Celebrating the Baptism of the Lord

We celebrate the Baptism of Christ on the first Sunday following The Epiphany of Our Lord, which is celebrated on January 6th.  The Solemnity of the Baptism of Christ brings to an end the season of Christmas in the Catholic Church.  This event is very important for our Church because it is said that at the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan that God appeared as the trinity (God, Jesus AND the Holy Spirit).  Christ did not need to be baptized by John the Baptist because he was sinless, but at his baptism Jesus gave the gift of Baptism to all of us which would remove the sins of the world.  "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sin of the world". (John 1:29)

 

We went to mass where the priest blesses us all with Holy Water and then took time at home to look at pictures and watch videos from each of our children's baptisms.  We think it is very important for our family to celebrate not only birthdays but also our baptism anniversaries and the feast days of Saints who we are named after.  We celebrate the renewal of our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit washing away our original sin.  It is truly a beautiful gift!

Ryan's Baptism - February 2010

 

Connor's Baptism - December 2011

Luke's Baptism - June 2013

We also did a fun coloring activity with John the Baptist baptizing Jesus.  As I mentioned before, when you start living out the liturgical year in your home the most important part is to learn something, and to have fun!  Some feast days we have a big party and some we just read a book, color a picture or do a fun craft.  Our life is kind of crazy right now (you can read about the cross that we have been asked to carry with the miscarriage of our son Samuel), so this feast day was a small activity type of day at our house!  No matter how big or small, your family is blessed by together drawing closer to God.

 

 

Happy Feast of the Baptism of the Lord! May we all continued to be blessed by the gift of baptism so that our sins may be washed away and one day we can all enter eternal life with Him in Heaven.

Samuel's Story Part #3 - God's Word Preparing Our Hearts

In this part of Samuel's story I talk about how I truly feel that God was trying to tell us his plan and prepare our hearts for this loss from early on in our pregnancy with Samuel.  If you are just joining me please start at the beginning of Samuel's story and learn about our miscarriage and celebrating Samuel finding out we were pregnant/telling our family!  Also, please continue to pray for our family during this difficult time and for all families who have lost a child.

Samuel 1:27

We started telling our family and close friends that we were pregnant soon after we found out, as we always appreciate support and prayers for our new little life.  Because I needed to go to a new doctor for insurance reasons, they wanted for me to have an early first trimester ultrasound due to my history of first trimester bleeding.  I went in for an ultrasound on December 22nd, 2014 when I was 6 weeks and 2 days according to my charting.  They started the ultrasound and I was definitely pregnant, and everything was looking great EXCEPT the baby had no heartbeat.  This can be very developmentally appropriate at a very early stage (4-5 weeks), but typically past 6 weeks you are starting to see/hear the heartbeat.  Our baby was measuring only 5 weeks 1 day, and 8 days difference is actually quite a bit at this stage.  My wonderful Catholic doctor did a great job reassuring me that I might just be off a bit on my dates and that we would do a repeat ultrasound in a few weeks just to make sure everything was alright. He did also want to prepare me that it was quite possible that this pregnancy was not progressing like it should and might end in miscarriage.

I of course was sad, worried, and questioning why God would want us to possibly carry this cross of losing a child.  I went home to tell my husband, who was watching our other three children when I was at the appointment and he embraced me in a hug.  He has the hard job that he wants to emotionally support me as my spouse, but being a physician himself he looks at all of the medical information as well.  He continued to tell me that he has great faith that there was a very good possibility that everything would be just fine.

I knew I needed a moment with God in prayer so I picked up my copy of Give Us This Day to read the daily readings and the first reading was from Samuel 1:24-28: I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request.  Now I, in turn, give him to the Lord."

I had read the first part of that verse many times before in the past, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request."  But I had never really continued the Bible story of Hannah and Samuel in that "Now I, in turn, give him to the Lord" when Hannah literally left her son in the Temple for the Lord.  It made me so instantly aware that God entrusts us with these gifts of children while we are living on Earth but that ultimately we are all HIS.  God has entrusted my husband and I with four little lives so far, but their plan and purpose are in HIS hands.  I have prayed deeply for this child, for all of our children, but I know that I need to place my trust in Him with all of their lives.

Almost ironically as well the Gospel from that Day was from Luke 1:46-56 which is from the Magnificat, one of my favorite prayers. "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked upon his lowly servant.  From this day all generations will call me blessed.  The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name". 

In the Magnificat, Mary is talking about the blessing of being chosen to be the mother for the Savior and praising and rejoicing in the greatness of God.  It truly helps me understand that even through the pain of our miscarriage with Samuel that I need to praise God for entrusting my husband and I with another precious gift of life, even for a short time.  I have truly realized that part of practicing Natural Family Planning is not only being open to life, but also being open to the possibility of death.  It is being open to God's plan.  I also need to rejoice in the fact that Samuel is now in heaven with God.

This verse and experience after our first appointment is also how we decided to name our baby Samuel.  It is hard with an early loss, before they have identified the gender to know if your baby is a girl or boy.  We prayed about our baby and we truly think God had sent us another son and given us this verse to read on this particular day for our own little Samuel. 

Our dear Samuel, we have prayed for you,

and the Lord granted our request. 

Now, we in turn give you to the Lord.

Samuel's Story Part #2 - Finding out and Telling the Family

***Disclaimer:  Although this is a pregnancy announcement it is the announcement of our child Samuel who later passed away by miscarriage.  Please continue to keep our family, and all families who have lost their children in your prayers!***

Thank you for being here and for sharing in this journey of God blessing us with our sweet baby Samuel.  Please find the first part of our story HERE where I talk briefly about our miscarriage with Samuel.  Even though Samuel will not be able to be with us here on Earth I still want to remember the joy and excitement that our family felt when we learned that God had blessed our family with his presence.

We found out the amazing news that we were expecting our 4th child, Samuel on December 4th, 2014 just a few days before St Nicholas's feast day.  We decided that it would be a lot of fun to wait and tell our children and family on the feast day!  Our children wrote their letters to the Christ Child for St Nicholas to bring back to Jesus in heaven and then each put out their shoes under the Christmas tree. 

 

 

When our children woke up in the morning, not only were there fun gifts and items from St Nicholas but there was also an extra set of special shoes for their new baby brother or sister!  Our oldest son, who was almost 5 years old at the time, just shook his head in calm agreement.  We asked him if he was excited about the new baby and he said "Yeah, but I already knew that Mommy had a baby in her tummy!"  We asked how he knew and he said "My guardian angel told me last week" (when I was actually pregnant, but just did not know myself yet!)  

 

Our children received chocolate gold coins, candy canes, they each got a small gift, and then they got the Saint Peg Dolls which I had made earlier this fall!  We also bought the boys the book Angel in the Waters, which is the sweetest book about a tiny baby who had always been a part of God's plan, then was conceived, grew in mommy's tummy and then came out into the world.  The story is so perfect for even young children to understand and the illustrations are beautiful.

Samuel's due date was on the feast of the Assumption of Mary on August 15th, 2015!  I love that it is a Marian feast day as I always need to draw on the strength of Mary throughout my pregnancies, and especially need her grace now that our baby has gone to heaven to be with her Son.  I know that God entrusted us with Samuel even for just the short time that I was pregnant with him for a reason.  We love him so much and know he will always be our little Saint praying for our family.  Samuel's middle name, Nicholas comes from this part of his story and always wanting to remember the joy we felt on the Feast of St Nicholas celebrating him!  We cannot wait for the day when we are united with him in Heaven.

Excited big brothers!

Samuel's Story Part #1 - Our Little Saint

I was so excited to be nearing the end of my first trimester and to share with everyone our excitement about our 4th child joining our family this summer!  We were SO thrilled that God had entrusted our family with another sweet soul. Instead I am needing to ask for prayers as we mourn the loss of our little one.  On January 5th, 2015 we found out that our sweet little baby had gone to heaven.  This was one day before my 31st birthday and as our family was finishing up our celebrations for the 12 days of Christmas and preparing for the celebration of the Epiphany.

Losing a child is the hardest thing that I have ever gone through so far in my life.  It is such a whirlwind of emotion to miss someone so much who I never have truly met, to feel such love and support from family and friends, and to also feel so much comfort knowing our child is with God.  I hope and pray that we can see God's purpose in our child's death and that this experience brings our whole family closer to each other and closer to God.  I have not physically lost our baby yet and I know that it will be physically and emotionally painful.  I know that I need to rely on the strength of the Holy Family and of my own family to help me through this. I feel that God is calling me to pick up my cross and experience some redemptive suffering with this journey.  I pray that I have the strength and grace to process through this loss while always trusting in God every step of the way.  We have named our sweet saint Samuel Nicholas and this is his story.

Protected by God's love

I am going to share Samuel's story in different parts as I am emotionally able to write about our story.  I ask you to please pray for my family during this time and for all families who have experienced the loss of a baby or child.

Precious Little One

I'm just a precious little one

who didn't make it there.

I went straight to be with Jesus,

but I'm waiting for you here.

Many dwelling here where I live,

waited years to enter in.

Struggled through a world of sorrow

a world marred with pain and sin.

Thank you for the life you gave me,

it was brief but don't complain.

I have all Heaven's Glory,

suffered none of earth's great pain.

Thank you for the name you gave me.

I'd have loved to bring it fame

But if I'd lingered in earth's shadows,

I would have suffered just the same.

So sweet family don't you sorrow.

Wipe those tears and chase the gloom.

I went straight to Jesus's arms

from my loving Mother's womb.

 

- Author Unknown



Our Homeschool Kindergarten Curriculum Choices

We are getting ready to start Kindergarten for our oldest son and we are so excited for this journey.  We started Seton's Pre-Kindergarten program at the end of this past summer when our son was 4 1/2 years old and he FLEW threw it.  I was apprehensive if I should continue to move forward to Kindergarten or find more supplemental preschool material.  After talking to experienced homeschool parents, looking at lots of different materials and prayer we decided it is best for us to move ahead.  I think our son is definitely ready and I like that we have the option to slow down and go more in depth when we need to.  We have taken a nice long break from formal homeschooling between Thanksgiving and Advent/Christmas and are ready to go again this January!

Here are our curriculum choices for Kindergarten:

First of all we, are enrolling in Seton Home Study School and using their curriculum choices as our core material.  I love that because we enroll that we also get a copy of their lesson plans.  Since I am new to homeschooling I enjoy having the lesson plans as a guide as well as the services that Seton provides when I have questions about any of the curriculum.  We are also adding some of our own choices with our Daily Circle Time, Art, Music, Physical Education, Geography/History and a few extras with Phonics/Reading. 

Seton gives you two years, when enrolled, to complete kindergarten.  I am not sure how long it will take us to finish the kindergarten curriculum, as our son amazed me at how quickly he picked up the pre-kindergarten curriculum.  I am giving us a lot of flexibility and for now saying that I want to make sure we finish by May of 2016 (although I have a feeling it will be a lot sooner than that!)  Our son just turned 5 years old at the end of December so this NEXT calendar school year will be the first year that we are reporting to the state that we are homeschooling.  We are blessed to have an amazing space in our home to homeschool and are excited to learn together!

Seton's Kindergarten Curriculum

• Daily Circle Time
• Calendar (Days of the Week, Months of the Year, Weather, Seasons)
• Decade of the Rosary
• Saint of the Day
• Morning Offering Prayer
• Pledge of Allegiance

• Handwriting
• Kindergarten Handwriting for Young Catholics (Seton)

• Mathematics
• Math K For Young Catholics (Seton)
• 123 Coloring Book (Seton)

• Art:
• Art Masterpieces: A Liturgical Collection
• Catholic Icing Catholic ABC Crafts

• Music/Theater
• Songs of Praise (Seton)
• Making Music Praying Twice
• Violin Lessons
• Rose Children's Theater Membership (Children's Play Once a Month)

• Phonics/Reading
• Kindergarten Phonics for Young Catholics Vol. 1 (Seton)
• Kindergarten Phonics for Young Catholics Vol. 2 (Seton)
• Everywhere we Go (Seton)
• ABC Coloring Book (Seton)
• Daily Read- Aloud Time (about 20 minutes)
• How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
• Little Stories for Little Folks: Catholic Phonics Readers
• Leap Frog Workbooks and Sight Word Flashcards

• Physical Education
• Tae-Kwon- Do (Once a week at the Homeschool Learning Center)
• Membership to Go Gym (An Indoor community gym with extra classes if we want)
• Soccer (6 weeks this spring at our Parish Church)
• Swimming Lessons

• Science
• Kindergarten Science for Young Catholics (Seton)
• Magic School Bus Books and Experiments
• Fontenelle Forest Membership (Nature Hikes and Learning)

• Religion
• Kindergarten Catechism for Young Catholics (Seton)
• My Jesus and I (Seton)
• Catholic Coloring Books (Seton)
• Leading Little Ones to Mary (Seton)
• St Joseph Picture Books (Seton)
• Saint Mail
• Sunday School at our Parish Church

• Geography/History:
• Little Passports
• Saints for Young Readers for Every Day
• GeoSafari Talking Globe Jr

Celebrating the Epiphany

We celebrated the end of the 12 Days of Christmas and the Epiphany on January 6th, which also happens to be my birthday.  My awesome husband took the day off work so we could hang out as a family and he got up with the boys when they woke up at the crack of dawn so that I could sleep in (which is the most amazing birthday gift!)  I then got up and was able to read the daily readings and daily devotion from Blessed Is She.  Have you signed up for their daily devotions yet at Blessedisshe.net?  If not, I recommend doing so as it is a FANTASTIC resource to bring you closer to God's word and deepen your prayer life.

 

I commonly feel that God is speaking to me through his words in the Bible and today was one of those days!  In today's Gospel Mark 6:34-44 it is the story of the loaves and fishes.  But, before we get to the main part of the Gospel Jesus's disciples came to him and said "This is a lonely place, and the hour is now late".   It is often in that lonely dark place in our lives here in the world today, just like the disciples,  Yet, if we watch and wait, Jesus comes to us to help us out of our despair and help us see the good news!  God has recently asked our family to carry a pretty big cross, which I will explain when I can find the right words.  For now, I ask for you to please pray for our family. 

 

Even with the cross that we are carrying we still had a nice celebration of the Epiphany and my birthday together as a family.  We were able to bless our home with the Epiphany House Blessing and our blessed chalk from our priest with my husband leading the prayers.  I love this simple action and knowing that all are blessed who enter our home.  We will leave the marking on our front door until Pentecost which will be on May 24th this year.

 

 

We put up the last of our 12 days of Christmas ornaments and brought all of our wise men to join Jesus, Mary and Joseph at the Nativity scenes.  We talked about the long, hard journey that the wise men must have had, but that they wanted to be able to see and honor Jesus.  Our children love all of the different nativity scenes that we have around our home and look at them or play with them often throughout the days.

 

Then our children wanted to read their books about the Epiphany again as they have become some of their favorite from our Advent/Christmas list.  The Last Straw was probably one of our very favorites from the entire list and our boys almost have it memorized.  Their favorite part is the sweet illustration at the end where the camel falls to his knees out of exhaustion from his long hard journey and the wise men follow suit.  Then little Baby Jesus reaches out his hand to the camel and touches him and takes all of his pain away!  It is so comforting to know God's healing power is able to take away our pain.

 

We had a fun family outing painting pottery at a local venue. It was a great activity to bring our family together with something that we all enjoy! It is also a special way to preserve memories by taking the precious gifts home.  They even let the little ones paint on paper to keep themselves occupied while others keep working on their pottery pieces!

We had a relaxing afternoon and evening with our family at home, which is one of my favorite things to do! Cuddling on the couch, reading stories, playing living room football, having a dance party; those actions of daily life make me truly appreciate the gift of my family.  We are so blessed, and I know that no matter what cross that God asks us to carry that he is there with us. Thank you God for another year, for another day, for another moment with those who I love!

Happy Feast Day Elizabeth Ann Seton

Happy Feast Day to our Family Saint of the Year

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

 

 

I am so excited that we choose St Elizabeth Ann Seton as our family saint of the year!  I started off the morning with a great cup of coffee and beginning my new book The Soul of Elizabeth Ann Seton.  Only a few chapters in I can tell that I am going to learn a lot from studying her life and her reflections.  I pray that I can learn from her strength, grace and virtues to follow God in my vocation as a wife, mother and educator.  I also pray that she blesses our homeschool year and gives me the patience that I need to teach our children with love and our children the passion to learn!

 

We then went to mass, celebrating the Epiphany, although we are going to celebrate on the actual feast day January 6th in our home.  We came home and read our book Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton by Father Lovasik as one of our Read Alouds for the day.  We love Father Lovasik's books and found out a lot of interesting things about St Elizabeth in this book.  I love to hear what each of our children find most interesting when we read different books.  Our oldest son thought it was interesting that she was one of the first American citizens, having been born in New York in 1774 and living in the country during the time of the Declaration of Independence (he is really big into the United States right now and its history).  Our middle son thought it was really cool that her father was a doctor just like his Daddy! 

One thing that I think is interesting  about St Elizabeth's life and want to take time reflecting on is about her losing her mother when she was only three years old and her sister one year later.  She experienced great grief early in her life and she learned to rely on her own father growing up.  Then in her adult life, after she lost her husband to death she learned to trust and rely on her Holy Father as she converted to the Catholic faith in March of 1805. 

 

 Prayer in Honor of St Elizabeth Ann Seton

"Lord God, You blessed Elizabeth Ann Seton with gifts of grace as a wife and mother, educator and foundress, so that she might spend her life in service to Your people.  Through her example and prayers may we learn to express our love for You in love for our fellow men and women.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen."

 

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from

St Elizabeth Ann Seton:

"Cheerfulness prepares a glorious mind for all the noblest acts"

 

"In every disappointment, let you heart fly directly to your dear Savior.  Jesus will never leave you or forsake you."

 

"Disorder in the society is a result of disorder in the family"

 

"The accidents of life separate us from our dearest friends, but let us not despair.  God is like a looking glass in which souls see each other.  The more we are united to Him by love, the nearer we are to those who belong to Him."