"A Wink and a Smile"

{k} and Bishop Anthony Taylor ... the mass was beautiful! {K} and her sponsor, Mrs. F. The poor woman had a huge cast on her right hand (neatly hidden here) . After mass and pictures, we headed out to dinner as a family (just immediate family) . My 13.5 looks quite the teenager ... striking that oh so familiar "teenage pose" God Bless {KE} "Joan of Arc"

I'm off to mass with my bunch. I heard this song this morning and it made me think of Mary ...

Even though she doesn't go to a Catholic school, she often wears her Marian bracelet, her Purity Ring, and a Cross around her neck. They aren't just accessories. She is 14 and loves her Catholic faith. She even called up The Catholic's Next Door XM radio program one time. She is my altar serving, faith loving, Catholic Youth Group attendee who never misses mass. She volunteers every Tuesday after school helping to tutor (small children) reading with a program called Building Bright Futures at our Church. She is not like the 14 year old girl that I was. I am SO blessed to have her in my life !

I'm not sure a little girl can look any prettier than on the day of her First Communion. This 7 year old girl was just beaming with JOY. Hopefully she will always remember this day ...

{b}'s First Reconciliation took place a few weeks back, but somehow I forgot to mention it. Just the two of us went to Church for this wonderful sacrament. I'm so proud of her ;)

As much as my own mother did what she thought was enough with teaching me the Catholic faith, I'm not sure there was much of any emphasis placed on my Catholic call to political responsibility. In fact, I don't think I even thought much of it until a few years ago. The mid 70's to the mid 80's were the years I was influenced by my faith. Unfortunately I don't think they were strong years. I only went to Catholic school for part of 1st grade before I moved to another state and went to public school. My religious education was called CCD and it was watered down ... weak! Of course this is MY experience and maybe there were plenty of good religious programs out there, but it wasn't part of my upbringing. As a parent myself I really do try my best to know what my children are learning ... in school and in our parish religion program. Of course I know what I teach to my homeschoolers ;) Thinking back to years ago I don't recall my mom really KNOWING AL...

I've been wanting to share this little article that I received in the mail. I don't subscribe to it, but it is a flyer called "At Home with our Faith" . I was particularly taken by this article because I felt like it spoke to Christians ... all of them and not just Catholics like myself. Our family is a busy one ... 7 in all. Some nights we eat all together, but there are nights that a few of us eat and then the rest stagger in. I have many swimmers that seem to arrive at the 6:45-7:15pm time and those others get hungry. Most nights I *try* to let us all eat together. It just feels better. However, even if we are all together, the meal itself is often not perfect. There are some that will complain ... don't like this, wrong drink, etc. Not everyone has the same taste, but I am one of those moms who makes just ONE MEAL and that is it! Even though our meals may not be perfect, we are receiving nourishment and most of the time we are together. So it is w...

St. Monica Patron of Lapsed Catholics “God of mercy, comfort of those in sorrow, the tears of St. Monica moved you to convert her son, St. Augustine, to the faith of Christ. By their prayers, help us to turn from our sins and to find your loving forgiveness.” — St. Anthony Messenger Monica is a model of patience. Her long years of prayer, coupled with a strong, well-disciplined character, finally led to the conversion of her hot-tempered husband, her cantankerous mother-in-law and her brilliant but wayward son, Augustine. Patron Saint of: Alcoholics Married women Mothers I can recall a particular blog mommy who told me to pray to St. Monica for the conversion of my husband. Of course I did, but thankfully my prayers did not take nearly as long as they did for St. Monica ... certainly a very patient woman.

I had so much JOY knowing that my husband was coming into The CATHOLIC CHURCH .  It really is an amazing feeling to be married to someone who believes what you believe.  I know that there was a time in my life that I just thought love was enough.  Of course it does mean a lot, but the connectedness (is that even a word?) is so, SO much greater when there is a common faith joining two lovers together. Skipping to this morning ... I heard a song on the radio (XM- THE PULSE) and the singers/songwriters of this song were talking about the meaning of this song ... how it really is about FAITH.   It made me think that we're all lost without HIM.  I'm so glad that my husband knows that.

H/T to Pretty in Pink

I feel like one of those adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons ... "mwa, mwa, mwa, mwa ...." Of course the children living here think I speak a foreign language, but even the students that I teach in Sunday school just don't seem to hear me. Yesterday was Epiphany Sunday.  I started off the lesson with a discussion about the meaning of epiphany, why we celebrate it, and we even did a small craft.  I then went onto our regular lesson ... more that they didn't really pay attention to.  No one seemed to be able to do the review questions at the end. The big kicker ... so embarrassing to me, was when one of our Deacons came to our classroom to do a blessing.  He asked about 4 questions and only one child answered the very last one.  I really looked like the teacher who didn't prepare her students (argh). HELLLOOOOOOOOOOO ... how come no one seems to hear what I have to say? This whole religious education thing is starting to get me down.  Students just show up occasio...

I notice that there is nothing more than school, basketball practice, and swim team. Somehow that just doesn't seem right.  Already today I felt like I had to be somewhere else ... school function, appointments, meeting ... something. I'm so thankful for this working computer and my great little calendar.  I know that my head is attached to my body (or so it looks to be), but I really do need to be reminded by those pop ups on my computer. *Not officially on my go to place for the week (not sure why it wasn't put there) is today's HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION.  I will head to mass at noon for the Feast of Immaculate Conception .  This day is one that some people (even myself at one time) get confused.  It is not the celebration of the conception of Christ.  That seems rather silly since in just 17 days, we have CHRISTMAS.  NO, today is actually the celebration of the conception of MARY  in the womb of Saint Anne.  So CATHOLICS ... go to mass ;) **ALSO, since I just happened ...

ADVENT CONSPIRACY HT to Greg and Jennifer

I got into my car this morning and noticed that my saved XM stations were no longer the same. When I arrived home later I checked online and noted that XM/SIRIUS  have now been combined as of today.  YAY!!!! I can now listen to The CATHOLIC CHANNEL  , but more importantly I can hear GREG AND JENNIFER   more often than their Rosary Army podcast. COOL!

I haven't really said too much about PRE ... otherwise known as Parish Religious Education.  I've been teaching for 5 weeks now and so far I've been pretty happy with the way it is going.  The biggest challenge is that my class of 13 never is consistently present.  About 5 of the children have been at every class (and on time), while all the other students have missed 3-4 classes.   It makes me a little sad to think that the parents don't really put their children's spiritual education "up there".  I do think that a few of the children come from broken homes where they alternate weekends with a parent.  In this case I try to encourage them to let me know that they won't be around and can work on the lesson at home.  UNFORTUNATELY no one has really taken me up on this well spoken of suggestion.  I am trying to get everyone's email address so that I don't have to rely on getting a handout to parents ... one that may never be seen. Last year was t...

I never thought I would hear that from my 3 year old. Today she was riding on the shoulders of my FIL (who is visiting for the first time in nearly 2 years). Little {c} asked if Poppie Steve lived with Grandma Gerry (my mom). He said no ... he lives with Grandma Caryl (my husband's mother). They went on to talk about how Grandma G is mommy's mom and Grandma C is daddy's mom. My 3 year old had the hardest time understanding this (because we all know that parents don't really have parents), but she was certain of this and told my FIL that "Mary is the REAL mom and God is our FATHER". Pretty soon they were talking religion. I guess she listens a little at church nursery and at home ;)

The Catholics Next Door I'm a big fan of The Rosary Army and this couple has made the big time ... from podcasting to their very own radio show on the Catholic Channel of Sirius radio. PRETTY COOL!!!! *I do have XM radio which was supposed to have merged with Sirius. When will I get the combined channels???? Anyone ...

For the last 4 years I find I am a little nutty the 2 weeks leading up to school. Last year may have been a little calmer ... only 2 going to "school" and the other 2 were homeschooled. I had a lot less supplies to gather, but then I did feel the first time pressure of lesson planning. Some people have asked about our changes and I am not sure I can fully articulate our reasons for sending all the girls back to "school". I'll give it a try though. A little history ... We moved to our current state back in '05. In the years prior, they (I guess it was only the oldest 2) went to public school. We had a great public school that I did really like. Aside from {e}'s 4th grade teacher, I was pretty happy with the teachers and the school atmosphere. When we moved here, we were warned of the terrible public schools and in our incredible state of being hurried (finding out that we are moving halfway across the country and actually doing it within a 7 week t...

Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima This morning I woke up early with a strong desire to find a Mary statuary for my mantle. For a while now I have wanted one, but I am terrible at making decisions when it comes to online (or any) shopping. I looked and looked, and was drawn to Our Lady of Fatima. After purchasing it , I stopped over at Margarets . At first I thought ... "what a coincidence!", but then a little later I looked over at the girl's daily planners and saw what today was. I think we will say The Rosary today.