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A few years back our kids made personal prayer books. I bought small scrapbooks and patterned paper to fit in each page. I also saved lots of religious and nature pictures for several months. The pictures came from several sources, like religious mail, magazines, Christmas and birthday cards, as well as, gift wrap and any other things that I found, which were on their way to the trash. I typed up lots of nice prayers and printed them off. Each of the kids received a copy of all the prayers. Then they chose pictures to glue on the page with it. They had lots of fun making the books and it made prayer time more personal and easier to focus on. Here are some of the prayers I had typed up: _____________ Morning Prayer God, give me eyes that I may see, The treasures you have given me. And give me ears that I may hear, The words of faith that keep you near. Lord, give me strength when I am week, And may Thy goals be those I seek. Grant me courage when I’m alone, And when I face the great unknown. Send me a friend when I’m in need, And let me do a noble deed. That others, too, may somehow see, The One who lives and works though me. ~Clay Harrison ____________ Night Prayer Dear God, I thank you for this day, For all your gifts, for work and play. Forgive the things that I did wrong And make my heart grow pure and strong. Show all the world your love and light and let me rest in peace tonight. Amen ___________ Family Prayer God made us a family We need one another We love one another We forgive one another We work together We play together We worship together Together we use God’s Word Together we grow in Christ Together we love all men Together we serve our God Together we hope for Heaven These are our hopes and ideals Help us to attain them O God. Amen __________ Memorare Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen. _______________ Prayer To Your Guardian Angel Angel of God, my guardian dear, To whom God’s love commits me here, Ever this day, be at my side, To light and guard, Rule and guide. Amen. ___________ The Morning Offering O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen. ____________ Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi Lord, make me a channel of thy peace, that where there is hatred, I may bring love; that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; that where there is discord, I may bring harmony; that where there is error, I may bring truth; that where there is doubt, I may bring faith; that where there is despair, I may bring hope; that where there are shadows, I may bring light; that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted; to understand, than to be understood; to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. ___________ Children’s Prayer To Mary Dear Mother of Jesus, look down upon me As I say my prayers slowly at my mother’s knee. I love thee, O Lady and please willest thou bring All little children To Jesus our King. _______________ These are only a few of the prayers I typed and added to the books. For more prayers go to: http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/index.htm

We started to say a family Rosary together about 5 years ago. It amazed me how much it seemed to help me and my family life!  So I highly recommend saying a family Rosary! Saying the Rosary may take those precious 20-25 minutes out of our overly busy days, but God more than makes up for it in other ways! I’ve been asked by several people “How can you say a Rosary with so many little kids?” And I was just asked that question again by a wonderful lady who also has her hands full! __________ While every family is different and our tricks may not work for everyone, this is what we found works well for us: When and How: We normally say the Rosary at night after the kids have had their night time snack and the little ones are ready for bed. The room you are praying in needs to be clean – toy, book, and distraction-free. We have a few rules: The bigger kids must stay sitting or kneeling. The little ones must stay laying down or sitting and they normally have a pillow and blanket, too, but no toys! It did take a few days to get them to understand the “no toys, stay sitting” rules!! We just had to keep bringing them back to the room and taking toys. Once it becomes an everyday event the kids just learn to accept it. Now the little kids just lay down and often times they fall asleep. Types of ways we pray the Rosary: 1. With a DVD:  Years ago when we started saying the Rosary as a family we used Rosary DVDs. It helped the kids to learn how to say the Rosary and the images helped them to stay focused. We got the DVD’s from EWTN, but they might be cheaper somewhere else. The DVDs I found to be the best ones for kids are: Use the DVD — “Rosary in the Holy Land” (The one in the picture is different than mine, but I guess it’s the same.) For Holy Land Rosary Link ~Click here! Other DVD — “The Holy Rosary” -it’s the one with the stain glass window pictures. For Holy Rosary DVD with stain glass window Pics. ~Click here! Note: The Rosary DVDs which are made special for kids are often too distracting and seem to make them think it’s more playtime!! 2. With Pictures: We also have pictures of each of the 20 mysteries. They are the 8×10 size and I put them in a poster frame.  For 20 Mysteries Prints ~Click here!   We just display the correct set of mysteries before we begin. Before we had the 8×10 pictures, the kids each had small Rosary books (Simple $1 book) to help them follow along, but those eventually were just too ripped up to use. 3. With Scripture:  Sometimes we will read scripture verses before each Hail Mary. “Rosary of Praise” or “Scriptural Rosary” are good books to use for this. 4. Other ways, times, and places we have prayed the Rosary: We have also said the Rosary on the drive home from different events when we know we will not have the time when we get home.  A few times we have loaded the kids in the van to say the Rosary while trying to get a baby to sleep. We have said the Rosary while walking outside around our property. We’ve said the Rosary at nap time, it helped to put the little kids to sleep. Distracted Kids? We change the way we say the Rosary (with the pictures, DVD, scripture book, etc.) if they seem like they are becoming more easily distracted. **In other words, if we say the Rosary with the scripture book for a few weeks and the kids seem to be losing interest we switch to the DVD for a while. Other thoughts:  It might help if you start saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, then after a few days/weeks switch to the Rosary. We give each of the kids a turn leading a decade of the Rosary. If you plan to buy or make Rosaries for children, I recommend “all-twine knotted Rosaries” ~ they are much stronger and more difficult for kids to break!! __________ If you are considering trying to say a daily Rosary together as a family, I hope this can help you to get you started. I hope it all made sense, if not please feel free to leave a comment!

Rebekah as “St. Elizabeth of Hungry” This cute costume was created with a princess costume from a local department store. We added a basket with some roses and fake bread. NOTE: This information and the images are meant to inspire you to make your own costume. I’m sorry, these costumes are not for sale.

~Jennifer’s Thoughts: Faith, What is faith? The dictionary defines faith as “a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny”. Faith is also an English word which is thought to date from 1200BC–50BC. It comes from the Latin word fidem or fides, meaning “trust”, derived from the verb fidere, to trust. So then the word meaning “trust” is actually the same word that describes a belief in God. If the two are really one, then our “Belief in God” should truly be our “Trust in God”. But do we as humans really trust God? Most of us don’t. There are countless stories in the Bible that tell of the faith/trust that God’s people had. Abraham certainly did when he was willing to leave his family and his home to travel across the desert to an unknown land. And again he had faith/trust in that same God as he was about to sacrifice his only son on God’s command. On the other hand there are also stories in the Bible of the times when God’s people didn’t put all their faith/trust in Him. Such as the Israelites and their straying from God whenever they were afraid of starving or when Moses took too long to come down from the mountain. They foolishly did not have faith/trust in God, who had already freed them from Egypt and brought them safely to that point. We in our society today are more like the Israelites than Abraham. They were happy to do what God asked but only when it looked as though it was going to help them. Equally with us, if the situation looks rough or unpleasant then we stray from God and ask why isn’t he helping! The famous poem of “Foot Prints in the Sand” is a wonderful example of how we as people don’t even notice God in our lives. The man in the poem didn’t even realize that God was really carrying him though those tough times. He pessimistically only noticed the lack of the extra footprints. But are we that same way? If we have faith/trust in God and follow his examples at all times, even when the path seems unfriendly, it will bring us to a greater point in our lives. But will we keep that faith/trust in God as we live even the hard times of life? To have true faith/trust in God we need to work at it and that’s where most of us go wrong. When having a bad day at work do we optimistically say “Your will be done, God.” or do we grumble (like the Israelites) and say “God, I’m a good person, why are you doing this to me?!” Jesus is the “Good Shepherd” so why would he let me get hurt? The symbol of the “Good Shepherd” has more depth than most people know. In the times of Jesus, shepherds would break a leg of a sheep that had repeatedly strayed away from the flock. This way the sheep could not stray and it would be fully depended on the shepherd for food, water and to carry it from place to place. This created a closer relationship between the sheep and the shepherd, so when the sheep was healed it would not want to leave the shepherd. Like the shepherd, God allows bad things to happen to us so we can grow closer to him. We need to have faith/trust that sometimes God is allowing bad things to happen so we can grow closer to Him and so we can grow stronger as a person. But we must try to remember everyday that bad things are God’s way of bringing us to a greater point of faith and trust in our lives.

~Jennifer’s Thoughts: Extreme individualism has weakened our family structure over the last 5 decades. Busy families, which are too active in different directions to spend quality time with one another, uninterested fathers and/or mothers who get absorbed in on-line games, instead of reading or talking to their children or spouse, has contributed to an epidemic of broken families. More than 50 years ago, families did not have the distractions that families do today. Imagine no televisions, computers, game systems, Ipods, cell phones, no bi-weekly baseball practices coupled with dance, piano, and karate practices! These older families spent most of their extra time together, talking, singing, and just making their own fun. But after generations of families with a self-interested agenda, the problem of unhappy, stressed families has only become more rampant and the idea of a broken family is becoming the norm. Should we have our family chase after those things that the world thinks is good and fun? If all the family members become more family/God focused and less worldly focused, they will become happier and less stressed. The first step toward this happy less stressed filled life is prayer! Often, each day, pray together as a family, Mom, Dad and kids. And yes, both parents need to be included whenever possible! Kids need to see that praying is something important enough to draw the attention of both parents. The next step is to drop the extra needless stuff that your lives are centered around. It may be hard to discern if an activity is necessary and have the strength to choose to drop it. For example, you can make a decision to only check personal e-mails once a day, only carry a cell phone for true emergencies, limit the television and games systems to an hour a day, limit the family to one extra curricular activity (preferably, one you can do together), eat your meals together, and turn off the music/computer when your kids are around and talk to them. Another thing that can be a wonderful step to helping the family is to trash, trash, trash, and organize, organize, organize!!! Get rid of all that extra stuff that is all over the house. If you haven’t used it in the past year it’s not necessary. Trash it! Then, organize so you can find everything you need when you need it. Then do it all over again, it’s a never ending process. The less clutter in your life, the more you can focus on family and God. This entire process of simplifying your activities and house as well as praying will be a fight in the beginning but it’s worth it. In the end your entire family will be happier for it. The process is much easier for everyone if both parents can decide that it’s what they need to do to make their lives better. Isn’t your family worth it?

May, the month of Mary, is on its way! Here is a fun art project for the kids so they can honor Our Blessed Mother during the gorgeous spring months. Supplies: Sheet of Paper A Flower catalog Picture of Blessed Mother Scissors Glue Instructions: Have the kids cut out their favorite pictures of flowers from the catalogs and glue them on a sheet of paper. The pictures should overlap so the paper underneath is not seen. You may also add a few pictures of bunnies, butterflies, and birds, etc. In the center of the flowering collage add a picture of the Blessed Mother. This can be taken from a prayer card, printed from the Internet, or cut out of a religious catalog. My daughter Rachel, who came up with this wonderful idea, helped Elizabeth make this example:   Simply Gorgeous! Just be sure to save all those flower catalogs you’ve been getting in the mail! If you’re like me you get at least one a week during the spring months!! Mother Mary, pray for us! ~Jen-Marie

Since we have so many little ones running around the house it has been hard to display projects that the older kids make. The little ones often get into things and disturb them or break them. However, I discovered that an old fish tank can serve as a perfect solution to the display problem. It works very well! The tank is just the right height so all the kids can see what’s in it, and they can tell each other and anyone who comes to the house about the things they found or made without fear of it being destroyed. Plus, the light makes it nice to see the items and the glass makes dust less of an issue. Only one problem: I can’t fit the really big stuff in the tank, but most of the things the kids make or find are small, so that’s not often a problem.

This is a project to decorate a blooming tree for the month of May. Because the month of May is the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary, decorating a flowering tree with images of Our Lady’s life and apparitions is certainly appropriate! Our kids had a grand time decorating the flowers for the tree! The tree turned out so lovely, but the my photos just don’t do it justice! Each flower has a center with an image of  Mother Mary, Mary portrayed in different nationalities, moments in her life, and her apparitions. The little ones loved learning more about Mary as we talked about each of the pictures. To make this tree you will need: small images of Mary  Flower shapes A tree to decorate ideas for a tree: indoor artificial or live tree, dead tree branches arranged in a flower pot or vase, tree shape cut out of colored paper and taped to a wall or bulletin board. Artificial flowers and leaves to decorate tree. (optional) Construction paper ~ purple, blue, pink, yellow, and orange for flowers (optional) Construction paper ~ Green for leaves (optional) Crayons, glitter glue, craft gems, and other craft items for decorating the flowers (optional) glue scissors thread needle Instructions: Once you have the tree to decorate and have added artificial flowers and leaves, if desired, decorate both sides of the flowers that have been cut out of construction paper using crayons, glitter glue, craft gems, etc. as desired. Then, glue a Marian image on both sides of the flowers. Use a needle and thread to make a looped hanger for each and hang the flower/picture on the tree. It so nice I’m not going to want to take it down after May!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ God Bless. ~Jen-Marie

Elizabeth as “Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha”

Abigail as “A Princess Angel” I’m not sure what that is!?!? But she insisted!

Hannah as “The Angel Gabriel”

This is a popular game at our All Saint's Day parties! This simple game was made using 2 liter bottles with Satan pictures and a soft ball. You should never let Satan try to get you to do something bad. The kids rolled the ball and knocked the 3 evil demons down!