Friday, March 14, 2014
7 Quick Takes: March 14
Today is my younger sister's 36th birthday! This picture of us was taken in 2010 at Christmas time. I'm on the left, my little sis is on the right. I don't think we look anything alike. But, really we are real sisters with the same Papa and Momma :) My sister is due TOMORROW, March 15, with her first baby!!!!! We are so excited! She doesn't know if she will giving me a niece or a nephew, but that's OK, I love surprises and I never found out with my 5 till their birth! Love you sis! Happy Birthday you beautiful (new) Momma!
I'm getting more excited about the upcoming 12th Annual Ignited By Truth Catholic Conference
in Raleigh, NC on March 28-29, 2014. I only live a few hours away from
Raleigh, NC so I am trying to make plans to attend to listen to
Jennifer at Conversion Diary speak...(and meeting her in person and snapping a picture with
her would be exciting...and make for a great blog post! ;-) ) Maybe she will have copies of her new book for sale at the conference! I just found out that Heather from Upside Down Homeschooling will be attending the conference! We are making plans to meet up! I always love meeting bloggers in real life!
I'm just now trying to learn all about Google +. I have alot to learn on this fairly new (well, new to me) social media outlet! I'm slowly learning how to tie Google + in with my blog, gain "followers", and interact with others through it. If you use Google +, leave a comment below with some tips for me! Please! I did figure out how to make my comments below synch with Google +, whatever that means? :)
I have enjoyed visiting posts that have linked up to the
"Keep Love in Lent" Blog Link-Up hosted by Catholic Bloggers Network with
Monica, Chris, Tina, and myself! The link-up was an opportunity
to share Lenten ideas, posts, and traditions. We had 75 link-ups filled with so many great posts! It's also a way to learn how other families keep love in
Lent! :) Details HERE!
I'm still thinking/praying/pondering about homeschooling High School next year! I started a Homeschooling High School Pinterest board to gather ideas and curriculum. My
oldest will be entering 9th grade next year and I've homeschooled her
since Kindergarten. The good news is my daughter says she wants to be
homeschooled. The flip side of that is my apprehensions, preparations,
and anxieties to make her high school years spiritually, academically,
and socially successful! Do any of my readers homeschool high school?
If so, what tips/advice do you have for me? Please comment. :)
Read lots more 7 Quick Takes at Conversion Diary HERE.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
"Couch Catechism" Family Devotions
This post contains affiliate links.
Lately I've been thinking about ALL the things I should be teaching/doing/planning in our Sacred Heart Academy Homeschool , but then I asked myself, "What are things in our homeschool day that seem to be working that we should continue this year and in the future?"
"Couch Catechism" family devotion time has been a consistent blessing for a few years now and something I look forward to each morning with my children before we start our homeschool day. I thought I would share what's been working for us in hopes to give you ideas that may work for your family.
These special times with my children begin on our family room couch and for about 10 minutes we do the following together:
* Each person has a turn to offer up daily prayer intentions for family and friends.
* We recite the Morning Offering together.
* I read the daily devotion from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young that I actually won on Melissa's blog, Joys of Home Educating, awhile ago. Each devotion is written as if Jesus was speaking to us and I'm always amazed that each devotion speaks to my own heart and what I need to hear. I hope my children can say the same.
* At the end of each devotion in Jesus Calling is a list of a few Scripture verses that goes along with what Jesus is calling us to do for that day. I pick a verse from the list and my children take turns looking in the Bible for the verse and reading it out loud to their siblings and me.
* Next, I read the Saint for the day from Saints for Young Readers for Every Day, Vol. 1 (Jan.-June) or Vol. 2 (July-Dec.). I can't say enough about these books! They are my favorite books to learn about the Saints because the stories are short and can be easily understood by children. My children love when I ask them if they think the Saint is a boy or girl after I read the Saint's name for the day. Some of them are obviously boy/girl names, while others are a bit tricky to figure out. I also throw in a little math if there is a birth date and death date given for the Saint. After I read about the Saint's life, I ask my children to calculate how old the Saint was when he/she died. They use mental math to get the answer. We are all amazed by how young and old some Saints were when they left their earthly home!
* Finally, I read a card from the Friendly Defenders Catholic Flash Cards, Set One or Set Two. The front side has a picture of a child asking a particular question about the Catholic faith while the backside of each card has another child answering the question with an explanation and scripture verse. These cards have been a great springboard for many faith discussions that I have had with my children which are moments I savor with my children!
So that is a brief summary of our "Couch Catechism" Family Devotion Time that we do each morning to start our day off.
If you have
daily devotions solo or with your family, what resources/prayers do you
use? Please comment below as I would love to hear what you are doing
and get new ideas!
Lent 2014 is well under way and our Lenten traditions are in place, as well as new traditions like Lenten Love Links. Adding more prayer time into my day is always something I strive for with and without my children, especially during Lent, so I hope by sharing this post it will give you some ideas and resources that you may want to implement in this holy season of Lent and year round!
PS: Today is Pope Francis' 1 year anniversary as Pope! Wow! How time flies! HERE is the post I wrote last year about our family's experience as we watched this historical and happy event unfold!
May you have a blessed and fruitful Lent!
I linked this post to Hearts for Home Blog Hop
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Lenten Love Links
My Lenten Love Links idea all started with my 6 year old asking me a few days ago, "When is Easter Mom?" and then I came across the 40 Acts of Lenten Love for Children from Homeschool with Love that I pinned to my Lent Pinterest board. I loved the ideas on how children (and adults) can show love in Lent for the 40 days (the Lent "count" does not include Sundays) in Lent and I wanted a way for my children to count down until Easter Sunday. So I combined the two ideas into one.
I wanted to add a few more Lenten traditions to the ones we already have in our family and I think this will be a fun way to do something meaningful each day in Lent and count down to Easter Sunday too!
I'm linking this post to "Keep Love in Lent Link Up"
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
King Cake for Fat Tuesday
Eating a king cake is a traditional treat just before the Lenten season begins and today I was determined to make my first king cake from scratch. Between sleepness nights with a sick baby, wiping my baby's runny nose from her bad cold/cough and my older children "tempting" me by telling me that we could just buy a king cake at the grocery store down the road, I was able to ignore all the reasons why making one was a crazy idea :) Where there's a will, there's a way!
Chris over at Campfires and Cleats on her post HERE mentioned this king cake recipe so I printed it out and gave it a try. Bonnie's king cake recipe called for a cream cheese filling, but I just made my filling by spreading melted butter and cinnamon and sugar on the dough.
We all enjoyed the delicious treat before fasting tomorrow on Ash Wednesday and every Friday in Lent.
My son found Baby Jesus for the second time in 3 years :) He was excited! His sisters, not so much since they always want to find the Baby Jesus before him! :)
My family was all smiles feasting before the fast!
I linked this post to 40 Days of Seeking Him Link-up
May you have a blessed Lent!
Friday, February 28, 2014
Ash Wednesday, Lenten Traditions, and Link-Up All in 7 Quick Takes
Welcome Family and Friends!
I’m co-hosting and participating in the annual Catholic
Bloggers Network, Keep LOVE in
LENT Blog Link-Up 2014! We'll be
sharing tips, stories and experiences that will help us focus on Lenten
sacrifices, prayer and good deeds and
how to carry them out with LOVE instead
of a GRUMBLE.
Are you a
Christian blogger who'd like to share Lenten ideas?
You're
welcome to join in! Please
scroll to the linky at the bottom
of my post and visit the other hostesses' too so
that you can join in if you'd like!
I'm sharing some of our family's Lenten memories, traditions, and resources in this 7 Quick Takes hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary...
A Day of Repentance:
The
distribution of ashes reminds us of our own mortality and calls us to
repentance. In the early Church, Ash Wednesday was the day on which
those who had sinned, and who wished to be readmitted to the Church,
would begin their public penance. The ashes that we receive are a
reminder of our own sinfulness, and many Catholics leave them on their foreheads all day as a sign of humility.
In this article, Ash Wednesday Our Shifting Understanding of Lent, it states the following:
When we receive ashes on our foreheads, we remember who we are. We remember that we are creatures of the earth ("Remember that you are dust"). We remember that we are mortal beings ("and to dust you will return"). We remember that we are baptized. We remember that we are people on a journey of conversion ("Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"). We remember that we are members of the body of Christ (and that smudge on our foreheads will proclaim that identity to others, too).
Here is a great 2 minute video about Ash Wednesday:
Our family will attend an Ash Wednesday Mass to help us remember that, like the Advent season, Lent is also a time of preparation and a call to conversion. It's funny to have people tell me that I have "dirt" on my forehead after we attend Ash Wednesday Mass. When this is said to me, it gives me a great opportunity to share my faith.
In this article, Ash Wednesday Our Shifting Understanding of Lent, it states the following:
When we receive ashes on our foreheads, we remember who we are. We remember that we are creatures of the earth ("Remember that you are dust"). We remember that we are mortal beings ("and to dust you will return"). We remember that we are baptized. We remember that we are people on a journey of conversion ("Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"). We remember that we are members of the body of Christ (and that smudge on our foreheads will proclaim that identity to others, too).
Here is a great 2 minute video about Ash Wednesday:
Our family will attend an Ash Wednesday Mass to help us remember that, like the Advent season, Lent is also a time of preparation and a call to conversion. It's funny to have people tell me that I have "dirt" on my forehead after we attend Ash Wednesday Mass. When this is said to me, it gives me a great opportunity to share my faith.
Salt Dough Crown of Thorns
Next week we will be making our annual crown of thorns out of salt dough and you can find the link at Catholics United for the Faith (CUF). Click HERE to find recipe and other Lenten resources from CUF.
Here is a picture I took last year while my kid's hands mixed the salt dough ingredients
Each time our children and my husband and I make little or big sacrifices during Lent, we will pull out a toothpick to remove Jesus' thorns from his crown.
Then just before Easter, our children will paint the thorn-less crown gold and glue jewels on the crown to represent that Jesus our King has risen! The decorated crown looks lovely on the Easter table. Here is a picture of a crown we did a few years ago.
Bean Jar
Speaking of sacrifices,
another Lenten tradition our family does is the "bean jar". We have a
bowl filled with dried kidney beans, then when a family member makes a
sacrifice, they put a bean in the jar. Then on Easter morning the
children will find that the beans that have accumulated in the jar
during Lent will be changed into colorful and yummy jelly beans! I told the kids that on Ash Wednesday and every Friday in Lent they
could get a "2 for 1" deal on their sacrifices, meaning if they do
something on Fridays they can pull a toothpick and put a bean in the jar
vs. choosing one or the other like on the other Lenten days. :-)
Holy Heroes-Lenten Adventure
I
got the bean jar idea from Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure a few years ago and
we decided to try it in our home during Lent. Our family loves Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure
(and Advent Adventure) and you can register your email for free to
receive weekly links all about Lent. I have learned so much along with
my children!
Family Devotional Book
Throughout Lent our family will be reading once again, A Family Journey with Jesus through Lent by Angela M. Burrin published by The Word Among Us.
We really enjoy this book as it is written to promote family prayer and
the characters in each story for each day of Lent are children and
families that live in Jesus' time. Then after each story that is based
on scripture there is a "Jesus, Speak to Me" section where it is written
as if Jesus is speaking to us. This is a wonderful book that has been
great to read as a family each day during Lent!
Or we might try to read Amon's Adventure: A Family Story for Easter. We have really enjoyed the Advent versions of these family read alouds!
Speaking of great books to read during Lent, Patty over at Reasons for Chocolate has this great post where she lists all the wonderful books her children will be reading during Lent.
Stations of the Cross
Many
years ago, when my older two children were little I had them color
printable stations of the cross. I then glued them onto construction
paper and each Lent we tape them up in order on our dining room wall.
Each Friday as a family we pray through the stations of the cross with
these.
Several years ago, I found a simple presentation of the Stations of the Cross for kids 10 and under and this is what we use to say the stations during Lent. It was in The Word Among Us Lenten Family Edition, Lent 2006 and HERE is a link to part of the article if you would like to review it. Only subscribers to The Word Among Us can view this kid's version of Stations of the Cross in its entirety, however.
We have also made Stations of the Cross bags and pretzels for Lent in the past. I hope to read the book Walter the Baker by Eric Carle again to go along with our pretzel making like in year's past!
Meatless Meals
In the article I learned something new when it stated, "The word Lent itself is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words lencten, meaning "Spring," and lenctentid, which literally means not only "Springtide" but also was the word for "March," the month in which the majority of Lent falls."
I'm always on the look out for meatless dishes during Lent and this Seafood Spaghetti dish is easy and delicious. You can find the recipe at my blog post HERE. I really like Jen's Roundup of Lenten Resources post HERE that includes lots of links to meatless meal ideas. I hope to try some new dishes from her list. Thanks Jen!
I linked up my Seafood Spaghetti recipe at Beth Anne Best's 2014 Lenten Meal Plan Link-Up!
Here's what we ask of those joining the Keep Love in Lent Link-Up:
1. Link your post right here between Monday, March 3 and Monday, March 10
2. Copy and paste the hostesses' blog names/links to the bottom of your post so that your readers, who may also blog, can join in the fun and link up.
Monica at Equipping Catholic Families
Equipping Catholic Families on Facebook
Chris at Campfires and Cleats
Campfires and Cleats on Facebook
Tina at Truly Rich Mom
Truly Rich Mom on Facebook
Tracy at A Slice of Smith Life
A Slice of Smith Life on Facebook
4. Mandatory Follow Frenzy~
Visit,
enjoy, be inspired by and comment on the blogs in your "group!" The Keep
Love in Lent Link-Up is not a link and run event...sorry, folks! A
requirement of participation is our follow frenzy.
Here's how it works:
* Once the
linky closes on 3/10/14, the admins of the Keep Love linky will email
ALL who've linked. We will provide you with info regarding the "group"
to which you are "assigned."
* You are
asked to visit the blogs in your group ( there will be approx 10-12 )
and leave meaningful comments within a given time frame. In this way,
traffic to all blogs is increased and we all benefit from each others' work!
~ And that's IT for the participation guidelines.~
May you have a blessed and Holy Lent!
I also linked this post to Convert Journal, New Evangelists Monthly-March 2014
I also linked this post to Convert Journal, New Evangelists Monthly-March 2014
Linky opens March 3rd~~
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Hello! Thank you for your Visit!
I'm Tracy. I love my faith, family and on most days, homeschooling my 5 blessings. When I'm not busy baking cakes for my family or making memories in real life or dreaming I had a housekeeper or professional chef, I enjoy documenting a slice of Smith life in blog land.
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