JOYfilledfamily BLOG

Prayer Request

August 31, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Prayers 11 Comments

I was hoping to make a wonderful announcement in the upcoming weeks. Instead, I am left to humbly ask for prayers. I pray for God’s will and His grace to joyfully accept it.

Also, I am desiring to unite my trial and suffering for others in need, in addition to the intentions of Our Blessed Mother. I invite you to leave your intention in the comments or email me privately (JOYfilledfamily{at}gmail{dot}com). You can be as detailed or vague as you desire.

May I completely surrender and allow Him to use me as He wills.

Ad Jesum per Mariam,

Lena

“Suffering is a gift of God. It’s a sign that we have come so close to Him that we can share His Passion, that we can share the joy of loving with Him in pain, in suffering.”

~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

August 19, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: {phfr}, Picture Recap

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

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{pretty}

8.15.11 – Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Christ is always present in a Catholic church.

Sparkles singing the recessional hymn, Salve Regina.

{happy}

8.13.11 – We celebrated Papa’s military service. The kids got a kick seeing their Papa so playful with his fellow veterans. They also enjoyed their cool off time.

Sancta Familia Academy 2011-2012

August 17, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Homeschooling, Not Back to School Blog Hop

School is in session.

Sancta Familia Academy 2011-2012

Rose – 11 * Sparkles – 3 * Sweetie – 1 * Papi – Pre-K Dragonfly – Teacher’s Pet

Dragonfly just woke up from a nap and was not at all interested in being out of my arms — typical day.

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Here are some outtakes.

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School pictures from previous years.

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St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Christina, Our Lady of Fatima, St. Bernadette, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Out Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Clare, St. Alexandria, St. Alexandra, Our Lady of Lordes, St. John the Baptist, St. John, St. Paul, St. Matthew, St. George, St. Lawrence, St. Barbara, St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. John Chrysostom ~ Orate pro nobis.

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The Roman Breviary

August 15, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Catholic Products, Keeping it Catholic Monday, Roman Breviary

"Aperi, Domine, os meum … Open Thou, O Lord, my mouth to bless Thy holy name; cleanse my heart from vain, evil and wandering thoughts; enlighten my understanding, inflame my will, that so I may worthily, attentively and devoutly recite this Office and deserve to be heard in the presence of Thy Divine Majesty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. O Lord, in union with that divine intention wherewith Thou whilst here on earth didst Thyself praise God, I offer these Hours to Thee."

~ Preparatory Prayer in the Breviary

Dad and I have made a resolution to pray the Officium Divinum (Divine Office). Rose will be joining us this school year.

We had been using this online Breviary and The Little Office of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Recently, we found a wonderful app for our phone, Breviarium Meum.

The Breviarium Meum is a free application, from the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. It’s available from iTunes here.

Breviarium Meum allows you to pray the traditional (1962) Latin breviary of the Catholic Church wherever you go. You can download the texts up to a week in advance, so you can pray even when you don’t have a network connection. A parallel English translation of the breviary and an collection of Latin prayers and blessings are also included. Pray the breviary you know in a new way, or get to know for the first time the Roman Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, considered by Summorum Pontificum as a precious treasure to be preserved and made accessible to all the faithful.

~ Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate

The Divine Office is a school of prayer, a meditative method for internalizing and understanding the Faith, and for conforming yourself to Christ. Using the books has always been somewhat difficult, and this application takes care of most of the rubrics, commons and propers for each Hour. The Friars ought to be commended for doing this work which brings the riches of the Hours to the laity in a straight-forward and simple manner.

Click here to download Breviarium Meum.

We are thankful for this Catholic tech resource but would eventually like to purchase a hard copy of Breviarium Romanum (The Roman Breviary).

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"Dearly beloved priest, when you take the Breviary in your hand, imagine that an angel stands on one side to register your merits in the Book of Life if you say the Office with devotion, and on the other a devil who, if you recite it with distraction, writes your faults in the book of death. With this thought excite yourself to say the Office with the greatest possible devotion. Endeavour, then, not only at the beginning of the Office, but also at the beginning of each psalm, to renew your attention, that you may be able to excite in your heart all the sentiments that you shall read." ~St. Alphonsus

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

August 11, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: {phfr}, Picture Recap

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

~~~

{pretty}

8.8.11 – It was hard for me to part with these custom creations. I’ve finally shipped them out, after several months of delay. It’s time that they bless someone else.

{happy}

8.10.11 – We celebrated Dad and Dragonfly’s namesake day with a yummy treat. It was a slight deviation from last year’s treat.

{funny}

8.9.11 – We loaded up the car on a hot afternoon. Everyone had a cool treat. Papi was too tired to finish his. He fell asleep within five minutes. The girls tried, on several occasions, to remove his popsicle but he put up a fight each time. He held his prized possession for the entire twenty min. car ride.

{real}

8.9.11 – Praise God! This was a nice consolation for me as I enter a new season of homeschooling. My children are ignited with a burning love of learning. Sparkles enjoys science. She orchestrated her own lab. Who would have thought that pond scum could be so interesting?

She Did It Again

August 11, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: New Look, Rose

Dad and I set a precedent in our home in regards to the girl’s hair. This year we left the decision up to Rose. After all, she is sixteen and it’s about time that she starts standing for her own convictions.

I scheduled a long overdue hair cut for Rose and myself. I had a coupon, of course. Rose had expressed interest in going short but I never was able to discuss styles with her.

When we arrived at the salon, she insisted that I go first. I knew that I was not going to take off major inches. I’m not ready for short and gray hair. Long and gray, maybe, but not short and gray-at least not now.

Rose prayerfully scanned the very immodest magazines and couldn’t find a suitable haircut. I pulled some images on my phone and she immediately honed in to a simple style. (I’ve since discovered that it’s very similar to her last hair cut.)

She shared the style with the stylist and informed her that she needed to make a ponytail and take off at least 10 inches. She looked at me with a smile—ALL FOR!

Rose is officially a hair donor. She has been blessed with the ability to grow beautiful thick hair and is willing to endure it’s weight on hot summer days so that another young girl can be blessed. The ponytail will be shipped this week to Locks of Love.

God, in His infinite wisdom, endowed the maiden
with beauty and power to please. He desires to
teach her that, as she was externally adorned with
beauty, she ought to beware lest her soul should not correspond to her physical attractiveness, but be, on the contrary, a wild and desert place. Your
external charms should be a mirror in which the
beauty of your soul is reflected.

~ Father Lasance, Catholic Girl’s Guide

{Home} School Room

August 8, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Homeschooling, Not Back to School Blog Hop, Schoolroom 14 Comments

Here is my formal dining room turned school room. These pictures were taken last school session. The schoolroom hasn’t changed much since.

This picture was taken right after I added my new find. I found the Pottery Barn unit on Craigslist. I now have the shelves filled with school supplies stored in these fun containers. I found 7 of them at the thrift store for $2 ea.

The Little’s enjoy working on their own desk but I prefer the table.

I hang selected school work above the red armoire. I use fishing line and clothes pins. It’s my favorite system–easy, cute and cheap.

I love having everything school related in one room. I added the metal garage storage units (found at Costco). I put magnets on wall charts and hang them on the metal frame. It’s the prefect height for the Little’s and covers the storage.

Above the storage units is my week at glance system – cork boards and magnetic/dry-erase boards. The system never worked as I had intended but served as nice display for school work.

The black shelving unit is a recycled piece that my mom picked up from a local convent. I love that it is solid wood. It serves as a room divider from the hallway. I mounted a felt board, cork board, dry-erase board and chalk board to the back side of the unit. It keeps the boys busy.

The black desk is mine!

Here’s the high school room/office/craft room that Rose and I share.

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I’m linking my post to the NOT Back-to-School Blog Hop. Join the school fun!

Friendship Bracelet Giveaway

August 6, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Crafts, Giveaway, Summer

We wrapped up our summer list with an impromptu activity, friendship bracelets. The girls create these colorful wrist candies on a regular basis but I’ve never joined in. They were beyond thrilled when I announced that I would join the fun.

We made family bracelets, bracelets for friends we even joined a friendship bracelet swap. We knotted and knotted. Rose mastered some new designs. I dabbled with new designs and mastered none. Sweetie was in charge of organizing and cutting the floss. Sparkles cranked the bracelets out. In fact, we had to limit her production. It was a blast.
We still have a few more designs to try and some orders to fill. I look forward to letting this activity run it’s course. ALL FOR!

FRIENDSHIP BRACELET GIVEAWAY

Sparkles asked if she could host a giveaway. She would like to send a young girl one of her creations.
To enter: a young girl must first answer these questions.

Who came to Mary with wonderful news?

Name the mystery of the Rosary that goes with this answer.

Submit your answer into the comment box along with your (blog) name and age.
Sparkles will draw a name out of hat on Thursday, August 11 – the traditional feast of St. Philomena.

St. Philomena is a patron saint of children~Children of Mary.

We will announce the winner on Friday, August 12 – the traditional feast of St. Clare of Assisi.

St. Clare of Assisi is a patron saint of embroiderers and needle workers. (I’m sure friendship bracelets is covered in there somewhere.)

St. Philomena and St. Clare of Assisi ~ pray for our young girls

UPDATE 8.12: Thanks for participating. Sparkles was so excited to host her first giveaway and decided to give you each a bracelet. Please email me (JOYfilledfamily{at}gamil{dot}com) your contact info and wrist size. Sparkles will send you one of her creations as soon as I receive your info.

An Online Curriculum Swap Blog Hop v3

August 5, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Curriuclum Swap

You set the price for the items listed below.* I want to offer someone who may be tight on budget, the option to purchase any one of these texts. I know how challenging it can be to base your school year around a tight budget. Please do not hesitate to submit any offer.

No additional shipping cost will be added.

Saxon Math 54: Incremental Development Second Edition ~~(Hardcover)~~ TAKEN

$Math 87$

Saxon Math 87: Incremental Development Second Edition (Hardcover)

McDougal Little Algebra 1: Concepts and Skills Volume 1

McDougal Little Algebra 1: Concepts and Skills Volume 2

Prentice Hall Pre-Algebra Text (Hardcover)

Prentice Hall Pre-Algebra Solution Key (Paperback)

Harcourt Math Practice Workbook Grade 6 (several copies are available)

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Email me your contact info, price and desired method of payment. I’ll accept check, MO or Paypal.

JOYfilledfamily{at}gmail{dot}com

*Dad and I desire to help those (in any way we can), who have chosen the way of private home education. We pray that this small offering will bless another family. Please, only respond to this offer if you are not accepting government subsidies (resources that can include cash, stipends for extracurricular activities, computers, textbooks, other instructional materials, etc…) for any part of your home education, by way of Charter school or any other publicly subsidized educational program.

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An Online Curriculum Swap Blog Hop v2

August 5, 2011 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Curriuclum Swap

You set the price for the items listed below.* I want to offer someone who may be tight on budget, the option to purchase any one of these texts. I know how challenging it can be to base your school year around a tight budget.

All text books listed here are new or in good condition.