Jesus Calling::The Story of Christmas {review & giveaway}

Happy Advent

Merry Christmas

I am always looking to add to our Christmas season collection of books and after last year's fiasco with over 20 of our books getting wet and then moldy it's even more important to me than ever to build up our collection again. 

Replacing our old favorites and adding new titles is how it'll be done.  Jesus Calling::The Story of Christmas by Sarah Young is a new book out this year and it is so sweet.

First off the dust jacket is sparklized.  And who doesn't love sparkles at Christmas?  Only Grinches and Scrooges that's who.

Then even better than a sparklized cover is the fact that there are three versions of the story on the pages of this book.

There's scripture on each page, which when in hurry tells the whole story in under 6 minutes.  Busy parents still needing to wrap presents on Christmas Eve would never dream of only reading the scripture to get through the book quickly, but I tell you that just in case.

There's also a nice wordy story portion on each page.  It takes the scripture and puts it into story form.  Longer, yes, but beautiful and sweet and meaningful and all the things.  This was my 5 year olds favorite storyline.  

Then there is the Jesus Calling section on each page.  This is written from Jesus' point of view in first person.  Each page has a reminder of what Christmas is all about and what we should be waiting for or doing to get ready for Jesus.

So this is like three books in one.  For super snowy afternoons reading all three sections is a meaningful way to cuddle up on the couch with the kiddos.

Choose to read only one "storyline" on busy days - if you ever have those.

OR

Crazier yet, let the kids look at all the pictures on their own and tell the story in their own words to their siblings.  That's one of my favorites because they add in all kinds of embellishments.

WIN YOUR OWN COPY

You can find the signup form by following this link to enter to win your copy of Jesus Calling::The Story of Christmas.

And it's OK if you simply want to buy it.  Here's my Amazon affiliate link (thank you so much).

It's currently 29% off!!

And since I'm always on the lookout for meaningful Christmas books, what's your favorite?  Share in the comments.  Thanks.

Weekly Wrap-Up.....{two weeks worth}

Weeks go by so quick so these weekly wrap-ups are turning into more of a two or three week wrap-up.  I have a variety of miscellaneous pictures from March, which I'll use to recap the month so far.

At first glance it appears to be Joseph's birthday, but of course, his is in August.  March brings us Warren's birthday.  The little kids really wanted Dad's birthday to be a party.  The best place I know of to get party supplies is Dollar Tree (where everything's a dollar, except some candy bars, which are only 69 cents).  $4.00 later we had all the makings of a party - 1 balloon, 1 centerpiece, 18 birthday plates, and a 60 pack of candles.  We didn't use all the candles, but it was nice to actually have enough.

Once the balloon was tied to Dad's chair, Joe sat down and literally didn't move all day.  He kept saying, "It's mine, it's mine."  I see lots of helium balloons in my future - because let me tell you, knowing exactly where to look for him was pure joy and I need more of that in my life.  Keeping track of his wanderings is a full time job.  Often I need a few LTE's to help out, too.

That's a lot of fire.

Sadly, Nick had to work so he missed out on the fun, but we saved him some fish and cake.

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 Sam, Joseph, Peter, and Maria have been following along with Holy Heroes' Lenten Adventure.

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Peter's been sneaking off with my camera lately.  He fills the card with pictures like these. ↙

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Counting down, remembering to pray for the daily intention, placing coins in the Rice Bowl - Lent is well under way.  You can find directions and a free printable for making your own calendar here.

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Always playing communion.  This little activity keeps her busy for a long time, and she has no problem distributing them to the entire family.

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One day the ground is clear, the next it's covered in snow again.  I just want the sun - cold March temps are bearable if it's sunny.  Amber's already working with Rhythm getting ready for fair.

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Now that Sam has turned intermediate, he's advanced to clip shoes.  He just bought them in size 13.  And he's still growing!

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Amber is dog sitting; there's 3 of them.  Family? recognize these dogs?  Bella, Daisy, and Teddy(not shown)

Amber and Bella

Joe and Bella

These little dogs live a pretty posh life.  They wear sweaters and ski jackets.  They eat salmon and bible bread.  They have their own stroller and rolling luggage.  We get to keep them for another 10 days.

That sums up our March so far.  

On the homeschooling front, we're in week 25, which means we should wrap up the year on May 27, just in time to get the garden in.

I hope to be back soon with a number of recipe reviews and a recap of what we're using for math this year and how it's working.

Linking up with

Learning About the Saints::St. Frances of Rome

 

St. Frances of Rome video at Catholic.org

March 9 was the feast day for St. Frances of Rome.  I happened upon her story in Book of Saints on March 8, and since we hadn't celebrated a saint day in a while, I did a quick Google search for a few coloring pages and made plans to read her story the next day.  

My coloring page search didn't turn up anything for St. Frances, so I improvised quite a bit.  The St. Frances story in Book of Saints starts out having kids try to understand how they see things differently as they get older.  The older they get the more details they see.  As they see more details they begin to see more deeply what God has in mind for them.  That's how it was for St. Frances, anyway.  St. Frances also obeyed her parents and married a noble prince.

With that my Google search turned up a couple anatomy of the eye coloring pages as well as a girl wearing glasses and a married couple.  

Coloring is a great way to keep their attention during longer, pictureless saint stories.

Are my kids the only ones who think there's only one St. Francis and he's wearing a brown robe, calling in birds?  We had a little discussion about how one letter sometimes changes the gender of a name.  I pulled out Bread and Jam for Frances and let them figure out if Frances is a girl or boy.  They were stunned to learn that Frances is a girl.

I also ran across this lovely little saint book in the room where Sam takes Suzuki violin lessons.  Interestingly enough, it too, had the story of St. Frances of Rome - more detailed than the one in Book of Saints.  If you've never read her story and you're a mother and you have a hard time prioritizing (children, God, housekeeping, husband) you might enjoy it.

Sometimes she must leave God at the altar, and find him in her housekeeping  -St. Frances of Rome

Saints Budding Everywhere is the copy I'm referring to.

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In other news, I told my family (and myself), "NO new recipes for a while."  Whenever I try new recipes the grocery budget takes a hard hit from the extra spices and other ingredients needed.  And sometimes they're complete flops which is money wasted.  Argh!

As usual I didn't stand by my plan.  So far I've made:

-Hawaiian Chicken

-Southern BBQ Pork and Slaw sandwiches

-Double Crunch bars

-Crockpot Philly Cheesesteaks

-Southern Fried Fish with Cornmeal

I'll try and share those recipes along with my reviews soon.  The Southern BBQ Pork and Slaw sandwiches were a TOTAL HIT!!!  It came from this cookbook.

We're having a beautiful sunny day here in Central Wisconsin, which is a real treat even if it's below average cold.

Feast of St. Christopher - July 25

Early last week I happened to notice that St. Christopher's feast day was coming up - July 25.  A medal of St. Christopher hangs on Warren's key ring.  Often he mentions that it was a gift from his mother when he got his driver's license.  As the patron saint of travelers, and summer being the official travel season, St. Christopher is the perfect summer saint to learn about.

Celebrating saint feast days is kept super simple around here.  I pulled out Picture Book of Saints and read the one page St. Christopher story.

Then Joseph grabbed the microphone and book and did a little singing for us.

I printed copies of this coloring page from The Catholic Kid.

Joseph added bits of color to his, while Peter colored his St. Christopher like a rainbow.

I like to add a craft project to our saint celebrations, so of course I went straight to Pinterest, but found nothing.  I had to be creative all on my own this time.  After looking at the coloring page, I decided to paint walking sticks.  Sam cut and peeled the bark off a few green branches.

Peter got started painting his walking stick right away.  There were no rules, just paint till your heart's content.

Joseph waiting patiently for Sam to strip the bark from his walking stick.

Mom might call these walking sticks, but little boys, they might call them fighting swords.  Either way it was a nice way to spend a summer afternoon.

St. Christopher, patron of travelers,

Pray for us.

Commemorating the 7 Sorrows of Mary

Like I said before, I like to keep it simple when it comes to living the liturgical year.  Yesterday, September 15, was the day the Church remembers the 7 sorrows of Mary.  These are sorrowful events in Mary's life, each one involving her son, Jesus.  Any mother of boys knows they can cause much sorrow.  Things haven't changed much in the last 2000 years, have they?  Anyway, I grabbed whatever kids were close by and we talked about the sorrowful events and then I made cards with pictures depicting the events for them to put in chronological order.  They nailed it!  Then we prayed a Hail Mary for each event and a Glory Be and I reminded them to think of others' sorrows before dwelling on their own.  That was it and they were off and runnin' again.

Sam hung around for a bit longer so I had him order the cards again just to be sure he wasn't relying on his older siblings' knowledge.  I copied the page of pictures from  A Year With God:  Celebrating the Liturgical Year (page 200).

Over the years I've stopped over thinking our liturgical year activities and stopped trying to make them perfect, beautiful moments.  I think it's more important to just grab the kids and go for it.  I'm not trying to make them into theologians, but introduce them to the beauty of faith, saints, scripture, and religious art.

Celebrating the Liturgical Year - September

This year we will once again be homeschooling and that includes religious education.  I like to make a few plans before the start of each month to highlight the liturgical year and upcoming Catholic feasts and Saints.

For planning purposes I print a monthly calendar from the forms icon on my printer and then begin filling in the squares with important events.

Here's what I'll be highlighting for these dates in September:

8 - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (Mary's birthday)

We will make a blueberry/cream cheese/whipped cream dessert, top it with candles and let the little kids all have a chance to blow them out.  I'd like to find a nice Mary statue to add to our school room.  

9 - St. Peter Claver

We will read the page dedicated to St. Peter Claver in Picture Book of Saints.

15 - Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

We'll use the coloring activity found in A Year With God:  Celebrating the Liturgical Year (page 200)

21 - St. Matthew the Evangelist

We'll read his page in Picture Book of Saints.

29 - St. Michael and the Archangels Gabriel and Raphael

We will make St. Michael's Bannock for a snack and decorate and recite the St. Michael's prayer.

30 - St. Jerome

We'll read the page in Picture Book of Saints and read St. Jerome and the Lion.  After reading we'll follow the lesson plan in Catholic Mosaic.

Throughout the school year we'll be using Teach Me About the Catholic Faith as our main text.  I'll be using these resources with my 5th and 1st graders and 2 and 3 year olds.  I don't think Teach Me About the Catholic Faith is advanced enough for a 5th grader, but when looking for something appropriate for the younger kids this seemed like the right choice and I'll include Sam, challenging him when necessary with added discussion, copywork or memorization.

I like to keep my plans quite simple, that way I can easily add them into our daily morning time.  For additional ideas of how to live out the Faith in September check out Shower of Roses blog for lots of inspiration.

*this post contains affiliate links, if you click through and make any purchase I receive a small commission - thank you.

Cookie Candles for St. Blaise

Father S. always has the traditional blessing of the throats on the Sunday closest to St. Blaise's feast day.  I thought it would be nice to prepare a bit for it by making cookie candles.

30 second audio clip about St. Blaise
Cookie Inspiration

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

As I arise today,

may the strength of God pilot me,

the power of God uphold me,

thewisdom of God guide me.

May the hand of God protect me,

the way of God lie before me.

~Saint Patrick

All Saints and All Souls

I really enjoy celebrating All Saints and All Souls days. We had a big chicken dinner on Sunday, the Feast of All Saints, and had fun looking through the Patron Saints book. We found out that there is a Saint for just about any occupation, ailment or condition. In our search for patron saints we came across St. George, St. Isadore the farmer, St. Anne, St. Hippolitus, St. Joseph, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis of Assisi and so many more. Do you have a skin rash or lost article? Then ask St. Anthony to intercede on your behalf. I wish I had more knowledge of the Saints and their virtues. I do try to read their stories, but the reading wish list is so long that I'm sure I'll never even make a dent. Emily and Nick are studying many of the Saints through their Reading Comprehension studies. They read silently and then narrate to me all they learned, in this way we are learning together and typically I have many questions for them and I think they like taking on the teacher role sometimes.

I think many people have a misconception as to how the Saints are "used" in the Catholic Faith. For one we do not pray to the Saints, but we ask for them to intercede on our behalf. They are obviously more holy and closer to God than I am and Catholics believe they have a special place in heaven and are a direct link between us and God. So if you have misplaced an item, it would be appropriate to ask St. Anthony to present a special prayer to God on your behalf that you might find that item. That is called an intercessory prayer. I love introducing our kids to this type of prayer because it gives them something tangible to hang onto. I believe it helps them feel related to God in a much closer way. All those who have died before us are also the saints in heaven and can be called on to intercede on our behalf.

All Souls Day is serious and fun all at the same time. It's a day to pray for the souls of all the departed that may be in purgatory that their soul might be cleansed so they have eternal life in heaven. We used this day to put into action the Corporal Work of Mercy - Bury the Dead. We headed out to the cemetery to clean up around a few family grave sites.

We also celebrated it with a little Latin American flair by making these very cool Day of the Dead skulls.

Keeping Lent Real

Lent is typically a time of fasting, penitence, sacrifice and alms giving. As a child I remember getting a calendar at the beginning of lent along with a small cardboard box. Each day had a interesting bit about the poor of the world and then a challenge to put so much money into the box. For example, one calendar box might read: 9.2 million children will walk to school barefoot today. Put a nickel in for each pair of shoes in your closet. Each day I'd go around counting shoes, windows, glasses of water drank, doors, meals eaten, etc. Then I'd place the proper amount of money in the mission box. I have fond memories of those calendars and became aware of the extreme poverty of the world. Eventually, on Easter Sunday, those boxes would be placed before the altar and the money sent on to a particular mission to help the poor. In past years, I searched the Internet looking for that sort of calendar to share with my children without any luck. This year, though, we received a foldable box and calendar from church. The calendar isn't quite as child friendly as the ones I remember, but it's a good starting place. Today's challenge was to learn about world hunger by visiting some website, but since I have a few children who gave up computer for Lent I decided to go another route. We read Beatrice's Goat and then I laid out a challenge for them. I typed out 10 age appropriate bible verses for each child to memorize. They can earn 50 cents per verse to place in the box. The money will then be sent to Catholic Relief Services for Operation Rice Bowl.

One of My Favorites

Each deer season we attend deer hunter's mass at a tiny country church near us. The priest always makes his best guess as to how many hosts he'll need to distribute. And each year he over estimates by a few. This brings me to one of my favorite things. Since the church is only used a couple times a year the consecrated hosts can not stay in the tabernacle, therefore after communion he consumes the remaining Body of Christ's. I always peek over to watch my kids' eyes open as big as saucers when he begins eating the consecrated hosts one after another. Not to show any disrespect, but he looks as if he's eating a bowl full of potato chips not wasting even a crumb. I love the yearning look on my kids' faces. Oh, how they wish they were the priest for that tiny moment.

Books Around the Clock

Reading takes a vital role in our home education. Whether it be silent reading at 1:00 each afternoon (my favorite time of day), morning read aloud at 8:30 a.m. or our afternoon history and science reading, books are always around us. One of my favorite ways to display books is to pull themed books from the library basket and our bookshelves and place in front of the entertainment center. Usually on the left I have books pertaining to our history studies and on the right, books pertaining to our science studies. I also lean a group of books in the middle for Ray. He grabs a book and says daddy read me and dad scoops him up on his lap and reads in the early hours of each day. The 23rd Psalm illustrated by Michael Hague is his recent favorite. The pictures are so detailed yet so simple. And nature abounds on each page.

Last night was our weekly Family Formation time. Although we were late in celebrating St. Mother Teresa's feast day, the book was a real eye opener. Her complete giving of self and vow of poverty couldn't help but make me take a good long look at my own life. Am I giving more than receiving? Am I overly interested in material things? We used the book, Mother Teresa by Demi as our starting point for discussing her selflessness.

This afternoon I combined our study of Astronomy with History. I read selections from Roman Myths by Geraldine McCaughrean. The Romans really had no sense of morals, which gave us lots to talk about as we read about Apollo (the sun god), Diana (the moon god), Orion (a constellation) and others.

Cake and Milk for Mary

We celebrated (a bit late) the Nativity of Mary today with cake and milk for our 10 a.m. snack. Grace made the cake last night, too late to frost. Today she diligently worked on Math so she would have time to frost the cake before snack time. So together Grace and Lou frosted and sprinkled, cut and served, a beautiful and yummy cake.