Menu Plan Monday: January 30 - February 5

Life has been throwing some serious curve-balls and my family lately: some good and some bad and this month I am getting ready to tackle all of these changes head on. If you were unaware, we received an "unofficial" diagnosis of Aspergers for Goalie and I have been undergoing treatment for complications with my Spina Bifida. I still have Christmas lights adorning our patio and I am sure our neighbors are starting to wonder if they are ever coming down. At least I am within the Liturgical season if I have them down by Candlemas, which happens to be this week.

In happier news, we are heading into spring football and soccer season and we have been having some wonderful family adventures lately. I am trying out new things, such as utilizing a bullet journal as an accompaniment to my planner, starting a new workout regiment and probably what you are most interested in: revamping our menus! I am preparing for our upcoming Lenten season and just really enjoying where we are in life.

Here is our menu for Menu Plan Monday:

Monday:

Spaghetti

Tuesday: Feast of Saint John Bosco

Stuffed Peppers

Wednesday: Feast of Saint Brigid of Ireland

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Thursday: Candlemas

Golden Mushroom Chicken with Quinoa and Salad

Friday: Feast of Saint Blaise

Soup and Salad

Saturday:

Leftover Dinner Buffet or Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Sunday: Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday Party!

Have you ever celebrated Candlemas? It is also called the Presentation of the Lord and is a beautiful celebration. It is considered a Christmas celebration so if you still have your decorations up from the holidays, it is completely acceptable. In honor of Candlemas, my family enjoys a special candlelight dinner. This year we will enjoy Golden Mushroom Chicken, check out the recipe below:

Golden Mushroom Chicken:

2-3 Large Chicken Breasts

1 Large Onion (diced)

2 Cups Mushrooms

1 Can Golden Mushroom Soup

1/4 Cup White Wine

1 Cup Chicken Broth

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut chicken breasts in half and place the chicken into a medium sized baking dish (fit chicken in a single layer). Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Saute onion and mushrooms with olive oil. In small mixing bowl, combine soup, wine, and 1 cup of chicken broth.When the sauce is complete, add the sauteed onions and mushrooms to it. Mix well and pour the sauce over chicken and put the chicken into the oven for an hour. Serve the chicken over mashed potatoes, noodles, quinoa or rice. I also like to serve this with a green vegetable like broccoli or green beans. Enjoy!

My Sunday Best: Parish Faith Night Edition

It is so amazing to be back! Our computer gave out a couple weeks ago and my cousin came to the rescue. Now to catch up with some great posts because it always happens that you are inspired while unable to share right?

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time and also a Parish Faith Night for our Church. Parish Faith Night is a special event that we host to help share information, fun crafts and fellowship. This particular Parish Faith Night was all about Saints and Feast Days. I was really excited that we were able to attend Parish Faith Night because we missed Mass this morning. My youngest son has been having an extremely difficult time with his emotional outbursts this week and this morning was rough to say the least. We have routines for everything to help our transitions and nothing seemed to keep Goalie in a calm disposition. We had a small talk after he completed Tiny Turtle. We came to the agreement that the wiggles and nervous feelings he was having this morning were very hard to control so we would not attend Mass but we would attend Parish Faith Night. It is sometimes very difficult to make choices like this because it does change our routine but it is better than keeping Goalie in his downward spiral of emotions he finds himself at times. He is formally diagnosed with ADHD but he is currently undergoing testing for an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) because his school and behavioral therapist both have noted concerns that he may have Aspergers, which is a high functioning Autistic diagnosis.

In case you haven't heard of Tiny Turtle before, it is a new anger management skill we have been practicing for Goalie. If you are interested in trying out "Tiny Turtle"check out these simple steps:

First, form an imaginary turtle shell by curling into a little ball.
Second, take at least three deep breaths.
Third, say "I can do it, I can calm down" until you feel better and then you can emerge from your tiny turtle shell and move forward with your activity.

After a rough morning, I am happy to say that we really turned around the day and Parish Faith Night was a success! Our night was centered around the Saints and the Feast Days. To kick things off we started with an enormous pot luck dinner to start our fellowship. We had an abundance of many food, dessert and drinks. After everyone had eaten, we began a discussion with the children about Saints: What makes a Saint a Saint? Who can become a Saint? Who decides who is a Saint? Name some Saints and Feast Days. You know the saying "Kids say the darnedest things?" Well tonight was no different! So many laughs and great memories.

After the discussion we went into our Saint Parade! Here are my two little Saints below: Saint Dominic and Saint Joseph!

In addition to all of our fun events we also incorporated some printables for the families present to work on together. Check out Catholic Icing has an amazing Family Litany of Saints Worksheet that we discussed and there were also All Saints coloring pages. You can check out my Pinterest page if you are looking for some great Catholic coloring pages.

I think that my most favorite part of the evening was being able to sing The Litany of Saints with my two little saints and just be in the moment of peace and fellowship with my parish. I am so glad that the evening was a success and I am looking forward to the next Parish Faith Night in March!

Now that the night is over, I am enjoying a glass of wine with my husband! I am linking this post to My Sunday Best

God Bless!

My Experience: A Walk in Her Sandals

I was blessed to receive a copy of A Walk in Her Sandals: Experiencing Christ's Passion through the Eyes of Women in exchange for my honest reaction and review.

As the month of January comes to a close, I have been contemplating some resolutions I made for myself this year. Reading more, creating fellowship through my parish and striving to improve my relationship with God were among these resolutions. I came across a book that touched all areas that were important to me and I am happy and honored to share what I have learned in hopes that you will take the chance of reading and sharing your experience as well. This book is a special devotion created especially for women to follow through the Lenten season.

Christ's Passion has always been an emotional topic for me. In high school I participated in a Youth Group that hosted the Stations of the Cross during Lent and no matter what I did, I would weep as I read the station I was assigned to share. As a women, I often hear the words empathetic, loving and emotional as a description of my experiences in life. Sometimes it can seem as if these words are thrown at us in a negative manner but I am here to tell you that they are special qualities that we, as women, have been blessed with by God. A Walk in Her Sandals not only explains these amazing gifts in descriptive detail but will make you proud to embrace these qualities while opening your eyes to a new perception of our Savior's Passion that will touch your heart in a very unique way.

Suffering is a part of life. It will touch every person on this earth at some point, multiple times throughout their life. Men and women experience and deal with pain and suffering in different ways, it is how God created us. The Passion of Jesus is an experience of suffering and pain that is so deeply touching that it can reach anyone receptive to its true message on some level. It reveals itself to us in our own sufferings as daughters, mothers and women. It is time for us to come together in a fellowship of womanhood and embrace each other as we grow in faith by sharing our stories of suffering, love and enlightenment. 

This book is not just a book, it is an adventure. An adventure that you can chose to take alone or in the sweet embrace of a group.On this adventure, you will be introduced to Anah, Huldah, Miriam, Veronica, and Zilpah and experience these special women and their encounters with Jesus. There are special, intimate stories shared from the author and a deep look into the scripture. As if these inspiring factors weren't enough, there are Questions for Group Discussion that you could discuss with a group or answer within your prayer journal.

I honestly felt a change within me while I read this book each evening and I am looking forward to opening this book again during the Lenten Season. I was amazed by the perception and detail and of the stories and I am not afraid to admit that I cried through every chapter. I cried tears of love, joy and understanding and loved every minute of it.

I am often guilty of losing focus of myself, as most women are, and focusing on my children and husband most of the time. Use this Lenten season to grow your faith with this truly amazing book. I would love to hear about your experience as you start your adventure too.

Interested in learning more? I am working with some extraordinary women that took on this book and all the touching stories are being shared at the CWBN Blog Hop. Make sure to hop over and see what other women learned during their reflections.

Start planning how to host your own Lenten Book Club or join Between the Wines: Lenten Book Club hosted on WINE (Women in the New Evangelization) online featuring Walk in Her Sandals. Since I completed this book alone the first time, I am looking forward to starting a book club or joining one for my second experience.

#WorthRevisit: Saint Perpetua and Felicity

I have been sucked into the bullet journal craze recently and I will be sharing my special faith page layouts and other ways I have decided to utilize this great organizing system to help me grow my faith. While I have been contemplating these things, I thought I would share a post from the archives about two saints that always revamp my dedication to my prayer journal and planners. Here is my #WorthRevisit with Theology is a Verb and Reconciled to You:

Monday, March 7, 2016

Saint Perpetua and Felicity

Monday already!

Wow... My family has an insane week ahead of us! Football and Soccer start this week for All Star and Goalie. I am waiting on the soccer schedule but football is 4 days a week! All Star also has Picture Day and a Reading Goal party to attend this week. So while I wait for the rest of our scheduling to fall into place for this month, I REALLY need to clean out our vehicles, sanitize all the team sports gear and pack one of the vehicles with seats, blankets and the sports gear :) Its going to be a fun day because, of course I waited until the day before everything starts to get this accomplished. At least I will easily complete one of my 40 bags today for Lent. 

Moving forward... today is the feast of Saint Perpetua and Felicity. They have a wonderful animated movie that portrays the story of these two amazing Saints. If you click the link above you will be taken to a website where you can purchase the movie and find some great resources for today, including coloring pages, word search, games and other fun activities. 

Personally, Saint Perpetua is renowned for the journal she left behind after she was martyred. She started the journal while she was imprisoned and it was completed by a friend after her death. I think today would be a good day to start a prayer journal. Or renew your commitment to write in your prayer journal you already have... I will be renewing my commitment to write in my journal to at least 3-5 times a week. As of right now, I haven't written in my prayer journal since Advent! 

Another good activity for today would be to visit a zoo. Saint Perpetua and Felicity were thrown to wild animals in an open arena. Point out the animals that would have been in the arena with them and explain how dangerous those animals are, they are in cages and have large spaces between them and you to keep everyone safe. We haven't been to the zoo in quite awhile so I will have to plan an outing soon. Using a Zoo Passport could help keep the focus on finding animals. You can find printable Zoo Passports on Pinterest and sometimes you can find them on your local zoo's website.

Saint Perpetua and Felicity are two saints that really touch my heart. They were both young mothers, like I was myself, and imagining the difficulty of sacrificing your life and giving up your child would certainly be difficult but they did all this graciously for God. I pray that God can give me a heart like these two saints. 

Reading the book Perpetua: A Bride, a Martyr, a Passion would be a wonderful addition to your Lenten journey. I will be heading to the library later today in search of this gem so I have something to read this evening after all the hustle and bustle of the day. My family should be learning some news about my husband's job sometime this week so I would greatly appreciate any prayers you could send our way. We are praying that we are staying on the path God has intended for us as a family.

"Stand fast in the faith, and love one another, and don't take offense at our suffering."

-- Saint Perpetua

My Sunday Best: Epiphany Edition

Three Kings Day! The Epiphany! Theophany! The Twelfth Night! Little Christmas! 

No matter what you call it, it is indeed a feast that needs to be celebrated in style. It is the night that the Three Kings found the Christ Child lying in a manger beneath the star of Bethlehem. We display of entire Nativity scene on our home altar and light our Christ Candle all day to honor this amazing day.

This was our first Mass of the New Year. We have been fighting some nasty stomach bugs, coughs, ear infections and sore throats over our Christmas break so it was an awesome way to start our Epiphany celebration at Mass. As you can see from the picture above, the boys rocked their new outfits they received for Christmas again. They love their ties, new shoes and the whole ensemble so who am I to say no to kids that want to wear their very best? I on the other hand, did not have my Sunday Best on... I am still not feeling so well so I wore more comfortable clothes: A huge sweater and jeans with nice boots. Therefore, I did not honor this outfit with a picture.

After Faith Formation and Mass I headed straight to the grocery store to get some special Epiphany donuts and the ingredients for our special dinner. If you checkout out my Menu Plan Monday Post from earlier in the week, I had something else listed as our dinner for the Epiphany but I came up with a neat idea that incorporated the Three Kings and the Star of Bethlehem. I made Chicken A La King with Star of Bethlehem Biscuits!

We enjoyed an orange juice toast with some yummy donuts before throwing together dinner in the crock pot and enjoying a Family Epiphany nap. When we woke up I got started on those Star of Bethlehem Biscuits! All I did was take a can of Buttermilk biscuits and stretch them out so I could use our Christmas Star cookie cutter to make these festive biscuits for dinner.

Have you ever heard of Chicken a La King? It is similar to a Chicken and Dumplings recipe but instead of dumplings, the Chicken and veggie mixture is served over a puff pastry. I just tweaked the recipe and pour our Chicken and vegetables over biscuits shaped liked stars. Can you see the hiding stars?

After Dinner we did the traditional Chalking of the Door! Have you done it before? If not, it is a great tradition to start with your family! Here is how you do it:

Write the inscription below on your entrance to your home with blessed chalk. The blessings are listed below as well. I wrote the inscription on the doorway while Little Man and Goalie wrote it all over the sidewalk. 

20 + C + M + B + 17

While you write this above your doorway remember to recite:

The three Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar followed the star of God’s Son who became human two thousand and fifteen years ago. May Christ bless our home and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.

The letters C, M, B have two meanings. They are the initials of the traditional names of the three Magi: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. They also abbreviate the Latin words Christus Mansionem Benedicat, “May Christ bless the house.” The “+” signs represent the cross and 17 represents the year. 

To bless the chalk prior to "Chalking the Door" recite the following prayer and sprinkle holy water on the chalk:

Loving God, bless this chalk which you have created, that it may be helpful to your people; and grant that through the invocation of your most Holy Name that we who use it in faith to write upon the door of our home the names of your holy ones Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, may receive health of body and protection of soul for all who dwell in or visit our home; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

If you did a Chalking of the Door please find me and the Zelie Group on Instagram and share your pictures! It's not to late to do this fun activity with your family... especially if you still have your Christmas decorations still up! Looking for more fun ways to celebrate the Epiphany checkout Seven Activities to Celebrate the Epiphany.

During dinner and our Epiphany activities, we listened to our Christmas music one last time. It was a sad moment when I told the boys I would be putting away the Christmas decor, music and movies. They begged for one last movie so we decided to watch The Little Drummer Boy and snuggled up with some hot chocolate on the couch before we called it a night and headed to bed. How was your Epiphany celebration? Do you take down your decorations? Or do you leave them up until Candlemas? I am sharing this with My Sunday Best.

God Bless!

Menu Plan Monday: January 9- January 15

Today was a crazy day. We experienced Hurricane strength winds all day and it is still continuing as we speak. I had some plans to make some delicious Stuffed Shells for the Baptism of the Lord tonight but after my experience getting to and from work and the schools being shut down I believed it was safer to stay home. The boys celebrate their Baptism Anniversary on the 29th so we will just save that dinner for that evening. Please say a prayer to everyone affected by the crazy wind storm that hit us here in Colorado. 

On a higher note, we will be attending our first Hockey Game this Saturday! The boys don't even know yet! We have decided to do a family activity, whether it be a game night, watching a movie, going on a hike or something similar to make more family memories together. This is a bigger event than we will get most of the time but I am so excited!

Here is our Menu Plan for this Menu Plan Monday:

Monday: Baptism of the Lord

Leftover Epiphany Chicken A La King with Star of Bethlehem Biscuits

Tuesday:

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Wednesday:

Deli Sandwiches and Garden Salad

Thursday:

Chili

Friday:

Mexican Baked Spaghetti Squash

Saturday:

Eat Out as a Family

Sunday:

Leftover Dinner Buffet

I can't remember if I have shared my Hawaiian BBQ Chicken recipe before but it is loaded with fruits and veggies and a great quick and easy family meal that can be prepared in the crockpot!

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken:

2-3 Large Chicken Breast

1 Can Crushed or Cubed Pineapple.. your texture preference (Drained) 

1 Large Onion Diced

2 Cups Shredded Carrots

1 Bottle of Your Favorite BBQ Sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into the Crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours. I like to serve this Chicken recipe on Kings Hawaiian Sweet Bread Rolls and top it with a dollop of coleslaw. 

Enjoy!

Sweet potato fries are an amazing side item to pair it with as well. You can also dump all these ingredients into a Gallon Ziplock bag for an easy Freezer to Crockpot meal. 

Quiet Faith: Reconciliation

It's the start of a new year. A new year means all things are new, bright and clean. Reconciliation is like the start of a new year and is an act of quiet faith. To be completely honest, the quiet faith required for Reconciliation is terrifying to me. I am so grateful for this wonderful Sacrament but I am overwhelmed with the immensity of the act of complete forgiveness that leaves your hear and soul quiet so that it is prepared to hear God speak. 

I am a cradle Catholic and when I was growing up we went to Reconciliation very consistently. My father would bring my entire family to our local parish every first Saturday of the month. We would wait in the line outside the confessional and just wait. There was no talking. There was only silence. I remember realizing this quietness at a young age, before I was old enough to participate in the Sacrament, and thinking it was odd. Church was a quiet and reverent place but this silence was different than anything I have ever experienced.

I would watch people come and go from the Confessional. Some were quick, others took a very long time; Some parishioners left smiling and others left in tears. My mother was one of those who often left in tears. Seeing all these grown people that I admired, loved and looked up to in such an emotional state after leaving the confessional had a huge impact on me. Those were my first memories of Reconciliation. After that, I remember attending my Catechism classes to receive my first Reconciliation and being so terrified of the confessional. I was petrified of admitting all the not so nice things I had done, said and thought throughout my short 7 years of life. I had convinced myself that I must be the most horrible person in the world.

The day that I received my First Reconciliation was a life changing experience for me. I actually cried while I waited to go into the confessional and when it was my turn all I remember is opening the door and hearing silence. As I entered the confessional, I completed my blessing and even (with a huge burst of courage) decided to sit in front of the priest versus behind the screen. As I began speaking to start my confession, I again started crying. I apologized to the priest expressing that I was so scared that God would hate me for admitting all the sins I had committed, especially the ones I committed on purpose.

I will never forget the priest, Fr. Grotchen, who took my hand and smiled at me. He explained that the entire purpose of Confession was to reconnect with God. He listened to me pour my little heart out and many many tears. He told me that I should never be afraid to speak to God because God is always longing for me to return to him just like the story of the Prodigal son. He told me that when I did my penance to be calm and quiet and God would wash away all my sadness and restore me to grace. I was shocked when he told em to be "calm and quiet". It has always stuck with me.

Since my First Reconciliation I have been to MANY confessionals and I have had an abundance of sins to confess but I will always remember that the quiet that I was once so afraid of, is nothing but God's way of connecting to me in my heart and cleansing my soul. You have to embrace the Quiet to feel God speak to you.

Truth be told, I am still scared of Reconciliation and I have made it one of my resolutions to embrace this Quiet Faith and attend it more often. It is even more important now because my oldest son has received his First Reconciliation and loves it. I don't want him to lose that love for the Sacrament that makes us new again. I am so proud of the gentleman he is growing into and the love he has for his faith.

Oddly enough, I decided to pick a saint at random to learn about and pray for spiritual guidance throughout this year. I drew the name Saint Jan Sarkander, the martyr of the confessional. I'll share more on this amazing saint later. I know God is asking me to come to him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and I know that he gave me this saint to help me find him where I am most fearful to go.... into the Quiet, because I feel unworthy. Where do you find the quiet in your faith? Is it a struggle like it is for me?

This is my post for The Zelie Group’s new link-up, “Getting To Know Us”. We invite you to write a blog post (or two!) or post on social media about what “Quiet” means to you during the month of January. Link up and use the hashtags #thezeliegroup, #tzg_quiet and #tzg_gettingtoknowus to connect with us. 

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