Just Another Day In Paradise

Pentecost Whit Sunday celebration

Our new table with a red tablecloth and white plates. I love the way the red and white look in our buttercream painted sunroom.

Red velvet cake with white frosting. We forgot to put the bithday candles on the cake.

Veni Sancte Spiritus prayer

Come, Holy Ghost, send down those beams,
which sweetly flow in silent streams
from Thy bright throne above.

O come, Thou Father of the poor;
O come, Thou source of all our store,
come, fill our hearts with love.

O Thou, of comforters the best,
O Thou, the soul's delightful guest,
the pilgrim's sweet relief.

Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet
refreshment in the noonday heat;
and solace in our grief.

O blessed Light of life Thou art;
fill with Thy light the inmost heart
of those who hope in Thee.

Without Thy Godhead nothing can,
have any price or worth in man,
nothing can harmless be.

Lord, wash our sinful stains away,
refresh from heaven our barren clay,
our wounds and bruises heal.

To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow,
warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow,
our wandering feet recall.

Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord,
whose only hope is Thy sure word,
the sevenfold gifts of grace.

Grant us in life Thy grace that we,
in peace may die and ever be,
in joy before Thy face. Amen. Alleluia.

I hope you all had a blessed feast day!

In Jesus through Mary,

For all my basket loving friends

What do I do with all these baskets? I bought most of these at the thrift store and now I'd like to put them to good use. Any ideas for the four empty baskets?

 

Enjoy your baskets.

In Jesus through Mary,

Roses from a friend...

 

a friend whom I have never met in real life. But she is very dear and close to my heart. She is always there when you need prayers or encouragement. I was just talking to someone about how St. Therese sent me a rose when I was praying a novena for a very special intention and the same day I came home to find a package in my mailbox with these beautiful crocheted roses, Rosary cards and a coloring book for the children. Joann is so talented and creative and I wish I could do half the things she does with her children. Thank you so much, Joann, for such a lovely gift. I will treasure them always!

Blessings!

In Jesus through Mary,

Oh oh!

Rosary giveaway for Pentecost Sunday

Today I am giving away a red Rosary for Pentecost Sunday. The Ave beads are 6mm and the Pater beads are 8mm. This picture is actually form the previous giveaway, so it will look a little different. The crucifix is 2" long and the Our Lady of Fatima medal is 1" long. This is one of my favorite Rosaries. It's perfect to give to a child as a Confirmation gift. I will pick the winner on Pentecost Sunday and post it sometime on Monday. As always, keep our family in your prayers. Mater Purissima, ora pro nobis!

Good luck!

In Jesus through Mary,

Small Successes vol. 19

 

1) My husband and I cleaned out the garage Monday morning, filled the back of his truck with things we no longer needed and I can now park our 15 passenger van in it. All we have in there now are his tools, the kids' toys, a refrigerator, chest freezer and Christmas decorations.

2) I cleaned out the kids' bedrooms and got rids of 3 bags of clothes. It's not my fault the girls were gone all day on a retreat :) Finally, I can see the floor again!

3) I mopped the kitchen floor. I don't understand why we couldn't have gotten "dirt color" grout. I really love my mop bucket. We just need to keep up with it every few days or so. This chore will now be added to our weekly chore list.

Stop by Faith and Family Live to read more of this week's Small Successes.

In Jesus through Mary,

Our new dinner bell

  

Pay no attention to the footprints on the doorway :)

Eventually, I'm going to order this one for outside. The kids can't hear the bell when they are playing in the back yard.

Fruits of the Holy Spirit clothespins

 

I got the idea to make these "Fruits of the Holy Spirit clothespins" after seeing a set of poetic clothespins from LineDry.com. I'm not much of a creative person, so I must have been inspired by the Holy Spirit this week. I figured we can all have reminders of the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit as we hang our clothes out to dry. Can you tell I'm addicted to my clothesline? I wrote the 12 Fruits on a set of 100 clothespins, which is more than enough for the four lines we have on our new clothes line. Since we just began a novena to the Holy Sipirit for the Seven Gifts, I'm going to make some with the Seven Gifts as well. It's a wonderful reminder of our beautiful Catholic faith, which we should try live out in every aspect of our lives. Not a bad way to learn your catechism. I wonder how else I can incorporate the catechism while doing chores :)

In Jesus through Mary,

Small Successes vol. 18

 

1) As of last week, the kids and I are going to daily Mass, except on Thursdays, including 7am Mass on Mondays and Tuesdays. I usually go by myself at 7, but I think it's time to start bringing them with me even at that time. I bring the boys with me on Mondays and the girls on Tuesdays until they get used to the new routine. My husband does stay home with the baby since she sleeps with us.

2) I made it home safely after a hairy situation with my husband's truck on Tuesday. You can scroll down to the bottom of the post to read what happened.

3) I renewed our library books yesterday, one day late, but my fine is still less than ten dollars :)

Stop by Faith and Family Liveto read more of this week's Small Successes.

In Jesus through Mary,

We're adding on...

to our dining table. Right now the table measures 5 feet long and with a family of nine it's just a little too tight for all of us to sit together during meals. The table has been in the sun room facing the sliding glass doors and we had a round table where the empty space is now, right next to the kitchen island, but my very talented husband decided we needed a longer table to fit our family, so tonight we're adding another 7 feet to the table. I was hoping to do it myself, but I'm not as creative as he, so he'll take on this project and I'll be his little helper. Hopefully, we can add on to our family as well ;)

So, today I went to Lowe's and bought one 3/4" thick plywood measuring 4'X8', five 2"X4", and two 8' quarter round for the edge of the table. I also bought 2" wood screws, and liquid nails for the quarter round to attach to the side of the plywood, which will match the rest of the table. Eventually, I will sand the whole table and stain it to match the legs, but that probably will no happen until the summer. The total cost of the materials was just under $75.00. Not bad for a 12' table. Now we can fit between 16 and 18 people at a time.

Here is my darling husband putting the table together.

 

Isn't he handsome?

After 2 hours working on the table, it's finally finished. Look how nice it looks with the tablecloth. I bought 4 1/2 yards of fabric, which matches the paint in the kitchen and the curtains in the family room. Now we have to save up for 7 chairs and we will leave the benches we made a few years ago on the other side of the table. I really like the way it turned out. I'm so proud of him.

  

I should mention it wasn't easy getting the materials. There were a few obstacles yesterday, but I was determined to get this done, so I persevered and the result was worth it. I took my husband's truck to the store, but when I looked in my purse for my wallet, it wasn't in there. It fell out of my purse and was left in the van. I had to drive back home, which was 25 minutes away. Finally, I got the plywood and took it to the back to be cut down to the right size, but someone at the store had cut through the cord and they weren't able to cut it for me. Bernie really wanted me to have it cut there, because it would be more precise than cutting it at home with a skill saw. I had faith in him, so I bought the plywood and he ended up doing a great job. After we loaded up the truck, I drove away and noticed the gas, speed and temperature gagues in the truck were not working. Somehow, the truck blew a fuse. But, that's not all. When I was about 10 minutes away from home, the tailgate opened up and all the materials fell down, but luckily, I was able to pull over right away into a parking lot and our 11 year old boy lifted up the plywood while I closed the tailgate. After that happened, I was a nervous wreck all the way. We finally arrived safely and I decided to wait for my husband to do what he does best. And he did!

In Jesus through Mary,

Homeschooling at its best

Life...

 

and death :(

 

As we were sitting in our front porch enjoying the beautiful evening, the neighbor's cat went up into the tree and knocked the nest down and took the baby birds. So sad!

Happy birthday, Pope John Paul II

To celebrate we are having an ice cream social after morning lessons.

 

O Holy Trinity,
we thank you for having given to the Church
Pope John Paul II,
and for having made him shine with your fatherly tenderness,
the glory of the Cross of Christ and the splendor of the Spirit of love

He, trusting completely in your infinite mercy
and in the maternal intercession of Mary, has shown himself
in the likeness of Jesus the Good Shepherd
and has pointed out to us holiness
as the path to reach eternal communion with You.

Grant us, through his intercession,
according to your will, the grace that we implore,
in the hope that he will soon be numbered among your saints.
Amen.

Please continue to pray for the intercession of John paul II for a miraculous healing of baby Matthew.

What's going on in this picture?

 

Cast of characters: A state trooper, my husband, our two teenagers and our former priest.

Leave a comment if you want to play along.

The winner of the Rosary is...

 

 

Congratulations, Rebecca! God bless you.

Please stop by next week for a chance to win a red gemstone Rosary for the feast of Pentecost.

She's got the right idea...

 

Too bad that potato wasn't cooked first :-)

Frustrated!!!

The sun is out, there is a lovely breeze going on and we are caught up with all the laundry :-) I think I'm addicted to my clothesline. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying doing laundry. I put a new load in the washing machine early in the morning and the girls and I take the clothes outside around ten and they are usually dried by two, depending on the weather. This leaves enough daylight to dry a second load by dinner time. I haven't used the drier all week. I can't wait to see the difference it makes in the electric bill next month.

And look at what I just made. Don't you just love this cute little clothespin bag I made out of the baby's old denim skirt? I got the idea from my dear friend Molly, who had a link to this great site LineDry.com. It was so simple to make. I turned the skirt inside out and sewed the bottom of it closed. Now I need to get a small boy's button down shirt to make a second bag. One bag is not enough when the girls join me hanging the laundry.

Homemade fuffly pancakes

 

photo taken by our 6 year old little chef :-)

Fluffly Pancakes
 
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teapoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
 
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix. Add the eggs, milk and butter and mix until moistened. Enjoy!

Look who's living in our garden!

 

He really loves our strawberry patch :-)

A tour of our gardens

Herb Garden

 

Summer Garden

 

Hummingbird Garden

 

Rock Garden

 

Our Lady of Grace Garden

 

Trinity Garden

 

Another Rock Garden