If you are not familiar with this image and the story surrounding its origin, I encourage you to read here, where it explains how the Mother of God first appeared to a poor farmer named Juan Diego on December 9, 1531 in Mexico. (If you click on the links above, they will take you to a summary for younger children.  I am sharing this link to share with my own children, but it also does a nice job of summarizing Juan Diego's life changing experience in a simple and short way.) 

The image above was what appeared on Juan Diego's tilma when the bouquet of roses cascaded down from Juan Diego's cloak as he was showing others who were skeptical about his story.

Today's date...12.12.2012...is neat as we celebrate our Mother so I thought I would take a picture of my children on 12.12.12 at 12:12 PM (I even tried to take the picture at 12 seconds after 12:12 PM :) ).  So here they are as they hold a sign and point to the 12:12 time on the oven clock :)


With so many amazing things about this day and so much to celebrate, I think it's time to announce something that our family is excited about....But, before I do here's a little hint about our announcement as it relates to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Did you know that in the article The Amazing Truth of Our Lady of Guadalupe "the Image of Our Lady is actually an Aztec Pictograph which was read and understood quickly by the Aztec Indians?"
The #6 fact about the image states that Mary, Our Mother, wears "THE BLACK BELT - She was with child for she wore the Aztec Maternity Belt."

So the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows our Blessed Mother pregnant with our Savior, Jesus.

So with this little known fact I thought today would be a great day to announce that I too am pregnant with a new little life in my womb!!!! Yep, A Slice of Smith Life, is growing and we are so excited for August 2013 to be here!   My children are super excited to meet their new brother/sister and this is the shirt my youngest, who is 5, wore when we announced to family that we are expecting again :)  "I'm the BIG sister" shirt is the same t-shirt my oldest wore when we announced that I was pregnant with our 3rd child at my son's second Sesame Street birthday party.
So this year we are celebrating the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe for so many special reasons.

A few years ago our family went to Mass to celebrate this feast day at a church named "Our Lady of Guadalupe".
The altar was filled with hundreds and hundreds of roses and was so beautiful.  When our Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego at the hill of Tepeyac, there was a field of roses where roses did not bloom before or during the season of winter when roses do not bloom naturally.  Hence, when people celebrate this feast day, many decorate their homes and churches with roses.


After Mass last year we ate at a Mexican restaurant and we went last night to a Mexican restaurant with 6 adults and 13 children!  (3 families total).  I brought a candle with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on it and burned it during our dinner to help celebrate such a special outing with family and friends.

We enjoy reading The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie de Paola each year because Juan Diego's story about how he was blessed by Mary's presence is too miraculous not to share with my children.  When I read this book, I am always so impressed by the great faith and persistence Juan Diego had even when others doubted his story and experience. 

We also watch the CCC video, Juan Diego-Our Lady of Guadalupe, sometime between St. Juan Diego's feast on December 9 and Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast day on December 12.  For some fun ideas to celebrate St. Juan Diego and Our Lady's feast day go HERE to Lacy's blog post at Catholic Icing.


The image from Juan Diego's tilma is on display in Mexico and has not deteriorated since the 1500s when the image first appeared.  There are many other miraculous facts about this image. You can also read "Our Lady of Guadalupe ‘completely beyond' scientific explanation, says researcher", which is an article that explains how researchers to this day say "there is no scientific explanation for the 478years of high quality-preservation of the Tilma or for the miracles that have occurred to ensure its preservation. "

This year especially, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has a special meaning and it will be by God's grace and Our Lady's prayers that I will be able to take one day at a time and welcome another beautiful life into our hearts and home in 2013!