Counting on Faith - A Book Review

I am always looking for great literature for our children and to add to our homeschooling collection.  Counting on Faith written by Maurice Prater and Illustrated by Jason Koltuniak is definitely a fantastic addition that we will treasure for years to come. 

I feel like a lot of religious counting books are aimed at toddlers or young preschoolers who are just learning to count.  These are great and fun books, but for those of us who are looking for something more, Counting on Faith is it!  This book is perfect for someone who is not learning to count, but who is learning about the Catholic Faith.  It helps teach the basics of the Holy Family, the Days of Creation, Jesus's Death, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, important prayers like the Our Father, the Guardian Angels and the Ten Commandments. 

Beyond these important Catholic topics the other part of this book that we loved are the illustrations.  They are truly captivating and draw you into each page.  As a homeschool parent I also love that at the end of the book they include spiritual references to where each topic is discussed in the Bible and also definitions of words that might be new to younger children.  We truly enjoyed this book and know that it will not only help us with counting but also drawing closer to the beauty of our Catholic Faith!

May Crowning for Mary

 

In the month of May we celebrate Mary in a special way!  We decided to do a simple May Crowning for Mary by bringing our statue of Mary some simple flowers, and praying a Hail Mary together.  Simple and to the point for rowdy little boys who are loving the spring weather! 

 

 

We also started the Holy Hero's Spiritual Adoption Prayer Adventure today which is a beautiful way to pray for a baby from creation to birth.  We are praying for our sweet little baby who we are hopefully awaiting to join our family later this year, but you can also pray for any unknown baby, especially those who might be in danger of abortion!  It is a great way to help learn about the miracle of life and the development of a baby!  The simple prayer that we say every day is:

 

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I love you very much.  I beg of you to spare the life of (baby's name), the unborn baby I have spiritually adopted. Amen" - Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

 

 

Supported by the Saints

Do you ever have those moments where you feel like there is someone or even a group of people helping you get through a certain phase of life?  The past 6 months have been a roller coaster for me as I found out that I was pregnant with our fourth child in November, was devastated as we lost our sweet saint by miscarriage in January, and then by the blessing of God found out that we were pregnant with our fifth child in February!  I know that God and my family have been here for me throughout it all, but I keep having this feeling that there is something more.  Finally as we were entering into the last week of April I figured it out, I feel like I am being supported by the Saints!  The last week of April we celebrate the feast day of St. Gianna Beretta Molla on April 28th and the feast day of St Catherine of Sienna on April 29th.  I truly believe that these two wonderful women have been helping me along this journey.

St. Gianna Beretta Molla has always been one of my favorite saints and is the patron saint of mothers and preborn children.  She was a wife, a mother a physician and while she was pregnant with their fourth child was diagnosed with a fibroma of the uterus.  She was advised to have an abortion to save her own health but she chose instead to have a surgery and prayed that her baby be saved.  Her prayers were answered and her daughter Gianna Emanuela Molla was born on April 21st, 1962.  Gianna Beretta Molla died days later on April 28th.  I remember when I first watched the video of her life called "Love is a Choice".  It was so wonderful to see such a modern saint who found the balance within her life as a wife, a working mother and also seeing the importance of her unborn child. 

A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms spends an entire week talking about St. Gianna Beretta Molla and includes these beautiful words of wisdom from her "The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day".  Yes!  Thank you St. Gianna, this is exactly what I am needing to do every day during this pregnancy!

I was introduced to St. Catherine of Siena as the patron saint of miscarriages when I was experiencing the loss of our sweet Saint Samuel in January.  I started reading about her life and was drawn to her compassion, always giving to others and teaching that people could be renewed by a total love of God.  In 1970 St Pope Paul VI gave her the title of Doctor of the Church, and she was one of the first women to receive this honor. 

My favorite quote from St. Catherine of Siena is: "Lord, take me from myself and give me to yourself."   Saying this over and over throughout my day has helped me to unite my fears, excitement and worries with God.  There is also this beautiful prayer to St. Catherine of Siena to pray during pregnancy to avoid miscarriage:   

 

Dear St Catherine, humble virgin and Doctor of the Church,

in thirty-three years you achieved great perfection and became the counsellor of Popes.

You know the temptations of mothers today as well as the dangers that await unborn infants.

 

Intercede for me that I may avoid miscarriage and bring forth a healthy baby who will become a true child of God. Also pray for all mothers, that they may not resort to abortion but help to bring a new life into the world. Amen.

 

I am so thankful that as Catholics we have this amazing group of men and women to help guide and support us through life and show us in very real and tangible ways how to achieve holiness.  We truly are supported by the Saints.

 

Ponder:  Have you had moments in your life where you connected to different Saints and felt like they were helping you through a phase of your life?  What are you favorite books and resources to help get to know the Saints more?



Top 10 Reasons to Attend a Homeschool Conference

With Homeschool Conference season upon us I wanted to let you know the Top 10 Reasons that I think you should attend a Homeschool Conference this year if you can!

1.  Explore Homeschooling:

You do not need to be homeschooling to attend a homeschool conference.  Have you been considering homeschooling?  Wondering what it is about?  Not sure if you can do it or if it would work for your family?  A Homeschool Conference is the perfect opportunity to get some questions answered and explore the world of homeschooling!

2.  Used Book Sale: 

I laughed when I first read somewhere to bring a rolling suitcase to a homeschool conference, but then I went to one, and I went to the used book sale.  JACKPOT!  There are so many awesome deals and unfortunately they do not have shopping carts, so yes, bring a rolling suitcase to help you carry all of your awesome treasures that you will find!

Also, a quick tip that I learned is to make a budget list of all of the top books and curriculum items that you are looking for and the cheapest price you are able to find them with the publisher or on-line.  Keep that handy with you while you are shopping and you will easily know if you are getting a good deal or not!

3.  Inspiring Speakers:

My husband and I were able to attend the Minnesota Catholic Home Education Conference last year and were able to hear Dr. Meg Meeker speak.  She has always been one of my favorite authors and it was fantastic to hear some best tips on parenting and living life to the fullest!  Check the nearby Homeschool Conference schedule to see what gems may be in your area this summer!

4.  Curriculum Booths:

I do not know about you, but getting into the world of homeschooling I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of different curriculums out there!  They all seemed so wonderful and all seemed like we could incorporate them into our family well.  It is so great to be able to go to the different curriculum booths at a Homeschool Conference and not only physically page through the books but also speak to someone who can answer all of your personal questions.

If you are planning on trying to go to a lot of speakers and also the Used Book Sales there is not always a lot of time to go to the Curriculum Booths.  I made a list of the booths that I made sure I wanted to go to Seton, Kolbe Academy, Catholic Heritage Curriculum, Mother of Divine Grace and a few others to make sure that I prioritized these booths first. 

5.  Talk to the Vendor Representatives:

Take time not only to page through all of the different books but to really talk to the Vendor Representatives at the Curriculum Booths.  That is what they are there for!  Ask them the tough questions about how things work, about what you do if you are having problems or concerns, how grading works, how you can teach multiple grades the same subjects, etc. 

When we were at the Seton booth we were able to sit down and talk to Ginny Seuffert, who is a veteran homeschool mother and grandmother of over 20 plus years.  Talking to her and asking her a lot of practical questions was truly what helped us decide that Seton was right for our family. 

6.  Visit and Support Other Organizations:

There are so many fantastic organizations that take time to come to Homeschool Conferences and you do not want to miss out on their great products and services.  HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) is usually at most conferences and typically is not only giving away a free membership by drawing but also sometimes offering discounts if you sign up at the conference.

7.  Sign up if you are Ready:

Most curriculum vendors have great deals going on at a conference if you are ready to sign up!  For example Seton will offer a $30 discount per child if you sign up at the conference and also waive the First Time Enrollment Fee of $25!  That can be a significant savings depending on how many children you have!

8.  Meet New People:

Depending on which homeschool conference you attend there could be hundreds to thousands of people there!  It was so wonderful to meet homeschool students who gave wonderful testaments about there experiences and parents advice about how they have made homeschooling work.  It is a fantastic place to network and meet new friends!

9.  Inspire Conversation with your Spouse:

When my husband and I went to our first homeschool conference we were pretty sure that homeschooling was for us, but we still had some pretty big questions.  By attending a conference together and by going to individual talks that spoke to us each personally about what our own experiences with homeschooling might be like we learned so much.  It is a great opportunity to come together with your spouse and decide what is best for your family.  My husband and I were able to go out on a date after attending the conference and talk to each other about all of our hopes, dreams and fears about homeschooling and really get on the same page.  I have definitely learned that having the support of your spouse is one of the most important things to make homeschooling a success.

10.  Have Fun:

A homeschool conference is really a lot of fun!  If you have felt burn out after a long year of homeschooling or just not really feeling too motivated to move forward and get ready for the next year, attending a homeschool conference might just be what you are needing.  It is really inspiring to see such a wonderful community come together to support a fantastic way of education.  You might be able to be inspired by speakers, get some new ideas or even just enjoy a day or two away! 

Reflection:

Are you planning on attending a Homeschooling Conference this summer?  What have been some of the best parts of attending a Homeschool Conference for you in the past and what are you excited about gaining from going again?  If you are not able to attend a conference what do you like to do to get ready for the next year?

Thankful for our BIG kid

I remember reading a blog post once by Kendra of Catholic All Year that The Magic Number is 10.  She was referring to that life gets easier when you oldest child turns 10 years old!  When I first read this our oldest child was 4 1/2 years old and we had just had our third baby.  I remember thinking, ok, so I just need to get through the next 5 1/2 years right?!  Well, mom's of all little ones, let me tell you one thing that I learned this weekend, our 5 1/2 year old is pretty awesome!  As much as I hope that our house continues to improve its flow and that everyone learns to pitch in more in the coming years, this weekend reinforced how much our 5 1/2 year old does and how much I appreciate him.

My husband's cousin was getting married this weekend out of state and as much as we all wanted to go as a family it was too quick of a turn around with plane rides, naps, and schedules with little ones.  After talking through a few options we decided that the best choice for the weekend would be for my husband to bring our oldest son and to have a fun father/son weekend.  My husband and I both try to make individual time with each of our children, which we feel is really important the more children we have, but this was the first time a parent took only one child away from our home for multiple days.  It truly was an interesting experience for all of us. 

 

Being at home with a 3 1/2 year old, almost 2 year old and 3 months pregnant seemed completely different than having our entire crew around!  I realized that our 5 1/2 year old feeds his dogs, takes out the trash, helps attend to his brothers and break up fights, holds hands in the parking lots, helps with car seats, gets snacks for everyone, reads stories and offers a lot of humor throughout the day.  I was all of a sudden back to being a mom with just little ones and as much as our 3 1/2 year old can do EVERYTHING by himself (according to him), I realized how much MORE work I  felt like I was doing with only two children home instead of three!  Plus, amusingly while I was out I STILL got the comment "Wow, you sure have your hands full!" 

The other thing that was really different was to have a quiet house during nap time.  Our oldest son stopped napping almost 2 years ago so it has been a really long time since I had afternoons to myself.  We are so used to working on house work and homeschooling together while his brothers nap that I found myself getting my chores done within an hour and then just having TIME!  I definitely appreciated this time for a few days having time to read, blog, and simply relax but am excited to get back into our regular schedule with everyone home.  Our oldest son even asked the day before he was leaving to go out of town "Mom, tomorrow is a week day, who is going to do school with me?"  I said "Well, I can pack your books and your Dad can work on it with you."  He replied "That's ok, we can just work extra hard next week!"  I love that his school routine is so much fun for him that he worries about missing a day.

It has really been starting to sink in with our oldest son that we are adding a new baby to our family this year and he has been talking a lot about him / her.  The other day out of no where he said, "Mom, I think that the baby should share her bathroom sink with me!"  He is already claiming territory to be the biggest helper, doing more than he already does.  I asked if he was going to help change diapers and he said "No, but I could probably get my brothers breakfast or do laundry for you!!"  YES!! 

I know our oldest son had a blast spending time with his Daddy all weekend and I enjoyed my time with our little ones.  Maybe hitting 10 years old will be this awesome magical number of a different level of help occurring in our home, but for right now I  know now how thankful I am for our big kid and how much he does for our family and for the joy that he brings to our home!

What about you?  Do you feel like there is a magic number in your home?  Do you feel like your home runs more smoothly as you add children because of your oldest ones becoming more helpful?  Or does more children tend to equal more work and chaos in your home?

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St George Liturgical Playdate

We had so much fun at our first Liturgical Playdate for St. Patrick's Feast Day that we thought we would have another one!  This month we are celebrating and learning about St. George whose feast day is April 23rd.  Here is what we did for our playdate!

Reading:
St George and the Dragon is one of our favorite books so we were thrilled to share this one with friends on this special feast day!  We also used a lot of the ideas and activities from Catholic Mosaic as St. George's Feast Day and this book is highlighted for the month of April.

 

We also used The Knight and The Dragon by Tomie dePaola who is one of our favorite authors.  This is a great book to use for a younger crowd who might not want to sit through a longer book but still want to understand the idea of the story of a Knight and Dragon.  You can fill in special details about St. George!

Learning Fun:
We found some great printables and activities all about St George from Activity Village including coloring sheets, tracing fun, math exercises, mazes and a word search.  I also printed off some extra coloring sheets for the little ones to scribble on!

 

Craft:
We went simple for a craft this month and made Knight Shields with a Red Cross just like St. George the Red Cross Knight.  We used any kind of cardboard from diaper boxes, or other boxes around the house and duct tape!  This is an activity suggested for St. George's feast day in one of our favorite resources Catholic Mosaic.  We used duct tape on the back as well to make a loop for the kids to hold onto the Shield.

Also my friend brought a fun craft making Fire Blowing Dragons with toilet paper rings and tissue paper!

 

 

Snacks:
If you are super talented in baking and decorating I would suggest you make one of these ADORABLE Dragon Cakes to help celebrate.  I, on the other hand know my limitations and cake baking and decorating are not anywhere on the top of my list of talents.  So instead I made some banana bread (simply because I had some old bananas!) and asked friends to also bring a snack this time around.  My friends brought adorable Red Cross Knight Pastries and Cookies!  You could also make some fun English recipes or also if you are talented make these awesome St. George Cookies!  Either way, with little kids, as long as they have a snack they are good to go!

Decorations and Costumes:
What kid does not like to dress up as a knight?  We played in dress up clothes in our Melissa and Doug Knight Costume and also had an awesome real sword (not sharpened) that my husband had used in a childhood play for the children to see!

Fun Activities:
We used our Melissa and Doug Castle and Melissa and Doug Royal Family to help act out the story during playtime.  We also had our special Saint George Peg Doll from a swap I did for All Saints Day last year to add to our fun!

We also had out our Learning Tower (which by the way is the MOST AMAZING product to use with little ones in the kitchen) and the Puppet Show/Popcorn Cover for the kids to put on Puppet Shows with our Melissa and Doug Palace Hand Puppets!

 

Games:
We got a dragon piñata for the kids to try to slay the dragon with their swords, just like St. George.  This was such a fun interactive activity for the kids to do!

 

  

We had such a blast and I am looking forward to planning more liturgical playdates in the near future!  Maybe a May Crowning party for Mary?!

Pregnancy After Miscarriage

Each pregnancy is such a blessing, and I am truly aware of that fact especially after a miscarriage.  It is such a miracle to realize that God has chosen to entrust our family again with another life.  Yet, it is definitely an emotional rollercoaster!  In sorting though many feelings and taking a lot of time for communication the three big points that my husband and I took away from after our miscarriage were the following:

1.  Life is precious
2.  Practicing NFP is saying that we are open to life and also open to death
3.  We know that we would love more children in our family through natural birth or adoption

We waited until my cycle came back after experiencing our miscarriage and then decided that we were open to life and trusting in God's plan.  Well, God's plan included adding another little soul into our family, as we got pregnant again that very next month.  With all of my other four pregnancies I would take a pregnancy test days before my missed period because I had definite symptoms and "knew" I was pregnant.  This time around I was days passed when my cycle would typically return and I justified that my cycle must just be "off" after the miscarriage.  I finally decided to take a pregnancy test to simply prove to myself that I was not pregnant.  Well, to my surprise it came back "POSITIVE!"  Immediately there was a huge wave of emotions from excited, thankful, scared, worried and feeling blessed. 

With all of my other pregnancies, even with the pregnancy that ended in miscarriage I had a lot of definite pregnancy symptoms including morning sickness.  This time around...NOTHING.  I did not even feel pregnant.  The only thing re-assuring me was my missed cycle and a positive pregnancy test.  I actually found myself praying for morning sickness, just to have a physical re-assurance that everything was going the way it was supposed to.

Although my doctors cannot pinpoint if my Hashimoto's Disease had anything to do with my miscarriage, I knew that I wanted to make sure I was doing everything to best protect this newest little one.  I have learned a lot about Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's Disease since I was diagnosed last fall and since our miscarriage, especially about how Hashimoto's and pregnancy do not mix well!  The positive thyroid antibodies and increased levels of TSH increase risk of miscarriage significantly.  So right when we found out I was pregnant I went in the next day for a blood draw to assess a Hashimoto's thyroid panel.  They want your Thyroid antibodies to be as low as possible (mine were through the roof) and for your TSH to be under 2.5mIU/L during your first trimester (mine was 3.2mIU/L).  They increased my thyroid medicine and within a week my TSH was down to 2.2mlU/L and all of my other labs were also under control.  This was a big relief, but still I was at a higher risk for miscarriage.

I was so excited about this new little baby, but when I went to have my first ultrasound at 6 1/2 weeks gestation I was still pretty convinced that it was very likely that I would have another miscarriage.  I poured my heart and thoughts into my prayer journal for God to give me the strength to trust in His plan.  I was shocked to see our baby's little heart beating immediately when we started the ultrasound.  It felt almost like an out of body experience that this little baby was alive inside of me, even though I had experienced that 3 times before!  My doctor explained that with the baby growing properly and the heart beating that my risk of miscarriage went from about 50% chance to 5%. 

Our First Glimpse of Our Newest Little One at 6 weeks

Our oldest son has had a really hard time with the miscarriage and losing a sibling so we decided it was best to wait a while before we tell our children and family that we were pregnant.  He had been praying for God to send us another baby and was so excited when we told him on Easter morning that God sent us another baby.  Yet then later that day we later found him on our stairs crying.  I asked him what was wrong and he said "Is this baby going to die too Mom?"  I said "I hope not Buddy!"  He replied, "Well, if it does at least we know it will be with Samuel in Heaven."  Oh my heart.

It is hard to have such positive and negative thoughts and feelings revolving around a baby whom we already love so much.  One day I was thinking, "Oh, the baby is due the week before Thanksgiving, we should have the baptism the weekend after Thanksgiving because we know we will have family in town!"  Yet, then immediately I tell myself I should not let myself get that far ahead of where we are today.  Today, I feel blessed, and I am going to let that feeling stay around for now.

We have officially passed the gestation with this pregnancy that the miscarriage occurred with Samuel.  That is exciting and re-assuring, yet still brings back a lot of feelings of sadness and grief.  Through all of this, I know that God has a plan for our family and I am going to try my hardest to trust in that.  The loss of our baby has brought us closer to God and given us an extra push to appreciate each person in our family and every moment together.  I cannot wait for the day to hopefully hold this sweet baby in my arms and also for the day someday when I am able to be with our sweet Samuel in Heaven.

Our Newest Miracle at the end of the First Trimester growing and kicking!

Psalm 127:3 "Children too are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward."