fight for God and the Faith.  It showed me that truly, "the gates of Hell would not prevail against it."

So, today as we read the saint of the day at prayer time, I pulled out my old scrapbook from my European adventure and showed my kids the pictures of my trip to Avila.  We talked about her life and the city and made her life more real to them.  Then I challenged them to build their own "Avila," their own fortressed city that they could fit into.  Bringing the lives of the saints to life for them.  Making their faith tangible.....it is my greatest prayer that these things will imprint their hearts and their minds and take deep root so that their love for God, His Church, and the Truth will blossom and grow until they one day gain Heaven.

I leave you with a few photos of my adventures in Avila and my children's version.  May God bless your day and your family.

A collection of pics of the walls of the city,
me posing like only a college kid can,
and the basilica of St. Theresa of Avila where we celebrated Mass.

The kids and their "Avila"
They had a blast building it and were very proud of the finished product.

Beautiful and wise words from today's saint


***Update:  After I posted this, it came to me just how perfect this activity was for starting a discussion comparing the fortress built around the city of Avila to the symbolic fortress we should be building around our souls to protect it from sin.  So at lunch, we talked about it and then compared each brick of their creation to what it could represent as a symbolic brick to keep our souls free from sin.  It ended up being a really deep and beautiful discussion.  Even the 2 and 4 year old joined in.  :)

**** If you are looking for a Spanish themed food to go with this feast day, here is a quick and easy empanada recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/chicken-empanadas-recipe.html

Easy Treats to Celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary

Tomorrow (October 7th) is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.  While brainstorming ideas on how to celebrate with my fam, I came up with this easy and super cute treat idea: one-decade grape rosary treats!!!

All you need is the following:

~grapes (red or green)

~dental floss

~a needle or paper clip (unfolded)

~peanut butter (or nut butter of your choosing)

~pretzel sticks or rods

Our completed one-decade grape rosary!
I would recommend pretzel rods for the cross, but I forgot them at the store last night.

Our floss "needle" paperclips.
I just tied the string to the end and we laced the grapes right up.
Easy peasy!!!

Break off a strand of the dental floss and tie one end to your needle or opened paper clip.  Lace through 10 grapes.  Cut the floss leaving a little extra string on both ends.  Break a pretzel rod into two pieces and using the peanut butter, glue together to form a cross.  Place the cross at the end of the strips (I didn't tie anything since they are just going to pull everything off to eat it.  Why make more work for yourself or your kids).

My bigger kids (7 and up) could do this themselves.  The 4 and 2 year old needed a little supervision and help.  Then, at snack time you can say a decade of the rosary....one grape at a time.  What a fun way to celebrate and incorporate praying the rosary (especially with little ones)!!!

Hope you enjoy!  

Happy feasting!!!!

Let's Celebrate the Guardian Angels

It has long been a practice of Christians that we each have been gifted with a guardian angel.  Throughout history angels have guided and protected human beings.  Angels delivered messages from God (Annunciation, twice to St. Joseph, Tobias, and more).  They have also protected people from danger and rescued them (St. Peter was freed and led out of prison by an angel).

Today is the feast of the Guardian Angels, added to the calendar of saints by Pope Paul V in 1608.  It is a comfort to know that we have the blessing of our own guardian angel walking through life's ups and downs with us, protecting and guiding us.  So today we celebrate them.

Our family invokes the protection of our guardian angels daily during our morning prayers.  Today we said the prayer more slowly and tried to focus on the words and truly appreciate the gift our guardian angels are to each and every one of us.

Below is the guardian angel prayer and a few pics of our celebratory lunch (shout out to Suzy Younger for the idea for the pancake angels).

Prayer:

Angel of God my guardian dear,

to whom God's love commits me here,

Ever this day be at my side

to light, to guard, to rule, to guide.

Amen

Everyone's guardian angel pancakes

Pancake angel on a cloud of whipped cream and a banana halo

We served these with a side of scrambled eggs and extra bananas to top.  The rest of the pancakes I made as regular pancakes.  I used a ziplock bag with a little hole snipped in the corner.  Next time I think I will bust out my cake decorating supplies for better control and accuracy.  But these were easy, great for a meatless Friday meal, and highly approved by all the kids.  Happy Feasting!!!

Celebrating Our Friends, the Saints...on the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux

Today is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, often known as, "The Little Flower."  She was my first "saint friend."  I wasn't always Catholic, you see.  I converted at the age of 17 at the request of my father, who had fallen away from the Church, and then found his way home again, and wanted to bring his whole family into the fullness of Truth.

When I first became Catholic I didn't understand all that it meant, and I still wasn't sure about the saints and Mary.  Not that I didn't think they were important in some way, but I didn't quite understand their roles.  Somewhere in my late teens, after I was in college, I started to delve deeper into the study of Catholicism and tried to really understand and own it for myself.   Once I did, I discovered the gift and beauty of the saints... people who have gone before us and lived life with all the struggles that we do (and often more), yet they loved God above all else and strove with their whole being to serve Him in this life.  They can help to teach us how to love and serve God better in our own lives.  They can pray for us from Heaven.  They are our friends and confidants....those people we look up to because we can see through their lives that they have a wisdom and understanding that we want to gain.

St. Therese of Lisieux was the first among these holy men and women that touched my heart.  She was the first saint that I felt I could understand and relate to.  She was simple.  And I often felt (and still feel) simple in the way that I know, love, and serve God.  Her love for God was great, but she wasn't a master scholar and she was able to teach me about God and loving Him in a way that I understood.  My love for her and all that she taught me (and still teaches me) about loving God was so strong that I took a pilgrimage to her home in Lisieux, France, bought a medal of her and had it blessed by Pope John Paul II (now Saint John Paul II), and said that I would name my first born daughter (if I were to be blessed with one) after her.

And here I am, more than 18 years later celebrating this beautiful woman and my daughter (Abigail Therese).  I still have the medal (which I wear regularly), and my daughter doesn't know it, but I will be presenting it to her on her First Holy Communion this May.  It will be emotional as that medal has been so near and dear to me, but I know she will treasure it as much as I have, and I pray that her love for St. Therese and for Our Lord will grow as she grows.

Why am I telling you all this?  Well, since today is the feast of St. Therese (and we Catholics love a good celebration) and Abigail has her as a namesake, we celebrate much like we would a birthday.  We want to honor the Saint for whom we have named our child and make our children realize just how important a gift our faith and the saints are.  On these feasts we like to make the celebration symbolic (another Catholic thing....we are all about symbols and making things more tangible).  So, for the past 9 days leading up to the feast we have been offering special prayers (called a novena) asking St. Therese to pray to Our Lord for Abigail and any other special intention we may have at this time.  Then today, it culminates with going to Mass and eating something special that is  somehow related to that saint's life.

My sweet girl is a sucker for a fancy tea party.  So I surprised her this year and went all out.  Here is our celebration in pictures.

My little beauty amidst the spread

"heavenly clouds" cupcakes
The icing on these carrot cake cupcakes (Abby's favorite) was perfect.
It was like a gift from above finding them at the grocery store. 

"flower finger sandwiches"
I thought (incorrectly) that I had a flower cookie cutter.  When I realized I did not, I used a knife and did my best.  We only got 3 actual flowers....the rest are just scraps. (reality....but now I know what I need to order for next year)

"rose cookies"
We have been buying these cookies for several years now (Pepperidge Farm thumbprint cookies).
The design on the outer rim coupled with the jelly filling is a cute and easy way to do flower cookies.

"Jesus kisses"
Hershey kisses with a quote from St. Therese about how she felt when she received Jesus in her First Holy Communion.

I needed something healthy, so I cut up veggies and added some hummus and ranch dip.
Then I referenced the "hard" and"bitter" little sacrifices and crosses St. Therese bore with joy and love for God. I used this as an opportunity to talk about any examples they remembered from any of the stories we have read about her life.

The whole crew!
I think what I love most about these feast days is how excited all the kids get to help put together the treats for the person being honored.  Everyone pitches in and enjoys serving and doting on whomever's feast day it may be.  Abby was sent to the basement with a sibling of her choosing and the rest of us worked hard to get everything set for her.  The older boys came up with making the name placards all themselves, saying, "Abby loves things extra fancy.  Let's make name cards for everyone's places."  They even used fancy handwriting and the scalloped-edged scissors.  No detail was spared.  <3

There you have it....how our family celebrates the feast of St. Therese and tries to live the liturgical year.  Maybe this can inspire you in your own celebrations.  Thanks for stopping by!  

St. Therese of Lisieux, Pray for us!!!