Adopt a Cardinal

Adopt a Cardinal in Prayer and Sacrifice during time of prayer prior to, during and for 3 days after the conclave HERE.  These are chosen for you so that all Cardinals are included in this time of prayer  Our family adopted in groups:
Aragorn & Julie - 

Name:	Geraldo Majella Agnelo
Country:	Brazil
Day of birth:	1933-10-19
Cardinal since:	2001-2-21
Function:	Archbishop emeritus of São Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

Sam & Merry -

Name:	Santos Abril y Castelló
Country:	Spain
Day of birth:	1935-9-21
Cardinal since:	2012-2-18
Function:	Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

Galadriel & Marigold -

Name:	Ivan Dias
Country:	India
Day of birth:	1936-4-14
Cardinal since:	2001-2-21
Function:	Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and Grand Chancellor emeritus of the Pontifical Urbaniana University

Eowyn & Poppy - 

Name:	João Braz de Aviz
Country:	Brazil
Day of birth:	1947-4-24
Cardinal since:	2012-2-18
Function:	Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life

Frodo, Pippin & Bilbo - 

Name:	Audrys Juozas Bačkis
Country:	Lithuania
Day of birth:	1937-2-1
Cardinal since:	2001-2-21
Function:	Archbishop of Vilnius, Lithuania

Rosie & Eleanor - 

Name:	Angelo Bagnasco
Country:	Italy
Day of birth:	1943-1-14
Cardinal since:	2007-11-24
Function:	Archbishop of Genoa, Italy

It is very odd to think that at this moment in time, the Holy Father has officially resigned (1pm CST, 8pm Italy) and we are without our beloved Pope.

Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of Thy Faithful (Cardinals)....  (and the unfaithful ones).

Papal Lapbook

If you are into Lapbooking... here is an excellent Lapbook Unit Study on the Papacy.  Jessica at Shower of Roses also has a number of other resources to make this time in the Catholic Church interesting, informative, exciting and enjoyable for children.... and adults who are still young at heart!

Catholic Icing also has some fun Papal activities for children HERE.

How to Elect a Pope

For those who haven't seen this neat interactive tutorial in how to elect a Pope, it's simple, informative and enjoyable.

From Our Lady

I have been reading from The Mystical City of God for Lent and wanted to share a quote that I think we really need to imbibe or there will be many souls that won't be making it into the Eternal Reward of Heaven.

For in view of the patience and meekness of my Most Holy Son and my own example, the wicked and all mortals shall be covered with unutterable confusion because they have not pardoned each other with fraternal charity.  The sins of hate and vengeance shall be punished with greater severity than other sins on the judgement day; and in this life these vices will soonest drive away the infinite mercy of God and cause eternal punishment of men, unless they amend in sorrow.
~ Instruction of Our Blessed Mother to Mary Agreda
The Mystical City of God

Let us pray this Lent to be filled with the Divine Love of God, that we may see others as God does, that we may do unto others... so that we do unto Christ, for how we treat others is truly how we treat Christ.  If we were to seek our joy in the thorns we are so often crowned with, we would find true joy and true happiness in this world.

Happy Birthday Eleanor

 Happy 10th Birthday Eleanor!  (Now, I don't know how she got to be TEN!)

 Since there were funeral arrangements for the family to make at the funeral home today, Eleanor ended up with some of the cousins over for the afternoon.  Birthday parties are rare here.  Just not something I want to do every month of the year minus October and November!!  So this year she got the royal treatment with Pizzas and Cake and Cousins.  Cake was celebrated also with Grandma and some of the Aunts and Uncles as well :)

 They spent a good portion of the afternoon sledding and snowmobiling in the snow.

 The end of the day was in building a rocket...

 which actually turned out to be a ... something ... for measuring the weight that a popsicle bridge can hold.... or something.  (it is obvious that we've got 2 very different gene pools going on in this house?)

Other pics on the camera....

 Turkeys in the back yard.

 Marigold was walking around with this bit of board shooting... orcs... I suppose!

 I came home from somewhere-or-other last week to find the yard a-clutter with various animals... frozen animals... not edible frozen animals.  But I thought they were awfully cute.

 Ice cubes are.....

 cold.

 We did slightly celebrate Valentine's Day. Frodo made me a pumpkin bread heart.  Well, what he actually said was, "I made this heart for myself but then I thought of you." How sweet to be right up there with what one thinks of himself :)  We also had heart-shaped pasta with dinner and Aragorn brought home *the* most yummy, non-lenten pastries I've ever had.  Since he bought them at the PDQ bakery (that's our idea of romance) I thought it might be a good idea to fill up the car and get some more!!

It might be noted that we think that Bilbo has a strong resemblance to his grandpa when he was a boy. It will be interesting to see what grandpa's siblings say when they see him on Thursday.

Eternal Rest

Updated

Eternal Rest grant unto him, O Lord and let Perpetual Light shine upon him, may he rest in Peace.
Pop (Don), my husband's father, passed away at 3:25 during the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

For the locals:

Visitation at Hooverson's Funeral Home: 4-7pm on Wednesday, February 20, Rosary will begin at 6pm followed by a traditional wake ceremony

Traditional High Requiem Mass at St. Norbert's Catholic Church: 11am on Thursday, February 21 followed by the traditional burial ceremony at the St. Norbert's cemetery

*** If anyone will be staying for the meal following the burial please let me know how many in your family would be coming. We need to get numbers to the parish preferably tomorrow (Monday February 18).

Prayers for a Happy Death

Please pray for a happy death for Pop (Don).  

Ash Wednesday

Meménto, homo, quia pulvis es, et in púlverem revertéris

Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.

Very soon the end of your life will be at hand: consider, therefore, the state of your soul. Today a man is here; tomorrow he is gone.(I Machabees 2:63) And when he is out of sight, he is soon out of mind. Oh, how dull and hard is the heart of man, which thinks only of the present, and does not provide against the future! You should order your every deed and thought, as though today were the day of your death. Had you a good conscience, death would hold no terrors for you; (Luke 12:37) even so, it were better to avoid sin than to escape death. (Wisdom 4:16) If you are not ready to die today, will tomorrow find you better prepared? (Matthew 24:44) Tomorrow is uncertain; and how can you be sure of tomorrow? Of what use is a long life, if we amend so little? Alas, a long life often adds to our sins rather than to our virtue! 

Thomas a Kempis - The Imitation of Christ

Pope Benedict XVI Resigning

Ok, there are few things that shock me, but today I was shocked.  Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI is resigning as of February 28th due to health issues.  This not only shocked me but brought tears to my eyes.... which might just turn to sobs!  He brought us so far in the freedom to offer the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments freely to which I am profoundly grateful and we love him so very much!  We must pray very diligently and offer many sacrifices to the Holy Spirit for our next Holy Father.  I would imagine the evil one will be working overtime these next couple weeks.

Vatican Radio:  Pope's full text HERE

NY Times Article HERE

Woodpecker Pip

 Marigold has now taken to getting the camera and bringing it to us and indicating "Cheese"  of course she only says food-group words that have to do with sugar like "Cupcake", "Candy" and "Cookie".

 She's my first one who haunts people outside the bathroom door wiggling her fingers underneath.  "Don't forget about ME!"

 Being kissed by Pippin is like being kissed by a woodpecker.

Most people put these faces on a tree, but the one Aragorn got for his birthday, I cannot remember when, finally has a home... on one of our beams.

Quinquagesima Sunday

And Jesus said to him: Receive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole.   And immediately he saw and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. 

Lent is pretty well right upon us.  Ash Wednesday starts this Wednesday so I hope everyone's plan of action is ready and in place.  Lent is just such a great time to curb our selfish selves.  Somehow towering the word Lent over my head helps me to keep on-track.   Since we are preparing for Confirmation, that is our main order of family spiritual reading and extra study, until March 19th (Confirmation Day!) when we will switch over to studying and preparing for Holy Week and all the lovely extra Masses that week.  We'll also have a sacrifice jar, so each day there will be some extra sacrifice to do.  We don't eat sweets during Lent.  And there are a few other things, that each one of us needs to work on.  I try to start simple and then add on each week, rather than starting huge and flopping royally... and quitting.  I've decided to read about the Passion from The City of God for my lenten reflection with a secondary reading from Dom Gueranger's Liturgical Year on Lent.  Since I got in all of one walk for Advent I'm going to try to get to that again.  I marvel that getting out for a walk is such a tedious thing to get to... when it is something I love to do.... and definitely need the fresh air and sunshine (when there is some).  Of course it is much easier for me to do when it is light in the evening!  But I probably need the breather at the noon hour more than anything! :)

This is the Dumb Ox Lenten Calendar at a glance which I mentioned in a previous post.

This little crown of thorns doubled with Mrs. Grossman's flower sticker minis is a great little sacrifice chart for younger children. (or older ones! :)  For my littlest 3 they will get a little flower for eating all their food (rather than sneaking into the pantry - which now has a lock bolt on it), behaving during Mass and Rosary.... Marigold will get an extra for pottying on the potty chair (haha).  By Easter hopefully they will have a crown of flowers for Jesus rather than the crown of thorns.

Continued Prayers Please

I ask you to please continue to pray for Pop (Don) who continues to suffer with his cancer.  We had a long, meaningful and prayerful morning today thinking this was his last day, when, once again he rallied and regained some strength.

The Hobbit Download and DVD Release

It might be noted on your calendar that The Hobbit will be available for download on March 12th and for DVD and Blu-Ray on March 19th.  Just sayin'.

Behavioral Health Assessments

Here's Bill 374 to surely violate our freedoms as homeschoolers.


AN ACT REQUIRING BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ASSESSMENTS FOR CHILDREN.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
That section 10-206 of the general statutes be amended to require (1) each pupil enrolled in public school at grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 and each home-schooled child at ages 12, 14 and 17 to have a confidential behavioral health assessment, the results of which shall be disclosed only to the child's parent or guardian, and (2) each health care provider performing a child's behavioral health assessment to complete the appropriate form supplied by the State Board of Education verifying that the child has received the assessment.
Statement of Purpose:
To provide behavioral health assessments to children.



Here's an article to go along with the Bill.  I just wonder who these people are who think they know how to assess what is the proper behavior for children to have. I'm sure they aren't well-seasoned mothers and fathers with high standards of morality.  Of course "proper behavior" tends to be "proper socialization"  which tends to generally violate the 6th and 9th Commandments.  We've been through the social worker routine and the fine Social Worker actually said to me (I had just had my 10th baby), "I only have one child and I can't handle him, how can YOU handle 10?"  Methinks if I had said, "Grace" it would have made her guess we had a maid akin to Mary Poppins.

Heaven help us.... and especially our children!

Thank You Lady M

I just wanted to put out a great big huge thank you to my dear friend Lady M.  She designed my banner above and I really think it is the the most charming one I've ever seen.  But I wanted to be sure everyone knew that I am not capable of such things, that it is her amazing capability in web-design.  I don't even know what the RSS gizmo to the right is about but she did tell me that there are 58 mysterious people who have my blog on a google feed.  I don't know what that is either for that matter except by way of some vague notion. I'm a good old fashioned "favorites" person.

Anyway, Lady M also does web design HERE....(see also the ad to the right)  and of course there is her LOVELY modest dress shop that "The Seamstress" (another mutual friend) sews for HERE (see ad to the right).  I was unbelievably blessed, with great surprise, when I won a free dress from JMJ Modest Dress Shop! It's in the works as I type (well.... maybe not quite this early in the day) for Eleanor's Confirmation!

Please offer a little prayer... on my behalf :)... for Lady M... if you please!! She's one of the most amazing mothers I've ever met. Proof is in the lovely pudding... her children.

Spiritual Bouquet for Our Bishop

For those of you Prayer Warriors out there, Ben is putting together another Spiritual Bouquet for the Bishop of our Diocese.  Anyone who would like to contribute in a prayerful fashion can fill out his handy form on his blog HERE.  It's the "special alert" at the top of the page :)

Just Clowning Around Mostly

 Sr. Marigold

 Lots of snow, sledding and snowmobiling.... but not quite enough to keep Pippin from acting like a jack-in-the-box.

 Some of us went to see The Little Prince at the local theater.

 Pippin and Humpty Alexander Dumpty.

 Merry with the same said egg on a bench.

 Where's your nose?

 Marigold says another word "cupcake"... she also says "Jesus" and "Mommy", "Maria" and "Daddy".  It's nice that we all rank up there with cupcakes

 Serious need of attention... she had it... of course.

 Marigold's trail.

Sam and Frodo have been spending a good amount of time working on popsicle stick bridges for the up-coming competition.  The lightest weigh bridge that supports 200 lbs wins.