Francis Woke Up Early…

by | Oct 6, 2011 | Picture Books, St. Francis of Assisi | 11 comments

… and we are celebrating the feast of St. Francis a couple days late!

The past few days were pretty rough… You know it’s bad when your husband wakes you up in the middle of the night, offering you pain medicine, since you are crying in your sleep.   I found out on Tuesday that, in addition to some varicose vein issues, I do/did have an infection as well, which was causing a great deal of the pain.  Last night I was finally able to get a little sleep and I am starting to feel much better!  Thanks be to God, and thank goodness for antibiotics and baby belly bands!  I don’t know how much more I could have taken.

Now that I am feeling so much better, my kids asked if we could still complete our plans for the Feast of St. Francis, which was this past Tuesday, October 4th. I usually avoid celebrating feast days early or late, but in this case I thought it would be perfectly justified.   So, I pulled out the new picture book I had ordered,  the coloring pages I had printed, and quickly made up a plate of Wolf Paw Cookies for our afternoon read aloud and snack.

Our new book about St. Francis, titled Francis Woke Up Early, was just released.  Since it was written by the same author as a couple of our other favorite books, The Weight of a Mass: A Tale of Faith and Take It to the Queen: A Tale of Hope, I didn’t hesitate to add it to our ever growing collection of books on St. Francis.  Sure enough, we all enjoyed this new book very much, and my children loved that, unlike our other books about St. Francis, this one is focused on his childhood, and is the tale of a possible, though imaginary, outing Francis took early one morning.

While I read the story, everyone worked on the coloring page of their choice, other than Rascal, who wanted to come up with his own illustration.  

Coloring Pages:
St. Francis from Waltzing Matilda
St. Francis from CHC
St. Francis (with room for Copywork) CHC
St. Francis from St. John the Baptist Religious Ed


Now it is “quiet time” and I am off to try and take a short little nap with Rose.  Before I go, could I ask you all to say a little prayer for the health and recovery of our dear little Godson, who was admitted into the hospital yesterday?
 Thank you!
St. Francis of Assisi, 
Pray for us!

11 Comments

  1. Jamie Jo

    We didn't have any special cookies, but we did have "Bear Foot" ice cream. We also had a dead squirrel in our driveway on this feast day….I told the kiddos that was a part of nature, but Nicholas thought it was pretty ironic to happen on the feast of ST Francis.

    I'm praying for your sweet godson.

    Reply
  2. Unknown

    Oooooh, Jessica. I'm sorry about your pain! And praying for your godson, for sure.

    With love, Sarah

    Reply
  3. Jennifer G.

    Praying for you too.

    Reply
  4. Jackie C

    Jessica, I am so sorry for the pain. I know for me during my last pregnancy with my lil' meatball, it was quite painful as well. The best medicine is to keep feet up… and how can you do that with your precious ones. Prayers for you, your family and godson. God bless.

    Reply
  5. Patty

    My veins can plague me. Even though they can be quite uncomfortable, compression stockings are such a tremendous support. I get mine through Motherhood. Maybe you have already tried them. And they do not look ugly at all 🙂 I wear the kind that come up past the belly in order to support the pressure on one's bottom as well. Hope that wasn't too much TMI LOL. Hang in there. Take care of yourself.

    Reply
  6. Katie V.

    Prayers for you Jessica and your God-son. Thanks for sharing your St. Francis celebration. That looks like a lovely book. I'm just curious, it seems like you accomplish so much in a day. Do you tend to stay home most of the day with the children? I find the days I don't go out, more gets done. God bless.

    Reply
  7. Anonymous

    I am so glad you are feeling better!!

    Reply
  8. Mom2Seven

    Continued prayers for you, Jessica, and I have been praying for Amy Caroline's little man. +JMJ+

    Reply
  9. Jessica Gordon

    I haven't been having any problems with my legs, thankfully. Thank you all for your prayers… I am really looking forward to Christmas and the New Year! 😉

    Katie ~ Yes, I am home a good deal of the time. When I go to town (with live outside a tiny town, so I usually do most of my shopping/errands about 30+ minutes away) I have to make the most of my trips and usually spend a whole afternoon/early evening once a week or once every other week, or I go on a Saturday when my husband is home. (This past week I had my OB check up at 3pm and then stayed in town until about 9 running errands.) With gas prices the way they are I have to limit my driving as much as possible anyways. We try to make it to Mass on Fridays (in addition to Sunday) and I had planned to go this morning, but after another difficult night I just don't have the strength/energy to take the kids on my own… I am hoping that his work load will lighten a little once he catches up from being away for training. My boys just love serving! When we do go into town on Fridays, I usually spend that day as my errand day. For example next week we will go to Mass, then the kids have a field trip, then we will grocery shop before coming home. It will be a full day, but a lot will be accomplished in just one trip. 🙂

    Reply
  10. Jessica Gordon

    Also… after doing these extra little saint celebrations with my kids for so many years, they really don't take much time. The last time I grocery shopped I picked up the cookies (I try and jot down a few ingredients I will need for each month when I am putting the monthly posts together over at Catholic Cuisine) and it only took about 5 minutes to melt the chocolate, dip the cookies and attach the claws (chocolate chips) – both of which I already had in the pantry. Another couple minutes to print the pictures. A few minutes to snap pictures and make a cup of tea for me. My kids always grab all the art supplies, so I don't have to do that anymore, and within 15 minutes they were all at the table and I was reading while they colored.

    It really doesn't take all that much time!

    Reply
  11. Katie V.

    Amazing! Thank you Jessica for sharing. I guess little by little I will get there. When I'm baking or cooking or doing a craft, it seems there is always one ingredient/supply that I am missing. Our grocery store is about 5 minutes away. As of late, I do tend to stay home more. My husband always teases me that a stay at home mom stays at home. How fortunate that you were homeschooled yourself. I'm sure you learned lots of tricks of the "trade" (the mothering trade that is). Thanks again. God bless!

    Reply

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