Recently in family life Category

This week's {pretty, happy, funny, real} will be like last week's. I wanted to share a few photos from Matthew's birthday. Since they could be considered in more than one category, I'll just lump them as one big {p,h,f,r} category.

We had a small party for Matthew on his birthday. I love the birthday sign that Bella made to go with the circus theme.

While I was decorating the family room Matthew kept himself occupied by decorating our long hallway. I think he mistakenly took a roll of toilet paper for streamers.

On every first birthday we make cupcakes and let the birthday boy eat one on his own. (Once the child really gets into it Brian says, "Come one! Do you have to let him make such a mess?!" My mind immediately start playing the song "Tradition" by Tevia and I respond, "Of course, sweetie! That's half the fun! And think what a fun post this will make." ;-)

I also wanted to get photos of the kids and when I was taking Andrew's picture he was more concerned that he had to keep an eye on John Paul so that he wouldn't eat his cupcake when Andrew wasn't looking.

Lastly, here is the birthday boy playing on his new birthday toy. :-)

To celebrate the 9th Birthday of the RoL Blog, I am posting flashback posts from the first year of blogging. This was originally posted on June 6, 2003. I thought it was appropriate since we were discussing modesty on Tuesday's Book Discussion of Style, Sex, and Substance. (I updated some of the clothes links.)

I was browsing Two Sleepy Mommies blog and Pansy had an interesting commentary on Zoe Romanov's blog about Modesty in dress. The topic of swimwear was discussed and how some kids aren't allowed to swim at all because of lack of modest swimwear. I was thinking about this last week when I had to buy a bathing suit for Bella. I was disgusted. I went to the Kids r Us store and was offended by some of them that seemed more suitable for a Vegas showgirl. However I did find one that was decent looking that even came with a little bathing skirt to attach to it.

However, I think Pansy's little girl was older and didn't fit into her old modest suit. She was looking for non "Laura Ingalls" suits and posted a link for Wholesome Wear Suits and she said she liked the convenience of them (kids jumping in and out of the pool/lake/ocean) as well as the modesty of them.

Personally, I would not buy them but I found some modest swimwear (in my opinion) for girls at Land's End. They usually sell a bathing suit for girls with a built in skirt that is not too low cut.

You could also pair swim shorts like these

with a tankini top like this

or a rash guard/ water shirt.

Or you can forgo the bathing suit all together and get a hip looking surfboard suit (although maybe that's more normal here in California)

All this talk reminded me of growing up at both ends of the spectrum. When I was younger my parents were not practicing Catholics at the time so modesty was not much of an issue. After their conversion there was a period of "only skirts" type of thinking. Finally we found a happy medium of modesty without being too "extreme".

I think a lot also has to do with attitude. I know a number of home schooling families and one in particular dressed their girls in prairie skirts/dresses but the girls were really flirtatious and boy crazy. They tried to act "hot" regardless of what they were wearing. On the other hand, I see my younger sister who was homeschooled and who's a sweet, wholesome girl in college. She and her friends dress in today's fashions but they always look modest and wholesome without standing out like a sore thumb. Even beyond their clothes you can see their wholesomeness in their demeanor and attitude. They demand respect because they respect themselves.

It reminds me a lot of the interview I did with chastity speaker Crystalina Padilla a couple months ago. She talked about woman respecting themselves before expecting a man to. Hey, on a side note, did you know that she married Jason Evert of Catholic Answers on Saturday!! What an awesome couple! But I digress. Anyway, those are just some thoughts I had about the topic.

I saw this posted on Cari's blog and I was touched by the video. So simple yet profound. God bless these precious children and their amazing families.

Each week, Catholic personalities Danielle Bean, Rachel Balducci and Carolee McGrath host The Gist. They discuss topics such as abortion, raising teens in the faith and confession. Along with guests such as Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Lino Rulli and others, they will give Catholic women the gist on everything from faith and the Church to exercising, make-up and how to stay sane. Tune in every Wednesday morning for a new show at 10:30 with rebroadcasts Thursday at 8:30 p.m., Friday at 4 p.m., Saturday at 6:30 a.m., Monday at 8 a.m. and Tuesday at 10 p.m. (all times Eastern).

I missed the first show since it is on at 7:30 AM in Cali and I'm usually in the middle of getting kids off to school. However, it is rebroadcast during the week and available to view online. If you missed it, I've added it here. Below I've also added my own comments about the show.

It was wonderful to watch these great Catholic women and moms. I feel like I already "know" them from reading their blogs and columns. There was a lot to be learned and here are a few things that struck a cord with me.

Topic - Working moms.

My take - Danielle said it best, "All moms are working moms." Being a SAHM, I say, "Amen, sister!"

Topic - Comparing ourselves to others.

I loved Rachel's comment, "The only people you can truly analyze is yourself and your situation..."

My take - It is so easy to look at other moms and see how much they are doing and think, how do they do it? It will sometimes make me feel guilty that I am not doing enough. But I have to remember that we are each in different situations and have our own unique vocation as a wife and mother. As long as we are open to God, He will direct us to exactly where we need to be. He'll often challenge us but He won't overwhelm us. If we are overwhelmed we may need to ask, "Am I doing more than I should be and spreading myself too thin?" If not, then ask, "Am I relying on God for my strength or on myself?" (Sigh. Been there. Done that.)

Topic - How do you do it all?

When Danielle asked guest speaker Lisa Hendey, "How do you do it all?" Lisa replied, "If I think about everything that I do in a day, it's too overwhelming. So I start my day with prayer...and that's a key component throughout the day. Praying just for the grace and the energy and the strength to do it all and really, I just do my best with whatever pot that is burning right in front of me...managing the priorities, looking at how I can be of help to other people and most importantly serving my parish and my family."

My take - Prayer, Priorities, Serving family first but not forgetting others. Enough said!

Topic - Lisa talked about saints being role models, intercessors and heroes of our family.

My take - Often when I hear about the saints I wonder how I can relate to them because, well, they are saints. But really, they weren't born with halos on their head. They had the same kind of human struggles we do. They had to fight their personal demons and rely on God to give them the strength to live holy lives. I can certainly learn from that! (Side note; I am in the middle of reading Lisa's book The Handbook for Catholic Moms: Nurturing Your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul and I am eager to also check out her new book A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms: 52 Companions for Your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul.)

Topic - Prayer

In the next topic they ladies spoke about the importance of prayer in our daily lives and I love what Rachel said, "Right off the bat, establishing that our prayer life is the most important thing and I think as moms we can so easily justify and rationale away taking time to pray because laundry needs to be done, and lunches need to be made and children need to be cared for, but really, personal holiness and a relationship with God is the most important gift we can give our families."

My take - I am guilty of this all too often! There is always something that needs to be done and although there are times when I can pray as I work, there also needs to be time when I quiet myself and simply focus on God. Some days it may only be for a few minutes but I must be willing to make the effort and establish the priority. Certainly if I have to time to post on my blog, pin an idea on Pinterest or watch a favorite tv show, then I certainly have time to shut it all down and give God a little silence.

Topic - The rosary and adoration.

My take - I love Carolee's comparison of the rosary and exercise. Both are things we tend to want to put off yet both are important to our health (physical and spiritual) and we'll feel better after we are done! And Danielle's thought on Adoration reminded me that just as I ask Brian to watch the kids so I can run to the market alone, I can ask Brian to watch the kids so I can stop at the chapel and speak to God in his presence alone. (And I know he is more than wiling to do it!)

Topic - Family prayer.

My take - This should be a show topic itself! I already commented on this briefly in another post but a number of families I know pray the rosary every night with their kids. I commend them! For us, it has not worked out very well, but rather than forget the whole thing, we've adjusted it to our family needs. Instead, we try to say the rosary but with only one decade. Some nights we're lucky just to gather us all together for a quick night prayer but we do what we can. Each family is different and their needs change as the family grows. The main thing is to be doing something.

Last Thoughts

With that said, I really recommend that you watch the show yourself. At first I was a little reluctant to devote time to it since the topic was on working moms but that was just a small portion of it. There were many topics discussed. On the one hand, it seemed like too many topics. Maybe there could have been less topics and more time spent on one or two subjects. (It seems like the saints, personal prayer or family prayer could have been their own shows.) On the other hand, the flow of conversation carried into many different topics and they commented accordingly. Either way, I really enjoyed the show and actually watched it twice. The second time around is when God impressed certain things on my heart and for that I am thankful.

So thanks, Gist Girls. I look forward to watching you again next week!

A number of families I know pray the rosary every night with their family. I commend them! For us, it has not worked out very well, but rather than forget the whole thing, we've adjusted it to our family needs. Instead, we try to say the rosary but with only one decade. As the kids get older, we can increase the time we expect them to kneel semi-quietly. Each week we take one set of mysteries and we cover the five from M-F. It doesn't always work. Some nights we're lucky to gather us all together for a quick night prayer but we do what we can.

I have been looking for rosary prints to display during our rosary to help us focus on that night's mystery. I finally found a set that included the luminous mysteries. It is The Mysteries of the Rosary Prints from EWTN's online catalog. I bought a tabletop easel at Target and it works great together.

Since I never posted the kids in their Halloween costumes I thought I'd do it for this week's PHFR. Although, I think the "pretty" would have to be changed to "cute" this week. :-)

Ever since Bella was a cat last year, Andrew had his heart set on being a feline of some sort. We settled on a tiger.

Since Andrew was a tiger and Matthew a lion, John Paul was going to be a circus ringmaster. However, it was really cold that morning and he needed to be bundled up, so he was a Green Bay Packer fan instead.

My cuties.

Matthew spent his first Halloween as a lion. Special thanks to the thrift store where I found this costume for $3. (I am finally taking spendthrift advice from my sis. LOL)

I added this since I rarely post a pic of my sweet hubby. There were a few parents at Andrew's school dressed up. One young couple was in full costume as Cinderella and Prince Charming. When my brother asked why we didn't dress up, I told him we did. We are the "before" picture" and the prince and princess are the "after." ;-)

Keeping up with this year's Angry Bird theme, Bella decided to be an angry bird vet. After all, someone has to patch them up after all that crashing into towers,trying to get those evil green pigs. LOL!

The kids were slowly coming down with a bug and a couple days later they were knocked out by illness and fevers. Poor little guys.

I first heard about Roma Downey's (did you know she was Catholic?) new DVD Little Angels at CatholicMom.com. The site has background info and is also running a contest to win an autographed copy of the DVD. (I entered!)

Here is the introduction from LittleAngels.com.

Discover the joy of learning and friendship with a heavenly new collection! From Executive Producer Roma Downey ("Touched by an Angel") and Writer Phil Lollar ("Adventures in Odyssey") comes the much-anticipated faith-based educational series, LITTLE ANGELS, soaring onto DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

LITTLE ANGELS is an animated DVD series created exclusively for preschool-aged children to teach not only practical learning skills, like ABCs and 1,2,3s, but also to introduce them to the spiritual, moral and ethical principles of the Bible. Of course, we think it's terrific! (We might be biased...) But don't just take our word for it - for the first time in their organization's history, MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) has awarded a Seal-of-Approval to LITTLE ANGELS.

And here is a sneak peek. :-) It looks cute and educational!

A couple months ago I posted about Abigal, the little girl in Mexico that we sponsored through Christian Foundation for Children & Aging (CFCA). Yesterday we received our first letter from her and I was so touched.

Abigal tells us about her life and her family but it is the closing paragraph that brought tears to my eyes. The translation reads:

"I promise I will make a big effort in the school so that you become proud of me. I will pray every day for you from now on so that God takes care of you and pours blessings upon you wherever you are. I have to close for now. I love you.

Your sponsored friend,
Abigal"

This little girl living in poverty is praying for me, that I will be blessed. It's amazing. I am trying to help out by giving to someone else and instead I am the one who receives the blessings. God is so good.

This sponsorship has also been a great family project! We pray for Abigal and her family every night during our rosary. Bella especially has a soft spot for Abigal since she doesn't have a sister of her own. She writes to her and draws her pictures.

I am hoping to save enough money to sponsor a second child in the future - a little boy that our boys can write to.

There are many, many more kids looking for sponsors, as well as teens and elderly. Advent will be here before you know it. As you prepare to welcome the Christ Child in your heart, prayerfully consider welcoming one of these children into your heart as well.

"Truly, I saw to you, as you do it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."

Here are just a few kids waiting for someone to help them!

Evelyn from Guatemala (Age: 4) Evelyn is very dynamic at school. She lives with her mother and father and her little brother. Evelyn's mother is a housewife. Her father sells firewood by the meter, but his income is seasonal. Evelyn's family is very interested in moving forward. Talents and pastimes: Drawing and listening to music; Jobs at home: Sweeping in the yard of the home; Favorite school subjects: Natural science; Birthday: January 9, 2007 (CH673993)

Niyati from India (Age: 5) Niyati is well-behaved. She lives with her parents and her younger brother and sister. Niyati has humble parents who struggle to provide an education to their children. Her father is a laborer. He works hard, but earns a low income. Niyati's mother is a housewife. She tries to encourage her children to get an education to improve their lives. Talents and pastimes: Sketching; Jobs at home: Studying; Favorite school subjects: English; Birthday: March 13, 2006 (CH681981)

Eliana from Bolivia (Age: 12) Eliana is a quiet child who likes to help others. She lives with her parents and has three siblings. The family moved to their current location with the hope of better opportunities. Eliana's mother stays home to look after the household. Her father earns a meager income by cutting sugarcane and performing a variety of odd jobs. A Hope for a Family sponsorship can make this family's dreams for a more promising future attainable. Talents and pastimes: Dancing, singing, playing; Jobs at home: Making the bed, washing the dishes; Favorite school subjects: Mathematics; Birthday: April 17, 1999 (CH643300)

Mikel from Costa Rica (Age: 2) Mikel is a joyful and playful boy. He likes to eat a lot. He lives with his mother and grandmother. Mikel's mother stays home to look after him. She is struggling to get ahead with her son. The family lives off the grandmother's pension. Although it is a steady source of income, it is not enough to cover the family's basic needs. Talents and pastimes: Crawling; Birthday: August 20, 2009 (CH652202)

Santiago from Mexico (Age: 3) Santiago is very energetic and he likes doing new things. He lives with his mother and father. As a couple, Santiago's parents trust each other and get along well. They spend time with their child. Santiago's mother is a housewife. His father does upholstery work, but his job is not fixed. Talents and pastimes:
Making puzzles; Jobs at home: Sweeping and cleaning; Birthday: May 6, 2008 (CH672537)

Ronald from Kenya (Age: 6) Ronald loves drawing and playing with his age mates. He lives in a single, rented room with his mother and father and three siblings. Both parents are tailors and they try their best to meet the family needs, especially school fees. Their income is not always enough. Talents and pastimes: Playing football and with toys; Jobs at home: Running errands; Favorite school subjects: Mathematics and English; Birthday:
January 13, 2005 (CH676845)

Remart from the Philippines (Age: 10) Remart is shy yet playful. His ambition is to become an electrician. Remart lives with his parents and his three siblings. His family lives together in a small, rented house. Remart's mother does laundry for others. His father is a plumber. Remart's father works hard to provide a better life for his children. Talents and pastimes: Singing; Jobs at home: Babysitting his younger brother; Favorite school subjects: Mathematics; Birthday: May 27, 2001 (CH673199)

To specifically sponsor one of these children, go to this CFCA link and in the "Help me Find" section to the right, put in the child's country and name. Their profile should pop up. You can also call CFCA at 800.875.6564.

God will bless you for your generosity and sacrifice.

I posted a few weeks back about CFCA (Christian Foundation for Children and Aging) our sponsored child Abi. Yesterday I received an email from Paula K. who recently visited Guatemala. She is trying to find a CFCA sponsor for a little girl named Carla who lives in Guatemala. Please read her story and see if God is asking you to open your heart to bettering her life and the life of her family.

UPDATE: Here is a comment from Paula:

Bobbi, I can't thank you enough for sharing this on your blog. In sharing Carla's story, I have found it challenging to convey that feeling I got in Guatemala among the sponsored children and families, and getting a very true sense of how an expenditure that to a U.S. family can be relatively small (a trip for 5 to Mcdonald's, say), can truly transform the most basic elements of a whole family's life. If any of your readers have questions, please feel free to contact me directly! Although my sign in has my daughter's email address, the best is opuswsk@aol.com. Thanks everyone!!!

This morning I was looking through the Days of Faith Student Planner that Bella's teacher gave her and I love it! It is brightly colored and inviting and there is a lot of great general Catholic info - about the bible, the rosary, saints, the Church. There is also the daily saint, Gospel summary for that week and a weekly personal goal to work on. This would be great for a Catholic student or homeschooler. The 2011 Primary grade planner is sold out but the intermediate grades (that's what Bella has) and junior/senior high are still available.

Speaking of books, I recently came across the blog Family Menu Planning Book.com by Catholic convert Elizabeth Hawbaker and saw her e-book Family Menu Planning: A Practical Guide to Mealtime Management. I just downloaded it and I'm loving it so far. Some of the shopping tips I already mentioned here but there is a lot of great info that will help me with my meal planning. The e-book is only $3.99 for the Amazon Kindle version. It is worth it.

Note: You don't have to actually have a Kindle to read the book. You can download kindle onto your PC or smart phone. I have mine on my iphone and I'm using Amazon Cloud (until Apple gets their cloud!) so I can read it on any computer.

Over the last week I was hoping to work on organizing my pantry and making master shopping lists. However, all four kids have been sick with colds and sore throats, which has made the baby extra cranky, so I didn't get very far. I did, however, realize how much I not only needed to organize and replenish the pantry but I needed to throw out old expired items. Yesterday I wanted to make quick BBQ chicken in the slow cooker. I saw this recipe on Pinterest. It looked super easy and I had all the ingredients.

Well, I had the ingredients but they weren't exactly fresh. My vinegar was expired not just by a couple months but by a few years - as in, I bought it about three pregnancies ago! (Yeah, you can see how often I used to cook homemade.) But that was fine. I had another kind of vinegar that I could use instead. Wait, that was expired too but not by so many years. However, it had a lot of gross gunk in it and I wasn't going to use it.

Okay, forget that recipe. There was this easy recipe that I found that didn't require vinegar. It sounded a bit weird to mix Italian dressing with BBQ sauce but all the reviewers raved about it. I ran to the garage pantry to grab a bottle of dressing. Brian likes it so I keep an extra bottle for him. What?? I ran out? Oh. Em. Gee. What kind of pathetic kitchen is this?!?

By this time my 20 minute window of opportunity was up and the baby was crying and JP spilled his milk. Ugh! Finally I just threw in the frozen chicken in the crock pot and poured a bottle of BBQ sauce on top (it was a miracle I had that) and flipped it on for 3 ½ hours. Soooo, my pantry needs more work that I thought. It'll be at least another week before I post about them.

I did, however, finish my shopping lists. I used to keep four post it notes on the fridge. One for each store I shopped at - Target, Costco, Trader Joe and the local market, although I usually only go to the market for quick last minute things. This made a quick run to the store easy because you grabbed the post it you needed and left the ones you didn't.

However, once I put up my menu board, it took up too much space, so now I use a narrow magnetic notepad sectioned off into four. Since I no longer make sporadic shopping runs, I don't need separate post its. I organize my shopping lists, check over the week's menu and do my shopping once a week.

Since I usually always buy the same items at Costco and Trader Joe, I use my iphone Shopper app. (The ads can be annoying so I paid the $1.99 to be ad free.) I made a template shopping list for each store. When it is time to shop I take down my fridge list and mark off what needs to be purchased to create an e-list for that week. I've used the e-list on my phone while I shop but I usually have one of the kids with me and they like to play with my iphone so instead I email the list to myself and print it out. It makes things so much easier!

For my Target shopping, a master list didn't work because it varied so much from week to week - from new shoes for the baby to a school notebook for Bella. A blank list worked best. However, my Target was recently redesigned and it is taking me some time to get used the new location of favorite items. I decided to make a shopping list with categories according to the layout of the store. That way I can start at one end and work my way around to the other side. I've used it a few time and it is so much easier to get things done.

For a larger view: View image

Well, that pretty much wraps it up. This is the system that works best for me. What works for you?

Over the next week I'll continue working on the pantry - oh, and don't even get me started on the bug infested wheat flour I had to throw away! Oh, well. On the plus side, the chicken with only BBQ sauce was a hit! Brian took leftovers for lunch and he said his coworker wanted to know where he got that delicious smelling BBQ chicken. If he only knew. ;-) Happy organizing.

UPDATE: For shopping list tips check out the blog Family Menu Planning Book.com by Catholic convert Elizabeth Hawbaker and her e-book Family Menu Planning: A Practical Guide to Mealtime Management. I just downloaded it and there is a lot of great info that will help me with my meal planning and shopping.

It is week two of Operation Clean and Organize and this week I've been working on a menu board. Some moms prefer to make a monthly menu but that doesn't work for me. Planning one week ahead is all I can handle right now!

I looked at various styles of menu boards to see what appealed to me. I previously had a dry erase board but over time the erase ability of the board deteriorated. I thought of using a magnetic board because I really liked this one but it was too big and I wanted it to be weekly not monthly.

I decided to make my own smaller magnetic weekly menu. I spent a total of about $20 for a magnetic board the right size to fit on my fridge, a pack of Avery Printable Magnetic Sheets, and "Days of the Week" magnets that I found at Target in the Back to School seasonal section.

Next I sat down and made a master list of all the meals, side dishes and veggies I normally cook. In a Word document I made four columns of labels and typed up the list of foods. I wanted to keep track of days when I had appointments so I would know to plan easy or slow-cooker meals on those days. I also wanted to mark days when I had to pack the kids' lunches for school.

I color coded the labels: main dish - blue, sides - orange, veggies - green, appointments - purple, and school lunches - red. I made sure to have a number of blank labels to fill in later as I tried new recipes. Next, I printed and cut out the labels. Lastly, I arranged the meals on my board along with a shrunken down copy of Bella's school lunch menu.

Here's what it looks like.

For a larger view: View image

The first week using it has been great. We'll see how it stands the test of time. :-)

That's it for this week. Next week I'll be working on organizing my pantry and making master shopping lists. Share your own ideas in the comments and happy organizing!

POSTSCRIPT:

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that this organizing business is getting fun. Who knew? But you must make sure that your motherly duties are attended to first. Otherwise you will have to find out that your earlier statement of "he should be able to eat his yogurt alone without making too much mess while I make a quick post" was not only false but stupid thinking. So be forewarned. Wait until the kids are asleep. (And this was after I cleaned off his hair and face.)

UPDATE: For meal planning tips check out the blog Family Menu Planning Book.com by Catholic convert Elizabeth Hawbaker and her e-book Family Menu Planning: A Practical Guide to Mealtime Management. I downloaded it and there is a lot of great info that will help me with my meal planning.

Catholic Mom.com had a great post today from Aquinas & More Catholic Goods. It's worth reposting here:

Can You Help Catholics in the Military?

We opened our store in the aftermath of 9/11. We opened our store in Colorado Springs, a city with four military bases and the Air Force Academy.

When we opened our store we heard from one of the local chaplains who was being deployed to an "undisclosed location" that it was almost impossible to get requisitions for Catholic devotionals for the troops he was serving.

Because of that, we decided to start Catholic Chaplain registries and to upgrade all orders to military addresses to Priority Mail at no extra charge.

A plaque we were sent from thankful troops in Afghanistan.Since we launched our registry program, we have shipped over 6000 Bibles, medals and prayer books to chaplains serving in some of the most dangerous places on Earth including Baghdad and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, the generosity that people had when the wars first started has waned along with support for the wars themselves. This means that our Catholic soldiers who are still fighting and dying, whatever you may think of the cause, are frequently short on things that can strengthen their Faith.

As an example of how difficult it is to get supplies through the military, we had a chaplain order sacramental wine from our store to be shipped overseas because he was worried that he would be reassigned before the wine arrived at his current station if he went through military requisitions!

Over the past two weeks I have received three requests for more items for our soldiers.

First, we heard from Chaplain Sheehan:

"I am the only Catholic Navy Chaplain at Parris Island SC (US Marine Corps Boot Camp). I serve the recruits in a number of ways to include teaching Religious Education, preparing recruits to receive Sacraments of Initiation, and praying The Mass on Sundays.

I am a Battalion Chaplain and have daily encounters with the recruits in training, teaching, and counseling.

There is a consistent requests for Catholic Bibles and crosses (crucifix'). I get many request for protestant Bibles and Rosaries but have generous suppliers for these items.

Catholic Bibles, Crucifix's, and Crosses are harder to get donated.

Thank you for your generosity and possible assistance in securing these items for US Marine recruits. Thank you to your generous customers who support this ministry."

Second, we have Chaplain Victor. Chaplain Victor was one of the first chaplains we assisted and we have sent Catholic devotionals to his troops in Afghanistan and Japan:

"I am Fr. Victor and while I was deployed in Afghanistan in January 2005 - January 2006, you have supported me with books, especially the Fulton Sheen's Wartime Prayerbook. I want to know if you can donate more as there is a great demand for this book."

Third, we have Catholics in the Military. This organization just changed its name to Mission Capodanno. They promote vocations to the Chaplain Corp, send Catholic items to troops in need and provide spiritual assistance to military families. We have been supplying material to them for years and they are currently in short supply.

There are several other chaplains who have requested our assistance through the years and your generosity has made those requests bear fruit.

Can you still find it in your heart to give? These soldiers don't get paid much and are frequently in some of the worst places on Earth supported by an understaffed and undersupplied Chaplain Corp.

You can view all of the items that chaplains have requested at: http://www.aquinasandmore.com/militarychaplain

How can you deny a soldier looking for Catholic materials?? We've got to help! I am supposed to work on the monthly finances tonight and after I do I will see how much tithing money I have for this month. Then I'll choose one of chaplains listed on their site and purchase some of the materials they need. There are items for any budget - from holy cards less than $1 to $5 books to $7 bible and much more. Perhaps you and your family could creatively raise a few extra dollars to purchase something for the chaplains. I know money is tight but even one bible or rosary or prayer book in the hands of a soldier could make a tremendous difference as they face danger day in and day out. Spread the word and pray for our troops!

Now that August is here I've been reading on the blogs about many homeschooling moms starting school or getting ready to start. A couple people have been asking about the Little Saints Catholic Preschool Program.

Although we aren't homeschooling (at least not at the moment) I have used the Little Saints program for the kids while they were younger. The lesson plan can be used for a classroom setting or for homeschooling.

Personally, I loved it. I also liked that it had everything written out - including all the materials I'd need for the projects and lessons. Since I was using it informally, there were sections I skipped and others that I implemented. I thought the program was worth having just for all the project ideas, book suggestions and learning material that I adapted to my own schedule.

Last year, some of the local homeschooling moms did a once a week co-op for their homeschooling children. One mom tutored the older kids in English. Another mom taught the preschoolers, including Andrew, while I watched the babies. Although it wasn't a formal preschool setting she used a number of the ideas and projects from the program.

Here is a partial sample chapter so you can see how it is organized. (This is for reference only. The pages have a copyright.) You can learn more and purchase the Little Saint's Catholic Program at CatholicPreschool.com.

Table of Contents - Page 1 View image

Table of Contents - Page 2 View image

Sample Chapter - Page 1 (Prep) View image Page 2 (Prep) View image Page 3 (Lesson) View image Page 4 (Lesson) View image