Happy Saint Nicholas Day

God, we pray that through theintercessions of St. Nicholas

you will guide and protect our children

.Keep them safe from all harm

and help them grow to becomeloving disciples of Jesus in your sight.

Give them strength to always mature

into deeper faith in you,

and to keep alive joy in your creation.

Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
—by Father David R. Engbarth, St. Nicholas Church, Aurora, Illinois

Saint Nicholas has been here!!

Prayers for Samuel Please

My niece's one month old, premie baby Samuel, has been admited to the hospital with RSV. If you are a mom of young children then you know the scariness of this nasty virus for our most fragile babies. You also know the awful stress is gives to the family of these little babies.

If you don't know about this virus, it is a respiratory illiness that is especially hard on these tiny babies.

Thank you for any prayers that you can send on Sammy's behalf.

Keep those prayers coming for Grandpa...

We need some extra prayers right now!! Thanks so much!!

Grandpa and baby Luke

St. Therese-Pray for Us

God our Father, You destined Your Kingdom for Your children who are humble. Help us to imitate the way of St. Theresa, so that, by her intercession, we may attain the eternal glory which You promised. Amen.

Mother of Mothers-Pray for Us

Lisa, at Are We There Yet? , shared this beautiful prayer and holy card in honor of Our Lady of Little Ones. I just wanted to share....

Prayer for Help to be a Good Mother
Mary, my Mother, grant that my little children may instruct me in the ways of God. Let their innocent eyes speak to me of the spotless holiness of Jesus. Let their open smiles remind me of the great love God has for his creatures.
Let their helplessness teach me the unbounded power of God. May their first feeble efforts to speak call to mind the wisdom of the Almighty. May their simple trust in me lead me to cherish a like confidence in God. May my love for God be stimulated by the deep-rooted affection my children have for me. May I in all these things grow in a greater appreciation of my holy motherhood.
Mary, I trust in you to obtain this favor for me. Amen.
Mother of Mothers, pray for me!

Please keep this unborn baby

and her mom, my niece, in your prayers....

Our Elsie Rae of Sunshine

Our: We are ready to say the rosary photo...

I wanted to take a picture of the family gathered to say the evening rosary together. It doesn't happen very often that all 10 kids are here to recite the rosary.

It proved impossible to get a picture with everyone looking "o.k." so I decided to post all three of the photos.

Everyone looks wonderful in at least one of the pictures.

I also wanted to prove that the kids could all fit in the living room of the "little house" at the same time. Pat and I all also in the living room.
Being cozy is just wonderful!!!
I am sure Our Blessed Mother didn't mind!

Rosary Three Part Cards

Kathryn, at The Bookworm, has put together this absolutely beautiful set of three part Rosary cards for all 20 mysteries of the Rosary.

I printed them out this weekend and then laminated them.

I have decided to use them differently than the usual three part cards. I wanted the kids to learn to match each mystery with its picture, but I also want them to learn the order of each mystery. Because of my goal, I made control cards showing the proper picture and mystery, and also it shows the proper order of all five joyful mysteries etc.

We read about each of the Joyful Mysteries today, explaining them carefully and talking about the pictures, and then they went on to match their own set.

Hopefully, this will help instill a greater love and devotion to Our Blessed Mother and the Holy Rosary.

Craft of the Week #5

This week, the Craft of the Week came from Crafty in Coffeeland . It is St. Monica's prayer board. We laminated the white paper and background paper together making a wipe-off board. We added a picture of St. Monica, a heroine of pray. Mark and Grace deocorated it and we hung it near out kitchen table because we always pray for people after we way grace at meals. This will certainly help us remember everyone that we want to pray for.

Mark wanted to pray for the soul of Grandpa Collins today, and we also are praying for the soul of our dear friend, Paul's grandfather.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen