Almost August

Tomorrow begins the month of August.  Like I mentioned before we have lots of activities on our schedule this coming month.

Today the last day of July.  We celebrate the day of St. Ignatius of Loyola.  He is the founder of the company of Jesus, the Jesuits. 

Our parish's Priests are Jesuits.  This is why today, there will be a special Mass at noon to celebrate the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

You will be reading a lot of about the Catholic traditions here on my blog.  I am beginning to savor the richness of my Catholic faith.  I am learning about the life of different people that have left a mark in the Catholic Church.


Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The month of August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person and is the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion is an incentive to a similar love and virtue. Read More here.

To incorporate this special celebrations in my home, I am using a Feast table.  You might also call it a home shrine.   It has been a tradional aspect in many Catholic homes. 

I began to do this at the beginning of this year.  I got this idea, from my sister who was already using the liturgical colors within her home.  Here is a picture of her home's feast table.

Then one day, I came across this interesting blog, Wildflowers and Marbles.  Jenn has pictures of her feast tables for each month or a particular liturgical season.   She explains in one of her posts the reason for having a feast table within your home. Read her post here.

I liked this scripture posted at Everything Else Thrownin by Dianne.



By wisdom a house is built,
and through understanding it is established;


through knowledge its rooms are filled
with rare and beautiful treasures. Psalm 24:3,4

And that is my purpose to fill my house with lovely treasures of the Catholic faith.

I also plan to incorparate the word of God into my decor.  I already have a few items in English, but I want to find some in Spanish.  So that my Spanish speaking guests can also read the messages on them. 

This idea came from this scripture.


Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.


These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children.


Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.


Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.


Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Deut. 6:4-9

I will post picture later of my August feast table, I am going to work on it as soon as I publish this post.

Look what I found

A statue of St. Therese for $2.49

A second statue of St. Therese for $8.99

and

A Statue of Mary for $7.99

I found the smaller statue of St. Therese first. 

Then daughter found the other two statues in another aisle of the store.

And we were not at a Catholic store. 

We were actually shopping for back to school uniforms for the kids.

St.Therese Prayer

O Little Therese of the Child Jesus

please pick for me a rose

 from the heavenly gardens

and send it to me as a message

of love.

Thank You

I am amazed that in just one year, I have now 13 followers.  I know there are more following anonymously.  The interesting part is that some are following in their own language.  I am bilingual. I speak and write English and Spanish well.  I wish I knew Sign language.  We have relatives who are mute and it will be easier to communicate with them with out and interpreter. 

I do need to figure out how to use the translator on blogs.  Does anyone know?

I am now going to start my home blessings.  Blog reading and posting takes up most of my morning time.  And I want to attend noon Mass.  Have a blessed day.

menu planner

I'm revising my monthly menu planner.  I just wanted to share with you this website.  I downloaded their menu planner book.  It has been a great help for me in planning my meals for each week and making inventory of my fridge and pantry.

The website is Graham Family Ministries

Healing In His Wings

This morning, I woke up feeling low Spiritually.  Last night we were invited to a neighbor's house.  They were celebrating their daughter's 18 birthday.  Among the guest was a beautiful little girl.  Only two years old, and she has already gone through so much.  She had cancer in her liver.  Thanks to God, the cancer was removed by surgery and she is doing very good.  She still receives chemo therapy.  And it recuperating from all she went through.

I was so moved by this little girl, who looks happy and with so much energy yet, a few months ago she was battling this terrible disease that was threatening her life. 

I began thinking about my own daughter.  In a few months she will be in a hospital, undergoing surgery for her spine correction.  Suddenly fear overtook me.  Lord, please heal my daughter.  I will do anything to spare my daughter the pain, Lord.  

How many mothers have had the same feelings.  The terror of suddenly loosing your child to a disease.  To see your child in pain and suffering.  Mary went through this too.  As she watched her son, torn by the beatens He received,  nailed to the cross and then to see Him die.

I pleaded to God to take this fears away.  I went to sleep, but like usual I kep tossing and turning.  Praying all night for God to help me. 

This morning, I felt I need to hear something that will uplift my Spirit.  I took out my collection of sermon CDS from when I attended Living Hope Christian Center.

I browsed through the CDS, reading the title of the messages.  I organized them by date, and decided to start with the first CDs from 2004.   It was a message from one of the pastors.  He was speaking about how we are called to be laborers for God.   How to be a testimony and reach out to the unsaved.  Fifteen minutes into the message, there was problems with the audio.  I thought it might be the earphones.  Then I checked the batteries, I thought maybe God wants me to listen to another CD.

I took out another CD, labeled, " Healing in His Wings" by Pastor Benjamin.  Pastor Benjamin is the founder of Living Hope.  Awesome preacher.

On the CD, I had written in pen, this is the day my brother visited the church. 

Pastor Benjamin,  began with this scriptures:  Ruth 3:7-11, Malachi 4:1,2, and Mathew 9:18-22.
Catholic readers, the scripture for Malachi, is chapter 3:19,20.

There are lots of differences in Bible versions, I have the New American Bible, but I also have NIV versions and the Message version.  Let me write to you the NIV version of Malachi 3:19,20 ( Malachi 4:1,2)

"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace.  All the arrogant and every evildoers will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the Lord Almighty. " Not a root or a branch will be left to them.  But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.  And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall..."

Pastor Benjamin read all three scriptures than began explaining  each scripture separately.

This message became more interesting to me because of the story of Ruth.  Let me give you a short story of my own before I continue with the message.  My daughter's name is Marah.  As you know Ruth's mother-in-law' name was Noemi, but after she lost her husband and two sons, she was depressed and changed her name to Mara which means bitter in Hebrew.  There are some bible versions that spell the name Mara with and H at the end. 

This is not at all the reason, I named my daughter Marah.  My mother-in-law's name was Maravilla, its meaning is wonderful.  My husband wanted us to name our daughter like his mother.  I thought it was to long, and perhaps she will not like it when she get older. " How about if we name her Marah, since that is what  everyone used to call your mom," I told my husband. I added the H, to make it unique.

I did not know the meaning until years later a friend told me that in her country Mara means "sadness".

Then while reading my bible one day, I stumbled upon a  scripture in Exodus15:23, that speaks of a place called Marah because of it bitter waters.  I will never had chosen this name for my daughter if I had known this, however, God has a purpose for eveything.  I believe there is lesson to be learned here.  I am not sure what it is, but I pray to God to show me and guide me through the process.

When Pastor Benjamin preached this message, I still did not know what was ahead of us. This message is dated 8/8/04, we did not get a diagnosis for my daughter until February of 2005.

It is now five years later and I am at the brink of despair.  My daughter will be having surgery in a few months. I am scared!  I am crying out to God to help me.  Heal my daughter Lord!  Hear my prayers!

You promised her healing.  What went wrong?  Where did I go wrong?

I continued listening to Pastor Benjamin's message.

Ruth asked Boaz to spread the corner of her cloak over her.  Boaz was a relative of Noemi.  He will provide protection for Ruth.

In Mathew 9:18-22, the woman with the issue of blood, had FAITH, that if she only touched the hem of Jesus garment she would be healed.

The message connecting this three scriptures is that God heals.  We need to pray, and be persistent in prayer.  Not give up.  God has promised to hear our prayer.  He healed many through Jesus.  And he still continues to heal many.  We need to have Faith. 

Over the years, I heard many messages like this one.  They stirr up Faith in me.  Then somehow, I loose hope.  I get discouraged.  Five years, I have been praying and asking for a miracle.  Not just for my daughter.  For many other people who are suffering with illness.  My brother, my sisters, my Mother, my cousin's wife who has cancer.

And there is also prayers for household salvation.  Yes, those lost souls who do not know Jesus.  I pray for the violence in Mexico and all over the world to end.  I pray for the youth in our city.  I pray for the unborn child who is not given a chance to be born. 

And something in me awakens.  God has a purpose for me.  He is calling me to be a laborer for his kingdom.  I must reach out to the depressed, the lonely, the one who has lost all hope. 

Oh Lord, I know you have an answer for my prayers.  I will not loose HOPE.  I believe that you will do amazing things.  I know that nothing is impossible for you. 
You are a merciful, loving God, and you will not give me more than I can endure.

I trust in YOU!  There is Healing in Your Wings.

Hearing God's Voice

  

Every Wednesday, we Walk with Him, posting a spiritual practice that draws us nearer to His Heart.

This week, we are sharing The Spiritual Practice of Listening and Hearing God.

Since last week, I have been thinking on what should I write.  What should I share with you regarding this topic. 

Last week, I shared the parable of the sower. How God speaks to us through his word.  God speaks to us through others, through our Pastor at Church or through another person of Christian Faith.  However we might not be paying attention.  Our mind might be wandering somewhere, thinking of bills to pay, things to do, marriage problems, problems with our kids, or illness in our family.

This things can distract our focus from hearing God voice.  We must learn to keep our focus on what we are reading in God's word.  I often reread the passages over and over.  Even if it takes me a while to finally set aside my distracting thoughts.  I write down in a journal, words that stand out to me. 

When I was attending the Christian church , sometimes I carried with me a notebook or small journal to write down notes.  I was blessed, that the sermons were recorded and I could get a CD and take it home and listen to the CD over and over, each time I got something different.

Now that I attend a Catholic Church, I have not been taking my journal with me.  I guess I forgot how essential it is to take notes.   The readings are in the missal and I can always go back and review them, but how do I remember what the Priest spoke that day. 

I attended a wedding recently.  The Priest spoke beautiful words to the couple. He also addressed the congregation, asking them to pray for the couple.  He told the couple, that when ever they were faced with problems, they should ask family and friends to pray for them. 

This couple had a person recording a video of their wedding ceremony.  They have this as a way of remembering what the Priest said on their wedding day, to remind them of the vows spoken to each other.

I thought, I can't remember what the Priest said on my wedding day.  I went home looking for my wedding video.  The only video I had, only had the reception party.  Wait, I remember I had a video from the church ceremony.  Where is it?  I searched my mother's house.  I found another VHS cassette labeled Rosario's and Rosendo's wedding.  I put the tape in the vcr, and waited to see.  Whoever took this video, skiped the readings, and the priest's homily.   I am glad the marriage vows were recorded. 

What does this have to do with listening and hearing God's word?  I believe God is present at every Eucharist, a wedding ceremony is a celebration taking place in God's presence.  God is joining two people as husband and wife.  God is speaking to the couple through the readings, and through the priest during the homily.  God is also speaking to the guests.   Have you been listening to the words spoken at the weddings and other sacramental celebrations you attend?


The day my daughter made her first communion, I was very focused on the readings and the words of Father John.  During the Eucharist consecration, I was very moved, I felt God's presence there at that moment.  Indiscribable moment.  And I was not the only one to notice this.  My friend Consuelo also mentioned to me later that she had also felt God's presence.

 

Many people say that Catholic Mass is boring.  The same readings, the same songs, the same prayers. I think the difference is, how you see things.  When you are focused on the reality that God is present at every Mass.  Everything has meaning. 

This Sunday's Liturgy, was beutiful.  The readings: Gn 18:20-32, Psalms 137:1-8, Col 12:12:14, and the Gospel of Luke 11:1-13, all spoke about being persistent in prayer.  God answers our prayers.

The responsorial psalm was: Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

God has many ways of speaking to us,  we just have to be ready to listen.  From now on I will carry my notebook to Mass on Sundays, I do not want to forget what I hear God say to me, I might even share it with you one day.

Library Day and Virtues

I have been wanting to do a study of virtues with my kids.  So far we done, the virture of Condideration from that Resource Site. 

Today was our weekly Library day.  Daughter and I went to the library.  This time I did some research before leaving my house.  Glad that I am able to access the library's catolog online.   I searched for books that talk about virtues.

Wrote down some interesting titles on a page I had printed a booklist for third graders.  I want my son to read, but he will rather do something else than read.  Our local library has a summer reading program, for every four hours of reading, a child is rewarded with a small toy.  The next four hours, they are given a package of coupons to local restaurants, museums,  and children's amusement park. 

My daughter already finished her 8 hours of reading.  She was also entered in a rafle, she was recently called that she had won something.  A roundtrip on a ferryboat for a child and one adult.

We are motivating my son to finish his last four hours, so that he can get his coupons.  Then we can all go to this fun places and I only have to pay for myself.

At the libray today, I found three books about virtues.   A Plentiful Harvest by Terrie William,
the Book of Love , edited by Andrew M. Greeley and Mary G. Durkin,
and The Rainbow People, by Laurence Yep, a collection of Chinese Folk Stories.

I picked the last book from the childrens section, I plan to read this with my son to get his four hour chart completed.  Every 15 minutes of reading, he places a sticker in his summer reading log provided by the library.

The other two books are for my personal reading time.  I began with the book titled, A Plentiful Harvest.

I am already starting to enjoy this book.  And I will be writing more about it in the next weeks.  The book is meant to guide you on a 52 week process towards creating balance and harmony in your life.  The author describes seven virtues that have helped her achieve her goals.

The virtues are Calling, Responsibility, Thrift, Love, Community, Spirituality, and Creativity.

I will not give you more information at this time.  I have some chores to do and perhaps tomorrow or in the next few day I will write a post.  In case I forget or get distracted by another project, please feel free to remind me about it. 

Happy Birthday!

I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my friend, Sister Clare.

From the kids and I, we wish you a wonderful day.  May the Lord continue to bless you with good health, strenght and energies to continue in the ministry that God has called you.

We miss you and hope to see you again one day soon.

One Year Ago

One year ago this blog came to be.  I thank God for all the wonderful people that I have connected with, through this blog.  I have learned so much from other bloggers. as well.  I have been comforted. I have joined people in their prayers.  People have joined me in my prayers.

Thank You.

Here is a list of my favorite blogs and sites that I have been following over the past year.

This blog came to be thanks to two women that have inspired me by their unique talents. 

One is Laura @ I'm an Organizing Junkie  and the other one is  Jessica @ Shower of Roses .

Laura is a Mom, who enjoys organizing her home in very unique ways.  Every month she has an organization challenge and other bloggers link to her blog to share their own projects.  She also hosts Menu Mondays.  I learned to make a monthly planner of meals for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.  It has helped me to plan my grocery shopping day, and  to make inventory of my fridge and pantry.

Jessica is a Catholic Homeschool Mom.  When I got introduced to Little Flowers Girls' Club by my sister Erica.  I searched for ideas on how to start my own group.  I found Jessica's blog on the Little Flower's Girls' club blog.   Jessica has another blog Catholic Cuisine.  She and her friends post recipes for cakes and meals that have traditionally been served to celebrate the feast days of Saints and other important feast of Catholic Tradition and Faith.

Jessica's blog was so helpful to me in many ways, that I decided to make my own blog and share with others the talents that God has given me.

Once I started this blog, and began writting my own posts, I learned about following blogs.

While participating in the Home Organization projects that Laura was hosting on her website, I got to meet many Mom bloggers.  Many with similiar interest.   Many of them inspired me with their own blogs.  One of those ladies is Melinda @ Coming Clean

Melinda also hosted an 8 week home organization project.  Each week we were to post our goals for that week and then at the end of the week, we will share our finished projects and accomplishments.  Melinda is an inspirational Mom.   She shares her struggles in parenthood.  I learned that I am not the only one out here struggling with paranting issues.   She is a strong woman of faith.

Then I found Ann Voskamp @ Holy Experience.  Another wonderful, amazing, homeschool mother, writter, and woman of faith.  Ann hosts Walk With Him Wednesdays.  A place to share your faith with others. To share your journal entries and your unique ways of keeping a prayer life, a marriage, a home.

Reading the posts shared at Holy Experience, I met

Dianne @ EverythingElseThrownin   A wonderful, sweet Christian woman, who is always leaving encouraging comments on my posts.  Thank you Dianne.

Jennifer @ Getting Down With Jesus  A woman of faith, writer, mother, and wife of a farmer.  She inspires me with her posts.  I learn from Jennifer about a tent and altar  how to always carry your bible, prayer journal, and inspirational books with you.

Thanks to Jennifer, I also got introduced to (in)Courage, a blog were many women share their life testimony and their Walk with Christ.

Through (in)Courage, I met Heather @ Especially Heather, strong woman of faith.  Her testimony has helped me to strenghten me in my own struggles with my daughter's illness.  The miracle that God is showing through the life of Emma, encourages me to keep hope alive in me.  Nothing is impossible for God!

Now here is a list of my favorite blogs that have helped me, in discovering the beautiful traditions of the Catholic Faith.  These are amazing, talented, homeschool mothers that have excellent craft ideas.   They share their unique ways in keeping a Domestic Church.  John Paul II wrote in one of his encyclicals that we are all called to make our homes a domestic church.  And these women have accomplished it.


Lacy @ Catholic Icing

Xhonane @ Familia Catolica

Jamie @ Lord Make Me A Saint  Jamie inspired me to not limit my family to only two children.  Since I had to c-section surgeries, I thought two children were enough for me.  Jamie has five children, I believe all born through c-section surgeries.  If she can do it, I can too.  Unfortunately my last pregnancy was lost in the first week, last November 2009.  But I still have hope that I can get pregnant again, if its in God's plans. Nothing is imposible for those who trust in the Lord.

Vee @ Paper Dali  Amazing Paper Dolls of Saints and Historical Figures.

Anne @ Under Her Starry Mantle

Charlotte@ Waltzing Matilda  An artist who shares her talent, wonderful coloring pages of Saints.

Jenn @ Wild Flowers and Marbles

And these two sites The Resourse Site  and Catholic Toolbox,  excellent places filled with educational resources for Catechists and Homeschoolers.

Before I end this post I want to thank  the regular followers of my blog.  Some already mentioned above.

But I want to especially thank my dear friend at  Become What You Are, thank you for your words of encouragement.  You are inspiration to me.  You are an extraordinary Mom, Grandmother, God-mother, and Friend.  Your family is blessed to have you. 

For those who follow anonymously, I hope you are blessed by what you read on my posts. 

And last but not least.  I  want to also give thanks to two amazing persons in my life who also read this blog and who inspire me in many ways.

My sister Erica.  Thank you for praying for me while I was decerning my call and finding my way back home.  Thank you for respecting my beliefs and thank you also for the hard words spoken to me, I do not hold it against you. I love you and you will always be my closest dearest best friend.

And my new friend, and sister in Christ Jesus, Sister Clare.  Thank you for sharing your testimony with me.  Thank you for teaching me how to hold my children in the palm of my hand, not to loose so that they will not fall out, and not to tight, so that they are able to breathe.  Where ever God takes you, may your ministry be blessed, may you be a blessing to many others, the way you have been a blessing to me.

My Lord Jesus, thank you for choosing me, a sinner, a broken vessel.   You broke me in little pieces, in order to rebuild me into the person I should be.  You are the number one inspiration for this blog.  Without you, I will not be here.  I will not have the courage to speak to so many people and share my life with them.

I am yours, and your alone completely. My Jesus, My Savior. 

Holy Cards Binder

These are all the holy cards that I have.  I arranged them in different categories.  Mexican Saints & Martyrs, paper Holy cards, Misc., Our lady of Guadalupe ( had to many of these), Women Saints, and  Marian cards.

With the larger cards, I made scrapbook pages and placed in sheet protectors.

I then placed all the pages inside this binder.

I included short biographies of the Saints we have been learning about this past year.

The short biographies, were organized by the saint's feast day.

I used binder dividers with the months of the year.

Liturgical year planner

I am done with my liturgical year planner.  Its about 4 pages long in word document.  I still have to figure out how to share it with you. I am thinking on adding pages to my blog.  I seen them in other blogs but I have not figured it out how to do this. 

I want to share with you that I took my Liturgical year calendar.  The circle one.  And chose the feast days that are consider Feasts of obligation.  They are usually the one in  bold.  I also added some of the Saints feast days of the most popular Saints.   And I also included our family events, such as birthdays and baptisms anniversaries. 

sorry about the shiny spot on the picture

I want to celebrate this special dates with my children.  They are days that are very significant with our Catholic Faith Formation. 

I spent most of yesterday morning making the list.  Searching for the actual feast days of some of our Patron Saints not listed on the circular calendar.

My house is not a mess, thanks to my children helping me keep it clean and helping me do some chores. 
After finishing the planner.  I cleaned the bathroom, wiped and moped the floor. Tidy up the laundry room, did a few loads of laundry, vacuumed all the lent behind and around the washer and dryer. 

Then I noticed it was 2:30 PM and dinner was not prepared yet.  So I started preparing the dinner, washed the dishes, and tidy up the kitchen.

I am so glad dinner was ready by the time husband came home. 

After dinner was served and I tidy up the kitchen again, I went to my bedroom to tidy up the dressers.  I organized some of the drawers and I vacuumed.

Today, I will be organizing my closet.  Help the kids to do a deep cleaning of their room.  Dust, vacuum, and organize closet and drawers.

Next week's goal is the attic.  Yes, the attic.  It was not finished, but I plan to get my children involved in the process.   This summer vacations seem to be going by fast.  Soon we will be planning for the new school year.  Back to school shopping. 

August is Birthday Month.  Lots of birthdays and family events to attend.  My daughter is scheduled for pre-surgery appointments on the 24th of August.  Her surgery date is September 15.

I have my son's and husband's birthday party to plan.  I plan to keep it simple this year.  But like me, I always leave everything for last minute.  We have not chosen a date yet for the party.  It will probably be on the 21st of August.  Since their birthdays fall on a week day, we always choose the closest day on the weekend.  But most of the weekends are scheduled for other parties. 

Daughter's birthday is in December, right around Christmas time.   I'm hoping that if she is better by then from her surgery.  We could take a vacation to Mexico for the holidays.  Her sister's birthday is on New Years eve.  It will be great if we could be there to celebrate both their birthdays. 

Let me not worry about that yet,  and only God knows if we are able to go to Mexico with all the violence going on in most of the Mexican cities.

I am getting back to my home blessings.  Hope you have a very nice day.

Jesus' Parables

Gospel for Today:

Mathew 13:1-9
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
"A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."


As I read this the first time, I kind of read it but was not focused on my reading.  My mind was wondering as  usual.  I went back to read the passage again.  How true this words are about me.  How many times I hear the word of God and the homilies and I am not there.  My mind is somewhere else not listening, not paying attention. 

I took out the Message bible version.  And reread again the passage, this time I read on till verse 35. 

On verse 18-35, Jesus gives his disciples the meaning of this parable.

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Hear the parable of the sower.
The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom
without understanding it,
and the Evil One comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.
The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold."

After reading this, I felt I should share with you this passage.  But before I began writing this post I browsed some of the post on my blog list.  And came upon this post, Because Sometimes We Forget What We Knew . 

Jennifer @ Getting Down with Jesus, is an excellent writer that has spoken to me many times through her posts.  I invite you to read her post.  I believe God speaks to all of us.  Sometimes not in audible words but through his word, through other people, and through certain circumstances or events.  The problem with us not hearing his voice depends on our availability to receive it, as explained in Mathew 13:18-35.



 
Each Wednesday, Ann Voskamp invites her community of writers to consider spiritual practices that draw us nearer to the heart of Jesus. This week, we consider: The Spiritual Practice of Listening and Hearing God.

Planning Liturgical Year Celebrations

It all started with the holy cards that I wanted to arrange in trading card binder pages.  The ones that were to large, I decided to make scrapbook pages place in sheet protectors and arrange in the binders. 

I also have a binder of all the coloring pages of Saints that my children have done over the past year.  Most are from Waltzing Matilda, Paper Dali, and DLTK for kids.  I arranged them by feast day.

Now I have two binders.  One with all the coloring pages and the other with holy cards and short biographies of Saints.  I have made a collection of Saint biographies for most of the most popular Saints.  And I have researched some of the Saints associated with special dates of our family.  Such as birthdays, baptisms, 1st. Communions, and Confirmation.  I also looked up Saints with our names.

After organizing all these short biographies, I decided to make a list of all the Feast days that we will be celebrating.  Including some of our own family patron saints, our Mexican traditional feast, and family special events.

This is going to make it much more easier for me to plan ahead of time for each feast and special activities for each day.  I borrowed this idea from some of the Catholic Mom's blogs. I will not be celebrating all the same feast days.  I have chosen only the most important feast days and our own favorite Saint Days.

I will post my list later.

Martha and Mary

Today I attended a Mass where they had  a relic of the Cure of Ars, St. John Vianney.  The Mass was officiated by the Bishop Emiritus of the Diocese of Oakland, CA. 

Bishop John Cummins also officiated the Mass when I made my Confirmation.  I was so moved by his homily.  Today's gospel was the story of Martha and Mary. 

How many times we act like Martha, to busy to sit at the feet of Jesus.  Mary chose to leave her chores aside and sit at the feet of Jesus to listen to his teachings.

I too, must remind myself that there is a time for resting at the feet of Jesus.  Pause for a few moments and just be still.  Leave the worries aside. 

I was also reminded today that the Mass is very important.  Many of us think that going to church is boring, the same readings, the same prayers and songs.   St. John Vianney had a saying that if we only knew the real value of the Mass we will never skip a Sunday without attending one.

God is present at every Eucharist.  I sure wish we all got to feel his presence. 

Many times we attend Mass or a Church Service for those of you who are not Catholic, and we are not really there.   Our mind is wandering somewhere else, worried about so many things.  If we only focused on God's presence and forget everything else, our time spend at church will have so much more significance. 

May you have a deeper awesome experience at your next visit to God's house.

Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Like every Friday, we get up early and get ready to go to the weekly Eucharist Adoration at a Parish  a few towns away from our home.  It only takes us about 15 minutes to get there depending on trafic.

The Mass starts at 8:30 AM followed by the Eucharist Adoration.   During this time there is some prayers and songs recited.  There is also  a long period of silence, where everyone prays silently their own devotions and intentions. 

I have been taking the kids with me for the last two weeks.  I thought of making a prayer book for them to read during the silence time.   This has kept my son quiet for a while. 

At home we watched the video for the 4th day of the Holy heroes program.  For the craft they did family trees and their snack was rice krispies treats.  I used the already made treats.  I know how to make them but decided to skip all that for today.  I asked the children,  why  where this treats  suggested for today's lesson?  Answer:  Rice krispies stick together like families stick together.  Today's lesson: Jesus chose your family with a reason.

We also made some scapulars since today is the day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

For the background we used felt, and printed this cards from a link found in the blog Shower of Roses.

For the cord I used brown thread used for cross stitching.

Tomorrow we will be doing our last day of our Summer Faith Adventure.  My other niece will join us also and my youngest sister will be here too.  They are all going to a music concert in the evening. 

Hope you all have a very blessed weekend.

Summer Faith Adventure

We started or Summer Faith Adventure with Holy Heroes.  It is free but if you prefer to get the package is very affordable.  My kids have enjoyed the first day.  We started today, because we were a little busy yesterday.  Here are some pictures.

Here they are making the sugar cookie snack.

                                          Son is rolling out the dough for the cookies.

Here they are making a miter.

My son, niece, and daughter with their completed miters.

My niece is visiting us for this week.  She brought her Mass kit and they enjoy playing with it.  Yesterday they even had music and did the entrance procession. 

I really like the Holy Heroes Summer Faith Adventure.  The kids will be saying  one mystery of the rosary each day.  They will watch a bible story video,  read by other young kids, learn new songs, games and do crafts.  At the end they learn about a sacrament of the Catholic church. 

Today they learned about King David.  

I will not be posting daily on our activities, perhaps in a few days I will show you more pictures and a brief summary of our week.

Craft Idea

I am always finding ways to recycle things into creative things that can be used around the house.  I always buy ice cream in a 4 quart bucket.  I reuse this buckets around my house to sort things, store other items, I have one in the kitchen for all those kitchen scraps, then I just take it to the compost can at the end of each day. 

Husband drinks coffee every morning.  He's favorite brand is Folgers.  I love the new plastic containers because they are easier to open.  Mom told me to save them for her, because she will find another use for them.   I am not sure what she uses them for, but last month we visited a fair and in their craft section, they had a display of how to re-use plastic containers. 

There was a Folgers can with a toilet paper inside and a wire to hang the can on the wall.  Now that is a clever idea.

While searching for labels to use in my organization project, I found this great blog and another use for those Folger's cans. Over at Robin's blog,  she has some labels you can print and use on the Folger's cans.

Here is my own idea.  I went to the 99 cents store and bought this nice  self-adheasive wall borders.  And decorated two cans.

One Year Blog Anniversary

Wow, its almos here! my blog's birthday!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by.

I have met many amazing Moms and Grandmothers through this blog.   While participating in a monthly home organization challenge at I'm an organizing Junkie website.  I got to meet another blogger, Melinda from Coming Clean: Confessions of an Inperfect Parent. 

Melinda also hosted an 8 week home organization challenge.  She was such and inspiration, not only with her own home organization ideas, but also as a spiritual motivator.  Her unique posts about the challenges of parents, were very helpful to me. 

Over this year, I have met other amazing homeschool moms.  Like Ann over at Holy Experience.  You can see a list of my most favorite blogs on the right side of my blog.  I invite you to visit these blogs and be inspired. 

Thank you to all the wonderful people that follow my blog and leave encouraging comments.  Thanks to you, I keep motivated to continue sharing my posts, hoping you get encouraged and inspired  by what I write and share on my post.

May the Lord continue to bless all of you exceedingly, aboundantly and overflowing.

Labels and Home organization

Thanks to my printer and HP, I was able to print out new labels for my laundry sorters.  I used regular wide tape to attach them to the hampers. 






I went online to search for more printables that I could use to label things in my home and found this blog called Poppytalk.

At Poppytalk you can find lots of wonderful ideas for home decorating, crafts, and other interesting design ideas.

I finally had the inspiration to organize this closet in my laundry room.

This is the after picture.  I want to make colorful labels for some of the things in this closet.  So that everyone knows where things go and everything will stay organized.

There is another top shelf that does not show in the picture.  I have plastic boxes there that I also want to label. 





I got an idea from a post to laminate the labels and make them into stickers.  The post mentioned a xyron machine that laminates on one side and on the other side it has adheasive to use as a sticker. 

Since I already needed a laminator for another project, I went to look for one and found one that will help me do what I want.

So this is what I have been working on over the weekend. 

Laminating Saints trading cards, and other cards found on the Resource Site.  I will be using this for the Little Flowers Girl Saints study and for the virtues study.


I also laminated some labels for kitchen organization, and more laundry labels.  This machine does not come with the sticker side laminate roll.  So I have to purchase that one.  I plan to purchase a smaller one for smaller labels. 

This one, is better for large labels.  I am trying to make  good use of the laminate roll and not waste to much of it.  The machine came with a 6 feet roll.  I think I already used half of it.

Library Event

Today was our first event at the library.  The kids got to learn about reptiles and amphibians.  A local vivarium  showed their amazing little creatures to the children.

Among them many that I am terrified to  see.  You should had seen me covering my face and just terrified of them.

The creatures shown to the children were: snakes, a tarantula, a scorpion, frogs, a salamander, a gecko, an a giant lizzard.  Oh and also some turtles, and a huge tortoise.

When we returned home, I told the kids to write in their journals about their experience.  I also went online an searched for other activities that they could do regarding reptiles and amphibians.  Thanks to Paper Dali, I was able to find a link to a website that offers good resources for themed lessons.  

My kids are not homeschooled, however this summer I wanted to enrich my kids summer by taking them to on a learning adventure.  Like I said it on my previous posts, my goal is to keep them away from the TV as much as possible.

As soon as I post this, I am turning off computer and heading to our backyard for some sunlight and have the kids play out there on their bikes or we could play some basket ball together.  This will be like our recess time. Then we will come back for some more fun indoor activities.  While I prepare dinner and do my home chores. 

If you have any ideas for me, please let me know.  How do you spend your summer with your kids or grandchildren?