God's Will

The truth of God's love was shown on the cross of His beloved Son, Jesus. And the way to grow in our relationship with God in times of physical or mental stress is to strengthen ourselves by doing the things that God desires. It is a sign of great holiness when one is resigned in everything to the will of God. Everything that God wills is for our good. He knows how to console us when we least expect it. If anyone hurts you, look on him as someone of great value and, with the eyes of one who loves, see him as the person chosen by God to clothe you in holiness and in the patience, silence, and meekness of Jesus Christ. If you can learn to see God's will as a source of strength, taking every difficulty you go through as something which comes not just from circumstances but from the loving hand of God your creator, you will soon be speeding along the short road to holiness. The troubles we have in life, if we see them as part of God's loving plan and accept them as being what He wants for us, will actually help us to grow in knowledge and love of Him. Even when things are at their worst, keep your peace of heart and accept whatever God sends you as being for your good. God is your guide, your Father, your teacher, your husband. In everything that happens the best thing you can do is abandon yourself to His will. (St. Paul of the Cross)

Faith Folders for Catholics contest

If you have never tried lapbooking with your kids, now is your chance to receive a free lapbook kit! These are great fun! I have done them with my own children, with my Vacation Bible School kids, and with my classroom of 1st & 2nd graders. They are about my favorite project to do with kids! Enter here:
http://showerofroses.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-st-therese-little-flower-faith.html

Another Contest to Enter :o)

Win a great skirt from New Creation Apparel! Check out this blog post to find out how to enter! You can bet I am :o) Good luck!

http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/

Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

Trying to help you plan ahead :o) The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is September 14. Make cross cookies with your favorite sugar cookie or gingerbread cookie recipe. If you don't have a cross cookie cutter, just make your own cross shapes.

Check out these cool ideas:

I think I'll try this one with my 1st & 2nd graders at school:
http://catholicmemories.blogspot.com/2007/09/craft-for-exaltation-of-cross.html

http://www.christiancrafters.com/colorsofchrist.html

http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/09/cross-crafts-for-kids.html

Pray the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Mary (feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is Sept 15):
http://www.prayerbook.com/Chaplets/sschaple.htm

Happy Birthday Mary!

September 8th is the Blessed Mother's Birthday. Celebrate by having a birthday party for her...play birthday party games, bake & decorate a cake (with blue frosting of course!) & sing Happy Birthday to Mary, attend Mass, sing Marian hymns, pray the Rosary as a family. Try this craft while praying a decade of the Rosary with young children (you can vary the difficultly depending on the ages of your children): trace & cut out 10 flower petals, a center circle, a stem, and 2 leaves. While praying the Our Father, have your child glue the stem on to a piece of construction paper. Have your child glue on one flower petal for each Hail Mary as it is prayed. While praying the Glory Be, glue on a leaf. While praying the Fatima Decade prayer, glue on the other leaf. If your child is older, let them trace & cut the pieces as well as glue them while the prayers are being prayed. Then you have a lovely flower for Mary :o)

Fabulous Book!

I am reading a wonderful book during Adoration right now...Consoling the Heart of Jesus, A Do-It-Yourself Retreat, Inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius; by Michael E. Gaitley, MIC.

Fr. Benedict Groeschel has this to say about it, "This retreat, which is so well fitted into the busy life of the layperson, nonetheless includes all the essential parts of a genuine retreat of the Spiritual Exercises. Although focused on the Divine Mercy, it also includes the insights of St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Louis de Montfort. It is also influenced by the Venerable Fr. Lanteri, who brings his own intensity and devotion to the retreat. All of this should make a devout person at home and yet push the person on to higher levels of devotion and spirituality."

Danielle Bean relates this about the book, "In Consoling the Heart of Jesus, Michael Gaitley, MIC, makes Ignatian spirituality accessible to the rest of us. He has a true gift for moving even small souls closer to Christ. This book is a flexible retreat, a conversation with Christ, and a personal call to greater holiness. The voice of Christ in these pages is one that even this hopelessly distracted wife and mother of eight could hear and respond to. Reading it has been an enormous blessing to me, one that I treasure and will return to often. If you are a small soul, too, Jesus is speaking to you right now. Read this book - all at once or in small increments as your life allows - and find out what He has to say."

Br. James Curran, LBSF says this, "Remarkable. Beautiful. Simple. May the Lord fill the hearts of those who make this inspired retreat."

High praise indeed :o) It is available from Marian Press in Stockbridge, MA.

Don't forget the FREE family fun day in Omaha this Saturday, Sept. 4 at the Qwest Center, sponsored by the Pope Paul VI Institute. They are celebrating 25 years in Omaha...and I've been going there for 22 of those years! Amazing :o) Hope to see you there! More info can be found here: http://www.popepaulvi.com/celebrate-love-life2.htm

Beautiful Handmade Clay Bead Rosaries!!!

Check out these awesome, beautiful and meaningful Rosaries! They are made with handmade clay beads...so lovely & creative! http://www.clayrosaries.com/. There is a contest going on right now where you can win one of these Rosaries. Check out the instructions at one of my favorite blogs: http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/08/clay-rosary-giveaway.html. While you're there be sure to check out her great posts on activities, crafts, and food for different saints and seasons of the Liturgical Year. I use her ideas a lot :o) Thanks Catholic Icing!

Natural Family Planning Week is July 25-31

Discover what every couple needs to know...what every woman has a right to know...Creighton Model Fertility Care System. Go green...totally organic! No side effects. Maintain your own procreative & gynecologic health. Achieve or avoid pregnancy with better than 96.8% accuracy. Real solutions for real problems: infertility, menstrual cramps, PMS, ovarian cysts, abnormal bleeding, miscarriage, postpartum depression & many others.

For more information about Fertility Care:
http://www.creightonmodel.com/

Read couples stories here:
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp/nfpweek/couples.shtml

For articles about NFP & Fertility Care:
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp/nfpweek/articles.shtml

Blessings!

Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

The Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is on Friday. On July 16, 1251, Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock and gave him the Brown Scapular. Mary told him, "Whoever dies clothed in this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire." She also said, "Wear it devoutly and perseveringly, it is my garment. To be clothed in it means you are continually thinking of me, and I in turn, am always thinking of you and helpin you to secure eternal life." Mary told St. Dominic, "One day, through the Rosry and Scapular, I will save the world." What wonderful promises from our Blessed Mother!

This recipe is from "Building the Family Cookbook" by, Suzanne Fowler. It is named for OL of Mt. Carmel because oranges and cinnamon are found in the area of Mount Carmel itself.

OL of Mt. Carmel Orange Ring

1/2 c orange marmelade
2 T chopped walnuts
1 c brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
2 (12 oz) cans refrigerated buttermilk flaky biscuits
1/2 c butter, melted

Heat oven to 350. Grease 12 cup bundt pan. Spoon the marmelade into the bottom of the bundt pan & sprinkle with walnuts. In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. Separate the biscuits & dip each one in the melted butter and then in the sugar mixture. Stand the biscuits on edge in the greased pan, spacing evenly. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture & drizzle with remaining butter. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for a few minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Hot topping may spill out the sidese, so be careful.

Here are some other yummy treats:
http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/search?q=brown+scapular&updated-max=2010-07-09T01%3A00%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=20

You can find some great coloring sheets here:
http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/07/our-lady-of-mt-carmel-coloring-sheets.html

And some crafts ideas here:
http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/07/catholic-scapular-crafts-diys.html

Catholic Icing is a great blog! There are always tons of cool ideas there. It is one of my favorites. God bless!

Feast of Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha

Today is the feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. You can find out more about her here: http://saints.sqpn.com/blessed-kateri-tekakwitha/. She was a member of the Turtle Clan, so have your children make a turtle using a paper plate or a circle of green construction paper. Cut out shapes for the shell as well as the legs & head. Simple & easy :o) God bless!

July - Month of the Precious Blood of Jesus

July is the Month of the Precious Blood of Jesus. Each month has a dedication & I will try to post some activities for each month. My files are all at school, so in the summer those activities will usually be limited to what's in my head (not much! LOL) and what I have found online. I have always been a little jealous of the people who have a rich heritage & hold onto it & have traditions they still practice...and one day I realized I DO have that heritage...my Catholic faith! One way we can pass that faith on to our children and make them LOVE it is to celebrate the liturgical seasons of the Church year. You can find out more about the Liturgical Seasons here: http://www.wf-f.org/LiturgicalCalendar-info.html and here: http://thankevann.com/homeschoolgoodies/?page_id=48

And now on to the Month of the Precious Blood...

The picture is one I took of the heart my niece made using a heart mold to make a heart out of Jello and then added drops of blood, also with Jello. You could also make finger jello & cut out hearts with a cookie cutter or knife and use the leftover pieces in the pan to make drops of blood.

Learn to draw a chalice and grapes:

http://www.chcweb.com/catalog/files/htdpb.pdf

Sacred Heart Color Sheet:

http://www.sjtbre.org/docs/Sacred%20Heart.pdf

Here is a beautiful prayer, as you can see they put it on a drop-shaped piece of red cardstock:

http://starrymantle.blogspot.com/2008/07/july-month-of-precious-blood.html

Have fun!

Modesty

ST. BERNARD
"How beautiful then is modesty and what a gem among virtues it is."

Hello!

I had (well still do have actually) a spaceslive blog, but it seems that google blogger is more popular...so I decided to make a change. It will probably take me a little while to get everything looking how I want it, so please bear with me. I enjoy blogging & reading other people's blogs. I find SO many good ideas for teachign & crafts on blogs, as well as recipes & websites & lots of other great stuff! I hope you will visit often & would love to have some followers too :o)

You will find a variety of thigns on my blog once I get going. I love to share things about my faith, the saints, quotations, etc. as well as recipes, modesty resources, crafts & activities and much more!

Blessings to you! Ladybug