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Current State…..JOY…JOY…JOY

by Filed Under: Confession, Confirmation, Sacraments

I’m definitely slowing down!!!  We have been busy busy the past couple of days and I feel like I’m barely holding on.

Rose and I attended a Confirmation on Friday, April 23.  She was scheduled to sing with the Choristers and I was a Sponsor.  There were approximately 70 Confirmandi.  It was a blessed evening.

confirmation  Enjoy!  This will probably be the only pict. that I’ll ever post of myself beyond 5 months preg.

The littles stood home with my parents.  They had a blast.  Dad had a clinical and did not get home until after dinner and the partying.  He scurried to get the littles to bed (especially Sparkles) between his clinical and night shift.  Lord, please continue to shower your graces on my dear husband as he follows Your call for his second vocation.

Sparkles had her First Penance on Saturday, April 24.  Dad took her but forgot the camera.  He was bummed.  He has gotten the hang of this blogging thing and really enjoys documenting our family’s journey.

We decided to have our Celebration for the Third Week of Easter on Saturday as a dinner party…..read more about it here. 

Sparkles’ JOY

by Filed Under: First Communion, Sparkles

Saturday was a blessed day for Sparkles.  She passed her First Communion Examination!  Praise be to God.

 a day of joy for sparkles


She came home more than delighted.  She was glowing.
sparkles after passing the test
She and the other GFG were treated to ice cream.


Sparkles decided to keep the JOY going when she returned home.  She requested to have her training wheels taken off her bike.  Dad accommodated her and she was off!
sparkles on bike 1st time sparkles off on bike sparkles off on the bike

Celebrating Easter – Week 2

by Filed Under: Easter, Garden of the Good Shepherd, Pope, St. Bernadette 10 Comments

We celebrated the second week of Easter in a big way on Friday. Sparkles whose feast day was on Friday, April 16 requested a Tea Party. We went ahead and turned the Garden of the Good Shepherd celebration into a tea party. We honored St. Bernadette’s Feast Day and Pope Benedict XVI 83rd Birthday.
GARDEN bok pic index_benxvisaint-bernadette-of-lourdes-01

It was a glorious occasion!
Welcome to the Lord’s Table!

tea time setting
We started the celebration by decorating the school room for tea time.

tea time table in the school room 8. The Table
Netting
26 When Joseph arrived at the house they offered him the gift they had with them, bowing low before him.   27 He greeted them pleasantly, asking, ‘Is your father well, the old man you told me of ? Is he still alive?’  28 ‘Your servant our father is well,’ they replied, ‘he is still alive,’ and they bowed respectfully.   29 Looking about, he saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son. ‘Is this your youngest brother’, he asked, ‘of whom you told me?’ And he added, ‘God be good to you, my son.’   30 Joseph hurried out; so strong was the affection he felt for his brother that he wanted to cry. He went into his room and there he wept.   31 After washing his face he returned and, controlling himself, gave the order: ‘Serve the meal.’  32 He was served separately; so were they, and so were the Egyptians who ate in his household, for the Egyptians could not take food with Hebrews; Egyptians have a horror of doing so.  33 They were placed facing him in order of seniority, from the eldest to the youngest, and the men looked at one another in amazement.  34 He had portions carried to them from his own dish, the portion for Benjamin being five times larger than any of the others. And they feasted with him and drank freely.  ~ Genesis 43: 26-34
9.  The Chairs
Hats and Fabric
1 Yahweh appeared to him at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting by the entrance of the tent during the hottest part of the day.  2 He looked up, and there he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, and bowed to the ground.   3 ‘My lord,’ he said, ‘if I find favour with you, please do not pass your servant by.  4 Let me have a little water brought, and you can wash your feet and have a rest under the tree.  5 Let me fetch a little bread and you can refresh yourselves before going further, now that you have come in your servant’s direction.’ They replied, ‘Do as you say.’ 6 Abraham hurried to the tent and said to Sarah, ‘Quick, knead three measures of best flour and make loaves.’  7 Then, running to the herd, Abraham took a fine and tender calf and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it.  8 Then taking curds, milk and the calf which had been prepared, he laid all before them, and they ate while he remained standing near them under the tree.   ~ Genesis 18: 1-8

Our menu was simple and deviated slightly from Jessica’s & Charlotte’s Week 2 suggestions.

 tea time with lables10.  The Bread
Croissants

8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you to your mother’s house.  9 May Yahweh show you faithful love, as you have done to those who have died and to me. Yahweh grant that you may each find happiness with a husband!’ She then kissed them, but they began weeping loudly, 10 and said, ‘No, we shall go back with you to your people.’  11 ‘Go home, daughters,’ Naomi replied. ‘Why come with me? Have I any more sons in my womb to make husbands for you?  12 Go home, daughters, go, for I am now too old to marry again. Even if I said, “I still have a hope: I shall take a husband this very night and shall bear more sons,”  13 would you be prepared to wait for them until they were grown up? Would you refuse to marry for their sake? No, daughters, I am bitterly sorry for your sakes that the hand of Yahweh should have been raised against me.’  14 They started weeping loudly all over again; Orpah then kissed her mother-in-law and went back to her people. But Ruth stayed with her.    ~Ruth 2:8-14

wine 11.  The Wine
Sparkling White Grape
1 Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money, free!  2 Why spend money on what cannot nourish and your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.  ~Isaiah 55:1-2
milk11.  The Milk
Milk for Tea
8 and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders.  9 He brought us here and has given us this country, a country flowing with milk and honey.  10 Hence, I now bring the first-fruits of the soil that you, Yahweh, have given me.” ‘You will then lay them before Yahweh your God, and prostrate yourself in the presence of Yahweh your God.  ~ Deuteronomy 26:8-10
honey12.  The Pot of Honey
Honey Butter

4 John the Baptist was in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  5 All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins.  6 John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey.  ~ Mark 1:4-6

fruit 13.  The Fruit
Berries
16 BELOVED: Awake, north wind, come, wind of the south! Breathe over my garden, to spread its sweet smell around. Let my love come into his garden, let him taste its most exquisite fruits.  ~ Song of Songs (Solomon) 4:16
tea time with all kids at tablesweetie tea papi tea v2 sparkels tea 2
We reviewed the Garden of the Good Shepherd’s sticker board.  Each GFG took turns explaining the significance of the food items.
Garden of the Good Shepherd Week 2
We prayed for Pope Benedict and sought the intercession of St. Bernadette.
prayer card front saint-bernadette-of-lourdes-06
Our GFG worked on their Pope Benedict XVI Activities.pope benedict craftssweetie craft
DEO GRATIAS!

Happy Feast Day!

by Filed Under: Patron Saint, St. Bernadette Leave a Comment

– turn off the music at the bottom of the page before playing –
At age 14, the poverty-stricken, asthmatic Bernadette Soubirous saw a vision of a beautiful Lady in a grotto on the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes, France. Though Bernadette was despised, disbelieved, and harrassed by local French authorities, crowds began to gather when news spread and when she wouldn’t recant the story of her vision.
On 25 February, Bernadette was told to dig in the earth, which she did to much mockery, but there, the healing waters of the now-famous Lourdes shrine were discovered where the Lady had appeared, and on 25 March, the Lady of the vision announced that she was the Immaculate Conception and that a church should be built at the site. Bernadette became a nun at Nevers, France and, suffering much from physical ailments, died young. Her body remains incorrupt at her convent to this day. ~ Fish Eaters

Sparkles was our first child that was consecrated to Our Blessed Mother while in the womb. Needless to say, she has an enduring devotion to Our Blessed Mother. I believe it is that devotion that led Sparkles to St. Bernadette.


April 16 is the feast day (in the new calendar) of Sparkles’ self proclaimed patron saint, St. Bernadette.* When she was three or four (I can’t remember much at this time with my placenta brain) she started a prayer, “novena” (we didn’t know it was that at the time) of 3 Hail Mary’s. She was persistent that they be said every night in addition to our family and nightly prayers. She would often be found praying them on her own throughout the day. Our spiritual director informed us that this in fact this was a pious devotion but we never knew where it originated from. Nonetheless, we continued at the request of Sparkles.


About a year later she began to evoke the intercession of St. Bernadette; “ St. Bernadette, Ora Pro Nobis.”


She has continued over the years to grow in her devotion to St. Bernadette.

*We usually try to celebrate the feast days in the old Calendar if the Saint is recognized by both. This year we didn’t get a chance to celebrate St. Bernadette Soubirous feast day, February 18 in the Old Calendar because we were immersed in the Lenten Season.

This novena prayer, although short is sufficient. It would be better of course to add, if time permits, three Hail Marys or say five times the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father, or to use some of the many well-loved novena prayers from other sources. Remember that prayers must be said with the lips in order to gain the indulgences. This novena begins on April 6 and ends on April 16.

O dear little St. Bernadette, humble little shepherdess, who wonderingly beheld the Lovely Lady of the Grotto, pray for us to our Lady of Lourdes that she may heal us of our ills. St. Bernadette, pray for the sick and the afflicted.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

300 days. S. Pen., Nov. 15, 1927.
Prayer Source: All Day With God by Blanche Jennings Thompson

Three Hail Marys

“The devotion of the Three Hail Marys is bound up with the value and the cult of the Hail Mary itself. It traces back to St. Matilda, who received it from Our Lady. The Saint had been worrying about her eternal salvation and had requested the most holy Virgin to assist her in her hour of death. Our Lady reassured her, and said, “I will grant your request. But I want you, on your part, to pray to me three Hail Marys every day. With the first of them call to mind the strength I received from the Eternal Father; with the second, the wisdom I received from the Son; with the third, the love with which the Holy Spirit filled me.” 
~Father Stefano Manelli, Devotion to Our Lady, (Academy of the Immaculate: 2000), 148.

Novena of the Three Hail Marys
The Three Hail Marys 

Additional Links:
Coloring page of St. Bernadette at Lourdes
St. Bernadette of Lourdes
My Name is Bernadette – EWTN Bio
The Stupid One – A Biography of St. Bernadette
“The Many Faces of Mary, a Love Story”
In the Footsteps of St. Bernadette
Placing your Petition at the Grotto of Lourdes
TV Lourdes
Apparitions of St. Bernadette
Our Lady of Lourdes Post

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