Pray

Every year, I choose a word to meditate on all year.  The word I chose for this year was Action.  I needed to Act on things that I had been procrastinating, such as my health, my home, my relationship with my husband and other relatives.

I did well all Spring, but then Summer came and things began to loose its joy. I fell back into inactivity.  Some days things did not get done.  Exercise got put aside.  A few projects that got started in the house have not been completed.

With school back in session, meetings, appointments, back to school shopping and other family events have kept me busy this past two weeks.  There are rooms in the house that looked cluttered.  Clutter makes the house look messy.  A messy house makes me feel, confused, overwhelmed.

I could ask for some assistance from my children, but now they have the excuse that they have homework.  I have always had problems getting my children to do chores.  I'm not a disciplinarian. I feel I have lost all hope trying so many ways to get my children to help me.  

I know that with some good communication and a good set up schedule, I can get them to do things.  I have asked my husband to help me in the parenting.  I feel that everything is left to me. All the household management, school activities, soccer practice.  I felt alone!

I understand my husband has a hard day at work. But its is important for him to spend some quality time with his children.  He also has a part in parenting.

A few days ago, I felt overwhelmed. I just felt I needed a break.  I need help.  I can't do all the house management on my own.  So I called on to God for help.

"Lord I need direction. I need guidance in being a good parent.  How do I get my children to help me with chores?  How do I get my husband to help with parenting issues? Show me what are the things I myself need to change in my attitude, and behavior towards my family?"

We all need God's help in our life.  He is the only one that can help us when we have given up hope in all the other method we have tried in the past.

So for this new school year, I have chosen the word Pray.

"...Pray and not give up" Luke 18:1
"Pray that you would not fall into temptation." Luke 22:40

There is so many other scriptures that I could quote, but I can't remember the exact scripture.  If you have any scriptures that you know please share them in the comments.  I'm going to make a print out of those scriptures that speak more to me and meditate on them daily while I have my quiet time.

I have updated my home shrine (altar).  This month we remember the cross on September 14. Our lady of Sorrows is celebrated on the 15th of September.  The color is green for Ordinary time.  I always keep St. Anthony on my altar.  I'm a very forgetful person and often misplace things.  St. Anthony is a very faithful intercessor.

The open bible reminds me to read it often.  This one is open to Psalm 91.  The rosary, a very important tool in prayer.

Please keep me in your prayers.

Catholic Decor

When I first started my blog, I followed Catholic Blogs of Moms that home-school.  I learn about keeping a "feast table" a section in your home dedicated to different Liturgical celebrations within the Catholic faith.

My home's "feast table" has changed many times.  I used an antique banquet table at first, now I use a small two drawer chest.  Being so small. I'm not able to accommodate much on it.

My collection of Catholic icons has increased.  I had them all over the house. Some were stored in the attic, in a china cabinet.

Recently I decided to gather most of those icons and keep them in one location. Close to the "feast table".

I used a book shelf that I was using for family pictures and the kids school bag-packs and books.
The taller icons, where placed on top. The smaller icons on the first shelf.  All the icons of Mary and St. Joseph on the 2nd shelf.  At the bottom, I have St. Patrick, St. Martin of Tours, and St. Therese.

 This other bookshelf was full of books, they are now sitting in a box, waiting to be organized in another bookshelf that I have down the hallway.

Here I placed the pictures of my family. My parents, sisters, and brothers.  At the bottom shelf, I have memories of my children's First Communion.

I'm a Catholic catechist. For two years I thought the children that have made their First Communion.  I like teaching kids about the Saints.  And I used the icons to make visual displays in the classroom.  During the Summer, I  also teach my own children about the Saints.  I have a collection of coloring pages of many of the Saints we have learned about.  Yes, I have been learning too.

The Catholic faith is so rich in traditions and culture.  I have learned so many things from other Catholic Moms, that have blogs.  In a few days, I will be updating my blog.  I want to include on the sidebar a list of interesting posts, I have written in the past two years.

I not only share my home organization ideas, but I also share about the Catholic faith, my Mexican culture, and my fitness and health goals.

I have organized a personal planner binder. In it, I include a section for blogging.  I have now a list of ideas for my blog.  This was one the items I had on my list. To share about my Catholic icons.  Next on my list is crafts organization.

Till next time, have a blessed day!

Color changes!

I moved the chair out of my bedroom and into the living room again.  Covered it with a blanket and changed the pillow covers.

Here is the sofa, with a different sofa cover. I love my pillow covers.  I got them at 99 cents store.

On the "feast table", added St. Patrick.  I left the icon of the "Sacred family"  I love the height of St. Joseph.  March is dedicated to St. Joseph.

I will be working this week in the attic rooms.  So you will probably see some posts on that later.

Homework Desk

On Sunday, I worked in the office.  I have been going through piles of paper.  Sorting, filing, and shredding.

Here is the before picture of the craft zone desk.

One hour of going through the piles and designating an area for each item. This how I organized the desk.

I found those round containers at the 99 cents store. They hold color pencils, markers, and highlighters.

The magazine holders contain, magazines for scrap booking and other homework activities.  Our family picture journal is there too.  Have not done much in it in almost a year. Empty folders and folders with clipping from magazines that I want to use for motivation collages.

Did you noticed the collage in the second picture.  I made that  for motivation during my 30 day challenge of Body Gospel. I'm using the large calendar as a magnetic board.  I do not have more space on the side of the fridge.  I was not keeping up with updating the calendar.  I might use it later.

For the white magazine holders, I used a tape I found at Michaels.  R and T are my husband's and mine initials.
Both of our first names start with the letter R.  Our last name starts with the T.

This little area above this small drawers, its what I call my Lent meditation.  The little book has prayers. I have a thimble with the name of the City where I grew up, till the age of 8 years.  "Juarez".  I pray for peace to this city because there is violent crimes there almost every day.

This  is my new incoming mail, sorter.  It has more room then the one I was using before.  I found this one at Salvation Army thrift store. Paid only $2.99 for it. This will help me to not pile papers on top of desk.  I can quickly file it under a category and deal with it later. And in case I'm looking for something in particular it will be easier to find.

I learned about this method at A Bowl full of Lemons.

I will be sharing this post there tomorrow.

Precious Blood of Jesus Rosary

For two weeks now, I have been praying the rosary to the Precious Blood of Jesus.  It is a little different from the traditional rosary.  But I feel it has helped me in many ways this past two week. 

Today I was a little more calmer, despite the fact that my children were distracting me a little while I was listening to the rosary on youtube.   A few days before, I will had snapped and turn into a yelling Mom, getting their attention. LOL.

I hope my children stay quieter when I pray the rosary, they know they should have respect and if possible pray along with me.  But somehow, they forget and don't realize how distracting this is for me.

I could wait to pray when they are off to school, but I want to do this first thing in the morning, before the start of my day.  It's better so that I do not forget to spend this time in prayer as the day goes by.

I have been reading a booklet about the rosary and how it is a powerful intercession weapon.  The booklet is called, The Secret of the Rosary. Author, Saint Louis De Montfort.

I will try to at least, say the regular rosary every day once.  And for this month, also recite the chaplet of the Precious blood of Jesus, every day.

In my previous post, I linked to a blog where you can find a beautiful prayer to the Precious Blood of Jesus.

Since I began this blog, I came to meet other Catholic blogers who share their devotions.  I have learned many interesting facts of the Catholic faith, I have learned new prayers, and new devotions.  All of them very beautiful and full of great faith. 

Hope you all have been having a great Summer.  Have a very blessed day.

First Friday

Its the first Friday of the month. 

Today, I will spend some time visiting the Blessed Sacrament.  This is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Here is a post from last year.

This year, I have a bigger image of the Sacred Heart.

Living Room

   

I moved furniture around in my living room.  One piece that belonged to my husband before we married, and I still continue to use is this cabinet for media storage.  This is its original look, but I added contact paper to the glass door to hide everything inside.  I got tired of the green palms contact paper.  I removed it and replaced it with another one.

I found the contact paper at the Dollar tree store.  There were different colors but I wanted a  neutral color that will go well with all the other furniture. I change  the  colors often, window linens, sofa and chair covers.

As you can see there's still clutter left in the living room, which I will target later in the afternoon.

Another change I made was in the wall decor.  My kids pictures are now here, next to the light swithch box.  I am going to cover it up some how, but still thinking how to do it.   This was the corner where the buffet table was before.

An the buffet table is now where the sofa was before the changes.

The buffet piece, serves as the Liturgical Feast table.  This are the new changes for the month of May.  To celebrate Pope John II beautification.  And Divine Mercy Sunday on May 1st.

Happy Easter!

Our new Easter season feast table. 

Made some changes in the living room, and I have not yet finished.  I need to hang up the Divine Mercy icon on the wall.  And the three plates decoration.

Here are my adorable kids.  They did not want to stand close to each other.  But in the end it turn out great because Baby Jesus comes out in the picture too.

 Daughter was able to collect all those eggs at the park today. 
Son did not want to take his individual picture.
Too busy playing with his new Lego set.

Cuaresma

Hoy empezamos la cuaresma.  Miercoles de Ceniza.  Y hoy decidi empezar a escribir mis posts en Español.  Se que si eres un seguidor de mi blog y no lees Español podras usar el traductor para poder leer este post en tu Idioma.  Eh compartido este blog con amistades que no estan aun familiarizados con los blogs. 

Pense en aser otro blog totalmente en Español, pero tendria que estar actualizando ambos y pasaria mucho tiempo en eso, asi que decidi quedarme con mi actual blog y escribir en Español.

A continuacion comparto una fotografias de mi altar en casa.  La mesa de celebraciones liturgicas.

Comenze el mes de Marzo con este altar y colores del calendario liturgico Ordinario.

Hoy dia cambie los colores del mantel y organize las imagenes de otra manera.

Durante el mes de Marzo, celebramos la fiesta de San Patricio el 17  y de San Jose esposo de Maria el 19.
La imagen que aparece en la foto es de San Jose Obrero.  Despues la cambie por la imagen que uso durante la Navidad de San Jose.  Pense que se miraba muy pequeño en comparacion con las demas imagenes en el altar.

Tengo tambien a la Virgen de Guadalupe, por ser la patrona de Mexico.  Estoy orando por Mexico para que se termine toda la violencia.   Tambien tengo a Santa Rita y una tarjeta de Santa Maria Goretti, para intercession en un caso muy especial que esta pasando unos familiares en Mexico.  No puedo dar muchos detalles, pero les pido que oren para que Dios escuche nuestra oracion.

La imagen del Angel dormido, representa los bebes no aun nacidos.  Que Dios los cuide y proteja.  Tambien representa los Angelitos que se fueron al cielo antes de nacer.   Mi hermana me regalo esta imagen hace unos años.

La imagen de la Divina Misericordia siempre estara en ese lugar, ya que es el Patrono de nuestro hogar.
Y la imagen del Niño Jesus con su vestido nuevo que su madrina le hizo para este año.  Con nuevo sombrero y nuevas sandalias hechos a mano.   Gracias comadre Mati.

El color morado representa el tiempo de Cuaresma.  Decidi solo usar el color en el mantel y la cruz.  El resto de la sala aun tiene el color verde en los decorativos. 

La imagen de mi intercesor favorito, San Antonio de Padua la lleve a mi oficina de casa.  Junto con otras imagenes.  San Francisco, San Martin de Porres, Santa Teresita de Jesus, y la imagen de la medalla milagrosa.  En fotografia tengo a Santa Teresa de Calcuta, a Juan Pablo II y a San Rafael Guizar. 

Tambien tengo en cuadro una foto de Juan XXIII.  Tengo mas imagenes en otras partes de la casa.  Voy a organizar bien mis estantes de libros para poder usar uno solamente para guardar las imagenes que no se usan en el altar principal.

Pues como ven, sigo actualizando mi hogar con los colores liturgicos.  Sigo pendiente de mi blog aunque no escriba.  Espero que tengan una temporada de cuaresma acercandose mas a Dios.  Su amiga de siempre. Dios los bendiga.

Our Lady of the Rosary

October is the Month dedicated to the Our Lady of the rosary.  As you can see in the above pictures I made some changes in my living room decor colors.  I added some fall colors to the feast table.
Today is the feast day of our Lady of the rosary.  This month is filled with lots of feast days for most of the most popular saints.  St. Therese (Oct.1), St. Francis of Asisi ( Oct. 4), St. Faustina and Teresa of Avila.

 I found at my local Ross, images of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Francis of Asisi, Our Lady of Fatima, and the Divine Mercy.  All for under $10 each.  That is a savings of more than $12 dollars each.  They are made of a resin material, light weight same height as the St. Therese image in the pictures.

I have not taken pictures of them yet, but you will be seeing pictures of each one in later months for their feast day. 

Tomorrow is my first Tupperware party as a consultant.  I am a little nervous, but hopefully it will go well.  I still do not have my actual sales kit yet.  My friend is letting me borrow her kit, for tomorrow.

Home Blessings

Hi Everyone.  Day two, of computer free mornings. 

I did get distracted, but not by the computer.  This morning, after quiet time and breakfast, I decided to move some furniture. 

Now, everytime this happens, more than one piece gets moved around.  I wanted the Feast table from the hallway, to be in the living room.  But I decided to use the buffet table thats in the living room for the Feast table.  I moved some of the statues to different rooms.

The Feast Table in the living room

Home office, computer desk hutch.

My bedroom

Then I took the  table from the hallway to my brother's room.  Had to take out the bookshelf that was in his room to make room for the this  table.

the hallway after removing the table

I then went into the office, and decided to also remove the dresser where I keep all the office supplies.  One of the drawers is broken, and it did not match the rest of the furniture.   So now I am left with all this items that need a place to store them in.  I am thinking to organize them in plastic boxes and store  in the laundry room linen closet.

before

after

Hopefully I will finish this unexpected project tomorrow.

August Feast Table

I started simple.

August is dedicated to the Imaculatte Heart of Mary. 

Since I do not have an image of the Imaculate Heart of Mary,

I decided to use this icon of Mary's Asumption.

Its also a Solemnity celebrated this month.

On August 15.

It is a special day for us, because my daughter was baptized on August 15.

I plan to do a special celebration this year.

We have never celebrated our baptisms anniversaries.

It should be a special day, because its the day we are received into the church.

The Cathecism of the Catholic Church states:

1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua),4 and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."5

This month includes the feasts days of other Saints.  I will be reading their short biographies to my children.  And my children will be coloring pages of these Saints.

St. John Vianney, St. Monica, St. Augustisne of Hippo, St. Clare, and St. Rose of Lima.

At Church we will have a special celebration on August 6, the transfiguration of Jesus.  Salvadoreanians, celebrate their patron the Divine Savior of the World.  It is an image of Jesus' Transfiguration. 

I had this small image at home for a week.

Here is the final picture of the August feast table.

I added Father Wood.

A picture of St. Alphonsus Liguori, feast day, Augut 1st.

A small prayer card of the Imaculatte Heart of Mary.

printed from this site.

And a book that tells the story of Mary.

The image of Jesus, "The Shepperd", is one of my favorite.

The Lord is my shepperd,

I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down

 in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

Your prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You annoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the lord

Forever.

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.

Thankful Thursday

Here is something to be thankful.

My son drew this for his Dad.  It is St. Martin of Tours.

I told my husband that our son had drawn the Sacred Heart icon and Our Lady of Guadalupe. 


He wanted to challenge our son and asked him to draw the icon of St. Martin of Tours. 


Here is what my son drew.  I took a picture of the drawing instead of scanning it because sometimes the scanner fades some details.

My son is only 7 years old.  I hope that he uses this talent well.

The following picture was taken at my sister's house.  She has this display on top of her media cabinet.  She changes the color of the drape for each liturgical season. 

She also has a home shrine or altar, where she has the infant Jesus dressed in white.   The family bible opened.  The easter candle.  And a rosary on the wall.  She also changes the colors of the linens and the dress for the infant Jesus.

She also has a collection of saint icons.  But she keeps those in her bedroom.  

She uses them for the Little Flowers Club meeting.  To show the girls the particular saint they are learning about.  

I will be having our club meeting this summer like last year.  There is also a club for boys, they are called the Blue Knights.  You can find out more about this clubs at this blog.  Little Flowers Girls Club.

liturgical colors

As you enter the front door of my home. You see immidiately that this is a Catholic home. Not just Catholic but also Mexican-American. I am proud of my culture and of my faith. In every single room of this house, excluding the bathroom, you see a small shrine dedicated to Jesus and Mary.



This year I have been using the liturgical colors used to signify the seasons, feasts and holy days of the church.

Thanks to Jenn over at Wildflowers and Marbles and Lacy at Catholic Icing, I was introduced to how to use the liturgical colors within my home.

This small shrine is in my home office, just above my computer. The sacred heart icon is one of my favorite. The child of Atocha was my grandmother's special devotion. And of course Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron of Latin America. The cross is a reminder of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. This one is from Home Interiors' Max Lucado collections. I placed a small rosary on it as a reminder to pray the rosary.





The picture above where you see the icon of the Holy Trinity is another section of my living room. This is actually the wall adjacent to the kitchen. Here you see pictures of my Parents, sisters family, and brother with his fiance. The words Family and Love are a reminder that in our family Love is what keeps us together.


Next picture is from my bedroom. Here I have a big mirror with the image of our Lady of Guadalupe painted on it in gold color. On top of the dresser a picture of my children, a small icon of the Divine Mercy and the sacred family, Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.






I have another table in the hallway going towards the laundry room, stairs to the attic and the back door. Here I have another small shrine that will be changing monthly acording to the different celebrations of the month or season. You can see the picture on this post.

Here is a picture of a few months ago during lent when I decorated for the feast of St. Joseph the worker, spouse of Mary, and foster father of Jesus.

These are just a few of the ways that I have been using the liturgical colors withing my home. And how I am making a domestic church in my home. Keeping our traditions alive and sharing them with my children and the people that visit our home.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is a Catholic devotion practiced by many Catholics for many years.

Here is a brief explanation from the Catholic website EWTN:

Devotion to the Sacred Heart, as we know it, began about the year 1672. On repeated occasions, Jesus appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun, in France, and during these apparitions He explained to her the devotion to His Sacred Heart as He wanted people to practice it. he asked to be honored in the symbol of His Heart of flesh; he asked for acts of reparation, for frequent Communion, Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the keeping of the Holy Hour.

When the Catholic Church approved the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she did not base her action only on the visions of Saint Margaret Mary. The Church approved the devotion on its own merits. There is only one Person in Jesus, and that Person was at the same time God and Man. His Heart, too, is Divine -- it is the Heart of God.

There are two things that must always be found together in the devotion to the Sacred Heart: Christ's Heart of flesh and Christ's love for us. True devotion to the Sacred Heart means devotion to the Divine Heart of Christ insofar as His Heart represents and recalls His love for us.

To read more go here.

I have always loved the icon of the Sacred Heart. It reminds me of God's love for us. God loves us so much that he sent his only son to died for us. Jesus Loves us so much he was willing to die for us on a cross. God is love and he wants us to love one another. His love is unlimited and unconditional.

Reading the lives of Catholic Saints is inspirational to me. Because of their passion for Christ and the way they showed love to others. Even when they were mistreated by others, they continue to do good things. Even through their own suffering illnesses, they never gave up. They continued serving the Lord Jesus on till their last breath.

This week I have been reading the Gospel of Mark. In Chapter 10 verse 43, Jesus tells his disciples, " whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Are we willing to humble ourselves and be treated as slaves, mistreated, and even give up our life for others. Not many of us are willing but Jesus was willing and he gave his life for us.

And that is my goal, not to be considered a Saint or be canonized, but to live a life in the service of God. Loving others, helping those in need. Using the talents God has given me for the good of others. Showing my children how to be servers. Having a charitable heart.