Custodians of Beauty

Hello blog! It's been awhile since my last post.  I took a break from blogging in November-January to get through the whirlwind of holidays. But I'm back now, and wanted to post about the day we celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. As with every feast day, I found a coloring page for the kids to embellish while I read a short story of St. Francis from our Book of Saints. After coloring, I read them "St. Francis and the Wolf". In the story, St. Francis comes to the aid of the villagers who are terrorized by a terrible wolf. St. Francis teaches the valuable lesson of friendship and to love all God's creatures that walk on the earth, fly in the sky and swim in the sea. Our snack in honor of St. Francis was "wolf paw" cookies. They were delicious and turned out more wolf-like then I imagined. We used package Iced Almonette cookies for the base. Then added sliced almonds and white baking chips for claws using melted chocolate for glue. I ga...

St. Therese, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to grant me the favor I implore and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more.  Amen "St. Therese loved nature, and often used the imagery of nature to explain how the Divine Presence is everywhere, and how everything is connected in God's loving care and arms. Therese saw herself as "the Little Flower of Jesus" because she was just like the simple wild flowers in forests and fields, unnoticed by the greater population, yet growing and giving glory to God. Therese did not see herself as a brilliant rose or an elegant lily, by simply as a small wildflower. This is how she understood herself before the Lord - simple and hidden, but blooming where God had planted her. " - Text taken from the Society of the Little Flower The girls colored the Little Flower  print out while I read them a short story of St. Therese from ou...

"Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did." - St. Maximilian Kolbe April brought several snow showers to WI this year, prolonging the cold and wet days and delaying any hope of growth for the frozen grass and flowers. But that didn't stop us from welcoming spring into our home. The girls and I made paper hyacinths and daffodils to cheer up our dining room. Seeing the bright and lively blooms on our walls helped remind us that spring was on it's way! We made a mini grotto, complete with foliage and fauna during the month of May in honor of Our Lady. It was a quick and easy activity that we finished in one afternoon. You can find the free "Mary diorama" at the  Catholic Sistas blog . We used crayons instead of watercolors and a tissue box (in place of a shoe box) for the grotto. All the pieces fit together nicely. The girls were excited to look for the perfect spot to place our grotto in the ...

Coincidentally,  St. Valentine's Day falls on Ash Wednesday this year so we moved our valentine feasting and sweet eating to Fat Tuesday.  It has not been our custom to take the kids to Mass on Ash Wednesday, since it's not considered a holy day of obligation. However, we do try to keep things low key and prayerful to help us enter into the season of Lent. (This silly little poem rings true for Catholics. Remember, you can't spell valentine without Lent!) Our children have not reached the age requirement for fasting and abstaining, but we encourage them to offer up little sacrifices (ex. going to bed without a stuffed animal for one night, letting a sibling pick which Netflix show to watch, or skipping the Mc D's fries when out and about running errands.) So far, so good! They have willingly (no whining or pouting) given up their favorites, their treasures, and their comforts for Our Lord. What pure hearts, those children have. If only we could learn to love ...

One of the ways our family builds and nurtures our domestic church is by teaching our children about the importance of sacramentals. Sacramentals are "sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them, men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1667). Our house is sprinkled with sacramentals. Rosaries are kept (at little arms reach) on our home oratory, scapulars are worn around our necks and blessed palms can be spotted tucked behind a crucifix and framed religious artwork throughout the home. We received a beautiful white-stone holy water font featuring the Holy Family as a house warming/blessing gift when we moved into our house. It hangs next to our front door and is a reminder to us of our baptismal promise. We hung a second font ...

On November 1, we celebrate the host of saints in heaven. We ask them to intercede for us so that one day we too may join the holy soul for all Eternity. My four year old has told me many times that she wants to go to heaven to be with Mary and Jesus. This afternoon, while praying my rosary, she climbed onto my lap. She asked if she would see the apostles up there (heaven). I said yes, of course! And St. Francis, St. Maximillian, St. Nicholas, and St. Agnes!  Isn't it amazing to think about who you could rub elbows with in heaven? I mean how cool would it be to dine with St. Lawrence and St. Martha, share a hearty laugh with St. Bernard of Clairvaux or hike the mountains with St. John Paul and Blessed Pier Giorgio? Heaven will be GREAT! My husband and I desire our children to know and love the saints. To help them get to know their patrons, we read stories and celebrate their feast days with tasty foods and fun activities. Our children look forward to the All Saints Day...

On the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus I made a treat for the kids. It was a solemnity after all! The base was a graham cracker spread with buttercream frosting. I used slices of strawberries for the hearts and slivers of roasted almonds for the crown of thorns and cross. The fire at the top was orange and yellow sprinkles. You could use flower sprinkles instead of almonds to turn this into the Immaculate Heart. (Next year!) Extremely impromptu, yet fun and easy to make. Just used what I had in my pantry at the time.   Before we ate our snack, the kids looked at the image of the Sacred Heart and I pointed out to them the thorns, fire, and heart of Jesus. We talked about what each symbol meant. The flaming heart showing His burning love for us, and the cross and thorns circling the heart reminding us of His suffering and death on the cross. Prayer to the Sacred Heart: O Most Holy Heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love yo...

On Palm Sunday, we hear the Gospel reading of Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. How fitting that this lowly creature was chosen to carry Christ (and Our Lady) to the place of His birth in Bethlehem and now bears Our King through the streets where He will suffer His Passion and Death on the Cross. From the womb to the tomb. What a beautiful prefigurement to reflect on during Holy Week. I wanted the girls to be familiar with this bible story so that when they heard it on Sunday, they would be able to follow along. So we cuddled on the couch and read from the book of Matthew. After explaining to my 3 year old why it was ok for the donkey to step on the clothes, we pulled out the markers and crayons for some coloring. This  coloring sheet  and  cut-out Jesus  (my personal favorite) were great visuals. We reenacted the scene of Jesus entering Jerusalem. I drew a few palm branches for the girls to use as props and place on the road. ...