The Holy Father's Prayer Intentions - March 2013

Mother Nature. That respect for nature may grow with the awareness that all creation is God's work entrusted to human responsibility.

Clergy. That bishops, priests, and deacons may be tireless messengers of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Adopt a Cardinal

We will be praying for Cardinal Francesco Monterisi in the coming weeks before and during the conclave and for the the three days following the election of the new pope!  We will be adding him to our evening prayer intentions.

 You can have the opportunity to actively be part of this providential endeavor by having a Cardinal assigned to you as well.

Go here:

Adopt a Cardinal

A Papal Unit Study & Lap Book

Vatican City Flag

Head on over to Jessica's blog 

and check out the 

Papal Unit Study and Lap Book

that she created!  

What a wonderful resource this will be as we move through this very historic time in our Church.  Even if you don't make the lapbook, she has some links to wonderful resources for learning about the Papacy and the upcoming election process of our new pope.

 

Thank you Jessica!

Pillows for the Patio!

This:

 

 Plus this:

 

Plus this:

Equals this:

 

Or this:

 and this:

makes this:

  
And then there were two.

Such a healthy snack!

I saw this recipe for Avocado Hummus from The Lovely Cupboard the other day.  Since I like hummus and avocadoes, I was very interested!  This was so easy and it turned out very yummy!  The cayenne pepper gives it just the right amount of kick.  Mine didn't turn out quite as green as the picture on Heather's post, but I was also used a fairly small avocado, and I also had to cut a few bruised spots out of it.  Next time I will definitely use a large avocado.  Even the kids really liked it!

I will let you know how it keeps in the fridge.  I hope it doesn't turn brown like guacamole does.

Good is Great

A very timely article for me today from the Seton Home Study School February newsletter:

Good is Great

A Big Day for Boyson!

Wednesday was a very big day for Boyson - he got his braces off!  I went back into my photo file and it was actually almost two years to the day that he got them on (my photos of the day he got them on was dated February 15th!).

 And finally, here are the before and after shots:

He got a celebratory bottle of sparkling cider and a bag of treats.  Too bad it is Lent - he will have to save the bag of treats until Easter Sunday!

I have a funny story to tell about all of this.  Two weeks ago, Boyson had an appointment to have his braces tightened.  At that appointment the orthodontist told us he would be ready to get the braces off, so we made an appointment for two weeks out.  Boyson decided that he wanted to surprise his dad, so we didn't tell him (it was very hard!).  The phone rang on Tuesday afternoon, and I couldn't answer it because I was giving the dog a bath.  So I asked my husband to get the phone.  It was the orthodontist's office calling to remind us of the appointment "to have his braces removed."  My husband was very surprised to hear this and all I could do was laugh!  I told him that we had done so well to keep it a secret and then because of fluke timing, the secret was ruined!  Oh well.  It was very funny in the end!

Anyways, I hope you like your $5000 smile, Boyson!  Take good care of it!

Lenten Preparations

The time has now come in the Church year for the solemn observance of the great central act of history, the redemption of the human race by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 I made these to display in our home as a reminder of the focus of the 40 days to come.  These are simply 5x5 artist canvas' that I painted and stenciled.  The paint on these really is purple;  my little camera is not high tech enough and it looks sort of blue.  Anyways . . .

 Lil Guhl had a wonderful idea.  We put the names of our extended family and close friends, our parish priest, the poor, and the sick onto small pieces of paper and put them into a small glass bowl.  Each night when we pray before the kids go to bed, we will draw out a name and pray for that specific person or group.  I found specific prayers online for each intention and printed them out so they will be handy.

And good ole' Dollar Tree had purple candle holders, and small grapevine wreaths, so I was able to put this together in a flash for our dining room table.

Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

 Amen.

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

Yes, I am a little early.  Since St. Valentine's day falls right after Ash Wednesday this year, it felt a little wrong to give my kids treats in Lent, especially because Boyson is giving up sweets.   So I am giving them a little Valentine's treat today.  Plus I thought the message on this card was very fitting going into Lent - we should be working on giving our hearts to Jesus!

Thanks to Jessica's Pinterest Board 

I found this lovely holy card and went ahead and ordered a few from Sacramentals.com!

Source: sacramentals.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I found these little goodies at the grocery store.

I took the other decoration off of them and attached my own.

An Apron Giveaway

Head on over to Catholic Cuisine, 

where Jessica is hosting a giveaway of a beautiful Catholic apron from

Catholic Embroidery.

Mention this drawing on Facebook, or your blog, and be entered twice.
The deadline to enter is February 16th.

Good Luck!

Praying for Pope Benedict today . . .

Very surprised and sad to hear this news today.  I don't even know what to think.

Pope Benedict Announces His Resignation

A Season Comes to an End

Please join me in praying for our pope today, and for the future of the Church.

"They left everything and followed Jesus" ~ 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Luke 5:1-11

How often do our own ideas, our doubts, our negative attitudes cause us to miss the miracle of Christ in our midst?  Mindful of all this, Christ commands:  "Put out into the deep."  If we live life as this risk, then our nets become full with the signs of God's love and care for us.  Even our sins cannot impede such abundance because they move us to beg all the more for a fidelity that we could not have apart from Jesus.  The Gospel that is being preached to us saves us from what would otherwise shame us.  Our sin is purged; our wickedness is removed.  

Do not be afraid.  

~Magnificat reflection for Mass; Sunday February 10th

7 Quick Takes - February 8th

1.  Daffodil bulbs that were sprouting in the bucket in the garage, planted - check!  Roses transplanted - check!  Yes, I know this is not the right time to transplant roses, but I really needed to move them to a different spot.  I am hoping they will be okay.

2.  Did someone say Lent?  On the 13th?  Really?

3.  Except for one letter of recommendation that I am waiting for, I finished all the requirements for the college scholarships that I am applying for for school this year.  Wow - it was a very long list of hoops to jump through.  Please pray that someone will think that little old me is worth at least a little bit of money to help pay for my education.

4.  My Business Editing Skills class is tedious!  It is all about grammar, usage, punctuation, etc.  While I consider myself to be well versed in this area, it is definitely a challenging class!  Thank goodness for years of teaching my kids using Seton's English for Young Catholics series, which has definitely aided me in scoring well in this class.  Speaking of college, the spring schedule of classes is out today.

5.  I finally took LilGuhl in for an adjustment at the chiropractor. I am hoping that maybe it will provide some relief from her migraine headaches.  I don't know if that is the key or not, but it certainly won't hurt anything.  I am praying that maybe it can be this simple.

6. My husband cleaned the garage this week.  I mean really cleaned.  Wahoo!   I can't help but get excited about cleaning and organizing.

7.  I signed Boyson up for a Study Skills Class at Homeschool Connections.  It starts in April and lasts 4 weeks.  It seems very timely as we approach high school this fall.

To check out the rest of the Quick Takes - go here!

A Book Club Reading List

Here's the reading list for The Tenacious Literary Chicks for the next six months:

February

The LittleBookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the UncommonPleasure of a Good Book 

by Wendy Welch
 

March

The Flight of Gemma Hardy 

by Margot Livesey
 

April

Tell the Wolves I'm Home 

by Carol Rifka Brunt
 

May

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 

by Ransom Riggs
 

June

The Light Between Oceans 

by ML Stedman
 

July

The Shoemaker's Wife 

by Adriana Trigiani

Mini Desserts for Book Club

I hosted my book club on Tuesday night.  I had thought that I would just purchase a pre-made cake or cupcakes or something to serve for dessert.  But when I was browsing around at Joann's the day before, I happened to come across this little book:

 

It sounded like such fun to make these little desserts!  

Each recipe makes twelve miniature desserts; what a perfect idea when hosting a larger group!

I also purchased a set of Mini Flare Dessert Glasses that included the cute little spoons.  I went to Goodwill and picked out an assortment of small cordial glasses so that I would have a variety of little glasses.

It was very hard to decide which recipes to make, but I chose Chocolate Peanut Butter Parfaits,  Lemon Cloud, and Berry Cream Parfait.   I did cut each recipe in half so that I would have 6 of each.

 It was fun to make a little display right on my coffee table!

They were all yummy, but hands downs, the winner was the Chocolate Peanut Butter Parfaits!

I hope everyone liked them as much as I did. I will definitely make these again for another get-together.

P.S.  The book we discussed was Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle.  It was an excellent book!

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

The Holy Father's Prayer Intentions - February 2013

                                   

Migrant Families. That migrant families, especially the mothers, may be supported and accompanied in their difficulties.
Peace. That the peoples at war and in conflict may lead the way in building a peaceful future.