Saint Kateri Tekakwitha

I am so excited to be writing this post about SAINT Kateri! Last year I was writing about Blessed Kateri, what an amazing opportunity to share how this amazing this new saint is and share how she has made an impact in my life in the short time I have been praying for her intercession in my life and my children's. There were a couple fun ideas and crafts I described before but I would love any new suggestions or ideas! Last year we made sand art and colored from Holy Heroes free coloring book they offered. If you have a chance you should check out their website and purchase their Glory Stories CD about Saint Kateri. It is amazing and people of all ages will appreciate it! The CD even includes an interview of the little boy whose miraculous recovery in 2006 helped pave the way to Kateri's sainthood!

My plans for Saint Kateri's first year as a saint were postponed. I really wanted to make a visit to the Indian Temple Mound nearby on Saint Kateri's feast day but they are not open Sundays. Instead, I felt it would be very appropriate to spend some time outdoors with the boys. We are still having some difficult times and I feel so much more at peace hearing the soft sounds of birds, the gentle whisper of the wind and the grand beauty that the world offers us. God has bestowed a vast world for us to enjoy and Saint Kateri was very aware of this. I have started running and praying quite often to help me cope with my current circumstances and I have asked Saint Kateri to intercede and pray for me and my family. I can honestly say that the quite time I spend running and praying has helped me exponentially. I have Saint Kateri to thank for that I am sure. Praying outside is something I think everyone should do. I have fallen in love with the closeness and personal feelings that accompany it. I am thinking of creating a rosary garden including statues of Mary but also Saint Kateri, she is the patroness of ecology after all :o) And she also made her First Communion on the Feast of the Annunciation.

There is a Nation Shrine in Saint Kateri's name that I hope to one day visit! Until then I will continue with my small outdoor prayer time in her honor. Below is a picture of me and my children enjoying homemade lunchables and praying the Litany of Kateri and the rosary this past Sunday. It was so peaceful and I think the boys enjoyed it too.

St. Kateri, Star of Native People and Bright Light for all! We thank God for your heroic courage, constant perseverance and deep love of the Cross. Pray for us that our love for Christ may deepen. And may we imitate you in following God's Will even when difficulties arise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen

Saint Kateri, pray for us!

Feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

What an amazing day! To start the celebration of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, I decided to take the kids on a family field trip to the Indian Temple Mound. It was such an awesome experience and I am glad we decided to make a trip to the Heritage Park and Cultural Center before our move in a couple weeks.

I was extremely disappointed when I discovered our library has NO BOOKS to checkout on Blessed Kateri. The closest book store is over an hour away so I am contemplating making the drive to purchase a book for our personal collection.

My sadness has been greatly lessened when I received an email notifying me that Holy Heroes had a FREE coloring book download for Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Saint Imelda and Saint Juan Diego. I printed the coloring book for our Lily of the Mohawks and Little Man is ready to get started. I love that the coloring pages tell the short story of her life. While he colors with his brother we are going to pray the Litany of Kateri Tekakwitha.

In addition to our field trip today I wanted to make some Native American crafts. I decided on completing some Sand Art. From what I know about the custom, Native Americans would make pictures using colored sand to depict symbols from their tribes. I decided that making sand art would be fun but I incorporated the Chi Rho as our symbol. A turtle or lily symbol would make a great sand art picture as well. The turtle was the symbol of Blessed Kateri's tribe and she is known as the Lily of the Mohawks.

Since we have had typical Florida weather (Pours rain for 20 minutes while the sun is shining, stops and then starts again). I was unable to go to the beach to get sand. I am sure you can buy colored sand from the craft store but why buy it when God has created it for us for free? We have our symbols ready to go so hopefully this project will be finished tomorrow. I am really hoping to have a nice relaxing Sunday as a family since my husband will be off work too!  To the right is a sample of some Native American Sand Art. To complete sand art you need is any color card stock that has a symbol printed or outlined on it. Use white glue and place colored sand over glue. After you leave the picture to dry overnight shave off excess sand and you have a beautiful sand art picture!

For dinner tonight I made chili and Mohawk jiffy corn bread. I wanted to bake some fish instead but I have to admit I never cook fish, so I prefer for my culinary husband to do all the seafood cooking in our household.

The one thing I really wanted to do today was pray the rosary on the beautiful nature trail near my parents house. It was raining so I decided against it. I thought it would be so peaceful and we could make stick crosses to leave along the trail like Blessed Kateri  did. Maybe I should have bought some ponchos and let my children dance in the rain? Hmm...

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us! 

Indian Temple Mound

Today we made our first visit to the local Indian Temple Mound in honor of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. The Mound was built sometime around 700AD has been restored and turned into a museum for people to come and learn about the earliest civilizations that lived in our local area. It was fun to show the boys the simple way of life the Indians were accustomed. There were several exhibits that displayed different time periods before and after Explorers and Pirates began to influence the culture of the Indians. There was even information on Billy Bowlegs and how the festival began. You can not actually walk onto the ground where the temple is built because it is so old so you stand and look at it from a pavilion that holds several posts with information about what the temple was used for and traditions of the Indian tribes.

We even got an added bonus of visiting a Civil War Exhibit, Garnier Post Office and Camp Walton Schoolhouse. Apparently it is an all inclusive look into the past with the purchase of your admission to the Temple Mound! What a deal... it only cost $8 for me and the boys!!! I highly suggest taking advantage of such a great and fun opportunity to educate yourself and your children.

The museums were full of hands on activities such as weaving with reeds. I wish we could have stayed all day but an hour was about all Squishy could handle. He is going through the Terrific Twos and teething really bad right now.

Inside the Civil War Exhibit there were old fashioned Confederate flags, uniforms and weapons. Little Man was most mesmerized by the cannons and wanted to find a canon ball so badly. It was so cute but I am glad there were no balls to be found

The Camp Walton School House was a working school from around 1912-1936 for grades 1st-8th. It has been restored and still holds several of the original desks that were used by its students so many years ago. I loved that the desks held small chalk boards with vintage chalk. Little Man and Squishy both enjoyed sitting back in the past and writing with the chalk boards. They looked so sweet "pretending" to be back in school. Little Man is so ready for this upcoming school year to start. And Squishy just wants to be like big brother!

The first thing to catch Little Man's eye was an old checkered board. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him setting up the game board but Squishy was ready to head home. It was past nap time and everyone at the museum knew it!  Although the visit was cut shorter than I had hoped, it was an awesome experience and the perfect activity to celebrate Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks! It was so eye-opening to see all the richness of life and the advancements we have made throughout history. There are several other family field trips I am hoping to coordinate before the big move!