God's Plan

I don't really know how to go into writing this post... It's been several months since I have been active in blogging. So... I am just going to say it. I am getting a divorce. My husband and I are ending our marriage. It is still difficult to talk about and I never saw this as something my family and I would ever have to endure. The past few years have been hard and I would rather not give reasons to the end of the marriage but I do want to say that in all honesty there are no other options for us. I know that sounds crazy to many people but I have to admit it sounds crazy to me too. I do not believe in divorce and I truly meant "until death do us part". I have discussed everything with our family priest and he is preparing me for this journey and is helping me through the annulment process as well. I never thought I would be a single mom with two children. I have faith that this is God's plan for me.

It feels strange to be so far from my comfort zone and relying on God alone to truly provide for me and my family. I was blessed with a nice home that provided everything we needed and now I no longer have that. Me and my two children are essentially homeless but have been blessed to have amazing friends helping us as we get back on our feet, allowing us a roof over our heads and food to eat. I am starting to truly realize the extent of God's love for us. I just received the Holy Heroes Glory Stories CD about Saint Claire before St Claire's Feast Day in August and I was so touched by the reoccurring theme that God provides for the birds who neither sow, reap or store food and so we who are made in his image will be provided everything we need and more. I am living this reality.

I am asking everyone to please pray for me and my children as we are finding ourselves on a new road in life. We are finding so many blessings that have been bestowed upon us. Please pray for my ex-husband too, that he may find happiness and a stronger relationship with God.

I am hoping to find a new normal routine for myself and my children very soon. I feel horrible admitting but we have not been attending mass regularly nor have we celebrated any Feast Days. This is a time when we should be holding to our faith with both hands and I have allowed it to slip. I will be trying harder and I am optimistic about our future celebrations as a family! Thank you for stopping by and I will be back soon :o)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

It seems life is getting crazier by the minute! It is crunch time for us preparing for this move and we still need to have a garage sale, pack our stuff, clean and million other things. I was disappointed that we were not able to have our scapulars enrolled before today but I am trying to set up a time before me move. If you are interested in enrolling your scapular check out my previous post here. Anyone with tips on how to move into a new state, I would greatly appreciate it. Or if you just want to move my stuff that would be even better!

Today was a quiet feast day as we are getting use to our new schedule with the boys in daycare and me working longer hours. I printed a few coloring pages but the kids fell asleep in the car so they were not colored. Everyone is awake now but I'm sure it will be a late night. We had a meatball sub dinner and ending the night with a warm cup of caramel hot cocoa with the rest of our star marshmallows from the 4th of July. Now to start a movie and relax! I hope everyone had an amazing day!

Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

O most beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother.

O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to succor me in this my necessity. There are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein that you are my Mother.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us that have recourse to thee. (3 times)

Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. (3 times)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 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!

Saint Maria Goretti

Today is the Feast of Saint Maria Goretti. I have to admit that I didn't learn much about this amazing young woman. Her story of her and her mother's  ability to forgive Maria's murderer is awe-inspiring. It is so easy to say we should all forgive every sin but when something like murder or sexual assault, I am sure it is easier said than done, but forgiveness must be done. I pray that I can be like Maria and forgive all transgressions immediately and that anything I have done to wrong my friends and family, that they can forgive me for my misguidance. I also pray that when my children are older that they cherish their purity and live lives of chastity. These topics are too adult to discuss in full detail with my boys right now but I will be using this story to inspire them when the time comes. Another intriguing aspect of this story is the repentance of her attacker and his conversion that began after a dream he has of Maria  after several years in prison. 

We had a small Italian dinner in honor of the brave, young Maria of Italy. The menu included Angel Hair pasta to symbolize the purity of our Angel in heaven and marinara sauce for the crown of martyrdom she wears. I am hoping to receive this beautiful coloring book about Maria Goretti soon. There is a beautiful resource called the Modesty Pledge that I hope you check out as well. I am also interested in reading the book based on her life titled Saint Maria Goretti: In Garments All Red. 

I have an idea for a liturgical centerpiece involving lilies that I will definitely be making as soon as we get settled in our new home. I am really excited to share it with everyone once it is complete! It will be something my children can help make but can be used for any feast days that lilies are a symbol (Feast of Saint Joseph, Saint Maria Goretti, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, etc.)

Remember to start your Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel tomorrow!

Prayer to Saint Maria Goretti

Heroic and angelic Saint Maria Goretti, we knee before thee to honor thy persevering fortitude and to beg thy gracious aid.

Teach us a deep love for the precepts of our holy Church; help us to see in them the very voice of our Father in Heaven. May we persevere without stain our white baptismal robe of innocence.

May we who have lost this innocence, kneel humbly in Holy Penance; and with the absolution of the priest may the torrent of Christ's Precious Blood flow into our souls and give us new courage to carry the burning light of God's love through the dangerous highways of this life until Christ our King shall call us to the courts of Heaven.

Saint Maria Goretti, pray for us!

Independence Day!

I hope everyone had an amazing 4th of July! It was extremely hot and humid so we stayed inside and enjoyed a lazy summer day together as a family. I couldn't help but try out my new camera and I had some great models to help me out!

 Look at my handsome men! 

I wish we were able to have more quiet days like these. We have been running around trying to get everything prepared for this move. We have found a new home and now we are in the process of down-sizing since we will be in a smaller place. We have so much stuff!! We are having a garage sale and then donating whatever is left over. We also have a school and daycare picked out for the boys.

A nice lazy day with an afternoon run was exactly what we needed.

I really wanted to make some cute T-shirts for the boys but I didn't think it was a great idea to buy more craft supplies so I am keeping this idea for another time but check it out here!

It was a quiet celebration in our household. We made good ole' American Hot dogs with broccoli and corn on the cob for dinner and we finished our meals with a Star Spangled Ambrosia. The ambrosia was a mixture of strawberries, blueberries, whipped topping and star shaped marshmallows! It was a nice light dessert that the kids enjoyed as much as I did. Little Man really wanted to make white hot chocolate and top it off with our stay marshmallows but I convinced him it was too hot today but I thought it might be a good idea to try next year maybe with cold strawberry milk? Maybe... I will contemplate that :o)

It was overcast as evening approached and we have discovered Squishy is very afraid of fireworks (We know this from New Years). So...Instead of watching the large city display we decided to stay home and watch some neighbors shoot off a display from the comfort of our backyard patio. Little Man lit a few sparklers of our own! I didn't get many great photos of the fireworks because I didn't realize my new camera has no flash. I am still learning how to use it but I think my pictures came out pretty good! Now to start prep for tomorrow's feast day as I make some dinner! I hope everyone had an amazing day with their families!

God bless America,

Land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the oceans, white with foam

God bless America, My home sweet home

God bless America, My home sweet home.

Glory Stories Volume IX: {Audio Review}

My children and I were truly inspired by this CD. This story of Jose Sanchez del Rio is apart of the new movie For Greater Glory (Starring Andy Garcia, Peter O'Toole, Eduardo Verastegui of Bella, and Eva Longoria). that recently came to theaters June 1st. I urge you if you have children, especially boys, to purchase this CD. 

Viva Cristo Rey!

This is the true dramatic story of betrayal, courage and triumph of a young boy that stood up against his country for his Catholic faith. Glory Stories Volume IX: The Story of Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio describes the life of a devote Mexican Catholic during the time of extreme persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico. This is a great educational tool that discusses a time in history not taught in depth in public schools. Learning about these hard and scary times is critical for all, especially children, so they learn to cherish the freedoms we have in the United States. In addition to the great history lesson, the story of Jose is breath-taking and so are the musical components that are sung and played in the background. The main topics of forgiveness, sacrifice and faith are discussed among the characters illustrating the story beautifully.

I personally like that the story about the Maccabees is explained in detail at the beginning of the audio so the listeners can feel the dramatic irony throughout the story. I have to admit there are several parts in the story that make me tear up in sorrow and joy. The emotions will hit you hard and make this story easy to relate to, whether you are a parent or child. This CD will give your entire family an experience like nothing else l have recieved from a CD before. It makes me proud to say that my oldest son requests to listen to this CD every time we are in the car. I love that he shouts "Viva Cristo Rey!" and understands that even a little boy can do what is right. I know that this CD was created for children but adults will love it too. I hope every child has the opportunity to at least hear this inspirational CD once, they will never forget it. I will be purchasing more Glory Stories for my children.

                   I wrote this review of Glory Stories Vol. IX for the free Catholic Book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods Store. Aquinas and More is the largest on-line Catholic bookstore.
I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River.