Walking The Path To My Calvary

I reach up, holding this plank with shaky hands, sweat pouring down my forehead.  With weak knees, I stumble over this barren earth losing my balance when stepping on the smallest of pebbles.  Down I crash, hitting the ground.  Hard.  This hefty timber comes tumbling down upon me and there I lay, barely breathing under it's great weight.  Silence.  Complete darkness.  I am all alone.  This is the time I question my own strength.  Can I go on?  Is it even worth it?  Why do I try?  And then, just as sunshine rises over the horizon and night is met with all the promise of a new day, the weight is lifted and the darkness fades.  In it's stead, staring back at me, I see the kindest, most compassionate eyes, filled with tears, filled with my pain.  He reaches out his hand to me and helps me up.  I reposition my substantial load, equally distributing it's weight across my back.  I check my balance before I begin to walk.  Walk again.  It's then that I look up for the first time to see whom I should thank for rescuing me.  Who was this hero?  And there He stands, bent forward, sweat and blood running down His face.  But He stands.  He does not waiver.  He does not stumble.  He stands.  He stands for me.  He embraces His tremendous cross, such a weight I cannot even fathom carrying.  I look at the small bundle of wood I am supposed to lug on my back and realize how small my cross has become.  That large plank, the great weight I was suffocating under, is no longer there.  It has been replaced by a much smaller version.  My little cross.  I look to my Lord and see His eyes pleading for me to pick it up and take my little cross.  So I do.  I fling it on my back and together we journey along this path.  I still feel it's weight on my body, trying to push me down.  I still feel the grief, despair and sadness that sits heavily upon me.  Yet, I know, this road that I travel is not one I travel alone.  I can carry on, I can continue, because He has taken on my burdens and relieved me of the impossible.  So with joy and tremendous effort, I take my next step.

I had such grand ideas of the Lenten journey I'd take this year.  How my heart would be transformed!  How close I would become to my Jesus!  Yet, the Father had other plans for me.  This entire season has been spent at doctors offices, urgent care centers, and emergency rooms.  Fighting colds and banishing fevers has been the plight of my poor children for most of the month of February.  But the boys finally kicked their cold and things began to look up.  Spring was coming and winter would be gone soon enough.  We could get through this, right?

Up until a week ago, I felt we were coming out of the haze sickness leaves over a household, when it was my turn for the ER visit.  Last week, my husband and I suffered our third miscarriage.  The third baby I will never get to hold against my skin, nurse, bathe, or smell that newborn baby smell.  The third child I'll never watch grow up.  The third adult I'll never send to college or see get married.  Therefore, my cross became too great, much too great for me or my husband to carry alone.  We were stumbling and falling beneath it's weight.  And if I'm being completely honest, there were moments when I didn't want to get back up again.  I didn't want to take on this cross, to carry this grief, this pain, this loss.  I didn't want to go through this AGAIN.  Yet, God the Father knew how difficult this would be for us and in His great goodness and generosity, He sent us beautiful mercies along the way.  The best part was that He made me aware of these mercies when they were happening and the consolation of knowing He was with us, helped us both to keep going and to get out of bed in each morning.

Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of times I felt alone, abandoned even.  If anyone has ever experienced a miscarriage at the ER, you know how matter-of-fact these things are taken and how little if any care or sympathy is expressed.  During my examinations, while alone with numerous emotionless medical personnel, I was wondering, just as my Jesus had on Calvary, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?".  Intellectually I knew God was there.  My Blessed Mother was there, holding me, stroking my hair.  I knew it, but I couldn't feel it.  The emptiness!  The great nothingness!  It's a darkness I do not wish upon my worst enemies.  This is the cross I had fallen beneath.  It's a cross I must carry every day and one I am trying desperately to carry well.

You know, it's funny, because life actually goes on.  The earth has the nerve to rotate around the sun and time has the gall to march on.  In spite of my heartache, the world continues to move.  How cruel and yet how satisfying to know some things never change.  To know this great tragedy of ours will not become the "be all and end all" and life will go on, is both terrifying and reassuring at the same time.  Am I still stumbling over the little pebbles of life?  You better believe it.  Do I fall sometimes thinking I can't or don't want to get up?  It's part of the process, a process I know all too well.  But do I know my Lord, Jesus, has taken the most burdensome parts of my cross upon His back?  Do I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that this Lent, I walk this path to my Calvary in the greatest company?  Oh, praise God for this knowledge!  Praise God for this truth!  I do not walk this path alone.  It gives me joy, no matter how difficult it may be, to suffer alongside my Jesus and if I must suffer, let me, Lord, suffer well with You, for the greatest good of all souls!

  

Advent 2015 Week 2: Feast Day Fun!

Well we've made it through week two with a little bit of sickness to boot us into week three but at least I'm getting this post up.  If you missed our Advent fun in Week 1 just click on the link to hear all about it.

This is the Advent chaos that's been going on in our household this week :

St. Nicholas Feast Day

We opened week 2 of Advent with the feast day of Saint Nicholas which is also the feast day of my oldest child. So we spent the day watching a Saint Nicholas movie from CCC of America titled Nicholas: the boy who became Santa, reading about Saint Nicholas and how he fits in this time of celebration of Baby Jesus, and of course enjoying the goodies that Saint Nicholas brought us and our shoes. I also made my son this Saint Nicholas peg doll for his special feast day.

Immaculate Conception

December 8th we celebrated the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother. With this coloring picture from Catholic Icing, I explained to my kids how Mary was born to St. Anne free from original sin.  To honor our Blessed Mother, we all wore blue.  And we met up with two other Catholic families and colored this picture from Catholic Icing (grab your copy at this link).

San Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe (Feast days Dec. 9th and Dec. 12th)

This is my oldest's "favorite Mary". Ha!  So we go big or go home for these feasts!  First we watched the CCC of America's San Juan Diego video, followed by coloring an Our Lady of Guadalupe coloring sheet you can get at Catholic Playground (grab it at this link). We cut out and taped this picture to some sheets of packing paper (last year we used a brown paper grocery bag) we still had in our house, cut out and whole for the head and voila', we have a tilma for the kids to wear!  

We also have an ornament of Our Lady of Guadalupe my husband found last year on clearance at a Hallmark store.  We placed it on our Jesse Tree as a daily reminder of this amazing miracle, that the Immacute Conception was about to bring the Word Incarnate into the world.  What a beautiful Advent celebration we have two weeks before Christmas!   Hanging the ornament in our living area was a great reminder to us all to say a quick prayer random times of day to Our Lady.  

Blue Knights meeting:

My oldest is part of a Blue Knights Boy's Club in which my husband,  being the good dad he is, is the leader. This week was their monthly meeting and they learned about the virtue "Fear of the Lord", which was a hard one for me as a child to really understand.  But my husband explained that just like parents need to sometimes discipline children when they make poor choices, so does our loving Father in Heaven.   My husband explained that Our Lord will do everything in His power to keep us close to Him, safe from evil and sometimes those things may feel like punishments but they are permitted out of love for us. As a mother, I totally get "Fear of the Lord" now and pray my children will always fear upsetting or hurting Our Lord enough that it will keep them on a straighter path than I have trod. Here's a picture of the delicious snack I made for the kids. I didn't have any purple sprinkles for Advent, so Christmas colors it was. 

Still going strong:

Our Jesse Tree Ornaments, Advent Calendar and Sacrifice Manger are still going strong here in this house.  As you can see from the above picture, my little Bean, loves the tree. Some days we do better than others and sometimes we miss a day and have to catch up on our Jesse Tree ornaments but it's still been so much fun seeing my son internalize more and more of these bible stories I've been reading him over the past few years!

And finally, our family dinners around the Advent wreath have been such a blessing.  My family is enjoying it so much, it usually is listed as one of our daily "Three Favorite Things" (post coming for more information on this one) for one family member or another each day.

How is your Advent season coming along?  Have any other great ideas to share?

I'll see you back here next week for our weekly Advent round-up!

Many Blessings to you and yours this Advent Season,

Advent 2015 Week 1: Peace

Ok we shall see if 1) I can keep the weekly Advent updates coming and 2) if I can effectively pace myself for all the festivities.  Only with God's grace will this happen for sure.

So here's the Advent chaos that's been going on in our household this week:

Advent Calendars
Everyone needs an Advent calendar,  a way to mark off our days of anxiously waiting for the coming of our Lord. This one I purchased from the National Shrine of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes a few weeks ago. Sorry, they don't mail products.  I asked. :( Anyway, I just love this calendar! Each day, one of my children chooses another object or character to add to the Nativity scene. Our Blessed Mother will be coming on December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and Baby Jesus,  well He comes on the last day of course! :)

Sacrifice Manger
I didn't come up with this idea, just liked it and decided to pass it on to my children. As a way to teach them, Advent is also a time to grow in holiness, we made this little manger out of paper. I used yarn I had in the house for hay, and cut up tons of pieces. Each time someone in the family does a good deed without being asked, acts kindly to another or loves as Jesus loves, he/she is permitted to add a piece of "hay" to the manger. By Christmas day, hopefully the manger will be full of enough soft hay for Baby Jesus' arrival. My 5 year old is REALLY into this one!

Jesse Tree
What a great way to learn the history of Jesus from bible stories beginning with Adam and Eve! I do not believe in reinventing the wheel so I used a Christmas tree that I had since my college days and put it up in our living room area. I explain to my children that this is the Jesse Tree. Each day we watch the video from Holy Heroes and color one of the Jesse Tree Ornaments that they provide free of charge from their website. You just need to register for their Advent adventure and you too could have these Jesse Tree Ornaments available to you. Everyday I'm asked "Mom what's the ornament for today?". It's a great way to encourage Bible reading as a family!

Advent Wreath
If you cannot do anything else during the Advent season, sitting down at the table together as a family around the Advent wreath is a must! Each evening for dinner we will sit around the Advent wreath light candles while singing a verse or two of O come, O come Emmanuel and my husband, being the spiritual leader in our family (more on that to come in another post), will read a very short passage from Isaiah regarding the prophecy of the coming of Jesus. Of course my children are still very little so we do have to explain what the passage means. Yet, we feel it's a nice way of introducing the prophecy of Jesus slowly but surely within this Advent season. The wonderful family time and the grace we receive at family dinners is always astounding and I encourage every family if you can do this even once a week to do it, as it's so very important for children.

So that's what we have going on during our first week of Advent. Next week hopefully I'll give you an update on what we have been doing for week 2 so stay tuned.

Blessings to you and yours,

Mother's Day 2015: A Tribute to My Own Mother!

How wonderful is it that during the month of May we celebrate our earthly mothers alongside our heavenly mother?!  Now that I am a mother myself, I have a different understanding of what it means to be a mother, the daily, infinite number of sacrifices a mother makes, and the number of times a day a mother holds her tongue.  Yes Mother, I know this will come as a shock to you, but I do actually hold my tongue...sometimes.  Ha!

As a mother, I now understand what it means when moms say "I can't afford to be sick" or "There is no such thing as a day off."  I know how necessary it is to be organized, to have a calendar of events, to know work schedules and plan around big events.  I know what it means to bake a birthday cake after the kids go to bed and frost it at 10 pm.  I know what it's like hiding Christmas presents and secretly spending all night wrapping them while they snooze soundly in the next room.  I know what it means to check on the kids before I head to bed and to run into their rooms at night when they cry out or scream.  I know what it means to rock babies to sleep in my arms, only to have them wake up screaming when I try to put them down.  I know what it means to stay up all night cuddling a sick baby on the couch just to have to stay awake the next day to take care of another child.  I know what it means, to sob on the other side of the door while the baby is trying to cry himself to sleep.  I know what it means to make sure everyone is fed and bathed, all the clothes are washed, folded, put away, the dishes cleaned up after dinner, the ironing done (and you KNOW how I dislike ironing!), and the grocery shopping complete.  I know what it means to plan our weekly and monthly meals in the most economical way possible. I know what it means to try and sneak leftovers and veggies into meals then try to trick the kids (or in my case my husband) into eating them.  I know what it's like to be so tired after a day with the kids, that my eyes are closed the moment my head hits the pillow.  I know what it means when moms say "Your body is no longer yours".  I know what it's like to NEVER have PRIVACY again! Ha!!!!  I know what it's like to hear "mom" hundreds of times a day and I know what it means to time manage! I know what it feels like when my child tells me "I'm mean" or that he doesn't like me.  I know how awful it feels when my child is ungrateful for gifts or sacrifices I make, and I now know how small one can possibly feel when my child recalls all of my faults.  I know the worry moms have over their children's futures and the doubts we have in our own parenting skills.  I know what it's like to question all the decisions I am making for my children.  I know what it means to "get out of bed" for my children on those days when all I want to do is sleep.  All of these things I now know.

What I can't figure out, Mom, is how you did this for eight children and countless grandchildren, with little or no money for the last (almost) 40 years, all while staying with the same man and showing us what it means to honor our marriage vows?!  You may not have been the most emotionally accessible mother or the most affectionate.  You still have problems with saying those three crazy words "I love you" (gasp!) but then again, that's not your love language.  You show love by serving others and I know the life of service you have lived and continue to live today.  I cannot image the number of times one of us has disappointed you or the number of times we were ungrateful for you and to you.  I do not want to imagine the many times a day you thought about "running away from it all" or how many times you asked God if this was all there was to life.  And I can never imagine all the sacrifices you have made for each and every one of us.

So for all that is often left unsaid, for all that you did and still do that goes unnoticed, I (pathetically) say the only two words I can...Thank you!  Thank you, mom for all that I know you have done and all that I'll never know or understand.  Thanks for being consistent and for being you!  God blessed this crazy family with you as the mother and I hope one day you will know what a blessing you have been to us.  I hope one day you know how your humility, generosity, perseverance and quite strength mirrors our Blessed Mother's and that through this life of service our Lord is "well pleased" with you (He would just like you to say "hi" every once in a while.  He misses you, ya know.)!!!  And since I have NO problems with those simple words, let me just add...

..."I love you, mom"! 

Happy Mother's Day 2015! 

Your favorite daughter (in my very "humble" opinion...wink, wink),

Celebrating Mary with 10 FREE Children's Activities

It's May, the month to celebrate our Blessed Mother!  In an effort to teach my own children about the beautiful, perfectly humble, perfectly serving, perfectly compassionate mother of Christ, I came up with this simple list of activities.

1. Coloring pages of Mary: You can find a number of beautiful coloring pages of our Blessed Lady here.

2.  "Many Titles of Mary" Memory game:  I found this beautiful pinterest board and this one with so many wonderful pictures of our Blessed Mother with her many titles.  Simply copy and paste the pictures of your choice into a powerpoint document, keeping the pictures small enough to play memory.  Print out two copies of the page and voila', you have a memory game for the various titles of our Blessed Mother.  Remember to discuss the symbolism behind each of these pictures (you can look these up on the internet with a quick easy search if needed).

Here's an example of our memory game for you.  I do not have permission to distribute these pictures from the internet so I can only share our example with you.  I hope this helps. I chose 8 different pictures, including some of the most well known pictures of Mary as well as a few unknown to my son.  His favorite is Our Lady of Guadalupe so I had to add that one! :)

3.  Explain how Mary's power of Satan: To me, this is the MOST important activity you could do with your children this May. Here you will find the theological explanation of Mary's immaculate conception (i.e. no original sin) and her power over the devil written by St. John Paul II.  This is something you as a parent should read prior to presenting this information to your children.  Have your children look up each of the bible verses referred to in this work and explain what they mean.  This will be a GREAT way to explain why we, as Catholics, are devout to Mary and why we pray for her intercession.  Also it's a fantastic reminder for us as adults! ;)

4.  Tradition of the Origin of the Rosary:  Legend has it that St. Dominic shared the devotion of the rosary after seeing a vision of Mary.  Of course this is but a legend and is suspect, we do know he preached devotion to the Blessed Mother via the rosary.  Read more about the origins of the rosary here and find a coloring page here!

Why is it important for our children to learn about the origin of the rosary if we don't really know where it came from, you ask.  I promise you, there will be a time in your child's life where someone will say, "Why do you pray to Mary?" or "Why do you pray the rosary?" and your child will be able to say that this tradition of prayer took hundreds of years to develop into the beautiful prayer it is today.

5.  Compose a Prayer to Mary:  Either in writing or verbally, your child can compose their own prayer to Mary and place on your family's alter or in front of a picture of the Blessed Mother.  My child can't talk yet?  No problem, have them draw or color a picture of our holy Mother and give that to our Blessed Lady.  How this simple act will fill her heart with joy!

6.   Say a family Rosary:  When explaining each mystery ask your children how they think Mary felt.

7.  Dissect the "Hail Mary":  Use this page  or any other Hail Mary printable and take apart each section of the Hail Mary.  Show your children where in Luke's gospel many of these words come from and why we say them today.  Discuss the Annunciation!

8.   Read about Our Lady's Most Famous Apparitions:

      a. Our Lady of Lourdes:  Here is a very good account of the story of Our Lady of Lourdes.  Be sure to discuss St. Bernadette's life and how her body is incorrupt and can still be seen today!

      b. Our Lady of Fatima:  Here you can find the full story of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima to the three shepherd children.  Remember to note the political unrest and the fact that WWI was taking place, and within 13 months of this apparition, the war was over!  This shows the amazing work of our Blessed Mother and why our devotion to her is so important!

      c.  How about some "not-so-famous" apparitions?:  Looking for some Marian apparitions that are not as well known yet still approved by Mother Church? Check out this link!  You didn't know there have been so many did you? Don't worry. I was pleasantly surprised as well!

9.  Decorate your alter cloth:  Grab a cheap white sheet and use markers, glitter glue or fabric paint and have your children decorate it with beautiful symbols of Our Blessed Mother.  Once dry, you can hand it on your family alter for the month of May.

10.  Mary diorama:  You can use any of the Mary coloring pictures above and a box of any kind (we prefer tissue boxes in this house b/c we always have them, but shoe boxes or even postal boxes will work as well) and make a beautiful Mary diorama.  Place it on your family alter or in your child's room so he/she can say special prayers to Mary this month.

Parents: Washing the Feet of Others!

Happy Holy Triduum, 2015!

I was searching for a picture I could share with you without violating copyright and I found this beautiful picture on Google images (labeled for reuse and reuse with modification).  Isn't it just beautiful?!

The reason it jumped out at me from the number of other pictures I could have used is that upon a quick first glance, to me, Jesus reminded me of a woman wearing an apron.  Not because He looks like a woman, but because of how nurturing this action is.

It made me think of how often we as mothers (and fathers for those of you reading this) are washing the feet of our children, literally and figuratively.  How often we are cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, folding, organizing, teaching, mentoring, preparing, etc. for our families!  How many times a day we are thinking of ways to keep our houses going.  How many times we write those grocery lists, to do lists, up date calendars, make appointments, etc.  And every time, EVERY SINGLE TIME we do these actions for our family members we are being Jesus to them.  We are washing their feet!  

Oh how this thought lightened my heart!  To know that just through my daily hum drum actions I too can be Jesus to others?  I too can give, can provide a self-sacrifice for others?  I too can be humble just like our Lord, and our Blessed Mother who was the ultimate model of humility?  What a feeling!

So I just wanted to take a moment today, on Holy Thursday to say "thank you" to all the mothers and fathers our there "washing the feet" of their families. Thank you for being Jesus to others!

May you have a very blessed and holy, Holy Thursday!

Blessings to you and yours,

Using the "Sacred Minutes" this Lent!

It's Wednesday of Holy Week and I'm attempting to mentally and spiritually prepare myself to participate in the Holy Triduum.  However, with a 6 month old constantly crying for my attention (he seems to be obsessed with his mama), a 4 year old continually wanting attention, time, food, snacks and playtime with mom, and a house still full of boxes to unpack from our recent move, it can be very hard to find time to prepare the way I'd like. This is really my favorite time of year spiritually.  Yet, sometimes it seems that life throws all of it's distractions at me right at the time I most want to meditate and sit in the presence of our Lord.  I guess I could do one of two things: 1) give up trying to pray and meditate in frustration and just "get through each day" or 2) I can see these distractions as my participation of Christ's passion by carrying my own daily cross and choose to use the "sacred minutes".

What? You've never heard of the "sacred minutes"?  Well since I believe I coined the phrase, I'm not surprised.  The "sacred minutes" are what I like to call the 2 or 3 minutes of silence (or relative quite) I may get several times a day when Pickle may be playing with his toys and little Bean may be distracted watching him.  Or they may be those minutes without distraction, when I'm cooking dinner, doing the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms (Ugh!), washing the dishes or even (if I'm lucky to NOT be disturbed) in the bathroom.  The "sacred minutes" when I can quietly in my heart and mind just ask the Lord to be present in my thoughts, words, and heart.  Those very few "sacred moments" when I may think of a station or  two and meditate on Jesus' way of the cross and our Blessed Mother's great sorrows.  Those "sacred moments" that can possibly even add up to 20 or 30 minutes a day, if I choose to spend my time wisely, where I can immerse myself in Christ's passion.

So today and the rest of this week, I am making this promise to myself, to the Blessed Mother, and to Jesus, our Lord, that I will not throw my hands up in frustration and give up on reaching out to Him during the day, but rather I will use my "sacred moments" and bring Him into my life, right where I am at the moment.

Hopefully you can use your "sacred moments" this week as well.

Blessings to you and yours,

How We Celebrated St. Patrick's Day 2015!

I know it's a week late but I thought I'd share how we celebrated our St. Patrick's Day 2015!

We started off with some green mustache family fun!

How cute are these boys?!!!!

Then we discussed the story of St. Patrick, who we was, what he did for Ireland and why he is associated with wearing green, what miracles have been attributed to him, etc.

Since we have just moved and I still haven't found all of my craft supplies, I decided we could draw our own St. Patrick using what we had...packaging paper and crayons!

I traced Pickle's body to make the body of St. Patrick, then decorated him with his bishop's hat and staff!  Pickle was in charge of coloring (which turned out that mom also had to help out with that as well b/c it was a LOT of coloring)!  But turned out pretty good if you ask me.

This was followed by a nap to which Pickle woke up to a gold coin trail beginning at his bedside and went throughout the house to the "treasure" which seemed to be left by our friendly Leprechaun.

Psst...the bag of gold coins and the mustaches were grabbed at the Dollar Tree a week before.  Other than than, all other items were found around our house...yes, including the Skittles! Hahahaha!

While I prepared dinner, delicious cornbeef and cabbage (a tradition) pictured below, Pickle and little Bean sat and watched CCC of America's Patrick: Brave Shepard of the Emerald Isle pictured below also.

This picture is courtesy of the CCC of America's website.

Have you checked out their Saints and Heroes DVD selection?  They have wonderful DVDs and several times a year some really great deals!  I bought my Saints and Heroes bundle at 60% off!!!!

So that is how we celebrated our St. Patrick's day!  Always some religious learning as well as some imagination and fun.  

How did you celebrate your St. Patrick's day 2015?

Blessings to you and yours,

Parenthood: A Daily Choice to Dye to Oneself!

"Dying to self =killing your ego and living in the perfect imitation of Christ and Mary.......

-- When you are forgotten or neglected and you don't hurt with the insult, but your heart is happy -- that is dying to self

-- When your advice is disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, and take it all in patient, loving silence -- that is dying to self

-- When you lovingly and patiently bear disorder, irregularity, tardiness, and annoyance... and endure it as Jesus endured it -- that is dying to self

-- When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works, or itch for praise after an accomplishment, when you can truly love to be unknown... that is dying to self

-- When you can see your brother or sister prosper and can honestly rejoice with him, and feel no envy even though your needs are greater -- that is dying to self

-- When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, or any society -- that is dying to self

-- When you can take correction, when you can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, with no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart -- that is dying to self.”                                                                                                                     --Unknown 

How beautifully this poem above expresses parenthood!  In fact, I believe it could be one of the best descriptions of the vocation of marriage I've ever read.

I woke up this morning fatigued, completely depleted of all energy or motivation, and, if I'm being honest, a bit cranky.  NOTHING makes this mama more crabby than lack of sleep.  I always say, if I'm too tired I cannot be a good mother, because that for sure is my Achilles heel.  And boy does the devil seem to know how to play upon my weaknesses!  

The problem with feeling this way as soon as I open my eyes at 6:02 in the am on a freezing cold winter morning, is that my two boys, who are raring and ready to go, seem to be completely oblivious to my exhaustion.  How rude! Ha! But this is the truth of the matter, isn't it?  Motherhood does not get to take a time out or have a two hour delay so we can go back to bed and get a few more winks of sleep.  Nope, when my kids are up, well so am I.  

So waking up this morning, I simply prayed to the Lord and especially the Blessed Mother, because I know she's been here before, for the ability to choose to dye to myself today.  I prayed that they would help put in my heart the desire to want to give of myself when I'm feel completely empty, to burn within me yearning to show my children generosity and charity (in it's true sense) at a moment when I seem to have nothing to give even to myself.

What a difference this simple prayer made! It's as if the Holy Mother physically touched my heart and made it start "beating" again but this time, beating for the purpose to glorify my Lord.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still tired, my bones still feel old and my muscles stiff on this cold morning, but for some reason, I feel joy.  Joy when I prepared Pickle, my oldest, breakfast.  Joy when I was nursing Little Bean for the third time this morning before he finally gave into a glorious nap!  

Let's be real here.  I didn't get one shred of cleaning done (other than breakfast dishes clean up).  I didn't get anything else accomplished.  In fact, I'm quickly writing this in the few minutes I'm hoping to have before Little Bean wakes up and guess what? I'm still in my pj's!  I know, I know it's lunchtime and Pickle will be ready to eat as soon as he is finished with his craft and I'm STILL in my pj's.  But even this is something I need to decide to dye to some days.  I cannot measure my value and worth by what I have accomplished this day and THIS is VERY HARD FOR ME NOT TO DO.  But in dying to myself, I must become more Christ-like and change my idea of productivity.  No longer can I measure my self-worth by what I have done, but rather by what I have been for others!  And right now, I hear Little Bean crying so I must go and be mom for my boys!  Much love to you all.

Blessings to You and Yours,

Stations of the Cross Easter Egg Set

I was inspired by Catholic Icing's brilliant idea to use plastic Easter eggs to introduce and pray the Stations of the Cross with little ones.  So I decided to make our own version of this set.

I'm a fan of bright colors so as you can see the eggs I used for my "stations" are quite colorful.  In each egg is a picture and label of the specific station.  The three blue eggs I left empty and represent the 3 days our Lord's body and soul were separated from each other (also known as "death").  With these eggs we discuss that Jesus "descended to the dead" (not hell) and preached to those already passed away and whomever chose to follow Him, then went to heaven and those who refused Him went...downtown so to speak. ;)

The golden egg...ahhh the golden egg!  Well you can imagine what that is!  That's our Resurrection Egg!  You can't talk about Jesus' way of the cross without adding the END of the story...His glorious resurrection!  In this egg, I have a picture of the risen Christ.  Sometimes I add the word "Alleluia" and we talk about how we cannot say "Alleluia" during Lent but on Easter Sunday we get to say it again!  Sometimes, I simply add a small piece of chocolate because there is nothing sweeter than the end of this beautiful story!  Is there?  So part of the fun of the stations is always discovering what Mom put the golden egg!

Tip: To stuff the stations eggs, I actually just did a google images search and found pictures of the stations that I liked, copied and pasted each station, one by one, into a powerpoint document, resized to make it small enough for the egg, printed, cut out and placed in the corresponding numbered egg. Below is an example of how I did this, however I do not have the permission to share these pictures for public reuse, so I can only show you how I did this for my own personal use.  Feel free to do your own google search and find pictures that fit your family's style and your goals!

I then made additional pictures, one for each station, that represents each station.  I used pictures from Microsoft's powerpoint clipart which is available to the general public therefore I can share them with you.  If you would like your own clean copy, you can grab it here!

What do all the pictures mean?  Here's a quick cheat sheet for you:

1.  Handcuffs represent when Jesus when bound up and condemned to death.

2.  Wooden cross represents when Jesus picked up His cross.

3. 7. 9. Each band aid represents the times Jesus fell. 

4.  A picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary represents when Jesus met His mother along His way to Calvary.  We also discuss how her heart was breaking watching her son suffer so!

5.  HELP represents Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus carry His cross.

6.  Cloth represents the cloth Veronica with which she wiped Jesus' face.

8.  Tissues to represent the weeping women Jesus meets and comforts along the way.

10. Dice to represent how Jesus was stripped of His clothing and then His clothes were "won" by a dice game.

11.  Hammer and nails represent Jesus being nailed to the cross.

12.  Crucifixion picture to represent His death on the cross.

13.  Crown of thorns to represent Him being taken down from the cross, de-clothed and re-clothed, prepared for burial. (I know this isn't the best picture representation but I had a hard time thinking of something to represent taking Him down from the cross)

14. Tomb to represent how Jesus was placed in a tomb. 

Ok so...what do we do with these eggs? Well we have used them several different ways so far:

1. Exploration/Discovery:  The first thing I did was show Pickle the pictures that correspond with each station.  We looked at each picture and wondered allowed what each picture has to do with each station and made an "educated guess" as to what each station would be.  Then we opened up the corresponding egg and read the station name and looked at each picture.  I answered all of Pickle's questions as we went along. Simply doing this to introduce the stations for the first time took well over a half hour.  So be prepared the first time around you may be spending more time on exploring and explaining each station than actually "praying" them.  However, if you ask me that's a prayer in and of itself! ;) 
   
2. Hide-n-Seek:  This is a simple but fun game for young kiddos who need some movement when learning new information.  It does not make the stations any less reverent, so have fun and enjoy watching your kiddos learn about the Lord's way of the cross!  You can do this game one of two ways:
1. Hide the egg; take the corresponding picture and try to match it to the correctly numbered egg. 
   
2. Hide the corresponding picture; take the numbered egg and try to find the correct corresponding picture.  Either way you play this game, you can still spend as much time as you need discussing and explaining each station.
3. Stations-on-the-Move:  Create a space in one room or all around your house (or even in your backyard, if you are lucky enough to not have SNOW still in it),  place your "stations eggs" in numerical order.  Have your family move from one station to the next stopping at each egg, reading the station and either discussing the station or praying the following traditional prayer (which you can follow with an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be if your kiddos are up for it):
   
4. Coloring Stations Match-Up:  You can download a number of different FREE coloring sheets for the stations of the cross.  Here is one from St. John the Baptist Religious Education page and also one from Catholic Playground.  Discuss each station while being colored and after all are colored you can match up the corresponding egg to colored page.  Or, because we love moving and learning, place each colored sheet along the floor in a liner fashion.  Then have your children place the correct egg on each colored sheet.  When stopping at each station you can pray the traditional prayer or have your children come up with their own simple prayer. My Pickle came up with simply "Thank you Jesus for dying for us." and he said that at each station.

So that's it!  So far these are the ways we have been participating and praying the Stations of the Cross with my little guys (well really only my 4 year old b/c my now 5 month old, well he's just there to listen)!

Have other ideas?  PLEASE DO SHARE by commenting below!  I'd love some more clever ways to use this egg set!

Blessings to You and Yours,

 

Catholic Tidbit: A Mama Saint!

As the US Catholic Church ramps up for the World Meeting of Families, Salt and Light this coming September, I stumbled across this beautiful video of a Saint Gianna Bretta Molla.  Have you heard of her?  She was just a mama like you and me.  Check out this beautiful video, courtesy of the world meeting website!  

What an inspiration!  Maybe we mamas can become saints!  What do you think?

Blessings to You and Yours,