My Lenten Journey for Kids

I posted EGG-straordinary Lenten Rosary Project for your Family – a tutorial for a Lenten activity for families – over at Catholic Sistas. As I was revamping this post from one I did last year, I came across many great additions. While I won’t go into the specifics of the Easter Egg Rosary Project here, I will show you the booklet that evolved from it’s transformation from a post that was original to Designs by Birgit last year. I simply used links to various ideas for coloring pages, Stations of the Cross carousels, and other ideas and created a Lenten Journey Book for Kids.

My links are here: My Lenten Journey for Kids

Celebrating Lent in the Domestic Church

Advent and Christmas have only just come and gone, but believe it or not Lent is only a few days away! I have been in planning mode since just a bit after Christmas, trying to order my home and make lessons to ensure that the season is really lived and savored. While I do have a few new traditions I hope to add to our family this year, (like the Lenten Book Basket and 40 Bags in 40 Days), here is a look at what helped to make the season memorable for our family last year. My hope is that they will bless you and your family as we approach the penitential season and await the resurrection of the Lord!

 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
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Already have plans in mind for the Lenten season? Share how you will Keep a Holy Lent with all of us in the comments!
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Holly resides in the Deep South where you are sure to find at least one monkey jumping on the bed. You can find her at Three Sided Wheel, Facebook, and Twitter, where she blogs about home education and creating Catholic culture in the heart of her home.

Pro-life Corner: SUNDAY, February 12, 2012

 Priests for Life has been the source of Pro-life materials  for years. They coincide with the Church calendar and ‘contain three elements: a one-paragraph bulletin insert, General Intercessions, and suggestions for drawing pro-life themes out of the Sunday reading for the homily’. I will share all three elements every Sunday in an effort help us all think with a pro-life heart. 

The Priests for Life pro-life materials for Sunday, February, 12, 2012 go to Designs by Birgit

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Artisan bread – only 4 ingredients


The Lord’s Prayer, as taught to us by our Savior, seems simplistic on the surface – yet is profound and multi-faceted in its message. One of the petitioning lines of this prayer has always intrigued me: β€˜Give us this day, our daily bread’. Although this sentence of supplication speaks to our daily, physical needs, it has a connotation of so much more. 

Read the complete post and the recipe for Artisan Bread by going to Designs by Birgit

Catholic Blog Day


from
Catholic Blog Day:

February 22 (Ash Wednesday)
will be the first Catholic Blog Day!

All Catholic bloggers are invited to write on a common theme for the day. By speaking with many voices on a common aspect of the faith, we can help evangelize the digital continent and demonstrate the powerful presence of Catholics online.
The theme for February 22 is: penance.  …You can write about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; a memorable experience in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation; or how accepting the call to repentance has made a difference in your life.

A running list of Catholic Blog Days posts will be available at Catholic Blog Day
be sure to check it out and submit a link to your Catholic post!

Unschooling and Catholicism – Yes, it's possible! :)

I don’t define myself strictly as an unschooler since we’ve been attempting to use a curriculum lately, but during the earlier days of homeschooling, I didn’t realize that we were actually unschooling in a way. Now, for those of you who may be thinking: “Huh? What in the world is UNSCHOOLING?,” you may find the links on this page useful.
Image source here. (Disclaimer: The blogger whose site I got this from says she’s a “free thinker,” so I don’t know if she believes in God. Just being clear that I’m not “advocating” free thinker-ism [if there’s such a term, LOL]. Of course, God loves ALL people and it’s up to Him to make the final judgment.)
Actually, come to think of it, what we’ve been doing these days could be classified as unschooling too, especially since I still haven’t been able to “land” my dream “job” of becoming a fulltime stay-at-home mom. It’s been a real struggle for me to plan our lessons and implement them, and most days I end up letting the kids play to their hearts’ content, and make up for the seeming “lack of lessons” by reading more books as usual during bedtime. πŸ˜‰
In this light though, I am really grateful that I’ve stumbled upon the Unschooling Catholics blog and have even joined their yahoogroup. (Though right now, I’m more of a silent member, hehe!)
Homeschooling our children is still one of my top priorities now, and I find it really exciting that God is showing me different ways of how my fellow Catholic moms and our fellow Catholic families make it work. πŸ˜‰ At least I know that there are lots of options out there for us who feel and believe that we are called to homeschool our kids – thank You, Lord! πŸ˜‰
So if you’re interested to see how unschooling and Catholicism work out for the family’s best, try going over to the Unschooling Catholics blog! πŸ˜‰ They have a list of Catholic unschoolers’ blogs on the right sidebar of the blog page, which you may want to explore too. πŸ˜‰
Here’s to Catholic homeschooling, whatever “form” or “style”! πŸ˜‰ + AMDG +

HAPPY SAINT Valentine's Day!

When Victor (another Catholic Blogger!) from Happy Saints graciously gave me permission to use his awesome saint pictures in a craft, I was so excited!  I just love this company and their adorable saint pictures!

These made an awesome matching game to help my 5 year old learn more about the saints…

…and she’s handing out her SAINT Valentine cards tomorrow…what a nice Catholic change from Barbie and Buzz Lightyear!

Check out the whole blog post for HAPPY SAINT Valentine’s
at Equipping Catholic Families.

Catholic Bloggers Network Share-A-Thon (Giveaway) $350 in Prizes Ends 2/27/12

Here it is! The first ever Catholic Bloggers Network  Colossal   Giveaway. Prizes total over $350 (with shipping) and up to 16 winners!

What are we giving away?

Thanks to all of the participating Blogs!

Miracoli Rosaries
Mountain of Grace
Wondering
Ladies Of Our Lady: Denver
Mountaineer Country
Hair Bows 4 Life Bowtique
A Slice of Smith Life
Happy Saints
From The Pews
Catholic Homeschool Support
Conservamom
Through My “I”s

Our Village is a Little Different
Blossoming Joy
My Life’s a Treasure

The Rosary Chick

Crafolic ~ Catholic Crafts and More!

Day by Day in Our World

A Catholic Life

Equipping Catholic Families (Arma Dei)

Homeschooling With Joy

Raising {& Teaching} Little Saints

How do you enter?  Please follow the Rafflecopter form below!  Each action is worth a certain number of entries….Best of luck!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway
<a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

Welcome Jackie from My Catholic Family Circus

Hi my name is Jacqueline, everyone who is near and dear calls me by nickname: Jackie. I am a very blessed wife and mommy with many job hats that works for Free, but barters with hugs and kisses, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

I am a homeschooling stay at home mommy to 5 Lil’ Rascals for 10 years and schooling for 4 years. We also have a lil’ Baby Love angel up in Heaven above who sadly died of fetal demise in February 2008. Our extended pet family includes 2 cats Valentino and Tigger, and one cutie beagle Buster Brown. I have been married to my soul mate, best friend and husband Dennis for 11 years and blessed to know his beautiful soul for 14 years and counting.

Before my blessed mommy years I worked and aspired in a career in marketing. For 10 years I worked as a graphic and web designer and then as a project marketing consultant and analyst for several New Jersey and New York advertising agencies as well as newspapers in the tri-state area. I use my God-given talent and background in business to help me with my homeschool and mothering ministry. For a while, in my early mommy years I thought I was totally useless to the working world, but I slowly realized with help from many of my favorite Catholic authors and bloggers that this was not the case. God is awesome and He had a very definitive purpose for my life,whether in my career or as a mother. My background in business has helped me to organize and fulfill happiness in my domestic church (aka- my home) as well to properly organize my children in homeschooling and extracurricular activities. Because of the many online mommy blogs I read, I was able to learn about this beautiful and divine ministry of mothering and get out of my slump.

My personal goal with my family blog is to chronicle my Catholic family trying to live the word of God everyday through His grace and infinite wisdom. Life is supposed to be messy, and not perfect. I hope to chronicle the good times with the bad, and also to be able to payback forward and mentor those who are just walking into the divine and heavenly trenches of mommy hood, as it was done to me early in my mommy stages. It’s a beautiful ministry made from the hand of God. Our American culture is too quick in giving our mothering ministry a bad name. In time and with God’s grace, we as mother’s have to realize that we are not in control.

One day at a time, one thing at a time is my piece of advice to any mom in need of spiritual uplifting, and it may sound silly but always try to have God on your mind when you drink that glass of water.  It’s simple lil’ thing I do often during the day. I am always thankful to God, but the only time I have for prayer is when I drink a glass of water, and it’s for 1 minute, if that! =) As a mommy we will have our good and bad days. On those bad days with the kids frayed on your nerves and the house messy and husband getting at your last lil’ nerve, PRAY. It works and keeps you sane and happy. I truly believe it’s our divine vitamin from God.

It’s a hard walk at times to be a good mother and wife in this crazy world, but with Love and Faith and lots of Laughter, anything is possible with God! May the new bloggers joining this new network find comfort and mentoring in your words and life. May God bless you and find happiness in this new and beautiful Catholic Bloggers Network. Until next time…