Monstrance Craft Project

  We love celebrating major Feast Days with a craft project, or special recipe. It helps to reinforce the reason we are celebrating, and builds a love of our faith in the youngest of hearts.

For the Feast of Corpus Christi, we made a monstrance. We took paper doilies and painted them with gold paint pens. We cut the base of the monstrance out of gold paper. For the Blessed Sacrament, we took white craft foam and cut a circle, then used the gold paint pen to draw on a cross. We used rhinestone stickers to decorate the monstrance.

Joseph was very careful with his paint pen. He wanted his monstrance to be perfect!

The boys chose James' finished monstrance to be on display in the dining room for our Feast Day supper. He was so pleased!

We also made a "Happy Feast Day!" banner to hang in the dining room. I look forward to using it for many Feast Days to come!

Love in Christ,

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Trinity Sunday

 In honor of Trinity Sunday, we decided to make a Trinity Triangle. The boys love making crafts of treats, or doing other hands on activities that encourage their faith!

We used red for the Holy Spirit, Blue for the Father, and Yellow for the Son. On one side of the craft stick we wrote the Names in English and on the other we wrote in Latin. The boys have been learning the Signum Crucis (Sign of the Cross) in Latin, so they were quite excited to include it in their craft!

To God be the Glory!,

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Busy Summer Days!

This year Summer has brought with it a new perspective. In years past, Summer has been a time for relaxation, perhaps a vacation or two... This year, Summer is all about gardens and food preservation, and tending to our little farm. It's been busy, oh, delightfully busy! It's also been so filled with wonder, amazement, and rejoicing. When we planted these tiny seeds, we hoped for something to grow, and now, wow! Baskets overflowing with big beautiful squash, juicy tomatoes, yummy radishes...and so much more to come!

I've had lots of sewing to do as well. I wouldn't normally have planned to have sewing work during the busy season of gardening, but, with a new blessing on it's way there isn't much choice but to sew! Of course, a new blessing is always a very happy reason to have extra sewing work!

We've been trying to squeeze in some school work as well. Jacob is really enjoying the first grade. It's been so neat to see such a difference in this year's work verses earlier years. He's enjoying being able to be more independent and reading his own pages! :) I just love watching children learn.

We have had a tremendous amount of rain this season. It seems like every rain is a downpour! So many of my friends are facing droughts, and many of the farms in our surrounding area are flooding! It's unbelievable to see such deep flood waters covering the fields. So many of them look like lakes...until you notice the tops of trees out in the middle of it! In several places the flood waters are almost covering the road. It doesn't seem like it would take much more for us to lose access into Kansas City for a while, at least from the main stretch of highway. We actually received a letter from the power company saying that if waters rise too much they'll cut off power! We don't appear to be at risk for personally flooding out, although both of our gravel roads could easily flood. I suppose it's a complicated balance, too little rain and the crops can't thrive, too much rain and you have a flood!

One afternoon, Jacob and I sat watching an intense but brief Summer storm. We watched the rain moving towards us until it was actually over us. It was so neat to be able to see it coming! Once the rain stopped, this beautiful rainbow appeared behind the silo. I love how even today, the rainbow is such a symbol of God's promises to us.

Well, I should probably get back to being busy! I have sweet corn from a local farm that I plan to make creamed corn for the freezer with. I also still have an overflowing basket of squash and zucchini to put up, with lots more that will be ready in the next few days. It's busy busy, but busy is good!

With Love,

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When Mommy is my School Teacher

When Mommy is my school teacher,
The school room's full of bliss,
Her gentle words encourage me,
She rewards me with a kiss.

When Mommy is my school teacher,
The school room's full of love,
She teaches me important things,
Great things from Heaven above.

When Mommy is my school teacher,
there's no need to despair,
Her focus is on eternity,
So she guides me with tender care.

Love in Christ,

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Our Week in Review

This week has been busy and full of challenges. We have been doing a great deal of thinking and praying, trying to discern what was best for our family. You see, Jacob was right on the line for the age for starting school at the church school, and we have been trying to decide whether or not to start him in first grade this year. After a great deal of praying, we felt God was impressing on our hearts to homeschool him again this year. It was a very difficult decision because I know there was a part of him that wanted to go to the church school. But after talking with him about our decision, he is actually excited to continue homeschooling.

"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deuteronomy 6:7

Anyway, here is a summary of the rest of our weekly happenings. :)

Mother dear made corn filled heating pads for each of us. They are nice and warm in our beds on cold Winter nights!

Baby dear, so soft and sweet. He's learning and growing, it's really so neat! Baby dear likes to sing us a song, "Dis da da day! Dis da da day!" (This is the day! This is the day! That the Lord hath made!) We love to hear his cheery little song, we know he will soon be big, it won't be long!

"Father, we thank Thee, for the bountiful food You provide for us!" We were blessed with 12 pounds of delicious mozzarella cheese! Today we made grilled cheese sandwiches and the combination of fresh cheese and homemade bread was beyond delicious! I think I will shred some of the cheese and store it in freezer bags to have on hand for homemade pizza.

I absolutely love rocking my baby (toddler) to sleep. I love the weight against me as he cuddles in, the way he smiles when I wrap a blanket around him, the way he looks up at me right before putting his thumb in his mouth and the contented little snore as he drifts off. I love rocking my baby.

Big brother works on his school work. A diligent scholar is a blessing to his parents! We have been finishing up our kindergarten school work in preparation for starting our first grade books. So exciting! Our next year's curriculum has been ordered. Joshua and Joseph are also looking forward to getting their preschool books.

In His Precious Name,

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Zoo Day, Hurray!

We took a trip to the zoo with our co-op friends, and we had such a fun time! The boys were most excited to see the new polar bear exhibit, especially since Joshua LOVES polar bears!

Joshua loved seeing Nakita! He listened intently as Miss D told him all about how he is 3 years old, just like Joshua! But Nakita weighs around 700lbs! Wow!

There was a mold of a polar bear paw print, and Joshua loved comparing his paw size to it! My little bear's paw is much smaller than a polar bear's!


We rode the carousel and then took a tram ride over to "Africa". We had snack time before heading out to see more animals.

This was the funniest looking pig I have ever seen! I wish I could have gotten a better picture of his silly ears!

We always have so much fun with our co-op friends. It is so much fun to learn and grow together.

With Love,

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Field Trip to Alldredge Orchard

Our homeschool co-op took a field trip to a local farm/orchard and it was a glorious time! The weather could not have been more beautiful!

Our day began with a lesson on honey bees, and how their hard work helps bring us delicious apples. They even had a honeycomb (inside of glass), so the children could see up close exactly what the bees are doing! The children got to try on a beekeepers hat! What fun!

After the bee lesson, they fed the pony and goats. Little Jamie was fascinated with the goats. Joshua loved feeding the pony.

Next we played with baby kittens. They were so sweet and the children all loved cuddling them!


And what would a Fall trip to a farm be without picking pumpkins?! Joseph was so excited to get his very own pumpkin! Jacob, of course, was one of the last children to finish picking a pumpkin because he had to find the exact perfect one...Joshua was too funny. All of the other children picked big ones, but he chose the tiniest little pumpkin. I couldn't figure out why until he later explained that all the big pumpkins were wet, but the tiny baby pumpkin was not wet or dirty, and he liked that.

After pumpkin picking, the children got out their rambunctious energy by climbing all over the hay bales. There was even a hay tunnel to explore!

The children were so excited for the hay ride! Well...most of them anyway. Joseph was a little afraid and decided he didn't want to go. So, I stayed back with my two little ones, while everyone else went on the hay ride. Apparently Jacob was buried in hay. Oh, what fun!


The grand finale of our field trip was getting to feed the chickens. The children were especially joyful over this part, because they have really missed having chickens.

What a wonderful day!

Through God's Abundant Blessings,
(and days like today those blessings are evermore apparent!)

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