Faith

Faith & Family Live! : Making Music Praying Twice

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Coloring Contest

If you visit this site (click on the title of this post, you can download a high quality poster (like the one in this post) which your children ages zero (yes, your babies) and up can enter over at http://www.illuminatedink.com/. There are several levels for age entries in the contest (see their site). What is really neat about this coloring page is that parents can also download an explanation of all the pictures within it and its symbolism. The deadline isn't until next year but you can do it as a summer activity or incorporate it to your Religion Class in the Fall. Have fun coloring! Join me in praying for our priests!

Pro Multis celebrates 16th year in business

I received this e-mail from some friends. My DH knows them well and manages their website, promultis.com. I was excited to see this e-mail and that they are celebrating 16 years of commitment to the Lord and wanted to share it with you. Bonnie and Al Huntz are the owners, they raised six children and are enjoying the fruits of their labors as their children are now homeschooling their grandchildren! Please join me in praying that this wonderful Catholic business continues for at least another 16 years. Here's the e-mail:

Pro Multis Catholic Books and Gift Center, 1850 Colvin Blvd., Tonawanda, was opened Aug. 15, 1993, the same day as the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Owners Al and Bonnie Huntz were looking for something that would become an important part of their Catholic evangelization.

Al said, “I enjoy meeting new and interesting people just about every day and also being able to help some of them in matters concerning the Catholic faith. Today Pro Multis has become a success and the store has grown into the largest and most comprehensive Catholic store in Western New York and Southern Ontario. They are known for their wide selection of Catholic books, rosaries, medals, CDs, DVDs, wall art, wall crucifixes, and Confirmation gift items.

Al pointed out how happy and proud him and his wife are to be celebrating their 16th year in the business. They will, however, be closed Aug. 15 for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, as is customary for them to close on all holy days of obligation of the Catholic church. Pro Multis takes pride in carrying several items that are hard to find anywhere else in the area. They sell many traditional items that were popular prior to the Vatican Council II, as well as Latin books and missals in English, French, Spanish and Italian.

They also are noted for their wide selection of used books. And, they specialize in mail orders for items that are not available in the store. Pro Multis Catholic Books and Gift Center is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
To learn more about the store or to order items online visit www.promultis.com.

Domestic Church: Room by Room - Sacramentals

As many of you have read in our introductory post, this blog has been completely directed from God. He stirred in me to start this and I will do as He wishes with it...which leads me to something really exciting! How important is it that we surround ourselves with all things Catholic? I'm not implying that we lock ourselves in our homes and don't socialize with others that aren't; this, actually, would go against our Church teachings. What I'm saying is that for us to go out and spread the Word of God, we have to start with a solid foundation in our homes.

This month, we will be having active discussions on creating a Domestic Church in our homes. In my quest for new ideas in our home, I virtually met up at Faith and Family Connect, with Catholic author, Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle. She has written several books on this topic and we spoke about my desire to spread the news of her wonderful book entitled, The Domestic Church: Room by Room. At the end of August, we will raffle off two of her books to two different Catholic Mamas.

One will be the aforementioned title and the other is her book, Grace Cafe: Serving Up Recipes for Faithful Mothering. I will give you details on how to sign up for the giveaway at the end of this post. ;)

My family's decision to homeschool (after many months of prayer), was only made possible because the Lord willed it. In turn, our lives have changed tremendously for the best. We are a more united and prayerful family than we were a year ago. As I reflected on this past year, I realized we grew stronger as a couple and as a family and it had to do with two things, one, opening our lives more to the Lord, and two, creating a Domestic Church within our home.

So how do you create a domestic church, you may ask? Lets begin, room by room and see the appearance of our homes. As I think of this, it reminds me of something Father John Corapi said once - possibly in his conversion story. (If you haven't had a chance to hear it, it is the BEST and most powerful conversion story-see next short blog, a condensed version of it!) Long story short, as the Lord was calling him back to Church, he wanted to be in a safe place, "were Satan would be scared to go" and he decided (with his mother's persuasion) to go back home and contemplate on his life. Why was his parent's home a safe place? It wasn't that this home was in another state it was the fact that it was bombarded with Sacramentals! There are pictures of Mary, Jesus, the saints, Crucifixes, scapulars, saint relics, family altars, Holy Water fonts, etc., there. He says it best and in the funniest way, his parents home said to Satan in big block letter, "KEEP OUT! or ELSE!" So for starters, look around your home. Does it say, this is a Catholic home? Do you have all the sacramentals that our rich faith avails us? What are sacramentals? Here's a great excerpt written by Catholic author, Regina Doman on this subject:

"Sacramentals run the gamut from blessings of consecrated virgins to articles such as relics and rosaries. Some, such as holy water, are used by almost every Catholic. Others are more personal, such as devotionals to a particular saint.

Sacramentals have embellished the official liturgies of the Church or sprung from the cultures of different peoples and different times.

For being Catholic is more than the bare bones: attending Mass, receiving Communion twice a year, going to confession, getting confirmed, married and buried in the Church. It is even more than practicing virtues and avoiding sin. It is a way of life in which the body, its senses and spirit are intermingled.

Sacramentals, by their very voluntariness, their apparent status as extras, can supply the externals that make the Catholic way of life singular and outstanding.

Sacramentals are not superstitions, holdovers from pre-Christian days, or Catholic substitutes for the longing of pagans to dance around trees and mutter spells. There is a part of us that longs for something tangible we can hold on to, something to look at, something to touch, something to sing, chant or recite, something that interacts with the senses. The sacraments, those sacred mixtures of matter and the Holy Spirit, fulfill that need. And so, in a lesser way, do sacramentals."

To read the whole article, go here.

So, want to know how to win one of her fantastic books? It's simple... do one or more of the following:

1. Leave a comment after this post, on what Sacramentals we'd find in your home and why are they so important in your Domestic Church.
2. Subscribe to our RSS feed (see the button above on the left).
3. Blog about this topic and link back to this blog. Remember to come back and leave a comment with your link to get credit for your post on "Sacramentals".
4. Add yourself to our "Follow Us" section.

Each of the above options will give you an entry per item you do, so you have four chances of entering! At the end of the month, we will post the two winners. It's that easy!

So Mamas, start commenting, posting, blogging, adding, etc.! to get your hands on these great books!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Widely published and deeply experienced in both family life and religious life, Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle counted Blessed Teresa of Calcutta among her personal friends. She maintains numerous Web sites and has founded several Catholic apostolates and ministries. For more information on this wonderful Catholic author, please visit here. For a daily dose of inspiration, visit Donna's blog at http://viewdomesticchurch.blogspot.com/.

For a review of the Domestic Church book, check out this Catholic Blogging Homeschooling Mama's site.

This Week's Featured Mama Blog

Here we will feature a Catholic Homeschooling Mama's blog that we think has fantastic ideas in many different areas: faith, family, home education, planning, healthy living, and more! For now, they will be posted/featured in no specific order. So without further adieu, here's this week's Featured Mama Blog: View from the Domestic Church

(click on the image above to visit this featured blog)

If there is a blog that you follow, and you'd like us to feature, please e-mail me a link: raisinglittlesaints at gmail dot com or leave a comment below. Come again next week for another neat Catholic Mama to visit. Thank you to all the "Mamas" who have sent me links to wonderful blogs. Please, be patient with me and I will post them as soon as possible...just keep them coming! Thank you and God bless you!

Pax Christi,

Gotta Share: Father Corapi's Conversion Story

I am an avid fan of Father John Corapi because of his incredibly deep teachings and simple, straight up way of explaining things of our Faith. I've posted things about him in the past and I'm sure I will relate something else about him in the future. For those of you who have not heard his conversion story here it is! Sit down for this one, it's REALLY good!

This Week's Featured Mama Blog

Here we will feature a Catholic Homeschooling Mama's blog that we think has fantastic ideas in many different areas: faith, family, home education, planning, healthy living, and more! For now, they will be posted/featured in no specific order. So without further adieu, here's this week's Featured Mama Blog: The Catholic Homeschool Society

(click on the image above to visit this featured blog)

If there is a blog that you follow, and you'd like us to feature, please e-mail me a link: raisinglittlesaints at gmail dot com or leave a comment below. Come again next week for another neat Catholic Mama to visit. Thank you to all the "Mamas" who have sent me links to wonderful blogs. Please, be patient with me and I will post them as soon as possible...just keep them coming! Thank you and God bless you!

Pax Christi,

First Day of School Success!

While some of us are still planning, organizing, and ordering books, some Catholic Homeschoolers have started school for the 2009-2010 school year! (Yes, yes, a bit early, but she's got a GREAT reason: a baby due any time now! So she wanted to get started before the wonderful arrival). Here, again, is one of our fabulous Guest Writers on CBHM, Liz.

Guest Blogging Mama: Liz is a wife to a wonderful husband and mom to 4 (soon to be 5) beautiful children: Marco (6), Isabella (5), Anthony (3), and baby Christian. They find daily inspiration in the Holy Family and look to Jesus, Mary and Joseph for guidance.

First Post on the First Day of School (a week today):

Our school room is done. My plans for the first two weeks of school are neatly written in my planner. Copies of necessary paperwork for the kids has been made and filed away. Our schedule has been posted on our bulletin board. School books are lined up ready to be used.

It seems like everything is in place for a new school year! The kids are excited and counting down on our calendar. For now, my job lies in preparing a special little something for the kids. As I posted earlier, I will be making a schultute for each of the kids.

I printed out and laminated a wonderful student prayer from The Teacher's Helper cd's I have. Each child will get one in their school cone. Other treats will include:

• School supplies. A pencil case filled with simple supplies.
• Stickers.
• Klutz craft book.
• Treats (candy and snacks).
• New sketch books.
• New crayons.
• A t-shirt with our school logo on it.
• A new rosary.
• A small toy.
  
• A handmade prayer book.

I'll be working on the actual cones starting tonight and through the weekend. It was hard coming up with a "theme" for each schultute. But I finally came up with a shark theme for Marco (who is insanely into sharks right now), flowers and tiaras for Isabella, and an outer space theme for Anthony. I'm excited about getting them done!

I'm taking pictures as things get done, so get ready for a picture filled post on Sunday night!!

Second Post on the First Day of School (Tuesday of this past week):

We had our official first day of school on Monday! It was a complete success and the kids had a blast getting to "meet" their new books, open their Schultute's, take pictures, and yes...even get started on work! All around, I saw God's blessings and it turned out to be a perfect day!

I was hoping to capture the first lesson for each child, but only had the camera on hand for one shot. I did capture so many other shots, however, and I hope you like them!!

The kids' Schultute's the night before our first day.

I can't say how excited I was to have the kids see them, but what surprised me was how excited my dearest husband was at the thought of starting this new tradition. He LOVED them!

After having a special pancake breakfast the kids were allowed to go into the school room. There they found crowns with their names on them and their new grade levels on the back. The giddiness they exhibited was adorable!

On the side of their names was a little picture clue as to what the theme for their Schultute was going to be. It was fun to hear them brainstorm all about their big surprise!


Even Christian got in on the excitement with his own crown.


On the count of 3, everyone say "First Day of School Rocks!!!"


Showing off their new grade levels on their crowns.


I made the kids stand in line while I placed their Schultutes on the school table. We then made a march to the school room once more.

It was pure excitement when they saw their cones on the table!! They immediately wanted to open them to see what was inside, but they knew they had to wait. And although Christian might look a little bummed that he doesn't have his own cone, he quickly felt better after he got a little bag full of treats just for him.

My boys! That cone is almost as big as Anthony!!

Getting to open the cones was the best part of the day for the kids. I love the expression on Marco's face when he sees what's inside the Schultute! I'm glad I caught it on camera!! Surprises are the best!!












The kids finished opening their Schultutes and I let them spent part of the morning enjoying their treats. After all was put away, we hung them up on the wall where they nicely form part of the decor now.

We found a nice place on the wall to decorate with the school cones.

After all the excitement, it was time to hit the books and start a new year! It was a great day!!!

For more information on Schultuete, visit this site. Also, if you want to see what Liz did to prepare for this wonderful first day, please visit her home school's blog at Holy Family Classical Academy. She's got some fantastic ideas and suggestions on how to start the school year organized! I hope you've enjoyed the Ruiz family's first day of school as much as I have!

God Bless you Liz and thank you for sharing this exciting day with us! Know that our family and the Mama readers of this blog will place your beautiful family in prayer. Also, for the safe the arrival of your new addition!

This Week's Featured Mama Blog

Four weeks ago, we began implementing a new idea: Featured Mama Blogs! Here we will feature a Catholic Homeschooling Mama's blog that we think has fantastic ideas in many different areas: faith, family, home education, planning, healthy living, and more! For now, they will be posted/featured in no specific order. So without further adieu, here's this week's Featured Mama Blog: Ten Kids and a Dog

(click on the image above to visit this featured blog)

If there is a blog that you follow, and you'd like us to feature, please e-mail me a link: raisinglittlesaints at gmail dot com or leave a comment below. Come again next week for another neat Catholic Mama to visit. Thank you to all the "Mamas" who have sent me links to wonderful blogs. Please, be patient with me and I will post them as soon as possible...just keep them coming! Thank you and God bless you!

Pax Christi,

Gotta Share: Summer Faith Adventure

A FREE Catholic Vacation Bible School (VBS) you can do from home! You have to sign up for a specific week (you can also sign up for the Advent and Lent Adventures and they will e-mail you in time for those). For more information from their site:

Register now for the "at-home," FREE, week-long Catholic vacation Bible school: Holy Heroes Summer Faith Adventure! Choose your week to receive 5 daily emails full of short videos, activities, prayers, songs, all-new coloring pages, quizzes, and puzzles, everything you need to have a summer camp in your own home or backyard. New this year: The Story of the "Sel-fish" and the "Generous Fish." (Mom and Dad: you'll love the effect on your children!) Don't forget: register now.

Supplies you will need for this journey (you will get an e-mail the weekend before you sign up with this list but in case you want to plan ahead):

Supplies for making all the week's crafts:

1. White paper or white card-stock
2. Colorful construction paper
3. Black construction paper (one piece per child)
4. Tape
5. Markers
6. Scissors
7. Wax paper
8. Colorful tissue paper
9. Glue
10. Stapler or hole punch and string/yarn/ribbon
11. Paper cups

Ingredients for making all the week's snacks:

1. Pre-made sugar cookie dough: This is only if you do not want to make the dough from scratch for the first two days of snacks. If you choose not to make the dough yourself but instead buy pre-made dough, you will not need any powdered sugar, almond extract, cream of tartar, baking soda, or sugar.
2. Butter
3. Sugar
4. Eggs
5. Vanilla
6. Flour
7. Baking soda
8. Salt
9. Hard candy (Jolly Ranchers, Life Savers, or any colorful hard candy)
10. Powdered sugar
11. Almond extract
12. Cream of tartar
13. Yeast
14. Pretzel salt or cinnamon mixed with sugar
15. Marshmallows
16. Rice Crispies cereal
17. Animal crackers
18. Gold fish
19. M&M's
20. Oyster crackers
21. Pretzel sticks
22. Pretzel twists

I just signed us up for the first week of August! There are only two more weeks of this left so don't wait! Let me know what you thought of it, if you decide to do it! I can't wait because my kids did a VBS at our Parish (I volunteered and they got to go for free, which I am very thankful for) but the program was VERY protestant...no saints, no Mary, no Sacred Heart of Jesus...I've seen it advertised at Protestant churches around here, unfortunate that they choose this program over a Catholic one. Anyway, this is my opportunity to do it the "right way" or, I should say, "what I was expecting from the one at our parish." Enjoy!