Ask Me #2: Our Homeschool Schedule

Here is another part of my series Ask Me, where I let you, the followers of Children Of The Church ask me questions that you might have about our lives, homeschooling, etc.  Find Part 1 of the series HERE, where I answered the question about photography on my blog!  Another question that was asked of me was what is our homeschooling schedule during the day and also what do I do with our little kids as I am teaching other children.

First of all, we are JUST starting out our "true" journey of homeschooling with our oldest son starting kindergarten in January 2015.  Yet, when you really get into it you realize that homeschooling is just a continuation of every day life with children and teaching them basic life skills!  I am a Type - A person, so I LOVE schedule and order. 

When I knew that we were going to start homeschooling our children I had this "idea" that we would wake up at the same time, eat breakfast, then all sit down together to work on school work.  Can you tell that I went to a brick and mortar school my whole life?  Well, I QUICKLY learned that one of the many amazing things about homeschooling is we do not have to follow the "typical" schedule! 

Since our children are still little (5 years, 3 years, 1 1/2 years), our structured school time does not take long during the day (45 min - 2 hours) so we still have the time to do a lot of outings during our week.  In a typical week we: go to the library, have one playdate, go on one trip somewhere fun (Children's Museum, Zoo, etc), go to our children's classes with our Homeschool Learning Center, and have a Homeschool Co-op activity (adoration, Fun Friday workshops, etc).  We also try to go to daily mass one day a week.  A beauty of homeschooling is that once you get going you really learn that life is all about learning and each day and activity can be a continuation of learning.

Playing at the Children's Museum

We always start our day no matter what we do with Calendar time (month, day of the week, number day, weather), Saint of the Day and a Decade of the Rosary.  We all do this together and usually even our 1 1/2 year old will sit long enough to "listen".  He has a plush toddler rosary that he will hold and is already starting to join in prayers! 

If we don't have a morning activity we then will do a few lessons with our oldest two children with math, phonics or science.  If our three year old is not wanting to sit and listen I usually give him puzzles, books or play-dough and he is happy for 20-30 minutes!  Our basement, where we homeschool, is pretty secure and child friendly so during this time our youngest will just go around doing his own thing and play.

Our book worm!

See our entire Homeschool Room Tour HERE! 

Our youngest two children still take one nap a day, typically from 1-3 pm and we have learned we have to use that time wisely.  We always start by doing our oldest son's reading time.  We put the little one's to bed with read - aloud time with everyone and then we move to doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons once the little ones go to bed.  We quickly learned that learning to read was an activity that our oldest son needs 100% of my attention for and it usually takes about 20 minutes per day.  Now that he is ALMOST done with the lesson book and reading so much on his own (I STILL cannot believe it!!) we also spend that time reading BOB books or Level 1 reading books from the library.  He loves having books that he is able to read on his own!

Also during nap time is when we do our daily chores and finish our laundry for the day.  Our oldest son does help with chores and does things like fold socks, wash the kitchen floor, dust, feed the dogs and helps with the trash.  I think it is great that they learn the responsibility of helping in the home.  They also love to help with cooking!

Then with any extra time during nap time we will finish up whatever lessons we did not complete in the morning.  If the little ones start to wake up (again usually after 3pm), this is the time during the day when they are able to watch an educational television show.  We had gotten pretty lenient with our kids and electronics and recently changed rules greatly, which has helped all around behavior in our home!

So, if it is a "normal day" this is what the schedule looks like:

 

6:30-7:30:  Wake up, get dressed, brush teeth

7:30-8am: Breakfast/ Morning Chores (Unloading Dishwasher/Making Beds/Starting Laundry)

8-8:30am:  Calendar time/ Morning Prayers

9-11am:  Either Morning Activity or School Time (Math, Phonics, Science) / Arts, Crafts, Music

11-noon:  Lunch

Noon-12:30pm:  Read Aloud Time before Little Ones Nap

1-1:30pm:  Reading/Phonics with Oldest Son

1:30-2:15pm:  Chores

2:15-3:15pm:  Finishing School Work (If Needed)

FREE TIME/FAMILY TIME!!!

Currently we plan to have a year round schedule, taking a few longer breaks around Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter and a small summer break.  I think that this will keep us on a better daily schedule and allow homeschooling to become a constant in our lives instead of a chore.  I also love that this schedule can change as things change in our life.  It is constantly being tweaked and adjusted to what works best for us and that is such a beauty with homeschooling.

So that is what works for us right now!  Do you have any secret tips on making your day run smoothly? 

Ask Me #1: Taking and Organizing Photos

Children of the Church

 

One part of blogging that I am loving is the community that it has formed.  I love that by sharing my life with all of you that you have also opened your lives to me!  One way that I want to give back is by making sure that I answer questions that you might have about our life or how we do things in our home.  I am starting a little series called "Ask Me".  So many of you have started asking me questions about our life, homeschooling, etc and I want to make sure to address them!  Please feel free to contact me at any time on the blog or by "liking" and commenting on the Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/ChildrenoftheChurch

 

The first question I am going to address is about PHOTOGRAPHY.  First of all, thank you for so many of your kind words about the photography that I use on my blog.  I am by no means a professional photographer, but I truly enjoy taking pictures, especially of our children.  My father has always loved photography and passed that love along to my husband when he and I were engaged to be married.  We bought our first Nikon camera when we got married and my husband used it 90% of the time.  He is an amazing photographer and really knows a lot more about the art and skill of photography than I do.  When we started having kids is when I started gaining interest in photography.  I read a few books, and then just PRACTICED, PRACTICED, PRACTICED!  Here is a little about how I have learned, what I use, and how I organize photos.

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Books

 

Here are a few books that helped me learn when I was starting photography with a DSLR camera.

 

The Digital Photography Book

 

DSLR Photography for Beginngers

 

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Camera

 

As much as learning about F stop, ISO, aperture and shutter speed are very important when using a DSLR camera one thing that also makes a big difference is having a nice camera.  I have used multiple different Nikon DSLR cameras over the years and currently have a Nikon D7100.  I love this camera and think that it is easy to use and takes great photographs.

 

Nikon D7100

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Storing the Camera

 

This is a topic that took me a while to learn about!  For a long time I would just take our DSLR camera, throw it in my diaper bag or in the front seat of our van to bring with on our outings to the zoo, Children's museum, etc.  It did not take long before we had to send the camera in to be repaired and let me tell you that my husband, and our pocket book were not thanking me!  I tried carrying a camera bag around for a while, but it just didn't work.  I couldn't carry a camera bag, diaper bag and assist three children under the age of 5 years old!  After a LOT of searching and a few different options I found the perfect bag for me.  It is the Kelly Moore 2 Sues Bag!

 

I love Kelly Moore bags in general and love that she "gets" that moms are looking for something that can function as a diaper bag AND a camera bag, while also looking stylish.  I had received the AMAZING Kelly Moore Libby Bag as a gift from my in-laws a few years back and it is wonderful.  Yet, it is big, and heavy and when you pack it with lots of extra stuff it is really too cumbersome to use on a daily basis.  I still love that bag for trips or when I want to bring extra camera gear.

 

I got the Kelly Moore 2 Sues Bag a few months ago and have used it every day since, it is perfect!  It is flexible and molds to your body as you carry it, even with a camera inside.  I keep both the short and messenger strap on the bag, which I love depending on how I want to use it.  The bag has a padded insert for the camera with dividers so you can fit things in different arrangements.  If you are not using your camera the padded section is completely removable and you can then just use the bag as a regular purse/diaper bag!  I can easily fit my DSLR camera, 18-200mm lens, external flash PLUS baby wipes, 2-3 diapers, a cup and small snack for the kids, rosary, chapstick, keys, and phone.  Plus it also has an awesome pocket on the side which is easily accessible to hold all of your credit cards and cash so you don't have to carry a bulky wallet.  I cannot even explain to you how much I love this bag, and how much my husband loves knowing the camera is protected!

 

Kelly Moore 2 Sues Bag

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Taking Photos

 

The best thing and worst thing about digital photography is that you can take a ridiculous amount of photos to get the result that you want.  You might see a lot of cute photos on the blog, but a lot of times there were 20 "out takes" to get that one cute picture.  Thankfully I think that when I take more photos our children naturally become more photogenic, so that does help as well.  Even our 1 1/2 year old will say "CHEESE" with a big smile when I pull the camera out!

 

I love taking photos of our children when they are just being themselves and "catching" those special moments.  I also love taking photos outside and with natural light if possible!

 

 

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Organizing Photos

 

Thankfully when my husband and I got married between myself being a Type - A organizer and my husband being very savy with technology we quickly developed a great way for us to organize our photos.  I have a daily chore rotation (which might be a whole different post) to help organize my week and make sure everything gets done around our home, and one thing on my list each week is Photo Organization.  Every Friday I take the time to sit down, take all of the photos that I have taken from that week and organize them to our home server computer that my husband manages.  This way the photos are not taking up space and running down my own personal computer. 

 

I have folders that organize the photos by year --> month --> day and then each particular day I label with any important event (zoo trip, Christmas with family, etc).  I have found that by not only labeling the folder by the day but also by the event name it makes it easier to go back and find exactly what photos I am looking for at a later date.  Some folders may only have 4 photos and some might have 100, but this has made it much easier to locate the photos when I need them.

 

I also use Shutterfly to make photo albums for each month and special events so that family and friends can follow.  This was especially helpful when we were living in a different state from most of our family last year.  I love that there is no limit on how much that you can store, you can set great privacy filters and people can print your photos from the site if they want any copies!

 

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Preserving Photos

 

Another huge piece to my photo organization is making photo books.  For this process I use MyPublisher as I truly love their quality of books and ease of use with their program.  They can be expensive, but let me give you a BIG tip!  Every quarter of the year they run a sale of "FREE PAGES".  Their typical book includes 20 pages and then you pay an additional $0.99 per extra page (each book can hold up to 100 pages).  What I do is I make sure I fill up 100 pages in a book, then I sign up for their e-mail list serve and WAIT for these sales.  When I wait, I then get my book for the base price of $29.99 instead of $110 ($29.99 + $80 for the 80 extra pages past 20 pages).  It makes great quality books very affordable!  

 

I used to make one book a year when my husband and I first got married, and then as we started having kids it went up to two books, three books, and now I usually fill four books per year!  I also make a photo book for each big family vacation that we go on.  I feel like we take a lot of additional photos on vacations and I like to have separate books for them!  Adding photos to my photo books is also a part of my "weekly chore list" and because I do this every week it usually only takes me 10-20 minutes per week depending on how many photos I have taken.

 

I LOVE that we have photo books starting from when my husband and I were dating and engaged until the current time.  These are truly some of my most treasured things that we own and I know I will appreciate them for years to come.

 

 

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Knowing when to Get Help

 

The last thing I love to do with photography is invest in a professional photographer!  I love taking photos, but often that means I am not in them, or my husband is not in them if he is the photographer for the day.  I think it is so important to get photographs of us together as a couple and as a family to preserve these years that fly by so fast.  We have made it a habit to get professional photos at least once a year, and when we have new babies sometimes that happens even more than once.  Thankfully we have a few favorite photographers in our hometown that are very affordable, do a fantastic job and also give us rights to the photographs so that we can choose on our own what to do with them!  I think that taking the time and money to hire a professional every year is definitely worth the investment if you can make it work!

 

Heidi Keene Photography

 

Jaybee Images

 



Deepening Our Prayer Lives

I was so blessed to be able to have a day retreat to be with God and a group of wonderful women from our Catholic Homeschool Co-op at the Pro Sanctity Retreat Center in our community.  I am always looking for ways to reconnect with God and deepen my spiritual life, so I was thrilled to hear that our Homeschool Co-Op puts on a yearly women's day retreat.  I was feeling even more of a pull to take this day away with God after we experienced the loss of our son Samuel by miscarriage.  I knew that I needed time to be quiet in prayer and process through my grief on the path to healing.   I gained so much wisdom at the retreat and am feeling refreshed and ready to re-examine my prayer life and be more available to receive God on a daily basis.  I wanted to share with you some of what I learned in hope that it might help you in your prayer life as well.

Just as children learn from us as parents how to speak and how to act, we learn how to mirror God's image by going to Him in prayer and being open to hearing His words and how He wants us to respond.  It is essential that we take time daily to pray, and that means not only say the rosary or read the daily scripture but to have "imaginative prayer" with God.  With this type of prayer we are truly entering a relationship with God and talking to him about our sorrows, joys and sufferings throughout each day.  Even though he knows all of our actions and thoughts he still wants to hear from us about our thoughts, feelings and desires.

We learned about praying with the acronym A. R. R. R. which stands for Acknowledge, Relate, Receive, Respond. 

Acknowledge:  We need to be aware of what is going on inside of our heart and then learn how to relate these feelings to God.  We can think "This is how I am feeling, but I am not sure why".  We then dive deeper to give that emotion a name and accept that God cares about us and our life and wants to hear about it. 

Relate:  In this step we are telling Jesus everything; what we feel, think and what we want.  There is a big difference between thinking thoughts internally throughout the day and taking them to God to relate with Him.  We need to personally let him into our lives to know and understand our deepest feelings.  If we are in a difficult place and do not know how to communicate our true feelings we can use the Psalms as a guide, which speak through many different emotions of joy and suffering. 

Receive:  In this part of our prayer we need to sit back, and be patient.  This part of prayer is God's work and God's gift to us.  We make ourselves available to be receptive to truly receiving God.  We need to trust that God is listening to us and wanting to fill our lives with His love and truth.  The priest leading our retreat gave us the beautiful example that just as women can physically make room for another person to grow inside of our own being, we also need to be open and aware of making room for God in our being and truly ready to receive Him. 

Respond:  Here we respond to what we are receiving.  We can respond in thanksgiving, in tears or in laughter.  It can be a response of a deeper conversation or a response of a practical resolution or change in our life.

Our retreat was held on the feast day of St Francis de Sales and so we were also able to learn more about his life and pray to him during our morning prayers and Mass.  My favorite quote from St Francis de Sales is the following:

"Accept the duties which come upon you quietly, and try to fulfill them methodically, one after another. If you attempt to do everything at once, or with confusion, you will only cumber yourself with your own exertions, and by dint of perplexing your mind you will probably be overwhelmed and accomplish nothing."

 

I think that this quote helps us greatly as Catholic mothers to realize that we need to pray about our vocations and accept and receive what God is giving to us in the gift of our families and respond with grace and love.  God is the ultimate redeemer and when we act like we have it all together we are not able to truly let Him in.  It is in those messiest places in our lives and heart where Jesus's response can be the most glorious!  Sometimes we do not feel like we are receiving a response to our prayer, but God only asks us to wait when he has something amazing planned in our lives. 

 

God is there and present in each day and in each part of our lives.  Now it is up to us to give Him the space he needs and to truly receive the gift that God is.  God wants to provide and protect that space in our lives to draw closer to Him.  The amazing thing is if we try today and do not get that intimate prayer time to fit in our day, God is just as available to us tomorrow as he was today.  All we need to do is try again.  There are many responsibilities that can overwhelm us in our daily lives between loving our spouses, caring for our children, tending to our homes, making meals, giving to our community but the only thing that we really need to accomplish in each day is receiving God.  He is there, all around us, and through daily prayer if we take time to acknowledge, relate, receive and respond to Him I think we would all see remarkable gifts in each of our lives.

 

What do you do to fit time in your day for prayer and to deepen your relationship with God?  How do you best receive God?  Let us pray for each other as we also draw closer to Him.

7QT-Homeschool Fun

I wanted to get back into participating with Seven Quick Takes Friday posts as I think it is such a great and fun way to wrap up quick events or thoughts from the week.  This week we had a lot of quality time at home due to the miscarriage of our son Samuel.  It was a great reason though to spend time together as a family at home and enjoy the blessing of homeschooling!

 

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Starting Kindergarten



Our oldest son, who turned 5 years old at the end of December just started Kindergarten using Seton's core curriculum last week.  He loves workbook style learning, as well as a great mix of hands on stuff and is loving his new books.  He especially is loving the Math and Phonics books so far.

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Toddler Fun During Homeschool Time

 

Many people will ask how we homeschool with little ones in the house.  I have an entire post coming up soon in a new series that I am starting called "Ask Me", where I answer questions that people have asked and one is about our homeschool schedule!  If you have any questions for me please use the comment section or come on over and "like" Children of the Church's Facebook page and leave a message there!

 

The biggest thing for us is since our children have never known anything different than homeschooling, it truly has become a way of life for our family.  Our toddler is an active 19 month old boy and so we have learned to have some fun active toys for him, which keep him busy!  His favorites are the Little Tikes Trampoline and our Tunnel! 

 

 

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Preschool Learning

 

Our middle child is 3 1/2 years old and is currently not doing any formal curriculum.  He followed along a lot with Seton's Pre-Kindergarten program that we did with our oldest son this past fall and honestly knows 90% of the information, except for the writing portion.  He does not have the fine motor skills of writing yet, and we did not want to push him.  He knows all of his letters, letter sounds, numbers, etc.  He has been so interested in his big brother learning to read that he has actually started asking to learn to read himself.  We have started Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons with him, which has been working GREAT for his big brother so we hope it works just as well for him.  The fun part is, for now he spends a lot of time playing with our favorite learning games and putting together puzzles.  He LOVES school time and is the first one to ask for it each day!

Melissa and Doug See & Spell Puzzles

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St Sebastian's Feast Day

 

We celebrated St Sebastian's feast day this week on January 20th.  He was a Roman soldier in 283 and always defended the faith and helped with many people with their conversion to the Catholic faith.  He is the patron saint of athletes because of his "physical endurance and energetic way of spreading and defending the Faith".  One thing that I love about homeschooling is taking our learning time about the Saint of the Day and then using it as a great opportunity to go outside in the fresh air and play sports!  It was a great way for the kids to understand how during different times and activities during their life that there are different Saints that they can pray to and receive guidance from!

 

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Brotherly Bonds

 

I LOVE that  homeschooling allows for our children to spend a lot of time together and truly become best friends.  Yes, sometimes this is also a negative side of homeschooling if they are disagreeing or fighting, but most of the time it is a blessing.  I love to see them finding special moments all on their own to seek each other out to play or teach each other new things.  Both of our oldest boys love to find our 1 1/2 year old to help him with a puzzle or get him to play whatever their newest game is (store, cars, etc).  I hope and pray to be able to continue witnessing their sibling bonds growing over time.

 

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Enjoying Springtime Weather in January

Last year we were living in Minnesota with feet of snow in January, so we were excited to be back in Nebraska with a more mild winter.  Yet, we were NOT expecting 60 degree weather in January.  We have been loving the beautiful weather and all of the fun time we can play outside!

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The Joy of Catholic Kids

 

Our children have these beautiful moments that they warm my heart with how much they love our Catholic Faith and how integrated it is becoming in their lives.  Our oldest son loves trucks and has been very interested in the huge trucks on the highway that carry Oversize Loads!  I caught him this week in our living room with his wooden semi truck carrying our statue of the Holy Family.  I asked him what he was doing and he said "Mom, Mary, Joseph and Jesus are an Oversize Load!"

 

Another moment this week our boys were being good and I told them they could each pick out a new toy at the store as a reward.  They found these Shining Light Saint Dolls and they were thrilled and each wanted one as their choice.  They picked St Patrick, St Nicholas and Our Lady of Lourdes. They are simply adorable and our boys have loved playing with them!

 

We went to Adoration and then to our parish Prayer Garden the morning of January 22nd, the 42nd anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.  We brought our book Angel in the Waters to read together, which we had given to the boys when we announced our pregnancy with Samuel.  It is a great book to teach children about the gift of life from God from the moment of conception, which is the first part of being pro-life that we want to teach our children.  We then said a decade of the rosary together for Samuel and for all little babies who have died.

 

For more Quick Takes, visit This Ain't the Lyceum

Samuel's Story Part #4 - The Miscarriage

Here I continue the story about the loss of our son Samuel through miscarriage.  If you are just joining me in our story please read about our loss of our little saint Samuel, finding out we were pregnant/telling the family, and God's Word Preparing our Hearts for our loss.  This part of the story does discuss the physical loss of our child, and may be difficult for some people to read.  Just like some women talk about the birth story of their children I think it is important for me to talk about and remember the physical loss of our child.  If this is a trigger for you please do not worry about stopping here and also please pause and say a prayer for our family and all families who have lost a child.  Also, today is the 42 anniversary of Roe vs. Wade which legalized abortion in the United States.  Today I hope we can all take a moment to stop and pray for each child who has lost their life by abortion and for all of the women and families affected.  I pray that together we can become a culture of life. 



The Verse from which we named Samuel

We went for our follow up ultrasound on January 5th, 2015 and thankfully my husband was able to join me at the Doctor's office for this appointment.  We knew instantaneously when we started the ultrasound that our baby had gone to heaven.  Our baby had still grown in the two weeks since the previous ultrasound, but I was almost 10 weeks pregnant and the baby had no heartbeat.  Our hearts were broken at this news. 

The rest of the appointment was a blur.  They spoke to us about physically miscarrying and to call them with any concerns or questions.  I had worked in Labor and Delivery as a nurse for many years so I knew the drill of what physically occurs with a miscarriage and what happens if you need a D&C.  At that time, I just wanted to leave and have a chance to take it all in.

When we left the doctors office and I was numb.  Although I had prepared myself for this possibility after our first ultrasound, I had prayed so hard that the outcome would be different.  My sweet husband embraced me and asked if I wanted to go to adoration.  We went to church and sat there in front of the tabernacle together and the tears flowed out of me.  I prayed for Jesus and Mary to be with me and our family, but more importantly for them to embrace our sweet baby with love. 

We went home and the second we walked in the door our 5 year old shouted "Mom, how is the baby?"  Trying to stay strong we gently explained that our baby had gone to heaven.  I think that God gives us the sweet responses of children to help us through these difficult times, because his answer was "I think that Jesus must just really love our baby".  "I think so, Buddy" I answered to him through tears. 

Our 3 year old and 1 1/2 year old still do not fully understand, nor do we except them to.  Our 1 1/2 year old still will kiss my tummy and say proudly "BABY" and our 3 year has started to change from saying "the baby in Mommy's tummy" to "Baby Samuel" during nightly prayers. I am not sure when and how they will fully understand what happened, but I am still so glad that we had told them about the baby.  Knowing about their brother Samuel when he was in my tummy taught them love and compassion, and those are true gifts from God.

Then came the waiting to physically miscarry our Samuel.  Our family and friend's support was simply amazing.  From sending flowers, cards, making meals, sending well wishes and prayers, helping with our children, just sitting and being present to us, and helping with the hard tasks of finding a cemetery and planning a burial.  I continued to pray that God's will be done, and even though I know Samuel had passed away it still gave me some strange comfort to know that he was inside of me, still physically a part of me. 

One week after we had received the news that Samuel had passed away I started bleeding.  It was a slow, long process to physically miscarry.  Two days after I started spotting the intensity picked up.  My mom was able to come and help with our children and I was able to try to rest when possible.  It was physically painful and a time that I truly needed God's strength and grace.  I passed multiple clots and had heavy bleeding, and then things would calm down again.  My husband's work schedule has been crazy as an Emergency Physician, but he tried to be home as much as possible to be with myself and the children and help in any way possible. 

Finally on Friday night, almost 100 hours after everything physically began I was getting ready to pray the rosary and go to bed.  I had been having some slight cramping and moderate bleeding all day, but nothing like the day before where I had been passing multiple blood clots.  All of a sudden though, what seemed like out of nowhere, I felt what I would describe as a heavy weight.  With no pain, quietly, with our children sleeping in the rooms next to me and my husband caring for families at the Emergency Room I passed our son Samuel.  Thankfully our physician had helped us understand how to save his remains for a burial.

Afterwards I stepped into our Little Oratory, fell to my knees and wept.  Even though no one was physically with me at the time, I knew I was not alone.  I was looking up at the foot of the cross and felt the warm embrace of Mary's love.  I started praying the rosary and found it somehow comforting that it was a Friday and that I was meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries.  Focusing on the pain and suffering of Jesus dying on the cross for us truly helped me process the cross that we are carrying and the grief that I was experiencing.

The next morning I woke and started my day like I usually try to with prayers and the daily readings.  The first reading for the day was from Hebrews 4:16:  "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need".  Thank you God, for continuing to protect me and giving me strength through this entire journey.  I know that although the physical part of this journey is coming to a close, that the emotional healing will continue with time.  There have been many things that have given me grace and strength, one of the most important being the prayers from each of you.  May I receive God's mercy and find grace to help in this time of need. 

Becoming a Culture of Life

Do you ever feel like God is reaching out to you, ready to heal your heart and draw you closer to Him?  I started physically miscarrying our son Samuel early this week and it has been a long process.  It is physically and emotionally draining, but it is truly teaching me to rely on God's strength and to ask for help from others.  My family, friends, parish and homeschool co-op have reached out and blessed our family in so many amazing ways and have truly been a gift to our family during this difficult time. 

One thing that the loss of Samuel has already taught our family is how truly precious the gift of life is.  I see it as a true gift from God, that as we are drawing to a close of the physical loss of our Samuel that the Nine Days of Prayer is beginning (January 17th - January 25th).  I think one of the best ways to use my suffering is to give it purpose and put it to action to make something good of it.  Yes, I am in pain and grieving, but what a blessing that I can offer my pain up for others through 9 days of prayer, penance and following the virtual pilgrimage to become a "culture of life". 

9 Days for Life

Come visit the website for 9 days for Life to learn about all of the amazing ways that you can join in and help out January 17th - 25th 2015.  As they state on their website "On January 22 our nation will mark the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal throughout the U.S.  Since that tragic decision, more than 56 million children's lives have been lost to abortion, and many suffer that loss -- often in silence." 

I pray for all of the babies who have been lost, who were wanted by God and who have great purpose now in Heaven.  I pray for the mothers and families who have experienced hardship and pain and who might have felt like abortion is was the best or only option for their child.  I pray for the women who have had an abortion in the past and who have not learned that God is a forgiving and loving God.  I pray to end this culture of death and to help it become a culture of life.

Mother Theresa once said "How can you say there are too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers."  Now, an amazing recording artist Danielle Rose released a song this week called "Little Flower" which is a beautiful song praising the gift of all life, and reminding us that God loves all children.  Danielle has truly done her part in creating a ministry called the Little Flower Project which is protecting, respecting, loving and serving life by helping children who have been "rejected, abandoned, deemed as useless and who have no voice" in China.  What a true gift to help us all become a culture for life.

Little Flower - by Danielle Rose

"How can you say there are too many children?

That is like saying there are too many flowers

In the garden, in the garden of God.

He planted man in paradise.

He breathed in us the breath of life.

Be fertile, fruitful, multiply:

The first command of Eden.

He promised to provide for all our needs.

He reigns over all the earth;

His light shines on every seed.

He cares for every soul, so little flower, grow.

God provides.

For Him there is no life too small.

His hand of love has fashioned all.

He hears you weeping when you call.

He knows you each by name.

He promised to provide for all our needs.

He reigns over all the earth;

His light shines on every seed.

He cares for every soul, so little flower, grow.

God provides.

Through your hands, God provides.

Through your heart, God provides

Through the Body of Christ.

How can you say there are too many children?

That is like saying there are too many flowers

In the garden, in the garden of God.

Whoever receives one child in my name receives me."

 

 

I love the last verse of Danielle's song "Whoever receives one child in my name receives me".  Thank you God for letting us receive You within the lives of each of our children.  Thank you God for helping me offer our pain of Samuel's death into praying for the gift and beauty of life for all children.  Thank you for loving our Samuel and for loving each and everyone one of your children. 

 

What can you do to help create a "culture of life"?  How is God asking you to step out and make a difference today, in your heart, in your family and in your community?

Getting Back into the Swing of Ordinary Time

After we celebrate the Solemnity of the Baptism of Christ we officially enter back into Ordinary Time.  We have taken down our Christmas tree and all of our Christmas decorations and are getting back into the swing of homeschooling after a nice LONG break for Advent/Christmas.  Even with the cross we have been asked to carry with the miscarriage of our son Samuel, I know that God is also asking me to keep moving forward, one day at a time.  I love ordinary time in the liturgical season because all of life is not about the waiting of Advent, the celebrating of Christmas or sorrow and then celebration of Lent/Easter.  Some of our days are just "ordinary".  Yet I know that God is asking us to find Him in those moments and days, and find the extraordinary within the ordinary!

The biggest news is that our oldest son officially started Kindergarten!!  I love that with homeschooling that we can adjust our schedule and the school year around our personal schedule and the skills of our children.  We are so excited with our homeschool curriculum choices for Kindergarten and I think we are going to have a lot of fun! 

We did our morning calendar time and prayers and then the boys all found a big book about the Human Body that they wanted to study!  We had a fun game about naming all of our body parts and then went a little more in depth with our oldest son about the different systems.  Then as our oldest son started his new math, phonics and religion books the little guys played in the nearby playroom!

 

In the afternoon we made some of our favorite oatmeal raison cookies while listening to our new Making Music Praying Twice CD for Ordinary Time - Winter.  It has some of our favorite classics on it and some songs that I know we will learn to love including Father Abraham, Michael Row the Boat Ashore, If You're Happy and You Know it and Ave Maria.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how we can take an afternoon activity and learn about math in the measurements of cooking, nutrition, music, and faith all in one!

 

Even though Lent starts in about one month with Ash Wednesday being on February 18th this year, we are excited to make extraordinary this month of Ordinary Time.