7 Quick Takes November 30 2012

--- 1 ---

I ran a couple of posts this week about wonderful products you can buy and/or sell that will help women around the world.  I also received info on a few other groups that I would like to mention.  You can click on the links and check them out.  The first is Mercy Covers:  "Mercy Covers is an initiative of the St. Bryce Foundation with a two-fold purpose, providing meaningful work and discipleship for women in rural Costa Rica while gifting hand-made quilts to orphans and trafficking victims. "

--- 2 ---

The other one I was sent was for Made by Survivors, which is  "an international nonprofit organization which employs and educates survivors of slavery and other human rights abuses, including many women and children living in extreme poverty."  Lots of good stuff to check out. It is mind boggling to realize how many women and children are victims of trafficking and abuse.  We truly do lead a sheltered life in this country.

--- 3 ---

I mentioned this in my newsletter this week and I'll mention it here, too.  I am currently updating my Catholic Owned Companies page on my homeschooling website, so if you or anyone you know has a Catholic company or product and would like to advertise on my site, just contact me here.  It's only $10 per year and there are many perks!

--- 4 ---

Any woman who lives in the Chicagoland area and is interested in an Advent retreat, there is an opportunity coming up SOON, December 7-9th, at Marytown in Libertyville:  The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius preached by the wonderful priests of Miles Christi.  You can go here for information and to register.

--- 5 ---

Here is a wonderful dress made by a friend of Ms 20 yo. 

The two of them are in business together and Ms 9 yo was the wonderful recipient of one of their first dresses.  It might be too late for Christmas, but never too late to get "Your Little Princess" a wonderful custome-made dress :)  You can check out their site here.

--- 6 ---

Since I'm on a huge roll here with Quick Takes that have links in them, why not continue...If you're counting down the minutes until Christmas break because your day just doesn't go as smoothly as you'd like it, why not consider checking out my book "A Plan for Joy in the Home"?  It is just what you need to get your second semester off to a great start.  Order it now through December 8th and receive FREE SHIPPING!!!  Can't beat that, can ya?  Consider getting one to give as a gift, too :)

--- 7 ---

So thats that.  No more links.  Just a few words to wish you a great weekend and a blessed First Sunday of Advent.  Get those wreaths out, pray the St. Andrew Christmas Novena (ha, I lied, I just put another link in :) and make it a great liturgical time!

God Bless!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

A Wonderful Way to Really Learn the Rosary

I don't know about you, but no matter how hard I might try, I'm constantly having to reign in my wandering thoughts while praying the rosary.  My kids, especially the younger ones, have a difficult time, too. 

Over the years we've tried a variety of ways to stay focused:  rosary videos, a  rosary CD, rosary coloring pages, laminated pictures of the rosary (yeah, that worked great...the kids constantly fought over who would get to switch the picture!).  I figure it is our job as parents to just keep trying to reign everyone (even ourselves) back in every once in awhile so we can hope that we might get one truly good prayer with each rosary!  I know, lofty goals, aren't they??

A few months back, I received a copy of a wonderful rosary program aimed at helping children really learn about the rosary and learn how to focus their prayers.  Cassandra Poppe, the author, describes why she wrote this program:

  "I created the Rosary Quilt, Rosary Quilt Manual and Rosary Quilt Workbook to help teach the Rosary devotion to my children. My children already knew the prayers and had a basic idea of what the Mysteries were about, but they had too much energy in their little bodies and nothing to keep them focused. The Rosary Quilt served as a “practical aid”, which certainly increased their appreciation of the prayer! And the book served as a learning tool to deepen their understanding of the Mysteries as well."

The Rosary Quilt Curriculum is a very detailed and thorough program that will help you to teach your children the mysteries of the rosary using information from many sources, including St. Louis de Montfort's "The Secret of the Rosary", as well as information and many activities to teach them the virtue associated with each mystery.  For example, the Annunciation focuses on the virtue of humility, so there are five days of lessons and activities to help your children learn the mystery and the virtue of humility.  

There is also a workbook that contains a variety of pages for each mystery, including a coloring page and a page to record appropriate bible verses that have been memorized.

I think the thing that makes this program so unique is that it also has instructions on how to make a rosary quilt.  The pictures I saw of an already made rosary quilt were wonderful.  The quilt is meant to be made by the family and used during the praying of the rosary as an aid to staying focused.   If you are crafty, this quilt would be a wonderful project for your family to do and then to use whenever you prayed.  If you aren't crafty (ME!!) this rosary quilt is not an essential part of the program.  Cassandra gives you ample directions on how to work without it (although I do think it would make a wonderful addition to family prayer!).

If you are looking for a comprehensive, well layed-out program to teach your children this powerful prayer and its corresponding virtues, I would definitely encourage you to take a look at The Rosary Quilt Curriculum.  This would be great with an RE class or homeschool co-op, too!  Although it could be used and adapted to any age, it seems best suited for kids up through third grade.

You can purchase the Rosary Quilt Program through her etsy shop.  

I think that this would make a great gift for a young family, so if you don't have young children, consider giving it as a gift to someone who does!

BTW,  I did receive a copy of this program in order to do this review, but I'm being completely honest in saying that I would not recommend it if I didn't really think it was a good program!  

God Bless!

Baskets from Ghana

 

 Yesterday I mentioned the lovely jewelry from Haiti that we were next to at the craft fair.  Across the aisle from us was this vast display of baskets.  I LOVE baskets.  I can never think of anything to put in them, but I absolutely love them.  For an entire day I sat looking at all these baskets trying to envision them in my home.  

The two women who were selling them were very outgoing and funny.  We had a lot of fun during all that time we had to kill.  I got to talking to them about what they were all about.  They told me that they import these fair trade baskets and sell them at craft fairs and farmers' markets and then use the money to support not only the women who make them but other young girls who live in Ghana and want to go to school. 

The name of the organization they work with is called BaBa Blankets and its corresponding group SISTAworks.  SISATworks is the part of the organization that helps put young, ambitious girls through high school.  You can check out their page to find out which girls are currently in need of sponsoring.

Other than finding the baskets at a farmers' market or craft fair, I don't think there is a way to get a hold of them.  I asked about this and she said they are a bear to ship and they are always different so it is really hard to keep a website going.  

 

You can, however, check out the girls from Ghana and see if there are any of them that you would like to sponsor.  Again, there are so many pleas for assistance all over the world, but you never know which one is going to strike your fancy...especially if you never hear about them.

I finally did buy a basket and it is sitting in my mud room just waiting to collect all of those hats and gloves that seem to never have a home during these long winter months.  It's great to have a beautiful,  well-made basket in my home.  It is even better knowing it is helping rural women in Ghana.

God Bless!

Jewelry from Haiti

While at our last craft fair, we had the wonderful fortune to meet some great women.  The first lady I am going to tell you about was at the table next to us.  She was selling bracelets, necklaces and rosaries made from women in Haiti.  These women have been trained to make the bracelets out of empty cereal boxes and newspaper.

 Each bracelet comes with a story about the person (usually a woman) who made it.  

 

The bracelet I bought, however, was made be Francisco.  He is a 19 year old boy who is making jewelry to support his mom, brother and sister.  His dad died and his mom can't work, so Francisco learned how to make this jewelry so that they can live.  He is also working to help pay for his own schooling.

The organization that makes these bracelets available to the US is called Three Angels Children's Relief.  They have an orphanage, a school and a medical clinic that they support in Haiti to help the poor.  Through this group you can sponsor children, give donations or take a less standard route and sell jewelry, just like the wonderful woman who was sitting next to us.  She even went farther and adopted her son from Haiti!  While that is out of the realm of possibilities for most people, providing some assistance probably is not.

I'm putting this post out there in case you are looking for an organization to support this Advent, or even all year round.  If you have someone on your Christmas list who might like a bracelet or a necklace that will help support the poor in Haiti, you can go to their website and find out how to have a jewelry party.

I hope you get a chance to check out this wonderful organization and help support it either through your prayers, spreading the word, or through a donation of some kind. 

 

 God Bless!

Catholic Woman's Almanac

Joining in with the women over at Sucipio!

Moments of Grace:

* A superb choir at Mass for the Feast of Christ the King

* An incredible homily

* A wonderful Thanksgiving day filled with many blessings

* Our formation group meeting last week

* This incredible meditation on the Mass

Beauty in the Ordinary:

To me, being invited to photograph a family is always an honor.  Even if I've known the family for a long time, there is something wonderful about capturing them on my camera.  This weekend I had the chance to capture just that...a beautiful, ordinary family!

In the Kitchen:

We're trying some whole chickens in the convection oven again.  We all loved them last time so we're hoping for a repeat.  We also have tacos, stir fry, a new Italian chicken recipe that sounds wonderful and some grilled salmon coming up.  Yum!

In this coming week:

I have formation group this week; we'll be preparing spiritually for the beginning of Advent.  Our church is also hosting a free concert this week given by the very talented (or so I hear) Tajci.  Can't wait to hear her myself!  Otherwise it seems as if it is going to be a quiet week.

Praying:

That I can plan an Advent that will help us to grow but will not overwhelm us while we prepare for the coming of the Christ child.  With all of the ideas spinning around in my head, it will prove to be a challenge.

Pondering:

How I can bring to fruition an idea that popped into my head last night.  I was reading Romans 12:9-21 when I had the idea to break it down into one idea a day.  Turns out there are just enough pieces for all the days in Advent.  Now, how do I use that????

Reading:

Okay, I'm ready to move on to "Choosing Joy" by Dan Lord.  I have a feeling that I won't be able to put it down once I start, but I think it will be a great introduction to Advent.

Captured:

God Bless!

It's Small Business Saturday!!!

Welcome to that wonderful day that helps keep families, like mine, going!!!  What a great thing it would be if we could purchase all of our gifts from small businesses but I know that that is not likely to happen.  Using some creativity, however, there are a lot of gifts that can be purchased from people who are trying to help support their families by running their own business.

My intent was to put up a wonderful picture of my three oldest girls and their soap business, but Blogger is telling me I've run out of space and so I need to work on rectifying that.  In the meantime, I've got a couple of options for you if you are interested in supporting a small business for Christmas:

1.  Mystic Monk Coffee-you'll notice on my sidebar that I have a banner for this wonderful group of monks who make some awesome coffee!  Not only are you supporting them by clicking and purchasing, but I get a little something, too!  If you've never tried this coffee, you should.  It tastes great!

2.  How is your school year going?  What???  I know, I was talking about Small Business Saturday, so what does your school year have to do with that?  Well, if you'd like to bring some organization to your year (you know, with New Year's coming up and resolutions and things like that), why not have someone purchase you a copy of "A Plan for Joy in the Home"?  Or,  if you feel on top of your game, why not purchase a copy for someone you know who could use a little life-organizing help?  You can check that out here. 

3.  I know I've mentioned this soap before, but just to keep you remembering, why not go check out my girls' soap website.  I'm not kidding, this stuff is great and it makes the perfect Christmas gift for a teacher, priest, stocking stuffer, grab bag, family down the street...you name it, it works!

So there you have it...three great options for Small Business Saturday.  Check them out and share this with your friends.  Have a great day and God Bless you for your support!

A Blessed Thanksgiving!

As we approach Thanksgiving and think about all that we are thankful for, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite bible verses that I found while doing my scripture study on the word "thanks".

O give thanks to the Lord for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!...Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress; He led them by a straight way, till they reached a city to dwell in.  Let them thank the Lord for His merciful love, for His wonderful works to the son of men!  For He satisfies him who is thirsty and the hungry He fills with good things"  PS 107:1, 6-9

O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name, make known His deeds among the peoples.  1 Chr 16:8

 And my all-time favorite:

Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  1 Thes 5:16-18

May God bless you all this Thanksgiving and may you have a great day with family and friends.  Thank you for stopping by here and sharing my journey with me!  

God Bless!