A Very Special Intercessor!

Merry Christmas to everyone!  I hope your Advent went well and that you had a beautiful Christmas with the people you love.  We had two days with nice weather, good food and lots of family, as well as a beautiful midnight Mass.  But this post isn't about Christmas.  It's about a story that I've been wanting to tell but just haven't had the time.  It's an intercessory story related to our move.

You see, in our history of moving we've never had an easy time.  More often than not, the first house we would set out to buy would become encased in some sort of turmoil or other and we would end up buying a completely different house.  This happened to us three times.  The last time we moved, we did so because we had lost everything and were moving into a rental.  Needless to say, God had mercy on us and there was no extra drama.

This time, however, we were buying again, and although we did not have a house to sell, I fully expected the experience to be like it had been in the past.  I expected to find a house, fall in love with it, have something happen with the deal, lose the house and then find an even better one.  After all, that's how it had been before.

But God had other plans.  Let me backtrack a bit.  For the past year +, I had been praying, along with many others, for Courtney Lenaburg and her family.  In fact, it was just one year ago that she died.  When she did, I cried along with everyone else.  After her passing, I had read stories of her intercession, one in particular about a family who wanted to move but needed a miracle with their septic field.  Through Courtney's intercession, that miracle occurred.  

That got me thinking that maybe I should call upon Courtney to intercede for us in this move since I really didn't want to have to go through what we've been through in the past.  

Can I tell you something?  St. Courtney came through with flying colors.  We began our search and had looked at a few houses when something (or someone :) nudged me back to the computer to look at the 90+ listings again.  There I found it, the house we had overlooked the first time through.  We went to see it and we loved it.  We brought our kids (who, being older now, had some very definite opinions about what they were looking for).  They loved it, too.  We put in an offer and at first it didn't seem like we were going to come to terms with the seller, but I called on Courtney even more and before we knew it, the sellers came down in price and then started offering us their furniture...at no extra charge!  We closed in 30 days!  30 days, people!  With not one hitch.

Many times when miraculous things happen like this, I often find that God sends me a confirmation that what I am seeing is real.  The moment this time was when we were at the closing (which only lasted about an hour) and our realtor said, "I don't think I've ever been at a closing that got funded that fast."  From past experience, I know that that was God's way of telling me that I've witnessed something grand.  

We moved into a great neighborhood.  Having not had neighbors for 12 years, and having 7 children and 5 cars, we were a bit leery of what having neighbors might mean.  Our neighbors are wonderful.  Even funnier is the fact that in our small subdivision of about 33 homes, 95% of the people are Catholic. God has chosen a wonderful spot to reintroduce us into communal living.

I write this to let you know, in case you don't already, that there are many saints up there in heaven just waiting for us to call upon them for their help.  There is no other explanation in my mind (based on our past experiences with moving) for how smoothly everything went other than her intercession.  Miss Courtney is up there calling for miracles and how happy I am that we have been on the receiving end of her powerful intercession.  Thank you, Mary and Jerry, for raising and caring for such an extraordinary young lady!  I've been recommending her to others in need, so I think she'll be pretty busy up in heaven for quite some time. 

St. Courtney, pray for us.

God Bless!

Corpus Christi

Happy Feast of Corpus Christi...one of my favorite Solemnities of the year.   The parish we used to belong to had two-mile long processions at noon and it never failed to be super hot.  This year, since the parish we belong to now isn't having a procession, my mom encouraged us to come to their procession on Saturday evening.  It was an absolutely gorgeous evening and the procession, while shorter, was just as beautiful and nowhere near as hot.  Here are some photos to enjoy in case your parish isn't having a procession.

This beautiful chalk image was on the steps leading into the church.  It's hard to see it (phone camera picture!) but there is a Latin phrase written on the face of each step.  Of course I can't remember what it says or what it means.

My baby and my mom *sigh*

The altar my mom was in charge of preparing

This lovely little country church

Recently remodeled and gorgeous!

 Have a blessed Solemnity!

God Bless!

Catholic Conference 4 Moms

Today is the final day for the Catholic Conference 4 Moms.  It has been four days filled with wonderful talks to refresh and rejuvenate your soul; which is always a great thing to do during Lent.  Have you had a chance to listen to a lot of the talks?  I sure hope so.

Unfortunately for me, this conference came at a time when I'd been out of town for a few days and had to be present to the family this past weekend.  This is why I AM SO GLAD that the conference organizers are offering all of the conference talks as downloads (along with discussion questions) for purchase.

It gets even better.  Not only will I (and you, if you so choose) be able to download all of the talks and listen to them at my leisure, but they're throwing in some free goodies, too:  a couple of ebooks and some mysteries of the Rosary templates (you can check it all out here!).

Want some more good news?  This package normally costs $39.99.  If you use the coupon code I'm about to share with you, you'll get all of this for $10 off ($29.99)!!

The code you can use is:

Resources

There you go.  You get $10 off and since I'm an affiliate I receive a small stipend for promoting it.  Not a bad deal for either of us, huh?  Don't forget to use your code.   You can order your package on this page.

I'm really looking forward to listening to these talks and I hope you are, too (if you haven't listened to them all already!).

Feel free to share this code with your friends.  And then, share the talks with your friends.  You can have a monthly or weekly moms discussion group where you could all get together and listen to a talk or two and then, of course, discuss them.  Or how about holding a mom's retreat and spend the whole day using various talks?  Sounds like a great idea; maybe I'll try to organize one :)

God Bless!

Beating the February Blahs

I might have mentioned before that I really can't stand the month of February.  I thank God every day of it that He made it the shortest month of the year (even if it is only by 2 or 3 days!).

Last year was so bad!  Between the issues with my less-than-virtuous mental state and the enormous amounts of snow we had (and the stress that that brought with it), I was really dreading this February.  I decided I wanted to try to do whatever I could to avoid a repeat.  While I don't have control over the snow, I do have control over other things.

I think that our new way of eating (the Trim Healthy Mama way) will help.  I also started exercising again, so that's good.  On top of that, I sought out the help of a friend of mine on a Catholic mothers' facebook group I belong to.  She has this great knack for picking out just the right prayer/novena to pray for any given situation.  I pitched my February dilemma to her and she came back with this prayer:

I'm so excited as this is the perfect prayer for me for this month.  I figured that I'm not alone in this, so if anyone else struggles during this month with major blahs then maybe you would like to pray this prayer every day, too.  If you don't suffer from the blahs, then maybe you'd like to pray with those of us who do.  I am so thankful for my sister's in Christ, the gifts that they have and their willingness to share with others.

God Bless!
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We Are Pro-Life

It has been almost 21 years since my husband and I had our reversion back to our Catholic faith.  It was 19 years ago on this day that we had our first post-reversion baby!  This event is what cemented us in the pro-life movement.  It's her birthday, but the new Ms 19 yo is at the March for Life in DC, and while we miss her today, we are proud that she is there representing our family.  Should this slaughter rule law called abortion continue to be legal, I hope that we can continue to send representatives from our family to march for life.  One year I hope we can all go.

In the meantime, we went to our first March for Life Chicago this past weekend.  While it isn't as big as the one in DC, it was the biggest one yet in Illinois.  It is amazing what being with thousands of like-minded, peaceful joyful people can do for one's spirit.  That is what I like about the pro-life movement: it is filled with joyful people.  We know the ending.  We know we win.  What isn't there to be joyful about?

At the end of our march there was a small (maybe about 50) group of pro-abortion protesters.  They were not joyful.  We were singing and dancing and celebrating life.  They were not.  I thank God every day that I'm on His side.

Here are some photos from the day.  I pray that this is the last March for Life we have to participate in and that next year it will be the Victory for Life dance in the streets (or something like that)!

Loved this!

Pat McCaskey (owner of the Chicago Bears) giving a pro-life speech!

Abby Johnson speaking

God Bless all those marching in DC and may He have mercy on our country.

God Bless!

The Chore of Trying to Listen

I have a friend who has five littles all under the age of 10.  We are in a facebook group together and she is always posting about these great sermons she is listening to. 

I have seven children, three of whom are not home on any kind of regular basis and the other four who range in age from 9 to 16.  I never listen to recorded sermons.

"How can you listen to anything, other than your children, with all of those little kids?" I asked her one day.  I can't even put on music or play a youtube video without, and I am NOT kidding about this, at least half of the people who are home coming over to see what I'm doing.  It seems like the moment I try to listen to something I have people asking me questions or running over to tell me a story, which is all fine and dandy, but really very distracting.

Her answer was that she does it early in the morning while she's getting ready or while the kids are napping and that yes, she does hit pause a lot if she tries to do it at any other time.

My solution was then to initiate a mandatory nap time for everyone.  After realizing that that wasn't going to work, I made a mandatory nap time for me.  SCORE.

No, really what  I did was find this site on my Kindle and put my earbuds in  while I was making up my weekly menu and my grocery list.  Everyone usually leaves me alone during this time because they know how crabby it makes me, and listening to a great sermon made the time go by a bit faster and the task a bit more pleasant.  While it might only be once a week, at least it is one more time than before, which was zero.

There are a gazillion choices of great sounding sermons to listen to on audiosancto, so if you get a chance, hop over there and check some out.

God Bless!
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Prayers For Courtney

I'd like to take a moment on this Labor Day to ask you to pray for a young lady named Courtney who has suffered with seizures most of her 22 years of life.  She is also blind and cannot speak.  Her mother, Mary, blogs about Courtney, life with Courtney and the joy she brings to her family over at Passionate Perseverance.  If you've never stopped by, then I suggest you do now to find what you've been missing.

Right now Courtney isn't doing very well.  The Lord may take her home soon, but then again, He may pull her through this and leaver her here a bit longer.  What Mary and her family need right now are two things.

1.  Prayers - for Courtney and for Mary, her husband Jerry and their son Jonathon.  This is a tough road to walk and we need to keep them up with as many prayers as possible.

2.  Donations - If you are at all able, a GoFundMe account has been set up for them and the numerous medical bills the family has, not to mention the fact that Mary's husband is due to be laid off from his job in mid-September. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and to prayerfully consider how you can help.  While I have never met them IRL, by following their journey on the internet, I feel compelled to call on the Body of Christ to help this wonderful family out.  Won't you join me??  

Have a great Labor Day!

God Bless!

Celebrating St. Clare

For the past 13 or so years, we've been going to Adoration on Monday evenings at the local Poor Clare Monastery.  Yesterday being the feast of St. Clare, the nuns were in their festive mode (as much as cloistered nuns can be, of course).  

I love special days when they bring out the extra fancy monstrance.
 

I apologize for the quality, I am clearly not good with point and shoot cameras!

For certain feasts, they usually have a statue or some small shrine area set up to commemorate what they are celebrating.

For this feast, according to legend, St. Clare was entertaining a bishop for dinner when he asked her to say the blessing over the food.  She was reluctant but obedient, and when she blessed the food, a cross appeared on the bread.  In that spirit, the nuns put out baskets of blessed buns.

We decided to wait until we left Adoration to indulge in our holy morsels.
 

I know I'm a day late, but...Happy Feast Day, sisters.

God Bless!

Good Friday

God Bless!

Holy Thursday

Well, the picture I was going to put up for today also works, at least in part, for Theme Thursday, which is bread and wine.

May you have a blessed and meaningful Holy Thursday.

Check out Cari's for more bread and wine pics!

God Bless!
 

Happy Feast Day!

A blessed Feast of the Annunciation to you!  I've been really getting into icons lately so when I found this one of the Annunciation I was thrilled.  I found it here along with a great explanation of the different parts of the icon.  Of course, I have yet to buy myself an icon, but someday I will because I just love the intense colors that they use as well as the fact that everything that is on an icon means something.  Nothing is random.  I like that.

Today is also our consecration day.  We started doing this every year at this time back in 1999.  Wow, that makes this our 15th year of following the St. Louis de Montfort formula for the consecration to the Blessed Virgin.  I didn't realize it had been that long!  We use this book (this year I have mine on my Kindle and boy is that handy!), so if you've never done the consecration and are interested, the next series starts on March 26th with a consecration day of April 28th, St. Louis' feast day.

God Bless!

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March For Life 2014

We don't have anyone participating this year, but we are praying for all of the people who are marching today, despite the snow and cold.  Oh how I wish to be out there some day!

Here are our two marchers from last year

 

and the group they went with.

March on all you faithful pro-life people and know that our prayers are with you as we beg God for mercy on our country and for an end to this heinous crime of abortion. 

God Bless!

Hope's Cafe

Here's the newest installment of Hope's Cafe (this week featuring Ms 17 yo - the one with the long blond hair).  Enjoy.

 

God Bless!

Gregorian Masses

As we approach the feast of All Souls Day, I just wanted to mention a wonderful thing that our homeschooling group has been doing for a few years now.

Whenever one of the parents of the members of our group dies, as many people who can and want to, pool their money and they have a set of Gregorian Masses said for the deceased.  This is good on so many levels.

First, of course, it is so beneficial for the deceased person.  My fil died on the 13th of October and by the 24th the masses were already beginning.  In case you don't know, the idea behind these came from Pope St. Gregory the Great.  Apparently a monk named Justus was released from purgatory after 30 Masses were offered on his behalf.  In 1884 and 1888, the Congregation of Indulgences declared this series of Masses to be "pious and reasonable" and approved of their use by the church.  Therefore it is believed that this series of 30 Masses, said on 30 consecutive days, is very powerful in helping the soul in purgatory.  While we cannot be certain in every case whether or not the soul is released after this time, we can be assured that it is very helpful to them.

It also is very comforting to the family of the deceased knowing that these Masses are being offered on their loved one's behalf.  We usually have our Gregorian Masses said by The Seraphic Mass Association and the suggested donation is $150.  One of our favorite group of priests, Miles Christi, also will say Gregorian Masses and their donation is $300, I believe.  Many times a family cannot afford to pay for that themselves, so the fact that many families pitch in for this work of mercy is a great consolation.  

This is such a wonderful thing to do for someone who has died.  When we first found out about this a number of years ago, we arranged to have them said for all of our grandparents. As we approach this wonderful month of November and focus on those who have gone before us, why not consider setting up a tradition like this one in your family, homeschooling or church group?

God Bless!

Hope's Cafe

I always like to plug a good Catholic product or production whenever I can, so I'm here to give you something good to watch this weekend.

We've been involved in the Little Flowers Performing Art Center since its inception and the kids have done some wonderful acting, singing and dancing.

Hope's Cafe is the young adult/adult portion of the Center and every Thursday evening they meet to improv skits.  Each person was responsible for creating his/her own character and then they work out skits that revolve around something Catholic or a moral or virtue.  

This first episode is 30 minutes but it is quite funny and I think you'll thoroughly enjoy some of the characters and their sense of humor.




The second installment is only 5 minutes and is also good for a few laughs. 



I hope you'll view them, share them and help support this new Catholic endeavor to spread a good message in a unique and heartwarming way.  

Oh, and even though Ms 17 yo shows up in a future episode and I know all these other people, I really am not biased.  I like this show for what it is and what it is trying to do :)

God Bless

The Virtue of Eutrapelia

As I mentioned the other day, we heard a wonderful talk about the virtue of eutrapelia, which refers to "pleasantness in conversation" and was considered a virtue by Aristotle.  It governs our moments of leisure and falls in between "buffoonery" on one extreme and bitterness and harshness on the other extreme.  

Essentially, someone who exemplifies this virtue knows precisely how to act in every situation.  In other words, the person knows when to be serious and when to be lighthearted.  He also knows that leisure time is important and knows how to enjoy himself appropriately.

There is a story about St. John the Evangelist told by St. Thomas Aquinas.  Apparently a serious minded Christian was scandalized because he saw St. John playing a game with his disciples.  "The saint was roundly rebuked for activities so unworthy of an apostle. Instead of arguing the point (people as serious as this will argue forever), St. John picked up a bow, handed it to his reformer and asked him to shoot an arrow at a target. The man did. St. John asked him to shoot again and again. Finally he asked what would happen if arrows were shot indefinitely from that bow. His critic, in some irritation at so obvious a question, answered that of course it would break. St. John said that exactly the same thing would happen to a man; unless he gives his soul a rest, he too will break."

Having a good time is so necessary to our well-being.  As Father said, "Having a sense of humor is a sign of good mental health".  Let's face it, there is so much out there that falls into the "serious and overwhelming" category that we all need a break.  In order to carry on as Christians we need to exude joy and fight the fight with happiness.  If we never enjoy ourselves, it will be impossible for us to have that joy and happiness to give to others.  Father also said, "A soul can only remain in a tense state for so long."  Boy did that resonate with me!  I can just feel when my "soul" is about ready to snap from tension and stress.  At that time, a bit of good, clean fun is in order; something to refresh the soul, but not be hurtful, spiteful, crude or boorish.

Father tied in the restful Sunday to all of this, too, which was a good reminder.  Give time to the Lord, he told us, but then spend the day with family doing things that you don't do the rest of the week.  In his opinion, Sunday is not a day to sit on the couch watching TV because you think you can't do anything else.  Get out and enjoy your family, friends, neighbors, the fresh air.  Hike, bike, garden, soak up the sun, watch it rain from your garage (who else had a grandpa who used to do that??).  Garden, organize your closet, do things around your house that you would find relaxing and not consider drudgery.  That's what it means to take advantage of the leisure that the Lord is calling us to when He gave us this wonderful day of rest.

If you feel your soul about to burst from the stress of life, take some time to have fun.  Have fun with others, or do something fun yourself.  Laughing is good - make sure you do a lot of it!  Now go out and find that eutrapelia!

God Bless!

Holy Saturday

God Bless!

Good Friday

 

God Bless!

Holy Thursday

God Bless!

Happy Feast of St. Joseph

One of our favorite saints!  St. Joseph has helped us in soooo many ways over the years and we are truly grateful and so happy to celebrate his feast day.

Life has been crazy this past week...We had a bunch of field trips and a bunch of chaotic episodes involving cars and such so just now I'm getting back to the calm of my routine.  It was looking like we weren't going to make it to Mass on this great day because of our car issues, but our parish is having a Mass this evening in celebration of the Pope's inauguration.  Works for me!  Thank you, St. Joseph, for pulling that off for us :)

Have a blessed day and make sure to celebrate!

God Bless!