Celebrating St. Valentine

Waking up on Valentine's Day...wondering what waits in the kitchen...

We had such a fun time celebrating Valentine's Day this year. Last year, we had the flu for Valentine's Day, so we were glad to be feeling well this time around. We usually give the kids a book or two and some candy in the morning, but this year was a little different. They each got a book from Catholic Mosaic as well as another book we thought they'd like. Instead of having tons of candy waiting for them, they woke up to this:

They were puzzled by the mound of stuff they saw, but they were excited about the bag of white donuts and the bag of oreos! The rest of the morning was spent making Valentine dots, dipped oreos, marshmallows and pretzels. It was so fun, and they loved that they could pretty much do everything on their own. While we worked, I read St. Valentine, which we all enjoyed.

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Today we celebrated the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes.

This feast day "marks the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858 to fourteen-year-old Marie Bernade (St. Bernadette) Soubirous. Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, the Blessed Virgin appeared eighteen times, and showed herself to St. Bernadette in the hollow of the rock at Lourdes. On March 25 she said to the little shepherdess who was only fourteen years of age: "I am the Immaculate Conception." Since then Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and many cures and conversions have taken place. The message of Lourdes is a call to personal conversion, prayer, and charity." ~ Catholic Culture

Our Lady of Lourdes is dear to my heart because my grandfather was healed in Lourdes. While he was stationed in Germany, he visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, and was healed of his stuttering. So we wanted to do some special things today to celebrate her.



Our craft today was holy water fonts. The kids had a good time making them. We also read Our Lady of Lourdes by Fr. Lovasik, and we watched Bernadette, Princess of Lourdes.




Based on some ideas from different blogs, I decided to serve an all white and blue menu today. The color blue is often associated with Our Lady, and the white is for her purity from conception.

We started our day with these muffins, which were beautiful and delicious. However, my children are not used to fresh blueberries in there muffins (I usually buy the box mix), so they wouldn't eat them. I will admit they tasted different, but in a very good way! Nevertheless, it was a bust for the kids. There are plenty of leftovers, though, so come on over and get one. Snacks were mozzarella string cheese and ice cream (a HUGE hit). Lunch was cheese pizza with olive oil instead of tomato sauce, another big hit.



For dinner we had chicken and pasta with Alfredo sauce and cauliflower. We actually had a a very nice table setting for once, which was nice. For dessert, the kids were delighted with mini jello "springs"--foil cupcake liners with blue jello--since Our Lady told St. Bernadette to drink from the miraculous spring. Phil and I like them, too!



Here's a shot of our table, and Ava enjoying her "spring". I love how the jello matches her eyes.






We have really enjoyed celebrating the feasts of the Church this year. We look forward to more!

Feast of the Presentation

Today we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. From Catholic Culture:

The feast was first observed in the Eastern Church as "The Encounter." In the sixth century, it began to be observed in the West: in Rome with a more penitential character and in Gaul (France) with solemn blessings and processions of candles, popularly known as "Candlemas."

The Presentation of the Lord concludes the celebration of the Nativity and with the offerings of the Virgin Mother and the prophecy of Simeon, the events now point toward Easter.
"In obedience to the Old Law, the Lord Jesus, the first-born, was presented in the Temple by his Blessed Mother and his foster father. This is another 'epiphany' celebration insofar as the Christ Child is revealed as the Messiah through the canticle and words of Simeon and the testimony of Anna the prophetess. Christ is the light of the nations, hence the blessing and procession of candles on this day. In the Middle Ages this feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or 'Candlemas,' was of great importance.

The specific liturgy of this Candlemas feast, the blessing of candles, is not as widely celebrated as it should be, except of course whenever February 2 falls on a Sunday and thus takes precedence. There are two ways of celebrating the ceremony, either the Procession, which begins at a 'gathering place' outside the church, or the Solemn Entrance, celebrated within the church."— Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year

Today, Phil and the kids brought a box of candles to be blessed at Mass. We bought pillar candles in the various liturgical colors to use on our table throughout the liturgical year. Elizabeth wrote a beautiful piece a few years ago about the connection between the Presentation and candles:

"When Our Lady took Jesus to the temple and Simeon greeted them, he recognized the light first. He said that Jesus was "the light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel." Then, he told the Blessed Mother that she would suffer: "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

She did not understand but she did know that she knew the Light, the Lord, was hers in her suffering. When we suffer, we turn to the Lord, who came as light and life to the world. And we can light a candle to remind us of those words of Simeon who coupled forever the suffering with the Light. What beautiful sacramentals candles can be in the domestic church!

I've always loved candles; I am drawn to light and beauty. In candlelight, the hard edges of the world are softened. Now, I feel drawn to them as I'm drawn to prayer. Christ settles over the candlelit room and softens the edges of the harsh world while illuminating my soul with His holy will. We appeal to our senses when we prepare our homes with candles to use throughout the year."

For tea time today, we made edible candles in honor of Candlemas...pirouette cookies standing in a donut. The felt flame obviously wasn't edible, but I forgot to pick up some icing or candy corn.

We read the story of the Presentation in the Bible. Then we listened to Todd Agnew's song "He Is Called Jesus", and discussed what it might have been like for Simeon to lay eyes on the Messiah.

Ava thought sure she was supposed to blow them out!

Feast of St. Lucy

My great-grandmother's 99th birthday would have been yesterday. She died three weeks before Mary-Grace was born. Her middle name was Lucy, and she had a huge devotion to St. Lucy, the patroness of the blind. Mauman had lots of trouble with cataracts when she was older. After reading about lots of traditions surrounding the feast of St. Lucy, we decided to start our own this year. My mom made a beautiful felt wreath for Mary-Grace to wear. Mary-Grace's godmother loaned us a beautiful white dress and red sash. So our sweet girl got all gussied up bright and early (although she was a bit cranky and exhausted from our late night celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe the night before), and we brought cinnamon rolls to have breakfast with Nana, Grammy and Papa. It was a sweet time that we hope to recreate next year.

Gracie and Grammy

Enjoying cinnamon rolls, reading Hanna's Christmas.

Coloring a beautiful color sheet of St. Lucy and the star boys by Charlotte.

And below, Miss Ava had to model the wreath once we were home.

Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Thomas family hosted a lovely fiesta in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. We truly did feast! Each family brought a Mexican dish to share. More than 40 children did the craft! And that's just those that did it. There were lots of children too small to do it, and some of the big kids opted out.

We are so blessed to be surrounded by families who cherish life. Families who will say no to the world, and accept children lovingly from God....LOTS of children.


A shot of part of the crowd. The kids were hard at work on their tilmas.

Mary-Grace colors Our Lady.
The finished product. Mary-Grace was too busy playing to glue her rose petals on.

Feast of St. Nicholas

We have learned so much about this great saint this Advent. We read lots of picture books, watched Nicholas, the Boy Who Became Santa, and had hot chocolate with candy cane stirrers. A precious friend pointed me to an article about St. Nicholas in Word Among Us (a magazine). It spoke of how we often attribute most of the stuff about him to legend, but that he really was a great man, who did great things for God. It said that since his death in the 4th century, his remains have secreted a liquid that has been associated with physical and spiritual healing. How amazing is that?!

Then the article said this:

"In the early nineteenth century, a quite different kind of wonder began to unfold in the city of New York. In a development that our ancestors in the faith would have found astonishing, holy Bishop Nicholas was repackaged as a fat, bearded elf in a red suit.

It began in 1809, when the New York Historical Society decided to promote St. Nicholas and to recapture the Christmas traditions of the city’s early Dutch settlers. Those settlers had not, in fact, continued their St. Nicholas traditions in the New World, but this lack was quickly met. That same year, writer Washington Irving published a satirical account of New York’s Dutch history. The spoof included descriptions of a jolly, pipe-smoking St. Nicholas who flew over treetops and slid down chimneys to deliver gifts. The fiction quickly became an urban legend.

In 1822 came the hugely popular poem by Clement Clarke Moore, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” This gave the bishop his furs, sleigh, and reindeer, along with a date change: “the night before Christmas.” Illustrators and commercial artists did the rest. By 1931, a hefty Santa Claus (from Sinterklaas, the Dutch name for St. Nicholas) was advertising Coca-Cola.

Today, the whole world recognizes Santa. By comparison, not many would recognize the face of St. Nicholas."

This made me so sad...that, in a nutshell, the man hailed by the world as the great big thing about Christmas is nothing but a mockery of the real saint. For us, this was a confirmation of what the Lord did in our hearts regarding Santa a few years ago. We are so grateful to have learned so much of the truth of this great man.

Here's what the kiddos woke up to on the morning of December 6th.

And here they are modeling...my boy's looking a little loopy.

For Tea Time, we made chocolate santas into St. Nicholas' with a bishop's hat and miter.

And just because she's so cute when she knows she's being disobedient.

Feast of St. Therese

Today was a big day in our house. The Church honors St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, and we celebrated her today for all that she has done in our family as our patroness.

My devotion to St. Therese began in college before my first mission trip as we begged her intercession as the patroness of foreign missions. She had recently been declared a Doctor of the Church for her Little Way. Somehow, this sweet unassuming saint made her way into my heart, and she has constantly and consistently lead me to the feet of Jesus.

Phil proposed to me on December 11, 1999, the night Therese's relics were in Lafayette. What a treasure! He proposed to me in front of the Tabernacle in the Cathedral where we would be married, and then we joined lots of friends over at the Carmelite Monastery to venerate her relics. What I remember most about her relics were the roses that surrounded them! They were everywhere. I'm sure I still have the rose I got that night tucked somewhere around here.

When we'd been married for a little over a year, I prayed my first novena to Therese, asking her intercession before the mighty throne of God. I wanted a baby. I'd been told by my wonderful doctor that, on my own, I had a 1% chance of conceiving naturally. He also told me to keep praying. I began my novena on September 23rd so that it would end on St. Therese's feast day. Nine months later, on June 23, 2002, we welcomed Jacob Edward to our family.

The Little Flower kept right on interceding for me apparently, because one week shy of Jacob's first birthday, I was expecting another baby. On October 1st, 2003, again on her feast day, we saw a sweet, acrobatic baby girl on the ultrasound monitor. We went back and forth for months on what her first name would be, but there was no question that her middle name would be Therese. And this ball of fire, Mary-Grace Therese, wears her name well. St. Therese has whispered into her heart and taught this stubborn, defiant, strong-willed child of mine to stay close to Jesus.

Along came Ava Catherine, born on September 19, 2006. When we were looking at baptism dates, the only date that fit both our calendar and the church's was October 1st. Go figure. Once again, this sweet saint would be a part of my children's lives. And I just learned yesterday that this baby's godparents attribute their courtship to Therese's intercession.

So today, we feasted! I woke Mary-Grace up shortly before 6am, and she and I went to Mass early...just us. This was a precious, precious moment that I hope to make into a tradition for the two of us. We came home to a decorated table and made French toast since Therese is from France. We read a beautiful book called God's Little Flower that I bought a couple of days ago. I think it captures her spirit wonderfully, and Jacob especially was most intrigued.

The kids and I prayed our last day of the novena, and prayed for all of the children we know who are named after her: Liliana Therese, Malia Therese, Emily Therese, Mia Therese, Angelle Therese, Madeleine Therese, Ashley Therese, and for the many we couldn't recall.

We spent the afternoon making spoon saints for all of our friends that we'd invited over for the evening. We learned that eclairs were Therese's favorite dessert, so we made our own out of ladyfingers, redi whip and chocolate icing. They were yummy and fun to make. I also made a cake in the shape of a daisy (St. Therese is quoted as saying, "In the world of souls, the living garden of the Lord, it pleases Him to create great Saints, who may be compared to the lilies or the rose; but He also created little ones, who must be content to be daisies or violets."), and we adorned it with fresh roses. Lastly, there was rosy punch.

We'd invited the girls godparents and their children over for dessert in their pjs to honor our family patroness. One of their girls is also named after St. Therese. Jacob's godmother couldn't come because of a meeting, but she'll come tomorrow night to celebrate with us. She, too, has a huge devotion to the Little Flower. Everyone went home with a vanilla rose lollipop!

As she was dying of tuberculosis at age 24, St. Therese said, "After my death, I shall let fall a shower of roses... I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth." And so she has. On the 7th day of my novena this year, a dear friend living in Paris called me to tell me that she'd gone to Lisieux on Sunday on her way home from a business trip, and that she'd prayed for us there. There it was...my shower of roses.