St. Ignatius of Loyola
Yesterday the children woke up and were so excited that it was *Thursday* once again. Meaning, that it was time for:
Summer with the SaintsCaptain was especially excited since it was also the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, as well as his baptismal anniversary!
When we arrived, we headed around to Marci’s backyard. Just like each of the prior weeks, Marci had a number of tables set up with different activities for the children.She must be spending so much time and effort putting this on for all of us! Everything is always so fun and well thought out. It has been such a wonderful blessing for my family!
Today’s theme was (quite appropriately)
St. Ignatius of Loyola!
The children began the morning coloring pictures of St. Ignatius, while Marci read them a short story about his life.
Then it was snack time. Marci made Ignacio, a cake for St. Ignatius Day found in Cooking with the Saints, as well as a few miniature “gluten and dairy free” cakes for a few of us unlucky ones. Isn’t she so thoughtful!!??!!
For the craft project today, the children made little miniature pictures of churches, to represent the “Order of the Jesuits,” since St. Ignatius founded this order.
Marci came up with these all on her own too! Didn’t they turn out cute?
Once again we are all counting down the days till next Thursday!!
I wonder which Saint is up next… Any guesses??
New Again
This music video, featuring clips from the movie, “The Passion,” is so very moving. A wonderful reminder of how much God loves us.
Please Pray
I received a phone call from my mom just over an hour ago, letting me know of a tragic loss in our family. I can’t talk about it right now, but my husband and I just prayed the rosary. (I am so thankful he is home!) I just wanted to ask you all to please offer up a prayer as well. Thank you so much!
Scenes from a Summer’s Day, 7
Yum!
Quick Question…
I only have a few minutes right now, since my hubby will be home anytime (YEAH!!!!), and we will be having a couple families over to see some dear friends off to their new home, far far away… sniff.. sniff..
Anyhow, yesterday, as the kids and I were scrubbing the deck, I looked up at the birds nest that was built on one of our entryway columns during the Spring.
Isn’t that such a cute place for a nest?
I have yet to see any birds flying to or from the nest, and started wondering if it had been abandoned.
I have never been much of an “outdoors” person, so I know very little about this sort of thing, which I plan to remedy this coming year with the help of a few
So, I grabbed a chair and climbed up to see if there were any eggs inside the nest.
Not quite… After many tries, I finally got this shot:
While I am on the subject of birds… I just love this picture that my hubby took while we were back in Nebraska. Isn’t it just too cute?
The Simple Woman’s Daybook ~ July 28
Outside my Window… it is another beautiful day! The inflatable pool is filled with water for the kids, and a soft green lounge chair is just calling my name. I think I am going to grab a cup of sun tea and a book and head outside in a few minutes!
I am thankful that… my husband is coming home tomorrow!!!! It’s been hard enough having him gone the last 15 days, not to mention worrying about his safety.
From the kitchen… left over pizza, birthday cake and ice cream from a sweet little girls 1st birthday party. Yeah… Thanks a lot Regina, for leaving it… Can you say sabotage?
I am creating…our curriculum lists for the upcoming school year. Finally!
I am going… to start a Little Flowers group in my tiny little town. Last year one was started 40 minutes away, and we ended up having only one meeting. Twinkle Toes has been asking all year when the next one will be… She was so excited about it! I have a few others that our interested, and it will most likely be a small group, but, hey, that’s a start, right?
I am wearing…my swim shorts and a tank. We (the kids and I) just finished scrubbing our front deck.
I am reading watching… A Loving Lifestyle: It’s All About the Relationships. I ordered the whole set a few months back, and am just now getting around to watching the rest of the talks. It is VERY good, and just what I have been needing to hear right now. Seriously, this woman never ceases to inspire me.
I am hoping… that it won’t be forever before I get to see my sister and her family. She called me today to let me know they won’t be coming out this month, as planned. I haven’t seen her in over 2 years, or met her youngest son, who is also our Godson. Whah!!!!! Why does everything have to cost so much?!?
I am hearing…Drive thru History
Around the house… I have been working hard at organizing, and decluttering. It never ends, does it? It sure feels good to make progress though!
One of my favorite things… is the 10 minute phone call I have been getting from my hubby each night at about 9:30 pm. I look forward to it all day!
Clean up the house and yard before hubby gets home tomorrow. Make a grocery list and stock the fridge, so there is some yummy food to come home to. I am also hoping to make this as well. (Right now there is basically only some Milk and Eggs left…) Have some friends over for dinner tomorrow night, since they will be moving on Wednesday. I still can’t believe they are moving… Auditory Processing Class for Captain, Mon-Wed Summer with the Saints on Thursday Celebrate the anniversary of Captains baptism on the Feast of St. Ignatius. Prepare for another 2 weeks of swimming lessons, beginning next Monday morning.
from the library has been such a hit, we are going to have to add it to our own collection sometime!To see more Daybook entry’s, click here.
*Almost* Excommunicated
As you have all probably noticed, I am not a very good writer. In fact, before my application to Christendom, I think that the last paper or essay that I had written was way back in 5th grade. It just wasn’t something my mom made me do, and I was fine with that… It gave me more time to read! In fact, the first course I was required to take in college was actually Grammar 101. Isn’t that awful?! (One of the benefits of home educating though, is that I can learn along side my children! So hopefully my writing will improve with time.)
However, I do love taking pictures, and since “a picture is worth a thousand words,” I am usually able to share stories with the help of pictures here on my blog.
That said, I am going to try and continue the story of our trip to Nebraska. I hadn’t forgotten, it has just been super busy lately. I left off with the First Mass and First Holy Communion.
That Mass was so incredible that I didn’t want to share this story in that post. I wanted you to see all the beauty first, and now, I will tell you about the crazy part of that day… without photos… I didn’t have a chance to take any… Sorry! ☺
As I mentioned briefly, in a prior post, Snuggles had not been feeling well since the day of the Ordination. He was no longer throwing up, but he was extremely cranky.
After we arrived at Carmel, and Captain made his First Confession, we went into the chapel (which was already almost full, minus the row in the front reserved for us) and sat down. Snuggles started crying immediately. I tried snuggling him, and then nursing him, but nothing could calm him down. I took him outside.
At this point, I was trying to accept the fact that it was very likely that I was going to miss the First Mass and our oldest son’s First Communion. I stood there fighting back the tears, wondering “WHY now?” as I bounced my baby. You see my children are *usually* very well behaved during Mass.
Then an angel came my way. A sweet woman, a friend of my brother-in-law’s, walked up to me, and asked if I would let her take care of my baby so I could attend the Mass. I wanted to let her, but I also felt awful that she would be so distracted during the Mass. She insisted, saying she had to stay in the courtyard anyway since the chapel was full, took Snuggles (who then calmed down for her), and I went back into the chapel.
The Mass WAS beautiful, and everything WAS going perfectly… until…
Until, all of a sudden, shortly after the Consecration, my daughter peed all over the floor.
We were given no warning. It just happened. There was a HUGE yellow puddle of pee all over the white tile, and my skirt was soaked as well. To make matters worse, we were in the very front row, and the puddle was right in front of the communion rail, which would be needed soon for communion.
The weird thing is, Chiquita has been potty trained since last November, and she never has accidents!
Anyhow, since I didn’t have the baby, I didn’t have ANYTHING to dry the floor. No blanket. No diaper bag. NOTHING!
In a panic, and without thinking, hubby and I grabbed our daughter and jetted out the nearest door, since the aisles of the overflowing chapel, were full of people kneeling.
The plan was to get to the courtyard, grab one of the baby’s blankets and get back into the church and clean it up AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, since Captain would be making his First Communion in just a few minutes.
The door slammed shut behind us (oops!), and we were not quite prepared for what happened next. My hubby later described it as feeling like we had climbed into the wardrobe and found ourselves in Narnia — basically, we found ourselves somewhere we were NOT expecting to be.
A number of “OH NO’s” hit all at once:
“Oh NO! There is a dog!” (As Chiquita started screaming!)
“Oh NO! How are we going to get out of here?” (We were in a small yard with a solid, super tall fence, with a locked gate.)
“Oh NO! Our son will be receiving his First Communion ANY minute!” (We have to get out of here, and back into the chapel!)
“Oh NO! Did we just enter the cloister?” (Outsiders are not allowed to enter a Cloistered Convent without the permission of a bishop, under the penalty of excommunication.)
“Oh NO!!! ARE WE EXCOMMUNICATED???”
The door we had come out had locked behind us, so my hubby tried to find a way to get though or over the fence. In the meantime, I found an open door, which apparently led to a garage. By this point I figured out that we must be in Monsignor’s quarters. Whew!!! We were not excommunicated! Nevertheless, we HAD to get back inside the chapel to be present for Captain’s First Holy Communion, and to clean up that floor!
We went through the garage to the other door, and thankfully it was unlocked as well! We were now inside Monsignor’s kitchen! Have you ever broken into the home of a Monsignor before? It was the first time for us… and hopefully the last time! Anyhow, we hurried to the front door and out into the courtyard.
We took a **deep breath** as all of the people in the courtyard turned to stare at us… I’m sure they were wondering *just what* we were doing in there during Father’s First Mass with Monsignor on the altar as well!
Hubby immediately ran to grab a blanket, and another sweet new friend I made on the trip ran over to take Chiquita from me (as I was removing her soaked shoes and tights) saying, “HURRY! GO!!! I’ll take care of her!”
So, we took another deep breath as we tried to recollect ourselves and make our way back into the chapel, and into our seats just as the Master of Ceremonies signaled Captain to approach the communion rail. Aahh! We made it!
All’s well that ends well, right? And it sure ended well… It was absolutely heavenly and totally picture perfect!
I tried!
Today was one of those days where nothing seemed to go as planned.
I started the day thinking that we would head into town early, run by Barnes and Noble (for my boys to turn in their summer reading charts), drop Captain off at the library with his tutor, take Snuggles to the doctor, pick up Captain, take Snuggles to have his blood drawn (there wasn’t enough from previously to complete all the tests!), and head home for the afternoon.
After multiple phone calls, to and from everyone, my plan was totally changed. We ended up spending the morning at home since Captains class was canceled as well as Snuggles doctors appointment. The doctor still wanted me to bring Snuggles in for a weight check at 1:00 and then his blood draw was changed to 2:00. After that, the children and I spent the afternoon in town before heading home at 6:00 pm.
WE DID get some good news when we weighed Snuggles, at the doctor’s office, and found that he had gained another pound since his last visit! Yeah!! That puts his weight up about 2 pounds since mid June! His doctor said he is gaining weight at the rate of a newborn baby, which is great, since he was so far behind. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!! I am sure we have those to thank for his weight gain! (The blood draw went well too, and they should have plenty this time to run the test. I am anxious to see how it turns out.)
Anyhow, even though we were gone most of the day, we did have a little time to celebrate the feast of St. James. My boys copied the prayer to St. James to add to their notebooks, along with a picture of him (see above), while I headed to the kitchen to bake the cake.
Does it count if I totally cheated while making the cake? I ended up skipping this recipe, and just whipping up a lemon cake mix and adding some almond extract to the batter.
Captain said, “It smells funny, but it sure tastes good!” All the children loved how the Cruz Santiago (St. James’ cross) turned out. Doesn’t it look neat? Next year I will try and make the real recipe!
Oh, and the Coupe Saint-Jacques were a huge hit, as usual!
I hope you all had a lovely feast of St. James. God Bless!
Happy Feast of St. James!
Today is the feast of St. James, who happens to be one of my boys patron saints, and a favorite in our home! For some feast day recipes, head on over to Catholic Cuisine. I posted a delicious looking recipe for Tartelettes de Saint-Jacques à la Mangue (which I am probably not going to be able to make, since we are heading to town for doctors appointments.)… However, for dessert, I will be making some Coupe Saint-Jacques and a Tarta de Santiago!
Do you have any special plans for today?
St. James the Apostle ~ Pray for us!
Scenes from a Summer’s Day, 6
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