Can you guess who said these?
After this child fell down…“Mommy, I have a sky scraper on my knee.”
At dinner time, spooning up some quinoa…“Ok, little quinoa. Get on the boat. Time to go to my tummy.”
“When I become a boy like Fulton, I’m going to pee standing up.”
This morning on the way home from Mass…“When you have two more babies, can we have a bigger van?”
Three years ago our sweet Gianna Maria received the Light of Christ. Her God parents joined us for dinner tonight to celebrate the wonderful gift of her baptism.
Angel of God, my holy protector, given by God from Heaven to abide in me. Diligently I pray unto thee: illuminate me all this day and protect me against all evil, lead me toward righteous deeds, and into the way of salvation. Amen.
“From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their (the angels) watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united to God.”
- from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; 336.
Happy Feast of St. Therese!
As it was our sweet Therese’s feast day, the family took a little pilgrimage to San Antonio to the Basilica of National Shrine of the Little Flower for Mass and the veneration of her relic. Adam and I did this the first three years of our married life but as we added more children to the mix and the feast fell in the middle of the week, we hadn’t been in a few years.
Therese was SO excited to go and had been looking forward to this all week long. Daddy surprised her this morning with a dozen red roses. She was quite smitten.
After Mass, Therese wanted to light a candle that she decided to offer for her aunt’s healing (my sister, Diana). When we went to get the candle, we stopped to talk to the priest who celebrated Mass and he gave our family a blessing. While we were there we managed to pick up some blessed St. Therese oil. It is rose oil in which a relic of St. Therese was place while prayers of healing we said over the oil.
Later we stopped by to see my sister who only lives five minutes from the church. We had a nice little visit. It really is too bad that my kids are afraid of her pets otherwise we could probably stay longer.
St. Therese, pray for us!
In case you’re still looking for a way (other than Angel Food cake or Angel Hair Pasta) to celebrate the Feast of the Archangels, the St. Michael Chaplet is beautiful. Thank you to the Andersons for introducing us to this lovely devotion!
The Chaplet of St. Michael
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, etc.
[Say one Our Father and three Hail Marys after each of the following nine salutations in honor of the nine Choirs of Angels]
1. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Seraphim may the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of perfect charity.
Amen.
2. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Cherubim may the Lord grant us the grace to leave the ways of sin and run in the paths of Christian perfection.
Amen.
3. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Thrones may the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere spirit of humility.
Amen.
4. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Dominations may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and overcome any unruly passions.
Amen.
5. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Virtues may the Lord preserve us from evil and falling into temptation. Amen.
6. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Powers may the Lord protect our souls against the snares and temptations of the devil.
Amen.
7. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Principalities may God fill our souls with a true spirit of obedience. Amen.
8. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Archangels may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all good works in order that we may attain the glory of Heaven.
Amen.
9. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Angels may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal life and conducted in the life to come to Heaven.
Amen.
Say one Our Father in honor of each of the following leading Angels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael and our Guardian Angel.
Concluding prayers:
O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.
Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ, that we may be made worthy of His promises.
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who, by a prodigy of goodness and a merciful desire for the salvation of all men, has appointed the most glorious Archangel St. Michael Prince of Your Church, make us worthy, we ask You, to be delivered from all our enemies, that none of them may harass us at the hour of death, but that we may be conducted by him into Your Presence.This we ask through the merits of
Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
The kids and I made a trip down to San Antonio for the annual Sea World Homeschool Day! We had been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks and the kids didn’t even complain when we got them up at 5:30 this morning to get ready to go. Our early start made us the first ones there!
Limited areas were open and of course no rides, gift shops or food place (thank goodness!). The kids fed the dolphins. We went through the coral reef & sharks, sea lions, penguins, and alligators areas. Then there was a rainy lunch with friends, and two educational shows about killer whales and sea lions. The kids loved it and my sweet children, Therese and Fulton (mostly T), had their notebooks open at each area writing facts or drawing pictures of things they learned. They’re so awesome! Even one of the educational staff loved that Therese was writing all the facts she learned at her exhibit.
“No treasure greater than a healthy body; no happiness, than a joyful heart!” Sir 30:16
“Gladness of heart is the very life of man, cheerfulness prolongs his days.” Sir 30:22
“‘You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’” Act 2:28
Happy birthday dear Cecilia Rose. You are the joy of the Lord.
“The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.” Num 6:24-26
We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called according to his decree. Those whom he foreknew he predestined to share the image of his Son, that the Son might be the first-born of many brothers. Those he predestined he likewise called; those he called he also justified; and those he justified he in turn glorified. What shall we say after that? If God is for us, who can be against us? Is it possible that he who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for the sake of us all will not grant us all things besides? (Rom 8: 28-32)
We are honored and blessed to welcome a new God son to our spiritual family! Corbin was baptized this afternoon and became a son of God and brother in Christ.
I love this time during which my babies eat almost anything I put in front of them. Cecilia is too hungry to be picky at this age! Last night was chili night and she ate two helpings and even decided to use the sauce to give herself a facial!
Our sweet Gianna Maria turned 3 years old last Tuesday. What a girl! I’m so proud of her in so many ways. She is so amazing to me. She’s gentle and playful. She cherishes any time she can spend with me or Adam. She takes every opportunity to find a place on my lap at Mass if I’m not holding the baby. She loves Fulton and can sit and play CARS with him for a good while. She adores Therese and will do anything with her that Therese will allow. She’s always looking for a reason to throw on her apron and help in the kitchen cooking. She has a silly (and rather gross) habit of accumulating her supper at the roof of her mouth and sucking on it for a while before she finishes chewing and swallowing it. She doesn’t like green beans or rice, but will steal the fruit or pasta off your plate if you’re not looking. She loves to learn with her brother and sister and has really blended into our learning time in the last few weeks. I bought her a couple more Kumon books for her to plow through. She loves blocks and loves telling everybody about the blocks she received last Christmas. She’s a mastermind at puzzles so we added to her collection with some a set of 4, 25-piece puzzles and a game called Castle Logic where the player has to arrange a set of castle blocks as presented in the game book.
Therese and Fulton were amazing on the morning of her birthday. We came home from Mass and both of them wanted to give her a gift. Fulton wrapped up one of his cars and one of his beloved CARS books and gave them to her. Therese wrote a story book for her about her and Therese. It was so awesome.
She requested a strawberry cake for her birthday cake. (So I made one from scratch and made half of it up as I went along.) We had a family celebration that evening with homemade pizza and cake.
The day before we went to Brenham for a September birthday celebration with Cey family where we celebrated Gianna’s, Celicia’s and Clare’s birthdays which are all this month. We all loved seeing our friends and since Fulton was sick that day (and he stayed home with Adam) it was an all girls day!
